5 Online Book Clubs to Join This Year
My girlfriends and I have recently started a book club and I am finding so much value in the structure and encouragement to read that it provides. I truly feel as though reading is something we should all be doing more of, yet it is often pushed to the wayside and viewed as a luxury. How many times have you thought ‘ohhh I just don’t have time to read’ or felt guilty when you actually sat down and pulled out a book?
PSA: Reading is so good for you; it boosts your vocabulary, challenges your perspectives and helps your levels of focus and relaxation.
In our book club we read a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. We just finished Untamed by Glennon Doyle and are about to move on to our next book. At the end of each month, we catch up and discuss the text. Over the span of the covid period, book clubs seem to have gotten more and more accessible for people. They are popping up all over the online community, which means that regardless of where we are, we can participate (and be held accountable!). Enough with the excuses!
Celebrities have been spearheading this movement and thousands of people are getting involved. Check out these 5 online book clubs and consider joining one of them. You won’t regret it!
Oprah's Book Club
Oprah’s book club is the OG of celebrity book clubs. It started in 1996 as a segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and continued on til 2012 when it was relaunched on social media and has continued to grow, facilitating an emphasis on women writers of colour. Each month video and discussion questions go up on goodreads – all you need to do is sign up and start reading!
Reese’s Book Club
Reese’s Book Club provides a full-scale book club experience, and is well-worth exploring. Each month, Reese Witherspoon chooses a new fiction novel to explore, often engaging the authors to give their insights into the novels. There is even an app where readers can discuss what they thought about the chosen text.
Belletrist
Belletrist celebrates great books and the people who read them. Books are handpicked by best friends Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss, and content is shared on their Instagram page. The page is full of book tours, author takeovers and IGTVs, you will get great insights into the books and the background behind them.
Between Two Books
Between Two Books is a book club founded by Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine. It is run from an eclectic Instagram page where recommendations are vast and various, from Yrsa Daley-Ward’s memoir The Terrible to the singer’s own book of poetry, Useless Magic. The book club’s social media pages are where readings and Q&As with authors are featured – all you need to do is pick up a book and join in!
Kaia Gerber’s Book Club
A recent addition to the celebrity book club scene, Kaia Gerber started her book club in quarantine to share it with her 6 million Instagram followers. Each week she hosts a virtual meeting on Instagram where she interviews a fellow reader. Featured readers include the authors themselves as well as her friends and even her mother, Cindy Crawford.
Let’s get reading!