10 New January 2024 Book Club Picks, From GMA Book Club To Amor en Páginas
Welcome to a new year of more reading! If you’re curious to know what a bunch of great book clubs have selected this month or are looking to join a book club — as little or as much as you’re comfortable with, they’re all remote but one — you’re in the right place!
There’s something here for all reading tastes, including a cookbook that will have a kitchen conversation in Roxane Gay’s kitchen (Fun!). There’s also a lesbian romance to swoon over, a recent (depending on how you think of time) historical fiction set in the 1960s, a short story collection about girls and who they grow up to be, and a fantasy for fans of mythology.
There’s a must-read author — Octavia E. Butler — for a dystopian pick and a mystery about a con woman with a stolen identity about to have her past come find her (!). You can read the book of a just-released film adaptation, follow a spy in a historical fiction focused on Malaysia’s history, and a novel in rural Michigan focused on a family’s mother and daughter relationships.
The start of a new year is always a great time to try something new, explore, and be even more curious, so try a book club you’ve never tried before and read something new.
The Audacious Book Club in 2024
Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook by Sohla El-Waylly
About the book club: Author Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist, Ayiti, The Banks) selects a monthly book with the goal of “Authentic and necessary perspectives from writers who fearlessly share their stories.”
What Roxane said about the book: “As a heads up, our January selection is a cookbook!!! We will be reading Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook by Sohla El-Waylly AND our conversation with the author will take place in my kitchen, where Sohla and I will chat and cook together and she’ll answer all your burning questions. That conversation/cooking will be taking place on January 16th at 7 pm EST/4 pm PST if you want to cook along with us.” Here’s the registration link for the Zoom: The Audacious Book Club Conversation with Sohla El-Waylly
Follow Roxane Gay on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
Reese’s Book Club
First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston
About the book club: Every month, Reese Witherspoon picks a book for Reese’s Book Club that centers on a woman in its story.
What Reese said about the book: “Happy New Year, booklovers! 📖💫 Our January @reesesbookclub pick is #FirstLieWins by @ashleyelston. Can you believe this is our 91st book pick?! This story follows Evie Porter who is seemingly living the perfect life… until we realize Evie Porter doesn’t actually exist!! 🤯
This fast-paced read has everything you could want in a thriller: secret identities, a mysterious boss and a cat & mouse game that kept me guessing the whole way through. I did NOT expect that ending… discuss with us at #reesesbookclub all month long!”
Follow Reese’s Book Club on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube
Sapph-Lit
Girlhood by Melissa Febos
About the book club: Born from TikTok, Sapph-Lit is a safe space book club for sapphic women and nonbinary readers to come together and chat books, life, and offer support. One book a month is selected, alternating each month between fiction and nonfiction.
What Sapph-Lit said about the book: “A gripping set of stories about the forces that shape girls and the adults they become + a guide to transforming the self and our society.”
Subtle Asian Book Club
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
About the book club: Tiffany and Alexandra, longtime friends, created the Subtle Asian Book Club in 2020 with the goal of uplifting Asian voices and storytellers. You can read along with the monthly book chosen, join on social media, and watch videos of their live author interviews.
About the book: If you’re looking for a fantasy read with adventure that’s based on Chinese mythology, this is your book club this month!
Follow Subtle Asian Book Club on social media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Discord
Mocha Girls Read
Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
About the book club: Mocha Girls Read is a monthly book club of Black women who love to read and currently have chapters in 14 cities across the U.S. Starting in 2024, you can join “an IG Live every first Saturday of the month at 5 pm PT. Alysia, our founder, will chat about our current book club selection.”
What Mocha Girls Read said about the book: “Our first theme of 2024 is GROWN FOLKS DYSTOPIA! 😱✨
We’re diving headfirst into the immersive world of adult dystopian novels.”
Follow Mocha Girls Read on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, MeetUp, Goodreads, Pinterest
Matzah Book Soup: A Jewish Own Voices Book Club for All
Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino
About the book club: Lillianne Leight and Amanda Spivack created this book club with a focus on Jewish books and characters “with varying relationships to Judaism” that welcomed all readers — Jewish and non.
What Matzah Book Soup said about the book: “We are so excited to kickoff another amazing year of @matzahbooksoup with DON’T FORGET TO WRITE by the wonderful @saraconfino 🎉
We’ll be meeting with Sara to discuss this book via Zoom on January 31 at 8 PM EST and we hope you’ll all be there!”
Follow Matzah Book Soup on social media: Instagram, Facebook
Amor en Páginas: The Latinx Romance Buddy Read
Losing Control by J.J. Arias
About the book club: A monthly book club run by two Latinas with the goal of amplifying romance novels written by Latinx authors.
What Amor en Páginas said about the book: “We’re starting the year with Losing Control by @thejjarias!
When we tell you we have been OBSESSED with JJ Arias and are so excited to be featuring one of her books for 2024″
Follow Amor en Páginas on social media: Instagram
The Stacks Book Club
Erasure by Percival Everett
About the book cub: Hosted by Traci Thomas, The Stacks is a podcast that chats all about books, and there’s a monthly book club! The book chosen for the month is discussed on the podcast the last week of the month with a selected special guest.
What The Stacks Book Club said about the book: “New Year, same favorite book club! We’re kicking off 2024 with the 2001 satirical novel, ERASURE by the great, Percival Everett. In a powerful and hilarious indictment of racial bias and stereotyping in publishing, disgruntled writer Thelonious “Monk” Ellison unintentionally strikes gold when he parodies popular Black fiction under a pseudonym. ERASURE was just adapted into the 2023 film, American Fiction.”
Follow The Stacks on social media: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok
Good Morning America‘s GMA Book Club
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
About the book club: Read along with Good Morning America Book Club, which aims to “showcase book picks from a wide range of compelling authors.”
What GMA said about the book: “’The Storm We Made’ chronicles a dazzling saga of a dissatisfied housewife who became an unlikely spy during a pivotal moment in Malaysia’s history, leading to disastrous consequences for her family.
While diving deep into the meaning of love and the brutality of war, Chan also addresses notions of colonialism, classism, racism and misogyny in her novel. The narrative is told from perspectives of four different characters: Cecily and her three children, Jujube, Abel, and Jasmin.”
AND “This month, we are also teaming up with Little Free Library to give out free copies in Times Square and at 150 locations across the U.S. and Canada. Since 2009, more than 300 million books have been shared in Little Free Libraries across the world. Click here to find a copy of “The Storm We Made” at a Little Free Library location near you.”
TODAY Book Club, #ReadWithJenna
The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell
About the book club: Jenna Bush Hager — current co-host of Today with Hoda & Jenna — independently chooses a book each month that she personally loves. (“Jenna was not paid to mention these items and is unaffiliated with the authors and publishers“)
What Jenna said about the book: “In addition to being the first pick of 2024, The Waters represents another first for the club, as Jenna pointed out: ‘It’s set in the magical mystical lands of rural Michigan. We’ve never chosen a book set there.’
‘It is about a matriarch and healer and what happens when one of her three daughters brings home a baby. You will fall in love with the girl she grows up to be. She’s one of the most funny, interesting characters of all time. It’s about mothers and daughters. A book for anyone who loves nature, land and where we find beauty and magic. I promise you’ll pick up this book and fall in love,’ she said.”
Follow Read With Jenna on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Read With Jenna Goodreads group
If you’re curious about what book clubs previously picked in 2023, here’s a roundup for March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December 2023.
