Workouts for the Mind at Bookstores

This week the action is at the Ventura Bookstore, 522 East Main St., where a diverse group of authors will stimulate and entertain the little gray cells. At 7 p.m. tonight, Laura Schlessinger, talk-show host, psychotherapist and author, will sign and discuss her book, “10 Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives.”

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At 7 p.m. Friday, Luis Alfaro will perform from his work “downtown.” Alfaro is a poet, playwright, columnist, producer, co-director of the Latino Theatre Initiative at the Mark Taper Forum, host of the Gay Men Writers workshops and an AIDS activist.

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At 2 p.m. Saturday, antiquarian book dealer John Anthony Miller will tell you how to recognize books that appreciate in value and will also appraise your books (bring no more than three).

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At 7 p.m. Wednesday, James Jones, psychotherapist, religion professor and author of “In the Middle of This Road We Call Our Life,” will respond to our modern quest for meaning and purpose.

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At Mysteries to Die For, film producer Lee Goldberg will sign his Hollywood adventure caper, “My Gun Has Bullets,” at 1 p.m. Saturday; at noon on Sunday, Jake Page, author of “The Knotted Strings”--his third mystery featuring blind sculptor Mo Bowdre--will make an appearance. The store is at 2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

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Reanne Hemingway-Douglas is at Barnes & Noble at 3 p.m. Saturday to sign “Cape Horn: One Man’s Dream, One Woman’s Nightmare,” the true saga of a vacation that became a fight for survival when a family’s boat capsized off the coast of Africa. The store is at 4360 E. Main St., Ventura.

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Janet Meservy will address the Conejo Valley Genealogical Society on how to “Identify Your Immigrant Ancestor.” Her talk begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, after a class for genealogy beginners. It takes place at the Conejo Valley Adult Education Center, 1025 Old Farm Road, Thousand Oaks. Call Emma Lee Price at 497-8293 for details.