Best Book Club Books: 2026 Edition

Heartwood, Amity Gauge

This slow-burn, multi-POV mystery and suspense novel revolves around the disappearance of 42-year-old Valerie Gillis near the Appalachian Trail.

The novel offers three points-of-view. The first is Valerie herself, told through a serious of letters that she writes while lost in the wilderness. We also hear from Lieutenant Beverly, a Maine State Game Warden leading the search. And the third is from birdwatcher Lena, who assigns herself as the armchair detective.

This Jenna’s book club pick offers themes like the connection between solitude, the wilderness, and self-reflection, and the nature’s presentation as both beautiful and dangerous. 

Here’s the guide for Heartwood.

How to Read a Book, Monica Wood

Don’t be fooled by the cover–this isn’t some bookstore meet-cute, but rather a tale of redemption, forgiveness and how to rebuild a broken life.

The book features the interconnected lives of three characters. Violet has recently been released from prison, where she had served time for a manslaughter hit and run. Harriet, a retired teacher (and woman who isn’t going to let other people dictate her life) runs the prison book club. And handman Frank is still trying to come to grips with his complicated marriage to the woman that Violet killed.

This touching book covers themes of forgiveness (and how it’s easy for some and hard for others), found family, iterating your way to a happier life, and how a simple summing up of someone’s life, doesn’t sum things up at all.

Here’s the guide for How to Read a Book.

The Lion Women of Tehran, Marjan Kamali

In 1950s Tehran, privileged young Ellie is uprooted after her father’s sudden death. She longs for friendship and finds it with working-class Homa. Together, they dream of becoming “lion women.”

Their worlds diverge when Ellie’s family regains its former status, sending her back to an elite school and causing their bond to fray—until Homa later reenters Ellie’s life, reigniting their connection amid rising political tension. The book’s story covers three decades in Iran which includes such transformative events as the Shar’s reign and the Islamic Revolution.

Here’s the Lion Women of Tehran discussion guide.

Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout

This Oprah pick returns once again to Crosby, Main and the home of Olive Kitteridge.

In this installment, town lawyer Bob Burgess takes on the defense of a solitary man accused of murdering his mother. He forges a friendship with the visiting writer Lucy Barton, who’s been grappling with the question of “what does life really mean”. Lucy forms an unlikely relationship with the sharp-tongued Olive Kitteridge, who now lives in a retirement community. The two women exchange stories of the “unrecorded lives” of people they’ve known.

Here’s the discussion guide for Tell Me Everything.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Rufi Thorpe

19-year-old Margo’s got more than money troubles. She has baby troubles when she becomes pregnant in an affair with her college professor, and he promptly dumps her. After choosing to have the baby, she finds her self in a financial troubles and housing troubles, so she decides to earn some extra cash on the OnlyFans porn platform. Aided by her father (a pro wrestler) and her roommate (a LARPer), Margo dives in, navigating legal troubles and mother troubles along the way.

Read it for book club and use the Margo’s Got Money Troubles discussion guide. And I’ve also got a list of books similar to Margo.

The God of the Woods, Liz Moore

The God of the Woods features a dual mystery, multiple POVs, an atmospheric setting, mental health struggles, and messed-up family, gender and socio-economic dynamics. There’s a lot going on here!

The novel opens with the disappearance of Barbara from her summer camp bunk. She’s the daughter of the owners of the camp and her disappearance opens up a can of worms, revealing big secrets connected to her brother’s disappearance more than a decade ago.

Read it for book club and use this God of the Woods discussion guide. And if you’ve already read and loved it, I’ve also got a list of books similar to The God of the Woods for you to read next.

The Lost Bookshop, Evie Woods

Billed as The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary, this charming novel is perfect for people who love nothing more than hanging out in cozy bookshops.

In this dual-timeline story, we meet Opaline in 1921. She escapes her brother’s plan to marry her off by fleeing to Paris and working in a bookstore there. In the present timeline, Martha is escaping an abusive marriage and Henry is seeking a lost manuscript. He happens upon a bookshop next to Martha’s house…but then it disappears. He and Martha each begin to try to find the bookshop

“Lost is not a hopeless place to be. It is a place of patience, of waiting. Lost does not mean gone for ever. Lost is a bridge between worlds, where the pain of our past can be transformed into power. You have always held the key to this special place, but now you are ready to unlock the door.”

Here’s the guide for The Lost Bookshop.

The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhon

This book features an 18th century midwife whose asked to examine a murder victim…and she uncovers a lot of sexual violence and scandal in the process.

After successfully delivering a baby, Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body of a man who has been found in the frozen Kennebec River. She makes her observations and determines that the man has been murdered. The man had also been one of the men accused of rape and Martha will be called to testify in the trial.

