Thursday, February 15, 2007
Flip Flop Girl Delivers
Hello there everyone, this is your Flip Flop Girl reporting again. Well, I can't quite let go of the Anna Nicole story because I spotted something in today's New York Times that really made me scrunch up my toes and pay attention. As I said, I keep thinking there might be a worthwhile story yet to be told about Anna Nicole and I kept wondering how that might come about: what author would step up to the challenge of spinning gold from mere thread? So, we'll still have to wait but it turns out there already is one book out and its little known and little regarded publisher has hit pay dirt. The book is Great Big Beautiful Doll, first published in 1996, as a hardcover and priced at $16.95. Barricade Press, puts out a paltry 20 titles a year but its publisher, Carole Stuart, had already decided before Anna Nicole's death that it was time to reprint the book as a trade paperback.
As biographies go, it appears that Great Big Beautiful Doll is a glowing, and likely trite, tribute to Anna Nicole as told by a couple of her former managers when she was still struggling in Texas. But that's enough for French and Japanese publishers to want to buy the rights in their languages. And apparently that's enough to create a desire to buy the film rights. Meanwhile, there is also a mean-spirited, and probably more interesting version, coming out by Anna Nicole's half-sister, Donna Hogan, entitled, Train Wreck: Anna Nicole Unauthorized. That too, unfortunately, will likely be only mildly stimulating. I'm not trying to be a snob. I'm asking for quality. And I think Anna Nicole deserves it.
As my toes released their clench mode from reading about the Anna Nicole books and relaxed as I pored over the rest of the paper, I spotted this little item: Among the "Newly Released" Books, is Because She Can by Bridie Clark. I think this type of book is all too typical of what you find in the book publishing world: more fluff; but maybe fun fluff all the same. Instead of a tell-all in the form of The Devil Wears Prada where we are treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the fashion world, this time around we are treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the book publishing world, specifically the low-end trashy book publishing world reminiscent of the recent O.J. Simpson book that Regan Books attempted to foist upon us. Anyway, it sounds like a fun take-to-the beach sort of book but, based on chats I've had with friends, the act of reading alone is often mistaken as worthwhile. I mean, someone could read that book and actually feel they've engaged in a literary activity when, in fact, what they've done is something akin to watching the E! Channel.
So, all I'm saying is to be mindful of what you're ingesting, be it nutritious or junk. And I do like my junk too.
Labels: Anna Nicole Smith, Because She Can, books, Bridie Clark, buzz, flip flops, Great Big Beautiful Doll, marketing, media, news, pop culture, press, publishing, words, writng
