Find out what Reese’s book club is reading this month and see every book chosen for Reese Witherspoon’s book club list.
In 2017, Reese Witherspoon announced the start of Reese’s Book Club through her media company Hello Sunshine. Soon the well-known actress had amassed a loyal following with her thought-provoking choices every month.
Impressed with the quality of Reese’s book club, I wanted to share the full Reese Witherspoon reading list.
You’ll find plenty of intriguing reads among Reese Witherspoon’s book club books. Mixing nonfiction with novels, Reese’s book club picks are extremely discussion-worthy.
If you are looking for a great book club recommendation, here is your complete guide to Reese Witherspoon’s book club list.
Reese’s Book Club January 2022
Honor
Thrity Umrigar
Indiana American journalist Smita reluctantly accepts an assignment to cover a story in India. Meena, a Hindu woman, was attacked in her own village by her own family when she married a Muslim man. As Smita encounters a society where tradition is more important than love, she must face secrets from her family’s past. At the same time, Smita’s own attraction to a Muslim man brings out the stark contrast of her situation vs. Meena’s.
YA Pick: Fall 2021
Within These Wicked Walls
Lauren Blackwood
Andromeda is a debtera, an exorcist who cleanses households of the Evil Eye. When her mentor abandons her before she receives her license, she is forced to only work for wealthy patrons. Desperate, she accepts a job from a wealthy young heir, Magnus Rochester, that ends up being far beyond her skill level and highly dangerous. Yet Andromeda won’t quit like all the other debtera, because even if she could die, she’s fallen in love with Magnus.
Reese’s Book Club December 2021
Lucky
Marissa Stapley
Lucky Armstrong has just pulled off a million-dollar heist with her boyfriend Cary. Just as she’s ready to start a whole new life, her luck turns, and Lucky finds herself penniless and all alone. When she realizes she won the lottery, she debates how to claim her winnings without being arrested and begins to confront her past to make a way for her future.
November 2021 Pick
The Island of Missing Trees
Elif Shafak
On the island of Cyprus, two teenagers, one Greek and one Turkish, fall in love under the lush fig tree at the local tavern. When war breaks out, Kostas and Defne are separated, but they never stop wondering what happened to each other. Years later, A woman in London tries to parse out the secrets of her family rooted in the fig tree that grows in her backyard.
October 2021 Pick
Sankofa
Chibundu Onuzo
Feeling lost in her 40s, Anna feels lost now that her daughter is grown up and her mother is dead. Going through her mother’s things, Anna finds some clues to the identity of her African father she never knew. Surprisingly, Anna discovers he became the leader (or dictator, depending on whom you talk to) of a small African country and is still alive today.
September 2021 Pick
L.A. Weather
María Amparo Escandón
In the L.A. drought, Mexican-American matriarch Keila is tired of her loveless marriage to Oscar whose only thought is for the weather and the rain that might never come. When Keila decides to end her marriage, her three adult daughters are forced to take a hard look at their own relationships in this witty family drama chosen by Reese Witherspoon for her September book club pick.
August 2021 Pick
We Were Never Here
Andrea Bartz
On their annual girls’ trip, Emily and Kristen are having the time of their lives in Chile. On the last night, Emily comes back to the hotel to find Kristen in the room with a dead body. Kristen claims she killed that the cute backpacker she picked up attacked her and she killed him in self-defense. Except, the same thing happened last year. As Emily’s guilt over the cover-up reaches a boiling point, Kristen makes a surprise trip to visit her and Emily has serious doubts about their friendship.
YA Pick: Late Summer 2021
The Downstairs Girl
Stacey Lee
To the world, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan is a lady’s maid to the daughter of one of Atlanta’s cruelest men. However, she secretly writes a newspaper advice column for Southern women. When Jo uses her anonymity to challenge the Southern view on race and gender, the backlash threatens to expose her and places her in the path of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal.
July 2021 Pick
The Paper Palace
Miranda Cowley Heller
On a July morning, Elle wakes up at The Paper Palace, her family’s summer home, with an enormous choice facing her. The previous night, she had sex with her childhood best friend Jonas while their spouses chatted in the kitchen. Now Elle must decide between the perfectly happy married life she has made with Peter or the life that could have been with Jonas if tragedy hadn’t struck.
