12 Book Club Picks For July 2024, From Reese’s Book Club to Roxane Gay’s
Summer is in full swing, and a bunch of great book clubs have announced their July picks! Every month I look forward to these selections because I enjoy seeing what people are excited about, if multiple book clubs picked the same book, and adding a bunch of new books to my TBR list. As always, I’ve selected different book clubs that all have some virtual component—most are completely virtual—and allow you to participate as much or as little as feels right for you and your reading life.
This month, there is a wide range of books selected, offering a wonderful reading list, and certainly, at least one book is a great fit for you. What have these 12 book clubs chosen this month? There’s an emotional YA novel set in California, a queer horror novel set in the ’90s, a sex therapist’s sexuality guide, a novel by an author who writes in a different genre each book, and a take-down-the-patriarchy reimagined fairy tale!
Also this month, there’s a celebrity memoir, a post-apocalyptic book from the ’90s that is set in this month (!), a family torn apart by a lotto win, a unique novel about an outcast, a romance with a magical twist, and a novel centering a house and its history. In other words, lots of great options of genres, subgenres, vibes, and tropes.
Teen Banned Book Club at NYPL
Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
About the book club: The New York Public Library is selecting young adult books that have been challenged or banned from schools and offering them free nationwide via digital access. The book club also hosts the authors for an event.
What The New York Public Library’s Teen Banned Book Club said about the book: “Readers anywhere in the U.S. can borrow the book for free from the “Books for All” library on SimplyE, NYPL’s ereader app. Cinderella Is Dead is available to all readers 13 and above through August 2, 2024.
Thurs, July 25 | 3 p.m. ET | Online: Join The New York Public Library and teens from across the country to discuss our current book club title, Cinderella Is Dead, with author Kalynn Bayron!”
Follow The New York Public Library on social media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram
Subtle Asian Book Club
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
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 in on discussions on social media, and watch videos of their live author interviews.
About the book: If you’re looking for an emotional YA exploring (among many things) grief and love with a friendship at the core, this is your book club this month!
Follow Subtle Asian Book Club on social media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Discord
The Audacious Book Club in 2024
Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin
About the book club: Author Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist, Ayiti, The Banks) selects a book every month with the goal of uplifting “authentic and necessary perspectives from writers who fearlessly share their stories.”
What Roxane said about the book: “Next month in the Audacious Book Club, we’re talking about Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin (@gretchenfelkermartin). I hope you’ll join us at The Audacity to discuss this fantastic novel throughout the month of July and on July 30th when we’ll be in conversation with Gretchen. Register here or at the link in my stories: https://ow.ly/GxxK50Sqm3N
Follow Roxane Gay on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
Sapph-Lit
Feel It All: A Therapist’s Guide to Reimagining Your Relationship with Sex by Casey Tanner
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 and life as well as offer each other support. One book a month is selected, alternating each month between fiction and nonfiction.
What Sapph-Lit said about the book: “A comprehensive guide to help everyone uncover their personal misconceptions about sexuality and relationships.”
TODAY Book Club, #ReadWithJenna
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
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: “TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager says she ‘may never have loved a book as much’ as she loves her July selection, All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker.
‘I read it over a year ago, but it has stayed with me in such a beautiful way,’ Jenna says.
On Tuesday, July 23, Jenna will sit down with Chris for the next Read With Jenna event. The virtual event will feature an extensive conversation with the author, followed by discussions with other Read With Jenna members in breakout rooms.”
Follow Read With Jenna on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Read With Jenna Goodreads group
Eclectix The Book Club
Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi
About the book club: Dawnshaeé Reid is a self-proclaimed eclectic blogger who created this book club with Black authors as a priority. It aims to highlight a wide range of genres. There’s an in-person, once-a-month meeting option if you’re in Louisville, KY, and a virtual option that meets the last Tuesday of every month.
What Eclectix The Book Club said about the book: “🧡 July Pick: Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi (@yungdeadthing) — I have been talking about this psychological thriller nonstop, so it’s only right to discuss it with the book club! I remember how much we loved YMAFODWYB in summer 2022, so here we go again ☺️”
Follow Eclectix The Book Club on social media: Instagram, Discord, TikTok
Mocha Girls Read
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg
About the book club: Mocha Girls Read is a monthly book club of Black women who love to read. They currently have chapters in 14 cities across the U.S. Starting in 2024, anyone 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.”
About the book: If you’re looking for a personal, heartfelt memoir about the family that raised an EGOT-winning actor, this is your book club this month!
Follow Mocha Girls Read on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, MeetUp, Goodreads, Pinterest
The Stacks Book Club
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
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: “Our July book pick is the 1993 speculative fiction, post-apocalyptic novel PARABLE OF THE SOWER by Octavia E. Butler, one of the most legendary voices in science fiction. The book begins in July 2024 (aka right TF now) on an Earth that’s been ravaged by climate change and wealth inequality. We follow displaced empath Lauren Olamina as she sets out on her journey North and meets all kinds of travelers along her way. This is a modern classic that is prescient beyond comprehension.”
Follow The Stacks on social media: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok
Matzah Book Soup: A Jewish Own Voices Book Club for All
Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland
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 welcomes all readers — Jewish and non.
What Matzah Book Soup said about the book: “🥁 drumroll please…because it’s time to announce July’s Matzah Book Soup pick!!!!
This month, we’re reading JACKPOT SUMMER by the wonderful @elyssafriedland 🫶🏻 this book is already out and we know some of you have read it already 👀
📣 we will be meeting with Elyssa on July 31 at 8 PM EST on Zoom! All are welcome!
This book is peak summer vibes since it takes place on the Jersey Shore (LBI 🎉) and brings all the family drama.”
Follow Matzah Book Soup on social media: Instagram, Facebook
Good Morning America‘s GMA Book Club
The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
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 Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood, a USA Today bestselling author, is our “GMA” Book Club pick for July.
Greenwood’s new rom-com novel follows the story of Delphie, a recently deceased woman who died after choking on a microwavable hamburger.
She later meets the hottest man in the afterlife waiting room, but after sharing a moment together, the man is abruptly sent back to the land of the living…”
Reese’s Book Club
The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan
About the book club: Every month, Reese Witherspoon picks a book for Reese’s Book Club that centers a woman in its story.
What Reese said about the book: “If you stumbled upon a curiously abandoned house, would YOU go inside? 👀 Our July @reesesbookclub pick, #TheCliffs by @jcourtsullivan follows main character Jane’s journey as she uncovers the past lives of a home. 🔦🏠 It’s an entrancing spin on a generational novel and filled with mystery.
Press play on #TheCliffs audiobook and listen with us all month long on @applebooks our official audiobook partner! 🎧”
Follow Reese’s Book Club on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube
Amerie’s Book Club
Fire Exit by Morgan Talty
About the book club: “A modern book club for the modern reader” that invites casual readers to bibliophiles to join in on social media to talk about exciting books.
What Amerie said about the book: “What glue bonds us? Is it blood? Shared stories and histories? Common pains and triumphs? And how do our connections help or worsen our circumstances when we are faced with life’s trials, with artificial divisions? Are we our stories, and what happens when we begin to lose them? These are some of the questions Morgan Talty explores in Fire Exit with alternate turns of blunt force reality and soothing, poetic beauty.”
Follow Amerie’s Book Club on social media: Instagram, YouTube
If you want to know about past monthly book club picks, prepare your TBR shelf and take a look. You can also sign up for our book club newsletter, In the Club!
