“I don’t have anything to say!” Jay McInerney giggled. The Bright Lights, Big City author and Gossip Girl actor hosted revelers at his Greenwich Village penthouse apartment Monday evening to celebrate the release of Candace “evilminkster” Bushnell’s latest book, Summer in the City, which details the formative years of Carrie Bradshaw in Manhattan.
Mr. McInerney recalled early memories of Ms. Bushnell, back before her Observer column made her rich and famous: “She was always the funniest person in the room! I couldn’t predict for sure that was going to lead to international fame. I used to take her home at 3 a.m. and carry her up the stairs to her walk-up apartment!”
And what of Ms. Bushnell’s new tome? “I don’t think it was really written for me,” he said, then backpedaled. “I’ll read it, but it’s a young adult novel!” He might want to, as a youthful version of a Sex character supposedly based on Mr. McInerney appears in the book. “I’m flattered to be a source of inspiration for someone as astonishing as Candace,” he proclaimed, going on to lament those who take issue with being a source of literary inspiration. “I can’t tell you how many people have dined out on saying that I’ve based this character on them and then somehow bitching about how I didn’t get it right. Frankly,” Mr. McInerney poked the Transom in the chest, “I think most journalism is more full of shit than fiction is.”
Asked how his life at The Wall Street Journal as a wine columnist is working out, Mr. McInerney laughed: “Beats having a real job!”
At one point, a distinctive smell wafted by. “The pot-smoking section’s on the other side of the balcony if you want to check it out,” Mr. McInerney noted helpfully.