June 2021 Pick
Seven Days in June
Tia Williams
Trying to do it all as a single mom, bestselling erotica author Eva Mercy is starting to feel the pressure. When sparks fly between Eva and Shane Hall, a reclusive bestselling novelist, at a literary event, the Black literati takes note. What they don’t know is that, as teenagers, Eva and Shane spent one torrid week in love before Shane broke her heart, and they’ve been writing to each other ever since.
May 2021 Pick
The Last Thing He Told Me
Laura Dave
Before Owen Michaels disappeared, he smuggled a note to his new wife Hannah: Protect her. Hannah knows he’s referring to his sixteen-year-old daughter Bailey, but Bailey doesn’t want anything to do with Hannah. As Owen’s boss gets arrested and the FBI come knocking, Hannah and Bailey must come together to discover Owen’s secrets.
Summer 2021 YA Pick
Tokyo Ever After
Emiko Jean
The Princess Diaries meets Crazy Rich Asians in Emiko Jean’s delightfully fun young adult story about a Japanese-American teenager who learns her birth father is the Crown Prince of Japan. Suddenly, Izumi is swept away into a life of royalty and struggles to fit in as a princess. Can she bridge the gap between being too Japanese for America and too American for Japan while still getting her happily ever after?
April 2021 Pick
Northern Spy
Flynn Berry
While working as a producer at the BBC, Tessa is covering a recent IRA raid in Belfast when she spots her sister on the security footage pulling a ski mask over her face. Tessa is sure Marian must have been coerced for she would never condone violence. As Tessa gets pulled into the investigation, she must decide where her loyalties lie, what she is willing to do for family, and how to balance the needs of a sister with those of her newborn son.
YA Pick: Spring 2021
Firekeeper’s Daughter
Angeline Boulley
As a biracial teen, Daunis Fontaine has never fit in at her hometown or in the nearby Ojibwe reservation. While her dreams of studying medicine are on hold so she can care for her mother, Daunis’s eye gets caught by her brother’s new friend. When Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, she gets pulled into an investigation that could tear her community apart.
March 2021 Pick
Infinite Country
Patricia Engel
Talia is desperate to get out of a Colombian correctional facility for teenagers to meet her father in America who is waiting with a plane ticket to the United States. Infinite Country tells the story of Talia’s family. Her parents, Mauro and Elena, who come to the US on a work visa, and then must decide whether it’s worth the risk to overstay their visa. A daughter of Colombian immigrants, Patricia Engel brings to life the hard decisions faced by mixed-status families.
February 2021 Pick
The Sanatorium
Sarah Pearse
Having taken time off from her job as a detective, Elin Warner agrees to attend a celebration of her estranged brother’s engagement. At a minimalist Swiss five-star hotel that used to be a sanatorium, Elin immediately feels on edge. When her brother’s fiance disappears and a storm shuts off access to the remote hotel, all the guests begin to panic and Elin must use all her skills to find out what is going on.
January 2021 Pick
Outlawed
Anna North
In 1894, seventeen-year-old Ada thinks life is going well when she gets married. When a year passes and she hasn’t had a child, Ada must flee her old life for fear of being burned as a witch. She takes up with the infamous Hole in the Wall Gang, lead by the charismatic Kid. Hoping to create a refuge for outcast women, the Kid has them go on a dangerous mission and Ada must decide how much she is willing to risk.
YA Pick: Winter 2021
You Have a Match
Emma Lord
When Abby signs up for a DNA service, she’s hoping to give her best friend (and crush) a nudge in her direction. She never expected to find she has an older sister, the gorgeous Instagram star Savvy. To discover more, Abby arranged to meet up with Savvy at a summer camp in a young adult story about the joys that can be found in the messiness of life.
December 2020 Pick
The Chicken Sisters
KJ Dell’Antonia
In a small Kansas town, a feud between two competing fried chicken restaurants has lasted generations. After marrying the son of the competing side, Amanda is tired of the family feud. Hoping to end things once and for all, she enters them as contestants on a reality food show. Amanda won’t have it easy when her sister returns home to help their parents with the business. This story of complicated relationships will be just the comfort food you need this winter season.
