AMERIE’S BOOK CLUB

Singer and author Amerie will read Deacon King Kong by James McBride with her book club.

“James McBride tackles trauma, the Black migration, community, racism (of both Southern and Northern variety), and the perils of Growing Up While Black with subtlety and humor,” she wrote in her Instagram announcement. “In his deft hands, the exploration of such themes within a premise in which a perpetually drunk deacon shoots a teen drug dealer is not depressing or gratuitous, but intimate, funny, and full of hope.”

BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB

GMA BOOK CLUB

Emma Roberts, the actress and book connoisseur of Belletrist, and Good Morning America crowned The Book of V. by Anna Solomon as their monthly book club pick.

The book describes the intersecting story between a struggling writer in Brooklyn balancing motherhood and being a second wife, a political wife who receives a humiliating favor from her husband, and an independent young woman in ancient Persia who may have become a sacrifice to the king in order to save her people.

“I think a lot of readers will find some part of themselves in this book,” the author tells GMA. Whether you relate most to the headstrong Esther, who does not want to become queen to Vivian Barr, a senator’s wife torn between following conventions and breaking free or to Lily, a contemporary mother of two struggling to figure out what she even wants, you’ll recognize and root for the characters in this book.”

KAIA GERBER’S BOOK CLUB

Rising teen supermodel and the daughter of legend Cindy Crawford, Kaia Gerber started a weekly book club in March. This week, she announced to her Instagram followers that she’s reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

She will discuss the book on Friday, May 15 with her mother on Instagram Live at 5 p.m. PST.

Since her book selection changes every week with Instagram Live interviews with authors and others in the literary realm, check out her social media channel to keep up with selections for the rest of the month.

NONAME’S BOOK CLUB

Busy revolutionizing the book club model, indie rapper Noname’s book club usually selects two books each month particularly for readers of color. She chooses a book, which this month has yet to be announced, and the homie pick, the classic black revolutionary memoir Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur, which comes from Blake and Delency, the founders of People’s Breakfast Oakland.

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker is still Oprah Winfrey’s book club pick, which was named at the beginning of April.

The biography of a family where six out of 12 of the children were born with schizophrenia and became a major source of research for scientists working to understand the genetics behind the devastating mental illness.

“This is a riveting true story of an American family that reads like a medical detective journey,” Oprah announced in a video. “It reveals the shame, denial, shock, confusion and misunderstanding of mental illness at a time when no one was really sure what schizophrenia was or how to treat it.”

READ WITH JENNA – TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB

Through her Today Show correspondent gig, former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager chose All Adults Here by Emma Straub for her May selection.

“I loved it because I thought, on one hand, it was light and funny,” Jenna said in an article. “On the other, Emma Straub has the capability of writing in a way that explores these themes that are important and interesting.”

REESE’S BOOK CLUB

Actress and producer Reese Witherspoon picked The Henna Artist by Indian-born author Alka Joshi for her monthly book club.

This debut novel surrounds a teenager in India who escapes an abusive marriage and ends up in 1950s Jaipur where she rises as a prominent henna artist and confidante to the wealthy women of the upper class who could never know her secret.

“This vivid story is so rich and complex… reading about Lakshmi’s journey from escaping an abusive marriage to becoming one of the most sought-after henna artists in Jaipur captivated me from the first chapter to the final page,” Reese shared on her book club website.

AMERIE’S BOOK CLUB

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson

Singer-turned-writer Amerie chose Kevin Wilson’s New York Times best-seller and former Read With Jenna book club pick for her April book.

“An outrageous yet grounded read that had me laughing out loud and tearing up in the same paragraph, Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here explores parenthood and found family, while also addressing the very frightening phenomena of spontaneous combustion, of which, like the author, I grew up scared to death,” Amerie wrote in her Instagram post announcing the book selection.

BELLETRIST BOOK CLUB

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

Actress Emma Roberts’ book club chose Lily King’s new novel. The book was also a March selection for the Today Show’s Read With Jenna book club.

In an Instagram post on her personal account, Emma said, “So excited to read along with you guys and discuss!”

GMA BOOK CLUB

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore

Good Morning America‘s book club named Margarita Montimore’s debut novel. In the U.K., the same book is titled The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart. Both have abstract covers of Oona’s face with the GMA book club reposting some of their favorites from readers.

“I’m so grateful ‘GMA’ has chosen my novel ‘Oona Out of Order’ as its latest book club pick,” Margarita told GMA in its story on the book club pick. “I know the whole world feels like it’s out of order right now, and social distancing is tough, but join ‘GMA’s’ Book Club and we’ll all feel less isolated as we get lost in this uplifting story.”

NONAME’S BOOK CLUB

Mean by Myriam Gurba

War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony by Nelson A. Denis

Indie rapper Noname’s book club usually selects two books each month, with Noname picking one and someone else naming the “homie pick.” Noname chose Mean by Myriam Gurba and Yahdon Israel, founder of Brooklyn-based @literaryswagbookclub, chose War Against All Puerto Ricans.

The book club says it stands in solidarity with the prisoners who participate in the book club over demanding more protection such as masks during the coronavirus COVID-19 forced quarantine. After announcing it had to cancel all in-person meetings due the pandemic, the book club recently started its own newspaper, Out of Print, for Patreon members.

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker

After the controversy around her last book club pick American Dirt, Oprah Winfrey chose the biography of a family where six out of 12 of the children were born with schizophrenia and became a major source of research for scientists working to understand the genetics behind the devastating mental illness.

READ WITH JENNA – TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore

Former first daughter and Today Show co-host Jenna Bush Hager picked Elizabeth Wetmore’s debut novel that publisher Harper Collins describes as “explores the lingering effects of a brutal crime on the women of one small Texas oil town in the 1970s.”

“Elizabeth really developed these characters that I felt like I knew,” Jenna said about the debut novel on Today’s website. “I found myself missing them when the story was over. The women are complicated. They are a lot of things at once.”

As a native Texan, Jenna added that Elizabeth portrays Texas life just right in Valentine.

“I spent a good portion of my childhood eavesdropping on my mother and her girlfriends as they sat out on the back porch after dinner, and I listened to them telling stories,” Elizabeth told Today. “They would sit out there with their cigarettes and mix drinks because it was the ’70s, and I listened to them rehashing their days.”

REESE’S BOOK CLUB

Untamed by Glennon Doyle

Rising book club queen Reese Witherspoon, who’s currently starring in Little Fires Everywhere based on Celeste Ng’s novel, has chosen well-known memoirist Glennon Doyle’s latest book, Untamed.

“It’s an absolute joy to announce Glennon Doyle’s UNTAMED as my April book pick,” Reese wrote at the top of her Hello Sunshine announcement email. “This memoir is so packed with incredible insight about what it means to be a woman today, what it means to be “good,” and what woman will do in order to be loved. I swear I highlighted something in EVERY chapter. This book really spoke to me in so many ways!”

Glennon also wrote an essay about her writing process on Hello Sunshine’s website.