The streaming age is both a blessing and a curse.
The good news is that it’s easier than ever to watch a huge variety of series and movies on demand. The bad news is that it can be easy to be overcome by choice paralysis: Do you watch the new show that everybody’s raving about, or put on an old comfort movie instead? It’s enough to make you want to turn off the screen and pick up a book instead.
If you’re an aficionado of screens both big and small, you can still get your Hollywood kicks while getting lost in the pages of a great book.
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Here are 10 recently published books – plus one on the horizon – that deal with both the good and bad of the movie and television industries.
And best of all: You don’t have to download yet another streaming app to read them.
Here are some new books just right for fans of TV and film. (Courtesy of the publishers)
Out now
“You With the Sad Eyes” by Christina Applegate (Little, Brown and Co.)
Drawn from diaries she has been keeping since childhood, this memoir from actor Applegate (“Married…With Children,” “Dead to Me”) tells the story of her life, career and long struggle with multiple sclerosis.
“Boom to Bust: How Streaming Broke Hollywood Workers” by Miranda Banks and Kate Fortmueller (USC Press)
We’ve come a long way from rabbit-ear antennas, three networks and VHS rental places. In their new book from University of California Press, professors Banks and Fortmueller dive into how the rise of streaming services — alongside COVID-19, the #MeToo movement and other factors — have forever changed the way Hollywood works.
“Death on the Lanai” by Rachel Ekstrom Courage (Hyperion Avenue Digital)
Ekstrom Courage revived the four sassy women from “Golden Girls” for a cozy mystery novel, “Murder by Cheesecake,” that came out last year. In her follow-up, Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia attend a fancy party on an island estate; when the host turns up dead, Blanche becomes a suspect, leaving the women with no choice but to find the real killer.
“Transcendent” by Laverne Cox (Gallery Books)
Actress Cox made history in 2014 when she became the first transgender performer to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her work in “Orange Is the New Black.” Her memoir tells the story of her life and career as one of the country’s most prominent trans actors.
“Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World” by Daniel Kraus (Counterpoint)
George A. Romero’s 1968 horror film is an unlikely classic: It was filmed on a small budget with an unknown cast, and made use of guerrilla filmmaking. Kraus, who recently won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel “Angel Down,” reflects on how the impact of the movie — which he first saw at the tender age of 5 — influenced him.
“Break Room” by Miye Lee, translated by Sandy Joosun Lee (Wildfire)
South Korean author Lee delighted readers with her cozy fantasy novels “The Dallergut Dream Department Store” and “The Dallergut Dream-Making District.” Her latest book deals with darker stuff: The novel follows eight people recruited for a reality TV show in which they try to find a mole planted by the producers, and have to reckon with who they really are.
“Reality Bites” by Amy Mass (Harper Collins)
The debut rom-com novel from former television writer Mass (“Last Man Standing,” “The Goldbergs”) follows Grace Lambert, a scientist whose influencer mother signs her up for a reality dating show; she agrees to participate after her lab loses its funding, thinking the big cash prize could save her and her colleagues’ jobs.
“Dream Facades: The Cruel Architecture of Reality TV” by Jack Balderrama Morley (Astra House)
You might not have put a lot of thought into the houses featured on reality TV shows, but Dwell magazine managing editor Morley has. His book examines how viewers connect with the properties featured on series including “The Kardashians,” “Selling Sunset,” and “Trading Spaces.”
“There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood” by Rasheed Newson (Flatiron Books)
Pasadena author Newson gained notice for his 2022 debut novel, “My Government Means to Kill Me,” and his work producing television series, including “Bel Air” and “The Chi.” His latest novel follows a backlot fixer determined to expose those responsible for the death of a closeted Black actor in the late 1950s.
“This Is Me: A Reckoning” by Hayden Panettiere (Grand Central)
Actress Panettiere has been making headlines with some of the shocking revelations from her memoir, which tells the story of her experiences with domestic abuse, addiction, and postpartum depression, as well as her time working on series including “Heroes” and “Nashville.”
“New Skin” by Sarah Wang (Little, Brown and Co.)
In this debut novel from author Wang, 26-year-old Linli Feng has her own problems, but has to face even more as she is drawn back into the orbit of her mother, a plastic surgery addict who gets sketchy procedures done in Los Angeles. Linli’s life is upended when her mother joins the cast of a reality show focused on people who have undergone botched surgeries.
July 7
“The Simp” by Roshan Sethi (Simon & Schuster)
Oncologist Sethi has a distinguished screen career: He is the co-creator of the Fox series “The Resident,” and he earned rave reviews for his film “A Nice Indian Boy.” He makes his literary debut with this novel about an unemployed actor in L.A. who takes a job as an executive assistant to a Hollywood family.
