Entertainment for Grownups
Gayle King Live!
Famous Friend
Switching gears to reclaim her “news DNA”
Q: Does it bother
you to be identified
as Oprah’s pal?
A: I don’t feel it takes
anything away from
me. I like what I’m
doing and who I am.
Oprah has been with
me every step of the
way. I’ll have her on
the show, but not the
first day. Wouldn’t
that be too obvious?
Q: What do you
think makes a good
morning anchor?
A: In the morning,
people like to know
what’s happening, what to wear,
what’s changed since they went to
bed. If I can tell them in a way that
engages them, then it’s a good thing.
Q: Who is your dream guest?
A: I’m smitten with Prince William
and Kate.
Q: What time do you have to wake
up in the morning now?
A: At 4: 12, I’ve decided. But with
these hot flashes, I haven’t had a good
night’s sleep in six years, so I’m used
to getting up. —Jeanne Dorin McDowell
Hot Reads
Routines—and ruts—form
“without our permission,”
writes CHARLES DUHIGG
in The Power of Habit,
shaping our lives “far more
than we realize.” His clear,
colorful, fast-paced book explains why
the science of habit formation (and dis-
ruption) “has exploded into a major field
of study.” Duhigg exposes the tactics that
marketers use to inculcate new habits in
us—and how we can best resist them.
WHEN CRAVINGS CALL
She’s known as Oprah Winfrey’s best
friend, but Gayle King is a dynamo
in her own right. On January 9, King,
57, took the helm of CBS This Morning,
along with Charlie Rose and Erica
Hill, relinquishing her show on
Winfrey’s OWN television network.
Q: What appealed to you about
the morning anchor job?
A: It takes me back to my news DNA.
I started in TV news, and I was at a
CBS station for almost 18 years.
Q: What makes you, Charlie, and
Erica a good team?
A: Erica is married with two kids;
Charlie is single. I’m divorced with
kids. When you match up our person-
alities, it will be interesting, certainly
not predictable.
Q: What’s your favorite communi-
cations medium?
A: If I had to pick, it would be TV—
especially live, topical TV. I’m a news,
politics, and pop-culture junkie, and
one TV program can combine it all.
Adolf Hitler and Ferdinand
Porsche were unlikely par-
ents of the Volkswagen
(“the people’s car”), con-
ceived in Germany in 1934.
Decades later, John Lennon
and Brian Wilson both owned one, as did
seemingly every other counterculturist
in the United States, ANDREA HIOTT
reminds us in her complex and fascinating
Thinking Small, a biography of the rise,
fall, and resurrection of our beloved Bug.
BEE TLE MANIA
Abruptly widowed at 62,
Edward Schuyler becomes
the wary target of female
advances as he grapples
with loss in An Available
Man by HILMA WOLI TZER.
Edward’s first few new dates are hypnot-
ically ill-fated. But when he reconnects
with Laurel, a troubled type who aban-
doned him decades ago, the novel deep-
ens into issues of fidelity and forgiveness.
LOVE AMID THE RUINED
TOP LEF T: ROBER T CAPLIN/ THE NE W YORK TIMES/REDUX
A Fortunate Five
Recruited to the College of the Holy Cross after Martin
Luther King’s assassination in 1968, the five students
profiled in DIANE BRADY’S Fraternity shared a courageous,
farsighted mentor: Jesuit priest John E. Brooks. All five
went on to stellar careers. Clarence Thomas, for instance,
joined the Supreme Court, Ed Jenkins played for the
unbeaten 1972 Miami Dolphins, and Edward P. Jones won
the Pulitzer Prize for his 2003 novel, The Known World.
