Tom Lynch

British journalist Toby Young made his first splash in the literary world with 2002's "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People," a fun title for a book about his experience in the media circus that is New York City (he was an editor at Vanity Fair), his personal failures handling status-seeking journalists, scenester abscesses and the general so-sleek-it's-slippery skin of the city. It's a witty, self-deprecating book that shot its way onto various bestseller lists, as well as into the good graces of nearly all critics. That book got him a phone call from an A-List Hollywood producer, one Young won't name, who asked him to write a movie script. This is where "The Sound of No Hands Clapping" takes off, Young's follow-up memoir to his debut mega-hit. This time he focuses on his eventual failure at screenwriting (after a while, the producer stopped returning phone calls), his success at being a father and a husband and a few other personal, self-effacing anecdotes, including a rant on his time spent as a bad theater critic. Expect a live reading and presentation to be as amusing as his written word.

Toby Young discusses "The Sound of No Hands Clapping" July 10 at Borders, 830 North Michigan, (312)573-0564, at 7pm. Free. (2006-06-30)

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