Harper's Bazaar cover shoot.

How the Sunshine Book Club was sort of born

out of me just posting books that I liked on Instagram.

I started a production company seven or eight years ago

that was trying to create projects

more projects that had roles for women in them.

I've always really gravitated towards female authors

and women at the center of novels,

so I started optioning some of them

and turning them into movies.

And then I just starting sharing all the books that I read

'cause I read a lot.

And I love the effect that it has on the authors.

That's really cool.

(bright music)

It's real exciting.

Particularly, like, we have one author Delia Owens

who's in her 70s and it's her first fictional novel.

It's called Where the Crawdads Sing

and it's just become this huge book

and she's sold over a million copies

and we're turning it into a movie.

And it's just one of those really exciting,

once in a lifetime opportunities that, yeah,

it's very fulfilling.

One book that we're adapting right now

is so exciting to me is Daisy Jones and the Six.

It sort of feels like a VH1 Behind the Music

about this girl's life and how she joins this band

and they create this super group

and the most amazing album of all time,

but then it's the only time that they make an album.

And it's just that kinda sexy, 70s world filled

with rock 'n roll and it's just a really cool project

and I'm really excited we're doing that.

(bright music)

There's a book I love called From Scratch by Tembi Locke.

And it's a beautiful love story.

A woman from Texas goes to Italy

and meets this incredible chef.

It's a true story.

They have a kid, they fall in love, they get married and

something tragic happens.

Tembi tells her own story in the most beautiful words.

And so, I love that book.

Check it out.

(bright music)

The book that made me laugh out loud in public.

Anything by David Sedaris.

I think he's so funny.

I love Calypso.

I love all of Nora Ephron's books.

Heartburn, I Feel Bad about my Neck, I Remember Nothing.

Particularly as a woman, you know, coming of age

and learning about what it means to be a woman

who walks through the world.

She tells stories about motherhood and aging

with such humor and self-deprecation,

I just think it's a must read.

(bright music)

I would probably say the book that I am desperate to read

a sequel to is The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

It's a book I read when I was in high school

and it's about kids in college

and they have this crazy, wild night out

and something happens and one of them dies.

It's really atmospheric and you find out

the most thrilling plot twist in the last ten pages,

so I always wondered what happened to those kids,

so maybe Donna knows.

(bright music)

Well, anything by Jon Meacham or David McCullough,

they're the foremost historians about American history

and I think if you can throw in there,

you know, you heard them on PBS talking about their book

that's really helpful, too.

So, anything by Jon Meacham, anything by David McCullough,

anything dealing with the Revolutionary War,

I think that's a good one to call out.

(bright music)

I think the book that had the biggest impact on my life

was Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

It's the first book that I optioned to turn into a movie

that I was producing and starring in.

And I was really nervous and I asked Cheryl

if it would be okay to option her book

but I didn't really have a track record as a producer,

but she took that leap of faith with me

and I'll be forever grateful.

And I love that movie.

I love the themes of women versus nature

and the idea that at the end of it,

she ends up with no man, no money, no job, no parents

and it's a happy ending.

(bright music)