A Good Read

Bet there are a lot of writers out there who wish they were as talented as Britney Spears. The lissome sprite, along with her mom, has penned a novel -- titled A Mother's Gift -- about a teenage girl who wants to be a star. (Hey, write what you know.) It must be very good. Because Boxtree, the English publisher, plans to shell out $724,200 for the rights, and that's way more than Hemingway or Faulkner or Thomas Wolfe or any of those guys ever got for one of their books.