Waiting for Britney Spears

 Waiting for Britney Spears: A True Story, Allegedly by Jeff Weiss, 388 pgs. 

This is a humdinger of a book. Punchy, first-person writing that keeps the reader hooked all the way to the end--even if you're not a Britney Spears fan, which I am not. The book kicks off with the author, before he's even published anything, accidently wandering into his high school gym right after graduation and stumbling upon the video shoot for the song "Hit Me Baby (One More Time)." That scene kicks off the rest of the story, as the author talks his way into a job at a popular tabloid magazine in L.A. where he's assigned the 'Britney' beat, alongside a charismatic but glory-hungry paparazzi photographer. Together, they capture Britney's worst moments for tabloid fodder. Though he knows he's contributing to the self-immolation of America's favorite pop-star, Weiss can't help but feel guilty and wonder if we've lost sight of the person Britney is as opposed to the icon we all expect her to be. I would occasionally catch headlines over the years, but never really knew what was going on with Spears, but I was surprised at how much I remembered from this book. I don't know if I fully believe the author's guilt, given that's he's writing this today, at a time when it's been pretty widely recognized that Spears was mistreated and abused by everyone around her--he has the benefit of hindsight. To wit, none of his stories that he filed about Spears make an appearance here. Nonetheless, if you're gonna read a Britney book, can't go wrong with this one. Reads like a gonzo-tabloid self-confessional.