This year’s Best Book Club selections have promised to infuse your bookish gatherings with excitement and spark lively discussions. Explore the joy of communal reading as we delve into a plethora of captivating stories that made 2023 a remarkable year for book club choices.

The She Reads audience voted and this was their favorite Book Club Pick of 2023:

The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

Ruby and Eleanor are both facing the pressure of their inherited social status. In 1950 Philadelphia, Ruby is on track to be the first in her family to attend college, but a love affair threatens to throw her from her path. Eleanor comes from a wealthy family of Black elites, and at Howard University she falls deeply in love, but her significant other doesn’t exactly fit into the fold of her life. When the two women’s worlds collide, they must find a way to shape the trajectory of their lives despite the different forces pulling them away from what they desire.

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Congrats Sadeqa!

Now make sure you check out our editors picks for Best Book Club Reads of 2023.

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

Five years ago, Geeta lost her no-good husband. He walked out on her and she has no idea where he went. In her village in India, everyone thinks she killed him. Which actually has its perks; people leave Geeta alone. Until the women of her village start to seek Geeta’s advice in husband disposal, and suddenly her dangerous reputation is a double-edged sword. When plans go south for a widow-to-be, everything changes for Geeta and the other women in the village.

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Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

June Hayward and Athena Liu are authors breaking into the publishing industry, and both graduated from Yale. But June couldn’t even get a paperback deal, and Athena is a literary darling, telling more than boring stories about white girls. When June witnesses a freak accident involving Athena, she steals her almost-finished manuscript, telling the story of Chinese laborers during WWI. June convinces herself that the story needs to be told, and edits the work as her own. Rebranding herself using an ambiguously ethnic author photo and the name Juniper Song, June finds herself very protective of her secret, convinced she deserves her stolen success.

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The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane

Malcolm Gephardt has been a bartender at the Half Moon for a long time. When the owner decides to sell, Malcolm is excited about the idea of turning the bar into a bigger success. However, he finds out that his customers don’t like change and his dreams may be harder to achieve than he thought. His wife, Jess, is a smart and successful woman who is dedicated to her law career, yet still struggles to accept that her dream of being a mother is slipping away. Over the course of one eventful week, the town endures a blizzard while a customer at the bar goes missing, and Malcolm finds out shocking news about Jess, in a skillful exploration of family and marriage.

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The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

Clover Brooks witnessed her kindergarten teacher die and since then, she’s felt a strong connection with death. After her grandfather dies while she is traveling, Clover dedicates her life to helping people have a peaceful departure, becoming a death doula in New York City. When a feisty old woman’s final wishes send Clover on a trip across the country, she is forced to examine what she wants out of her own life while she uncovers a forgotten love story.

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One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris

Sara Lancaster left Savannah, Georgia eight years ago. After her daughter Alana came into the world, following a terrifying sexual assault, Sara only wanted to get away. When her father falls ill, she is forced to return and remove the bandage of her old wounds. Sara is desperate to keep her daughter away from the Wylers, the family of the man who assaulted her. She is sure she can pull it off, with her assaulter in prison and his twin brother, Jacob and their mother unaware that Alana even exists. But Jacob is back in town, trying to piece his own life back together, and their worlds will collide in more than one way.

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Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Sally Milz lives a satisfying life. She is a sketch writer for the late night Saturday show The Night Owls, has a good relationship with her stepfather, and long abandoned the idea of love, content with the occasional hook-up. When Danny Horst, Sally’s friend and a fellow writer, starts dating a glamorous guest host, Sally pokes fun at the phenomenon of average men dating gorgeous, accomplished women, with a sketch called “The Danny Horst Rule”, highlighting how the roles would likely never be reversed. When Noah Brewster arrives as a guest host and musical performer, sparks fly between him and Sally. But her life isn’t a romantic comedy, and someone like Noah, who is famous for dating models, would never go for someone like her—right?

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Maame by Jessica George

Maddie’s life in London has pushed her to be a self-acknowledged late bloomer. Her mother spends most the time in Ghana, leaving Maddie as the primary caretaker of her father who suffers from advanced Parkinson’s disease. Where she works, Maddie’s boss in a nightmare and she is fed up with being the only Black person in every meeting. When Maddie’s mother returns from Ghana, Maddie uses the opportunity to start living her own life. She starts pushing from recognition at work, says yes to drinks with friends, and even enters the world of internet dating. But when tragedy strikes, Maddie is left torn between two cultures as she faces the perils and rewards of an unconventional family.

