Record East Hampton Library Authors Night 2025 Crowd Admits They Read Books

George Hamilton is a groupie. Maureen Dowd is in here somewhere. James Frey likes smart people. Dr. Ruth is still alive, in a way. And Christie Brinkley wants Bobbi Brown’s book. Hold on, the Uptown Girl is posing for a selfie. Okay she’s back. The age-defying super model joined a record crowd for Authors Night in East Hampton’s Herrick Park Saturday.

Hold on, she’s posing again. Hey, she’s good at it.

I’m back mopping my brow and snaking through the crowd of A-List authors and their fans to benefit the East Hampton Library. “Maureen Dowd is here!” gushes Jill Brooke. The former CNN anchor has a website called FlowerPowerDaily so she’s looking for gardening tomes. “It’s like catnip. You discover books you may not have known about and meet the authors.”

Richard Esposito wrote Jimmy Breslin: The Man Who Told The Truth so I’m pretty sure I’ll get straight answers. What’s the late Breslin thinking as he’s looking down on Authors Night? “Jimmy wants people to buy books. In fact, he would take it out of the library because he would want you to buy it and not borrow it.” Uh, okay, that’s kind of across purposes here but the sentiment is right. Library Board Member Debbie Walter says the money raised helps fund “All the programs that we do for free.” She also says while she sees a lot of familiar faces, she likes “meeting the new authors, too.”

One of those new authors is local celebrity Gina Bradley. She’s the Paddle Diva! “I love Authors Night and I love supporting the East Hampton Library.” Is everyone here standing correctly? “Yes, everyone is well balanced and looking ahead here,” she says with a giggle. Paddle Diva: 10 Guiding Principles to Finding Balance on Water and in Life has to be the longest title at the show. The movie will probably be PD-10. You heard it here first.

Pierre Lehu wrote 26 books with Dr. Ruth Westheimer. He’s here to keep her memory alive. “Everyone thinks of her as a sex therapist but she had a very long and lonely life. Governor Kathy Hochul appointed her Ambassador of Loneliness and then sadly she had a stroke.” It’s all in her last book with Lehu, The Joy Of Connections. Rest in Peace, Ruth. You have a great ambassador in Pierre. I’m off for more connections of my own.

“This is the best community because this event is so fun,” says Jessica Seinfeld. She’s coauthored a number of cookbooks and is here with the latest. “This is my second time here, but I’ve come other years and it feels good to get together with people versus being on line.” True. Still everyone here is on a line.

Bridgehampton house painter Jim Grubb is with girlfriend Ellen Watson. “We read every night,” he confesses. He’s also there to geek out on Neil deGrasse Tyson and Wilbur Ross. Oh, I buried the lede. Yes, Wilbur Ross has a groupie.

Someone else with a big fan who apparently follows her everywhere is author and designer Katherine Bryan. Her plus-one? Legendary actor George Hamilton. He’s 85 and looks like an Avatar. That’s a compliment. I ask about Great Inspiration, her hardcover coffee table book that’s big enough to be a coffee table. I know, Kramer did it first. “I’m a fan of Katherine. Her ability to design is amazing.” His ability to withstand heat is even more amazing. It’s about 140 degrees in here and this guy is in a navy blue, double-breasted blazer with a crisp shirt and perfectly knotted tie. How is that possible? I’m sweating like Sean Combs at an arraignment. Hamilton smoothly explains, “I don’t exhale, I just inhale.” I try it and nearly pass out.

He’s not the only great looking older guy putting the rest of us to shame. Dr. Nicholas Perricone is a New York dermatologist to the stars. This guy looks amazing. Dr. Perricone says his book isn’t just about skin but about “beauty from the inside out.” Okay, but at 76 his skin is pretty great from the outside in. He and Hamilton look like they tied in a ‘tan-off contest.’

Speaking of great looks, Makeup Maven Bobbi Brown has a book but she’s also just a fan of the event. “It’s really well done and overwhelming and all I want to do is meet Griffin Dunne but he’s bombarded,” says Brown. Her booth is right next to Christie Brinkley. “I used to do her makeup so I’ve known her forever.” Brown says she “listens to books” and had to do her own Audio Book on tape. “It took three days and a lot of green tea,” she said with a laugh.

Brown was right about the crowd at Griffin Dunne’s booth. His dishy Hollywood tome The Friday Afternoon Club is about his life and it’s a doozy. At a private dinner that night—one of 18 held around the Hamptons this year with authors to further benefit the library—he tells me “We sold out! I don’t have any for the guests here.”

Back to the Christie line. I’ve given up on Maureen Dowd. “It’s so exciting to see all the different authors” Brinkley tells me. “Everyone here is so creative.” Her line is the second longest after Dowd and kind of intersects with Neil deGrasse Tyson’s long line across the way. He tells me he “didn’t know there were this many readers in the universe.” He’s got a million of those. And plenty of books. He’s not new to this cosmos.

James Frey is hawking Next to Heaven and thinks it’s “good to see so many people get excited about books. And it’s a great way for writers to show respect and love to readers.” Kumbaya! He grew up in libraries and “raised my children in them.” He then sagely offers the line of the night. “Everybody used to read books now just smart people do.”

I’m trying to think of the last book I read and then realize he was staring right at me and just kinda knew it had been a while.

If that was the smartest line of the night, perrennial Monte Farber, there with wife and partner Amy Zerner had the funniest one liner. Actually two lines. “I go to the East Hampton Library to make sure they’re spending the money correctly. I know they are because they’re not spending anything on air conditioning for this tent.”

He’s right. Next year I’m bringing a fan. The kind you wave in front of yourself. Or maybe I’ll just send George Hamilton with a list of questions.

Bill McCuddy is a frequent Dan’s contributor. He’s a professional stand-up comedian “sometimes” he says. “I’ve been on Conan three times if you count reruns.” He also hosts a monthly radio program on WLIW-FM and a weekly summer LTV show “Weekend Live: The Hamptons Now” with Patrick McLaughlin. He would write more but he’s winded.