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Los Angeles Times
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Pack these books for Coachella: Your music festival reading lineup
Calling all bookworms! Welcome to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter. I'm Meg. I write shut up and read, a book newsletter. I'm also on BookTok. It's festival season. And no, I don't just mean The Times' Festival of Books happening at the end of the month (see you at my panel…?). I'm also talking about Coachella and, unfortunately, Stagecoach. Whether you're heading out to Indio, or enjoying the annual exodus of Angelenos, here are some books that give Coachella Valley vibes. As usual, you'll also find the latest in lit news below, plus, we hop on the phone with the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. Bikini Kill frontwoman and third-wave feminist punk icon Kathleen Hanna looks back on her life with introspection and candor in 'Rebel Girl.' She unburies trauma, writing frankly about personal traumas, including sexual assaults she survived as a teen and young woman, and reflects on how she made it out to the other side. When I was 18, I went to Coachella. I should have been at home reading Sarvenaz Tash's 'Three Day Summer.' Tash reimagines 1969 Woodstock for the YA crowd, focusing on the budding romance between teens Michael and Cora against the backdrop of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead. Before the Yuma tent, there was bloghouse. 'Never Be Alone Again' by Lina Abascal is an essential text on an under-documented era of music. Featuring a foreword by A-track, and interviews with everyone from Flosstradamus to Steve Aoki, this book is a time capsule that will have you scrolling through the Cobrasnake's archive and yearning for illegal MP3s. 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' by Tom Wolfe. Because, duh. 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' by Jennifer Egan is a structural marvel. Egan time travels across 40 years in her postmodern Pulitzer Prize-winning book, passing the baton among 13 protagonists, zig-zagging her way through the story of music mogul Bennie Salazar, his klepto assistant Sasha, and a cast of kooky characters. Reading this book for the first time is a transcendent experience. Taylor Jenkins Reid's 'Daisy Jones and the Six,' obviously. This list wouldn't be complete without the historical fiction novel loosely inspired by Fleetwood Mac. Told as an oral history, the book weaves together interviews from the band members spanning nearly five decades. When you're done, binge-watch the television adaptation starring Riley Keough. 'The Final Revival of Opal & Nev' by Dawnie Walton follows a fictional iconic and interracial Afropunk rock duo, Opal Jewel and Nev Charles, who are on the brink of reuniting for the first time in over 40 years. Covering their reunion is Sunny, a Black journalist who has a personal connection to Opal, and is determined to land the tell-all story behind the pair. Walton's debut novel feels so authentic that I guarantee you will be double- and triple-checking that these characters aren't based on real people. Don't say I didn't warn you. Forty years after Woodstock, co-creator Michael Lang and author Holly George-Warren wrote the seminal text for the festival. 'The Road to Woodstock' gives readers more than a behind-the-scenes look, it gives them backstage access, from finding Max Yasgur's farm that would ultimately host the fest, to negotiating with the Who and landing Jimi Hendrix — even if it cost an extra couple thousand dollars. Lollapalooza's impact cannot be understated. That's the argument convincingly made in 'Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock's Wildest Festival' by Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour. In their oral history, the pair interview hundreds of artists, tour founders and Lollapalooza organizers, among others. In a review for The Times, Marc Ballon calls the account a 'fun, dishy and surprisingly moving read.' (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) Even warriors and queens, and warrior queens, risk it all for love. Join me — and legendary romantasy authors Melissa de la Cruz, Kristen Ciccarelli, Rachel Howzell Hall and Amalie Howard — at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books for a discussion on revolutionary romance. Tickets required. In early 2020, Albert Jones was sitting in his cell on San Quentin's death row as he had every day for nearly three decades, when reports of a mysterious respiratory illness started to circulate. Through it all, Jones kept detailed journals chronicling his anxiety over catching the 'killer virus.' And when he did contract COVID, he recounted his agonizing recovery. Now, a Sonoma County bookseller who sees Jones' collected works as a rare glimpse into one of America's most notorious cell blocks is selling some of his writing and prison memorabilia at a New York City book fair. Krysten Ritter was on vacation in Mexico 13 years ago when a man on a bike approached her. He was looking for his partner who vanished without a trace. In her new novel, which she co-wrote with Lindsay Jamieson, she takes that incident and turns it into a 'hall of distorted mirrors' thriller called 'Retreat.' At 50, Chelsea Handler has it all, including her sixth No. 1 New York Times bestseller, 'I'll Have What She's Having.' 'I'm so proud of myself for never falling into getting married or having a baby when I know those things aren't natural to who I am,' she tells The Times. In Kevin Nguyen's gripping novel, the U.S. government sets up internment camps for citizens of Vietnamese ancestry following a wave of terrorist attacks. Lauren LeBlanc reviews 'My Documents' for The Times. This week we hopped on the phone with Paul Bradley Carr, Silicon Valley journalist turned co-owner of the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. Carr and his partner Sarah Lacy relocated to Palm Springs in 2019. To their dismay, there was no bookstore in town. So in 2022, they opened their own. Though Carr says at his age the ideas of festivals 'exhaust' him, the Coachella Valley local offers up a recommendation for both festival revelers — and avoiders. What are the most popular titles at your store lately? The No. 1 thing that's been flying off the shelves is this Facebook book, 'Careless People.' That's just selling by the bucketload. Since Facebook tried to stop it, we can't keep it in stock. That book was not going to do well. ... [Now] everybody wants this book. And then the other one in Palm Springs is 'The Guncle' by Steven Rowley, which just keeps selling. We sold more than a thousand copies. It won the Thurber Prize last year. It's set in Palm Springs. It's a deeply funny book, but also about grief. It's got something for everyone. 'The Snowbirds' by Christina Clancy has just started flying as well, which just came out a couple of weeks ago. What are upcoming titles you're excited about? The No. 1 I'm most excited about is my own book. It's called 'The Confessions.' … It's really a book about how we trust technology with all of our secrets and what happens if technology decides to confess them all on our behalf. It's the AI thriller for people who definitely don't want to read an AI thriller. I'm also very much looking forward to 'Notes to John,' the Joan Didion book about the letters that she wrote to her husband about her therapy sessions. It's a collection of those. It's wild. Vauhini Vara's new book, 'Searches.' Her sister died and she got ChatGPT to write an article about it to figure out the connection between humanity and technology and how technology can help us deal with human things. And this is the book spinoff where she explores human consciousness and technology consciousness. It's a really surreal book. On the mystery side, 'Fair Play' by Louise Hegarty is f— amazing. … It's a really modern, interesting, bizarre take on the murder mystery. I'm only about halfway through, but I cannot wait for this book to be in store. It's brilliant. Can you recommend a book that gives festival energy? I'm 45 years old [laughs]. The idea of festivals just exhausts me. I want to stay at home with a book and not go to a festival. But I understand the premise of your question. I would stay at home and I would read Sarah Tomlinson's 'The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers,' which is a brilliant book about fame and fandom and rock stars. It's the novel for if you have read 'Daisy Jones and the Six' and you're wondering what else to read. The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs is located at 180 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs 92262 See you in the stacks — or on Goodreads!
