Ellen Degeneres’ Best-Seller Has Its Charms

Jerry Seinfeld has done it. So has Tim Allen. Ditto Paul Reiser. All have gone from stand-up to sitcom to best-seller. Now, it’s Ellen Degeneres’ turn.

One point of her book, “My Point … and I Do Have One” (Bantam, $19.95) might be: “Ellen has a top-rated TV show, so let’s have her write a book that her many viewers will buy.”

If so, it’s a point well-taken: “My Point” became a best-seller almost before the ink on its pages had dried. Another point of the book might be, “Let’s amuse readers.” That point is well-taken, too.

The book by the star of television’s “Ellen” is a potpourri of chapters covering a mishmash of topics. One of the better ones is a letter to a friend, in which Degeneres’ apology for single-handedly ruining a 90th birthday party only makes matters worse (“You have every right to ask, why was I wearing your bathing suit while shaving your dog.”)

Readers - especially those who can imagine Degeneres delivering the material in her cheerfully bumbling manner - will find more than an occasional laugh, along with quips and passages they might want to read aloud and share.