Are you wondering what your favourite Celebrity Book Club is reading this month? Do you enjoy book communities as a way to read along with others? If so, each of these celebrity book clubs is internet-based and open to all who follow. So if you’re like me and always on the lookout for the next great read, you will now find these picks all in one spot – That Happy Reader’s blog! Without further adieu, let me introduce you to Celebrity Book Club Picks for July 2024.
Click on the book’s cover to add it to your Goodreads shelf!
Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club (Hello Sunshine)’s pick for July 2024:
Founded in 2017, Hello Sunshine always chooses books with women at the centre of the story. Their website notes “We make our choices thoughtfully and look for ways to deepen our connection to books, authors and ourselves”. This book club chose “The Cliffs” by J. Courtney Sullivan as their July 2024 pick.
Length: 384 pages.
Genre: Women’s Fiction
From The Publisher:
On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.
Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and her marriage. Jane is horrified to find the Victorian is now barely recognizable. The new owner, Genevieve, a summer person from Beacon Hill, has gutted it, transforming the house into a glossy white monstrosity straight out of a shelter magazine. Strangely, Genevieve is convinced that the house is haunted—perhaps the product of something troubling Genevieve herself has done. She hires Jane to research the history of the place and the women who lived there. The story Jane uncovers—of lovers lost at sea, romantic longing, shattering loss, artistic awakening, historical artifacts stolen and sold, and the long shadow of colonialism—is even older than Maine itself.
Enthralling, richly imagined, filled with psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism, this is a deeply moving novel about the land we inhabit, the women who came before us, and the ways in which none of us will ever truly leave this earth.
Good Morning America’s Book Club’s pick:
The GMA Book Club is officially called “Cover to Cover” and was started in the Fall of 2019. Their selections highlight diversity and books are chosen from both fiction and non-fiction genres. The book club chose “The Love of My Afterlife” by Kirsty Greenwood as their July 2024 pick.
Length: 384 pages.
Genre: Romance, Romantic Comedy
From The Publisher:
A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on earth before ten days are up…
If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. Not only did she just die by choking on a microwaveable burger, but now she’s standing in her ‘shine like a star’ nightie in front of the hottest man she’s ever seen. And he’s smiling at her.
As they start to chat, everything else becomes background noise. That is until someone comes running out of a door, yelling something about a huge mistake, and sends the dreamy stranger back down to earth. And here Delphie was thinking her luck might be different in the afterlife.
When Delphie is offered a deal in which she can return to earth and reconnect with the mysterious stranger, she jumps at the opportunity to find her possible soulmate and a fresh start at life. But in a city of millions, Delphie is going to have to listen to her heart, learn to ask for help, and perhaps even see the magic in the life she’s leaving behind…
Read With Jenna (Jenna Bush Hager)’s pick:
In March 2019, the former First Daughter announced her book club on the Today show. Each month she chooses a book that is sure to generate discussion. Jenna chose “All the Colors of the Dark” by Chris Whitaker as her July 2024 pick.
Length: 608 pages.
Genre: Thrillers, Crime
From The Publisher:
1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Mohammed Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing.
When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy with one eye, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake.
Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.
A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each, Chris Whitaker has written a novel about what lurks in the shadows of obsession, and the blinding light of hope.
Oprah’s Book Club:
Oprah Winfrey started this book club in 1996 as a segment on her TV show. Many obscure titles have risen to bestseller status as a result of her picks. Oprah’s latest pick is “Familiaris” by David Wroblewski.
Length: 992 pages.
Genre: Historical Fiction
From The Publisher:
It is spring 1919, and John Sawtelle’s imagination has gotten him into trouble … again. Now John and his newlywed wife, Mary, along with their two best friends and their three dogs, are setting off for Wisconsin’s northwoods, where they hope to make a fresh start—and, with a little luck, discover what it takes to live a life of meaning, purpose, and adventure. But the place they are headed for is far stranger and more perilous than they realize, and it will take all their ingenuity, along with a few new friends—human, animal, and otherworldly—to realize their dreams.
By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, mysterious and enchanting, Familiaris takes readers on an unforgettable journey from the halls of a small-town automobile factory, through an epic midwestern firestorm and an ambitious WWII dog-training program, and far back into mankind’s ancient past, examining the dynamics of love and friendship, the vexing nature of families, the universal desire to create something lasting and beautiful, and of course, the species-long partnership between Homo sapiens and Canis familiaris.
Other Recent Celebrity Book Club Selections:
Do any of these books appeal to you? I’m hoping to read The Love of My Afterlife. Come back next month as I let you know what the August picks are!
Carla
I read Edgar Sawtelle back when it came out and had no idea there was a sequel coming. I will definitely add that one to my shelf. The others sound interesting as well. Thanks for this list, Jodie.
thathappyreader
I’m glad I could help Carla! I hoe you enjoy it.
Jonetta | Blue Mood Café
I have Reese’s and Jenna’s picks and am intrigued by the GMA selection. I still have Edward Sawtelle to read! Thanks for the post, Jodie💜
thathappyreader
Thanks for reading Jonetta!
Sarah Collins
I really like the sound of the love of my after life!
thathappyreader
It’s my choice too Sarah!
ER LeVar
The Cliffs sounds perfect for my mother, actually! Might have to swing by my bookstore to pick up a copy.
thathappyreader
What a lovely gift ER!
Jody
The Love of My Afterlife looks like a fun read. Great list, Jodie 😊
thathappyreader
Thanks for reading Jody!
Raji
The Love of My After Life sounds like a really fun read! I don’t follow celebrity book clubs too closely, but their picks are always interesting and often books I haven’t heard of before.
thathappyreader
I can sometimes find a good book from their choices too Raji. I couldn’t find a post that collated them all which is why I started this monthly feature a few years ago. ☺️
Her Digital Coffee
These are all very interesting picks! I’m intrigued by The Cliffs and might have to add that to my summer reading list. Thank you for sharing Jodie!
thathappyreader
Thanks for reading Winnie!