"The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Year" by Andy Cohen

Who Should Read This: Fans of the Real Housewives and other Bravo shows.

As Executive Producer of the Real Housewives franchises and host of the successful television show Watch What Happens Live, Andy Cohen has the front row seat and backstage pass to all things pop culture.  And now he’s bringing everyone along for the ride.

In The Andy Cohen Diaries: A Deep Look at a Shallow Life, Andy shares the detailed diary he kept of one year in his life, inspired by The Warhol Diaries.  Readers follow along as he parties, flirts, and dates his way through life.  He shares behind the scenes drama, trying out Tinder, and finding true love in his dog Wacha.  Readers get to know his family and dear friends, his doorman, and the city of New York.  And if you’re into celebrity gossip, he has a ton for you.

This book can definitely be described as a who’s who of pop culture in 2014.  Lady Gaga, the Housewives, Jimmy Fallon, Kardashians, Anderson Cooper, they are all in here plus many, many more.  It seems like pretty much every celebrity came on his show and if they didn’t appear there, they were at some party Andy attended.  If you’re a fan of celebrity culture, Andy is the one you want to go to.

But if you’re not that big of a fan of celebrity culture, it all may seem a little tedious to you.  A lot his days are the same.  Pretty much every day he touches on his weight and workouts and talks a lot about his dog (which I get, when you love your pet that much, you’re going to talk about them.)  But all the dirt he’s supposed to dish? If you’re not already invested in some of these people, it’s not going to seem like very much to you.  Plus, if you haven’t already read his first book Most Talkative, which I didn’t, you’re not going to recognize who some of the people he talks about are (he refers to him by first name only and some of them aren’t recognizable.) Though in fairness, he does mention this at the beginning of the book.

Some of the “scoops” he shares aren’t scoops by the time you’re reading the book (Bethenny may be coming back to Real Housewives of New York) and names aren’t always dropped (the husbands of the housewives who call to complain) so the book was a little disappointing to me.  It’s not that I read it just for the gossip, but that’s how it’s marketed and that is where it fell short.

But it wasn’t all boring stuff or celebrity gossip for me.  I enjoyed reading about his time at the celebrity softball game for MLB All-Star weekend, going to the Met Ball with Sarah Jessica Parker, and his parents are absolutely endearing.  

Look, the word “shallow” is right in the title, so we can’t be expecting too much out of the book or disappointed when it’s all just name-dropping, massages, and the Hamptons.  But a deep look?  I was expecting a bit more introspection or thought, rather than just recounting of days.  This is one of those books that unless you are a massive fan, it’s better to borrow.