Martha has made a habit of keeping her observations in a diary, which becomes a focal point in the trial. The book is a less a whodunnit and more of a commentary on how women were treated during that time and Martha’s bravery in her pursuit of the truth.

Here’s the guide for The Frozen River.

The Husbands, Holly Gramazio

C’mon admit it– sometimes you just want to send your husband into the basement, garage or attic hoping that a different guy will emerge later. Well, this is exactly what happens to Lauren. She returns home one night to find herself greeted by her husband Michael. Only, she doesn’t have a husband.

And when Michael goes into the attic to change a lightbulb, a different husband comes down the stairs. And so on, and so on in a perverse game of groundhog day where every day, a different groundhog emerges from the ground.

This reality-warping spec-fic takes a playful look at what it means to discover what you want in a romantic partner and the intention that it requires to know when to say “enough” and be happy.

Read this for own book club using the Husbands discussion guide. And if you’ve already read and loved it, try these 5 books like The Husbands.

How to Age Disgracefully, Clare Pooley

Daphne is just emerging from a long period of isolation and decided to join a recently formed social club at the local community center. She brings along her take-no-prisoners attitude and is packing a ton of secrets in her purse. Along the way, she befriends an aging actor with money trouble, a retired papparazzo, the “Banksy of knitting”, and a woman with a riot of hair and an out of control mobility scooter.

Together they help the woman who runs the club deal with her rotten husband, help a local teenage father get himself straightened out, they jointly adopt a dog and help save the community center from rapacious developers. Who says you can’t have energy when you’re old?

Read it book club and use the How to Age Disgracefully discussion guide. 

James, Percival Everett

Everett has imagined a complete and complex life for what Mark Twain had imagined as a sidekick character in Huck Finn. ‘Jim’ has lived his entire life as a slave – but he is far from any stereotype that society is forcing him to outwardly portray. He is incredibly intelligent and perceptive, and it’s through his lens that readers glimpse the devastatingly inhumane, unjust, and at times ironic life of a slave.

This book is hitting ALL of the “best of the year so far” lists.

You could also consider pairing James with a re-read of Huck Finn as a comparative lit exercise.

Here’s the James discussion guide.

Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, Lisa See

The titular Lady Tan is Yunxian Tan, a historical figure and one of China’s first female physicians who lived during the Ming dynasty. The journal she kept detailing her cases remains in existence today.

She comes from a family of privilege, and when moves in with her loving grandparents, she becomes a part of the family business of practicing medicine. She meets and befriends Meiling, a girl of the lower classes, who is studying to be a midwife. Both enter into arranged marriages and they struggle with the constraints places upon them by the prevailing culture.

The book carries themes of friendship and the power dynamics among women of different social classes.

Here’s the Lady Tan’s Circle of Women discussion guide.

The Women, Kristin Hannah

For many years, it has seemed that any historical fiction book with female protagonists and a war theme had to be set in either London or Paris during WWII.

Hannah has upended that trope with her new book centered around nurses serving during the war in Vietnam.

The main character, Frankie, leaves her comfortable Californian home to serve as a nurse in Vietnam after her brother is killed in service. The horrors she experiences are unimaginable, but her hardship only continues when she returns home. With the help of her close friends who served with her, Frankie must navigate complicated familial and romantic relationships, betrayal, disappointment, PTSD, and the dismissal of her service in the war.

Here’s the discussion guide for The Women.

The House of Eve, Sadeqa Johnson

It’s the 1950’s and Ruby is on track to become the first in her family to attend college. But after she falls for a local boy (who she shouldn’t fall for), things get complicated, threatening her chances.

On a parallel story thread, Eleanor arrives in DC with a bag full of ambition. She meets William at Howard University and they fall in love. His parents are part of the black elite and Eleanor is trying to fit in. She hopes that having a baby with William will grant her a place at the table.

The book follows the two women, each from different sides of the tracks, and is told in dual timelines with alternating chapters…until their stories intertwine.

In it, you’ll find themes like: maternal bonds (or lack thereof), the weaponization of women’s bodies, the importance of second chances, and the ways in which gender, racism, and poverty affect women’s options.

Read it for book club and use this House of Eve discussion guide.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who was this skeleton and how did it get there?

The backstory can be found in this sweeping, multi POV historical fiction set on Chicken Hill. This is an unlikely, and culturally diverse community of African Americans and Jewish residents who are effectively segregated from the whites down the hill. Chona, the Jewish owner of the grocery store is the heart of the community. When she sets out to protect a deaf black boy from a gruesome institutionalization, she sets off a chain of events that galvanizes the community.

Here’s the discussion guide for Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. And if you’ve already read and loved it, I’ve also got a list of books that are like Heaven & Earth to try next.

Yellowface, R.F. Kuang

This Reese’s book club pick is a doosie. At the surface, Yellowface tracks the passive aggressive “friendship” of Athena and June, two authors in the publishing industry with very different levels of success. Athena has received her big break while June has remained a struggling author. When Athena dies, June steals one of her manuscripts and passes it off as her own.

