Writer Curtis Sittenfeld is a terrible, but indefatigable, matchmaker. As she puts it, "I've tried to set up nearly a dozen couples, and with one notable exception, it's never worked. I've unsuccessfully introduced straight and gay people, old friends and new acquaintances, but the one thing they almost all have in common is an apparent aversion to each other." She identifies two reasons why she can't stop trying. For one, she's a hopeless romantic. For another, she wants to be in on the drama.

when you introduce two people, you're immediately creating a story, and I love stories. Think about it: Whether or not the two people like each other, you're putting a plot in motion. Either the couple does get along, and that plot continues and expands, or they don't and the plot quickly ends. In a best-case scenario, the two people fall madly in love and there's a wedding, which, as any reader of Jane Austen knows, is the best possible way for all plots to conclude. Alas, this doesn't happen 99 percent of the time, but still, the two people involved — and by extension, I — get to enjoy the questions and tensions that arise as the plot unfolds: Where and when will they decide to meet? Will they like each other? Will one like the other more?

Sittenfeld's matchmaking misadventures make for a funny read, but for any of us who have tried to play Emma, there's also the uncomfortable knowledge that the act of matchmaking isn't purely altruistic: there's an element of control involved that smacks of ego. On some level, don't we want to be the one to have arranged things - and by extension, isn't there often a bit of irrational resentment when things don't work out? You're perfect for each other! Why won't you do as you're supposed to! my petty subconscious might shout on those occasions when I was unwise enough to attempt connecting friends. In my case, too, I came to recognize that my attempts at meddling with my friends' love lives was a way of avoiding my own - I far preferred being an asexual fairy godmother to the heroine in my own narrative, to use Sittenfeld's analogy.

And having been on the other end, in some ways being a friend's pawn can be deeply uncomfortable; while it's nice to have someone looking out for you, and great to have someone trusted vetting people for you, it can lead to all kinds of bad feeling. Seriously? you are sometimes left thinking. This is who you think I am? Do you know me at all? Breaking the news to the macher in these cases is not fun. Not to mention the universal dislike of being patronized by those friends in relationships. And the less said about the loathsome Millionaire Matchmaker, the better.

But of course, a success story means it's all worth it. My dad, amongst other claims (chief amongst them allegedly having invented the "what's hot, what's not" list) says he has been responsible for no fewer than four enduring marriages. Now that I think of it, several of my male friends have brokered successful relationships (although it should be said the "matchmaking" seems to have sometimes taken the form of, "dude, if you don't make a move, I will" type goading rather than subtle foursome dinners.) Tons of couples meet through friends one way or another, and when mutual interest has been expressed, it's deeply satisfying to put two people in touch. But the fact remains that some of us just aren't born with the successful matchmaking gene, and for the good of our social lives, like Sittenfeld, we've got to know when to cut our losses and rewatch Clueless.

I Know Just The Person For You! [Salon]

• Though Laura did admit she disagreed with George about abortion, like Daum says, don't expect her to publicly bash most of what George did in office. She's clearly a very loyal wife, and I think has too much of a sense of decorum to disavow her husband's disastrous Presidency.
• Do expect her to talk more about the good work she did in the White House, like her initiatives on education, books, and women's health.
• Don't expect her to dish too much dirt on her daughters, Jenna and Barbara. Though there may be a warm or irreverent anecdote or two, like when Laura told her biographer Ann Gerhart about how "then-20-year-old Jenna Bush call[ed] her father right before he was to deliver the post-9/11 State of the Union address to announce she'd lost the sticker for her car," Laura will not be talking about that time Jenna got arrested for underage drinking.
• Do expect her to throw at least one curve ball. I would wager that she dishes about one of two things. 1. the tragic car accident she got into as a 17-year-old girl. Laura hit another car being driven by a classmate of hers and he died in the crash. She allegedly had a crush on the guy. 2. George's alcoholism. Everyone already knows that George used to be a huge lush and then found Jesus. She may reveal her reaction to George's substance abuse, because it's just adding emotional content to something that's widely known already.
• Don't expect her to reveal overmuch about the inner workings of her husband's administration. She'll probably talk about 9/11 and the events surrounding it, but the only secrets from inside the White House we'll get from Laura will likely be about draperies.

Of course, it's possible I've misjudged the situation. Maybe Laura's fed up enough to go rogue and write a bonkers tell-all where she discusses what George's lil' W looks like. Maybe it will have as much salacious detail as Sittenfeld's fictionalized interpretation of Laura, American Wife. Laura will be on Meet The Press this Sunday, and perhaps she'll give us a little taste of her autobiographical naughties. What would you like to hear Laura reveal in her forthcoming memoir?

Laura Bush Confirms She's Shopping A Book Proposal [USA Today]
Bushes' Books [LA Times]
The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush [Amazon]
Why I Love Laura Bush [Salon]
On The Sunday Shows [Time]

Earlier: Social Awkwardness, Long Odds & Sarah Palin: A Chat With Curtis Sittenfeld

• We've gotten a lot of emails this week whining about the excess of Palin coverage. But you know what Palin hates more than anything — whiners! If you whine, the terrorists win…Or something. Anyway, check out what Judge Judy thinks about Sarah Palin.
• Also check out what American Wife author Curtis Sittenfeld thinks about Sarah Palin!
• Don't forget about comparing her future potential reign to Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale!
• With all of this nonsense, we almost forgot it was FASHION WEEK! Check out Dodai's Project Runway Bryant Park show live blog and the rest of our fashion week posts.

