Books to Check Out

Whether you peruse the pages at your local book store or you check them out from your hometown library, here are some choice recommendations from popular bookish celebs.

This is what Jenna Bush Hager is reading…

Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding

Sonya used to perform on stage. She attended glamorous parties, dated handsome men, rode in fast cars. But somewhere along the way, the stage lights Sonya lived for dimmed to black. In their absence, came darkness—blackouts, empty cupboards, hazy nights she could not remember.

Haunted by her failed career and lingering trauma from her childhood, Sonya fell deep into an alcoholic abyss. What kept her from losing herself completely was Tommy, her son. But her love for Tommy rivaled her love for the bottle. Addiction amplified her fear of losing her child; every maternal misstep compelled her to drink. Tommy’s precious life was in her shaky hands. 

Eventually Sonya was forced to make a choice. Give up drinking or lose Tommy—forever.

Beautiful Country A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A TODAY SHOW #READWITHJENNA BOOK CLUB PICK! • The moving story of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world—an incandescent debut from an astonishing new talent.

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

The bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility and master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction returns with a stylish and propulsive novel set in 1950s America.

The Family by Naomi Krupitsky

In the vein of an American Elena Ferrante, a captivating debut novel about the tangled fates of two best friends and daughters of the Italian mafia, and a coming-of-age story of twentieth-century Brooklyn.

This is what Reese Witherspoon is reading…

Lucky by Marissa Stapley

A compelling and thrilling road-trip novel about a talented grifter named Lucky whose past comes back to haunt her.

L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandón

FORECAST: Storm clouds are on the horizon in this fun, fast-paced novel of an affluent Mexican-American family from the author of the #1 Los Angeles Times bestseller Esperanza’s Box of Saints.

Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo

Masterful in its examination of freedom, prejudice, and personal and public inheritance, Sankofa is a story for anyone who has ever gone looking for a clear identity or home, and found something more complex in its place.

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. 

This is what Sarah Jessica Parker is reading…

The Matrix by Lauren Groff

Lauren Groff’s new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.

Missing Man: The American Spy Who Vanished in Iran by Barry Meier

In late 2013, Americans were shocked to learn that a former FBI agent turned private investigator who disappeared in Iran in 2007 was there on a mission for the CIA. The missing man, Robert Levinson, appeared in pictures dressed like a Guantánamo prisoner and pleaded in a video for help from the United States.

Missing Man is a fast-paced story that moves through exotic locales and is set against the backdrop of the twilight war between the United States and Iran, one in which hostages are used as political pawns. Filled with stunning revelations, it chronicles a family’s ongoing search for answers and one man’s desperate struggle to keep his hand in the game.

This is what Oprah is reading…

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

In the spirit of The Known World and The Underground Railroad, a profound debut about the unlikely bond between two freedmen who are brothers and the Georgia farmer whose alliance will alter their lives, and his, forever. 

The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers

The 2020 National Book Award–nominated poet makes her fiction debut with this magisterial epic—an intimate yet sweeping novel with all the luminescence and force of Homegoing; Sing, Unburied, Sing; and The Water Dancer—that chronicles the journey of one American family, from the centuries of the colonial slave trade through the Civil War to our own tumultuous era. 

This is what Gwyneth Paltrow and the Goop Book Club is reading…

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

The Pulitzer Prize-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author traces the enduring bond between a divorced couple in a poignant novel about love, loss, and the family secrets that can erupt and bewilder us at any point in life. 

This is what Natalie Portman is reading…

Intimacies by Katie Kitamura

A novel from the author of A Separation, a taut and electrifying story about a woman caught between many truths.

This is what Noah Syndergaard is reading…

Till the End by C.C. Sabathia

A raw, compelling memoir of baseball, family, fame, addiction, and recovery, by one of the most beloved baseball players of his generation.

This is what Andy Cohen has been reading…

Vanderbilt; The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper

Written with a unique insider’s viewpoint, this is a rollicking, quintessentially American history as remarkable as the family it so vividly captures. 

Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin

Through courtship, jealousy, estrangement, and other perils, Happy All the Time follows four sane, intelligent, and good-intentioned people who manage to find love in spite of themselves. 

Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan

From the widely renowned author Andrew O’Hagan, a heartbreaking novel of an extraordinary lifelong friendship.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family, from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s, Brit Bennett produces a story that is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing. Looking well beyond issues of race, The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the multiple reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel pulled to live as something other than their origins.

11 in 11 by Benjamin Hochman

11 in ’11 is a thoroughly reported chronicle of an unparalleled season, packed with interviews with key players, team executives, broadcasters, and more 

Richard Scary’s Busytown Seek and Find

Keep little ones busy with Richard Scarry’s Busytown Seek and Find! board book, featuring Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, Goldbug, and more!

Glitter Every Day by Andy Cohen

365 Quo’s from women I Love.