This book is a very pointed satire on the publishing industry’s performative efforts at diversity, the ground war regarding owned voices vs cultural appropriation, and the commodification of book publishing. Kuang has spared no one.

Here’s the Yellowface book club guide.

Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano

William Waters grew up in a loveless house of tragedy, but his skills on the basketball court earned him a scholarship and a way out. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who takes him on as a project and brings him into the fold of her family, which includes Julia’s three sisters.

As William works to build his new life, the darkness from his past surface and jeopardize not only his future, but the future of the people he cares about. The book has strong Little Women vibes and all the feels.

Read Oprah pick one for book club and use the Hello Beautiful book club questions.

Tom Lake, Ann Patchett

Patchett’s latest offers a parallel story to the traditional play, Our Town. In it, Lara’s daughters have come to the farm to wait out COVID and help pick the cherry crop. They beg their mom to tell them about her youthful love affair with the famous Peter Duke. And she does, but deciding how much to share is tricky.

But in doing to, she reveals how she came to have the life she wanted, the choices she made regarding love, family and motherhood and how she enjoys the present moment.

The rich storytelling is quiet and character driven and if you like audio, Meryl Streep gives a great performance.

Here’s the Tom Lake discussion guide.

The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese

This sprawling multi-gen novel is about a strong, but cursed family in Kerala, India. Every generation, the family loses someone to a drowning. Big Ammachi marries into the family in 1900 and we follow her story (and her influence upon the family) through three generations.

The book follows how the family deals with “the curse”, but also touches upon tradition, connections made (and lost) and it also explores sensitive issues such as colonialism, discrimination and addiction.

All of this wrapped up in Verghese’s vivid prose and immersive setting.

It’s a chewy book and we can help you discuss it with your book club with this Covenant of Water discussion guide.

Horse, Geraldine Brooks

This story is about a horse and its handler, and yet it is about so much more than that. Brooks examines wealth and the racing culture of the 1800’s (and the Black trainers and jockeys who made it happen), how our concept of race (and racism) has changed over time, and how the legacy of great animals and art can persevere.

Brooks has woven together an amazing story from some seemingly unlikely strands of plot and time. She takes a great racehorse and its slave handler/trainer (1850), an art dealer keen on learn more about a painting of the horse (1954), and two Smithsonian researchers one of whom is studying the horse’s bones and the other is studying the long lost painting (2019).

The book’s depth of characters and strong storytelling work…even if you aren’t a nut for horses.

Here’s the Horse discussion guide.

Trust, Hernan Diaz

What does it mean to be powerful? How does power and money shape our history and cultural identity? Hernan Diaz’s Trust explores those questions and more in his intriguing novel featuring a wealthy financier and his wife in the 1920’s.

This Pulitzer Prize winner is a literary puzzle, using a unique novel-within-a-novel to tell the story of the Rasks. He’s a legendary Wall Street tycoon and she’s the daughter of eccentric aristocrats. At what cost have have they acquired immense wealth and how much of their story is myth is how much is truth? 

This is a great read for lover’s of historical fiction and those who appreciate a truly unique storytelling format. 

Mad Honey, Jodi Picoult

Two teenagers have recently experienced some family turmoil and relocated to New Hampshire. Ash likes the new girl in school. Lily falls for Ash. And then Lily turns up dead and Ash is being questioned in the death.

Mad Honey explores the complexities of family relationships, generational trauma, and the consequences of our actions. Picoult conveys an interesting angle on how situations may be perceived through one’s experiences, even when looking at the people we love.

Picoult highlights themes of grief, guilt, and forgiveness, and she presents personal views from all the characters struck by the shared tragedy, which could invite your club to reflect on their experiences and perspectives.

Read this for book club and use this Mad Honey discussion guide. And if you’d like more Jodi Picoult, I’ve got ranked and rated list of all of Picoult’s books.

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water, Angie Cruz

Cara Romero thought she’d have her factory job for life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses that job, she’s forced back into the job market, and is paired with a job counselor. Cara’s got no job, aging friends, an exasperated sister, an estranged son, and a slim grip on her rent controlled apartment. But despite all that, this Dominican lady is surely not lacking in pluck.

The book’s unique format treats each counseling session as a chapter, in which Cara narrates her life. And her first person voice is a delight on audio. 

Read it for book club and use this How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water discussion guide.

Black Cake, Charmaine Wilkerson

Siblings Byron and Benny try to set aside their differences as they try to understand the mother who recently died. She leaves behind a traditional Caribbean black cake and an 8 hour recording that reveals some startling family secrets.

The story is about loss, about the decisions we make that we can never take back, and the sacrifices we’re forced to make. Some of the book’s themes include: fraught family dynamics, resentments and regrets, the cultural diaspora, regrets, race and identity and climate change.

