Rosie talks about her book..."The View" carries on w/o her...

Far from keeping a low departure since her expolsive departure from "The View" a few weeks ago, Rosie O'Donnell spoke Sunday at BookExpo America. At the annual publishing industry convention, Rosie talked up her forthcomijng memoir "Celebrity Detox" due out this fall. She says the book will focus on the highs and lows of fame, including her thoughts on what she calls "an interesting year." But don't look for TV's one-time Queen of Nice to rake former co-host and friend Elisabeth Hasselbeck over the coals because Rosie insists the book will be neither "vindictive" nor "mean-spirited," according to the Associated Press. It will be an open and honest look at life in the spotlight, including her eight-month run on "The View."
"[Fame] is, in fact, a drug," she told those in attendance at the convention.
Rosie often xpresses her feelings by way of her Rosie.com Internet blog and she said that her book will be "half-blog," half-"straight" writing.

Meanwhile, "The View" continues without Rosie and I tuned in today to see how things are going. Of course Rosie leaves a void but Joy Behar is once again the funniest person on the panel and she was on fire today. Barbara Walters does a solid job as moderator while with Rosie gone, Elisabeth comes off as a lot less defensive and shrill even though her conservative politics are at odds with the rest of the panel. Today's guest host, Kathy Griffin, is a lot of fun and I've been impressed by her. There are clearly some auditions going on here.
At one point, Griffin and Hasselbeck started to clash on terrorism (what else?) and Walters said pointedly that "This show is called 'The View'" and that it was possible to express those views without getting into a fistfight, or something to that effect.
Griffin told the other gals how she wanted to do a show for the gay inmates in the LA County Jail (apparently there's a gay wing?) but she says Sheriff Lee Baca put the kibosh on the idea which, obviously, was a stunt for her "Life on the D List" show. The topic of Baca came up when the panel discussed Paris Hilton and Kathy and Joy stood up and re-inacted Paris taking her glam mug shot. Said Joy: "She needs to wash a few toilet bowls." Added Griffin: "She represents entitlement in America and she's famous for notjing...young people looking up to me is very depressing to me."