Welcome to Today in Books, where we report on literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Before we get into today’s news, I want to give a shout-out to OG Book Riot contributor @Greg Zimmerman, whose long-running blog, The New Dork Review of Books, has just hit Substack. Greg is a terrific reader—lit fic fans will find his reviews especially relevant—and all-around good citizen of the world of books and reading, and he once read 50 Shades of Grey with me for what remains my favorite collab in Riot history. Smash that subscribe button.
Verity to Get Amazon Adaptation
Amazon MGM Studios has picked up Colleen Hoover’s Verity, a romantic thriller about a young woman who accepts what she thinks is a dream job as a ghostwriter for a bestselling thriller author, for film adaptation. Hoover self-published Verity in 2018, and it rocketed to the top of bestseller lists alongside many of her other titles during the early days of the pandemic, kicking off the first big wave of BookTok hits. Grand Central Publishing acquired the title in 2021 in a two-book deal (the second of which became 2023’s psychological thriller Too Late). This seems like a pretty big bet on Amazon’s part, given that BookTok has moved onto romantasy. Will CoHo’s readers still be invested by the time the film comes out in…2027? The box office returns for the adaptation of Hoover’s It Ends With Us, hitting theaters August 9, will be an interesting pulse-check.
Audible Tests Out Crossover Recommendations
If you’ve got subscriptions to both Audible and Amazon Prime, keep an eye out for a new feature that will recommend audiobooks based on what you’ve recently watched on Prime Video. Half of users who have both subscriptions will see the test feature. Amazon companies rarely reveal user data, so the tidbit that they saw an 80% increase in listening to Jack Reacher audiobooks after the Reacher series hit Prime Video in 2022 is notable and interesting. Is it representative of a new trend? Who knows. What’s really going on here? Audible is worried that Spotify is coming to eat its lunch, and they’re looking for any way to shore up a shrinking user base. Funny how having actual competition drives a company to innovate in bigger ways!
Queenie Comes to Hulu
The first trailer for Hulu’s series adaptation of Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams has dropped, and friends, it looks great. The story follows a young Jamaican British woman having a quarter-life crisis of sorts as she navigates being of two cultures and feeling that she belongs in neither. If you missed Queenie when it came out in 2019, you’ve got plenty of time to pick up the novel before the series premiers June 7.
The Best Book Club Books Coming Out in May
Oh, so many good options! May is a killer month for new releases. I’ve especially got my eye on The Ministry of Time and Lies and Weddings as discussion fodder.
Find more posts like this via our subscription publication, Today in Books! Get access to our daily newsletter rounding up some of the biggest bookish headlines of the day for free, or you can sign up for a paid subscription to get additional content and access to community features.
Source : Audible to Test Listening Recs Based on What You Watch
