We had our suspicions: the flat interviews, the endless promotion of her book "Bushworld," the tireless work ethic. But now it's become rather clear to us that Times columnist Maureen Dowd is indeed a robot, as revealed from this screen capture taken at her book party. Please note the flashing red and green lights protruding from Maureen's back; these are indicators of her current power levels and help editor Bill Keller identify where to insert the plugs for her weekly recharging.
Bushworld Book Party [Book TV]

The new issue of the New Yorker is out and, much to our delight, there's a lovely feature about Harry Kourounis, the lucky chap who chaffeured Bush biographer Kitty Kelley around town during her PR blitz. Kourounis is an undecided voter but we're hoping Kitty Kelley can win his heart and perhaps his democratic vote. After all, he got to witness such resplendant revelations:

Lately, we feel a little overwhelmed: there seems to be such an influx of trashy celebrity memoirs, we don't even know where to begin. Which salacious tell-all is best? Which assemblage of brain-rotting chicken scratch is worth our time? Thankfully, Intern Alexis is on the case. After the jump, she gives a rundown of what you should be reading on the toilet and why.

Can it be true? Former Page Six-er Ian Spiegelman has emerged from his scotch-fueled hibernation to sign a six-figure deal with Miramax books for his second novel, Welcome to Yesterday (his first, Everyone is Burning, was generally well-received or, um, tolerated). The novel will be about a New York gossip columnist who is being investigated for murder while covering a celebrity suicide. No word on whether the protagonist will send out raging emails threatening to maim people, but we think it'd be a nice touch.
Gossip Mystery [Page Six]

Jared Paul Stern, best known for his time back in the day as the resident bitch over at Page Six, goes to town on Dave Itzkoff's memoir, Lads. We have to wonder, after reading and rereading the piss-and-vinegar review, if Stern might have a personal bone to pick, or if he's just obsessed with Itzkoff's bone:

Cintra Wilson, the fame-hating, catty quasi-celebrity prone to unapologetic snark, is the kind of writer that we'll pay attention to. So we were positively delighted when we saw her interview with weblog Bookslut, in which she educates the public on the editing process when freelancing with "Glossy Magazine X:"

We're already annoyed by the pseudo-buzz surrounding Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's new book, What We've Lost, but we're getting sucked into the reviews nonetheless. In sharp contrast to the Times' pimp-slap on Carter comes a review from the Guardian, in which the writer can't seem to get past the sheer presence of Carter long enough to actually inform us of, well, anything. Jossip gives a rundown of the most important bits from the piece so we can learn more about Graydon, The Man:

We were perusing Slate editor Jacob Weisberg's Sunday New York Times book review, mildly bored by the rundown of anti-Bush books (politics are icky!), when lo and behold, we find Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter getting spanked over his new book, What We've Lost. Oooh, now we're paying attention:

In case you haven't been following the freakfest surrounding young author Abigail Vona's book Bad Girl (and really, we don't know why you would until now), we'll give you a hazy recap and show you why it's so awesome now.

We'd be kind of stoked about Amy Fisher's forthcoming autobiography, but we're afraid that it'll just be all about how she knows better now. How dull! If you're gonna go around shooting your boyfriend's wives in the face and basically breaking all the Commandments at once, well, run with it! Couldn't you have gotten a reality show co-hosted by Tonya Harding?

Author Jonathan Ames on how New York has changed in the last few decades, from a hilarious interview:

The NYT's David Carr finds the stupid publishing industry suffering through a rash of books — these semi-historical tomes claim that various tiny events have giant historical effects. Most ridiculous: Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World:

Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh offers a little advice to New York media:

The NY Post gets a look at an advance manuscript of Tom Wolfe's new novel, due for release in November.

In case you haven't been keeping up, the new Dave Eggers book that's being serialized on Salon is already up to episode 31. It certainly seems as though he's writing it as he goes along, so Lord knows there'll be further "episodes" online soon enough.

A little after two o'clock today, while novelist and book critic Dale Peck was lunching with the writer Linda Yablonsky at Tartine in the West Village, jazz critic/cultural commentator/novelist Stanley Crouch decided to introduce himself. (Peck had reviewed a novel of Crouch's a few years back; in response to that review, Crouch told Salon that Peck was "a troubled queen.")

Memoirist/rockstar David Sedaris is off touring the hinterlands — we hear the pyrotechnics stadium show is like wicked awesome, dude.

The NYT Book Review, like the lonely guy who arrives stag to the swinger's ball, has decided to jumpstart some potentially unwanted leg-humping action by posting on NYT.com their forthcoming piece on the Bill Clinton autobiography (or "autobiography"), two weeks before the review is due for print. A very loaded choice, considering the rather partisan pounding the book got in the daily paper. We'll just call it a retraction, but you can call it a symptom of either the NYT's charming multifacetedness or its chronic and dire schizophrenia. You decide!

Yeah, I know, you want it now, because that's the kind of literary enthusiast you are — but you'll have to wait 'til September 7th for the Paris Hilton book. Summer is ruined!

As reported in New York mag on Monday, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's forthcoming book is still a little barebones. The NYO's Off the Record column seems to have gotten their grubby hands on a copy of What We've Lost as well, and they've reproduced some choice bits so we can do our part to help Graydon stick some facts in the book: