Any regular reader could see that I have been prioritizing book reviews over the last month, having posted over 20 when I rarely do more than a few in a month. I’m trying to clear a large backlog by the end of the year, partly because it will also give me updated stats on how many I’ve read and reviewed over the last couple of years (the auto-tracker doesn’t update the “read” stat until I do the actual review, or at least not with my current workflow). And I would love to just be all caught up. Sigh.
Anyway, I love a site called Book Series in Order, run by a guy in Kingston, Ontario (which was news to me!) as a service to librarians and the large book reading public which compiles large lists and links to books in various series. And although the site is amazing all on its own, Graeme decided to launch a SECOND site called Book Notifications which uses much of the same data but also allows for reviews, tracking your own read books, etc. AND will tell you what’s next in your series to read (there’s literally a tab that when you go to it, it will tell you of all the series you are tracking, which one is next for every series based on what you have ticked as read). But wait, there’s more. 🙂 It will also tell you when new books are coming out by that author, which series they’re part of, if any, etc. And a bunch of other things.
Plus, the site links to 26 book clubs! I clicked on all of them for notifications, but well, that was just to get me started. Now I actually have to weed them down.
Diversity themes (5)
Part of my interest in book clubs is to find titles and authors that are new to me.
The Audacious Book Club is led by Roxane Gay and highlights new authors from underrepresented groups. I reached back to January of last year and looked at the last 14 books, including the one for this coming month. February 2025’s “Homeseeking” with 60y of a couple’s interactions sounds intriguing. March 2025’s “Back After This” about a woman putting her dating life on a podcast while following the advisor of a coach sounds surprisingly light and fun. Huh…April 2025’s “The Dream Hotel” also looks cool, similar in part to a Japanese novel I read (whose name escapes me) and Minority Report, where people are locked up based on what their dreams say they might do. September 2025’s “Moderation” about a content moderator about to join the big leagues of VR moderation sounds really cool too. So that’s 4 out of 12 for the year. Of course, it’s not like I have to read all 12, I’m more looking for inspiration. January and February of this year didn’t resonate with me. I checked out the online fora for it at Audacity (https://audacity.substack.com/s/the-audacious-book-club) and it seems pretty limited. I saw there was a GoodReads group and thought, “Ah-hah!”. Except there are no discussions in that unofficial group either, even with 33 members. Is it still a book club if people read the books but no one seems to actually discuss them? On the other hand, I did find 4 books that were new to me that looked interesting.
The Black Men Read book club is led by a non-profit organization that targets social change through literacy in Black communities. Obviously, I’m not exactly the target demographic as a bland, aging, white guy. January 2025 started off with a solid bang, “Blood at the Root” — think of all the “I’ve got powers” stories that are frequently white kids, and replace it with a 17yo male with connections to not only his powers but his family and community. Sounds awesome. May 2025 has one called “The Man The Moment Demands”, and it may be a rare philosophical approach to the subject of realistic masculinity in various roles. I had heard of the July 2025 pick, “King of Ashes”, but had forgotten to put it on my TBR read…an interesting story of returning home, facing criminals, saving the family, etc., in a way that isn’t simply violence. Three books for my list.
Natalie Portman’s Book Club targets empathy, which may or may not hit the same themes. I found myself underwhelmed by the choices, to be honest. Most of them resonated with me very little, partly as many of them are taking a piece of much more sophisticated topics and seem to be giving them pop culture treatment. That’s harsh, I know, but I frequently find myself frustrated with the books for their too narrow scope of analysis that they then want to say, “This is how you live your life” instead of “this is how you live half a percent of your life”. October 2025’s “The Bee Sting” has won tons of awards, and the premise of seeing a current life in disarray and reaching back to see how far you would have to go to “fix it”. Where are the origins of dysfunction? Not entirely sure about that one yet. Not enough resonance for me overall for the club though.
Dua Lipa’s book club is called Service95 and includes writers from around the world. I cannot remember if “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead” (Jan 2025 pick) is already on my list or not; it should be, it’s a “literary murder mystery”. The Bee Sting is there (same as NP’s book club). Dec 2025’s pick, “Brightly Shining”, is hard to decide on — it could be simply another tale of drunk men who spend their paycheques on booze instead of their families, except it is young girls who are the focus of the dependency, not a wife. But advertised as told with “humour”, which might set it apart too. Unless it’s just humour at the expense of others, rather than circumstances. I don’t think there is enough for the year to make it worth following.
