Crowe and his wife, Danielle, joined Lara Flynn Boyle, Rita Wilson, Thora Birch and other examples of the Hollywood types Gigi thinly veils in her book. "I can either punish people or I can reward them," the author told us. "If they're mean to me, I can do little mean things to them! However, this particularly nice fellow who is a very well-known Hollywood guy, I made him into a character and I gave him a particularly large member - it's sort of a gift! And that's the best part about being a writer."

P.S. Guests were treated to what had to be the quintessential L.A. goodie bag. Among the gifts: Ugg boots, $100 off Botox treatment, and a free 20-minute reading by Kenn Woodard about what steps you can take toward holistic happiness.

It's the announcement you've been waiting for! Oprah's Book Club is back! Set your TiVos and VCRs for Friday, June 3. After Oprah sits down with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell, the stars of the new comedy Bewitched, she'll announce her big summer selection.

You don't want to miss it, there's lots of surprises in store for this summer—it's Oprah's Book Club like you've never seen it!

Rule #1: You may not wear any shoe just because it is comfortable. You may, however, wear a shoe that is both comfortable and stylish. Or a shoe that is excruciatingly painful and completely fabulous. Here are some examples.

Just comfortable (and absolutely forbidden): any sort of sneaker you would wear to any sort of athletic activity*; a tan flat with—God forbid—nude hose; a nurse's shoe or any form of footwear that resembles one; an Ugg boot.

Comfortable and stylish (and acceptable): a kitten-heel slingback; a split-toe antiqued-leather lace-up (for men only); a ballet flat; a wedge.

Excruciatingly painful and fabulous (and preferred): a five-inch metallic stiletto sandal.

"The ignorance of the general public about the ocean is shocking," he says.

Shark Life tells of diving adventures such as when Benchley swam less than 3 feet from a 13-foot tiger shark. He concedes that "any shark can ruin your whole day" and offers beach-going tips on how the behavior or presence of birds or sea lions can indicate that sharks are nearby.

The chances of being attacked by a shark are "tiny," Benchley says. But anytime humans swim in the ocean, "there is a genuine danger, and if we ignore it, we deserve what we get."

Bets on which protagonist dies in the novel opened eight months ago, after author JK Rowling confirmed that a key character would be killed. But betting was suspended on Tuesday after a flurry of bets on Dumbledore aroused suspicion of a possible leak.

Potter publishers Bloomsbury urged fans to take rumours "with a pinch of salt". "There was a huge amount of speculation about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and it was wide of the mark," a spokeswoman for Bloomsbury said. Internet betting website Blue Square suspended betting on Tuesday following suspicions that the manuscript could have been read.

The raft of bets on Hogwarts' headmaster Dumbledore's death came from the town of Bungay in Suffolk, where it is believed the latest book is being printed. The site has since re-introduced betting with "prohibitive" odds of 1-5 on Dumbledore's death.

• Autographed Advance Reading Copy of Creepers (CD Books), the spine-tingling upcoming thriller from multiple New York Times bestselling author David Morrell.
  
  
• Autographed copy of Forced Mate by Rowena Cherry (Dorchester), the steamy futuristic romance novel which was a finalist for Best Futuristic Romance at the PEARL Awards.
  
  
• Set of two books: Sandstorm by James Rollins (Avon) with the new lenticular special edition cover and Map of Bones by James Rollins (William Morrow). These two exciting thrillers from the New York Times bestselling author are the perfect summer reading for fans of Dan Brown and Michael Crichton.
  
  
• Advance Reading Copy of the upcoming mystery Relics by Mary Anna Evans (Poisoned Pen Press), in which an archeologist finds more than she bargained for while investigating a centuries-old ethnic group which seems to have strange immunity to most modern diseases, including AIDS.

Their victims are long dead, but old murder cases aren't - at least, that is, in new mystery novels by Jonathan Kellerman, Michael Connelly, Karen Robards and James Patterson.

These books are among the latest hardcover novels of mystery and suspense, which also include works by John Sandford, H.R.F. Keating, Loren D. Estleman and Earlene Fowler.

In a May 20 letter, the Association of American University Presses (AAUP) blasts Google's so-called Print for Libraries program for posing a risk of "systematic infringement of copyright on a massive scale."

The AAUP isn't the only organization to put Google on notice. BusinessWeek Online has also learned that in recent months, major publishers John Wiley & Sons and Random House have also sent letters to Google expressing similar concerns about the libraries program. "We don't see how a for-profit company compiling this would be considered fair use," says Allan Adler, head of legal and government affairs for the Association of American Publishers, the principal trade organization of the book publishing industry

Clinton acknowledges complaints about the book's length and names a possible culprit, his wife. He calls the senator's memoirs, Living History, a "fine book" (he has called his own book "pretty good") and says that her success "added to the pressure" for him to meet a June 2004 deadline.

"Most people thought it was too long -- a fair criticism. Thomas Jefferson once said that if he had had more time he could have written shorter letters," writes Clinton, whose afterword helps make the trade paperback even longer, 969 pages.

