Amanda Sellet is a former journalist and the author of romcoms for teens and adults, including By the Book, which Booklist described in a starred review as, “impossible to read without laughing out loud.” She loves old movies, baked goods, and embarrassing her teen daughter.
Sellet's new novel, Hate to Fake It to You, is her adult debut.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Sellet's reply:
This is a year of continuous and overlapping deadlines for me, which means even my leisure reading needs to multitask. Each of these titles relates to a current or future writing project, but since some of these works-in-progress are still top-secret,Visit Amanda Sellet's website.I’ll stick to the vague interest areas of “screwball comedy retellings,” “general fiction with a strong romantic subplot,” and “frothy mystery.”
Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow: In July, I had the absolute pleasure of moderating a virtual panel with a group of writers whose books draw inspiration from classic films—including this sparkling space caper, a must-read even if sci-fi isn’t your usual stomping ground. Fraimow updates the Preston Sturges classic The Lady Eve by trading cruise ships for spaceships, preserving the original’s wisecracking heroine, audacious hoax, and 1940s jargon in a beautifully crafted romp with a sharp eye for economic disparity. (If you enjoy the madcap energy of The Lady Eve, stay tuned for news about my summer 2025 release!)
I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue: It’s been a very long time since I occupied a cubicle, but this dryly witty contemporary took me right back to the sad packed lunch and fluorescent lights era of my life, complete with the petty resentments that fester amidst the 9-to-5 grind. Main character Jolene’s acerbic inner monologue won me over immediately, because I will follow a genuinely funny voice almost anywhere—even when it begins in a fairly dark place. Which is not to say that this falls into the style of books I think of as “misery porn,” where the goal is to rub the reader’s nose in human suffering for maximum melodrama. This is a much more hopeful and compassionate vision of the world, with moving twists and turns that shift the relationships—
and reader perceptions—of a forced family of work colleagues.
Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack: Did I save this book so that I could hold it up in a vaguely menacing fashion while on vacation? Absolutely. (You’re welcome, Mom!) I’m a sucker for funny footnotes, which this book leans into in a big way, and thoroughly enjoyed the playfully meta stylings of a mystery novelist using her “skills” to solve an actual crime while on a fraught book tour of absurdly picturesque Italian locales. This would pair really well with a lemon spritz, so provision your cocktail cupboard accordingly.
Q&A with Amanda Sellet.
The Page 69 Test: By the Book.
Writers Read: Amanda Sellet (December 2022).
--Marshal Zeringue
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