Book Buzz

• I never watch The View (really, I don’t), but I caught a few minutes this week as Barbara Walters promoted the book Celebutantes. This event was significant for two reasons. First, I watched The View without scratching out my eyeballs. Second, I had just read about Celebutantes in USA Today. Two Hollywood “insiders”—Amanda Goldberg (daughter of Leonard Goldberg) and Ruthanna Khalighi Hopper (daughter of Dennis Hopper)—wrote the book. I am always intrigued when fiction features actual people as characters (in this case, celebrities). I am even more intrigued when those people are still alive. I smell litigation.

• USA Today featured Cindy Guidry’s memoir The Last Single Woman in America. Excuse me, but I’m pretty darn sure I am the last single woman.

• Not only did he win a Grammy this week, but Barack Obama has two books on Amazon’s top 20 bestsellers list (The Audacity of Hope, #7; Dreams from My Father, #19. At least we don’t have to worry about his job prospects if the White House doesn’t work out for Obama.

• The New York Times Sunday Book Review featured political books this week. USA Today did the same. Clearly, election fever has reached the book world. Considering the turnaround time for books, though, I am always suspect of their currency.

• Mark Seigel appeared on The Daily Show last night promoting Reconciliation, which he worked on with recently-assassinated former Pakastani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Talk about currency.