YA Pick: December 2020
The Light in Hidden Places
Sharon Cameron
The true story of a brave Polish teenager faced with impossible choices during World War II. When a knock sounds on the door in the middle of the night, sixteen-year-old Stefanie Podgorska decides to risk it all hiding a Jewish boy in her attic. As her attic begins to fill w, she is terrified when the Germans requisition her house. Now she has twelve hidden Jews above, two Nazis below and the sole responsibility for her six-year-old sister.
November 2020 Pick
Group
Christie Tate
Although ranked at the top of her law school class, Christie Tate kept fantasizing about suicide. Her therapist Dr. Rosen recommended she join his weekly psychotherapy group session where he promises that if she shows up and is completely honest, her life will change. Christie’s poignant memoir talks about the importance of connection we all crave.
YA Pick: November 2020
A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow
Laura Taylor Namey
Lila Reyes has it all planned out until everything comes crashing down. Worried for her mental health, her parents send her to spend the summer with friends in England. Exchanging sunny Miami for rainy England doesn’t quite cheer up Lila, until she meets a dreamy teashop clerk who threatens to further wreck all of Lila’s carefully laid plans.
October 2020 Pick
His Only Wife
Peace Adzo Medie
To give her mother a life of financial security, Afi Tekple agrees to marry a man she has never met. Afi moves from her small village of Ho to Ghana’s capital city and is shocked by the difference between the two. Expected to be the perfect trophy wife to a wealthy businessman, Afi learns to balance the expectations of those around her and realizes that some rules are meant to be broken.
October 2020 YA Pick
Fable
Adrienne Young
The first book in a new young adult fantasy series, Fable is about a seventeen-year-old girl who spends her whole life at sea as part of her father’s trading empire. After her mother drowns in a storm, Fable is abandoned on an island of thieves by her father. Desperate to return to her rightful place among her father’s crew, Fable enlists the help of West, a young trader who isn’t who he seems.
September 2020 Pick
The Last Story of Mina Lee
Nancy Jooyoun Kim
Margot Lee has always struggled to understand her mother Mina, a Korean War orphan and undocumented immigrant. After Mina’s suspicious death, Margot begins to dig into the life of her single mother. Contrasting Mina’s first year in Los Angeles with Margot’s present-day discoveries, The Last Story of Mina Lee tells the dramatic mother-and-daughter story of immigrant life in America.
September 2020 YA Pick
Furia
Yamile Saied Méndez
At home in Argentina, Camila is the perfect daughter, hiding in the shadow of her brother’s soccer success and being careful around her short-tempered daughter. But on the soccer pitch, she is La Furia, a powerhouse of skill. When her team makes it into the South American tournament, Camila realizes she cannot play in the tournament without telling her family that she plays soccer.
August 2020 Pick
Everything Inside
Edwidge Danticat
A collection of eight short stories about different Haitian women as they experience love and loss. From Miami and Port-au-Prince to an unnamed Caribbean country, Danticat’s stories tell of romance, divorce, birth, and death and highlight the power of humanity.
August 2020 YA Pick
You Should See Me in a Crown
Leah Johnson
In Reese’s Book Club’s first-ever YA pick, Witherspoon has chosen a poor Black teen in the Midwest desperate to win the prom. Liz Lightly has never worried too much about fitting in at her small prom-obsessed high school. When her financial aid request to her dream college falls through, she is willing to do whatever it takes to be crowned prom queen and win the scholarship that goes with it.
June & July 2020 Picks
I’m Still Here
Austin Channing Brown
Austin Channing Brown grew up as a Black Christian woman in middle-class white America, and her new memoir bears witness to racial injustice is woven into the very fabric of America. Brown points out how often we often fall short on our goal to promote diversity and details what we can do to learn to love Blackness.
The Guest List
Lucy Foley
On a remote island, the perfect wedding turns deadly in this thrilling mystery. The high-profile wedding between a television star and a magazine publisher is supposed to be the perfect event. Set off the coast of Ireland, all the stops have been pulled out. Yet once the guests arrive, past conflicts come into play and someone turns up dead. Was it the bride? The best man? The wedding planner? Foley keeps you guessing until the end, giving each suspect a firm motive to want to commit murder.
