Beach Book Bingo
by Natalie Danford -- Publishers Weekly, 2/14/2005
The glitzy hardcovers of summer are lining up for the swimsuit competition. Written for reading on the beach or on the Hamptons Jitney, they're not literature—let's call them litney. But in recent years, only one hardcover "it" book has ruled summer bestseller lists: in 2004, Plum Sykes's Bergdorf Blondes outlasted all other comers, while in 2003, it was Lauren Weisberger's The Devil Wears Prada, and, in 2002, The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus.
Like those titles, this year's prime contenders take a page from previous bestsellers. Substitute the Weinstein brothers for Anna Wintour and Miramax for Vogue, and Rachel Pine's roman à clef about her stint in New York's film world, The Twins of TriBeCa,sounds a lot like Weisberger's. For that matter, so does Jessica Cutler's The Washingtonienne, which draws from her real-life adventures as a senatorial staff assistant who was fired after blogging in graphic detail about her sexual exploits with married Republicans (her idea of cloaking her partners' identities was to use initials). But what has really set them apart is the buzz surrounding their high advances and insider gossip.
The two books mark the second year running that Miramax and Hyperion have bid for the top spot on summer reading lists. But, as we can see, in a category littered with one-hit wonders, the odds that a publisher and author can match their biggest success are pretty long. And now, with the fate of Miramax in the balance as the Weinsteins negotiate their divorce from Disney, it remains to be seen if Twins will maintain its edge, whether it ends up under the Hyperion/Disney umbrella or moves with the brothers to a new house.
