Anyone can start a book club, celebrities included. While celebrity-run book clubs are nothing new, the more recently formed ones seem to be revitalizing the method of reading Oprah Winfrey pioneered starting in 1996.
Since Winfrey’s groundbreaking book club hosted on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and then its own platform, there have been plenty to follow: Reese Witherspoon’s Reese’s Book Club, Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss’ Belletrist, and TODAY’s very own: Jenna Bush Hager’s Read with Jenna.
Lately, a new wave of celebrity book clubs, led by influencers and pop singers like Kaia Gerber and Dua Lipa, has emerged.
Read on for more about the most influential celeb-run book clubs, both old and new.
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Celebrities with book clubs
Oprah’s Book Club (Oprah Winfrey)
Oprah’s Book Club is turning 30 in just a couple of years. Her site explains how the idea was born in 1996, starting as discussions between Oprah and her intern at the time, Alice McGee, who shared a love of literature.
Winfrey announced her 104th pick at the end of February, “The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing” by Lara Love Hardin.
Some of her other recent picks include:
- “Let Us Descend” by Jesmyn Ward
- “Wellness” by Nathan Hill
- “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese
Mindy’s Book Studio (Mindy Kaling)
Known for her work producing, writing and acting in hit shows like “Never Have I Ever,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls” and “The Office,” there’s not much Mindy Kaling hasn’t done in the entertainment world.
Why not add a book club?
“At this point in my career, I don’t have a ton of time, so whenever I choose to do anything, I want to make sure that it’s giving a platform to new and underrepresented voices,” Kaling told Glamour.
Some of Kaling’s most recent picks include:
- “The Vibrant Years” by Sonali Dev
- “I’ll Stop the World” by Lauren Thoman
- “The Better Half” by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans
Read With Jenna (Jenna Bush Hager)
Jenna announced her first Read with Jenna pick in 2019, “The Last Romantics” by Tara Conklin. Since the start of her club, she’s been running Q&A sessions on TODAY with the authors of each pick. The book club recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.
Some of Jenna’s most recent picks include:
- “The Husbands” by Holly Gramazio
- “The Great Divide” by Cristina Henríquez and “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros
- “Good Material” by Dolly Alderton
- “The Waters” by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Reese’s Book Club (Reese Witherspoon)
Founded in 2017, Reese Witherspoon’s book club focuses on empowering women, choosing stories with women at the center.
Some of Reese’s Book Club’s most recent picks include:
Belletrist (Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss)
Actor Emma Roberts and producer Karah Preiss joined forces in 2017 to create their own book club, Belletrist.
The two take to Instagram to engage with their readers and share new picks.
Some of Belletrist’s most recent picks include:
- “Piglet” by Lottie Hazell
- “Just Like Home” by Sarah Gailey
- “The Guest” by Emma Cline
TeaTime Book Club (Dakota Johnson)
Dakota Johnson is among the latest to join the list of celebrity book clubs hosts.
Her first pick, revealed on March 1 on Instagram, is “Beautyland” by Marie-Helene Bertino.
Johnson started her book club through TeaTime Pictures, the entertainment company she co-founded with producer Ro Donnely in 2019.
Service95 Book Club (Dua Lipa)
Dua Lipa started choosing monthly pics for her Service95 Book Club in June 2023.
“Each month we will discuss a book personally chosen by Dua, representing writing from across the globe,” her site states.
Some of Lipa’s most recent picks include:
- “Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zaunder
- “Trust” by Hernan Diaz
- “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini
Our Shared Shelf (Emma Watson)
Our Shared Shelf is a bi-monthly feminist book club led by Emma Watson. In the club’s Goodreads account, Watson writes, “There is so much amazing stuff out there! Funny, inspiring, sad, thought-provoking, empowering! I’ve been discovering so much that, at times, I’ve felt like my head was about to explode … I decided to start a Feminist book club, as I want to share what I’m learning and hear your thoughts too.”
Watson’s club now functions informally, with Watson posting her book recommendations to Instagram using the hashtag “OurSharedShelf,” and reading using the Goodreads page to discuss together.
Between Two Books (Florence Welch)
Lead singer and guitarist of “Florence and the Machine,” Florence Welch started her Between Two Books club in 2012 after a fan tweeted her about the idea. Since then, fans from around the world have joined to help her develop the club into what it is today.
Welch’s most recent picks include:
- “Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke
- “Priestdaddy” by Patricia Lockwood
- “The Ice Age” by Kirsten Reed
SJP Lit (Sarah Jessica Parker)
SJP Lit technically isn’t a book club, but an imprint. Sarah Jessica Parker, known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw in “Sex and the City,” publishes books under the name SJP Lit.
Some of her most recent projects include:
Library Science (Kaia Gerber)
Starting as a weekly Instagram Live video in 2020, Kaia Gerber’s Library Science has come a long way, with its official Instagram account being created just a few months ago. Gerber’s mission is to “get young people reading.”
“Over the last three years, this book club has become the catalyst for dialogue over race, sex, loss, consent, motherhood, girlhood, queerness, addiction, abuse, climate change, and intersectionality among other topics,” the club’s website states.
Gerber’s most recent picks include:
- “Sex and Rage” by Eve Babitz
- “Astragal” by Albertine Sarrazin
- “Martyr!” by Kaveh Akbar
- “Real Americans” by Rachel Khong
