Have you been looking for a reading experience that lives up to last year's socialite masterpiece, Holly Peterson's The Manny? Then you'll be thrilled to hear about NYTimes Styles contributor and occasional mommy blogger Tatiana Boncompagni's forthcoming roman à clef, Gilding Lily, which follows (overt Wharton reference alert!) Lily Bartholomew's struggles in the cut-throat world of New York high society. Just like Tatiana, Lily is a rich wife who dabbles in lifestyle journalism; she also has a mean mother-in-law! Sounds groundbreaking and Plum Sykes has blurbed it, so it must be good. [JC Report]

• Real estate developer Christopher Jeffries, whose Millennium Partners turned the St. Moritz on Central Park South into a Ritz-Carlton with 277 rooms and 11 full-floor condos, has sold his 29th floor, 5,954-square-foot apartment in the building for $28.5 million. [Cityfile]

A reporter named Kate Spicer, who writes for the UK Times, came to New York to research cosmetic procedures, a journey that, naturally, involved an encounter with Fredric Brandt, the Manhattan/Miami dermatologist most famous for treating Madonna and for being, as Spicer aptly puts it, "jaw-dropping evidence of what happens when cosmetic dermatologists get high on their own supply." (He's pictured here with Lisa Falcone, the wife of hedge fund mogul Phil Falcone.) Brandt has a minor hissy fit when he discovers she's had Botox and Sculptra injections from another (non-famous, gasp!) doc the evening before, but administers more Botox and Restylane anyway. Hey, you don't get to be a derm-to-the-stars by turning down international press over a minor affront like that, do you?

Home renovations can be a nightmare for anyone, even super-secretive billionaires! Just ask Steve Feinberg and his wife Gisela, who paid $19.75 million for an East 67th Street townhouse in 2003. The Feinbergs estimated that they'd need to spend $5 million to make the home liveable. Five years later, remodeling costs have escalated to $15 million, the process has taken twice as long as expected, and the Feinbergs' feuds with contractors and construction firms has become "epic even by New York real-estate standards," writes the WSJ. The Feinbergs moved into the townhouse in December (even though they still don't have the certificate of occupancy required by the city). But the worst part of the ordeal? Worse than a unfinished kitchen or a few missing bathroom fixtures? That the pricey purchase has shattered the myth that the chief executive of $26 billion private equity firm is just an average Joe who drives a pick up truck, goes hunting on the weekend, and drinks Budweiser.

Remember when Ellen Fein, co-author of the aggressively retro, ubiquitous-in-the-'90s dating guide The Rules got dumped by her husband, and everyone was like, ha, your entire career has been invalidated? And she had to blame anything but her flawless feminine wiles so sued her dentist Larry Rosenthal, claiming his cosmetic work ruined her teeth AND her marriage and then he sued her right back? Good times! But you can all stop laughing now, as Ellen has, at age 50, walked down the aisle with a man she met at a "singles weekend at Club Getaway, a sleep-away camp for adults." (No, we've never heard of such a phenomenon either.)

Finally, a silver lining to the declining economy! This month you won't need to put in extra time at the gym in order to be fit enough to carry the fall issues of Vogue and W home from the newsstand (nor will it take 20 minutes of flicking until you reach any actual content): ad pages in both mags (as well as other fashion and beauty titles) are way down, reports the WSJ today, as advertisers, especially mid-tier brands, scale back. (Anna Wintour won't be hanging up her Chanel couture just yet, however: The September Vogue still has 674 pages of ads.) Similar shrinkage will soon take place at Rolling Stone, news that actually may be welcome to the mag's core readership of aging rock fans, since they probably have difficulty raising their arms anyway. Founder and publisher Jann Wenner has decided to shave a few inches off the mag's size, although he's quick to point out that the mag is going to spend more on production, with glossier paper and a flat, glued spine instead of staples, in the hopes of attracting new advertisers and younger readers. What, slapping the Jonas Brothers on the cover to appeal to ten-year-old girls wasn't enough?

Now that Albert Hammond Jr. is settling down with Agyness Deyn, he's looking to unload his East Village bachelor pad and join his fiancée in Brooklyn, The Post's Braden Keil reports today. Hammond is asking $1.199 million for the 1,200-square-foot co-op at 141 East 3rd Street, which he bought in 2005. The apartment features two bedrooms, a makeshift recording studio, and a renovated kitchen. More photos below.