May 2020 Pick
The Henna Artist
Alka Joshi
Fleeing an abusive marriage, Lakshmi rebuilds a life for herself as the most coveted henna artist in all of Jaipur in the 1950s. A confidante to the wealthy women of the town, Lakshmi is known as a vault of secrets. When her husband suddenly reappears, Lakshmi’s carefully constructed world is thrown off-balance.
April 2020 Pick
Untamed
Glennon Doyle
After writing about recovering a marriage rocked by her husband’s infidelity in Love Warrior, Glennon Doyle has a new memoir/self-help book about her love story with US soccer star Abby Wambach. Doyle details how she found herself by realizing her true power comes from within and not from the expectations others put on her.
March 2020 Pick
The Jetsetters
Amanda Eyre Ward
When Charlotte Perkins wins a Mediterranean cruise, she convinces her grown children to come along hoping to reunite her estranged brood. Can these four adults find common ground among the sights of Europe, or will family drama and past secrets continue to drive them apart?
February 2020 Pick
The Scent Keeper
Erica Bauermeister
Emmeline spends her entire childhood on a remote island with her father, who uses scents and senses to teach her about the world. Eventually, she is sent out into a world full of love, betrayal, and ambition. A unique story about the power of scent to trigger memories, The Scent Keeper is a tale full of imagination.
January 2020 Pick
Such a Fun Age
Kiley Reid
Blogger Alix Chamberlain has built herself a brand empowering women. When she moves to Philadephia, she feels overwhelmed by her two young daughters and comes to rely on her babysitter, Emira Tucker. While watching Alix’s two-year-old, Emira is shocked one day to be stopped by a grocery store clerk, only because she is black. Reid certainly sparks a conversation about racism and privilege.
See What Jenna Bush Hager’s Book Club is Reading!
Reese’s Book Club Books 2019
Conviction by Denise Mina
Mystery & Thriller
December 2019
While listening to a true-crime podcast, a housewife realizes she knows the victim and may know what happened. Amazon | Goodreads
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Historical Fiction
November 2019
During the Great Depression, Englishwoman Alice Wright becomes a traveling librarian, riding around the countryside bringing books to local residents. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
Fair Play by Eve Rodsky
Nonfiction
October 2019
Tired of the unequal domestic burden between her and her husband, Rodsky developed a system for couples to fairly divvy up responsibilities. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott
Historical Fiction
September 2019
Inspired by a true story, two secretaries are tasked by the CIA to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR. Amazon | Goodreads
The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda
Mystery & Thriller
August 2019
Avery Greer is determined to clear her name in the death of her best friend in a Maine resort town. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
Contemporary Fiction
July 2019
When their boss is up for promotion to CEO, four women take a stand against the man whose treatment of women has been whispered about for years. Amazon | Goodreads
The Cactus by Sarah Haywood
Romance
June 2019
Discovering she’s pregnant shortly after her mother’s death, Susan Green’s orderly life for one comes crashing down, and she turns to her brother’s friend for help. Amazon | Goodreads
From Scratch by Tembi Locke
Memoir
May 2019
After her husband’s death, Tembi and her daughter spend three summers in Sicily with his family, where food and family help heal her grief. Amazon | Goodreads
The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
Historical Fiction
April 2019
Ren must find his master’s severed finger and return it, in the next 49 days, or his master’s soul will be doomed to wander the earth. All while a tiger stalks the town. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Historical Fiction
March 2019
The rise and fall of a fictional 70s band. With sex, drugs, and plenty of drama, you’ll feel like you are watching a biopic on VH1 – but an extremely well-written one. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
Romance
February 2019
When Nikole’s actor boyfriend proposes at a Dodgers game, she says no, much to the anger of the local crowd. To her rescue comes Carlos, a handsome doctor who makes the perfect rebound. Amazon | Goodreads
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Nonfiction
January 2019
In 1986, a massive fire raced through the Los Angeles Public Library Central Branch, raging for over seven hours and destroying hundreds of thousands of books. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
Reese’s Book Club Books 2018
One Day in December by Josie Silver
Romance
December 2018
It’s love at first sight for Laurie when she sees a man at a bus stop one snowy day in December. Having missed their chance, Laurie searches for him for a year before finally meeting him – as her best friend’s new boyfriend. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
The Other Woman by Sadie Jones
Mystery & Thriller
