Celebrity Book Club: Old friends, new members and good reads
You can never be too rich and you can never read too many books, Isn't that how the saying goes? And while we fall short on the former, we wholeheartedly live by the latter. As does our Celebrity Book Club. It appears we have a whole slew of new titles to carry us through to fall. So those ready for a good book to enjoy before the end of summer, take note:
Oprah
She's back! Oh how we miss you Oprah. If only you could show up for every Celebrity Book Club post! But we get it, you're busy. Thankfully you found time to share your latest Oprah's Book Club choice, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Well, not just share it, but help it debut at No. 10 on Paste BN's Best-Selling Books list. Paste BN gave The Underground Railroad ***½ out of four stars.
Reese Witherspoon
It appears Oprah is not the only member of our club with the golden touch when it comes to choosing books. Reese highly recommended Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty before the book was published and lo and behold, it debuted at No. 2. Paste BN's Jocelyn McClurg gave the book **½ out of four stars. Not bad Reese, not bad. Of course, the actress has an HBO version of Moriarty's Big Little Lies in the works, so we know she is a fan.
Reese also recommended another title, All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker. The actress wrote that the thriller "had me guessing until the very end."
Lena Dunham
According to Dunham's Lenny Letter, this week they are "reveling in the pages of Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood,What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi, and the short story The Bog Girl by Karen Russell."
Emma Roberts
The voracious reader that she is, the actress' epic summer reading list was not enough. Our resident indie (L)It-girl hit the beach with Cities I've Never Lived In by Sara Majka.
Other reads include Bluetsby Maggie Nelson,Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnitand Paste BN best seller The Girlsby Emma Cline. Paste BN's Jocelyn McClurg gave the book **½ out of four stars.
Kimberly Williams-Paisley (KWP)
One of our most insatiable readers, Underground Airlinesby Ben H. Winterswas KWP's pick on National Book Lover's Day. The novel is an alternative history "where the dispute between the North and South ends with a fractious truce." Paste BN gave the book *** out of four stars.
And it's not just new books that are on KWP's reading list. Her family is a reading family and many of her picks have been young-adult faves. Recently she featured the classic, and high school reading list mainstay,Watership Down by Richard Adams.
Other recommendations include Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, Bel Cantoby Ann Patchett and audio book, A Man Called Oveby Fredrik Backman.
Emma Watson
The actress' Our Shared Shelf's latest pick, Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir,by Carrie Brownstein,is the July/August selection. The book club's group discussion can be found at Goodreads.com.
Sarah Michelle Gellar (SMG)
We knew there had to be at least one Harry Potter fan in our group. SMG gets in the spirit and doesn't just read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two by J.K.Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne. Paste BN's Kelly Lawler gave Cursed Child *** out of four stars.
SMG also recommended some late summer reading. Like Emma Roberts, she also chose the best seller The Girls by Emma Cline. And continuing on the "girl theme" also chose All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda. The actress also recommended her vacation read The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney.
Sarah Jessica Parker (SJP)
Looks like Oprah isn't the only returning member. Sarah Jessica Parker, now SJP, returned to recommending some reads on her Instagram account. It also looks like Oprah is not the only celebrity who got a sneak peak at Colson Whitehead'sThe Underground Railroad. The book club that SJP belongs too also chose A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles.
SJP also loved Sweetbitter, the debut novel by Stephanie Danler. The book debuted on our list at No. 32, not bad for a first-time author.
Uzo Aduba
We may have a new club member. We checked out Uzo's Instagram page and it looks like this actress has shared some of her favorite reads in the past, including one of her "all-time favorites," The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Published in 1988, the book has been as high as No. 14 on our list.
Happy reading!