12 March 2023 Book Club Picks To Get Reading With
Thanks to social media, bookish celebrities, and marginalized book lovers, there are now lots of options for book clubs, for many kinds of readers. You can find enough monthly book clubs that you can’t do them all (although “challenge accepted” sounds fun). Depending on your schedule and needs, you can participate as much or as little as you’d like in your book club(s) of choice, from joining in on social media chats, just watching an author interview, or using the picks to read on your own or with a buddy.
While it’s easy to follow along with one book club, especially on social media, with the sheer volume of constant news and many social media platforms having less than desirable feeds/algorithms it’s become increasingly too easy to miss out on many of the monthly picks. So if you like knowing the monthly selections for book clubs — whether you try to read them or just like to know (and maybe judge) — I’ve got you. I’ve rounded up a variety of March 2023 book club picks, which also makes it fun to see and compare what’s getting chosen.
Now on to the book clubs and their March 2023 picks — which include middle grade, YA, adult, frontlist, backlist, nonfiction, and different fiction genres! Truly something for everyone.
The Audacious Book Club in 2023
Author Roxane Gay has moved Audacious Book Club back to newsletter — where it began — now that “Literati is shuttering all their adult book clubs to better focus on their kids books division and we wish them the best on that journey.”
March pick: Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H
About the book: If you’re looking for a hopeful memoir in essays, here’s one by Lamya H, a queer hijabi Muslim immigrant who tells her coming-of-age story and how a passage in the Quran changed her life and outlook.
What Roxane Gay said about the book: “This beautiful, exquisitely written memoir is as revolutionary now in its vulnerability, honesty, and as the gender explorations in Stone Butch Blues were in 1993.”
Upcoming webinar: You can register now for The Audacious Book Club Conversation With Lamya H, March 30, 2023 5 p.m. PDT (U.S. and Canada)
Follow Roxane Gay on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
Amerie’s 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.
March pick: An Autobiography of Skin by Lakiesha Carr
What Amerie said about the book: “Part of the book’s pleasure is discovering how the women are connected via three achingly poignant, interconnected stories, connections which are not at all typical, but unexpected and true-to-life.”
Follow Amerie’s Book Club on social media: Instagram, YouTube
Amor en Paginas: The Latinx Romance Buddy Read
A monthly book club run by two Latinas with the goal of amplifying romance novels written by Latinx authors.
March pick: Learn to Love You by Jade Hernández
About the book: For fans of forbidden love, secrets, and when taking over the family business is just not a passion. Damián “Junior” Águila-Gutierrez is meant to take over the family business, but he secretly has other dreams. Mayda Jiménez is Junior’s sister’s best friend, but has always kept the family from getting too close, afraid of being judged for her mother’s addiction. Each is secretly pining for the other, aware that they’re off limits…
Follow Amor en Paginas on social media: Instagram
Sapph-Lit
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.
March pick: Pretty Baby by Chris Belcher
What Sapph-Lit said about the book: “In this sharp and discerning memoir, we see through Belcher’s eyes how power and desire can be renegotiated — or reinforced.” They also kindly list CWs if you need; just follow that link.
Subtle Asian 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.
March pick: Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
About the book: A middle grade novel in verse that follows 12-year-old Jude as she and her mother flee Syria, leaving behind her father and brother. What is it like to suddenly have to live in a new country you’ve only ever known through films?
Follow Subtle Asian Book Club on social media: Instagram; Twitter; Facebook; Discord
TODAY book club, #ReadWithJenna
Jenna Bush Hager — currently 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“)
March pick: Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown
What Jenna said about the book: “It’s about love, it’s about mothers and daughters, and it will bring you so much joy.”
Matzah Book Soup: A Jewish Own Voices Book Club for All
Lillianne Leight and Amanda Spivack created this book club with the focus on Jewish books and characters “with varying relationships to Judaism” that welcomed all readers — Jewish and non.
March pick: Planning Perfect by Haley Neil
About the book: This is a YA romcom with charm and heart that follows Felicity Becker as she navigates planning her mother’s wedding and being on the asexual spectrum.
Virtual meetup: Thursday, March 30 at 8 p.m. EDT
Follow Matzah Book Soup on social media: Instagram, Facebook
#ReadWithMC: Marie Claire’s Virtual Monthly Book Club
Marie Claire editors created an online monthly book club for people with busy schedules to still be able to read and to “Consider it socializing without actually socializing because, really, we all just want to take off our bra and lay down after a long day.” You can also share reviews online with the chance to have it featured on the site.
March pick: Now You See Us by Balli Kaur Jaswal
What MC said about the book: “a sharp thriller about three domestic workers who band together to solve the murder of one of their own. Read an excerpt from the book below, then find out how to participate. (You really don’t have to leave your couch!)”
“GMA” Book Club
Read along with Good Morning America Book Club which aims to “showcase book picks from a wide range of compelling authors.”
March pick: Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
What GMA said about the book: “This glamorous escape takes place on Pineapple Street in Brooklyn Heights, one of New York City’s most desirable neighborhoods, and home to the well-connected Stockton family.”
NYPL and WNYC’s Virtual Book Club
WNYC host Alison Stewart and New York Public Library have on-air and social media posts throughout the month about their pick, along with in-person and online book discussions led by librarians.
March pick: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
About the book: A great mix of literary, contemporary, and mystery, especially for fans of fictional true crime podcasts. Bodie Kane is a well known podcaster who gets invited to teach at her former boarding school — a place she didn’t enjoy much, especially being that her roommate was murdered. The case was solved, the athletic trainer imprisoned. But when a current student wants to do their project on re-investigating the case Bodie is forced to deal with the ethics of true crime reporting, her own memories, rape culture, and the spectrum of predators. Bonus: the audiobook is a great production mostly narrated by Julia Whelan with a bit narrated by JD Jackson.
Follow NYPL and WNYC’s Virtual Book Club: Events, live conversations
Mocha Girls Read
Mocha Girls Read is a monthly book club of Black women who love to read in the Los Angeles area.
March pick: The Guest List by Lucy Foley
About the book: For fans of twisty remote-set mysteries! The book starts with a murder, but the reader gets two mysteries: who committed the murder but also who is the victim? Wedding guests are invited to an island off the west coast of Ireland and staying in a ten bedroom property. Once you get to know everyone you realize plenty of people have motives to kill others so have fun guessing the two whose! Bonus: the audiobook is a multicast production.
Follow Mocha Girls read on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, MeetUp, Goodreads, Pinterest
Reese’s Book Club
Every month Reese Witherspoon picks a book for Reese’s Book Club that centers a woman in its story.
March pick: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
What Reese said about the book: “The Nightingale by @KristinHannahAuthor is arguably one of the most powerful, most captivating novels about WWII in recent years. This important story illuminates a part of history that’s often overlooked: the women’s war. It’s a harrowing tale of two sisters, survival, love and female resilience throughout Nazi-occupied France. If you haven’t read it yet (we know how popular it’s been!!), read along with us this month.”
What Rioter Jaime Herndon had to say about the pick: Hey, Reese: About That Book Club Selection…
Follow Reese’s Book Club on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube
And now that I’ve said “book club” a million times, maybe you want to read a book with a book club in it: 8 Books About Book Clubs.
