Reading, watching, listening, and gaming recommendations from the staff of the American Writers Museum.
We can’t recommend these books, films, shows, plays, albums, and games highly enough! Check back every month for more entertainment recommendations, from classics that we revisit over and over to new favorites. If you’re looking for your next book or movie or show or whatever, you came to the right place.
Many of our June book recommendations are also available on Bookshop.org, which benefits independent bookstores. We also strongly encourage you to support your local bookstore by visiting them in person or ordering online through them directly.
Let us know what you’ve been into recently in the comments!
Autopsy (of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob) by Avan Jogia
From the publisher: “Writer, director, and actor Avan Jogia delivers a bright and acidic poetry collection on fame, rage, love, and sadness… Part boozy lovesick rage and part personal reflection on the nature of fame, Autopsy(of an Ex-Teen Heartthrob) is a sharp, tantalizing collection of poems examining Avanโs relationship with ego, idolatry, love as an act of worship, rage as an act of prayer, and sadness as confession. Through vivid imagery (and sometimes startling honesty) Avan cuts himself open and observes the false gods he has worshipped, the ways he has sinned, and exhumes a version of himself that looks like someone we all know: a person searching for the means to cure pain, mend the wounds of insecurity, and satiate cravings for love.
โMatt, Community Engagement Manager
Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
From the publisher: “What happens when fantasy tears the screen of the everyday to wake us up? Could that waking be our end? In Bliss Montage, Ling Ma brings us eight wildly different tales of people making their way through the madness and reality of our collective delusions: love and loneliness, connection and possession, friendship, motherhood, the idea of home. A woman lives in a house with all her ex-boyfriends. A toxic friendship grows up around a drug that makes you invisible. An ancient ritual might heal you of anythingโif you bury yourself alive. These and other scenarios investigate the ways that the outlandish and the ordinary are shockingly, deceptively, heartbreakingly alike.”
โAndrew, Institutional Giving Manager
Care and Feeding by Laurie Woolever
From the publisher: “In this moving, hilarious, and insightful bestselling memoir, Laurie Woolever traces her path from a small-town childhood to working at revered restaurants and food publications, alternately bolstered and overshadowed by two of the most powerful men in the business: Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain… Acerbic and wryly self-deprecating, Laurie attempts to carve her own space as a woman in this world that is by turns toxic and intoxicating… As the food world careens toward an overdue reckoning and Laurie’s mentors face their own high-profile descents, she is confronted with the questions of where she belongs and how to hold on to the parts of her life’s work that she truly values: care and feeding.”
Back in 2021, we interviewed Woolever upon the release of her book Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography for our podcast series Nation of Writers. You can learn more about Woolever and Bourdain by listening to that episode here!
โCarol, Assistant Director of Development
The Cleaving: Vietnamese Writers in the Diaspora edited by Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Lan P. Duong, and Viet Thanh Nguyen
From the publisher: “The first and only book to gather the voices and perspectives of Vietnamese diasporic authors from across the globe… This collection highlights how Vietnamese diasporic writers speak about having been cleavedโa condition in which they have been separated from, yet still hew to, the country that they have left behind… The dialogues touch on family history, legacies of colonialism and militarism, and the writers’ own artistic and literary achievements. Taken together, these conversations insist on a deeper reckoning with the conditions of displacement.”
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Pelaud and Nguyen on the latest episode of our podcast Nation of Writers. We discussed the legacy of their friend and mentor Nguyแป n Quรญ ฤแปฉc, which you can listen to here.
โNate, Content & Exhibits Manager
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima
From the publisher: “Lima lures readers into surreal pockets of the United States and Brazil where theyโll find bite-size Americans in vending machines and the ghosts of people who are not dead. Once there, she speaks to modern Brazilian-American immigrant experiencesโof ambition, fear, longing, and belongingโand reveals the porousness of storytelling and of the places we call home. With humor, an exquisite imagination, and a voice praised as ‘singular and wise and fresh’ (Cathy Park Hong), Lima joins the literary lineage of Bulgakov and Lispector and the company of writers today like Ted Chiang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.
