Book review: "Gossip Girl"

"Gossip Girl." By Cecily von Ziegesar. Little, Brown. $9.99. 201 pages.

Wow, did I drink too much tonight. Three chocolate martinis in one giant gulp and instead of smoking, I burned through this whole book, "Gossip Girl."

I'm not sure which would have been healthier, the Dunhills or this book.

While I've been aware of the whole "Gossip Girl" phenomena since 2002, when the first book (this one), came out, I just never got around to reading any of the books. Frankly, Nick McDonnell's overrated "Twelve" was enough sourness from the UES teen set for me. But my sister wants the books, so if I'm going to send them to her in Africa, I might as well read them first, right?

Even the nice teens aren't very nice. But on the other hand, the mean teens aren't all that evil. "Cruel Intentions" this is not. The rich party kids who grew up blocks away from me? Well, maybe.

Ok, so I'm totally hooked into "Gossip Girl," now, sadly, even though I kind of despise all the characters. But this is a lot better than the "Sweet Valley High" books of old.