Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Days before she was murdered on Dec. 27, Benazir Bhutto, the problematic two-time prime minister of Pakistan, finished writing ``Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West'' (Harper, $27.95). Rushed into production, the book lands in stores on Feb. 12, with a new afterword by her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, and their three children.
Political lobbyist Mark Siegel, Bhutto's collaborator, will stand in her place on the book tour. The audience for the book is likely to be strongest in Washington, where Siegel will stop in at the National Press Club on Feb. 20.
A main, well-proven theme of the book is that Islam must resolve internal conflicts before it can accommodate democracy and reconcile its differences with the West.
Outside the Beltway, interest varies. Tariq Rahman, books manager at Halalco, an Islamic supermarket in Falls Church, Virginia, said that while he plans to stock the book, he doesn't anticipate strong sales.
``No one has asked me for any other books by or about her,'' he said.
At Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, customers quickly bought up existing stock of Bhutto's 1989 autobiography, ``Daughter of Destiny,'' prompting purchasing manager Kathy Kirby to put in an order for 200 copies of ``Reconciliation.''
``I think there will be lingering interest in Bhutto for a while,'' Kirby said.
Since rushing production of ``Reconciliation,'' Harper has doubled the announced first printing to 100,000 copies from 50,000 and will republish ``Daughter of Destiny'' in April, with a new epilogue from Siegel.
`The Thing About Life'
One title Kirby is confident will sell at her store is David Shields's ``The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead'' (Knopf, $23.95).
``We had a lot of pre-orders on our Web site,'' said Kirby. ``It's the type of book that really resonates with men of a certain age.''
Prompted, in part, by the realization that his cranky 97- year-old father had a robust sex life well into his 70s, Shields has written a meditation on mortality. He dwells at length on his own aging body, calculates his remaining breaths (he hopes for another 300 million) and offers data about his diminishing erections.
Knopf will likely be standing by to see whether its 30,000- copy first printing will be enough to satisfy demand.
`Celebutantes'
Equally frank and far less earnest is the novel ``Celebutantes'' (St. Martin's Press, $23.95) by Amanda Goldberg and Ruthanna Hopper. The authors, who are both Hollywood princesses (the daughters of producer Leonard Goldberg and actor Dennis Hopper, respectively), have produced a roman a clef about a spoiled director's daughter and her coterie of BFFs (Best Friends Forever) during Oscar week.
In an effort to extend their audience beyond bookstores, the authors enlisted movie director McG (``Charlie's Angels,'' ``We Are Marshall'') to shoot four film ``trailers'' for the novel.
``It's kind of backward,'' agreed Steve Troha, associate director of publicity for St. Martin's Press. ``Usually, you read the book and imagine the characters, then see them visualized in a movie. This time the movie comes first. I think it will definitely change the way people read the book.''
The trailers, available on YouTube, are definitely NSFW (Not Safe for Work): The first features a lithe, bikini-clad starlet faking an orgasm, while another stars a male fashion designer who confesses to having attempted auto-fellatio.
With 100,000 copies of the book going on sale Feb. 5, Troha is hedging his bets.
``We're still planning on running newspaper ads,'' he said.
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