โAndrew, Institutional Giving Manager
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novick
From the publisher: “From the author of Uprooted and Spinning Silver comes the first book of the Scholomance trilogy, the story of an unwilling dark sorceress who is destined to rewrite the rules of magic… With flawless mastery, Naomi Novik creates a school bursting with magic like youโve never seen before, and a heroine for the agesโa character so sharply realized and so richly nuanced that she will live on in hearts and minds for generations to come.”
โAnnie, Education Associate
Fever Beach by Carl Hiaasen
From the publisher: “Another instant classic from Carl Hiaasenโlaugh-out-loud funny, tackling the current chaotic and polarized American culture (following in the path of Squeeze Me), with two wonderful Hiaasen heroes… In pure Hiaasen-styleโFlorida at its most Floridian: a sun-soaked bastion of right-wing extremism, white power, greed, and corruption… Viva and Twilly are plunged into a mysteryโinvolving dark money and darker motivesโthey are determined to solve, and become entangled in a world populated by some of Hiaasenโs most outrageous characters… Hiaasen ties them all together and delivers them to their appropriate fates, in his wildest and most entertaining novel to date.”
โAnnie, Education Associate
Flight to Nowhere by Charles Williams
A novella which I read as part of an anthology called The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction, edited by Maxim Jakubowski. This one really surprised me. I hadn’t heard of Williams before, but you can bet I’ll be looking for more of his writing now. A thriller/suspense story about a professional diver, Bill Manning, who is drawn into an elaborate and life-threatening adventure by a beautiful femme fatale. An absolute winner.
โCassidy, Guest Services Manager
The Four Seasons created by Tina Fey, Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield
I am clearly the target audience, but it is so good. Tina Fey is my writer hero. Based on the film The Four Seasons written and directed by Alan Alda.
From Rotten Tomatoes: “Six old friends head for a relaxing weekend away only to learn that one couple in the group is about to split up. The three couples, Kate and Jack, Nick and Anne, and Danny and Claude, are completely upended by the news. Over the course of a year, we follow the friends on four vacations, and watch how this shake-up affects everyoneโs dynamicโsending old issues and new bubbling to the surface.”
โLinda, Director of Development
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
The satirical novel, not the film, is what we are talking about here. It came out the same year as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, and it might be hard to imagine today, but her book out-sold Gatsby during that time. Fun fact: Loos also became the first female screenwriter in Hollywood.
More from the publisher: “Written in diary form, the story follows the escapades of gold-digging flapper Lorelei Lee and her best friend, Dorothy, from New York to Europe… The book has inspired many adaptations for stage and screen, its most famous being the 1953 film starring Marilyn Monroe, in which she sang ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.'”
โChristopher, Director of Operations
Heathers screenplay by Daniel Waters
From Rotten Tomatoes: “Veronica (Winona Ryder) is part of the most popular clique at her high school, but she disapproves of the other girls’ cruel behavior. When Veronica and her new boyfriend, J.D. (Christian Slater), confront clique leader Heather Chandler (Kim Walker) and accidentally poison her, they make it appear a suicide. Soon Veronica realizes that J.D. is intentionally killing students he does not like. She races to stop J.D. while also clashing with the clique’s new leader, Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty). Dark, cynical, and subversive, Heathers gently applies a chainsaw to the conventions of the high school movieโchanging the game for teen comedies to follow.”
โMaya, Marketing & Creative Associate
How to Be a Saint: An Extremely Weird and Mildly Sacrilegious History of the Catholic Church’s Biggest Names by Kate Sidley
From the publisher: “How to Be Saint is a compulsively readable and endlessly entertaining ride through Catholicism for anyone who enjoys their history with a side of comedy. From flying friars to severed heads, this book explores the wild lives (and deaths) of saints and pulls the curtain back on the oddest quirks of religious doctrine.”
