2020 is the year of many things: the pandemic, murder hornets, Tiger King. One of the more fun things that will define this time period is the idea of the celebrity book club. Celebrity book clubs have been around for a while: Oprah’s Book Club started in 1996 and ran for fifteen years on the Oprah Winfrey Show. But nowadays, it seems there are more celebrity book clubs than ever—so many that it’s kind of hard to know where to start! Here’s a quick primer on some book clubs, who they’re associated with, and what sort of books they choose.
Oprah’s Book Club 2.0: Launched in 2012, Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 is a book club founded by talk show host, philanthropist, and Mississippi native Oprah Winfrey and sponsored by the Oprah Winfrey Network and O magazine. Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 does not have a regular schedule of books picked, though the book club tends to pick a new book every few months. Broadly speaking, the books tend towards literary fiction, often written by African American authors. Previous selections include The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, and The Invention of Wings by Sue Kidd Monk.
Reese’s Book Club: Reese’s Book Club was founded in 2015 by the actress Reese Witherspoon. Each month, Witherspoon features a book with a woman at the center of the story. Witherspoon’s choices tend towards literary fiction, often written by female authors, as well as big, buzzy books: you’ve definitely seen some of her choices on NPR lists or the New York Times best sellers list! Previous selections include The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott, The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes, and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.
Andrew Luck Book Club: Founded by former NFL quarterback Andrew Luck, this book club’s selection is more catch-all: one month will have a sports memoir, the next month will have a nonfiction book about politics, the next month will have a science fiction book. Luck divides his book club into two sections: Rookies (books that are geared towards a younger reader) and Veterans (books geared towards older readers.) Previous Rookies picks include The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson, and The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Previous Veterans picks include The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.
Noname Book Club: The rapper and poet Noname founded this book club in 2019. Each month, the book club features two books by POC (people of color) authors. These selections include fiction, biographies, and nonfiction books on heavier subjects such as an examination on critical race theory or the prison industrial complex. Previous selections include Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine, Race Music: Black Cultures From Bebop to Hip-Hop by Dr. Guthrie Ramsey, and The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.
There's more celebrity book clubs out there than just these four! Did we miss your favorite? Which celebrity would you love to see start a book club?
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