By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná
Since Oprah’s first book club pick in 1996, we have been reading as the celebrities do, falling in love with, or hating, characters with our fellow book club readers. Book clubs offer an opportunity to be in community with others, even if we’re not together in person.
Other celebrities who love to read have started book clubs, and even magazines are getting in on the action! Enjoy these summer picks from well-established and new celebrity book clubs.
Please note: Many of these books are brand-new releases. We’ve ordered extra copies, but if you’re waiting on hold, be sure to check out the new materials shelves at the Maze and Dole branches and Hot Picks at the Main Library (these copies can’t be placed on hold or renewed). If the title is listed as available in the catalog, head over and pick up your next read before someone snatches it up!
Read with the stars
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
Who's reading it? Good Morning America Book Club (August)
Description: Thirty-six hours after being attacked, Jet wakes in the hospital to grim news that a bone fragment is putting pressure on her brain’s arterial wall and will cause a fatal hemorrhage—instead of choosing surgery with a slim chance of survival, she uses her last week to find her murderer.
Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin
Who's reading it? The Audacious Book Club from Roxane Gay (June)
Description: A young Black man is caught between worlds of race and class, glamour and tragedy, a friend’s mysterious death, and his own arrest.
Once Upon a Time in Dollywood by Ashley Jordan
Who's reading it? Reese's Book Club from Reese Witherspoon (August)
Description: A playwright must grapple with her difficult year and writer's block while falling for the single dad living next door in this emotional debut novel.
This House of Grief by Helen Garner
Who's reading it? Service95 from Dua Lipa (August)
Description: On the evening of September 4, 2005, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother when his car plunged into a dam. The boys, aged 10, seven, and two, drowned. Was this an act of deliberate revenge or a tragic accident? The court case became Helen Garner's obsession. She was in the courtroom every day of Farquharson's trial and subsequent retrial, along with countless journalists and the families of both the accused and his former wife.
My Other Heart by Emma Nanami Strenner
Who is reading it? Read with Jenna from Jenna Bush Hager (August)
Description: Seventeen years after Mimi Truang’s toddler daughter disappears in 1998 in Philadelphia, best friends Kit and Sabrina make plans in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, before starting college—but when Mimi, Kit, and Sabrina come face to face, they will confront the people they truly are.
Palm Meridian by Grace Flahive
Who is reading it? The Pants Pod Book Club from Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig (August)
Description: In a story of long-lost love, friendship, and a life well-lived, set at a Florida retirement resort for queer women, resident Hannah Cardin’s lives out the last day of her life.
Culpability by Bruce Holsinger
Who is reading it? Oprah's Book Club (July)
Description: Set at a summer rental on the Chesapeake Bay, a riveting family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.
Make Your Way Home by Carrie L. Moore
Who is reading it? TeaTime Pictures from Dakota Johnson (August)
Description: Artfully and precisely drawn, and steeped in place and history as it explores themes of belonging, inheritance, and deep intimacy, a debut collection that announces an extraordinary new talent in American fiction, inviting us all to examine how the past shapes our present—and how our present choices will echo for years to come.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Who is reading it? New York Times Book Review Book Club (August)
Description: On a remote island near Antarctica, the Salt family’s fragile existence is upended by the arrival of Rowan, a mysterious woman who washes ashore during a storm, forcing them to confront rising dangers and the hope of rebuilding trust amidst isolation and loss.
How to Lose Your Mother by Molly Jong-Fast
Who is reading it? Belletrist from Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss (August)
Description: A darkly funny and deeply honest memoir exploring a daughter’s complex relationship with her famous, elusive mother, the impact
About Dontaná
Dontaná is a Collection Management Librarian who was born with an unending reading list. She is almost always reading two books simultaneously and is easily distracted by cool covers.