Full name: Molly’s Imaginary Summer Book Club Featuring Classics of Women’s Literature Defined As Books Authored By, About or Widely Read By Women in the 20th Century, this year featuring titles inspired by other recent media.
So, this year I took a slightly different approach in selecting four titles for the Imaginary Summer Book Club, and chose four books inspired by recently-consumed media (although “recent” in this case can date as far back as the beginning of the pandemic); this years selections are…
My Name is Barbra, Barbra Streisand’s epic (900 pages, 48 hours on audiobook) memoir of 2023 was wildly uneven in terms of discussing her life’s work (although very consistent in discussing things she ate and wore, which I respect)- one of the projects that she discussed in-depth was the 1973 film version of Anne Roiphe’s Up the Sandbox. (July)
Dory Previn is directly the subject of a 2014 episode of You Must Remember This and her ghost looms large over the 2021 documentary series Allen v. Farrow. (August)
Another year, another Ryan Murphy campfest: while Capote Vs. the Swans (2024) takes place long past his heyday, it does claim to solve a Breakfast at Tiffany‘s-related mystery… which has a connection to Barbra Streisand’s memoir as well! (September)
And finally, our spooky Halloween tale, which in 2021 the podcast You’re Wrong About posits as an elaborate metaphor for a dysfunctional marriage and the horrors of… home ownership! (October)
Lost Classics of Teen Lit: 1939-1989 