Popular Book Club Picks

Searching for study guides on books selected by some of the nation's top book clubs, curated by Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, the PBS NewsHour, the New York Times, and the American Library Association? Look no further. This collection covers critically-acclaimed classics like Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez to contemporary, buzzworthy novels like Girl, Woman, Other. We hope this compilation of study guides provides your own book club with lively discussion topics and keen insights.

Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Conflict, Shame & Pride, Femininity, Gender Identity, Indigenous Identity, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Birth, Animals, Family, Mothers, Social Class, Colonialism, Community, Equality, Justice, Power & Greed, Truth & Lies

Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Gender & Feminism

Publication year 2007

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Grief, Memory, Death, Family

Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Irish Literature

The Gathering by Anne Enright is a novel about family history, grief, and the ways we learn to live with our pasts. Published in 2007, The Gathering was awarded the prestigious Man Booker Prize. The Gathering is Anne Enright’s fourth novel. Enright is the author of seven novels and is a major figure in contemporary Irish literature. This guide is based on the following 2007 Black Cat edition of The Gathering.Content Warning: This guide summarizes... Read The Gathering Summary

Publication year 2015

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Loneliness, Conflict, Fear, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Love, Memory, Masculinity, The Past, Appearance & Reality, Truth & Lies, Marriage

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Trauma & Abuse, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Modern Classic Fiction

Paula Hawkins wrote The Girl on the Train over the course of six months in 2014. Hawkins, an Oxford-educated journalist and writer, drew on her experience as a reporter in London to structure the novel and describe its locations. Drawing immediate comparisons to Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Girl on the Train had similar performance, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list in 2015, and remaining there for 13 consecutive weeks... Read The Girl On The Train Summary

Publication year 2016

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, Power & Greed

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Psychological Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Modern Classic Fiction, World History

Publication year 2010

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Grief, Coming of Age

Tags Realistic Fiction, Coming of Age, Dramatic Literature, Race & Racism, Crime & Law, Addiction & Substance Abuse, Depression & Suicide, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky is Heidi Durrow’s debut novel. Published in 2010 by Oneworld Publications, the novel won the PEN/Bellweather Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, an award that recognizes work by a previously unpublished author that explores a social issue. The Girl Who Fell from the Sky explores the impact of racism and loss on a young girl whose mother is a White woman from Denmark and whose father is a Black... Read The Girl Who Fell From The Sky Summary

Publication year 2015

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags Politics & Government, Korean Literature, Asian Literature, World History, Biography

The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story, is Hyeonseo Lee’s 2015 autobiography. Lee leaves North Korea shortly before her eighteenth birthday. She does not intend to defect. She has received a lifetime of propaganda and truly believes her country is the best in the world. She is simply a curious child who wanted to see China, and intends to return to North Korea within days. Once in China, however, she is exposed... Read The Girl with Seven Names Summary

Publication year 2005

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Gender Identity, Family, Social Class, Justice, Truth & Lies

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Scandinavian Literature, Gender & Feminism, Trauma & Abuse, Modern Classic Fiction

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an international bestseller by writer and journalist Stieg Larsson. The crime thriller was published in Sweden shortly after his death in 2005 with the original Swedish title, Män som hatar kvinnor, or Men Who Hate Women. The book won the 2006 Glass Key Award for best crime novel in its native Sweden, and after the English translation was released it received the 2008 Boeke Prize (South Africa), Crime... Read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Summary

Publication year 2019

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family

Tags Historical Fiction, World History, Romance

The Giver of Stars (2019) by JoJo Moyes is a work of women’s fiction that can also be categorized as historical fiction. Not long after its publication, The Giver of Stars became embroiled in controversy when another author, Kim Michele Richardson, noted similarities between her book about the WPA Pack Horse Librarians, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, and Moyes’s novel. Moyes is the bestselling author of Me Before You, and The Giver of Stars... Read The Giver of Stars Summary

Publication year 2005

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes Family, Childhood & Youth, Order & Chaos

Tags American Literature, Education, Education, Biography, Classic Fiction

The Glass Castle is a nonfiction memoir published by American journalist Jeannette Walls. Published in 2005, book chronicles Walls and her three siblings’ nomadic and impoverished upbringing by their severely maladjusted parents. In recounting her childhood, Walls explores themes like Letting Go of Childhood Illusions, The Struggle to Understand a Parent’s Poor Choices, The Destructiveness of Codependent Relationships, and The Connection Between Poverty and Abuse.A critical and popular success, The Glass Castle remained on the... Read The Glass Castle Summary

Publication year 2020

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Siblings, Truth & Lies, Mental Health, Femininity, Childhood & Youth, Family, Mothers, Self Discovery, Beauty, Good & Evil, Loyalty & Betrayal

Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Diversity, Grief & Death, Mental Illness, Parenting, Relationships, Trauma & Abuse, Modern Classic Fiction

Publication year 1994

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Colonialism, Family, Coming of Age, Community, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, Relationships, Education, Education, Modern Classic Fiction, World History, Fantasy

The Grass Dancer (1994) is the debut novel by Susan Power, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. This young adult novel is part of the magical realism genre. Using a nonlinear structure and overlapping narratives, Power slowly pieces together a story that links generations of Sioux families together in a complex and powerful way. The following material was gathered using a first edition copy of the text.Plot SummaryThe Prologue begins with Harley... Read The Grass Dancer Summary

Publication year 2018

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Daughters & Sons, Family

Tags Modern Classic Fiction, World History, Historical Fiction, Romance

The Great Alone (2017) by prolific author Kristin Hannah, known for Firefly Lane (2008), The Nightingale (2015), and The Women (2024), tells the story of Leni Allbright’s coming of age in Alaska. The narrative encompasses Leni’s arrival, departure, and eventual return as an adult to the small town of Kaneq. The novel begins when Leni is 13 and her father decides to move the family to Alaska. Ernt Allbright, a Vietnam veteran who suffers post-traumatic... Read The Great Alone Summary

Publication year 2008

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Literature, War, Friendship

Tags Historical Fiction, Romance, World War II, Military & War, World History

Written in epistolary form, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a historical novel set during the German Occupation of the English Channel Islands during World War II (WWII). The novel was co-written by Mary Ann Shaffer, an editor, librarian, and bookshop clerk, and her niece, Annie Barrows, author of the Ivy and Bean children’s books series. Shaffer began writing the novel, but when she was diagnosed with cancer she requested Barrows’s help... Read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Summary

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Grief, Loneliness, Love, Sexual Identity, Death

Tags LGBTQ+, Humor, Realistic Fiction, Grief & Death, Parenting, American Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Romance

Publication year 2022

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Colonialism, Indigenous Identity, Race, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Historical Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Gothic Literature, Mystery & Crime Fiction, World History, Fantasy

Publication year 1985

Genre Novel, Fiction

Tags Gender & Feminism, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Classic Fiction

First published in 1985, Margaret Atwood’s sixth novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, has received numerous accolades and prizes and remains widely critically celebrated. Set in what used to be the United States but is now a repressive theocracy called the Republic of Gilead, the dystopian novel is narrated by the protagonist, Offred, who recounts her daily experiences intercut with memories of her life before the revolution and during her training to become a “Handmaid.”Atwood is an... Read The Handmaid's Tale Summary