Whoopi Goldberg"s upfront, no-holds-barred comedy tactics have forced their way onto the silver screen over the past two decades in box-office hits ranging from Ghost to Sister Act, making this talented and eccentric actress one of the hottest properties in Hollywood. Here the snappish, wisecracking Whoopi ambushes the reading public with her provocative and, at times controversial, thoughts, ideas and feelings on subjects close to her heart. Not quite an autobiography, more a collection of essays on the vacillations and hazards of life in general, Book is a straight- talking, wisecracking, sizzling insight into the mind of one of the world"s top entertainers. Often pensive, occasionally sombre, but more often than not whip-crackingly funny, Book is a stimulating, exotic read, surprisingly easy to dip in and out of, and without the sometimes dull life histories and hard- luck stories that so often form the backbone of celebrity autobiographies. From the delightfully irreverent description of her farting years (a talent which earned her her name), to the ponderings of a woman in love--"AIN"T IT GRAND!"--and back again to her perception of the indiscretions of American presidents, the emotions that surround death and her awe at the number of penis-shaped items available in the shops, Whoopi lets the reader into her world through a series of wry, upfront and entirely separate chapters that leave us to draw our own conclusions about the woman behind the laughs. --Susan Harrison