The book takes us through the life of a man who always seems to end up in the arms of a woman named Karen. They are eccentric Italian beauties, upper east side lolitas, nudists, you name it and there's a karen that fits the bill in this wonderfully light and truely well written piece.

Peter Lefcourt has this amazing ability to tell these stories that you couldn't imagine yourself buying someone told you about them but he writes so well that not only do you buy it but it sticks with you and you find yourself laughing out loud months after you've put it down.

If you enjoyed 'Di and I', 'The Woody' or 'The Deal', Amazon.com 'Eleven Karens' today, you'll love it!

This was my first Lefcourt book. I was too cheap to buy the 11 Karens in paperback, so here I was looking at an old (1991) novel that I could buy and be happy with. As old fan of Hollywood books and novels, this ranks among the funniest I've read. It is a quick read, but more satisfying than the typical Hollywood farce. It tells you more than you wanted to know about Benjamin Disraeli. However, the satire does not get out of hand and somehow you could almost envision the plot twists actually happening in real life. The book is well written and funny as can be. I hope the reprint wins Lefcourt new fans. I'm one. The book really gets Hollywood. Bravo!

If you're looking for a fast, funny read, you will not be disappointed with The Deal. The plot is intricate, the action is non-stop, and the characters are outlandish, especially the industry's movers and shakers-the extras-that Lefcourt takes great delight in lampooning.

Peter Lefcourt could've given us a savage portrayal of studios meanies. Instead he gives us a fun world of open minded, flexible studio outsiders who make anything and everything happen on the way to producing what is supposed to be a blockbuster film. You'll like the characters - they're a little sweet and goofy even though Lefcourt shows that they can be vapid. It's a lot of fun.

Author Peter Lefcourt has created a good, funny and enjoyable novel. Professional Baseballall Payer Randy Dreyfus falls in love with his second baseman, D.J. When the two are caught shaing a kiss on security videotape at Neimun Marcus, all hell breaks loose and damage control is called in. The rest of the novel is not only and engaging story but also a hidden humorous social commentaty on gay men in professional sports. The fact that the white, male hero has fallen in love with his black second baseman will more than raise a few eyebrows for some readers. Lefcourt captures the homophobia and hysteria generated by this perfectly. My only drawback to the book is that the sections dealing with Randy's wife, Susie seem underdeveloped and she seems to fade away and out by the end of the book... Recently, I have heard people say that gay men in Sports are no big deal. After reading this book I'm not so sure. True, this is a work of fiction, but Lefcourt a created an honest and truthful home run.

i've never been much of a reader, but i finished this book in two days; a record by far for me. not only is this book a unique and touching love story, but it also has numerous, funny bone tickling laughs. i couldn't help but smile many a time. Lefcourt is a great author, and he truly made me feel a great deal of emotion for all the main characters. this is gonna make one hell of a movie.. i highly recomend this book. wow wow wow.

I never thought I would be interested in a story about baseball players! This love story uses its setting to great benefit, it helps to define who these guys are. At an age (mid-twenties) when most guys would not have much to lose professionally by coming out, these ball-players are already well into their high-paying and very public careers. The weight that this adds to what is at its core a love story is not crucial, but very valuable. I loved this book and could not put it down. I wanted so much to keep the feelings I got from the book with me that I bought what can only be described as its soundtrack album, Frank Sinatra's "Songs for Swinging Lovers". Every time I listen to the CD, I think of Randy and D.J. and it makes me happy!

I've got both the paperback and hardback (this one has the most attractive cover)editions and found the story very interesting but also saddening. The Princess could have used some sort of getaway so often in her life for stress reduction, to possibly save her marriage, even to save her life.
So many people used her to make themselves a lot of money without caring anything about her, I wonder if this book mght be one of those. ...descriptive reviews tell the story very well and I did find much to like in the book but I just can't shake the feeling that Lefcourt was simply in it for the money. I think it is a better story than "Whose Death in The Tunnel?" and possibly better than "A Life to Di For", but not by much.

In the tradition of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It's too bad this wonderful book is out of print, you might be able to find it in overstock bookstores. It reads like a wonderful dream, a very unexpected fairy tale. If you're a Princess Diana fan, this is a fantastic addition to all the biographies and exposes.

ATTENTION: All Diana Fans Want a royal giggle? If so, place your order for an out-of-print copy of this fictional account of Diana and the author's love affair and her escape from England. It is a riot - a jewel - a wonderful read. The author is fabulous at capturing the supporting characters' voices, not to mention Diana's. Whether you are at a poetry reading with Princess Margaret, bird watching with Prince Philip at Balmoral, dining with Fergie, playing tennis with the competitive King of Spain, or hobnobbing with Diana at embassy parties or Ascot, you will have a ball! If only it were true. Sigh. A really quite extraordinary book.

