Runaway Bestsellers and Fashion Icons

In the spirit of politics and exhaustion, today's Publisher's Lunch newsletter threw another hissy over this brief New York Times piece on Barack Obama's "surprise best seller," entitled The Audacity of Hope.

Says the Times:

"But its rapid rise to the No. 1 spot on the New York Times nonfiction list next Sunday, placing the author, the freshman Democratic senator from Illinois, ahead of heavyweight authors like John Grisham, Bill O’Reilly and even Bob Woodward, is something of a publishing stunner."

Pub Lunch retorts:

"More Cutting-Edge NYT Journalism: Obama a 'Surprise Best Seller'; 'A Stunner'
Barack Obama's previous book was a NYT bestseller for over 40 weeks (including 4 consecutive weeks at No. 1) in 2004 and 2005. After his election to the Senate, Crown and Random House Children's made a $1.9 million deal with him. Three weeks ago he was adored on Oprah, featured on the covers of major magazines, and booksellers across the country were selling thousands of tickets to signings and turning away customers (breaking records set by Bill Clinton). Now, finally, the NYT takes notice. But that's not enough. They conjure it as 'a surprise best seller' and 'something of a publishing stunner' (And they credit reviews from likes of their own Michiko as having 'certainly helped drive sales.')

And they wonder why newspapers are in trouble."

Pub Lunch, you're usually so perky and upbeat. What's with all the NYT haterade?

Also, thanks to the Bookslut blog, we've only just discovered The Guardian's Digested Read feature. It's hilarious. Here's a stunning excerpt from the latest, concerning Victoria Beckham's new book, That Extra Half an Inch. Posh, we had no idea you were such a cad!

Quoth The Guardian:

"I have no qualifications to write this book; that's why I've got someone else to do it for me. But let me share my insights anyway. First I'd like to knock something on the head. The idea that, once you have a bit of money, you start wearing couture and stilettos all day and live on caviar and champagne is just nonsense. They've both got far too many calories."

And what sound advice! We heart bargain shopping, too!

"I'm a great fan of vintage T-shirts. A word about vintage, though: it's easy to get confused about the difference between vintage and second-hand and that's because they're basically the same. If you want to be safe, look for something that's ridiculously overpriced. Blouses and halter-necks don't really do it for me, though you can wear them if you want to look like you shop at Primark, but nobody should be without a £1,000 Chanel cardigan. Have a look in charity shops if you can't afford a new one."

Now, if only we had your motivation when it comes to not eating and looking like a living corpse and befriending Katie Holmes for NO APPARENT REASON except to suck her into your creepy fembot cult. Oh, we're just jealous? Well, maybe we are, Mrs. Becks. But just remember how you used to roll:

Enough said, yeah?