We went to an extraordinary book party for Evan Thomas's ninth (!) book, Being Nixon: A Man Divided at the residence of the Japanese Ambassador, hosted by PEN/Faulkner. We snapped him with investigative reporter Terry Lenzner, who was on the Watergate Committee. Evan mesmerized the crowd with his description of Nixon as someone far more interesting and complex than his reputation, with a sense of destiny, but who wasn't self-aware and couldn't let go of anger. He said Nixon would be too far left for today's Republican Party: he started EPA and OSHA and was an internationalist.

The Japanese Ambassador's wife, Nobuko Sasae, welcomed us to the Residence for a lovely Japanese-inspired luncheon. The former fencing expert and professional translator greeted PEN/Faulkner EVP Willee Lewis and scores of enthusiastic readers. Upcoming events include March 9 with Kermit Roosevelt and March 14 with Susan Shreve and Jeff Richards.