More About Me: Second Memoirs

Whoever said there are no second acts in American lives didn't know what they were talking about. Here are four eagerly awaited memoir sequels being released this season. Let's see how they stack up.

Julie Powell
What the author told you the first time — and what she’s telling you now
After cooking her way through the repertoire of her baritone-voiced idol, Powell sinks her teeth into something meatier. Her marriage is on the chopping block, so she turns to her next culinary obsession, butchery, taking on the ins and outs of the abattoir with plucky enthusiasm. Frenching chops, stuffing sausages, and other inappropriate- sounding activities abound.
Wrote Julie & Julia and Cleaving
Foods they gorged on Duck à l'orange during Julie & Julia and meat during Cleaving
Time lapsed between memoirs 4 years
Who's playing the author on the screen Amy Adams
Emotional weight 5 ounces in Julie & Julia and 8 ounces in Cleaving

Elizabeth Gilbert
What the author told you the first time — and what she’s telling you now
Ingestion in Italy, invocation in India, infatuation in Indonesia, and now Oprah's favorite globe-trotter is ready to settle down. Or is she? Finding herself married, Gilbert must come to terms with the institution whose failure prompted her peripatetic soul-searching in the first place. Hey, if it doesn't work out, she's got the start of yet another book: ''Divorce, Travel, Write, Repeat.''
Wrote Eat, Pray, Love and Committed
Foods they gorged on Pasta during Eat, Pray, Love and frogs legs during Committed
Time lapsed between memoirs 4 years
Who's playing the author on the screen Julia Roberts, in an adaptation set for 2010
Emotional weight 20 chocolates in Eat, Pray, Love and 12 chocolates in Committed

Valerie Bertinelli
What the author told you the first time — and what she’s telling you now
Puckish TV star Bertinelli shed more than 40 pounds and then wrote two books about it, adding up to a grand total of 560 pages. In the new book, she details her battle with emotional eating, the embarrassment of seeing herself naked, her new career as a spokeswoman, and how it feels now that she is no longer touched by an angel food cake.
Wrote Losing It and Finding It
Foods they gorged on Cookies during Losing It and celery during Finding It
Time lapsed between memoirs 19 months
Who's playing the author on the screen Herself, in Jenny Craig ads
Emotional weight 40 pounds in Losing It and 25 pounds in Finding It

Mary Karr
What the author told you the first time — and what she’s telling you now
Including her 2000 memoir, Cherry, this is technically a threequel. Club, the tale of Karr’s bleak Texas youth, is widely credited with kick-starting the memoir craze. She’s back with another grimly beautiful dose of dipsomania and depression, as she, now a parent, closes a dismal narrative circle and drifts into alcoholism. A breezy beach read it is not.
Wrote The Liars' Club and Lit
Foods they gorged on Whiskey during The Liars' Club and whiskey during Lit
Time lapsed between memoirs 9 years (since Cherry, 14 since The Liars’ Club)
Who's playing the author on the screen No one. Karr's books aren't currently set to be adapted
Emotional weight 3 olives in The Liars' Club and 4 olives in Lit