2022 ONTD Reading Challenge discussion

This month, read a book about fame, show business or Hollywood (anything from a tell-all to a fiction book about someone famous).

We'll get the post up within a few days, but here are some lists/articles to get ideas!

https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Really Good Books: Scandals of Classic Hollywood Edition
https://www.thehairpin.com/2012/05/re...

The 20 Most Explosive Hollywood Tell-All Books — Of All Time!
https://radaronline.com/photos/the-20...

Galloway on Film: The 10 Greatest Movie Books
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lis...

10 Juicy Hollywood Books To Get You Prepped For the Golden Globes
https://www.bustle.com/articles/57579...

I'm going to read for this one!

Also have to catch up on some previous months, I got behind!

Jack Ketchum wrote The Secret Life of Souls, which I liked. If you like animals/dogs and want something a little darker then I recommend it :)

I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain

I think I'll be reading this! I bought it back in February but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Romance books where one character is famous for show biz reasons are eligible for this month. I really like Act Like It by Lucy Parker. Can one of our romance readers rec some more that fit this trope?

Anne Helen Petersen (the writer who gave us that hilarious profile on Armie Hammer) has a book on Old Hollywood gossip: Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema

I also found this book while browsing around on Goodreads today: One On One by Craig Brown (it's about unlikely meetings between famous people)

I think I might pick The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo for this month

I got a bit ahead of myself and I've nearly finished The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which is fantastic.

Karina Longworth is currently doing a series for her podcast, You Must Remember This, where she fact-checks stories from Kenneth Anger's book, Hollywood Babylon and I have to say I'm tempted to read that as well, but we'll see.

I was thinking about Truth and Beauty, since I remember someone on ontd rec'ing it. But, not sure if it fits the theme 100%.

Ngl, seeing Hollywood Babylon and hearing about its gossipy legend makes me want to actually check it out. Someone on ontd also rec'd I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend. So I have choices this month :)

Sasha, that's correct, Truth and Beauty doesn't fit this month's theme. If anyone is picking a memoir, the eligible ones are by famous actors/comedians/directors/etc, basically Hollywood people (and similar industries from other countries), reality show people, models and famous musicians, but not writers or politicians.

I'm going to read Beautiful Ruins. It's about a fictional actress in the 1960's.

IDK what to read I might read Revenge of the Nerd: Or . . . The Singular Adventures of the Man Who Would Be Booger does that count?

Kim wrote: "IDK what to read I might read Revenge of the Nerd: Or . . . The Singular Adventures of the Man Who Would Be Booger does that count?"

That looks like it works!

BTW, the post was submitted earlier so be on the look out!

Post!
https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com...

I was thinking of Everything Leads to You, since it's on my to-read already and looks like a cute romance for the potentially crazy month that August is going to be lol. I might check out a tell-all scandal book tho........

Also, would a book like Night Film be eligible?

Susan wrote: "Also, would a book like Night Film be eligible?"

I don't know - Rach, you've read it, is it eligible?

Oops, I meant to respond! I'm sorry!

I would say it counts.

Hmmm, I probably should've gone for a fiction book about a famous character, but I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, so I picked the pointed out One on One.

Alas, that wasn't the best choice for me, I think. The writing wasn't very gripping, plus most of these encounters were a long time ago (presumably for lawsuit reasons...), so many of them I felt were already common knowledge even for a non-gossip buff.

There's still plenty of time, so I'll probably go for Night Film as well.

Hollywood Daze was on offer from Amazon so I nabbed a copy of that as it seems to fit the challenge.

I just finished Wishful Drinking, it made me sad for Carrie.

I just remembered I had bought Act Like It some months ago and it fits with the theme so that'll be my pick for this month!

I stumbled upon this podcast series that tears apart the apparent inaccuracies of Hollywood Babylon if anyone is interested.

http://www.youmustrememberthispodcast...

I picked Revenge of the Nerd: Or . . . The Singular Adventures of the Man Who Would Be Booger which was a fun read. Learned a lot about Curtis himself and enjoyed all of the Hollywood gossip.