But Enough About Me
How a Small-Town Girl Went From Shag Carpet To The Red Carpet
by Jancee Dunn

List Price: $13.95
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0060843659
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks

New Jersey in the 1980s had everything Jancee Dunn wanted: trips down the shore, Bruce Springsteen, a tantalizing array of malls. To music lover Jancee, New York City was a foreign country. So it was with bleak expectations that she submitted her résumé to Rolling Stone magazine. And before she knew it, she was backstage and behind the scenes with the most famous people in the world -- hiking in Canada with Brad Pitt, snacking on Velveeta with Dolly Parton, dancing drunkenly onstage with the Beastie Boys -- trading her good-girl suburban past for late nights, hipster guys, and the booze-soaked rock 'n' roll life.

Riotously funny and tremendously touching, But Enough About Me is the amazing true story of an outsider who couldn't quite bring herself to become an insider.

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1. How did Jancee's feeling of being an outsider early on in her life actually help her interviewing skills?

2. Do you think Jancee's job influenced her rock-and-roll lifestyle, or do you think the men she met had more influence over her choices? Is choosing a bad boyfriend a necessary part of growing up?

3. Jancee's family plays a big role in her life. One day Jancee finally "interviews" her mother and discovers there's so much about her own family she doesn't even know. How does this event begin to turn Jancee's life around? Are we guilty at times of this sort of behavior?

4. "The more it was apparent that my days as a Rock Chick were waning, the harder I clung to the crumbling identity I had built up so carefully" (page 199, HC). Did Jancee still see herself as an outsider playing a role? Why do you think she never fully became that Rock Chick person?

5. The Dunn family could not be more hopelessly conservative and retro while Jancee's life spirals in the complete opposite direction. Why does Jancee call her father when life with the famous begins to get too surreal?

6. Near the end of the book, Jancee visits Rolling Stone and realizes that she had become one of the magazine's older people that the younger staffers tolerated. Did you agree that it was time for her to find another line of work? Is rock and roll a younger person's game?

7. Jancee has interviewed Patti Scialfa, but never one of her childhood idols, Bruce Springsteen. Many people never want to meet their idols in person in case they might be disappointed. Do you agree with this line of thinking?

8. Do you think that people pay too much attention to celebrities? What is the danger of celebrity worship? What need does this seem to fulfill in our own lives?

9. With the rise of internet celebrity coverage, we have turned into a collective high school, as we comment on stars and condemn or celebrate their behavior. Do you think that candid photographs are an invasion of their privacy, or is everything fair game when you're a public figure?

10. Jancee has rules for engaging celebrities in conversation, such as 'never begin with 'I' . . . Leading off with something about yourself is deadly.' Are there rules in the book that could apply to everyday conversations with others?

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"A fresh look at our star constellations, from Madonna to Bono to Mel Gibson. . . Dunn brings a fan’s enthusiasm to her showbiz profiles."

—USA Today

"Hilarious -- you won’t be able to keep from reading the whole thing."

—Matthew Klam, author of SAM THE CAT

"I loved this book from start to finish ... Jancee Dunn is a wonderful storyteller."

—Curtis Sittenfeld, author of PREP

"Jancee has "dunn" (pun intended) a spectacular job ... I am so proud to be a part of it.."

—Dolly Parton

"Funny, frothy and fabulous … Dunn is a master of character development."

—Kirkus Reviews

"A delight to read … Amusing, clever and affable, Dunn shares a satisfying memoir-turned-celebrity dish."

—Publishers Weekly

"A fresh look at our star constellations. . . . Dunn brings a fan’s enthusiasm to her showbiz profiles."

—USA Today

"Disarmingly funny."

—People

"Entertaining . . .an inside look at being a celebrity journalist."

—The New Yorker

"Relentlessly readable."

—New York Magazine

"Pitch-perfect."

—Vogue

"Sparkles with wry humor, touching honesty, and celebrity insight…[Dunn is] hilariously entertaining."

—Library Journal (Starred)

"Breezy…juicy…irresistable…as entertaining as the megastars [Dunn] has built a career on profiling."

—Entertainment Weekly

"[A] hilarious, gushy, totally gratifying memoir."

—DailyCandy.com

"Delightful"

—Daily News

"Hilarious"

—Elle Girl

"A touching, laugh-out-loud memoir."

—New Jersey Star Ledger

"Hilarious tales of a career spent chronicling life on the A list."

—Rolling Stone