Categories
what's lit

April 2020 Celebrity Book Club Picks

AMERIE’S BOOK CLUB

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Singer-turned-writer Amerie chose Kevin Wilson’s New York Times best-seller and former Read With Jenna book club pick for her April book.

“An outrageous yet grounded read that had me laughing out loud and tearing up in the same paragraph, Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here explores parenthood and found family, while also addressing the very frightening phenomena of spontaneous combustion, of which, like the author, I grew up scared to death,” Amerie wrote in her Instagram post announcing the book selection.

BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

 

Actress Emma Roberts’ book club chose Lily King’s new novel. The book was also a March selection for the Today Show’s Read With Jenna book club.

 

In an Instagram post on her personal account, Emma said, “So excited to read along with you guys and discuss!”

 

GMA BOOK CLUB

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

Good Morning America‘s book club named Margarita Montimore’s debut novel. In the U.K., the same book is titled The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart. Both have abstract covers of Oona’s face with the GMA book club reposting some of their favorites from readers.

“I’m so grateful ‘GMA’ has chosen my novel ‘Oona Out of Order’ as its latest book club pick,” Margarita told GMA in its story on the book club pick. “I know the whole world feels like it’s out of order right now, and social distancing is tough, but join ‘GMA’s’ Book Club and we’ll all feel less isolated as we get lost in this uplifting story.”

NONAME’S BOOK CLUB

Mean by Myriam Gurba

War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony by Nelson A. Denis

Indie rapper Noname’s book club usually selects two books each month, with Noname picking one and someone else naming the “homie pick.” Noname chose Mean by Myriam Gurba and Yahdon Israel, founder of Brooklyn-based @literaryswagbookclub, chose War Against All Puerto Ricans.

The book club says it stands in solidarity with the prisoners who participate in the book club over demanding more protection such as masks during the coronavirus COVID-19 forced quarantine. After announcing it had to cancel all in-person meetings due the pandemic, the book club recently started its own newspaper, Out of Print, for Patreon members.

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

After the controversy around her last book club pick American Dirt, Oprah Winfrey chose the biography of a family where six out of 12 of the children were born with schizophrenia and became a major source of research for scientists working to understand the genetics behind the devastating mental illness.

“This is a riveting true story of an American family that reads like a medical detective journey,” Oprah announced in a video. “It reveals the shame, denial, shock, confusion and misunderstanding of mental illness at a time when no one was really sure what schizophrenia was or how to treat it.”

READ WITH JENNA – TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore

Former first daughter and Today Show co-host Jenna Bush Hager picked Elizabeth Wetmore’s debut novel that publisher Harper Collins describes as “explores the lingering effects of a brutal crime on the women of one small Texas oil town in the 1970s.”

“Elizabeth really developed these characters that I felt like I knew,” Jenna said about the debut novel on Today’s website. “I found myself missing them when the story was over. The women are complicated. They are a lot of things at once.”

As a native Texan, Jenna added that Elizabeth portrays Texas life just right in Valentine.

“I spent a good portion of my childhood eavesdropping on my mother and her girlfriends as they sat out on the back porch after dinner, and I listened to them telling stories,” Elizabeth told Today. “They would sit out there with their cigarettes and mix drinks because it was the ’70s, and I listened to them rehashing their days.”

REESE’S BOOK CLUB

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Rising book club queen Reese Witherspoon, who’s currently starring in Little Fires Everywhere based on Celeste Ng’s novel, has chosen well-known memoirist Glennon Doyle’s latest book, Untamed.

 

“It’s an absolute joy to announce Glennon Doyle’s UNTAMED as my April book pick,” Reese wrote at the top of her Hello Sunshine announcement email. “This memoir is so packed with incredible insight about what it means to be a woman today, what it means to be “good,” and what woman will do in order to be loved. I swear I highlighted something in EVERY chapter. This book really spoke to me in so many ways!”