Aby Rosen has never been known as the best neighbor. Remember that nasty feud last year with fellow residents of the Upper East Side over the building he wanted to construct on Madison Avenue? It turns out he isn't very sensitive when it comes to his neighbors in the Hamptons either. An official spotted two of Rosen's sons (we're guessing that would be Charlie, pictured left, and Gaby, since his other two kids are babies) driving their ATV scooters in an endangered bird habitat, and notified the Southampton Village police. But Rosen wasn't about to take responsibility for his sons' intrusion on protected land that's home to the endangered piping plover: "Rosen advised the officer to take a hike and brazenly locked the offending vehicles in a garage after the cop threatened to impound them." The cop's response? "The officer then obtained a warrant to have Rosen arrested on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing governmental administration."

Even teenage boys are suffering the effects of the global recession: "Going topless on beaches in French beach communities like St. Tropez has suddenly fallen out of fashion due to a number of factors, an expert says. During an economic downturn, women are less inclined to let it all hang out and more likely to cover up." [UPI, via Dealbreaker]

The answering machine at Josh and Shoshanna Gruss' Upper East Side townhouse. (Bonus: The proper pronunciation of "Gruss" for those of you who have wondered.)

If you're Ellen Barkin, you just place a call to Christie's and the jewelry your ex-husband gave you nets $20 million and some nice vengeful publicity. But for lesser mortals, several websites dedicated to re-selling engagement rings and jewelry from defunct relationships have sprung up, reports Bloomberg News: IdonowIdont.com, for example, secured one (obviously not very) lovelorn mortgage broker two thirds of what he paid for the diamond ring he snatched back from his ex-fiancée. Even better, IdonowIdont eases the process with videos of break-up songs and bitter stories from readers: "It is good for the seller to move on," says the site's CEO, "and there are people who want something vintage and used." It's basically a public service! Albeit one that stomps all over romance and is probably making Miss Manners consider retirement.

Designer, author and TV personality Jonathan Adler turns 42 today. Hope Simon Doonan has something exciting planned for you two tonight. Others celebrating today: Playwright David Henry Hwang turns 51, renowned architect Peter Eisenman is 76, and model Carolyn Murphy celebrates her 33rd. The dean of Columbia's journalism school, Nick Lemann, is 54. Attorneys Mark Alcott and Andrew L. Frey turn 69 and 70, respectively. Commercial real estate guru Tara Stacom is 50. And aging wrestler Hulk Hogan is 55.

• Julia Stiles and her boyfriend of two years, Jonathan Cramer, have split up, which may explain why she was so rude to a group of diners at a cafe the other day. [Page Six]

• Carl Icahn isn't having such a hot year. Shares of Icahn Enterprises are down 50 percent this year "as investors have backed away from their initial enthusiasm for the activist investor." [NYP]

• Our guide to New York's celebrity-owned restaurants and bars.

Liv Tyler pushing her son in a stroller outside their West Village townhouse ... Chuck Schumer and Al Sharpton walking through Midtown ... Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos filming a cooking segment with their son for Live with Regis & Kelly ... Lauren Hutton wearing shorts and sneakers on a walk downtown ... Rumer Willis posing in a party dress outside the David Letterman show ... Madonna's kids, Lourdes, Rocco, and David, playing in Central Park with the nanny ... and Brody Jenner leaving a dinner at Cipriani Downtown.

Dina Matos probably isn't smiling right now: a divorce court judge ruled this afternoon that she is not entitled to alimony from her ex, former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey. Dina had asked for $1 million in the suit. She'll end up getting $109,295 as well as $1,075 a month in child support for their daughter, Jacqueline. It's a nice belated birthday present for Jim, who turned 51 the day before yesterday. Dina can take comfort that thanks to the sexual embarrassment of another politician, her humiliation won't dominate the nightly news tonight. [NYT, NYP]

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One of the five original stars on Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Kressley now hosts his own show on OWN and Lifetime's How to Look Good Naked.

• Judith Regan has been slapped with a suit by the law firm that repped her in her spat with News Corp. [NYDN]