Every summer reading season, I recall I’ve toted to the beach or pool. This year is no different. I’m currently reading a book I’ll share in an upcoming newsletter, and it’s not about a Malibu meet-cute – though I would love to read one of those if you have recommendations.
(And by the way, we’ll be sharing a fresh helping of with you soon, too.) That said, I do often misunderstand the assignment: I once spent a good chunk of a bachelor weekend sitting by a hotel pool reading Robert Crais’s “L.A.
Requiem.” And when not reading by the pool? I read in my room. This week, though, I’m focusing on a different summer reading tradition: Pop culture-infused nonfiction, which is always a good choice for hot weather: breezy histories, juicy memoirs and refreshing dives into , and more.
If you’re looking for a story to get lost in as your loved ones build sandcastles or do cannonballs in the pool, one of these may be just the thing. by Emily Nussbaum (Out now) With prose as bracing as a chilled Chardonnay tossed in your face, the New Yorker critic Nussbaum delivers , which is not the faint praise it may sound like. Some pop culture books can feel like overlong web posts, but Nussbaum digs deep into the genre’s origins and often-queasy mix of high-flying rhetoric and lowdown showbiz chicanery.
She writes about shows you’ll remember and some you won’t, crafting deft portraits of everyone from “Candid Camera” host Allen Funt and “Gong Show” impresario Chuck Barris to the inaugural “Survivor” cast and “The Apprentice” host Donald Trump. If you love reality TV, get it. If you hate reality TV, this is still the one you’ll want to read.
by James Shapiro (Out now) Known for , Shapiro has in recent years shifted his gaze to include more recent history, as in his 2020 book “Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us About Our Past and Future.” “The Playbook” examines the political turmoil that erupted in the 1930s as the Federal Theatre Project attempted to employ actors and writers to bring plays to an American public struggling under the Great Depression, and the cultural battles that ensued will sound all too familiar to modern readers. Shapiro also dispels myths about a noted all-Black cast production of “Macbeth,” which Orson Welles was long credited for masterminding but the actual story differs from the legend.
by Questlove and Ben Greenman (Out now) Whether leading the Roots, DJing and producing music or writing books, hosting podcasts and , Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has already demonstrated a vast set of skills. Despite that, he remains a discerning fan of the things he loves. This book explores the development of hip-hop, spanning from its origin story in a 1973 Bronx rec room to the 2023 Questlove-produced Grammy salute to its first half-century music.
by Chris Nashawaty (Out now) Was summer of 1982 the best three months – heck, the best 8 weeks – in movie theaters ever? That brief period saw the release of eight science-fiction and fantasy heavyweights: “E.T.,” “Blade Runner,” “Mad Max: The Road Warrior,” “Star Trek: Wrath of Khan,” “Poltergeist,” “Conan the Barbarian,” “The Thing” and “Tron.
” Nashawaty zips nimbly through the era’s creative clashes, cost overruns and box office bombshells (and bombs) and will still have you wanting more. (I added Paul M. Sammon’s “Future Noir” about the making of “Blade Runner”to my library queue.
) And there are always the films: I can personally attest that at a recent screening of Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” there was one man quietly bawling in my row.
by Evan Friss (out now) Readers of this newsletter might just be the target audience for this one — and , is one of the interviewees. “The Bookshop” is deeply researched and packed with information about a selection of America’s bookstores from Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia bookshop to a lovingly rendered ode to the staff and regulars at Three Lives & Company in New York City. I’m reading this one slowly, because I want to make it last.
“The Villain Edit” is about Jac, a down-on-her-luck romance author, who chooses to go on a reality TV dating show to revive her career. However, once these, she is confronted with Henry, a man from her very recent past who also happens to be a producer on the show. Jac soon realizes that Henry, along with the other producers, are casting her as the villain of the season, and this may not be the career comeback she had in mind.
The villain edit is a phrase popularized by reality TV to describe when a contestant on a show is being framed as the villain by the producers or editors of the show. The villain edit is not necessarily a moral judgement on the person who receives the edit – it is left up to the audience to determine whether the contestant is a true villain or is just receiving a bad edit. For fellow fans of romance and women’s fiction, I always recommend .
It is a delicious contemporary royal romance with fully realized characters and it ALWAYS makes me cry both happy and sad tears. I recently read “Piglet” by Lottie Hazell and there is a moment in the book that stopped me in my tracks. The main character’s life is crumbling around her and she escapes to a local greasy spoon-type restaurant to indulge in her binge eating habit.
Once there, she is confronted with several lies she has told to cover up the mess of her life. While reading the scene, I was so horrified and caught up in the narrative, I felt like it was happening to me. Like a big movie setpiece, I think that scene will be on my mind for a long time.
I LOVE audiobooks and often take long walks so to enjoy listening to them. A recent favorite audiobook series of mine was , which has an incredible full cast of characters. I also love Kiley Reid’s “Come & Get It” audiobook, a laugh-out-loud satire of Southern college life I could not put down.
I was lucky enough that one of my favorite audiobook narrators, Stephanie Nemeth-Parker, read “The Villain Edit” and did an incredible job. It may be taboo to admit to laughing at your own jokes, but Stephanie’s reading amped everything up a notch and I couldn’t help it. This is a loaded question as I have SO many books on my TBR right now.
A couple I have in the pipeline are “A Love Song for Rikki Wilde” by Tia Williams, “Honey” by Isabel Banta, and “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” by Rufi Thorpe. I was lucky enough to be able to go on a research trip to Los Angeles while writing “The Villain Edit.” I found it really helped me focus the tone and aesthetics of the book.
Every day, I would walk down to the beach from my rented Airstream in Venice Beach and watch the sunset. I often took my laptop there with me and wrote on the beach during those evenings. Lev Grossman’s “The Bright Sword” begins after King Arthur’s death.
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From Kashmir to Hollywood, Priyanka Mattoo looks back in new memoir. Thanks, as always, for reading..
