A memoir that dishes it out and takes it as well

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

By Toby Young

Da Capo, 340 pages, $14.95 paper

You don’t have to be a media junkie to enjoy this book, but a vague familiarity with Vanity Fair might help. This hilarious memoir by British-born Toby Young is bursting with hilarious anecdotes about wannabes, celebrities and ambition, and life at the glossy monthly magazine. And he skewers himself with the same panache as he does everyone in his orbit.