Catherine Coles
Coles’ Notes
Not too long ago, Oprah was the queen of the celebrity book club. If she promoted a title by slapping a giant “O” sticker on the cover, we knew to purchase many library copies because they were sure to be sought after by patrons. These days Oprah no longer holds a monopoly on celebrity book clubs. Readers flock to Reese Witherspoon’s Reese’s Book Club (which has possibly surpassed Oprah’s club’s popularity), Jenna Hagar Bush’s Read with Jenna, and Gwyneth Paltrow’s new Goop Book Club. Even NBA star Stephen Curry has a book club now.
Side note: if you turn your nose up at the notion of a celebrity book club (fair enough), at least they are lending their names towards reading promotion and platforming some great books that might not otherwise receive a ton of attention. They are a net benefit to the reading ecosystem, in my opinion!
The following is a roundup of what some of the more popular celebrity clubs are reading these days.
Oprah’s Book Club’s latest pick, announced in June, is The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris. This debut novel explores the aftermath of the Emancipation Proclamation in rural Georgia. George and Isabelle Walker, mourning their son Caleb’s death in the war, take in Prentiss and Landry, two young brothers formerly enslaved on the neighboring plantation. Their connection to the Walkers bemuses and disgusts other white residents. As the summer advances, secrets, forbidden romance, and even murder rocks their small community.
Reese’s Book Club pumps out a lot of picks – and they are almost always among our titles with the highest holds. July’s selection is The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller, a novel set on Cape Cod that follows a 50-year-old who must decide between the life she has built with her husband and the life she always imagined she would have had with her childhood love. You might also want to take note of June’s selection, Seven Days in June by Tia Williams, an emotional romance that explores how trauma affects relationships. Reese also has a YA book club which recently highlighted Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean, an engaging story that finds an American teen who discovers her father is the Crown Prince of Japan.
The latest Read with Jenna selection, at this time of writing this, is Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Malibu Rising. Alternating between the midcentury and the early 1980s, this novel follows four famous siblings who throw an epic end-of-summer party. Things get out of hand as secrets and loves that shaped this family’s generations come to light. I’m reading this now and enjoying its portrayal of California surfer culture and old Hollywood.
The Good Morning America Book Club has announced that their July book club pick will be The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. This historical novel sheds light on Belle da Costa Greene, who was a powerful real-life figure in early 20th-century New York City and (secretly) a black woman who supervised J. Pierpont Morgan’s storied library.
The Goop book club’s July selection is The View was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta, a multicultural contemporary romance. Pretending to be in a passionate romance, A-list actress Whitman Tagore and jet-setting playboy Leo Milanowski find their personal and professional lives on a collision course after a shocking secret from his past is revealed, forcing them to confront the many truths and lies of their relationship.
Stephen Curry’s book club, which focuses on inspiring sports stories, is currently reading Butterfly: from refugee to Olympian, my story of rescue, hope, and triumph by Yusra Mardini. This moving true story traces the author’s life-changing rescue of boatload of fellow refugees and how it inspired her to compete on the 2016 Refugee Olympic Team in Rio de Janeiro.
If none of the above sparks your interest, you might want to try the picks from book clubs by Roxane Gay (“Audacious Book Club”), LaVar Burton (from Reading Rainbow!), Jesmyn Ward, Florence Welch (“Between Two Books”), Emma Roberts (“Belletrist”), or Emma Watson (“Our Shared Shelf”). This is by no means an exhaustive list; the options appear to be endless!
All of the books mentioned can be reserved from CountyLibrary.ca.