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Reese’s Book Club to Launch Companion PodcastHello Sunshine and iHeartMedia team up on a Reese's Book Club podcast, the most recommendable books of the century so far, and more. |
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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Reese’s Book Club Steps Up to the Mic
Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine has partnered with iHeartMedia to launch a podcast for Reese’s Book Club. Debuting June 24 as an iHeartPodcast, "Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club" will feature "irresistible conversations with celebrities, tastemakers and authors from Reese’s Book Club and beyond." While Witherspoon, who sold Hello Sunshine in a monster $900 million deal in 2021, will not be hosting (that duty goes to journalist and TV host Danielle Robay), she will serve as one of the executive producers. Reigning queen of the rom-com, Emily Henry, will appear on the first episode alongside Yulin Kuang, who is directing the adaptation of Henry’s Beach Read and whose own novel How to End a Love Story was a Reese’s Book Club pick in 2024.
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It’s a Vicious Cycle
As we near the halfway point of the year, many publishing industry pros are taking stock, assessing performance, and planning the rest of the year. Kathleen Schmidt offers a helpful explainer on the vicious cycle of publishing and what’s really going on in publishers’ mid-year checkins. I especially appreciated Schmidt’s emphasis on the fact that backlist sales underwrite frontlist efforts—something many civilians are surprised to learn, given that the majority of book advertising focuses on new releases—and publishers’ reasons for putting out more books than they know they can support with marketing and publicity. If you’re newer to the industry, a first-time author, or hoping to be published soon, her Substack is a solid resource.
Picking Up Good Vibrations
This list of book-song pairings is the best bookish response I’ve seen to the recent death of The Beach Boys’ legendary songwriter Brian Wilson. I’ll take any opportunity to recommend Barbarian Days, and my hat is off to James Folta for the truly inspired coupling of "God Only Knows," one of my personal desert island songs, with Gilead, one of my all-time favorite books. I’m tearing up just thinking about that combination. Here’s hoping Martin Scorcese takes note for his upcoming adaptation of the series.
The Most Recommendable Books of the Century (So Far)
This spring, Jeff O’Neal and I had the pleasure of hosting a live recording of the Book Riot Podcast at Powell’s in Portland, OR during which we shared our lists of the most recommendable books of the 21st century so far. Today, we’ve brought that episode out from behind the Patreon paywall in hopes of enticing you to join us at Powell’s on July 9th, when we’ll be discussing the best books of 2025 (so far).
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