Introducing Reading Hollywood: The Gossip Reading Club Book Club!

Let's go really long-form...

Hello to all of our new subscribers. I’m stunned that the Substack revival has gotten over 200 readers in one week. Thank you so much to each and every one of you.

I’ve long been fascinated by books about Hollywood and the entertainment industry, both fiction and non-fiction. I even took a class on the literature of Hollywood for my Master’s degree, which was largely an excuse to read a ton of Eve Babitz and Joan Didion. Since the primary agenda of the Gossip Reading Club is to fully analyse the entertainment industry and concept of celebrity as part of a wider sociological trend, it only feels right to expand that reach beyond profiles and reporting.

So, for paid subscribers, I am launching a book club: Reading Hollywood!

(Image via Frinkiac. And yes, the title is stolen from The Hollywood Read, my old podcast. I’m not good at titles.)

Every month, we’ll pick a book, read it, then discuss it, and I’ll do a bigger report as a jumping-off point. I’ll suggest three titles and you can vote on which one we’ll check out. The first issue will be free, so you can figure out if it’s up your alley. The only rules are that the book has to be easily accessible and not prohibitively expensive.

We’ll cover everything that interests us: fiction, non-fiction, biographies, behind-the-scenes exposés, tawdry gossip, academic analysis, oral histories, and whatever else comes our way. There’s a solid century of writing on this front for us to explore, and more than a few classics.

Here are the options for the first edition of Reading Hollywood!

The Devil’s Candy by Julie Salamon: The achingly detailed breakdown of the production of Brian de Palma’s adaptation of Bonfire of the Vanities.

The Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann: One of the biggest-selling novels of all time, a juicy and barely-fictionalized drama about a trio of women’s downfalls into a world of sex, drugs, and manipulation in Hollywood.

Eve’s Hollywood by Eve Babitz: The poet laureate of California details her life in Los Angeles, from parties and poetry to art and sex.

The vote is open for one week, so choose quickly! And if there are any books you’re dying to read for the book club, let me know and we’ll add them to future polls.

The next issue of This Week in Gossip will go live on Sunday for paid subscribers. Issue Two of the Gossip Reading Club will drop next Sunday and will remain free for all.