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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more.
Verity Adaptations Gets a Release Date
Amazon MGM Studios’ adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s Verity has been set for big-screen release May 15, 2026. By the time the film is released, it will have been eight years since Hoover originally self-published the book and five since Grand Central Publishing acquired it for re-release on the heels of Hoover’s TikTok-enabled surge to the top of the bestseller list. BookTok has shifted its allegiance to romantasy, and it’s an open question how much enthusiasm readers will muster for CoHo another 14 months from now. On the other hand, with Anne Hathaway set to star alongside Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett, Verity has more Hollywood firepower than last year’s scandal-plagued It Ends With Us adaptation, which raked it in at the box office despite the fact that it was really quite bad, and its plot sounds meaningfully less bananas, sooooo this one is anybody’s guess.
Come On, Get Happy
Everybody’s got a theory of what it means to be happy, but Dr. Laurie Santos has the data to back it up. Her “Psychology and the Good Life” at Yale is the most in-demand class in the university’s history and has inspired a bestselling book and popular podcast. In a special piece for The New Yorker, Santos recommends books her favorite books that can help us develop tools to enjoy our lives more. Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights and Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks, both Book Riot house faves, get well-deserved shouts, and I couldn’t recommend them more.
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What Everyone is Reading on White Lotus
One thing about White Lotus creator Mike White: he’s going to make sure that every detail in the show means something. From what college characters attended to how they dress to which spa treatments they choose (poor Lochlan and that posture-improvement session!), it’s all in service of the big picture. I cackled Sunday night when I saw Jaclyn reading Barbra Streisand’s nearly-1000-page-long memoir by the pool—of course that’s what she would pick—and was delighted to see Laurie had picked up Emma Straub’s Modern Lovers (Straub was also delighted). Here’s a look at what everyone is reading on White Lotus and what it means. Book club, anyone?