What We’ve Been Reading In Our Book Clubs
I’ve been writing about book clubs for BR for years and only just thought to mine the treasure trove that is our collection of writers for tea on what different book clubs are reading. It is, as you might have guessed, an interesting thing to see. Many books are released every year, so it’s no surprise that book clubs are going to choose different titles from each other, though I did notice something looking at these book clubs compared to the more advertised ones I usually cover.
The main difference is the publication dates. The book club picks shared below by some of our writers are all backlist titles, which is very different from the mostly new picks that most online/celebrity book clubs decide on. Reaching back can be a nice change of pace from what can seem like a frontlist obsession.
If you’re curious to see what we’ve been reading in our book clubs, the titles below have everything from romance to dystopian realities and epic fantasy.
Read by Book Riot Writer Jessica Pryde:
Even if the Sky is Falling, edited by Taj McCoy
This was the choice for the first When In Romance Book Club book of the year. Jess said it’s “an interesting romance format (anthology). The ones where they already knew each other make the best stories.”
Read by Book Riot Editor Danika Ellis
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
This was one of thee books of 2023…and 2024 if we’re being honest. And it’s actually still that girl in 2025. It’s also still pretty popular among book clubs.
This National Book Award finalist comes from the author of Friday Black, and tells the bloody story of Loretta Thurwar and “Hurricane Staxxx,” two women who are friends, lovers, and popular Chain-Gang All-Stars. As All-Stars, they’ve fought against other prisoners in lethal battles to win shortened sentences through a highly contested program that’s run through the controversial Criminal Action Penal Entertainment organization in a (not so) alternative United States. Loretta nears the day she’ll finally be free, but the burden of all she’s done — and still has to do — weighs heavily on her in this damning look at America’s prison industrial complex and culture of violence.
Read by Book Riot Writer CJ Connor
The Fellowship Of The Ring
For the book club Andy Minshew (CJ Connor) runs, their latest read is Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, which, for the uninitiated, is the first in the classic fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings.
Read by Me
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton
This multi award-winning nonfiction account Black American history details the rich history of Black transpeople, especially how they have been cut out of the narrative of trans and queer history. By using the narratives of enslaved people seeking freedom, Afro-modernist literature, journalism, and other sources, Snorton shows just how much race has determined how topics like queerness and gender have been represented.
Suggestion Section
Book Club Tings:
A printable list of book club-friendly questions
More To Read
- Erin and Dani’s Indigenous Reading Circle: Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina
- Service95 (Dua Lipa): Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter
My Most-Anticipated Queer Books of the Summer
What Other Romance Book Adaptations Should Amazon Do Next?
**Below is a list of 10 book club-friendly books for All Access members**
Atavists: Stories by Lydia Millet- Fiction, Short stories, “A fast-moving, heartbreaking collection of short fiction from ‘the American writer with the funniest, wisest grasp on how we fool ourselves’ (Chicago Tribune).”
Zeal by Morgan Jerkins- Historical Fiction, “The New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing and Caul Baby returns with an epic, multi-generational novel that illuminates the legacy of slavery and the power of romantic love.”
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry- Romance, “Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.”
Medicine River: A Story of Survival and the Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools by Mary Annette Pember- Nonfiction
The Pretender by Jo Harkin- Historical Fiction, “Set in the tumultuous period of the Tudors’ ascent, The Pretender brings to life the little-known story of Lambert Simnel. From humble beginnings as a peasant boy, Lambert’s life takes an astonishing turn when, at just ten years old, he becomes a claimant to the English throne as one of the last of the Plantagenet line.”
Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles- Memoir, “A revealing personal life story like no other—enlightening, entertaining, surprising, empowering—and a testament to the world-making power of Black motherhood.”
The Summer I Ate the Rich by Maika Moulite, Maritza Moulite- Horror, Young Adult, “This smart, biting novel explores what happens when a Haitian American girl uses her previously hidden zombie abilities to exact revenge on the wealthy elites who’ve caused her family pain.”
Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria Griffin- Horror, “This is a story about desire, dreams, decay―and working retail at the end of the world.”
Fair Play by Louise Hegarty- Mystery/Thriller, “For fans of Anthony Horowitz and Lucy Foley, a wonderfully original, genre-breaking literary debut from Ireland that’s an homage to the brilliant detective novels of the early twentieth century, a twisty modern murder mystery, and a searing exploration of grief and loss.”
Everything Is Fine Here by Iryn Tushabe- Fiction, “A beguiling coming of age novel set in Uganda in which a young woman grapples with the truth about her sister in a country that punishes gay people.”
For more book club goodness, click here.
What have you been reading lately? Let’s chat in the comments!
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that had our Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz feeling a type of way. Now, even five years after it was published, Vanessa is still salty about American Dirt. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
Picture it: The United States, January 2020. A book with a pretty blue and white cover is making the rounds on the bookish internet. The blue ink forms a beautiful hummingbird motif against a creamy background, a bird associated with the sun god Huitzilopochtli in Aztec mythology. Black barbed wire, at once delicate and menacing, cuts the pattern into a grid resembling an arrangement of Talavera tiles. The package is eye-catching, ostensibly Mexican in feel, and evocative of borders and the migrant experience.
The book tells the story of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who is forced to flee her home when a drug cartel murders everyone in her family except for her young son at a quinceañera. She and the boy are forced to become migrants and embark on a treacherous journey north to the U.S. border, evading the cartel and befriending fellow migrants along the way. The book is being lauded not just as the “it” book of the season but as the immigration story. It gets the Oprah treatment and is praised by everyone from Salma Hayek to the great Sandra Cisneros, who called it “the great novel of Las Américas.”
It’s been over five years, and this book is still the bane of my existence.
Sign up to become an All Access member for only $6/month and then click here to read the full, unlocked article. Level up your reading life with All Access membership and explore a full library of exclusive bonus content, including must-reads, deep dives, and reading challenge recommendations.
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