No. She does not interest me at all. She is the most guarded person I’ve ever met and would not dream of writing what she really thinks about anything or anyone, starting with her husband.

Laura Bush wrote an essay in one of my books, and I was happy to discover that she’s a pretty earthy woman. Her story was about one of her earliest memories of lying on a blanket with her mother on their front lawn, looking up at the sky. "And what a sky it was," she wrote. "Mother knew some of the constellations, and she would point them out to me. But mostly we would just gaze up and talk." She carried on that tradition of enjoying the galaxy with her own daughters years later. That gave me a peek into what seems a very good woman and mother. Still, I probably won’t read her book. I’m really not interested in hearing one word more about HIM.

Of course, I am interested in reading Laura Bush’s autobiography. I am interested in anything Mrs. Bush does because she seems to be one of the rare members of the Bush dynasty with great common sense. I even read the novel written about her, American Wife, and I liked her better and better after that. Mrs. Bush is a driving force behind the Texas Book Festival. I think she is a  wonderful woman who married a man she loves, but of whom she sometimes disapproves.  The wives of presidents have a tough row to hoe. She did well in her attitude of disengagement from the negatives. Mrs. Bush’s favorite thing other than reading is to hang out with her Texas girlfriends. This shows an excellent realistic take on life. 

Click here on this text to read my New York Post column.

Under Sodium Pentothal or any truth drug, I would want to delve deeply into her sub-conscience. Be this truth serum is not the impetus for the novel; I would not want to read it. It’s her deepest darkest secrets that interest me.

Yes, I’m interested in reading Laura Bush’s autobiography. She’s a lovely, strong, interesting woman who handled a thankless job incredibly well. I also don’t think she’s been given enough credit for some of her activities while in office. She has done far more than read to grade-school children. She has actively supported the people of Burma, speaking out against the prolonged detainment of Aung San Suu Kyi and protesting the treatment of peaceful protesters by the ruling junta. She has urged the international community not to buy Burmese gemstones — which prop up the regime — and has visited the refugee camps on the Thai-Burmese border. Her own private library foundation is responsible for the rebuilding and restocking of countless libraries on the Katrina-ravaged Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans, where she has made 23 visits and also driven school recovery efforts. She has focused attention on two of her husband’s better ideas, the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest international health initiative in history to fight a single disease, and has visited ten of the 15 PEPFAR focus countries and ten of the 15 countries aided by PMI.

I could go on about her work, but that’s not what makes her interesting to me. She is warm, has a great sense of humor that few have seen and has a core group of good friends she has known since childhood and to whom she is extraordinarily close and supportive. The first time I did a story on her for Newsweek when she was still First Lady of Texas, we went to lunch with two of these women and I had a blast. They were as bright and warm and hilarious as she is. Every year they take a trip together and go hiking in some national park or whitewater rafting, which I don’t think most people can imagine her doing. 

Also, no matter what you think of the administration, it’s important to have a record of people’s time in the White House. I was at lunch at the White House about three weeks ago. There were some writers like me, some historians, Cokie Roberts, Dee Myers. It was very relaxed and we sat around in the exquisitely restored Green Room downstairs, where she has hung some beautiful 20th-century works of art, and one of the historians urged her to write her memoirs because, he said, the president’s and First Lady’s official papers aren’t released for years, and it is vital for them to put down in their own words their experiences.

Further, it is absurd to transfer the feelings one might have about the president to his wife — or to be rude to her because of him. Once, about two years ago, I had dinner with Mrs. Bush and two other women at Galatoire’s in New Orleans. She had instructed the Secret Service to hang back as she just wanted to relax and have a few laughs before getting up at dawn to go to some schools along the Gulf Coast. And we had barely sat down before the parade started. A man came up and told her that he wished her husband would be tortured like they tortured the prisoners at Abu Graib. It went on and on. When one guy came by and told her that while he thought the president was a monster, he had always liked her, she waited until he had walked off and looked at me and said, "And that’s supposed to make me feel better?" I was embarrassed to my core for my city — hell, for my fellow man. I have enormous respect for her and now I would love to hear what she has to say.