Writers have long complained that they are at the bottom of the food chain in Hollywood. Legendary film mogul Jack Warner summed up the traditional attitude: "What is a writer but a schmuck with an Underwood?" Until recently it seemed that that question was carved on the hillside just below the HOLLYWOOD sign.Nowadays the schmuck has a laptop, and -- for the moment at least -- some hard-won respect.
My Life, Starring Dara Falcon
By Ann Beattie
Alfred A. Knopf
A Firing Offense
By David Ignatius
Random House
The Sharp Teeth of Love
By Doris Betts
Alfred A. Knopf
Naked
By David Sedaris
Little, Brown
Lightning Song
By Lewis Nordan
Algonquin Books
Extinct
A USA Today Best Seller
By Charles Wilson
St. Martin's Paperbacks
American Pastoral
By Philip Roth
Houghton Mifflin
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