43 books that became Oscar-winning movies 🎥 📚
 The Oscars have been giving out Best Picture awards since 1929. Forty-three of those winners were based on books.
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Read this: Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile  Credit: crownpublishing From "There's Room For Everyone In The Church Of Brandi Carlile" by Elamin Abdelmahmoud If Brandi Carlile's generosity is the throughline of her career, it is also the thesis of her memoir, Broken Horses. It is an honest and vulnerable and at turns devastating document. But unlike plenty of other memoirs by rock stars, it isn't vindictive — though Carlile has plenty of reasons to be.
One of the book's most painful points is Carlile's description of her botched baptism when she was a teenager. With all her friends and family gathered in church, a man she only names as Pastor Steve asked her if she "practiced homosexuality." When she answered in the affirmative — something Pastor Steve already knew — he declined to baptize her. It was humiliating and life-altering for Carlile. She writes about how this moment pushed her further into music. (For days after, she could only lie in bed and listen to Jeff Buckley's version of "Hallelujah.")
Humiliation like this could be anyone else's supervillain origin story. But not Carlile's. Her description of the episode urges restraint before judgment. I told her it read as almost protective, as though she were holding up her hand and begging the reader not to judge the pastor. Her face softened again, and she said, "No one but me saw his face. I saw what he was going through." She means that in her deepest hurt, she allowed the inflictor to be fully human.
Carlile revealed on Brené Brown's podcast that after Elton John read her book, he immediately phoned her and said, "Oh my god, you've never been betrayed!" This isn't exactly true. Pastor Steve is just one of many betrayals that Carlile charts in Broken Horses. She got kicked out of an Elvis-impersonating band because a member was uncomfortable with her being gay. She also details a falling-out with her brother (which inspired one of her best songs). But with each of these stories, you get a sense that Carlile's gift for transforming pain into beauty is at work. (Of Pastor Steve, she told me, "I was hurt in the process, but I was given so much more.")
 We're so excited to announce Fiona Mozley's novel Hot Stew as the BuzzFeed Book Club May read!
Hot Stew takes place in London's Soho, where a young millionaire intent on converting an old building into luxury condos finds out the hard way that its tenants — specifically two sex workers based in the building — won't leave without a fight. It's a story about a changing neighborhood, but Mozley knows the best way to paint a portrait of a place is to follow those who call it home. It's a joy to see her doing just that — passing the narrative like a baton from one character to the next, building a seamless story that's buzzing with energy. If you haven't already, read the first chapter here.
We're collaborating with Algonquin Books and Libro.fm for some giveaways! Ten winners will receive signed copies of Hot Stew, and the first five selected will also receive a free audiobook copy. (US-only — sorry!)
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