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ione Skye, 54, Reveals She Slept with Costar John Cusack — and Other Juicy Revelations from Her Memoir (Exclusive)
Actress Ione Skye, 51, is an open book in her debut memoir Say Everything. (Out March 4). The delightfully juicy tome details everything from the Say Anything star's bohemian childhood, her fraught relationship with her father, 'Mellow Yellow' singer Donovan and tons of famous friends like River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, Sofia Coppola, Madonna and her first husband, Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz. "I'm a little nervous," Skye tells PEOPLE of name-checking so many celebs in the book. But she also says that at her age, she's found peace with telling the truth about her life and career. "I think as you get older, you feel freer just taking chances creatively and not worrying so much about everybody being happy," she says. "Or worrying about looking like a fool." "I definitely don't want to hurt anyone. But some people I named in the book have read it, and luckily everyone has loved it." One of those readers? Her Say Anything costar John Cusack. Skye had always maintained that while they had crushes on each other during filming, they never hooked up on set. In the book, she divulges that they eventually did sleep together, albeit years later. "I had to get it out of my system," she writes in the book, of getting together with him after her divorce from her first husband, Adam Horovitz. Related: Kathleen Hanna's Rebel Girl Shares Love Story with Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock — Get a Sneak Peek Here (Exclusive) She says she allowed Cusack to read a draft of her memoir, and afterward, he texted her: "You made the experience sound so meh! It wasn't 'meh' for me," he told her. "I was like, I'm telling a story, and it was more about how all of our chemistry was in our working together and stimulating each other's minds, not sleeping together!" Skye says, adding with a laugh, "I felt a little bad, but, oh well." Skye, who began acting at age 16, also reveals other crushes she had on costars, including her longtime friend River Phoenix, with whom she starred in 1988's A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon. "River ended up being a brother to me, but I remember at the time thinking, 'Oh I'm in love with him!' I couldn't wait to do my kissing scene with him. He was just delicious.'" Related: Ione Skye Shares Final Text Exchange with Matthew Perry Days Before His Death: 'Love This Guy' She also goes into her tumultuous relationship with rocker Anthony Kiedis, who she dated when she was 16 and he was 24 and struggling with a heroin addiction. Skye also had an abortion after getting pregnant by him in her late teens. "I'm not in touch with him," she admits, admitting that she's a little nervous over what he'll think of the book. Skye also opens up about meeting and falling for Horovitz when she was 20, and what it was like being part of the "It Couple" of the early '90s. The duo got married in 1992, but during their union, Skye discovered her bisexuality and entered into a series of affairs, including one with model Jenny Shimizu, the author reveals. They eventually divorced in 2000, and Horovitz later married Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "I wrote to Adam," Skye says, of letting him know he'd be in the book. "He's private, but also such a big part of my story so he couldn't not be in it." One person who she knows won't have any issue with the book is her husband of 15 years, Aussie rocker Ben Lee. (The two share daughter Goldie, 15, and Skye is mom to daughter Kate, 24, with her ex David Netto.) Related: A Wedding in India for Actress Ione Skye "My husband, yeah, he knew everything," Skye says of Lee, 46. "I mean, he's kind of amazing. I don't think anything ruffled his feathers except that I spent so much time ruminating on a lot of the early chapters, and then by the time I got to the end and his chapters, I was sort of rushing through it. And he was like, wait a minute, wait a minute. I've been by your side this whole time and you can't rush through my part!" Jokes and first-time author jitters aside, Skye just hopes that people will have as much fun reading her story as she did writing it. "It's almost like motherhood, in that you know it's going to be a huge experience, but you don't know how big until you get there," she says of the three-year undertaking. "But it's one of my favorite projects I've ever done. I thought it would be kind of just annoying and difficult, but I ended up loving it. And yes, I do care about what others will think. But I also have the feeling that everything will be okay." Say Everything is available now, wherever books are sold. Read the original article on People
