At least 100 authors came out to support the East Hampton Library on Saturday including Ed Burns, Katie Lee, Marc Murphy, Nelson DeMille, and Dr. Ruth Westheimer signed copies of their books at Authors Night to benefit the East Hampton Library.
Actor Alec Baldwin, a founding honorary co-chair of the event, and his wife, Hilaria, made their rounds, and former New York Gov. George Pataki came to support his daughter, Allison Pataki, who is also an author.
Dr. Ruth signed copies of her book, “The Doctor is in: Dr. Ruth on Love, Life and Joie de Vivre,” and doled out her best advice on the subjects.
Her philosophy on life: “Make the best of everyday.”
On friends: “If your friend complains, find new friends.”
And, of course, on relationships: “The best advice is make sure that the bedroom does not become boring. And make time to have good sex… Lock the door, hang the phone up and make sure that you also have interests outside of the bedroom that you can share.”
Pataki made his book buying rounds as a proud father, gushing about his daughter’s new novel. When we asked what was on the top of his summer reading list, he was happy to answer.
“Well, I’ll tell ya, it’s gotta be ‘The Accidental Empress.’ My daughter wrote it, it was a New York Times best seller, and it’s not as though I’m proud or anything, but I’m proud!” he said.
Hamptons Magazine cover star Edward Burns signed his book “Independent Ed” for long lines of fans. He called it “a little bit of a how-to guide” that includes his successes, and also cautionary tales for people trying to get into film.
“I tried to create a book I wish I would have had in film school as a little bit of a road map as you sort of head out on your journey to try and make films,” he said.
Burns gave credit to his wife — supermodel Christy Turlington Burns — who he said came up with the idea for a book, and also suggested he publish it this year, the 20th anniversary of Burns’ movie, “The Brothers McMullen.”
“She came up with the idea probably about 10 years ago,” Burns said. “I thought that it was a great idea, but I was always too busy writing screenplays.”
Later this month, Burns will be on the small screen in a new TNT series he created, wrote, directed and stars in called “Public Morals,” in which he said he draws on his experiences as a kid growing up in a cop family.
The show was shot in Manhattan and Queens, but the Valley Stream native pointed out there’s at least one Long Island shout-out.
“My family in season one, they’re are talking about getting out of Hell’s Kitchen and there’s a conversation about maybe we should buy in Valley Stream!”
Elisa DiStefano is News 12 Long Island’s Entertainment & Traffic Reporter. You can watch her weekday mornings starting at 5 a.m. You can also see her weekly “Hot in the Hamptons” report every Monday on News 12 Long Island.
