Here is everything you need to know about Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club and the RBC app!
How does Reese’s Book Club work?
The Home Again actress picks one book that celebrates female protagonists, both real and fictional, and then shares said novel with her club every month. Picks are announced on the first Tuesday of each month.
Which books are on Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club list?
The Sweet Home Alabama star has shared numerous titles since the club officially began with Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, One Day In December by Josie Silver, and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng have been among her picks.
Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club list 2021
April: According to Witherspoon, “If you love a mystery, then you’ll devour this” novel by Flynn Berry, which the actress called a “thrill ride of a book.” March: Patricia Engel’s book is about a “Colombian family torn apart by war and migration.” February: Sarah Pearse is behind the thriller that had Witherspoon “completely on the edge of” her seat. January: A young woman named Ada joins a band of outlaws in Anna North’s novel, which Witherspoon dubbed a “feminist Western.”
Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club list 2020
December: Family secrets get revealed in KJ Dell’Antonia’s “charming, hilarious, feel-good story about the kind of bonds & rivalries only sisters can share.” November: Christie Tate opened up about her journey into group therapy in her memoir. Witherspoon noted that the book is “a testament to the power of human connection.” October: Peace Adzo Medie’s book tells the story of a young seamstress named Afi Tekple in Ghana, whose mother convinced her to marry a man she does not know. September: Margot Lee begins digging into her mother Mina’s past after finding out that she has suspiciously died. Per Witherspoon, Nancy Jooyoun Kim’s “mystery-thriller interweaves between the past and present through the lens of a mother and daughter duo surrounding a suspicious death and undiscovered truths.” August: Edwidge Danticat’s Everything Inside is a collection of short stories. “This collection of eight beautiful stories is shaped by different Haitian women’s experience with love and loss,” Witherspoon said of the book. “I was so moved by the resilience and strength that these women exemplified.” July/June: Austin Channing Brown, who is a leading voice on racial justice, shares her story of being a Black person in America in this memoir. “This book is teaching me so much about how we perpetuate racism in our society,” Witherspoon admitted. Lucy Foley penned this mystery that sees a murder take place during a wedding celebration on an island off the coast of Ireland. May: Alka Joshi’s debut novel is about seventeen-year-old Lakshmi who escaped an abusive marriage and became a henna artist in Jaipur. April: Untamed is a memoir by bestselling author Glennon Doyle that shows women how to be brave. March: An estranged family comes together to travel after seventy-year-old Charlotte Perkins wins a Become a Jetsetter contest. February: Erica Bauermeister’s book introduces readers to Emmeline, who lives on a remote island with her father, but ends up in the real world. According to the synopsis, TheScent Keeper is about “how a fragrance conjures memories capable of shaping the course of our lives.” January: Emira is a Black woman accused of kidnapping the white toddler she babysits while out at a supermarket late one night. Witherspoon described the story by Kiley Reid as a “beautiful conversation starter about race, privilege, work dynamics.”
Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club list 2019
December: Anna McDonald listens to a true crime podcast only to realize that she knows one of the victims from a life she left behind. Witherspoon said, “This story combines suspense, international intrigue and the murder of an entire family aboard a ship… following the one woman who may just have all the answers.” November: Jojo Moyes’ The Giver of Stars is based on a true story about a group of women who delivered books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s traveling library. October: Eve Rodsky’s Fair Play offers couples a new way to divvy up their responsibilities. “Fair Play explores your relationship, your time and your purpose to help you find balance,” Witherspoon said. “Because it’s all about balance, right?” We couldn’t agree more! September: Lara Prescott’s novel, set during the Cold War, tells the story of Irina, a Russian-American secretary, who was tasked with smuggling Doctor Zhivago into the USSR. August: After her friend Sadie is found dead, Avery is intent on clearing her name. “Secrets that have been hidden for years will be uncovered in this thrilling story,” the Big Little Lies star said of the book. July: Chandler Baker’s book is a murder mystery in the #MeToo era! Witherspoon raved, “It’s honest, timely and completely thrilling.” June: Single Susan Green is losing control after the death of her mother and facing an unexpected pregnancy, but she finds an ally in her brother’s friend Rob. May: Tembi Locke’s memoir is heading to Netflix. The book is being adapted into a series starring Zoe Saldana. “This is a profound true story of love and family, deprivation and nourishment, that needs to be brought to life on the screen as Tembi Locke brought it vividly to life for me on the page,” Saldana said (via Deadline). “We are grateful to Netflix and thrilled to be working with Reese, Lauren, Attica and 3 Arts on this wonderful project.” April: An apprentice dressmaker and houseboy’s paths cross in Yangsze Choo’s novel, which is set in 1930s colonial Malaysia. “I just entered into that place,” Witherspoon told TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager. “I was living inside the book. I wasn’t even living in this world.” March: February: In case the title didn’t give it away, there is a proposal…that takes place in front of 45,000 people at Dodger Stadium, but freelance writer Nikole Paterson says no. Yikes! January: Susan Orlean’s book made Witherspoon “nostalgic for the long hours” she used to spend at the library back when she was a kid. She said, “This book is like a love letter to libraries.”
Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club list 2018
December: The actress declared that readers who like rom coms will love Josie Silver’s holiday romance novel. November: Emily’s future mother-in-law Pammie does not want her in the picture in this thriller by Sandie Jones. October: “Every once in a while, I read a book that opens my eyes in a way I never expected,” Witherspoon said of Laurie Frankel’s novel about a family with a transgender child. September: Delia Owens’ novel is being turned into a movie starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kya, the “marsh girl.” According to Deadline, the film’s cast also includes Garret Dillahunt, Michael Hyatt, Ahna O’Reilly, Sterling Macer Jr. and Jojo Regina. August: An artist goes missing in Maria Hummel’s mystery that Witherspoon said is “full of crazy twists and turns!” July: A woman travels to Cuba, where she learns about her family’s history in Chanel Cleeton’s novel. June: Newlyweds make a discovery in the water while scuba diving during their honeymoon. May: You Think It, I’ll Say It is a collection of stories by Curtis Sittenfeld featuring characters that Witherspoon described as “complex and interesting.” April: Witherspoon warned to have “tissues ready” for this memoir by Heather Harpham. March: Nikki, a daughter of Indian immigrants, gets a job teaching a “creative writing” course in London’s Punjabi community and teaches her students to share their stories. February: This love story by Jill Santopolo follows a man and a woman who met on Sept. 11 in New York City. January: Witherspoon learned “so much about communication from” Brené Brown’s book.
Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club list 2017
December: The Last Mrs. Parrish is a thriller about two women, Amber Patterson and Daphne Parrish, “who play a high stakes game of deception that only one can win,” per Witherspoon. November: Author Ann Patchett takes readers into her life with a collection of essays, examining her commitments to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband. October: Love is a curse for one family, who uncovers secrets and begins to understand the truth of who they are in Alice Hoffman’s prequel to Practical Magic. September: Celeste Ng’s novel was turned into a Hulu series starring Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. “We sort of circle each other, like we don’t know about each other,” Witherspoon said of their characters during an episode of Open Book with Jenna Bush Hager. “We both have secrets.” August: Bestselling author Ruth Ware wrote about four friends who used to play “the Lying Game” at boarding school, but their lies had consequences. July: Witherspoon sung the novel’s praises saying that the “exciting and fast-paced story” is an “amazing tale of courage and redemption.” June: It’s the one that started it all, and in 2017, Hello Sunshine optioned Gail Honeyman’s book. Witherspoon said, “Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant is about the importance of friendship and human connection.”
Is there an app for Reese’s Book Club?
Over three years after the Oscar winner founded her book club, Witherspoon launched the Reese’s Book Club App in February of 2021. The RBC app, which is free to download and access, provides “members with a space to celebrate, explore, and connect with each other through a shared love of reading.” The app will host events, as well as discussions and meet-ups that allow members to connect with authors and book lovers, including Witherspoon herself. Members will also be the first to hear about the actress’s book picks and will have access to surprise giveaways. “Since we launched Reese’s Book Club, we’ve shown that our books have the power to spark discussions, make us laugh when we need it most, and bond us over something bigger than ourselves, all while celebrating diverse voices that put women at the center of their stories,” Witherspoon said in a press release. “Through Reese’s Book Club App, we are able to forge even deeper connections with our community by providing a new platform for our book club members to engage with these stories and each other. We are also thrilled to harness the collective power of this incredible community to keep spreading the joy of reading by paying it forward and committing 100% of all profits generated through activities facilitated in-app to The Readership, our platform to amplify diverse voices and promote literacy.”
Where to buy Reese’s Book Club picks?
For each monthly book, Hello Sunshine links out to different retailers where the Hollywood star’s pick can be purchased. Hello Sunshine has also teamed up with Audible to make it “easier to experience” Witherspoon’s club. New members can register here and sign up for a free 30-day trial with their first book free (that’s right, f-r-e-e!). Club members can download the free Audible app and start listening. The RBC app will also make it easier for members to buy the book picks from their favorite book retailers.
How did Reese’s Book Club and Hello Sunshine start?
Witherspoon’s club was born on Instagram, where the filmmaker would post about books that she liked. She explained to Harper’s Bazaar in 2019, “I started a production company seven or eight years ago that was trying to create more projects that had roles for women in them. I’ve always really gravitated towards female authors and women at the center of novels, so I started optioning some of them and turning them into movies. Then, I just started sharing all the books that I read, ‘cause I read a lot.”
Has Reese Witherspoon adapted any of her book picks for the big screen with Hello Sunshine?
She sure has! “It’s kind of amazing, having this process,” Witherspoon told TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager in 2019. “It started out where I bought Gone Girl and Wild and we turned them into movies, and I thought ‘Well, this is sort of interesting; these authors are so beloved by the readers, let’s just extend that relationship and turn it into films and you also don’t have to imagine crazy worlds because writers have already done it for you.’”
How to join Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine?
The actress’ club is open to all book lovers. Just follow Witherspoon’s @reesesbookclub account on social media (Instagram or Facebook), or download the app and get ready for book announcements at the beginning of every month. Happy reading! Done reading all of Reese Witherspoon’s picks? Then check out the most anticipated books of 2020.
