Bookworm Summer — synonymous with hours of reading, the luxury of having free time in your schedule, and books as the must-have accessory — is one of this summer’s dominant trends. Many celebrities are helping cement it through their book clubs. Since Oprah Winfrey launched her Oprah’s Book Club in the 1990s, stars like actress Reese Witherspoon and singer Dua Lipa have followed suit, creating their own — Reese’s Book Club and Service 95, respectively. Beyond recommending books each month, they foster a community of readers and a space where they share their passion for literature.
Below are six August picks from celebrity book clubs that, thanks to their influence, land their monthly selections on bestseller lists.
1. Dua Lipa: ‘This House of Grief’ by Helen Garner
Whether intentionally or not, Dua Lipa is creating a new postmodern, digital literary canon — something Spotify has recognized, having hosted the singer’s literary podcast on its platform since last June. The recommendations from her book club, Service 95, are not aimed at an elite audience, nor do they include only classic authors; they are predominantly female and embrace a variety of genres.
“I absolutely love reading, I love the idea of sharing how books make people feel… books are really important to me and if I can share that in some way, then I feel like I’m on the right track,” the artist told the British edition of Elle magazine on June 5, 2023.
The artist’s recommendation for August is not a new release: it is the 2014 book This House of Grief by Helen Garner. The book tells the story of the murder conviction of a man accused of driving his car into a dam, causing the drowning deaths of his three children, who were in the back seat of the vehicle.
“Helen takes us inside the real-life trial of Robert Farquharson and invites us to join her as she sits through days of detailed evidence, weeks of witness testimony and years of appeals. What she reveals along the way is not simply a courtroom drama but a sharp and forensic analysis of the human condition,” the singer said about the 300-page book in a message on Instagram, where she has 88.1 million followers.
She continued: “This is what really drew me to Helen’s writing. She’s not looking for monsters — her interest lies with ordinary people who seem to have been pushed beyond their emotional limits. As the trial progresses, I found myself questioning my own reactions, asking myself less, Did he do it? and instead, Is it possible to have empathy for this man, even if he did the worst thing imaginable?”
“Although Helen has been writing for almost 50 years, her work is new to me and it’s a thrilling discovery. She’s one of the most fascinating writers I have come across in recent years, and I’m sure that, like me, you’ll find yourself diving into her back catalogue,” the singer concluded.
2. Dakota Johnson: ‘Make Your Way Home’ by Carrie R. Moore
Actress Dakota Johnson launched TeaTime, her book club under the umbrella of the production company TeaTime Pictures, in February 2024. Its recommendations focus on debut female authors and female perspectives, aiming to create critical reading spaces.
In August, Johnson and her followers are reading Make Your Way Home (2025), a book of 11 short stories by Carrie R. Moore. “It’s a beautiful debut collection of stories set across the American South, featuring characters who struggle to find love and belonging in the wake of painful histories,” the actress posted on the book club’s Instagram profile, which has 85,400 followers.
The message continued: “Make Your Way Home follows Black men and women who grapple with the homes that have eluded them. A preteen pregnant alongside her mother refuses to let convention dictate who she names as the father of her child. Centuries after slavery separated his ancestors, a native Texan tries to win over the love of his life despite the grip of a family curse. A young deaconess who falls for a new church member wonders what it means when God stops speaking to her. And at the very end of the South as we know it, two sisters seek to escape North to freedom.“
According to TeaTeim, the book “explores themes of belonging, inheritance, and deep intimacy.”
3. Oprah Winfrey: ‘Bridge of Sighs’ by Richard Russo
The general concept of celebrity book clubs is the same, but each host develops it in their own way. In terms of reach and infrastructure, the benchmark is Oprah Winfrey’s Oprah’s Book Club. It has been running for 28 years, recommending over 100 books, and thanks to its creator’s popularity, it boosts the sales of every selection.
“My next pick is Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo,“ Oprah Winfrey told her Instagram followers, where she has more than 22 million followers. ”It’s a powerful story about unrequited love, life-long friendships, epic family drama, and the grip of the past. One man’s small-town life takes a turn when a trip to Venice reopens old wounds and forgotten dreams. It makes you wonder: Can you truly overcome your destiny?”