Dakota Johnson’s club is called TeaTime and includes debut and/or underrepresented authors. Except it also throws in older stuff, like Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” and Douglas Adam’s “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. The pick for May 2025 was “Audition”, which is described as two competing narratives of what is going on, which reminds me a bit of Sliding Doors (the movie). Worth a go. Which oddly enough seems like a similar plot device for “The Ten Year Affair” (November 2025), where one storyline has people acting on their feelings and one where they don’t. I’d be tempted to NOT follow the club, but I wouldn’t have seen either title that interests me.
Commercial Clubs (16)
Okay, so technically, they aren’t all “commercial”. Just more that they have more infrastructure behind them or ties to media or publishing companies, etc.
I’ll start with the Barnes & Noble book club. January 2025’s “The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus” was one I had heard of but knew nothing about. Coming of age, a mystery, Scotland, ties to Canada? Sounds intriguing. April 2025, “Rabbit Moon”, about a woman injured in Shanghai, an adopted daughter, her divorced parents at her bedside. Okay, another for the list. I already bought “My Friends” as a Christmas present (May 2025 pick). I was not sure about the July pick (The Letter Carrier) from the initial description of a woman in Italy in 1934 who doesn’t act like other women (wearing pants!). But then she takes on a role that connects her across the community, which does sound like a great premise. I am not entirely sure about the October pick called “Heart the Lover” about a woman meeting two boys at college and becoming close friends until a triangle emerges, but I’ll give it a go. I’m also less than sure about “The Rest of Our Lives” (January 2026) but it does have a roadtrip. I expected not to like the sounds of any of the B&N list, and instead, I pulled six for my consideration list. Wow.
I was prepared at the outset to dismiss the BBC Radio 2 book club simply because it has more than one pick a month. With other “incoming titles” from other clubs, do I have room for two more? But then we have January 2025’s pick “A serial killer’s guide to marriage” with semi-retired serial killer vigilantes. Like I could say no to that one? March 2025 has “The Favourites” about Olympic ice dancers and their relationship that imploded, kind of good. May 2025 had “Bury Our Bones In The Midnight Soil” which I’m currently reading and it’s quite good; I also gave it to my niece for Christmas, not sure if she’s started it yet. It’s a tough slog for the first 20% until you find out what it is actually about. I’m not sure about the June pick, “Atmosphere”, which combines NASA and romance, but I’ll give it a go. July 2025 produced both “The Art Of A Lie” with a historical romance/mystery, and “The Compound” which I read and enjoyed. August 2025 picked “Dead Lucky” about debt and embalming, and how could I say no to that? “Katabasis” for the other August pick puts me on the horns of a dilemma — I read the Poppy War trilogy by the same author, and found it very slow, very long, and I hated the trilogy ending. But the plot itself was good. Do I risk another? October 2025 had “The Murder At World’s End” with a murder mystery in 1910 during Halley’s Comet…again, how can I say no? The November 2025 pick, “King Sorrow”, has six friends summoning a dragon to kill a drug dealer. Umm…part horror, part mystery, part fantasy? I have no idea if I’ll like it, but it’s one of the most imaginative plots I’ve seen in a long time. “The Shapeshifter’s Daughter” (November 2025) is a re-imagining of the Norse goddess of death. Of COURSE I’m going to read it. And then we come to the January 2026 pick…”This Book Made Me Think of You” with 12 books and notes from a woman’s dead husband to help her heal. Bloody hell. I could just use this book club all year. I was prepared to skip it, but the choices are awesome.
Now, come on, I have to HATE some club, don’t I?
