Books
There are few activities as satisfying and comforting as watching reality television. 90 Day Fiancé, The Bachelor, Vanderpump Rules, and Southern Charm, to name a few, are riveting precisely because of their premise: They're about real people doing real things. OK, yes, some of the drama is certainly manufactured, but enough of it is real to keep viewers coming back for more.
If you're looking for a reality TV show in book form, you can't beat the three new nonfiction books I've listed for you below. These books are all about real women — Hollywood royalty and actual royalty — who lived the kind of lives you thought only existed in fiction. The scandals, love affairs, and brushes with celebrities depicted in these books certainly seem too extraordinary to be real — and of course, that makes them even more shocking.
In Seduction, you'll read about the actresses pursued by one of the 20th centuries' greatest legends, Howard Hughes; in Ninety-Nine Glimpses Of Princess Margaret, you'll discover the complicated truth of an enigmatic, layered woman; and in Daughters of the Winter Queen, you'll learn about four fascinating royal women who changed the course of history. Read more about them below:
'Seduction: Sex, Lies, And Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood' by Karina Longworth
Written by the creator and host of the podcast You Must Remember This, this nonfiction book explores the lives of the dozens of actresses pursued by Howard Hughes. The drama is salacious, the stories are riveting, and the takeaways about sex, power, and gender are as timely as ever.
'Ninety-Nine Glimpses Of Princess Margaret' by Craig Brown
It could be argued that no woman was better connected in the 1950s than Princess Margaret. A mysterious figure, beloved and loathed in equal measure, she lived a fascinating life that put her in contact with John Lennon, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Pablo Picasso, and others. In this riveting book, Craig Brown combines interviews, dreams, parodies, essays, and more to tell an unconventional true story of an unconventional woman.
'Daughters of the Winter Queen: Four Remarkable Sisters the Crown of Bohemia and the Enduring Legacy of Mary Queen of Scots' by Nancy Goldstone
When Elizabeth Stuart, granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots, married a German count far below her rank, she did so on the promise that her father would help her husband become king of Bohemia. He did not follow through on his vow, and Elizabeth became known as "The Winter Queen." She and her daughters — Elizabeth, Louisa, Henrietta, and Sophia — exiled, took refuge in Holland, where they blossomed into four fascinating women who changed the course of history.
