After Marion Cotillard won the Oscar and Carla Bruni won the president of France, I thought maybe we'd get a rest from high-flying "French" women. (Carla is actually Italian.) But then I read that Mireille Guiliano had deserted her Knopf publishers for Atria Books. (Both Page Six and Gawker.com reviled the writer, saying she'd been a terrible boss when she ruled Veuve Clicquot Inc. as CEO.)
Well, never mind. This dame has written two best-sellers - French Women for All Seasons and the celebrated diet-dream book French Women Don't Get Fat.
Now, for Atria Publishing, she'll discuss sharing strategies, lessons learned and give practical advice to women seeking balance, success and workplace satisfaction. Maybe it will be titled French Women Do Get Rich.
A real-estate goal
You think we've got it bad here in the United States when it comes to the busted bubble of real estate? "Poor" Victoria Beckham and her soccer king hubby, David, have been trying to sell their villa in Spain for a mere $13 million. (They paid $7 million for it.) They're still waiting for a decent offer. But I'm sure a Russian oligarch will get around to them soon. The Russkies really don't want to go to war anymore; they just want to own everything they see in the posh parts of Europe.
Literacy and cocktails
We had a Literacy Partners cocktail party at Michael's hot watering spot, and it seemed like everybody came. There was Tina Brown, exhausted from being on the road with Hillary for her to-be book; there was Dominick Dunne, who seems rested and revitalized after covering crime on the West Coast; there was Barbara Walters, looking slim, trim and like the new author she has become; there were Mary Higgins Clark and her sprig off the tree, Carol. (These ladies own the murder-thriller market.)
On May 12, Literacy will hold its annual gala, where we try to raise millions of dollars in order to teach 1 million adults in New York City to read and write. None of the distinguished authors who'll appear in person made it to the party, but we can't wait to hear Azar Nafisi, Ann Patchett, A.J. Jacobs and Chris Matthews. (At least Chris had a good excuse; he was politics-immersed.) But our fabulous honorees - that handsome couple David and Julia Koch - came by and said a few words. (We won't bear down on the Kochs being the richest people in New York, but let's say they aren't exactly on the bread line, and they are looking good.)
There were many duets at the cocktail kickoff - Herb and Jeanne Siegel, Somers and Jonathan Farkas and Ted and Vada Stanley. (Marriage making a comeback in spite of Eliot Spitzer?)
Patrick McMullan, growing a beard, posed for pictures instead of clicking, and I saw Allyn and Susan Magrino, plus Per Holmberg, Debbie Bancroft, Helen O'Hagan, Jackie Rogers, Jamee Gregory and Joannie Danielides.
Oops!
I recently linked movie titan Harvey Weinstein to Miramax. Harvey sold Miramax three years ago to folks who refused to let him keep the name celebrating his parents. I knew that. A slip of the brain.
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