How about the Good Housekeeping book club? “Homeseeking”, I already considered (“lovers through life”). “Jane and Dan at the End of The World” has an author’s book come to life in a restaurant? Yes, please. “Fun for the Whole Family” has four siblings coming together after years apart, all of them at a crossroads. Sure, sign me up. “Atmosphere” again, NASA and romance. “The Compound”, already covered and read. A murder mystery with a missing social media maven and a magazine writer who knew her back in the day is compelling for “Everyone Is Lying To You”. “Best Offer Wins” takes on the competitive housing market for people with a no-limits mentality who want the perfect house. I have no idea where “Ten Thousand Light Years From Okay” is going, as a woman’s writing starts to come true, but hey, I’m already on this theme with this book club, might as well see it through. The last pick of the club is “So Old, So Young”, with a story about six friends attending five parties over twenty years…the Big Chill meets the Breakfast Club meets…something about Harry and Sally. Or Same Time, Next Year? I’m going to take a chance on it. How the heck can I keep choosing EVERY club????
Sigh, next up are the Good Morning America book clubs, one for adults and one for YA, and I am going to hate myself. I hate everything about GMA, the fake cheeriness, etc. But far too often, I have seen GMA-selected books that are REALLY good. This ain’t going to be pretty. I’ll start with the adult club. “Homeseeking”, “Atmosphere”, and “The Compound” show up for the third time, plus “Best Offer Wins” for the second. “Count My Lies” has a girl accidentally lying her way into being a nanny in a less-than-perfect family. “Not Quite Dead Yet” takes D.O.A. and gives the victim a week to solve her own murder. Hell yeah. Time space — where history is stored in a library of books you can enter? “The Book of Lost Hours” absolutely will pull me in. I reluctantly admit that I like Mitch Albom’s work, so “Twice” about the ability to “undo” your mistakes grabs me. Crap, that’s a lot of reading. 🙂
Okay, how about the YA club? Surely it can’t all be compelling. “After Life” starts with a bang — a kid who died seven years ago comes home as if no time has passed. “The Otherwhere Post” combines magic and letters to other realms. “Audre and Bash Are Just Friends” started off being a “skip” for me, until I see where she hires him to be her “fun consultant”. Okay, then. I wanted to also skip “Immortal Consequences” which is basically an academy for the near dead, I think. Okay, that wasn’t so bad. Just a “few”. 🙂
Now I come to the Jewish Book Council. I am definitely not the demographic for this one, right, so it should be easy to exclude it? I started with the non-fiction list, and there were a couple on there that sparked interest, but ultimately, not enough resonance to survive 300-400 pages. The auto-biography of Angela Buchdahl and Daniel Taub’s Beyond Dispute were probably the strongest draws. “All Night Pharmacy” from the fiction side deals with a girl embracing the pill-side of L.A. with an assortment of family and friends. I’m not sure about it, but it’s free from the library. I am equally unsure of “Maine Characters” that describes itself as “Parent Trap for adults” but then talks about two half-sisters who never met until their father dies…I wacnt to know why! “Hazel Says No” on the first day of school, although to what I don’t know, and I want to KNOW that too. I have no discerning ability, apparently. Heck, I wanted to read “The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter” before I even knew it was about a cold case and a dead starlet. I initially balked at “Typewriter Beach” despite the great title, as just one more cold case (I know, I know, I just CHOSE one on that basis! I’m inconsistent! Sue me!), but then it’s set in Carmel-by-the-Sea in the 1950s and 2010s. If Clint Eastwood found it compelling enough to be mayor there, who am I to diss the location? Yeah, okay, I’m hopeless at cutting things down. I want to read everything.
I have to be able to hate Katie Couric though, right? And she only just started, so she has two so far. The first is a repeat that I already passed on. The second? Frack. “Theo of Golden” has the premise of a stranger in a small town buying a local artists pencil portraits and giving them to them, in exchange for their story. Dammit.
Stephen Colbert has the Late Show book club that started last year, so there are only 8 picks so far. “The Rest of Our Lives” is already on my list above, with a roadtrip. “Vigil” seems to update A Christmas Carol, just hoping it doesn’t go too far on anti-corporatism, I can get that from the news.
Hey, look, Mindy Kaling has her own Book Studio, with only 5 in the last year. So. I have zero taste or willpower. “Yours for the Season” is a very typical romance of two fake daters likely falling in love, but hey, why not give it a go for something light. And then there’s “Read Between the Lies”…two authors duking it out for debuts amid the start of the pandemic and both with the same secret. This showed up in an up-and-coming title at one point, and it sounded good enough to try. Okey dokey.
