Short Takes
August 11, 2010
Julia Roberts: Eat Pray Snob
So where was Julia Roberts at the Metropolitan Club party after the New York premiere of Eat Pray Love? At a private after-party, upstairs. Protected by bodyguards. Who didn’t get in? Many, including Elizabeth Gilbert. Best moment: "Roberts did spend about five minutes in the main party room. But as she and her posse — including husband Danny Moder — were hurried out and away from the dreadful real people, Roberts said, to no one in particular, ‘That’s so tacky.’ A lot of the real people heard her say it." Roger Friedman has all the dish.
August 10, 2010
Butler Goes To a Tea Party
No politics here. So when my pals at the Brennan Center ask me to review political books, I jump. This time, I work out on Dick Armey’s new book, Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto. Click if you dare.August 3, 2010
Georgia Tapert Living: Chic on Sale
Georgia Tapert is transitioning from retailing to furniture design, so she’s decided to close her shop. If you need a gift or have little pockets of boredom in your home, you’ll do well to head down to SoHo for lovely glassware, china, table accessories and more at shockingly agreeable prices.
August 1, 2010
Going to Paris? Don’t Make This Mistake!
E-mail from a reader: Back in the 90s, I had a copy of An Hour from Paris and enjoyed the couple of trips I tried out. Just prior to a recent Paris trip, I figured one of Ms. Simms’ trips would be perfect for my wife, our nine-month-old, and me. But when I packed the night before our departure, I couldn’t find the book on our shelves! Then I remembered — after spending all of 2007 in Paris, and for some reason having not gone on any "An Hour from Paris" trips, I decided to leave the book behind with a friend.
Fast-forward to 2010. We arrive in Paris. Because I refused to abandonmy plan to take one of the "An Hour…" trips, I set out to Paris’ many English language used book stores to find a copy. After visiting ten — yes, TEN — stores, I finally found a copy (which I will now always treasure, and will NEVER leave behind in Paris again).July 26, 2010
America’s First Truck Stop Book Tour
I’m a fan of "Guest House," a novel by Barbara K. Richardson that — gasp — wasn’t published by a major New York imprint. [Read about it here. Buy it here.] I’m becoming an even bigger fan of Ms. Richardson, who has invented a new kind of book promotion — she’s taken to the road, reading at truck stops. Call me soft, but I look at this video and think: No way are books dead. Not with writers like this out there.
