READ HERE OFTEN?

Forget Match.com—if you’re a proud bookworm (or simply want to date one), the long lines to get into the many scintillating panel discussions at the Brooklyn Book Festival are full of romantic potential (“Who’s your optometrist, baby?”). And with nearly 20,000 people expected to attend, the odds are definitely in your favor. Want a soulmate with a sense of humor? Try the “Writing Funny: Humor Writers on the Not-So-Funny Craft of Writing for Laughs” panel, with humorist Simon Rich and moderator Ben Greenman of The New Yorker at noon. Looking for someone with a DIY attitude? Meet him or her at the Ian MacKaye and Thurston Moore conversation at 3 p.m. Need someone to hide under the covers with should McCain get elected? Check out “The Consequences to Come,” a discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing our next president with New York Review of Books contributors Joan Didion, Mark Danner, Ronald Dworkin, and Darryl Pinckney at 5 p.m. Other panels include the likes of Naomi Wolf, A.M. Homes, Joseph O’Neill, Adrian Tomine, and Rivka Galchen. And with vendors selling books and food throughout the day, if you don’t find that special someone, at least you won’t go home empty-handed.

Sun., Sept. 14, 10 a.m., 2008