Short Takes

My friends at The Book Report Network are thinking about creating a book website for the college/twentysomething demographic, so they’ve created a survey for 17-to-30 year-olds. If you still dwell in this demo, would you weigh in? If these years are behind you, please share this with 17-30 year-olds you know. Those who complete the survey are eligible to win one of 100 $25 gift cards to the bookstore of their choice. The CO-20 Survey is open until October 15. To take the survey, click here.

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.

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.

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.

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 abandon
my 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). 

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.

When some yahoo --- like your kid --- says classical music’s a bore, here’s your answer. And the fireworks at the end! Carmina Burana, of course.

Josh Ritter will be at the Tarrytown Music Hall on Saturday, August 7th at 8 PM. It's a small (800 seats) old bandbox, an ideal venue for a singer/songwriter. If years past are a guide, the Josh/Tarrytown combo is a fine mini-expedition: a pleasant drive, a stroll along the Hudson, dinner at one of the restaurants near the Music Hall, and then Josh and the Royal City Band light the place up.

We have winners in the ticket contest, but maybe you can get interested in second prize. Scale down your expectations. The next four of you to write in can join me at dinner. Dutch treat, but my charming wife and mouthy child will be there. Or you can just buy tickets. Ready…go!

Beryl Bainbridge, a real writer, died on July 2nd. Last year, she wrote a piece about death. Here's a sample: "I think of death a lot, indeed always have, although when young I had a belief that it was a long way off. Now, it isn’t, and I continually think of how I would prefer to pass from light to darkness. I don’t want to be run down by traffic, be shot by a madman, or suffer a sudden shock to the heart. I would like, if possible, to be so conscious of what was coming that I had time to write down a few thoughts on paper. I would remember my parents, the love I once felt for them, and for my husband who left so many years ago, and try to put into words the joy my dear children have brought me." And here's all of the piece. 

The music business, Hunter S. Thompson once suggested, is "a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." So what, one wonders, is Edgar Bronfman Jr., scion of the Seagram liquor empire, doing as the CEO of Warner Music Group? I try to answer that question in my Business Week review of “Fortune’s Fool.” 

Hawaii is 5,000 miles away. On a muggy summer night, the Lower East Side feels just as distant. But the party for the paperback edition of "Fierce Heart: The Story of Makaha and the Soul of Hawaiian Surfing" [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle version, click here] featured not only a rare New York appearance by its author, my friend Stuart Coleman, but a performance by authentic hula dancers. With the bartender pushing fruity drinks and surf movies in the background, distance vanished, and it was almost possible to believe we were in the vicinity of Makaha, an area on Oahu’s wild western coast where the surf and the people are generally considered too wild for tourists. In his book, Coleman profiles some of the area’s greatest cult figures --- and their very appealing subculture. If Buffalo Keaulana, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole and Sistah Rell aren’t even “Jeopardy” answers for you, you may want to do your remedial Hawaiian reading here.

My pal Craig Davis, once lord of creativity at JWT, moved back to his native Australia to become Chief Creative Officer at Publicis Mojo --- and launch the first web site to link advertising with idealism. Brandkarma.com asks: Oil spills, product recalls --- can brands be a force for good? And then people around the world use the site to offer opinions, brand by brand. Now, as the ad world convenes at Cannes, Craig asks you to join --- and influence --- the conversation by sharing just six words. He asks: With resources imperiled in an increasingly crowded world, what matters most to you? There's a little box at the top of the screen. Think, type, hit send. And thanks. 

Eric Balderas, who is about to be a sophomore at Harvard, has the classic biology major’s dream --- cure cancer. This month, when exams ended, he flew home to San Antonio. At the airport on his way back, his Harvard photo ID didn’t get him past the TSA. That is because Eric was born in Mexico and came to the United States, with his mother, as a very young child. Which makes him an illegal immigrant. Early in July, the Department of Homeland Security will decide if he’s to be deported to Mexico. But let Eric explain…. (Thanks, Digby.)

Summer. Brain rot rules the sixplex. Is there any movie worth seeing? Two. First up: "Winter's Bone," my favorite movie of the year. (To read my rave and find a theater, click here.) 

And not to overlook: "The Secret in Their Eyes." From Argentina. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Playing in cities now. Like "Winter's Bone," well worth a car trip, if necessary.