Pardon Us While We Gag

March 23rd, 2005 · No Comments
by Booksquare

There is something wrong with this world. Or maybe there’s something wrong with Newsweek. Possibly both. We were fascinated by their coverage of the Japanese trend of blogs-to-novels (or as we like to think about them: True Confessions, blog style) right up until the moment that we finished the article and allowed our roving eye to latch upon the next short item.

Tom Perkins, ex of Danielle Steel, had an idea for a novel. Wait, we must begin at beginning. Tom Perkins was invited to participate in a reality show (something like Who Wants to Marry a Billionaire). It all went downhill from there. We had to get past the notion that a journalist questioned the sanity of a 70-something man declining to participate in a reality show travesty (uh, maybe he’s a grown-up?). Then we had swallow our bile at the notion that the resulting idea (see first sentence) could only be written by a man (now there are rules?). Then we had come to terms with the idea that Perkins said, “You’re right,” and wrote the darned thing himself. But unlike the average hapless first-time novelist, Perkins is lucky enough to know Rupert Murdoch whose employee Judith Regan couldn’t say no to Perkins’s scintillating prose. The book will be released in time for Christmas. Lucky world.

We are fully willing to engage in undue influence and a bit of nepotism, should the chance arise, but, seriously, is this thing just a little to perfect, too precious, too icky for words? We will be hiding in reading-proof bunker when the resulting fawning praise accompanies the novel’s release.

File Under: Books/Mags/Blogs