 

Glennon also wrote an essay about her writing process on Hello Sunshine’s website.
Categories
experiences

Marie Forleo Talks About How ‘Everything is Figureoutable’

Motivational guru Marie Forleo landed in Los Angeles as a part of her Everything is Figureoutable last Friday at the Skirball Cultural Center. Though the event was not an over-the-top “Beyoncé meets TED talk” compared to her home New York event, around 400 attendees came to listen to her reasoning behind her new self-help book.

In conversation with actress Grasie Mercedes currently writing for NBC’s Perfect Harmony, Marie glowing in a neon green top said her first book has been a work-in-progress since 2011. The event started with brave audience members jumping onto the stage to dance to the hottest pop songs from Gwen Stefani’s Hollaback Girl and Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby.

After showing the audience a photo of her and Grasie in a Bring It On-era Crunch Fitness class from 20 years ago, Marie dropped wisdom about her philsophy behind the title of her book, which she said was inspired by her mother.

“This converation is really a follow-up if even we were to believe and accept this notion that everything is truly figureoutable—which again I believe in my bones to be the truth—then we need to ask ourselves what stops us, what gets in our way, what prevents us from figuring this out,” she said. “And while we can all come up with a laundry list of things that stops us, and one of the biggest things are our excuses. Those nasty little lies we all tell ourselves from time to time.”

Along with real-life stories on overcoming obstacles, the book has guidance on how to think positively in order to find solutions to everyday problems.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean we can change every circumstance to be the exact way that we want it to be—that’s not always possible,” she said. “But ‘Everything is Figureoutable’ awakens your creative wisdom, your own intiutive intelligence, so that you can rise up and meet the circumstances and challenges of your life and come out stronger, better, and bigger than you were before.”

She wants the book to make readers realize they have more control over their lives through thinking outside the box, and how not doing this exacerbates mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. Warning the book should not be used as treatment, she said it could help those dealing with mental health issues find creative and positive solutions to their predicaments.

With the event running about two hours, Marie ended the night with crowd selfies and photos with her book-purchasing fans. Book Soup was the sponsoring seller.

Categories
what's lit

Actress Ginnifer Goodwin to Become President of Young Literati

Ginnifer Goodwin, best known for her roles in Once Upon A Time and Mona Lisa Smile, will be the incoming president of Young Literati.

The fundraising group for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles for literary lovers in their 40s and younger, Young Literati named Ginnifer as president during its annual Summer Social event on Aug. 1 at the Tiato Kitchen + Garden Venue in Santa Monica. The organization usually names a celebrity or celebrity connection to its board. Ginnifer will take the reins from Samantha Hanks, the wife of actor Colin Hanks and daughter-in-law of actor Tom Hanks, who served in her presidency for two years.

Due to her work schedule, Ginnifer could not be present at the social, according to the organization, but she did attend its largest event, the 11th Annual Toast, in April.

According to IMDb, Ginnifer said she wanted a partner who was “bookish” before marrying her Once Upon A Time co-star Josh Dallas. “I will end up with someone in the arts. I am positive. I eat, breathe and sleep acting. And I’ll end up with someone who is happy staying at home and having me cook supper. But I also really need to be intellectually challenged and stimulated. I want someone bookish, and someone who is passionate.”

Ginnifer has also starred in films based on books such as Something Borrowed, He’s Just Not That Into You, and Ramona and Beezus with Mona Lisa Smile‘s success producing a companion novel. She’s currently starring in Why Women Kill, which premieres Aug. 15 on CBS All Access.

Young Literati’s honorary chairs include Busy Phillipps, who released her memoir This Will Only Hurt a Little last year, and Constance Wu, who had a star turn in book-based films Crazy Rich Asians and soon Goodbye, Vitamin. Actresses Natasha Rothwell, Lake Bell, Natalie Morales, Constance Zimmer, June Diane Raphael, Ione Skye, and Zoe Lister-Jones are also involved in the organization.