During 2023, I made it my goal to try and read all the big book club picks, from the most followed Reese Witherspoon’s book club Hello Shunshine, to the smaller Diverse spines.

This is no small task, following no less than 8 book clubs: Reese’s book club, Read with Jenna, Oprah’s book club, GMA book club, Diverse spines, Books that matter, Belletrist, Amerie’s book club.

Some book clubs have a clear niche, like Reese only choosing books by female authors or Belletrist choosing curious books that stand out from traditional publications that aim to give you something you haven’t read before, to diverse spines that make sure you get the best stories form a wide variety of authors with different backgrounds. Other book clubs are a bit harder to pin down, but after a while you get a sense of their picks and start learning if the book club suits your taste palette.

When I first started I jumped right into all the books and devoured every single with great motivation, as one does at the beginning of a project and then my interest started to wane. Around June, Books that matter had some troubles with their concept and pressed paused before returning with a brand new concept that didn’t quite fit my project, so I stopped following them. But I still had a lot of books to read every month, and on top of the book club picks, I had some picks of my own, so I was reading around 2-3 books pr week. Which is a lot! Not to mention expensive. So about 6 months in, I started weeding out a few that I didn’t really want to read, and around October I had all but given up, unless there was a pick I also really wanted to read.

So if you’re looking to book clubs for your picks on what to read, here’s what I learned along the way:

Why it works:

• The book clubs have many followers and readers active on social media. And if you follow these book accounts and the book clubs, you’ll be seeing the books all around social media throughout the whole year. So no FOMO! You get to satisfy that curiosity and you’ll have a whole community to swap notes with!
• You’ll find hidden gems, because there will be books you maybe wouldn’t have picked for yourself, but turns out to be amazing! It also helps to have a community constantly hyping the books, if you’re susceptible to hype in that way.
• If you’re lacking in inspiration and need help finding books, again, there are gems to be found. If you don’t really know your taste yet, it’s great way to get to try out some different types of books.
• It’s easier to find people to relate to and talk about books, because there are big communities on facebook and otherwise that have read the same books and are familiar with these book clubs. Also the books will most likely be available at your local store or library. But the waiting list at he library I heard is pretty long, so that might be more of a negative than a positive.

Why it doesnt work:

• Mood reading! I, personally, am a big mood reader. I can’t even plan my next book because I don’t know if I will be in the same mood once I finish the one I’m reading. Also, my mood can change mid-book, so I might be reading 4-8 books a the same time. So not being able to choose a book to your mood but following a book club pick is a major killer to your reading vibe.
• Books can often fall outside your genre or reading interest and while there might be hidden gems, there also might be a lot of boring old rocks. The book club picks also usually all hang out in one genre – contemporary. They rarely veer too far off the beaten track.
• Did I mention mood reading?
• Tik Tok doesn’t subscribe to the book clubs, so if you’re more on tiktok than instagram, then the fomo wont haunt you.
• The book club books get a lot of publicity and often make it to the NYT bestseller list. So if you’d rather find smaller books and not join the mass market and read what everyone else is reading, then reading the book club books might not be for you. The book clubs aim to reach as many readers as possible, so they won’t pick a book that won’t appeal to some form of large group of people.

Would I do this again? Probably not with the same vigor as the first time around. But I’ll keep my eye on the book clubs, and I had quite a few favorite reads come out of them this year, so I won’t say never again, but I’d rather follow my mood than anything else. So yes, I will keep my eye on the book club picks, but I won’t read all of them. (Unless they pay me! haha)

So what were my favorite book club picks of 2023?

August, November and December I had trouble finding the book club picks, since I live in Norway, the books aren’t’ always released here at the same time, and the bookstores don’t always stock these picks. Also, some, I just didn’t care for and bother to read. I tried reading Tom Lake, but I was too bored even with Meryl Streep as narrator on the audio I couldnt pay attention. So I read a bunch of books not by book clubs instead. By the end of the year I was a bit fed up.

I will say, that when it comes to my favorite book club, all the book clubs have given me at least one book I love, so thats something, but Reese and Jenna have both given me 3 favorite reads this year. So I would call it a tie.

Did you have any favorite book club picks this year?