Alexie cancels Aug. 5 Bing appearance

It's now official: Sherman Alexie has cancelled his Aug. 5 reading at The Bing.

Alexie has been on a nationwide tour promoting his new book, a memoir titled "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (464 pages, Little, Brown & Co.). But, as he wrote on his website, the tour has introduced him to a number of "ghosts."

"I don't believe in ghosts, but I see them all the time," he wrote on his website. He's seen them in various forms — in handmade quilts, in sudden rays of sunlight and, in one instance, in the card being held at an airport that carried the name of his late mother, Lillian.

The result? Moments of grief so hard that they left him sobbing, both alone in hotel rooms and, on occasion, even onstage.

"I don't believe in the afterlife as a reality," he wrote, "but I believe in the afterlife as metaphor. And my mother, from the afterlife, is metaphorically kicking my ass."

So he has decided to cancel all his August tour dates, including the Aug. 5 event that was being sponsored by Auntie's Bookstore, and "many, but not all, of my events for the rest of the year."

No word yet on when, or if, Alexie will reschedule. But in the meantime, buy a copy of his book. It'll give you some idea of what he's been going through.