IP Picks 🔎: Hero Docs and Villainous Businessmen
➕ a cute K-Pop rom-com and a Latino sci-fi thriller
Welcome to The Optionist! As always, thanks for reading. A friend of the newsletter, Paul Bogaards, introduced me to a new book recommendation app called Tertulia, which I’ve been noodling around with for a few days. Like everyone I’m always looking for good recommendations. I’m the overeager dude who is always peppering people with, “What are you reading? Watching? Listening to?”
As much time as I spend reading and exploring books, recommendations from friends are still the most valuable and useful suggestions I get. It’s why my first question to agents or publishers isn’t, '“What do you have that’s new?” but “Tell me about a book you loved that you can’t believe hasn’t been adapted.” For all the power of A.I. and recommendations algorithms, there’s still nothing like what the book stores call the “hand sell.” (And it’s why I still love browsing in bookstores. There’s nothing like the serendipitous discovery of a good title when looking for something else or checking out what the staff recommends.)
It is the feeling of browsing in a bookstore with a friend, passing back and forth recommendations — “Oh, you’ll love this” or “eh, wasn’t for me” — that we’re trying to recreate with The Optionist. Everyone’s busy and even for professionals, it can be hard to keep up with the deluge of new IP so The Optionist aims to be that trusted friend, making careful, thought-out recommendations — not a scattershot of ideas but a carefully curated list each week.
And on that note, let’s get right to this week’s picks. We’ve got a little something for everyone this week:
A takedown of one of the most powerful companies in America and how its decisions harmed ordinary people.
A cute rom-com with a twist
A classic Latino sci-fi story in “second chances”
A goofy, fun podcast where the audience runs the host’s life
A perfect feel-good procedural about doctors