If you are looking for a fun (and more appropriately "funny") read, Peter Lefcourt's "The Woody" might just be the right novel for you. The novel follows Woodrow "Woody" White's hilariously troubled trek to be re-elected as a Vermont Senator. Not unlike real politics, Woody has a well-document "zipper" problem. His troubles begin on page one with a "performance problem" in the sheets during an extramarital fling with a lobbyist from the condom industry. The wild road that follows is both unpredictable and unrelenting. Just when you think things could not possibly get worse, they inevitably do. Lefcourt, a screen and television writer, certainly knows how to keep the plot interesting and moving. Each chapter has enough material to generously fill a half-hour sitcom.

While this is a political novel, it is also politically incorrect one. Dachshunds, Tourette's Syndrome, and stutterers are among the many things satirically skewered by Lefcourt. The author also uses real-life political figures to further blur the line between fact and fiction (Trent Lott is involved in a key storyline and even Bill Clinton and Al and Tipper Gore make an appearance). Lefcourt is even so bold as to "borrow" a Herman Melville opening line -- "Call me, Ishmael." But unlike "Moby Dick" (wink, wink), the protagonist of this novel is talking into a cell phone to his chief of staff. "The Woody" will leave you asking "Can truth really be stranger than fiction?" But given what we DO know goes on in Washington DC -- cynically the answer is probably "yes." Overall, a very quick and enjoyable read.

If only they allowed us a larger number of stars! "The Woody" is, hands down, one of the finest works of political satire ever published. The book is simply brilliant, both in style and content. It is well-written, with crisp, believable dialogue, well-paced action and a heaping dose of wry humor. More importantly, the book is as funny a send-up of modern politics as you'll ever read.

The protagonist, Senator Woody White fends off a blackmailing spouse, a litigous ex-wife, a scary housekeeper, a politically connected Vermont maple syrup kingpin and a very angry Trent Lott, whose car Woody dented in the Senate parking garage. But he really begins to panic when he comes down with a unfortunate case of Erectile Dysfunction.

You'll be laughing out loud as you read this book and you won't be able to put it down until you've reached the surprising, hillarious, witty end. The political novel has been re-defined. Peter Lefcourt opens a new chapter in the genre with "The Woddy." Don't miss out...read it today!

I had never been much of a novel reader-- few of them have impressed me much and I felt I didn't have the time or patience for fiction. I read mostly humor and reference books or "classic" literature. I received "The Woody" as a gift and read it about six months later. I enjoyed the book so much, I found two other Lefcourt novels, "The Deal" and "The Dreyfus Affair." I loved them both, but "The Woody" still remains my favorite. I laughed out loud and never wanted it to end. It's smart, hilarious political satire with interesting and surprisingly likeable characters. All who know me can hardly believe it-- I'm a novel reader at last. I've gone through several other novels this summer, but none have been quite as entertaining as Lefcourt's work. I recommend his books to most everyone I know and look forward to his future novels. Hurry up, already.

Maybe I missed the fine-print or something, but this book isn't what I was expecting, really, or what I was looking for. The book doesn't get three stars because it's bad -- it's not a bad book -- but because I think, well, the title is a sort of false advertising. When I picked up the book, I was expecting essays by successful writers about how they broke into the business of screenwriting ... inspirational-type stuff. Instead, what the book contains are stories about:

"The first time I ...

"... sold a tv-pilot after working for fifteen years as a staff-writer for a highly successful television show."

Or ...

"The first time I ...

"... adapted one of my highly sucessful stage plays into a screenplay."

And so on.

Many of the personal essays are interesting, some are funny, and the book is worth reading, if what you want to read are the kind of mildly amusing, sometimes hopeful essays contained in this book. If what you want is a book of essays by highly successful screenwriters about how the broke into the business, you'll find little (although some) of that here.

For anyone who's ever wanted to get paid for it, you ought to read this book. Especially wonderful for those who follow the Who's Who of Hollywood writers, and how they struggled. The foreword by William Goldman is especially charming as is the closing anecdote by Steve Zaillian, which I found touching. Audrey Wells' tale is flippant and funny as is Pamela Gray's.

One of the things I'd like to do in my life is write a screenplay. I haven't actually done it yet, and I have no idea what the process is like. But this book was a very interesting read. It has given me a renewed sense of hope. Some of the writers' stories in this book are like fairy tales to the hopeful screenwriters, and some of the stories show the reality to us. Reading these has helped me learn what to expect--because I understand that most of these writers were lucky, and that's a lot of what it takes to make it in Hollywood. Let's hope I have it.

Also, I must point out that the forward by William Goldman was worth the price of the book all by itself. I thought I was going to die laughing. I think I read the whole thing out loud to my roommate.

All in all, this is a wonderful book, with many memorable and hopeful stories.