• And now for something completely different! Our ANTM girlcrush, Sheena.
• Check it: The 8 Worst Hairdos A Man Can Have.
• Are those more, or less offensive than the worst of the fall magazine ads?
• The worst of all: Teen Vogue's awesome new eating disorder.
• But you guys. It's Friday. So rock out those bad hairdos, shut off the CNN, and don't let anyone spike your drink with sexactivator.

What attracted you to Laura as a fictional construct in the first place? In the Times you've declared your love for her and I've read the Salon essay in which you first mention your admiration for her. You call her "a mastermind of stealth independence."
Basically I read these various articles about her, and realized that she was more complicated than I would have imagined. She and George Bush got married at the age of 31, and she was a democrat until she married him. She actually has some very liberal close friends, including a woman who’s a midwife in Berkeley. I think a lot of people, most people, are primarily friends with people who are of the same political persuasion as you are. I think it’s notable to be First Lady to a super conservative President and friends with midwife. She would invite people over when she was First Lady of Texas and when she was at the White House. Because she was such a great reader, she would invite writers to events, and they would have been on record as disagreeing with her husband. They just assumed that Laura had never read their books, but then they would show up and have realized she had read everything they'd ever written.

I’ve read all of your novels, and while Lee (from Prep) and Hannah (from The Man of My Dreams) are more cynical, all three heroines are quite shy and introverted. It seems like these sorts of introverted characters are not usually protagonists. What makes you gravitate towards them?
Well I think that the all the protagonists of my books are observant, because I can’t really imagine writing a novel that didn’t have an observant protagonist. What would be the point? I also think that I’m interested in social awkwardness, because it seems to illustrate or magnify these aspects of human behavior. So I would say that’s a lot of it: the things that interest me as a person.

Alice's shyness makes her incredibly ambivalent about her husband, Charlie's, ascendence to the Presidency. I was particularly taken with the observation she makes as narrator: "We did everything we could to get as many people as possible to pay attention to us, and it worked, and now we complain. Leave us alone, we say. Just like you, we’re entitled to privacy."
I feel like most people who are famous have actively pursued their fame, but some people are famous as a result of their relationship to someone else, and that’s always true for political families. For example, Sasha and Malia Obama didn’t choose to be famous, but now they are. It's the outsider question. To me it’s always more interesting to hear a story told from the perspective of an outsider, because an outsider notices things more, whereas an insider takes things for granted.

I read the Cindy McCain profile in this week's New Yorker as I was reading the American Wife, and it struck me that very few women really revel in being First Ladies. What sort of person does enjoy being a political spouse? Do you think Hillary liked it?
I think Hillary Clinton is a really interesting person because people have very strong reactions to her in terms of admiring her or disliking her. I think she was a good First Lady, but I think she’d actually be a better President than First Lady.

Ok, now I need to ask the obligatory question about what you think of our potential First Ladies, Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama.
There was an article on Cindy in the New York Times on August 23rd. It was the same day Biden was announced as Obama's VP pick so it didn't get as much press as it should have. I really urge anyone to read it, it raises a lot of questions about her professional involvement with her family’s company (ed. note: the article basically says that Cindy, "a private person" is an absentee chairwoman who cashes the checks from the beer distributorship she inherited but "has left scarcely a mark on the company.") Michelle Obama seems like a much more regular person. I just watched her on Ellen and I think she’s a good sport. You see her dance with Ellen, which Barack did too. It is interesting. Obviously because everything in politics is so scripted it makes us even hungrier to know people’s real selves, which we kind of can’t do.

Speaking of real and fictional selves, one thing I thought was really interesting, and one thing I’ve been thinking about with Sarah Palin, is how these details come out about you and become your “official biography” that everyone refers to. Like with Alice in American Wife, her father being a postal worker, which wasn’t even true, was seized upon by her husband's campaign. Do you ever wonder what details would emerge about you and become those sorts of talking points?
I’m not planning to run for office, but there are definitely certain details. This is a different kind of book than Prep or the Man of my Dreams. So there are different questions that come up over and over. There’s a set of questions with this book and a set that comes up with other books. There’s a tidbit that Prep was turned down by 14 out of 15 publishers, which is true, but misleading because it was sold within two weeks. It makes it sound like I struggled more than I did. Anyone who is writing about fiction writing likes stories about long odds.

Long odds makes me think of Sarah Palin. What's your take on her?
I wish she were a fictional construct. I’m not a fan of hers. But I certainly admit that she’s got a compelling life story.

American Wife [Amazon]
Curtis Sittenfeld [Official Website]
Imaginary First Lady Tells All [NYT]
Why I Love Laura Bush [Salon]
For McCains, a Public Path but Private Wealth [NYT]
Michelle Obama On Ellen [YouTube]

Earlier: Pussy, Parents And Puppies: A Q&A With Comedian Margaret Cho
This Is Not Chick Lit: A Q&A With Writer Janelle Brown
New Yorker Profile Shows Cindy McCain Is A Nouveau Betty Draper

"When Curtis Sittenfeld wrote that horrible review of poor Melissa Banks in The New York Times Book Review, and she called her a slut—you don't want to be on either side of that equation," she continued. "You don't want to be the person degrading chick lit, because they're smart women writing books that are incredibly popular and sell very well. I'd love to be popular and sell very well. And also, I can't say anything about those books, because I haven't read any of them. It's not my scene."

You know, if only they could figure out a way to QUANTIFY LITERARY TALENT, like the SATs, women wouldn't have these problems proving they were better than other women.