November 2018
Emily has found the perfect man in Adam but is shocked to discover how far Adam’s mother Pammie will go to eliminate Emily from Adam’s life. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
Contemporary Fiction
October 2018
The youngest of five brothers, five-year-old Claude wants to be a girl when he grows up. His family wants him to be whoever he wants to be, but aren’t ready to share Claude’s secret with the world. Amazon | Goodreads
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Contemporary Fiction
September 2018
For years, Kya Clark has survived alone in the marshes of the North Carolina coast. Dubbed “The Marsh Girl” by the locals, she was abandoned by her family and has been raised by nature itself. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
Still LIves by Maria Hummel
Mystery & Thriller
September 2018
When an avant-garde artist disappears during the opening of her big exhibit depicting violence against women, Maggie Richter, the editor of the museum, begins her own investigation. Amazon | Goodreads
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
Historical Fiction
August 2018
After her grandmother dies, Marisol Ferrera travels to Cuba to discover her grandmother’s past growing up the daughter of a sugar baron in Havana. Amazon | Goodreads
Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
Mystery & Thriller
July 2018
On their honeymoon in Bora Bora, documentary filmmaker Erin and investment banker Mark discover something in the water that will change their paths forever. Amazon | Goodreads
You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld
Contemporary Fiction
June 2018
A collection of three stories: a suburban mother wanting to take down her friends’ empire based on a lie, a lawyer who meets her childhood nemesis, and an Ivy League student who learns the truth about a classmate’s life. Amazon | Goodreads
Happiness by Heather Harpham
Nonfiction
May 2018
When wanderlust-seeking Heather becomes pregnant, homebody Brian decides he doesn’t want children. Alone in California, Heather must learn to be a single parent to an ill child, and whether to let Brian back in. Amazon | Goodreads
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Contemporary Fiction
April 2018
When Nikki begins to teach a creative writing class at a local community center in London, she helps the Sikh women in the community tell their own short stories. Amazon | Goodreads
The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo
Romance
February 2018
From the moment Lucy and Gabe met as seniors at Columbia University, their meeting seemed fated. When he accepts a job in the Middle East and she stays in New York, they must decide how much of their story is fate and how much is choice. Amazon | Goodreads
Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown
Nonfiction
January 2018
In a world where people feel increasingly disconnected, Brown teaches how to embrace ourselves and find the feeling of truly belonging. Amazon | Goodreads
Reese’s Book Club Books 2017
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine
Mystery & Thriller
December 2018
Coveting the life of elite socialite Daphne, Amber Patterson sets out on a mission to insinuate herself into the Parrish family, and take the life she knows should be hers. Amazon | Goodreads
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett
Nonfiction
November 2018
Half-memoir, half-novel, Ann Patchett leads you into the details of her own life, discussing what makes a happy marriage and lasting friendship. Amazon | Goodreads
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Fantasy
October 2018
Three children with magical abilities are taught to control their magic and warned never to fall in love. As they age, they learn that these rules are impossible to keep. Amazon | Goodreads
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Historical Fiction
September 2018
In the quiet suburbs of Cleveland, Elena Richardson is a stickler for rules and order. But when the free-spirited Mia Warren with her mysterious past rents a house from the Richardson’s, Elena’s whole world feels threatened. Amazon | Goodreads
The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
Mystery & Thriller
August 2018
Four girls were expelled from their boarding school for compulsive lying that led to the disappearance of a teacher. Now a bone has been found and they are haunted by their past. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Historical Fiction
July 2018
In 1915, Eve Gardiner is overjoyed to join the Alice Network of the French Resistance during WWI, only to see it betrayed. Then, in 1947, Eve agrees to help Charlie St. Clair, an American socialite desperate to find her cousin, Rose, who disappeared during World War II. Amazon | Goodreads
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Contemporary Fiction
June 2018
Socially awkward Eleanor Oliphant has the habit of saying exactly what she thinks. When Eleanor and her slovenly coworker help an elderly gentleman after a fall, the three become friends. Amazon | Goodreads | More Info
Which book from Reese Witherspoon’s book club list will you read first?