4. Reese Witherspoon: ‘Once Upon a Time in Dollywood’ by Ashley Jordan
For her book club, actress and producer Reese Witherspoon selects books written by women, with women at the center of the plot and protagonists who save themselves, “because that’s what women do. No one’s coming to save us,” she told The New York Times on May 26, 2024.
The Oscar-winning actress built an empire from Reese’s Book Club by merging it in 2017 with her media company Hello Sunshine and starting a process of acquiring and selling film and TV rights for the books she recommends. Examples of adaptations under her belt include Wild (2014), Gone Girl (2014), and the first season of Big Little Lies (2017).
For August, she’s picked up Once Upon a Time in Dollywood (2025) by Ashley Jordan. “It’s about this Haitian-American playwright. And she’s burned out on her life in the city in New York. So she goes down to her grandmother’s tiny little cabin in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where there happens to be a very handsome guy that lives next door,” she said in a video on Instagram, where she has more than 30 million followers. “It’s funny and it’s real, and you feel like you’re talking to one of your best friends.”
In the accompanying message, Witherspoon wrote, “Ashley’s voice is vibrant, funny, and full of heart. I read this in one sitting, it’s that good!”
5. Emma Roberts: ‘How to Lose Your Mother’ by Molly Jong-Fast
To share her immense love of reading, Emma Roberts founded Belletrist in 2017 with her best friend Karah Preiss. “I started posting books on my Instagram and one day I was like, We should really do this for real,” the actress told Elle magazine on April 11 of that year.
“The most important thing for us is to keep it organic, and to always pick books that we love and believe people would want to read,” she continued. “To us it’s really about spotlighting people that excite us, and that could be someone as famous and prolific as Joan Didion or it could be someone who has never written a book before.”
For August, Emma Roberts book club has picked How to Lose Your Mother (2025) by Molly Jong-Fast. “Molly Jong-Fast is the only child of a famous woman, writer Erica Jong, whose sensational book Fear of Flying [in 1973] launched her into second-wave feminist stardom,“ explained the Belletrist Instagram post.
”She grew up yearning for a connection with her dreamy, glamorous, just out of reach mother, who always seemed to be heading somewhere that wasn’t with Molly. When, in 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia just as Molly’s husband discovered he had a rare cancer, Jong-Fast was catapulted into a transformative year.”
6. Natalie Portman: ‘A Different Kind of Power’ by Jacinda Ardern
“Reading stories is one of the first ways we start practicing empathy. We feel for characters in stories as we might for ourselves or our own friends.” With these words, actress Natalie Portman welcomes everyone to her book club, Natalie’s Book Club.
Her book club includes interviews with writers recommended by the actress and monthly book recommendations.
“I try to find books that deepen our connection to ourselves and to each other,” she says on the website. “Seeing yourself reflected in a character can be just as eye-opening as empathizing with a character who you might not readily identify with.”
So far, the actress has not recommended any reading for August. However, she did for last month. Her pick was A Different Kind of Power (2025), by former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
“I can’t think of a better time to read Jacinda Ardern’s memoir — the story of how she became New Zealand’s 40th prime minister, but it is also a story of motherhood, vulnerability, how to lead with compassion. Thank you for writing this book and for inspiring us to reimagine what power and leadership can look like,” Portman wrote on her book club’s Instagram page, which has 175,000 followers.
7. Jenna Bush Hager: ‘My Other Heart’ by Emma Nanami Strenner
As a passionate reader, Jenna Bush Hager founded Read With Jenna in 2019. “Our mission is to highlight debut and diverse writers,” the Today show co-host shared with People magazine on August 4. “Diverse stories, stories that haven’t always historically been published or listened to, I think is really important… We want to make sure that all of America is really represented in the stories that we’re sharing.”
Authors featured on Read With Jenna range from Toni Morrison to Sandra Cisneros.
For this August, Bush Hager has chosen My Other Heart (2025) by Emma Nanami Strenner: “This novel is full of motherhood and friendship and identity and loss — I fell in love with each character and was grasping for more with every chapter,” she said in a message on Instagram.
She continued: “Set between Pennsylvania and Japan, the story follows a mother who was devastatingly separated from her daughter, and two best friends on the brink of adulthood, each searching for where they come from—and where they belong. When the three paths finally intersect in an unforgettable climax, we are left with a story full of heart, honesty, and power. It’s intelligent, moving, and just so gorgeously written.”
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