You Followed Every Twist of the Murdoch Succession Battle

Watched "Spinal Tap" or are looking for a new memoir

Hi friends,

My dog had minor surgery last week (she’s recovering very nicely, thank you!), so I’ve spent more time than usual sitting on the couch trying to get her to rest as well. Meaning, I have finally watched “The Thursday Murder Club” movie adaptation on Netflix.

Mostly, it was an enjoyable two hours that made me even more excited to spend time with these characters when the fifth book in the series comes out at the end of the month. But, spoilers ahead, I disagree with one big change from the book (#JusticeForBogdan) and author Richard Osman agrees with me.

In other news, I am number 207 in line at the library for the new Dan Brown book. Have you read it? Let me know.

And, now, what to read if…

You Followed Every Twist of the Murdoch Succession Battle

Park Avenue by Renée Ahdieh

The dispute between media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s children over who would inherit their father’s empire has been marked by so much drama that HBO made a TV show, “Succession,” clearly inspired by it. (In a weird twist, a “Succession” episode caused the siblings to develop a PR plan for their 94-year-old father’s death. So, life imitating art imitating life.) Anyway, for a juicy fictional family inheritance battle, pick up Renée Ahdieh’s Park Avenue.

The morning after she’s named junior partner at her white shoe New York law firm, Jia Song is asked to sit in on a meeting with potential new clients. Jia quickly realizes they’re the Park siblings, whose parents’ beauty empire is worth an estimated billion dollars. The family patriarch, though, is divorcing his dying wife and has offered her a settlement completely out of whack with their supposed net worth. The siblings — convinced their father is hiding funds in shady bank accounts — hire Jia to find the missing funds and force their dad to up his offer.

Given a month to decode a complex web of financial documents — and even more intricate family dynamics — Jia embarks on a whirlwind tour of the globe on private jets, finding herself more sympathetic to the Parks than she ever would have guessed.

I had so much fun with this book. It’s a family drama masquerading as a legal thriller, with a mysterious narrator who enjoys playing with the reader. Fans of Crazy Rich Asians or, yes, “Succession” won’t want to miss this one.

You “Turned it Up to 11” This Weekend

Kiss the Girl by Zoraida Córdova

“Spinal Tap II” hit theaters this weekend, more than 40 years after the original film introduced viewers to the fictional metal band — and introduced the mockumentary form. (Sidebar: I loved this Washington Post story on why the phrase “Turn it up to 11” lives on four decades later.) For more rock band goodness, add Zoraida Córdova’s Kiss the Girl to your TBR.

As I’ve written before, this “Little Mermaid”-inspired romance (the cute Disney version, not the terrifying original), stars Ariel del Mar, one of the most famous people in the world, who is looking forward to finally living a somewhat normal life. The international farewell tour for the Siren Seven, the band she’s been in with her sisters since she was a kid, is coming to an end. When she learns that her father, the head of Atlantica Records, has secretly planned for her to immediately launch a solo career, she impulsively runs off with Star-Crossed, an up-and-coming pop-punk band led by Eric Reyes, hiding her identity by ditching her famous red wig.

Kiss the Girl is a fast, fun read, chock-full of “Little Mermaid” easter eggs. (That said, you could easily enjoy the book without being a fan of the Disney flick.) It features A+ banter and entertaining side characters. Romance readers will be enchanted with this one.

You’re Waiting for Elizabeth Gilbert’s New Memoir

Awake by Jen Hatmaker

Beside Dan Brown’s new Robert Langdon novel, the other big release in the book world last week was All the Way to the River. It’s a memoir out documenting her toxic, drug-fueled relationship with her former assistant, who was facing a terminal cancer diagnosis. The excerpts and the reviews describe dark chaotic time that’s in sharp contrast to her blockbuster memoir, Eat, Pray, Love.

Jen Hatmaker’s Awake is very much in conversation with Eat, Pray, Love, which — love it or hate it — transformed the memoir genre, particularly those from women.

Like Gilbert’s book, Awake opens with the end of marriage. At 2:30 AM on July 11, 2020, Jen heard her husband of 26 years whispering to another woman while in bed with her. Jen have him a choice: tell her everything or leave. He was out of the house within a few hours, leaving Jen with their five children. While infidelity and divorce are devastating for everyone, Jen and her husband were Christian influencers who often preached about their marriage.

Awake documents the following year, as Jen and her children attempt to rebuild their lives. But don’t be fooled, this is not a typical divorce memoir. It’s a love letter to the friends who helped her get out of bed, a denunciation of the purity culture that pushed her into marriage while still in college and an examination of the role she played in the collapse of her marriage. I wasn’t familiar with Hatmaker’s work before reading this, but I still found myself captivated and rooting for her. An excellent choice for anyone who feels lost.

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