Like many Americans with a deep intellectual interest in government, I've been very busy lately.

Besides watching Monica Lewinsky's reality dating show on Fox, ``Mr. Personality''; wondering what kind of trouble Jenna Bush will get into this summer at NYU; and gobbling up the news about JFK's own Monica Lewinsky, I've been eagerly awaiting the inevitable sneak preview of Hillary Rodham Clinton's memoir, ``Living History.''

And yet, after I read the ``revelations'' in yesterday's papers, I couldn't help but feel let down, underwhelmed. Like a child whose Halloween or birthday party wasn't all she had hoped for.

I'll tell you one thing: If I were Simon & Schuster and I'd already paid Hillary $2.85 million toward the $8 million I owe, I'd be furious. In fact, from what I've read so far, I'd be furious if I'd paid the $28 cover price.

Because, when you think about it, what does Hillary really tell us in her book?

1) Bill was afraid to tell her the truth about Monica because he thought she'd be angry.

2) She was angry.

3) For a while, Buddy was the only member of the family willing to keep the president company.

In retrospect, I'm not sure what I was hoping for, but a description of how George Stephanopolous had to pull Hillary off Bill after he finally told her there was truth to the allegations would have been nice.

Bill got up and paced the room, pale and hesitant. ``I'm so sorry,'' he kept saying. I reached for the first thing at hand, Socks, and threw it at his pasty, blotchy face. ``You @#$%*!'' I yelled as I grabbed his nose and started to twist. That's when George burst into the room.

Or how about an admission that Buddy's death was no accident, that in fact Hillary hired a hit man to take out the president's last friend?

Knowing how attached he and Buddy were, I learned the dog's schedule, and passed the info on to Robert (Reich). I waited by a pay phone for confirmation the mission had been accomplished. At 2 p.m. sharp the phone rang. I picked it up. It was R. ``The moon is blue in October,'' he said.

Maybe part of the problem with Hillary's book is that between Ken Starr's report and Monica's book, a lot of the details are already known, and with her own political career to think about, Hillary's hardly about to cough up any really good stuff.

As one policy wonk put it: ``She gave readers enough to get some sympathy, but stopped short of telling people what they really want to know.''

Which is: Hillary, forget the past - we know you were really ticked at him. Even Laura Bush would get mad if her husband pulled the same kind of shenanigans.

But tell us this: How do you feel about him now?

Or maybe you're saving that for the paperback edition.

Beth Teitell's column will appear on Tuesdays and Thursdays while she writes her book, ``From Here to Maternity: The Education of a Rookie Mom,'' to be published by Broadway Books next year.