I’m not sure if Oprah’s book club died, as I only found picks up until November 2025. I’m sure it’s still going though, would have been more splash if it ended, no? Oh, I see, she’s writing a book and too busy right now, got it. And I skipped through most of the picks pretty quickly. Too saccharine-sweet for some of the descriptions. Until I hit “Some Bright Nowhere” with a husband taking care of his wife in her final days, until she makes a devastating deathbed request. Not much there for me, but I did find one.
I’m a little confused by the PBS Books Readers club, as it has some older books on it, too, despite a “digital first” vibe? But the first book is about a sentient octopus solving a murder, so, umm, yeah, there’s that. Kristin Hannah’s “The Women” is on there, which I’ve read, although I’m still processing some of it. It wasn’t awesome, but readable, I guess. Bridget Jones’ Diary is on the list, as is the Thursday Murder Club. But the last one is interesting — “Once There Were Wolves” about reintroducing wolves to Scotland, and a murder mystery.
For the Reader’s Digest book club, I assumed they would all be the bestsellers, if chosen by readers. “Wild Dark Shore” is a mystery set near Antarctica, when a woman washes ashore. A cool premise. I found the premise of “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” a bit contrived (columnist with dead love life pitches series of articles about 7 dates), but then they have a slightly different slant which is her two children will pick the men. I’m not sure about “Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride”, about a dying cop trying to die in the line of duty so his son gets more benefits. I found “Too Old For This” startling familiar — another retired serial killer having to pick up old habits. Mitch Albom’s “Twice” repeats here, as does “The Murder at World’s End”.
I have to admit, I was dreading Read with Jenna. Not because it’s the Today show and has the same GMA vibe that I don’t like, but because so many books I have seen already have had the “Read with Jenna” logo on the cover. Sigh. This might be a lot to add to the list. Or just repeats! Like “The Life Cycle of the Common Octupus” (Scotland mystery) and “Dream Hotel”. I liked the sounds of “Happy Wife” with a missing husband, kind of a reverse Gone Girl I guess. And I’m going to go sappy on “One & Only” about a family of women matchmakers who guarantee 100% matches. Interestingly, there WERE quite a few that overlapped with other lists, and in each and every case, they weren’t books that resonated with me. Some too dark, others too depressing, others too flamboyant.
A few books and lists have referenced Reese’s book club. But there are surprisingly few repeats. “The Three Lives of Cate Kay” combines a hot anonymous author with a dark backstory. I like the Ocean’s Eleven feel to “Heiress Takes All”, as a daughter tries to rob her father. I have “Great Big Beautiful Life” already, bought it for my wife for Christmas. I hate myself for considering “Stuck Up and Stupid”, a Jane Austen twist on the Hollywood set. “The Phoenix Pencil Company” is already in my TBR pile. “Wild Dark Shore” is a repeat. Not a huge list, but not bad.
I had never heard of the Richard and Judy book club or their show. But they have six “February” picks, then spring, summer, autumn, winter. Way too many to even consider. Right? RIGHT? Oh, crap, they have murder mysteries in there. Shit. Shit. Shit. Let’s see…”The Suspect” about a chef suspected of murdering a TV host live; “Guilty By Definition”, with wordplay mysteries; “Here One Moment” about a woman who predicts deaths of passengers on a plane; “One Perfect Couple” for a Love Island show that becomes Lord of the Flies; a Baldacci trilogy of the 6:20 Man; Kate Morton’s “Homecoming” about a woman in Australia who finds a link between an old murder and her own family, although it doesn’t matter the premise, I love Morton; “The Afterparty” with a missing old friend after a party; “Like Mother, Like Daughter” had me at “mom the fixer” for a law firm; Harlan’ Coben’s “Nobody’s Fool”, which would be on my list anyway, as a man sees a woman he thought he saw dead; and “You Are Fatally Invited”, a retreat with six thriller authors and someone playing And Then There Were None.
The Sunnie Reads book club has only just started, so there’s only one book so far. “Beth Is Dead” as a Little Women reimagining with one dead, and the other three as potential investigators AND suspects.
Other clubs (4)
And then there were five.
