Misadventures in the (213)

Dennis Hensley's Misadventures in the (213) is like the best kind of gossip--something you might hear from a friend who heard it from a friend who knows someone who does Tori Spelling's hair--and it's just bitchy enough to be very, very funny. Aspiring screenwriter Craig Clybourn arrives in Hollywood and is soon sucked into a series of giddy escapades involving a phone book full of B-list celebrities and enough scandal to keep the most rabid "Melrose Place" fan happy (including a shocking case of watermelon abuse!) Craig's adventures were originally published as a monthly serial in Detour magazine, and the episodic structure that this lends to the book only serves to keep the laughs coming thick and fast. From AIDS dance-athons to champagne glasses bearing Heather Locklear's lipstick, Misadventures in the (213), paints a picture of life in L.A. that is both bizarre and true to life, thanks to Hensley's unique insider perspective. It's a fluffy, sugar-dusted, chocolate-dipped dessert of a novel with a cherry on the top, and if you have a sense of humor and an open mind, its charms are irresistible. --Simon Leake