Read it for book club and use this Black Cake discussion guide.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabriele Zevin

Two childhood friends, Sam and Sadie reconnect while at university in Boston. They are both into gaming and soon find that together, they have genius for developing unique games. They team up with their friend Marx to bring their games to market.

But the book is only partly about that. It’s also a coming of age story with themes of grief, loss, the creative process and the distinctions between familial love, romantic love, and the deep love that friends can develop over time.

Read it for book club and use this Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow discussion guide.

Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution, R.F. Kuang

This genre-bender mixes speculative fiction and historical fiction to examine the power that language and translation can have on world culture. Set in Oxford in 1828, the Royal Institute of Translation (also known as Babel) is responsible for translating works and using those very precise translations to imbue silver with magical properties. The silver, in turn, is used in all manner of mechanical and architectural technologies.

Robin Swift, a Chinese orphan, is brought to London by a professor of Babel. Robin is given an education and admitted to Babel, where he is to learn the art of translation and silver-working. While there, he also become acutely aware of racial and economic injustices perpetrated by the Institute. What follows is some rich world-building, escalating action and a sharp commentary on the perfidy of colonialization.

The book provides no shortage of topics to examine, which you can do using my Babel discussion guide.

The Measure, Nikki Erlick

If you received a mysterious box and the contents could tell you how long you had to live, would you open it? And if so, how would you respond to the knowing?

Erlick’s book tackles these questions when everyone over 22 receives such a box on their doorstep. The book follows eight main characters as their lives are changed by the knowledge. Reactions range from defiance to resignation with societal conflicts arising between the short-timers versus those long-timers.

Lots to talk about here– which you can do using this book club questions for The Measure.

Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt. Here’s the Remarkably Bright Creatures discussion questions.

West With Giraffes, Lynda Rutledge. Here’s the West With Giraffes reading guide.

Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus. Here’s the Lessons in Chemistry discussion guide. And if you’ve already read it, here are some other books similar to Lessons in Chemistry.

Book Lovers, Emily Henry. Here’s my Book Lovers discussion guide.

The Dictionary of Lost Words, Pip Williams. This book is fun for clubs who really into lexicography. Use this Dictionary of Lost Words book club guide for your discussion.

It Ends With Us, Colleen Hoover. Here’s the It Ends With Us discussion guide. And I also have a guide for It Starts With Us, the sequel.

The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman. Here’s the guide for The Thursday Murder Club.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, Kim Michele Richardson. Here’s the Troublesome Creek discussion guide. I’ve also got a list of more books about the Packhorse Library Project.

Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid. Here’s the Malibu Rising discussion guide and also one for Carrie Soto is Back, which features a character from Malibu Rising. And check out my complete list of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books (ranked!)

The Personal Librarian, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. Here’s the discussion guide for The Personal Librarian.

The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles. Here are the book club questions for The Lincoln Highway.

Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr. Here’s the Cloud Cuckoo Land discussion guide.

If you like this sort of meta thing where books are a big part of the book, then check out my article which features 20 books that feature books and manuscripts as a key narrative driver.

The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah. Here’s the Four Winds reading guide.

The Midnight Library, Matt Haig. Here’s the Midnight Library guide.

Anxious People, Frederik Backman. Here’s the Anxious People book club guide.

The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave. Here’s the discussion guide for The Last Thing He Told Me.

Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell. Here’s the guide for Hamnet.

The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett. Here’s the guide for The Vanishing Half.

Apples Never Fall, Liane Moriarty.

Klara & The Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro. Here’s the Klara and the Sun guide.

The Guest List, Lucy Foley. Here’s the guide for The Guest List.

The Lost Apothecary, Sarah Penner. Here’s the Lost Apothecary book club guide.

Crying in H Mart, Michelle Zauner. This book also made our best audiobook memoirs. Here’s the guide for Crying in H Mart.

The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides. Here’s the discussion guide for The Silent Patient.

American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid. Here’s the book club guide for Evelyn Hugo along with a whole book list of great reads similar to Evelyn Hugo.

A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles. Here’s the Gentleman in Moscow book club guide.

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent, Isabel Wilkerson. Here’s the Caste book club guide.

Circe, Madeline Miller. Here’s the discussion guide for Circe.

Born a Crime, Trevor Noah. Here’s the discussion guide for Born a Crime.

The Dutch House, Ann Patchett. Here’s the discussion guide for The Dutch House.

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens. Here’s the discussion guide for Where the Crawdads Sing. And if you’ve already read and loved this book, check out my list of books like Where the Crawdads Sing.

Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo. Here’s the Girl, Woman, Other book club guide.

Dear Edward, Ann Napolitano

Educated, Tara Westover. Here’s the Educated discussion guide.