The pre-pub Laura Bush coverage continues. The Washington Post bought a copy locally, and shares more samples of the book than yesterday’s NYT report. “There is some startling stuff in here, perhaps more startling to me, who spent much of my time as a reporter covering Bush and as a writer researching her biography, searching for a shard or two of information that might reveal more about this intensely reticent and unassuming woman…. And there are some pointed choices and some unflinching honesty.” What isn’t in there? “In 432 pages, there are three brief mentions of Barack Obama.”
The AP “obtained” a copy too, and files a shorter overview. Among their points, Bush “dispels rumors that she ever considered leaving her husband over his drinking, saying she never told him it was ‘Jim Beam or me.'”
The NYT follows with a review, and Michiko Kakutani likes half of the book: “the first is a deeply felt, keenly observed account of her childhood and youth in Texas — an account that captures a time and place with exacting emotional precision and that demonstrates how Mrs. Bush’s lifelong love of books has imprinted her imagination. The second book is a thoroughly conventional autobiography by a politician’s wife — a rote recitation of travel, public appearances and meetings with foreign dignitaries that sheds not the faintest new light on the presidency of the author’s husband, George W. Bush.”
But indications are that Scribner will not relax the on-sale embargo even with the leaks. Bookseller Joe Foster tweeted, “Just got an email from my S&S rep stressing the Bush book embargo… Wow.”
Washington Post
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AP