The Party: A Guide to Adventurous Entertaining

""Treat your guests the way you would like to be treated,"" advises Quinn, erstwhile Washington society reporter, sometime novelist and wife of retired Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee. And how would Quinn like to be treated? Most of her advice to the hostess is common sense: arrange your seatings beforehand, cook the dishes you know, down a cocktail before your guests arrive--and stock plenty of booze. The folksy socialite treats us to entertaining arcana--where to place the secretary of state at the table; what to do if your guest of honor drains a fingerbowl-- but the charm of her etiquette guide lies in its stock of warmed-over but delicious anecdotes: the dinner during which Nora Ephron ended her marriage with her philandering husband, Carl Bernstein, by pouring a bottle of red wine over his head, or the time newlywed Quinn inadvertently served Ann Landers stuffed peppers that were still frozen--and was asked, repeatedly, for the recipe. In an age that has seen the Washington Novel supplanted by the Campaign Chronicle and Transplant's Tell-All, this assured how-to feeds a lingering appetite for a gentler brand of inside-the-Beltway gossip--along with what every worried hostess hopes for, a dab of advice and a plateful of support. (Nov.)