There's tons to do this week, and the festivals haven't even started yet!

For those of you who want to get away from the world of fiction, the Towson library holds its Biography Book Club tomorrow morning at 10. The event is sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and Jane Byers of Towson University leads discussions of Thomas Paine in this session of the series. To learn more, call 410-887-6166.

Saturday sees the release of the latest of Christopher Paolini's Inheritance cycle, Brisingr. Celebrate the new book at Constellation Books' Breakfast with the Dragons. Yes, it starts at 8 a.m. But there will be food!

Later in the morning, catch the animated version of George Orwell's Animal Farm at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Inspired by his confrontation with Stalinism during the Spanish Civil War, Orwell wrote a political classic that still resonates today.

At 4 p.m., Hampden fans may want to head to Greetings & Readings to meet the author of Sisterbaby's Monkey: Answer the Voices... or Die Trying, which is set in Baltimore's beloved neighborhood. Charles Colley will sign his book, described as a tale filled with love, ghosts and dreams.

On Monday you can get a little creative, as Ukazoo Books hosts the Maryland Writers Association Baltimore meeting at 7 p.m. Ann Bracken will teach attendees what journaling is, and how to do it, with fun writing exercises and discussion.

And you can spend Tuesday evening with Baltimore's favorite daughter, Nancy Pelosi, at the Enoch Pratt Library. She'll discuss her memoir, Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, which share her childhood in Baltimore, immersed in politics, and how she came to hold the highest office of any woman in U.S. history.

You can find plenty more where that came from, on the Read Street calendar.