Kathy Griffin's book

Kathy Griffin just put out a book, the story of her life, called Official Book Club Selection.

As long as you don't expect it to be as funny as her stand-up or TV show you'll be fine. Last week I read Chelsea Handler's Are You There Vodka, It's Me, Chelsea and that was more of a humor book, though not very well written. Yes, there was a certain conversational style but someone should've cut out all the "obviously"s. Still, she wrote it herself and I laughed at certain parts; some phrases were very surprising and original. She knows how to tell a story.

So does KG, both in her act and on paper, though the styles of telling are very different. I have a feeling that KG wrote this book herself, the same as any author, and an editor polished it.

There is a lot of detail about all the hard work that went into her success and not as many celebrity stories as I'd expected. Luckily, she tells the entire "Seinfeld" story, which I had heard only pieces of before. The most surprising thing is when she tears into Steve Martin- only a couple pages but one of my favorite parts of the book. The Brooke Shields chapter is, as they say, worth the price alone. Everything about Brooke, Andre Agasi, Brooke's mother, and Suddenly Susan comes out. I've never seen that show but I got choked up reading about the suicide of David Strickland.

The chapter that comes the closest to what you'd expect from a book by KG is the chapter "Fanning Flames in Hollywood,and Yes, I'm Talking About Dakota".

KG had a red carpet running-joke about Dakota Fanning checking into rehab and it angered Steven Spielberg and the studio behind the upcoming War of the Worlds. One of her agents told her later that she wouldn't have gotten in so much trouble if, instead of Fanning, she had said Haley Joel Osment or the kid from Jerry Maguire, because their careers were just about over. She said that comment showed the true heartlessness of Hollywood.

I think the reason the joke hit so close to home for Spielberg is because it wouldn't have been the first time this kind of thing happened. Remember when Drew Barrymore was in ET and Spielberg was like her second father. Once the movie had made its millions and Barrymore was into drinking, drugs, and rehab at a ridiculously young age. Maybe he sent her flowers or some notes of encouragement (maybe), but I don't recall her making her comeback in any of his films. I just remember the Amy Fisher TV movie and Poison Ivy.

The reason most people will buy the book are for the chapters about her ex-husband Matthew Moline and all the money he took out her ATM while she was sleeping. She broke the news on "Larry King Live" and it's all here in detail. Nobody could've yanked the book from my hand when it came to the part where she had to question the two people, other than herself, who knew her PIN number: Moline, and her assistant Jessica.

KG's book is interesting, well written, and there are some lessons in there too if you want them.