Book Club Books to Read This Summer and Fall

While we’re on the romance train, here’s another new buzzy romance novel that everyone is talking about. And your book club will want to talk about it too! After all, a book about books is pretty much irresistible to all book clubs. In this enemies-to-lovers romance, Nora Stephens is determined to become the heroine of her own story, which is why she agrees to head Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August with her sister Libby. This is her opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and her stressful publishing job. Only, there’s one major problem. Charlie Lastra, an editor from back in the city whom Nora can’t stand — just so happens to be in Sunshine Falls as well.

This debut literary novel follows the story of a Dominican family who has immigrated to New York City. The Guerreros have lived in the city for 20 years. When gentrification hits their predominantly Dominican neighborhood, each family responds differently. Eusebia, the matriarch of the family, seeks desperate measures in a scheme to stop construction. Meanwhile, Eusebia’s daughter Luz finds herself romantically involved with the handsome white developer at the company her mother is fighting against.

If your book club is looking for a fun, heart-warming contemporary novel with a dash of time travel, this book has got you covered. Nearing 40, Alice is satisfied with her life. She’s got a good job. Great friends. A nice apartment. A satisfying romance life. But her father is ailing, and Alice can’t help but feel something is missing. Then, Alice wakes up the next morning to finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. Yes, it’s surprising, but the most shocking part is her father. Watching the vital, healthy, 40-year-old version of her father with her own life experiences in mind, Alice sees the man from a whole new perspective.

Nuclear Family is a beautiful literary debut that’s a family drama and funny political commentary, among so many other things. The Chos seem to have it all figured out. Mr. and Mrs. Cho have just franchised their Korean restaurant across Hawaii, their daughter Grace is finishing her senior year of college, and their son Jacob has just moved to Seoul to teach English. But then everything falls apart when a viral video shows Jacob trying — and failing — to cross the Korean demilitarized zone. Little do the Chos know, Jacob has been possessed by the ghost of his grandfather, who desperately wants to cross the divide and be reunited with his family in the north.

This is a hilarious and fun debut novel that book clubs will love, and this is also one of my favorite book covers of the year. In this “coming of consciousness” story, 29-year-old PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperately trying finish her dissertation on the late poet Xiao-Wen Chou so that she can move on with her life. When Ingrid stumbles upon a strange note in the Chou archives, she thinks she’s found the missing piece and her ticket out of academic hell. But as she tries to unravel the truth behind the note’s message, her discoveries will turn everything upside down.

Even if you’ve read Ottessa Moshfegh’s previous work, Lapvona will surprise you, and of course, it will give your book club plenty to discuss. Set in a village in a medieval fiefdom, this book follows the story of Little Marek, a motherless shepherd who finds an unlikely mother figure in the blind village midwife Ina. Ina has a magical ability to communicate with the natural world, which brings her knowledge far beyond anything available to the other villagers. Of course, any time a woman wields such power, others will fear her.

This book is the perfect book club pick for groups who love exploring multi-genre works. This collection features essays and poems by migrants, refugees, and Dreamers, illuminating their stories of living undocumented in the United States. Contributors include many award-winning authors, touching on a wide variety of themes, such as race, class, gender, nationality, sexuality, politics, and reproductive rights.

After you read this book, get ready for an intense discussion with your book club about what makes a family, how families evolve, and the meaning of motherhood. Any Other Family tells the story of three women who adopted four biological siblings and work together to keep their children connected after the death of their biological grandmother. Then the women get a call from their children’s birth mother that changes everything. She is pregnant again and is looking for an adoptive family for this child too.

I’m a little biased with this pick because my very own book club read and discussed Linda Holmes’s Evvie Drake Starts Over. But I do think this author’s contemporary romance novels are the perfect summer book club reads. Plus, we love seeing romantic leads in their late 30s/40s. After her wedding was canceled, Laurie Sassalyn returns to her Maine hometown of Calcasset to handle the estate of her great-aunt Dot. But when she uncovers a strange letter that alludes to a missing duck, Laurie finds herself on a journey of self-discovery that will change her life forever.

This book is the latest from The New York Times best-selling author of Exit West, so this is going to be a buzzworthy book your book club will want to talk about. It all starts one morning when Anders wakes to find that his skin has turned dark. Before long, similar occurrences are reported everywhere. Are these changes marking an overturn of power dynamics? And how will others act when the world begins to change and see them differently? Lots of things to ponder in this book and to discuss at your book club meeting.

With how fascinated so many people still are with royals in our contemporary times, The Force of Such Beauty is going to be a must-read for plenty of book clubs. When former marathon runner Caroline meets Finn, the handsome prince of a small European kingdom, she feels like she’s finally fulfilling her destiny. After all, she’s disciplined, accustomed to public attention, and prepared to smile and wave on command. But entering a life of royalty is much more than Caroline bargained for. And it’s a bargain that might be impossible to be undone.

What’s more perfect for a book club than a book about friendship? Especially complex female friendships? Funmi, Enitan, and Zainab first met when they were college students in Nigeria, and they quickly became inseparable friends, in spite of their differences. Eventually, their lives took them in different directions. But now, 30 years later, the three women are reuniting for the first time in Lagos of Funmi’s daughter Destiny’s wedding. Funmi is determined for everything to go right for her daughter’s big day, but as the wedding approaches, it becomes clear that not everything is as perfect as it seems.

Omar El Akkad’s novels are another book club favorite because his characters are compelling and his stories are unique and thought-provoking. What Strange Paradise is a much different story from Akkad’s first book American War, but you’re still getting all the good book club-worthy stuff in both. A boat fleeing from Syria gets shipwrecked on a small Greek island. The only survivor is 9-year-old Amir, who is rescued by Vanna, a teenage girl and native of the island. Vanna and Amir come from two different worlds and don’t even speak the same language. But Vanna is still determined to protect Amir at all costs.

Following Maggie O’Farrell’s critically acclaimed novel Hamnet, the author is now turning to the story of the duchess Lucrezia de Medici for this September release. Lucrezia lives a life of leisure in her family’s lush palazzo. But then her older sister dies the night before her wedding, and suddenly Lucrezia is forced to marry the ruler of Ferrara, Modena, and Regio. Although Lucrezia is marrying a powerful man, she soon discovers her only real power lies in producing an heir. And once that heir is born, what is to become of her?

This is a memoir unlike anything else your book club has ever read. In Constructing A Nervous System, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and memoirist Margo Jefferson mixes her unique brand of cultural criticism with memoir to explore identity, family inheritance, rage, gender, class, and much more. This book challenges readers’ expectations by defying the conventions of the memoir genre, and it would make for quite an interesting book club chat.

Here’s another unforgettable memoir that your book club won’t be able to stop talking about. In this book, Ingrid Rojas Contreras tells the story of her maternal grandfather, who was a curandero, a community healer gifted with the ability to speak with the dead, tell the future, treat the sick, and move the clouds. Following in his footsteps, Rojas Contreras’s mother became a fortune teller and was the first woman to inherit the family’s powers. When her grandfather dies, Rojas Contreras joins her mother to disinter her grandfather’s remains. From there, the two women go on a journey back through their family history to their Indigenous and Spanish roots and the origins of their magic.

Here’s one more must-read memoir coming out for your book club in late summer. Kendra Allen grew up in Dallas, Texas in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Her family dynamics were loving, but intense and incredibly complicated. As she looks back at her personal coming-of-age story, Allen explores what it means to be a young Black woman in the South and how she navigated and balanced the expectations set upon her. Allen’s memoir explores what it means to find oneself, perceptions of beauty, race, gender, and much more.