Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Jackie Collins' 5 best literary guilty pleasures

For the Wall Street Journal, Jackie Collins picked a five best list of literary guilty pleasures.

One title on her list:
The Love Machine
by Jacqueline Susann
Simon & Schuster, 1969

Jacqueline Susann was the first female author who got out there and wrote popular fiction that could compete with the million-selling big boys. Her novels featured plenty of sex, some hard-hitting women, the truth about recreational drugs -- and all of it wrapped up in a hell of a story. "The Love Machine" concerns an industrial-strength womanizer named Robin Stone who drinks straight vodka and runs a television network. Susann managed to capture the truth about Hollywood way before the tabloids did. The novel shows her at the top of her game, in my mind -- possibly because I know some of the people she based her characters on, and when the book came out they were furious!
Read about Number One on Collins' list.

--Marshal Zeringue