18 Best Read With Jenna Book Club Picks of All Time

‘Blue Sisters’ by Coco Mellors

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors follows four sisters — Avery, Bonnie, Nicky and Lucky — as they reunite for the first time in years after a sudden death. 

“Like Little Women, home is always when the sisters are unified and together,” Bush Hager explained. “I loved these characters who span continents and yet their DNA and the history of their childhood is like a compass that brings them back when they need it most.”

‘The Wedding People’ by Alison Espach

The Wedding People by Alison Espach tells the story of Phoebe Stone, a woman who’s been dreaming about a sunset-filled vacation in Newport, Rhode Island, for years. But when she finally arrives, instead of being in great company, she’s alone, at rock bottom, and mistaken for a wedding party member. 

“Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe’s plan―which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other,” the description reads. 

‘All the Colors of the Dark’ by Chris Whitaker

Set in Monta Clare, Missouri, in 1975, All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker tells the story of a small town experiencing a string of mysterious murders. But after a wealthy family is targeted, local boy Patch becomes an unlikely hero. 

“Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer,” the description reads. “And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.”

‘The Unwinding of the Miracle’ by Julie Yip-Williams

The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julie Yip-Williams tells the gripping story of one woman’s fight for survival throughout her life. From escaping euthanasia for being blind when she was younger, becoming a refugee in Hong Kong, and regaining her eyesight during her new life in the US, Yip-Williams’ story is nothing short of extraordinary. 

‘A Woman Is No Man’ by Etaf Rum

In this multi-generational drama, A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum follows the lives of two women: Isra and Deya. While Palestine-born Isra is quickly betrothed and shipped to the US against her will at just 17 years old, Deya is fighting against her grandmother’s demands to find a husband because she wants to go to college more than anything. 

‘The Dearly Beloved’ by Cara Wall

In The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall, readers follow two couples, Charles and Lily, and James and Nan, throughout their lives. In it, they struggle to find a balance between their beliefs, their desires, their ambitions and more when they are set to lead the historic Third Presbyterian Church in Greenwich Village in the 1960s. 

‘The Dutch House’ by Ann Patchett

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett is all about the love between two siblings. Set over the course of five decades, the novel tells the story of two wealthy siblings, Danny and Maeve, who are exiled from their family home by their stepmother and are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from. Now, all they have is each other. 

‘Nothing to See Here’ by Kevin Wilson

After two best friends from boarding school drift apart, an unusual circumstance brings Lillian and Madison back together in Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson. In the novel, Madison desperately calls Lillian to be the caretaker for her stepkids. But there’s a catch: the kids spontaneously combust when they get agitated. 

“Over the course of one humid, demanding summer, Lillian and the twins learn to trust each other—and stay cool—while also staying out of the way of Madison’s buttoned-up politician husband,” the description reads. 

‘Late Migrations’ by Margaret Renkl

In a series of essays, Margaret Renkl, an author who has also been recognized by Reese Witherspoon’s book club, perfectly describes the changing roles of her Nashville home while observing the natural world around them in Late Migrations. 

‘Dear Edward’ by Ann Napolitano

In novel that has now been adapted to the small screen, Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano, follows a lost boy named Edward as he becomes the sole survivor of a massive plane crash that killed 183 people. Thankful to have survived yet confused about his luck, the accident forever changes his outlook on life. 

“But then he makes an unexpected discovery—one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do you find the strength to put one foot in front of the other? How do you learn to feel safe again? How do you find meaning in your life?” 

‘The Girl With the Louding Voice’ by Abi Daré

Having grown up in a rural Nigerian village, The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré’s protagonist Adunni knows that her passions and ambitions of going to college might be too grand to be achieved. Nevertheless, she persists. 

“Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her path, Adunni never loses sight of her goal of escaping the life of poverty she was born into so that she can build the future she chooses for herself – and help other girls like her do the same,” the description reads. 

‘Writers & Lovers’ by Lily King

Writers & Lovers by Lily King is a novel that follows the hopes and risks of following your dreams. Telling the story of Casey, the book follows a young woman’s fight to be creative despite the world’s unwavering pressure and even more unimaginable cost. Then, when she falls for two men at the same time, her world unravels more than ever before. 

‘Here for It’ by R. Eric Thomas

Another memoir on this list is Here for It by R. Eric Thomas. In this collection, Thomas looks back at his life and his most formative moments from growing up in his conservative black church to feeling “other” in his Ivy League alma mater. 

“He writes about struggling to reconcile his Christian identity with his sexuality, the exhaustion of code-switching in college, accidentally getting famous on the internet (for the wrong reason), and the surreal experience of covering the 2016 election for Elle online, and the seismic changes that came thereafter,” the description lists. 

‘Transcendent Kingdom’ by Yaa Gyasi

While grieving her brother’s death by overdose, Gifty, the protagonist of Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom, becomes a PhD candidate to study the effects of addiction and make sense of the loss that struck her family. 

“But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family’s loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive,” the description reads. 

‘The Bluest Eye’ by Toni Morrison

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison follows Pecola Breedlove, a young Black girl who yearns for blond hair and blue eyes — to conform and “fit in.” “Toni Morrison’s virtuosic first novel asks powerful questions about race, class, and gender with the subtlety and grace that have always characterized her writing,” the book description reads.

‘The Four Winds’ by Kristin Hannah

In a touching and inspirational story, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah starts off with main character Elsa Wolcott as she agrees to marry a man she barely knows during the exciting times of the 1920s. As they reach the 1930s, however, times have changed and families are left with one major decision: keep fighting the Great Depression or leave it all behind by traveling West. 

“The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it―the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots,” the description reads. 

‘Great Circle’ by Maggie Shipstead

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead follows the story of two women: Marian Graves, a young woman who finds her passion for flight after being rescued in 1914, and Hadley Baxter, an actress cast to play Marian in a film about Marian’s disappearance in Antarctica over a century later. 

“Her immersion into the character of Marian unfolds, thrillingly, alongside Marian’s own story, as the two women’s fates – and their hunger for self-determination in vastly different geographies and times – collide,” the description reads. 

‘Malibu Rising’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Written by The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo‘s author Taylor Jenkins Reid, Malibu Rising follows the members of the ever-so-popular Riva family and how their secrets will be reaching a fever pitch during their annual end-of-summer party. 

“By midnight, the party will be completely out of control,” the description reads. “By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family’s generations will all come rising to the surface.”