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Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Desperate to help their parents pay off their debts, sisters Trang and Quỳnh leave their rural village to become “bar girls” in the city of Sài Gòn, flirting with American GIs in exchange for pay. It is 1969, the war is moving closer to the city, and Trang finds herself falling in love with an American pilot. Decades later, a veteran comes back to Việt Nam with his wife, struggling with PTSD and secrets from his past. Phong, his father a Black American solider and his mother a Vietnamese woman, grew up in an orphanage being called “son of the enemy.” Hoping for a better life for his family in the United States, he embarks on a journey to find his birth parents and a way of out of Việt Nam. As the two come together, past and present collide as they come to terms with decisions made during a time of war.

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Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

William Waters grew up in a family where his parents could hardly look at him, so when he goes to college and meets Julia Padavano, his whole world feels brighter. Julia and her three sisters, Cecelia, Sylvie and Emeline, are inseparable. Within their bond, Walter witnesses a love he hasn’t experienced before. But as darkness from William’s past creeps in, Julia’s plans and the sisters’ once unshakeable bond threatens to break, changing their lives forever. Will they be able to solidify their bond when it matters most?

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Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

If all goes well, Loretta Thurwar will be freed from prison soon. Her lover and teammate, Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are the stars of the Chain-Gang All-Stars, where they compete death matches in exchange for their freedom. When Thurwar shows defiance to the games, CAPE, or Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, the highly popular yet controversial program, will stop at nothing to keep the status quo. Chain-Gang All-Stars uses a kaleidoscope of characters to explore themes of systemic racism and mass incarceration in America by asking: what does freedom really mean in this country?

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Happy Place by Emily Henry

Since college, Harriet and Wyn have always been the perfect couple, going together like macaroni and cheese. Except now they’ve broken up, it’s been five months, and they haven’t told any of their friends. So when their friend group goes on their yearly trip to a cottage in Maine, the typically blissful week away is spent lying through their teeth. Naturally, they are forced to share a bedroom and deny how badly they still want each other. But will they be able to fake it in front of the people who know them best?

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The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

In Iowa City, a circle of lovers and friends spends a year leaning on each other through a volatile year of self-discovery. At the center is Ivan, a dancer who dabbles in pornography but aspires to be a banker. Fatima, who has complicated relationships with her friends and mentor because of her fierce independence and work ethic. And Noah, who doesn’t seek out sex but still it approaches him “like an anxious dog in need of affection.” Preparing for a future that is uncertain, the group heads to a cabin to bid farewell to their former lives, a moment that leaves each of them forever changed.

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Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

In this story of women helping women, Tan Yunxian was born into an elite family, yet her life has been riddled by tragedy. Raised by her grandparents to be useful, Yunxian learns early on about Chinese medicine from her grandmother, one of the only female doctors in China. She learns about the Four Examinations and all about women’s illnesses, most relating to childbearing. Yunxian forms a fast friendship with midwife-in-training, Meiling, and they vow to be friends forever. When Yunxian enters an arranged marriage, she is forbidden to see Meiling, to help the women and girls in the household, or to leave the family compound, the Garden of Fragrant Delights. Yunxian must question what it takes for a woman to break free of the traditions that hold her back from healing and treating women from all walks of life.

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Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead

It’s 1971. Crime is at an all-time high. NYPD and the Black Liberation Army are having a shooting war, trash is piling the streets, and the city is on the brink of bankruptcy. Ray Carney, ex-fence and current furniture store owner, says his days of moving stolen goods around the city are over. When Carney needs a favor, he reaches out to Munson, an old police contact. But when Munson has favors of his own, staying out of the game becomes complicated. Years later, Carney and his partner-in-crime, Pepper, are finding it hard to find a reliable crew for their assorted felonies. As the story spans years, we see the crooked duo battle violent corruption while showcasing a portrait 1970’s New York.

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Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

Flor has a gift: she can predict the day of anyone’s death. When she plans a living wake, her sisters Matilde, Pastora and Camila question if she has seen her own death, or someone else’s—but Flor isn’t speaking up. Pastora, inspired by Flor’s wake, is inspired to solve her siblings problems. Matilde has secrets of her own, and she soon must confront the issues in her marriage. The next generation, cousins Yadi and Ona, have problems of their own. Yadi, reuniting with her formerly imprisoned first-love and Ona, married and trying to conceive. In the days leading up the wake, we journey through Santa Domingo and New York City, exploring the history of the Marte women.

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