We are thrilled that Sidley will be joining us at the Studebaker Theatre in downtown Chicago on June 23 for Faith is Funny: Comedy Writers on God and Religion, the next event in our new exhibit and programming initiative American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture. Sidley is joined in conversation by Negin Farsad, Hari Kondabolu, and Peter Sagal. Learn more about this event and get tickets here!
โNate, Content & Exhibits Manager
How to Make White People Laugh by Negin Farsad
From the publisher: “From the acclaimed writer, director, and star of the hit documentary The Muslims are Coming! comes a memoir in essays about growing up Iranian-American in a post-9/11 world and the power of comedy to combat racism… Writing bluntly and hilariously about the elements of race we are often too politically correct to discuss, Farsad takes a long hard look at the iconography that still shapes our concepts of ‘black,’ ‘white,’ and ‘Muslim’ todayโand what it means when white culture defines the culture.”
We are thrilled that Farsad will be joining us at the Studebaker Theatre in downtown Chicago on June 23 for Faith is Funny: Comedy Writers on God and Religion, the next event in our new exhibit and programming initiative American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture. Farsad is joined in conversation by Hari Kondabolu, Peter Sagal, and Kate Sidley. Learn more about this event and get tickets here!
โNate, Content & Exhibits Manager
The Incomplete Book of Running by Peter Sagal
From the publisher: “On the verge of turning forty, Peter Sagalโbrainiac Harvard grad, short bald Jew with a disposition towards heft, and a sedentary star of public radioโstarted running seriously… Sagal reflects on the trails, tracks, and routes he’s traveled, from the humorous absurdity of running charity races in his underwearโin St. Louis, in Februaryโor attempting to ‘quiet his colon’ on runs around his neighborhoodโto the experience of running as a guide to visually impaired runners, and the triumphant post-bombing running of the Boston Marathon in 2014.”
We are thrilled that Sagal will be joining us at the Studebaker Theatre in downtown Chicago on June 23 for Faith is Funny: Comedy Writers on God and Religion, the next event in our new exhibit and programming initiative American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture. Sagal is joined in conversation by Negin Farsad, Hari Kondabolu, and Kate Sidley. Learn more about this event and get tickets here!
โNate, Content & Exhibits Manager
The Incredible Hulk Epic Collection: Crossroads by Bill Mantlo, Sal Buscema, et al.
This is a good standalone Hulk story. Bruce Banner loses total control and his personality becomes completely engulfed by that of the Hulk, possibly forever. Banished to an extradimensional crossroads, Hulk battles bizarre enemies and his own fractured sanity as he tries to return home to Earth.
โCassidy, Guest Services Manager
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
From the publisher: “Winner of the 1962 National Book Award and one of Time magazine’s 100 Best English-Language Novels, Walker Percy’s debut The Moviegoer is an American masterpiece and a classic of Southern literature. Insightful, romantic, and humorous, it is the story of a young manโs search for meaning amid a shallow consumerist landscape. Binx Bolling, a young New Orleans stockbroker, fills his days with movies and casual sex. His life offers him nothing worth retaining; what he treasures are scenes from The Third Man or Stagecoach, not the personal experiences he knows other people hold dear. On the cusp of turning thirty, however, something changes: At Mardi Gras, he embarks on a quest for some form of authentic experience. The consequences of Binx’s quest, on both himself and his unstable cousin Kate, prove outrageous, absurd, moving, and indelible.”
โLinda, Director of Development
My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna Van Veen
This is queer gothic horror at its absolute best, an absolute tour de force of a debut novel. Van Veen does a great job of combining familiar gothic tropes with fun new concepts, and the plotting and pace are engaging and exciting. Her conceptualization of ghosts here is unique in the best way. The writing is lush and gorgeous. I truly loved this book.
โHunter, Storyteller
Poker Face created by Rian Johnson
From Rotten Tomatoes: “A mystery-of-the-week series following Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road in her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve. Guest stars are plentiful throughout, from Ellen Barkin and Adrien Brody to Luis Guzmรกn and Chloรซ Sevigny. An inverted detective series, also known as a “howcatchem” and popularized by Columbo, the crime and perpetrator are shown at the beginning of each episode, and follows Charlie as she tries to solve the mystery.”
