Get Your "Fictional Famous People" Fix with These Recommendations

If you’re a big reader, chances are there’s a specific book niche you can always count on for a great read. For my mom, that niche is “Depressing Irish Fiction” — think "Normal People" or "Brooklyn." I discovered mine a few years ago when I read "Permanent Record" by Mary H. K. Choi and realized my schtick is anything involving what I’ve come to call “Fictional Famous People,” or FFP.

I became even more obsessed after reading (a better word would be experiencing, even if my mom disagrees) "Daisy Jones & the Six" by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Despite primarily reading fantasy, if I saw any — and I do mean any, I was going off crumbs from the cover jackets — mention of fictional singers, movie stars, athletes, you name it, the book was coming home with me.

I don’t exactly know what about this niche appeals to me so much. If I had to guess, it’s the way it mirrors how we root for celebrity couples in real life, something that I am absolutely guilty of (I’m unashamed to admit the day Tom Holland and Zendaya went Insta-official was big for me). In an era where even the tiniest sliver of information turns into a full-blown conspiracy theory, it’s so much fun to peek behind the curtain, however fictional.

That’s not to say that I always enjoy books directly drawn from real people. Like any successful book, "Daisy Jones & the Six" and "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo" — among others — have spawned an entire subgenre of stories that exists almost exclusively to scratch the exact same itch as "Daisy Jones," but without venturing into original territory. The publishing gods have got to step in before my beloved subgenre is overtaken by indistinguishable books about a fictional band from the 70s. As Baby Tate poetically put it 2:09 minutes into her 2020 single “Rainbow Cadillac”: you can’t outdo the doer. Why everyone keeps trying is seriously beyond me.

Anyway, I’m not kidding when I say I’m so invested in this obscure niche I could name several of these off the top of my head along with the book they’re trying to replicate. I won’t do that to you. Instead, let me offer several recommendations (and new releases!) that AREN’T carbon copies of preexisting fan favorites. In no particular order:

• "Great Circle" by Maggie Shipstead: A typecast romcom star desperate to prove herself as a serious actress gets cast in an adaptation of the life of definitely-not-Amelia Earhart whose disappearance in Antarctica remains unsolved nearly a century later. The past and present begin to collide as the two women undergo mirroring journeys of self discovery.
• "The Unsinkable Greta James" by Jennifer E. Smith: Right before she’s set to release her sophomore album, Greta James, an indie artist-turned Billboard sensation, loses her mother. After a grief-fueled, onstage meltdown Greta goes on a week-long Alaskan cruise with her somewhat estranged father, where she hopes to heal from both new and old wounds. Also, there’s a hot historian there too.
• "For the Record" by Emma Lord: I am a HUGE Emma Lord fan (shoutout former Hoos) so it’s only right that her adult debut caters to my very specific special interest. "For the Record" follows a pop singer and rockstar whose mutual career deaths — and mutual hatred for one another — can only be averted by capitalizing on their past chemistry through a joint album. I had the privilege of getting to read this early and boy did it deliver.
• "The Compound" by Aisling Rawle: This book answers a question probably no one was asking but most certainly needed an answer: what happens when Love Island UK meets The Hunger Games? On “The Compound,” contestants must try to find love whilst competing for food, furniture, and luxury items ranging from a hairbrush to a Gucci purse. This was a 5 star read for me and I am still in disbelief that it’s a debut novel.
• "The Villain Edit" by Laurie Devore: A struggling writer ends up on what is essentially The Bachelor, only to find out that she already knows one of the producers — they had a one night stand right before she went on the show. As she gets further in the competition and the line between reality television and plain reality blurs, she has to decide not only who she wants, but who she wants to BE. So so good and so entertaining.
• "Park Avenue" by Renee Ahdieh: If Crazy Rich Asians and Knives Out had a baby, it would be Park Avenue. A young Korean American lawyer is brought into the legal feud of the wealthy Park family, whose introduction of Korean skincare to American markets made them millions. Now, the three Park children have united for the first time in years to stop their father from ripping off their mother in their contentious divorce. Prepare to be guessing the entire way through and shocked by the ending in the best way possible.
• "Nora Goes Off Script" and "It’s a Love Story" by Annabel Monaghan: I’m grouping these together since they’re both Annabel Monaghan, but make no mistake, they’re completely different books. In one, a fortysomething lives her Notting Hill fantasy with a popular movie star, while in the other, a former child star turned creative executive seeks to get her script greenlighted and falls in love with her rival in the process.
• "Romantic Comedy" by Curtis Sittenfeld: Ever wondered what the hell was going on with Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande? So is the protagonist of this book, who writes a skit for not-SNL that sparks a romantic entanglement of her own.

 

More honorable mentions: