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The ESPN columnist who scored an early copy of the Pete Rose book and posted the first review -- Alysse Minkoff -- works out of her home in Brentwood, says Keith J. Kelly in tomorrow's New York Post. He credits Minkoff with scooping Sports Illustrated's exclusive excerpts of My Prison Without Bars, written with Rick Hill, and beating everybody else with a review by 48 hours.
On the ESPN site, Minkoff explains that five bookstores turned her down -- they were strictly forbidden to make any sales until Thursday -- but she found a friendly store manager who let her have two copies. She broke a date and parked herself with a martini at Maple Drive in Beverly Hills to start reading. The bookstore's identity will go with her to the grave, she tells Kelly.
She liked the book, incidentally:
This is a damn good book and an enthralling read. Pete Rose is a compelling, tragic figure in this drama of his own making, and as a reader I never once felt the least bit sorry for him -- which is exactly the way he wants it.[fast forward]
Rose, an unapologetic man's man, refuses to turn his autobiography into a whiny "poor me" confessional. He is, at turns both defiant and deeply embarrassed by his own behavior, and it's often quite difficult to discern where the defiance ends and the embarrassment begins.
Her credit line on the ESPN site reads: "Alysse Minkoff has written for Ladies Home Journal, Cigar Aficionado Magazine, and MSNBC. She can be reached at AGirlReporter@aol.com."
Meanwhile...Kelly's column also reports that Zorianna Kit is leaving the Hollywood Reporter for People to write "The Insider." Tom Cuneff, who has been doing the column, will return to "the general news beat as a Los Angeles-based correspondent."