โMatt, Community Engagement Manager
The Problem with Apu, written by Hari Kondabolu
From the distributor: “Comedian Hari Kondabolu confronts his long standing ‘nemesis’ Apu Nahasapeemapetilonโbetter known as the Indian convenience store owner on The Simpsons. Through this comedic cultural exposรฉ, Kondabolu questions how this controversial caricature was created, burrowed its way into the hearts and minds of Americans and continues to exist.”
We are thrilled that Kondabolu will be joining us at the Studebaker Theatre in downtown Chicago on June 23 for Faith is Funny: Comedy Writers on God and Religion, the next event in our new exhibit and programming initiative American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture. Kondabolu is joined in conversation by Negin Farsad, Peter Sagal, and Kate Sidley. Learn more about this event and get tickets here!
โNate, Content & Exhibits Manager
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
From the publisher: “A searing, post-apocalyptic novel about a father and sonโs fight to surviveโฆThe Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, โeach the otherโs world entire,โ are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.”
Back in 2023, we spoke to writers Fernando A. Flores and Amit Majmudar about the legacy of McCarthy on the an episode of our podcast Nation of Writers. You can listen to the episode here, or find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
โAnnie, Education Associate
To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other by Viet Thanh Nguyen
From the publisher: “From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author ofย The Sympathizerย (now an HBO series) comes a moving and unflinchingly personal meditation on the literary forms of otherness and a bold call for expansive political solidarity… The essays here, delivered originally as the prestigious Norton Lectures, proffer a new answer to a classic literary question: What does the outsider mean to literary writing? Over the course of six captivating and moving chapters, Nguyen explores the idea of being an outsider through lenses that are, by turns, literary, historical, political, and familial.”
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Nguyen, along with Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, on the latest episode of our podcast Nation of Writers. We discussed the legacy of their friend and mentor Nguyแป n Quรญ ฤแปฉc, which you can listen to here.
โNate, Content & Exhibits Manager
The Sandlot, screenplay by David Mickey Evans and Robert Gunter
A summer classic!
From Rotten Tomatoes: “When Scottie Smalls (Thomas Guiry) moves to a new neighborhood, he manages to make friends with a group of kids who play baseball at the sandlot. Together they go on a series of funny and touching adventures. The boys run into trouble when Smalls borrows a ball from his stepdad that gets hit over a fence. It may be shamelessly derivative and overly nostalgic, but The Sandlot is nevertheless a genuinely sweet and funny coming-of-age adventure.”
โAnnie, Education Associate
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
From the publisher: “As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves. When Haymitchโs name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. Heโs torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend whoโs nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands heโs been set up to fail. But thereโs something in him that wants to fightโฆand have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.”
โMaya, Marketing & Creative Associate
Watching the Detectives screenplay by Paul Soter
From Rotten Tomatoes: “Video store owner Neil (Cillian Murphy), an incorrigible prankster and film noir buff, is told by his impatient girlfriend (Heather Burns) to grow up and stop spending so much time living through the movies. Then into his life walks Violet (Lucy Liu), who proves to be a modern-day femme fatale. After finessing hapless Neil out of a video rental, she starts to lead him down a road of petty crime. Soon Neil wonders whether a life with all the excitement of the movies is something he can handle.”
โMaya, Marketing & Creative Associate
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar screenplay by Douglas Carter Beane
From Rotten Tomatoes: “Elite Manhattan drag queens Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) and Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) impress regional judges in competition, securing berths in the Nationals in Los Angeles. When the two meet pathetic drag novice Chi-Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo)โone of the losers that eveningโthe charmed Vida and Noxeema agree to take the hopeless youngster under their joined wing. Soon the three set off on a madcap road trip across America and struggle to make it to Los Angeles in time.”
โAnnie, Education Associate
Visit our Reading Recommendations page for more book lists.