"When I saw how many people of modest means came to the book signings, I worried about my long and heavy book also being too expensive," writes Clinton, whose book has a $17.95 suggested price in trade paperback and $7.99 for each of the mass market volumes.

"I can't change the length, but I hope the paperback edition, in reducing the weight and cost, will make My Life accessible to a new round of readers."

"This is going to be a book about where Bill thinks technology is headed, and how these innovations are going to have an impact on business, on the way we work, on entertainment, the way we communicate and on big institutions," said Microsoft spokesman John Pinette.

There's no word on the book's title or a release date. The company is finalizing who the book's co-author will be and has not met with any publishers yet, Pinette said. "We're just at the very beginning," he said.

"A lot of the dialogue of the Jedi, about mindfulness and letting go, is all Buddhist jargon," he says.

In the first Star Wars trilogy, Bortolin says, the story line in which Yoda, the Jedi master, sends young Luke Skywalker into a cave to contemplate his untapped Jedi powers is also very Buddhist in nature -- "the meditation and taking time to confront oneself."

When Wednesday's one-hour signing began some six and a half hours later, more than 500 fans had turned up, making the store into something of an Elvis jamboree.

From men and women in their 20s, to couples in their 80s -- including a healthy smattering of Elvis impersonators -- they stood in a long line, snaking in and out of the aisles of books, as Mrs. Presley posed for press photographs.

Many had taken days off from work or re-arranged family commitments to be at the signing, with one man flying in from the Republic of Ireland. Clutching copies of her book, Elvis By The Presleys, they queued behind crowd-control barriers, happily passing the time sharing anecdotes about "The King" and comparing notes on trips to his hometown of Memphis....

Excitement grew with each step nearer the front of the queue, where Mrs Presley, a tiny figure with long dark hair and a deep-purple jacket, greeted fans as she signed their copies. At the back of the line, a floor up from where the signing was taking place, fans with little hope of reaching the front before the visit was over waited patiently as Elvis hits were relayed through the bookshop's speakers.

Kirshbaum said that he will likely pursue a career as a literary agent, so he "can work with authors in a more intimate way without all the stresses and strains of administering a large company."

"After 30 years of passionate involvement with our wonderful book company, I have decided that it is time to turn the reins over to a team that can provide the energy and leadership which our vibrant enterprise demands," the 61-year-old Kirshbaum said in a company e-mail.

"When I arrived as a marketing executive at Warner Paperback Library in 1974, we were doing about $5 million in business. This year we will surpass $500 million in sales."

In a separate e-mail sent Monday, Time Inc. executive vice president and CFO Richard Atkinson said the resignation was "entirely Larry's decision." "His business has had a great run of best sellers, is going to post all time record financials this year and is blessed with an experienced and talented management team that can take the Time Warner Book Group to new heights," Atkinson said. "So, Larry has chosen the perfect moment to slow down, move onto something less stressful and take the time, as he puts it, to smell the roses."

Kirshbaum is known for his raspy voice, candid talk and abiding affection for his alma mater, the University of Michigan he told The Associated Press on Monday that he can be found rooting for the football team on Saturdays at a local bar with "300 other screaming fans." Between games, Kirshbaum managed to publish such best sellers as Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, Jon Stewart's America (The Book) and James Patterson's 4th of July.

The number of books sold dropped by nearly 44 million between 2003 and 2004, even as the annual number of books published approaches 175,000.

"People are reading less, so what you're seeing is the same phenomenon that has hit magazines and newspapers, a massive shift toward home video, DVD, internet and cable," said Albert N. Greco, an industry consultant and a professor of business at the graduate school of Fordham University.

The Book Industry Study Group, a nonprofit research organization, reported estimated sales of 2.295 billion books in 2004, compared to an estimated 2.339 billion the previous year. Higher prices enabled net revenues to increase 2.8%, to $28.6 billion, but also drove many readers, especially students, to buy used books, Greco said.

Bruce and I celebrated spring in a big way this year with a trip to the Kentucky Derby! We couldn't have had a better time--even though our horse didn't come in. But I put a two dollar bet for my mother--who asked me to bet two bucks for her on the gray if there was one in the field--on Giacomo. So I held a winning ticket on the longshot on Derby Day.

"He did a long, crazy introduction about how he couldn't print out the notes to introduce the panelists off his Macintosh so he simply just didn't introduce them," tattled our spy. Our miffed mole added that Cavett then "told a long story instead about how he did the first commercials for Apple back in the '80s and now how he wished Steve Jobs would walk by his window so he could throw his computer on top of his head." Then, Cavett shocked the audience when he asked Jen to comment on how the loss of her baby mid-pregnancy affected her writing. "Mouths hit the floor," said our source. Cavett then complained that no one got an "Oscar reference" during one of his many blab-a-thons. "No one understood what he was talking about. It sounded as if he thought he were addressing a lunch of show business people," our source said.

