Multi-Talented Celebrities are on 'Dancing with the Stars' and Library Shelves

This week’s column was submitted by David Whittingham of the .

What is with professional football players winning Dancing with the Stars?

In a way, it makes sense. To play football, Donald Driver had to be agile and athletic and perhaps graceful. But winning the dancing competition and doing it so well surprised me.

I am always impressed when someone who has reached the top of one field can jump into and dominate in another. In Dancing with the Stars, all the contestants are folks who made their fame in another area and then signed up for the dance show.

The premise got me thinking about when famous actors branch out and write books or produce music? This seems to be coming up more and more often.

Earlier:

There are lots of examples of folks who have branched out. Steve Martin and Kirk Douglas have both written novels and they got some good reviews. I see that Nicole Richie wrote a novel; I have no idea if it was good.

I also remember checking out William Shatner's music CD. Hugh Laurie of House M. D. fame has a music CD called Let Them Talk. It is a New Orleans style blues album. He also wrote the novel, the Gun Seller.

Richard Belzer of Law and Order fame has published a couple of mystery novels, the most recent entitled, I Am Not a Psychic. And Jeff Bridges came out with a country music CD last year, titled Jeff Bridges.

I guess I expected these stars to have used their fame and name recognition to get published in other fields. But in most cases I have been pleasantly surprised by both their skill and sense of adventure.

I read Gideon's War by Howard Gordon and I’m on the waiting list for his new book called Hard Target. One of our regulars at the library mentioned him knowing I like Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp spy thrillers.

Gordon writes a great page-turner. He was the producer of the hit TV show 24 and was also a writer for the X-Files.

Gideon's War reads a lot like 24, being fast-paced and following a short timeline formula. In this case it is 48 hours; I guess 24 would have made too short of a book.

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