Vanity Fair has an excerpt from Bill Carter’s new book, The War for Late Night, about NBC’s Jay Leno/Conan O’Brien boondoggle in the winter of 2009-10. Most of the excerpt is stuff you already know if you followed the endless stories in the news cycle last winter, but there are some behind-the-scenes details that are particularly intriguing. Carter’s research (fairly) points the fault less at Jay Leno and more at NBC execs Jeff Gaspin and Jeff Zucker, while coloring in the story with details like this:

Finally [Conan] did have something he really wanted to say, something that was all but burning a hole in his chest. “What does Jay have on you?” Conan asked [Gaspin and Marc Graboff], his voice still low, his tone still even. “What does this guy have on you people? What the hell is it about Jay?”

Neither of the NBC executives had an answer and cast their heads down. Conan thought they were working at looking sympathetic, following some lesson that had been taught at corporate school.

That’s just one of the goodies. For Jeff Zucker sounding like a complete A-hole to Conan’s agent Rick Rosen, read on.

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One of the story lines from Season 4 of “Mad Men” dealt with the growing irrelevance of account executive Roger Sterling (John Slattery). When he wasn’t insulting Japanese clients, engaging in extramarital street sex, or losing the critical Lucky Strike account, Sterling was in his office by himself, recording his memoirs. And it seems as thoughSterling’s Gold will actually be published: it’s presently available for pre-order on Amazon. Here are some bon mots from the product description:

• When a man gets to a point in his life when his name’s on the building, he can get an unnatural sense of entitlement.
• The day you sign a client is the day you start losing him.
• Being with a client is like being in a marriage. Sometimes you get into it for the wrong reasons, and eventually they hit you in the face.
• When God closes a door, he opens a dress.

The publishing date from Grove/Atlantic says November 2010, so you can get it well in advance of Christmas. Personally, I want to read up on the flings that hellcat Miss Blankenship had. I heard she was one filthy astronaut.

[story via Kottke, screencap by bohemea]

Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino’s book will be in book stores on November 2nd, but for those of you who want a head start on the sure-to-be challenging 133 pages, Jezebel published some excerpts yesterday.

No matter what T-shirt you select, whether it’s fitted, graphic, sequined, bedazzled, crew-neck, deep-V, wifebeater, or what-have-you, it’s about being proud of who you are. If you want to bust out a deep-V that’s safety-cone orange because you think that’s your color, then wear the hell out of that fruity shirt so everybody in the club knows that nobody owns it like you do. Set the trends, don’t follow them. I wear what makes me feel good because I’m at the tip of the spear—the cutting edge of fashion that’s fresh to death.

Frankly, I love that “T-shirt” is the only possible option for torso coverage in his sartorial dictionary. Apparently there’s no word for “collar” in Guido-ese. ”Yo, the invitation said ‘Black Tie Only’, so me and my boys broke out our finest black Armani Exchange fitted T’s.”

In case you’re new to the world of disliking Oprah, her book club used to be a HUGE deal. She pimped a book, and it would immediately become a best-seller, such were the loyalties of her barely-conscious followers. She was largely responsible for the success of James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces, then she scolded him in front of America when it turned out his book was a novel in memoir’s clothing.

But just as detrimental to Oprah’s book club was the public embarrassment surrounding The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen’s 2001 opus that’s easily one of the best American novels of the last decade.

In 2001, Mr. Franzen offended Ms. Winfrey when he suggested in interviews that some of Ms. Winfrey’s book club picks were middlebrow ["schmaltzy" was the accurate term he used - Ed.] and that being chosen as a book club pick — as his novel “The Corrections” was — could turn off male readers. He apologized [unfortunately] but was promptly uninvited to appear on her television show. [Media Decoder]

Well, it’s nine years later, Oprah wants her final season to be a big deal, and Franzen is back with his first book of fiction since The Corrections (Freedom, which is getting high praise). Hmmm… I wonder if they can bury the hatchet.

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Poor Emo Pug has been shopping his manuscript around for YEARS

Two members of the “Jersey Shore” cast have gotten a book deal. Ronnie (the beefy one) and Jenni Farley AKA “JWOWW” AKA “the stripper-lookin’ chick with the big tits” will join forces to “write” the definitive guide to life on the Jersey shore.

JWOWW and Ronnie of Jersey Shore fame have signed a deal to write a “guido guide” on how to achieve their fake-tanned, muscled-up, party-hard lifestyle. Called Never Fall in Love at the Jersey Shore, the book will be released by St. Martin’s Press. [NY Mag]

Solid idea. Never Fall in Love at the Jersey Shore, by a guy who fell in love at the Jersey shore.

Unfortunately, this will be in book form and therefore useless to anyone who might want to gain its wisdom. Maybe The Situation and Snooki can do the voice work for the book on tape. It could be a big seller if they set it to a techno beat. And edit out the pauses where they’re sounding the words out.