In February, NYT's Elisabeth Bumiller reported that Bush had already read the book and was "enthusiastically recommending it to friends." Now, three months later, he's apparently still deeply engaged with it. So maybe it's like his official daily reading, the Bible. The good parts are worth reading over and over.

With the possible exception of Thomas Harris, no novelist has had a better run of movie luck than John Le Carre, the British espionage expert.

Not only have six of his books gotten the full-frontal, big-budget movie treatment, but two more of them -- the great "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" and "Smiley's People" -- got long-form, respectful, nuanced TV treatments, possibly the best method for translating Le Carre's Jamesian prose into images. The two TV jobs, running about 12 hours apiece, came out on DVD last year.

"For over 10 years I've wanted to do this book -- Jesus in his own words," Rice writes. "For five years, I've been obsessed with how to do it, and for the last three years I've been consumed with nothing else."

"I'm not a priest," Rice also writes in the letter. "I can't be one. I'll never be able to go to the altar of the Lord and say the words of consecration at Mass, 'This is my body. This is my blood.' No, I can't work that magnificent Eucharistic miracle. But in humility, I have attempted something transformative which we writers dare to call a miracle in the imperfect human idiom we possess. It's to bring Him here in the form a story, and that story is Christ The Lord."

CNBC weekend talk show host Tina Brown -- whose chats with such luminaries as Leslie Moonves, John McCain and George Clooney were a staple of CNBC weekend primetime for two years -- will leave the network at month's end.

Brown asked CNBC chief Mark Hoffman whether she could stop doing the show to focus on a book she's writing for Doubleday on the late Princess Diana. The one-time publishing executive of the New Yorker and Vanity Fair will require several trips from New York, where she lives, to London in the coming months, according to CNBC, and it would interfere with her ability to do the show. The book will be published in 2007, on the 10th anniversary of Diana's death.

"I have much respect for Tina and understand the amount of time she will need to dedicate to her new project," Hoffman said in an e-mail to CNBC staff Friday afternoon.

YOU: The Owners Manual, co-written by Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Memhet Oz, was No. 1 on both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com as of Wednesday, ending, or at least interrupting, the months-long reign of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. J.K. Rowling's book, which comes out in July, was No. 2 on the lists of both online retailers.

YOU, published Tuesday by HarperCollins, is described on the cover as "An Insider's Guide to the Body That Will Make You Healthier and Younger." Roizen and Oz appeared in a taped interview Tuesday on Winfrey's show, during which former President Clinton discussed his recent heart problems.

Oz is a professor of surgery and director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Columbia University. Roizen, author of the best-selling RealAge, is chairman of the Division of Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine and Comprehensive Pain Management at the Cleveland Clinic.

After all, it didn't have to be that way. Not too long ago, Black, 56, was practically broke, virtually unknown, a struggling playwright and comedian hoping for a break. He knows fame could be a short ride.

"I've been very lucky," he says. "There are guys I know who are really terrific in this business of stand-up who have not gotten the recognition they deserve. And it's nice if you've put in the time, to achieve that recognition. ...

"What makes it difficult for people trying to follow a dream is that the whole time you feel like you're slamming your head against the wall. So it's nice to make a breakthrough, and not kind of lying there with your head bleeding."

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, an adaptation of the books by Douglas Adams that fans have been waiting more than 20 years for, thumbed a ride to the top with $21.1 million at 3,133 locations. The opening was in line with such spring sci-fi releases as The Fifth Element, Lost in Space, Mission to Mars and The Time Machine in terms of raw grosses, but sold fewer tickets.

The 46 year-old northern New Jersey resident recently found the camping book he took out of an Orchard Park library in February 1981. When he called the Orchard Park Public Library and said he wanted to pay the overdue book penalty, Schlesinger was told the maximum fine was 15 dollars. But Schlesinger said he wanted to pay "for the whole thing."

The library charges a 25-cents-a-day penalty for overdue books, so he calculated that he owed nearly $2,200 for being 24 years overdue. Library officials gladly accepted his check as a donation.

Reston, son of former New York Times executive editor James "Scotty" Reston, said producer Mike Medavoy optioned the rights to his book in November 2001 and weeks later sent a letter to Oscar-nominated director Ridley Scott.

The Dec. 12, 2001, letter mentions Reston's book by name and asks Scott to consider a movie based on the characters. "Think Lawrence of Arabia and A Man For All Seasons," Medavoy writes in the letter, which Reston provided to the AP.

Scott declined Medavoy's pitch, but went on to make Kingdom of Heaven.

"I think my defining moment was before I even graduated. I was taking a class on business law -- an interactive course, where we split up into teams and negotiated business deals for large multi-miliion dollar corporations. All pretend, of course -- but almost everyone in that class went through a radical personality shift -- myself, included. I became a mean person. Really mean. Like, outright nasty. Now, I'm no Pollyanna, and I've never touted myself as some sweet doe-eyed pussycat -- but I shocked myself. I didn't like it, either. I realized after that experience that given enough time and enough opportunity, that was who I could become. Ten or twenty years down the line, I would be the person I used to hate. An asshole. So I was already disillusioned when I graduated. Very much so.