Books
What Is WSB? Understanding WallStreetBets
I’m not here to tell you why the stock price of GameStop has skyrocketed. You can get that information in literally any media publication, all of which have been in a frenzy over the last 48 hours as why certain parts of the financial markets are seemingly divorced from reality.
But I do want to take a step back and look at WallStreetBets, the Reddit forum that has propelled young retail investors to new heights. Luckily, the founder of WallStreetBets, Jaime Rogozinski, came out with a book on the topic just last year:
WallStreetBets: How Boomers Made the World’s Biggest Casino for Millennials — $13.99
If the Amazon reviews of Rogozinski’s book aren’t particularly good, it is mostly because what he was saying was not all that interesting in January 2020. The idea of day trading is hardly novel, and anyone who knew enough about WallStreetBets to consider reading the book did not need a primer on Robinhood.
Now, things are different. Government-mandated lockdowns have severely limited the number of things young people can do for fun, and that same U.S. government is handing out hundreds of dollars in relief money to people who, with nowhere to go, suddenly have very few expenses. What is the natural thing to do with surplus money? Gamble, of course. Since there are no casinos to go to right now, online trading has become the surest way to take a risk with whatever cash is burning a hole in your pocket.
Enter WSB. This subreddit provides a community for those to discuss stock picks. If the 2008 financial crisis taught us anything, it is that the market is already set up to bear little relationship to reality. Win or lose, the people controlling the portfolios always win. If this can be true for money managers, what was preventing millennials from getting in on the action? As it turned out, nothing.
For people in their 20s, this is obvious. For others, who adamantly believe whatever the talking heads are selling them on CNBC, the desire to throw money at the stock market seemingly at random may still not sit right. Those are the people who should read Jaime Rogozinski’s “WallStreetBets: How Boomers Made the World’s Biggest Casino for Millennials.” Everyone else should just go out and live it.
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix, $12.18 Paperback
Release Date: July 2021
Cozy up on your next snow day and read Gary Hendrix’s The Final Girl Support Group.
Author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (2020), Grady Hendrix succeeds again in tapping into our favorite horror films to deliver this mystery. Six young women make up the “Final Girl Support Group.” Each survived horrific massacres that have been turned into successful film franchises. Movies such as Friday The 13th and Halloween actually happened in this version of America. Twenty years later the spotlight has moved on and society has found new monsters and victims. Still, these women sit in a circle of chairs in a church basement trying to figure out how to live their lives. Paranoid Lynnette Tarkington reluctantly participates in group therapy sessions with Dr. Carol Elliot along with fellow survivors Marilyn Torres, who has buried her emotions in wealth; Dani Shipman, who might have killed the wrong person; Julia Campbell, whose encounter left her in a wheelchair; and Heather DeLuca, who is succumbing to addiction. Some of them are in denial about what happened. Some still live in terror, always looking over their shoulders, imprisoned by their own fears.
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
After one member of this vigilant sisterhood is murdered and a series of persistent attacks threaten the rest, Lynnette becomes increasingly suspicious that the attacks are originating way too close to their inner circle. “Does this ever end?” Lynnette asks. “Will there always be someone out there turning little boys into monsters? Will we always be final girls? Will there always be monsters killing us? How do we stop the snake from eating its own tail?” The book is creepy enough on its face, but Hendrix’s use of narrative tools heightens the unease.
The Final Girl Support Group isn’t necessarily scary, but the plot is action-packed and delivers its share of gore. The novel is an ultimately entertaining and inspiring take on horror movies, trauma, and self-determination. Available on Amazon!
I first read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo this past month after my friend and I swapped our favorite summer books. I opened the book one Saturday morning and couldn’t put it down. Despite the fact that it was published nearly five years ago, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo continues to captivate readers’ interest on BookTok, Bookstagram, and Goodreads.
“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Evelyn Hugo — $9.42 Paperback/$22.36 Hardcover
This story is about renowned Hollywood actress Evelyn Hugo who, after decades of blockbuster hits, is now 79 and ready to give an exclusive interview after years of dodging the press. But the only one granted access is a little-known journalist named Monique Grant. Though she can’t understand why she’s been chosen, Monique goes to Evelyn’s home and finds out Evelyn doesn’t just want to do an interview — she wants to lay out every piece of her truth for Monique to write and sell her biography.
Though Evelyn won’t answer why she picked Monique to do the job, Monique agrees and Evelyn’s story begins to unfold from her calculated beginnings in Hollywood to the millions she enjoys in the present, each section of her life titled by each of her seven husbands and her reasons for marrying (and divorcing) them. As you journey through Evelyn’s life, it feels as if you’re being granted exclusive access to something you shouldn’t be seeing. It’s hard to believe the characters and events in this book aren’t real celebrities.
To me, a great book is one that makes you forget you’re reading in the first place, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo does exactly that. It’s an instantly captivating book, thanks in part to the story, but mostly to Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing. Her stories flow smoothly, her characters are complex and realistically flawed, and I happily got lost in the pages until the very end. This is the perfect cozy fall read!
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