Summer reading has officially begun! And I’m here with your roundup of what a bunch of great book clubs have picked for June book club reading. I look forward to putting this list together every month because all the book clubs have a unique voice, offer a virtual component, and allow you to join in as little or as much as fits your reading life and personality. It’s a great way to find your next read!
This month’s selections once again run the gamut of genres, age, themes, tropes, tone, and more. Maybe you’ve heard that Taylor Jenkins Reid has a new novel? Oprah picked beautiful writing. There’s a middle grade set in Mumbai, a biography of a trans artist and activist who was prominent in the gay rights movement, a contemporary novel with a love triangle, a biography of an art thief, a novel set in the ’80s and early aughts, and so much more! Pour yourself a cold drink and start reading the books that the biggest and most interesting book clubs will be talking about this month!
Oprah’s Book Club
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
About the book club: Oprah’s book club has taken on different forms over the decades, starting in 1996 on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She’s still book clubbing, more than 100 titles later!
What Oprah said about the book: “The newest @OprahsBookClub pick is The Emperor of Gladness by @ocean_vuong, a novel filled with what @oprah calls ‘some of the most beautiful writing I’ve experienced in my lifetime.'”
Vuong shares how he let his characters be ‘fully themselves’ and why being chosen for Oprah’s Book Club is a full-circle moment.”
Follow Oprah’s Book Club on social media: Instagram, Twitter
Subtle Asian Book Club
Thirst by Varsha Bajaj
About the book club: Tiffany and Alexandra, longtime friends, created the Subtle Asian Book Club in 2020 with the goal of uplifting Asian voices and storytellers. You can read along with the monthly book pick, join in on discussions on social media, and watch videos of their live author interviews.
About the book: If you’re intrigued by a middle grade book set in Mumbai following a young girl as she fights corruption, this is your book club this month!
Follow Subtle Asian Book Club on social media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Discord
Eclectix The Book Club
Some Soul to Keep by J. California Cooper
The Audacious Book Club
Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline
About the book club: Author Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist, Ayiti, The Banks) selects a book every month with the goal of uplifting “authentic and necessary perspectives from writers who fearlessly share their stories.” Here are the Book Club FAQs.
What Roxane said about the book: “Next month in the Audacious Book Club, we’re talking about Marsha by Tourmaline (@tourmaliiine). I hope you’ll join us at The Audacity to discuss this excellent biography throughout the month of June.”
Follow Roxane Gay on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
Sapph-Lit
Work Nights by Erica Peplin
About the book club: Born from TikTok, Sapph-Lit is a safe space book club for sapphic women and nonbinary readers to come together and chat books and life as well as offer each other support. One book a month is selected, alternating between fiction and nonfiction.
What Sapph-Lit said about the book: “Pitched as Big Swiss meets The Devil Wears Prada. A young queer woman finds herself in a love triangle full of lies and deceit.”
Mocha Girls Read
A Good Cry: What We Learn From Tears and Laughter by Nikki Giovanni
About the book club: Mocha Girls Read is a monthly book club of Black women who love to read. They currently have chapters in 14 cities across the United States. Anyone can join an Instagram Live every first Saturday of the month at 5 pm PT to hear Alysia, the founder of Mocha Girls Read, discuss the current book club selection.
What Mocha Girls Read said about the book: “The votes are in! After a longer-than-usual nomination period and a week of voting, we’re excited to share the chosen title for our June 2025 book selection.
The Mocha Girl Read June 2025 Monthly Book Selection is A Good Cry: What We Learn From Tears and Laughter by Nikki Giovanni. We encourage you to explore our upcoming read and prepare for a month of rich discussions.”
Follow Mocha Girls Read on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, MeetUp, Goodreads, Pinterest
The Stacks Book Club
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel
About the book club: The Stacks is a podcast that chats all about books, and there’s a monthly book club. The book chosen for the month is discussed on the podcast in the last week of the month with a selected special guest.
What The Stacks Book Club said about the book: “This month on the Stacks, we will be taking a look into the world of true crime with Michael Finkel’s The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, which creates a vivid of portrait of Stéphane Bréitwieser, one of the most prolific art thieves in history. Based on a series of exclusive interviews with Breitwieser—the first he has ever granted to an American journalist—Finkel narrates his fall in this epic tale of greed, arrogance, and betrayal.” Click through to their Substack to see the relevant dates.
Follow The Stacks on social media: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok
TODAY Book Club, #ReadWithJenna
A Family Matter by Claire Lynch
Good Morning America’s GMA Book Club
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
About the book club: Read along with Good Morning America Book Club, which aims to “showcase book picks from a wide range of compelling authors.”
What GMA said about the book: “Words can’t express how excited we are for @TJenkinsReid’s Atmosphere to be our June #GMABookClub pick!
It’s an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.”
Matzah Book Soup: A Jewish Own Voices Book Club for All
Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein
About the book club: Lillianne Leight and Amanda Spivack created this book club, which focuses on Jewish books and characters “with varying relationships to Judaism” that welcomes all readers—Jewish and non.
What Matzah Book Soup said about the book: “We’re so excited to be reading and discussing Maine Characters by the one and only @HannahOrens! Hannah will be joining us for our zoom meeting at the end of the month to chat about the book and we can’t wait to have her with us once again. Our meeting will be on June 26th @ 8 PM EST so mark your calendars!”
Follow Matzah Book Soup on social media: Instagram, Facebook
Teen Banned Book Club at NYPL
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
Reese’s Book Club
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
It’s Pride Month, and while we celebrate queer literature here all year long, we go especially rainbow bold in June. This week, we’re excited to take a look at the favorite queer books of beloved queer authors.
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It’s Pride month, which is the perfect excuse to buy and read a bunch of queer books. One method I really enjoy for finding new books is to take the recommendations of my favorite authors. Carmen Maria Machado hasn’t led me astray yet. Unfortunately, I don’t have these authors on speed dial, but luckily, they usually have shared their recommendations publicly.
Below I’ve put together queer book recommendations from 11 beloved queer authors. Some are from interviews where they discussed their favorite books, and others are book blurbs. Both the authors’ works and the books they recommend cover a wide spectrum of genres and formats, including graphic novels, literary fiction, poetry, biographies, horror, sci-fi, YA fantasy, and more, so there’s something for every kind of reader.
Akwaeke Emezi recommends…
Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde
“Some of the most spectacular writing I’ve ever encountered in my life… Vagabonds! brought me to tears because it gave me a world in which my country could be home again.”
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English (US) · 