This Week In Books
July 20, 2024 Edition
Your faithful Twibbies took a much needed break last week to soak up the sun, dive into the waves, and lose ourselves in a good old fashioned beach read. Did we take a break from the book world? No, no we did not. We still obsessed over, talked about, and internet-sleuthed all the minute details publishing has to offer. So here we are–slightly sunburned but back at our laptops and ready to go with this new edition of the TWIB:
Inside Celebrity Book Clubs: Vanity Fair dropped this in-depth look into celebrity book clubs late last week. On the whole it is a positive take on the effect these book clubs have on the publishing industry. The article covers some behind the scenes information on how these books are chosen and which ones have a better shot. In an industry that has lost a huge amount of its ability to promote books through traditional media outlets, these clubs have become one of the best ways to get books in front of readers. But with a whole new generation of readers who may not connect with these celebrities and who get their book suggestions from TikTok, how much longer will a celebrity pick be a guaranteed best seller? It’s an excellent question that the essay tackles head on. Here’s what we know: no one starts a book club who isn’t passionate about reading. So bring on all the book clubs–community, celebrity, BookTok, Bookstagram, etc. Has BookStack been coined yet? If not, we call dibs.
Authors Behaving Badly: We usually try to keep things positive around here and highlight the good reasons authors are in the news, but sometimes authors get themselves in trouble. We don’t want to ignore when people have done wrong but we are also not into public shaming either. We are authors and our friends are authors and there are too many hot takes in the world already. That said, there are three authors in the news this week accused of serious sexual misconduct--Brendan Dubois, Alice Munro, and Neil Gaiman. We hate to see this. So heartbreaking. Our hearts go out to the victims.
Hillbilly Elegy: JD Vance’s 2015 memoir Hillbilly Elegy is back in the news. The 2016 memoir recounts Vance’s childhood and upbringing in poverty, and also includes his interpretation of the American dream and systemic poverty. The book was a NYT bestseller and was adapted to film in 2020 by Ron Howard. Now that Vance is Donald Trump’s pick for running mate it has skyrocketed back to #1 in books on Amazon and there are a myriad of articles attempting to interpret the nominee based on his memoir (here, here and here just to pick a few). All this does is prove to me that I shall never write a memoir. When I rise to claim my throne in the halls of fame there will be no manifesto to reference. I will be inscrutable, unpredictable, and mysterious. Like Batman.
100 Best Books: The New York Times surveyed 503 authors, critics, and literary professionals for their recommendations of the best books from the last 24 years. They posted the winning titles last week and you can’t turn anywhere in the book world without seeing it. Or seeing the coordinating quiz results of how many books people have read from the list, or someone’s thoughts on what books should have been on it, or someone analyzing the lack of diversity on the list. Suffice it to say, that particular list is everywhere. They have even posted a follow up where readers submitted their favorite books (to be fair, I vibe with this version of the list much more than the other). I particularly appreciate author Leigh Stein’s (Self Care) original take on the list here. One might say that what the NY Times is really good at is creating lists that the publishing world pays attention to but are otherwise meaningless to the average reader. Even in this, reading is subjective. As it should be.
Lucy’s Big Score: Bestselling author Lucy Score announced the start of a new series on the Today show this week. Score got her start in publishing with her first book, a novella, which she self-published in 2013. It only sold 35 copies. Discouraged, she quit writing but was soon convinced to re-release that novella as a full novel. Her second book, Pretend You’re Mine, became a #1 Amazon bestseller. She has since written 31 books, has sold millions of copies, and is a BookTok darling. Most famous for her Knockemout collection (which is being adapted to film by Amazon), she is currently on tour for The Body in The Backyard, the fourth in her Riley Thorne series. We love to see author success stories like Score’s!
Enemies and Lovers: Holly Black’s Folk of The Air series has now been made into a card game. A kickstarter campaign began last May to develop the game and was fully funded in 30 minutes. Folk Of The Air is about a mortal girl stuck in the treacherous High Court of the Faerie. The books are already on my TBR and this card game sounds like fun, and a great way to market an already bestselling book series. Unconvinced? Perhaps Black’s own words will seal the deal: “You don’t need to know anything about my books to play—you need only a troubling lack of morals and an unquenchable thirst for power.” Done, done and sold.
We Told You So: We hate to say, but we told you so (we don’t hate it, we really love it when we are right). Funny Story will be adapted to the big screen, and this time Emily Henry will write the script herself. We can’t wait to see how she takes her undeniable knack for writing sparkling dialogue and adapts that to this new format. Forget EmHen summer, it’s EmHen’s world and we’re all living in it.
All Book to Screen News of the Week:
Melissa De La Cruz’s YA series Blue Bloods will be adapted for TV.
Kate Winslet stars in Lee adapted from the 1985 biography The Lives of Lee Miller by Anthony Penrose.
Netflix announced that it will adapt Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Netflix dropped the trailer for Elin Hilderbrand’s The Perfect Couple tv series
Celebrity Book Club Picks For July:
Barnes and Noble: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
GMA: The Love Of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
Reese’s Book Club: The Cliffs by Courtney Sullivan
Read With Jenna: All The Colors Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker
Catch Up with Ariel over at I’m So Glad You Asked where she is making her case that the “Muse” is real.
Marybeth is chronicling the path to her newest novel over at I Will Tell You This.