Actress of a Certain Age
By Jeff Hiller
Hiller broke out in a big way as Bridget Everett’s BFF-next-door in the dramedy series Somebody Somewhere, but before he was on HBO he was a mainstay in the Joe’s Pub-centric New York comedy scene. And before that he was a gay teen in 1980s Texas. In his memoir-in-essays, Hiller recounts his early days in a small-town Lutheran church and his early days in the entertainment business. Using his now-signature pluck and wit, he tells readers about who he was and who he is.
On shelves now
Atmosphere
By Taylor Jenkins Reid
After several of her novels spent years in adaptation purgatory — The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo was first optioned in 2019 — Jenkins Reid finally made it to the big screen with the Prime Video sensation Daisy Jones & The Six. While audiences await the next book-to-screen move, Jenkins Reid continues to churn out delightfully frothy reads. This summer’s release is Atmosphere, which follows a female astronaut who finds love while training for a space flight.
On shelves now
Clint: The Man and the Movies
By Shawn Levy
Levy — the acclaimed author, not the Deadpool & Wolverine director — has written biographies of Hollywood heavyweights like Robert De Niro and Paul Newman, so it stands to reason that it was only a matter of time before he tackled Clint Eastwood. In the first literary exploration of the 95-year-old actor-director’s career, Levy examines Eastwood’s cinematic milestones and personal flaws (and his old-school Libertarian beliefs) in equal measure.
On shelves July 1
Courtesy of Mariner Books
Food Person
By Adam RobertsKnown online as The Amateur Gourmet, Roberts has built a career as
a food blogger and a screenwriter. Now, he’s turning his real-life career into fictional fodder.
Food Person centers around struggling writer Isabella Pasternack, who gets fired from a
digital magazine and winds up taking a job ghostwriting a cookbook for a formerly beloved
(and now scandal-ridden) television actress. This debut novel is part romp, part satire and
frequently mouthwatering. Do not read on an empty stomach. On shelves now
Courtesy of Knopf
In Pursuit of Beauty
By Gary BaumAt The Hollywood Reporter, senior writer Baum covers everything from entertainment-biz
scandals to the restaurant world (his 2017 feature on Hollywood fixture Angelyne became the Emmy
Rossum-fronted Peacock limited series). In his first novel, he turns his pen on the darker side of his
home city — and his profession. In Pursuit of Beauty follows a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon whose
unconventional methods land her in jail, and the potentially unwitting journalist who agrees to ghostwrite
her s
Loved One
By Aisha MuharrarMuharrar is a comedy connoisseur — the Harvard Lampoon alum had her
first break in the writers room of Parks and Recreation and went on to write for
The Good Place and Hacks (she won an Emmy for her work on season three). But her novel,
one of the summer’s most anticipated books, leans more melancholic than her onscreen
oeuvre. In Loved One, a young woman travels from L.A. to London after the death of a close
friend and former flame, where she
encounters his most recent ex. The two women butt heads over the dead man’s remaining
possessions and struggle against the grief they are trying to keep buried. [ad_2
