Haven’t you heard reading is cool again. Book clubs have undertaken a
transformation from middle aged women sat around with their friends to digital book
clubs advertising the book of the month all over their Instagram pages. Celebrity
Book Clubs are in full swing, from A-list actors, singers and TV personalities to
‘nepo-babies’, but which ones should you join? I’m going to rate various celebrity
book clubs based off the variety and sincerity of their book recommendations and
how likely I am to read them, to discover if celebrity book clubs are actually good, or
merely an extended form of branding and influencing.
6 th Place, Kaia Gerber’s (Library Science)
Infamous Nepo-baby Kaia Gerber has had her hand in acting, modelling and now
runs her own book club, ‘Library Science’. Started in 2020 during the pandemic, Kaia
has shared book recommendations across her book club’s Instagram page and
engaged in discussions sharing podcast-like videos discussing these books. It’s
clear Kaia has a love for literature, but I find some of her recent book suggestions a
little pretentious and the Instagram page seems more focused on the aesthetic of
reading than on books. I am yet to read a book that Kaia has suggested but some of
her recent suggestions have been ‘Sex and Rage’ by Eve Babitz, ‘Astragal’ by
Albertine Sarrazin and ‘Dear Dickhead’ by Viginie Despentes.
5 th Place, Dakota Johnson (TeaTime)
Hollywood actress Dakota Johnson announced her new venture, a book club called
‘TeaTime’ in early 2024. One of the newest celebrity book clubs on this list, in its
short time has shared a variety of underground books as part of its monthly
suggestions. We can praise its originality in suggestions, but the book club does feel
quite disconnected from Dakota herself, with just Instagram infographics displaying
the book of the month. Nevertheless, I have placed her April suggestion of ‘The
Hypocrite’ by Jo Hamya on my to read list. Some of Dakotas other book suggestions
have been ‘Cinema Love’ by Jiaming Tang and ‘The Hearing Test’ by Eliza Barry
Callahan.
4 th Place, Emma Roberts (Belletrist)
Actress Emma Roberts alongside film and television producer Karah Preiss created
Belletrist book club in 2017 sharing and celebrating a new book every month. I have
read many of the books suggested by the book club such as ‘Intermezzo’ by Sally
Rooney, ‘Piglet’ by Lottie Hazell and ‘The three of us’ by Ore Agbaje-Williams. I do
commend their picks, but struggle to feel a personal connection to Emma through
this book club. The suggestions are solid but feel a little safe, I don’t find I’m
particularly discovering new books through this book club, and struggle to believe
much thought has been put into the suggestions.
3 rd Place, Dua Lipa (Service 95 Book Club)
As part of Dua Lipa’s ‘cultural concierge’ brand ‘Service 95’, she created ‘Service 95
book club’, in which she shares a host of book related content from her own reads, to
reads that fit specific aesthetics and topical reads. Dua Lipa’s book club feels very
personal, and believable that she actually reads the books that she shares. Despite
not being the most revolutionary suggestions, they are books that are realistic reads
for her audience. From ‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tart, to ‘A Thousand Splendid
Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini, all popular books amongst the reading community, Dua’s
book club even inspired me to pick up ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn which has not
disappointed.
2 nd Oprah Winfrey (Oprah’s Book Club)
For over 2 decades Oprah has shared over a hundred books, through her monthly
reading choices as part of the long standing, ‘Oprah’s Book Club’. Through the sheer
volume and variety in books Oprah’s book club stands as one of the bests, each
book feels personally picked by Oprah herself and it creates a feeling that other
celebrity book clubs haven’t been able to capture. Some of my favourite reads that
Oprah has inspired me to pick up are ‘From Here to the Great Unknown’ by Lisa
Marie Presley and Riley Keough, ‘Becoming’ by Michelle Obama and ‘Hidden Valley
Road’ by Robert Kolker.
1 st , Reese Witherspoon (Reese’s Book Club)
Actress and film producer Reese Witherspoon is one of the forces dominating the
celebrity book club industry. Since launching ‘Reese’s Book Club’ in 2017 she has
promoted a variety of books whilst simultaneously buying the rights to turn many of
them into tv shows and films such as ‘Little Fires Everywhere’ by Celeste Ng and
‘Where the Crawdad Sings’ by Delia Owens. Reese’s book club feel authentically
her, the Instagram account comes across as personal, often featuring videos of
Reese as well as the success that her books suggestions often become extremely
popular my personal favourite being ‘Such a fun age’ by Kiley Reid. It’s no surprise
that I would like to be a part of Reese Witherspoon’s book club the most as she
continues to be a forerunner in this field.
With even more celebrity book clubs dominating social media, they are a great space
to find new recommendations and there is surely a book club that is right for everyone.