The Belletrist book club says it is for “books and readers”, and I don’t know of any club that isn’t, do you? Of the books for the year, I see no obvious duplicates with any other list, except one, and none of the list appeals to me enough to add to my pile. Is it weird to celebrate finding a book list that I don’t love?
The Jack Carr book club highlights books that impact him, and it seems most of those are international thrillers: David Morrell’s third in the Brotherhood of the Rose series; David Baldacci’s WWII novel, “Strangers in Time”; new Dan Silva and Dan Brown novels, plus John Grisham; the latest Jack Reacher novel; and then Nelson Demille. I don’t need to follow his list, I already have all of them on my own.
The club created by Anthony Jeselnik focuses on books with cool endings, but it only just started so there are only two books so far. And both are yawners for premise. Maybe the endings are amazing, but I’ll never know.
The Library Science book club says it is for books you won’t find on the bestseller list which is the kind of “help me find new books” vibe I’m looking for in a book club. Except none of the books would be on my TBR list either. Mildly interesting, not worth saving.
Book Notification’s Own Book Club
Called the I Care About Books book club, it is run by Book Notification’s own social media manager. There are only 7 selections so far. “The Women” (Vietnam enlistee) is on the list, which I have already read; “Slaughterhouse Five” is not exactly “new” literature, so not much benefit there; Louise Penny’s books are on every mystery list; and “Once There Were Wolves” is already listed above. However, the latest one is “When You Reach Me”, about a sixth-grader preventing a potential murder. Half and half, I guess, so I’ll keep monitoring it.
Where does that leave me?
nks to 26 book clubs! I clicked on all of them for notifications, but well, that was just to get me started. Now I actually have to weed them down.
- 04 x Audacious Book Club: Homeseeking; Back After This; The Dream Hotel; Moderation;
- 03 x Black Men Read: Blood at the Root; The Man The Moment Demands; King of Ashes;
- 01 x Natalie Portman’s Book Club: The Bee Sting;
- 02 x Service95 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead; Brightly Shining;
- 02 x TeaTime: Audition; The Ten Year Affair;
- 05 x Barnes & Noble: The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus; Rabbit Moon; The Letter Carrier; Heart the Lover; The Rest of Our Lives
- 10 x BBC Radio 2: A serial killer’s guide to marriage; The Favourites; Atmosphere; The Art Of A Lie; Dead Lucky; Katabasis; The Murder At World’s End; King Sorrow; The Shapeshifter’s Daughter; This Book Made Me Think of You;
- 06 x Good Housekeeping: Jane and Dan at the End of The World; Fun for the Whole Family; Everyone Is Lying To You; Best Offer Wins; Ten Thousand Light Years From Okay; So Old, So Young;
- 04 x Good Morning America: Count My Lies; Not Quite Dead Yet; The Book of Lost Hours; Twice;
- 04 x Good Morning America YA: After Life; The Otherwhere Post; Audre and Bash Are Just Friends; Immortal Consequences;
- 05 x Jewish Book Council: All Night Pharmacy; Maine Characters; Hazel Says No; The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter; Typewriter Beach;
- 01 x Katie Couric: Theo of Golden;
- 01 x Late Show: Vigil;
- 02 x Book Studio: Yours for the Season; Read Between the Lies;
- 01 x Oprah: Some Bright Nowhere
- 01 x PBS Book Readers: Once There Were Wolves;
- 04 x Reader’s Digest: Wild Dark Shore; Is She Really Going Out With Him?; Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride; Too Old For This;
- 02 x Read with Jenna: Happy Wife; One & Only;
- 03 x Reese: The Three Lives of Cate Kay; Heiress Takes All; Stuck Up and Stupid;
- 10 x Richard and Judy: The Suspect; Guilty By Definition; Here One Moment; One Perfect Couple; Baldacci trilogy of the 6:20 Man; Homecoming; The Afterparty; Like Mother, Like Daughter; Nobody’s Fool; You Are Fatally Invited;
- 01 x Sunnie Reads: Beth Is Dead;
- 01 x I Care About Books: When You Reach Me;
Total? 73 for just over a year. Yep, that would fill my reading list. I’m curious once I add the Amazon First Reads collections to see what shows up as new options for February. I better get reading.
