May was when some crap hit the fan at WMG, and I found myself working 18 hours per day and getting very little sleep. Consequently, I didn’t read much in May. What I did read was in bits and pieces, spread out over the entire month. So I don’t have a lot to recommend here…but wait until you see June!
May, 2024
Huston, Caitlin, “Fiction Forward,” The Hollywood Reporter, March 6, 2024. When someone tells you something is not possible or that it won’t sell or that no one is interested, think on this story. I can’t tell you how many people have told me over the years that fiction audio, especially podcasts, doesn’t get an audience. Yet the most-nominated podcast in this year’s Ambies was a fiction piece. If I say more, I’ll rival the word count of the piece I’m sending you to. So go take a look.
Macintyre, Ben, Rogue Heroes, Broadway Books, 2016. After reading The Mosquito Bowl, which I recommended in February, I found myself scanning my World War II books to find another interesting volume. I ended up reading Rogue Heroes, which was fascinating and cringeworthy at the same time. Macintyre does not flinch at some of the brutal depictions of his protagonists or of the war itself. I found the entire thing fascinating and deeply uncomfortable.
McQuiston, Casey, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, Wednesday Books, 2022. I think I owe an apology to Casey McQuiston for letting this book sit on my shelf for two years. I had an early edition of the book with a cover that screamed romance. I thought I knew what the book would be about, but wowza was I wrong. That’s how I’ve reacted to all of McQuiston’s books. I literally judge them by their covers and find them wanting. Then I read the books and I fall in love.
Shara Wheeler kisses our protagonist Chloe, her rival for valedictorian at Willowgrove Christian Academy, and then disappears. Just walks out of school and goes somewhere else. The mystery of Shara Wheeler’s disappearance, her behavior before she vanishes, and a few other fascinating pieces that I can’t tell you because Spoilers! is what made me read this book in a month in which I had no time.
Get this one. Share it with your friends.
Tringali, Anthony, and Cox, Stephen, “‘Over the Rainbow’ Under Suspicion,” The Hollywood Reporter, March 6, 2024. If there’s anything I’ve learned in my years of studying copyright, it’s that figuring out of music copyright has been stolen isn’t as easy as it looks. But it does look like Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg might have lifted most of the melody for “Over The Rainbow” from a Scandinavian composer named Signe Lunde. Whether or not the lifting was intentional is up for debate. Whether or not it matters depends on how the information is presented. Signe Lunde was a woman who was well known. She also became an active Nazi sympathizer. Those are just some of the fascinating twists in this article. I suggest you read it, and see what you think.
Weprin, Alex, “The AI Perils Buried in the Fine Print*,” The Hollywood Reporter, March 27, 2024. Fascinating analysis of all the conundrums buried in what we’re all calling AI. People are interested in using it, but aren’t sure how or why. Corporations are having similar dilemmas. Really worth the read. It’ll give you something to think about.
