Celebrity book clubs are not just a hip pandemic pastime anymore as they have withstood the test of time, continuing to connect celebrities like Dakota Johnson and Reese Witherspoon with fans through a shared love for literature. Here’s a look at seven celebrities from Hollywood and Bollywood who have been running online reading groups on Instagram for readers eagerly awaiting the next book picked by their favourite stars.
TeaTime Book Club by Dakota Johnson
One of the latest celebrities to start a book club on Instagram, Dakota Johnson launched The TeaTime Book Club in March this year in association with her entertainment company TeaTime Pictures. Her first pick for her club was Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino, which revolves around an alien trying to make a space for herself among humans. Since then, the actress has been selecting books centred on women and their plight, motherhood, and life in America. She has picked novels like The Hearing Test by Eliza Barry Callahan, Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang and We Were The Universe by Kimberly King Parsons. All conversations regarding her books are held on TeaTime Book Club’s Instagram broadcast channel.
Pick of the month: We Were The Universe by Kimberly King Parsons
Reese’s Book Club by Reese Witherspoon
Launched in 2017, Reese’s Book Club features a variety of books belonging to different genres with a common link — strong female protagonists. Rather than a fat volume of epic or nonfiction, Reese Witherspoon always chooses thrillers, romance, historical fiction, fantasy and self-help books with strong women at the centre of the plot. Some of Witherspoon’s recent picks include Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez, The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo and How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang. Over the years, the Morning Show star has selected a variety of popular as well as underrated gems like Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & The Six, Lucy Foley’s The Midnight Feast and The Guest List, Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere and Edwidge Danticat’s Everything Inside.
Pick of the month: The Unwedding by Ally Condie
Service95 Book Club by Dua Lipa
Dua Lipa started picking books monthly for her Service95 Book Club in June 2023 with Douglas Stuart’s novel Shuggie Bain. “Each month we will discuss a book personally chosen by Dua, representing writing from across the globe,” reads the logline of the book club’s official website. With a fan following of around 316K readers, the Levitating singer’s choice of books range from themes like self-identity to social justice and relationships. Books like Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude and Bernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other are some of the books which have helped the singer connect with her fans. “I clearly have a thing for heartbreaking books,” she said in a video shared in 2023, introducing heart-wrenching novels like Shuggie Bain and later, Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns to her fans.
Pick of the month: Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
Oprah's Book Club by Oprah Winfrey
With 857K followers on Instagram, Oprah’s book club will complete its 30th anniversary in 2026. “Over the course of my lifetime, books have helped me know that I'm not alone, even when I'm at my loneliest,” Oprah Winfrey has mentioned on her website, where she has revealed how the idea got its inception in 1996 following discussions about literature with her intern at the time, Alice McGee. By selecting books like Water Dancer by TaNehisi Coates, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Winfrey likes to read books that dwell on social issues, personal growth and how to overcome adversity. Historical fiction is also a frequent pick by her book club.
Pick of the month: Long Island by Colm Tóibín
Belletrist by Emma Roberts
Emma Roberts co-founded Belletrist with her friend Karah Preiss to explore books based on themes of love, family and personal journeys. Their selections include literary fiction like Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House and thought-provoking memoirs like Your Voice In My Head by Emma Forrest. With 275K followers on Instagram, Emma’s book club reflects her own belief: “Reading is a magical escape, but it can also teach you empathy and understanding.”
Pick of the month: Griffin Dunne’s The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir
Sonali’s Book Club by Sonali Bendre
“Reading was always my first love, and somewhere in the hustle and bustle of life, I felt like I’d lost that connect,” Sonali Bendre once said in an interview. She launched her book club to keep her spirit of reading alive by sharing it with others. Sonali’s Book Club gravitates towards books of diverse genres and encourages readers to talk about the books they are reading. Some of the most important books selected by the club are The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, the heartwarming Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi or the spy thriller Portrait of a Secret: A Novel Inspired by True Events by Tarun Mehrishi.
Pick of the month: Not decided yet
Between Two Books by Florence Welch from Florence & The Machine
Indie band Florence & The Machine’s lead vocalist Florence Welch is picky about the books she selects for her online book club Between Two Books. She chooses books having a strong connection with her music that deals with themes of mythology, religion and emotional depth. Introducing her fans to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Florence has tried to mirror the themes explored in her song Shake It Out. Books like The Marriage Plot delve into complex relationships, something that has found a voice in Florence’s songs like Dog Days Are Over.
Currently reading: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
