Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin (2009)

With a foreword begging Oprah to be on her show and a chapter called ''Brooke Shields, Don't Read This,'' Kathy Griffin's autobiography, Official Book Club Selection, is everything you'd expect. What makes it a terrific read, though, is all the stuff you wouldn't expect: binge eating (her own, not Paula Abdul's); her conviction that her late brother was a child molester; and her unflinching accounts of her plastic surgery and her divorce. Whether or not you're a fan, you’ll respect her tenacity, work ethic, and loyalty to her parents. And if you are a fan of Griffin's celeb-tastic stand-up, skip to chapter 8, which should be called ''Helen Hunt, Thomas Haden Church, and Ellen DeGeneres, Don't Read This.'' Everyone else, dive in. A–

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