Alta Journal’s California Book Club
The book: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Our reviewer says: "[Nguyen's] astonishing first novel... enlivens debate about history and human nature, and his narrator has a poignant, often mirthful voice." Read more.
The book: Private Rites by Julia Armfield
Our reviewer says: "Armfield offers a grim and absorbing retelling of King Lear set in a damp near-future city resembling London.... This well-wrought family drama is tough to shake." Read more.
Barnes & Noble Book Club and Read with Jenna
The book: The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight
Our reviewer says: "Cookbook author Knight makes her fiction debut with a touching tale of a student’s romantic entanglements and family secrets.... [A] satisfying coming-of-age story." Read more.
The book: Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams
Our reviewer says: "Trauma triggers a Black boy’s dormant ancestral magic in debut author Williams’s exuberant contemporary fantasy series opener.... Williams delivers a serpentine, high-intensity celebration of Black culture, history, and power." Read more.
The book: The Motherload by Sarah Hoover
Our reviewer says: "In her fiercely candid if somewhat familiar debut, Hoover recounts escaping Midwestern suburbia for the New York City art world, only to crash under the weight of postpartum depression.... While not without its virtues, this has little staying power." See more.
The book: Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
Our reviewer says: "[A] powerful memoir and self-help book that promotes saying 'Yes!' to life.... Rhimes comes across as inspiring and real, every bit the heroine whom readers need to inspire such a change in themselves." Read more.
Good Morning America Book Club and Good Housekeeping Book Club
The book: Homeseeking by Karissa Chen
Our reviewer says: "In this sweeping and heart-rending debut, Chen brings to life more than 60 years of Chinese history through the tale of childhood sweethearts separated by war and reunited decades later in America." Read more.
Good Morning America YA Book Club
The book: After Life by Gayle Forman
Our reviewer says: "High school senior Amber Crane bikes home from school one spring day per usual—only to learn that she’s been dead for seven years.... [A] bittersweet speculative tour de force that probes what it means to live, to lose, and to love." Read more.
The book: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
The book: Light Bringer by Pierce Brown
The book: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Our reviewer says: "Bestseller Emezi unpacks the ever-present weight of grief in this deeply emotional love story.... This is sure to tug at readers’ heartstrings." Read more.
The book: Saving Time by Jenny Odell
Our reviewer says: "Odell follows up How to Do Nothing with an electric call to reject the quantitative view of time in favor of a more expansive, less linear understanding that fosters interpersonal connection and social and ecological justice.... [A] moving and provocative game changer." Read more.
The book: Run: Book One by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by L. Fury and Nate Powell
Our reviewer says: "This worthy successor to the late Congressman Lewis’s March graphic memoir trilogy picks up in the civil rights leader’s life during the 1960s counterculture revolution.... Lewis’s stunning American story and legacy lives on in these pages." Read more.
The book: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Our reviewer says: "A cross-species friendship helps solve a pair of decades-old mysteries in Pelt’s whimsical if far-fetched debut.... While the premise intrigues, this fantastical take on human-animal connection requires a bit too much suspended disbelief." Read more.
Reese’s Book Club (Adult) and Target Book Club
The book: The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan
Our reviewer says: "Sportswriter Fagan (What Made Maddy Run) makes her fiction debut with the electrifying story of a bestselling author’s secrets.... [T]he tightly woven plot will keep readers on the edge of their seats. It’s a blast." Read more.
Reese’s Book Club (YA)
The book: Throwback by Maurene Goo
Our reviewer says: "Sixteen-year-old Korean American Samantha Kang must figure out how to return to her own time after a ride-share app inexplicably transports the Gen Z teen to 1995 in this reflective Back to the Future–flavored jaunt." Read more.
The book: Dear Senthuran by Akwaeke Emezi
Our reviewer says: "Emezi reflects on their spiritual and creative evolution in this gorgeous epistolary memoir.... Those interested in broadening their metaphysical understanding of the world would do well to pick up this spellbinding work." Read more.
The book: The Note by Alafair Burke
Our reviewer says: "A prank goes wrong in this disappointing standalone from bestseller Burke.... Burke has done better." Read more.
The book: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Our reviewer says: "British Cambodian writer Bradley’s clever debut features time travel, romance, cloak-and-dagger plotting, and a critique of the British Empire.... [A] sly and ingenious vehicle for commentary on the disruptions and displacements of modern life." Read more.
The book: Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King
Our reviewer says: "Taiwanese author Yáng frames her dizzying English-language debut as a translation of a 1954 Japanese text.... Admirers of metatextual novels like Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore ought to take note." Read more.
The book: Letters to a Young Poet by Rainier Maria Rilke
