Emily Nussbaum’s latest book, Cue the Sun, chronicles the rise and fall of reality television. In chipper prose, the rigorously researched history explores how certain networks have managed to seize our collective attention span with a spate of “real” programming. From Survivor to The Bachelor and beyond, what is it about this narrative model that’s so hearty?
Inspired by Nussbaum’s project, I’ve assembled a reading list that treats your guilty pleasure as a springboard. If you like those fake-reals, try these real-fakes.
The Great British Bake Off
For fans of fine cuisine and the penetrating gaze of Paul Hollywood, Maylis de Kerangal’s The Cook is a moveable feast. This slim, engaging novel follows Mauro, a young chef on a journey of sense-based self-discovery.
It shouldn’t surprise you that this ode to the epicure is filled with tantalizing food descriptions. Here, a U-Bahn station kebab is not a quick snack, but “crunchy slices of meat, sweet grilled onions, crisp fries, soft bread, the smooth sauce soaking through all of it, and hot, hot, hot: the perfect fuel.” On the page and on the plate, we’re snacking.
Also consider: Nora Ephron’s Heartburn, and Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. These two novels also enlist food as a love language. Bonus points for the recipes.
Below Deck
If your interest in this super-yacht is purely nautical, Ladee Hubbard’s The Rib King may seem an unusual recommendation. But this tightly plotted portrait of a wealthy white family and the black servants they exploit perfectly captures the upstairs/downstairs dynamic familiar to all passengers of a certain troubled ship. The novel is also built of fascinating characters. Like Mr. Sitwell, a groundskeeper turned butler with a history-sized chip on his shoulder.
Also consider: For more slow-boiling class and romantic tension, look no further than Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day. And for an ocean-forward entry, try Samantha Hunt’s odd jewel of a coming-of-age novel, The Seas.
Couples Therapy
Most romantic novels lean on the marriage plot. Drama builds as two unlikely souls come together, then apart, then together forever, for real. Part of the appeal of a show like Couples Therapy is its rendering of the aftermath. Once you’ve jumped the broom or kissed under the mistletoe, what comes next?
Danzy Senna’s New People is a refreshing, often unsettling look at a foundering partnership. Or more specifically? The woman on the cusp of foundering. Full of razor-sharp psychological insight and lacerating social observations, this crisp novel will incline you to look at your own house and desires with fresh eyes.
Also consider: Tessa Hadley’s Free Love is another close look at a woman’s conflicting wants. And for a frank and unusually cheerful take on partnership, pick up Laurie Colwin’s Happy All The Time.
Love is Blind
Oh, Love is Blind. Your unhinged premise and the fact that you functioned as cultural bonding glue in the early days of the pandemic mean I will always see you as a surreal and dream-like fiction. What an odd, odd idea for courtship. I mean, does this show really exist? Are those weird little people in the boxes even real?
Peng Shepherd’s new novel, All This and More, is as thrillingly strange. Following a woman tapped to participate in a reality show that lets its contestants “revise their pasts and change their present lives,” this book dissects the perils and pleasures of romantic choice in high-octane, vivid prose. The world is deeply imagined. And as a choose-your-own-adventure novel with a branching plot, it’s got agency baked into the structure. (Like, allegedly, Love is Blind.)
Also consider: For another unlikely union forged through (metaphorical) walls, consider Elizabeth McCracken’s The Giant’s House. Or on the more straightforward end of the relationship-survey spectrum, Norman Rush’s Mating.
Project Runway
As this show is about Work, here’s some nonfiction for you. Dana Thomas’ exhaustively reported, utterly engaging portrait of two era-defining designers is a must read for the fashionista in your life. Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano dramatizes an incredible creative partnership. But it pulls no punches about the price of making beautiful things.
Also consider: Yasmin Zaher’s The Coin. This debut novel hinges on a Birkin bag heist, and also engages the dark side of fetishizing shiny things.
Real Housewives
The assorted housewives remind me of nothing so much as the Machiavellian power brokers peppering Wharton and James’ novels. (Also, may I point you this Sad Rich Girl taxonomy?) But if you love infighting among the leisure class, I suspect the Downton Abbey canon is already on your nightstand.
For an off-the-beaten-path look at a Very dramatic, Very wealthy family, consider Jessica Mitford’s Hons and Rebels. This memoir explores the early years of the famous and infamous Mitford sisters, stars of mid-century London’s social scene.
Also consider: All of Edith, really. But Glimpses of the Moon, which features sneaky protagonists pretending to wealth, may scratch your itch for bad behavior in beautiful places.
