“I wish I had read this book when I was 25. It would have helped me so much!” Reese Witherspoon states when introducing the book chosen for November 2020 of her book club. The Reese’s Book Club launched back in June of 2017 in partnership with her media production company Hello Sunshine. With a mission to promote female authors and stories, Witherspoon has provided readers with a recently released book recommendation every month. These books are written by a female author and have a female-centered narrative. Both adult and young adult recommendations are made each month.
Announced on the book club’s Instagram was the novel chosen for the month of November. Group by Christie Tate made its debut on Oct. 27 of this year. As a memoir, Tate uses her real-life experiences to portray a story of how a person is never too far gone to be saved. The memoir follows Christie Tate, a law student who deals with an eating disorder and other mental health issues. She reluctantly agrees with her therapist to join a psychotherapy group that he assures her will answer her problems. The book explores the world and process of group therapy told through a real-life participant’s eyes and follows her journey. Witherspoon shares her thoughts on the book on her book club’s website, stating, “Christie’s story of being a young professional woman who is struggling with deep insecurity and loneliness made me remember so many times in my life where I wished I had a group of friends to carry me through the hard days…This book is a testament to the power of human connection.”
On the book club’s Instagram, @reesesbookclub, new titles are announced each month and throughout the month. As readers read the specified book, the author of the book has Q&A’s and live readings that are posted to the social media page. Readers are encouraged to make meaningful connections and conversations with and about the stories they are reading. The #readwithreese is used within social media to promote an online discussion within the book club participants.
Since June of 2017, the book club has provided book recommendations from differing genres and female authors each month. Stories of fantasy, historical fiction, contemporary and autobiographical have been among the selected books of the past. The previous club picks include bestselling novels such as Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng—of which, Witherspoon starred in and produced the Hulu original series Little Fires Everywhere. Many of the titles chosen for the book club have made appearances on bestselling lists and are slated for screen adaptations. As Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine has been another platform for her to promote female narratives, many of the projects scheduled have come from previous book club picks. You can read more about it here for a list of the upcoming book to screen adaptations Witherspoon will be producing. Witherspoon uses her platform to increase the presence of female stories and to celebrate different experiences.
To read along with Reese Witherspoon this month, you can purchase Group by Christie Tate here.
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