Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

A29
PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 16 augusT 2018

From Reese Witherspoon to SJP, the rise of celeb book clubs

By ALICIA RANCILIO erary fiction space which
Associated Press isn’t always as commercial.
NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy The first novel printed by
Fallon remembers a sum- SJP for Hogarth, “A Place
mer a few years back when for Us” by Fatima Farheen
it seemed everybody was Mirza, is a New York Times
reading “Gone Girl” by Gil- best-seller.
lian Flynn. Parker said she also enjoys
“Everyone had that book. posting about books on so-
If we had people over, or cial media because it’s a
went on vacation pool- safe topic.
side, people had that Books are the “one thing
book wrinkled and curled I can talk about on Insta-
up. I read it with my wife gram that’s not controver-
and we read every chap- sial,” she said. “Everybody
ter together and we’d be wants to talk about their fa-
like, ‘(Gasps) This is great!’ vorite books or their feelings
It was the world’s smallest This file photo shows actress Reese Witherspoon, with two cover images of novels she selected about books and share title
book club,” he laughed. for her book club, Something In The Water by Catherine Steadman and “Eleanor Oliphant Is recommendations. I mean,
This summer, Fallon decid- Completely Fine,” by Gail Honeyman. it’s a huge exchange of in-
ed to expand his book club Associated Press formation and enthusiasm
of two to include his late- Witherspoon, who has much respect for people But Parker then thought and it’s really the easiest
night audience. In June, bought the rights to many who’ve been in publishing it could be a way to help part of my relationship with
he launched “Tonight of her picks to adapt for for a long time,” she said. champion works in the lit- social media certainly.”q
Show Summer Reads.” Fal- film or television. One of
lon presented five book her selections, “Little Fires
options on his show and Everywhere” by Celeste Ng
instructed viewers to go will be a limited series on
online and vote for their fa- Hulu starring Witherspoon
vorite. The results exceed- and Kerry Washington.
ed his expectations with The Oscar winner has also
140,000 votes. The winner partnered with the audio
was “Children of Blood and producer-distributor Audi-
Bone” by Tomi Adeyemi. ble on audio recordings of
“Any way to engage the her selections.
audience and to do stuff Emma Roberts has turned
with them is always more her lifelong love of reading
fun,” said Fallon. into a pet project she calls
He also enthusiastically Belletrist. A website and
tracked how the books social media for Belletrist
performed on Amazon af- celebrate all things books.
ter a mention on his show. Each month they feature
The company confirms he a new book to read and
had an impact. even an independent
“When a celebrity decides book store to check out.
to get behind a book, we “Belletrist is my baby,” said
generally see a lift in sales,” Roberts, who runs the site
said Chris Schluep, an with her partner, Karah
editor at Amazon. “For in- Preiss. She says there is “no
stance, ‘Children of Blood criteria” for books she fea-
and Bone’ has been selling tures because her personal
well this year. But the week taste is so varied, but she
after Jimmy Fallon selected does tend to learn toward
it as the first ‘Tonight Show’ highlighting female au-
book club selection, it sold thors. Sarah Jessica Parker
nearly three times the num- is so committed to read-
ber of print, Kindle and Au- ing that she’s partnered
dible books that it had sold with the American Library
in the previous week at Association to share her
Amazon.” own suggestions. The goal,
Fallon isn’t the only celeb- she says, is to not only get
rity to follow in Oprah Win- people to read but to also
frey’s footsteps with a book support their own local li-
club. Reese Witherspoon braries. When Parker was
has made such a success approached by publishing
of her monthly literary picks house Hogarth to start her
that publishers are now own imprint, her respect
putting Reese stickers on for writing initially made her
her selections. think it wasn’t a good idea.
“It’s fantastic and we have “I didn’t think I had the
a great experience,” said experience and had too