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
Courtesy of Simon & Schuster
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
Courtesy of Random House
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 Roberts
Known 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 Baum
At 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 story from the other side of her prison cell.
On shelves July 1
Courtesy of Blackstone Publishing
Loved One
By Aisha Muharrar
Muharrar 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.
On shelves Aug. 12
Courtesy of HarperCollins
God and Sex
By Jon Raymond
A longtime screenwriter and collaborator with Kelly Reichardt and Todd Haynes, Raymond has helped pen First Cow, Showing Up, Mildred Pierce and the ultimately doomed (and untitled) Haynes-Joaquin Phoenix project. He sets his latest novel in the Pacific Northwest, where the lives and livelihoods of its residents are severely affected by the climate crisis. Protagonist Arthur begins an affair with the wife of one of his friends, and turns to God and prayer when a looming climate disaster threatens her life. The narrative is both dangerously close to home (there’s a terrifying forest fire) and intriguing.
On shelves Aug. 5
Courtesy of Simon & Schuster
That’s How They Get You: An Unruly Anthology of Black American Humor
Edited by Damon Young
Through his debut memoir What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker, his blog Very Smart Brothas and his Crooked Media podcast Stuck, Young has built a media empire while exploring the legacy of Black culture. To compile this collection of essays, short stories and letters that explores comedy in and about the Black community, he tapped A-list literary contributors including Hanif Abdurraqib, Kiese Laymon and Roy Wood Jr.
On shelves now
Courtesy of Pantheon
This story appeared in the June 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.