Kate the Great

"If I had left, we both would have been miserable." So said the legendary Katharine Hepburn when asked why she didn't walk out on Spencer Tracy after he struck her while he was drunk. Well, now this magnificent star has truly left, and we're all miserable. Fortunately, many of her wise words and inimitable recollections have been beautifully preserved in A. Scott Berg's Kate Remembered, which lands on our list this week at #3 after just one week in the stores (see Book News, p. 73). According to Penguin senior v-p, publicity, Marilyn Ducksworth, "Early reports from the field reps indicate that the book's sales velocity is extremely high and it is certain to go down in the record books as one of the fastest-selling adult hardcover books in the industry." Five trips to press have brought the in-print figure to an impressive 725,000 copies. The book has also landed on the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle lists, said Ducksworth; "It's being reported this week as the #1 book in most retail accounts around the country." B&N.com, she added, "has reported Kate Remembered as its #1 seller, over the new Harry Potter book, during this week." Not surprisingly, Berg's publicity calendar is brimming with practically every TV show and national newspaper. He participated in a 20-city TV satellite tour and has done more than 40 radio interviews. Though it seems as though this author has been everywhere and done everything, Ducksworth noted, "There is lots more media and advertising to come."

With reporting by Dick Donahue