Here at BookClubbish, we’re a fan of book clubs in all shapes and sizes. Celebrity book clubs are a great option for those looking for amazing book recommendations from someone they admire.
Throughout the years, we’ve seen celebrity book clubs evolve from the not-so-humble beginnings of Oprah’s Book Club which was hosted on her daytime talk show in 1996 to the new Reese’s Book Club app that released earlier this year. And while the mechanisms of these book clubs have changed, they still deliver great book picks again and again. That’s why we’re rounding up a few of our favorite choices and some of their noteworthy picks for you!
Oprah’s Book Club
We’d be amiss not to start this list with Oprah’s Book Club a.k.a. the celebrity book club that started it all. Oprah’s Book Club began in 1996 as a part of her daytime television show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. It ran on the show for 15 years and recommended a total of 70 books during that time, including Night by Elie Wiesel and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle.
It has since gone through many reiterations on social media, O Magazine, the Orphan Winfrey Network and, more recently, Apple TV. Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Becoming by Michelle Obama and An American Marriage by Tayari Jones are some more recent picks that have garnered lots of attention!
Reese’s Book Club
Reese Witherspoon has become a huge influencer in the book community and Reese’s Book Club is such a powerhouse! Reese originally started sharing her book picks on Instagram but she relaunched the book club with a new website and a new app in 2021.
Reese makes sure all her picks have women at the center of the story. She’s also aware of the fact that books are a powerful agent of change and she’s been on a mission to highlight more diverse voices. Some of our favorite picks from her book club over the years include The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi, The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim and The Cactus by Sarah Haywood.
Read With Jenna
Jenna Bush Hager started Read With Jenna on the TODAY Show back in March 2019. Since then, she’s shared over 30 books with readers on both TV and social media! You can follow along by visiting the Read With Jenna website (which is filled with loads of book club resources, by the way!), checking the #ReadWithJenna hashtag on Instagram, or even signing up to the club’s newsletter.
Jenna reads across a wide rang of genres and her book club picks show that! A few noteworthy picks include Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, and Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi.
Belletrist
Emma Roberts and her best friend Karah Preiss were inspired to start their own book club and share it with the world after sending each other their favorite books via snail mail. They ended up creating Belletrist, an online community, in 2017 to share their book recommendations with the rest of the world and it’s been going strong ever since.
Belletrist celebrates great books, the authors who write them, and the people who so lovingly read them. Some of these books include The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, and Three Women by Lisa Taddeo.
Between Two Books
Between Two Books has a very interesting origin story for a celebrity book club. It all started when a young fan of Florence Welch (of Florence + the Machine) tweeted that the singer should start a book club. Florence was in agreement and together, with a few other fans, Between Two Books was born.
Between Two Books takes a more casual approach with picking their books as they don’t stick to a set monthly schedule. It’s a great club if you’re looking to incorporate just some book club picks in addition to the rest of your own personal TBR list. A few past reads include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Heartburn by Nora Ephron, and Rest and Be Thankful by Emma Glass.
Are you following any celebrity book clubs? Tell us about them in the comments below!
Love to hear about book clubs.
I hope this helps. I wrote a book about the failure of relationships and the need for partnership. I have no idea what to do next. I guess I need to submit it to book clubs, so thanks. Keep an eye out, won’t you? Universal guide to a healthy selfish relationship/partnership
Love to hear what other bookclubs are reading. For August we are reading The Book Of Lost Names by Kristen Harmel.
What book club do you belong to?