7 Celebrity Book Clubs That Are Actually Good
If you’re looking for your next read to cosy up with this autumn, don’t fret, your favourite celebrities have got your back. After Oprah Winfrey made book clubs a celebrity thing back in 1996, today it seems like there are celebrity-run book clubs popping up everywhere. And we’ve rounded up the best ones.
From Kaia Gerber’s Library Science to Dua Lipa’s Service95, these book clubs have some great, thoughtfully selected picks, featuring a range of authors from the well-known to the newly launched. If you’re looking for your next read, you’d do well to follow these celeb-run book clubs.
Service95 Book Club
Best for: Discovering translated fiction and books that go beyond the Western lens.
Other than being a world-famous singer, producer and actress, Dua Lipa is also an avid reader and is the founder of the newsletter, Service95, that plays host to a book club. With titles chosen by Lipa, the focus of the book club picks is on diversity and showcasing writers with unique perspectives. Lipa has personally interviewed several authors, including Khaled Hosseini, Hernan Diaz and Margaret Atwood, and the website and socials of the club include author discussions, op-eds and curated reading lists.
Tea Time Book Club
Best for: Discovering debut novels and under-the-radar contemporary fiction.
Actress Dakota Johnson launched Tea Time Book Club in March 2024. It grew out of her work at production company TeaTime Pictures, which she co-founded with Ro Donnelly and where she hunts for stories to adapt for screen.
Johnson picks one book a month, with a strong lean towards debut novels and contemporary fiction. She has said she wants books that are worth falling down a rabbit hole for. The club runs through an Instagram broadcast channel, where members get author interviews, playlists and extra background on each pick. Its first selection was Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino, and more recent picks include Under Water by Tara Menon, My Dear You by Rachel Khong and Mare by Emily Haworth-Booth.
Library Science
Best for: Finding books that aren’t on typical reading lists.
Founded by supermodel, actress and avid reader Kaia Gerber, Library Science is a carefully curated collection of books that makes it evident that Gerber is very serious about her reading. Founded in 2020, it has now evolved into a passionate community of readers.
It covers debut fiction, short stories, translations, essays, memoirs, plays and poetry and focuses on subjects like race, sex, loss, consent, motherhood, girlhood, queerness, addiction, abuse and climate change, among other themes. For all those times when you want to read but you don’t know where to start – let Kaia help you make the choice.
Inkings
Best for: Reading along with a big, friendly community, chapter by chapter, with paperback-priced picks.
For those of you who have been living under a rock, Jack Edwards has been quietly becoming the face of the reading revival. Following his rise to fame, recommending books to celebrities in interviews, his Inklings club has since become a space to share his recs with the rest of the world. It runs on Instagram and the Fable reading app, where members can chat about each pick chapter by chapter without stumbling into spoilers. Edwards chooses one book a month and makes sure it’s available in paperback to keep costs down. A weekly podcast adds author interviews, plus a monthly episode digging into the current pick. The first pick was Oisín McKenna’s debut Evenings and Weekends, and later choices have included Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness. This September’s pick is John Steinbeck’s East of Eden.
Reese’s Book Club
Best for: Discovering new female-centric stories before they become a hit TV series
Reese Witherspoon has a knack for discovering seriously cool women-centric novels and then turning them into global hits on screen (think Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed). Each month, Witherspoon chooses a book with a woman at the centre of the story – and while the book club caters to adults, they also have a YA segment that includes book club picks from her nieces.
Between Two Books
Best for: Eclectic, artist-led recommendations, from poetry to cult classics.
Florence + the Machine frontwoman Florence Welch’s book club began in 2012, when an Irish teenager tweeted her the idea. Fans from around the world soon joined in, and the club is still run by original fan members alongside Florence herself. New reads arrive every few months rather than monthly, chosen by Florence or a guest, and anyone can pick up the book and join in. Guest recommenders have included Greta Gerwig, Nick Cave, Fiona Apple and Sally Rooney, which keeps the reading list unpredictable. Discussions and author Q&As take place on social media. A recent recommendation from the club is The Steps by Juliano Zaffino, and past picks range from Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City to Sally Rooney’s recommendation of Daniel Deronda.
Oprah’s Book Club
Best for: Access to author interviews and discussions (the way only Oprah can do it)
The OG celebrity book club, this one is arguably the most iconic of all celebrity book clubs. It was started in 1996 by Oprah Winfrey and is still very much running today. Each book is handpicked by Oprah herself, from Booker Prize longlist titles like John of John by Douglas Stuart to Little Wonder by Sophie Chen Keller.
