19 Best Book Club Books for Women's Book Clubs 2024

Whether your women's book club likes to revisit classics, enjoys fantasy series, prefers reimagined fairytales, nonfiction, or all of the above, here's a list of our 2024 best book club books for women to help you choose your next read.

		1. Crescent City Series by Sarah J. Maas If your book club ladies are book lovers like we know they are, then they've probably read or at least heard of Sarah J. Maas. A #1 New York Times bestselling author for her YA fantasy series A Court of Thorns and Roses and Throne of Glass, Maas brings her adult fans a fantasy series called Crescent City. With two titles already, House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, women readers can dive into the world of Bryce Quinlan—half-Fae, half-human, and fully seeking revenge. It's sizzling with romance and thrilling with page-turning action.
		2. The Shadow in the Glass by J.J.A. Hardwood Maybe a standalone novel is a better book choice for your women's book club? The Shadow in the Glass , the debut novel by J.J.A. Hardwood, presents readers with a dark and terrifying fantasy on the verge of horror that loosely reimagines the Cinderella story. Set in Victorian London, Ella wishes to be more than a maid, and one night her wish is answered when a fairy godmother appears granting her seven wishes to use as she pleases—but each wish comes with a price. Murder, mystery, supernatural twists, horrific consequences... This is a great option, especially if your lady readers like fairytale retellings.
		3. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr A book that definitely needs to be on your book club list is Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. Doerr's follow up to his bestselling All the Light We Cannot See is a novel that defies genre classification using elements of science fiction, fantasy, historical and contemporary fiction. A book lover's kind of book club book with multiple storylines and narrators that centers around an ancient book: the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky.
		4. It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover If your women's book club hasn't yet heard of author Colleen Hoover, she definitely needs to be on the radar as her 2016 standalone romance novel It Ends with Us is getting a long-wished-for prequel. Hoover's It Starts with Us will hit the shelves in October 2022 much to fans delight. So pick up Hoover's It Ends with Us ASAP to get ready for it!
		5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë If your book lovers prefer classic romances, they'll definitely love (and sometimes hate) the intensity and passion of the star-crossed lovers Catherine and Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights . With shifting narrative points of view, Brontë is able to create such real emotion in her characters that readers feel it through the page. At the time of publication, critics were put off by its destructive and violent passion, but that is what makes it such a brilliant classic.
		6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë After reading Wuthering Heights, have your women's book club explore Jane Eyre written by Emily's sister Charlotte for comparison. Rediscover "plain Jane" who is anything but. Has your view of the woman in the attic changed? What about Rochester? This gothic tale filled with mystery and villains you love to hate was lauded as a thriller in its time (and maybe still is today). Jane's good heart and unwavering spirit stay central in this story of dark and twisted secrets. Is this a romance or a horror? Let your book club decide!
		7. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen More than 200 years after its first publication, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is a story that still resonates with readers today. Whether you've read it before or just watched the movie, your ladies will still enjoy following the turbulent relationship of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Fiercely independent Elizabeth feels like one of our friends. She knows she doesn't need a rich husband to be happy and wants her parents and others to know it. Austen's incredibly witty and sarcastic dialogue makes us laugh even when we know what happens in the end. Which Bennet sister are you most like?
		8. 30 Things I Love about Myself by Radhika Sanghani Bring it back to the 21st century and instead of sweeping romance stories, find yourself falling in love with...yourself! With themes of self-help and self-love, author Radhika Sanghani's 30 Things I Love about Myself is a laugh-out-loud fiction following a British Indian journalist who finds herself in jail the day before her 30th birthday. When she gets out, she spends the year following a self-help book given to her by a guard to find 30 things she loves about her imperfect self. This is one of the best book club books for women in 2024 because we all need motivation to love all the parts of ourselves.
		9. Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood If your book club prefers nonfiction, we recommend picking upThe Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood's Burning Questions: Essays 2004-2021 presenting Atwood's answers to questions such as, "What do zombies have to do with authoritarianism?" and "Why do people everywhere, in all cultures, tell stories?" Atwood's Burning Questions gives readers more than 50 pieces of brilliant commentary on the 21st century.
		10. The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman Are your book club members children of the 90s or curious to take a deep dive into the decade that began with the fall of the Berlin wall and gave us the see-through telephone AND eventually cell phones? If so, one of the best book club books for women in 2022 is bestselling author Chuck Klosterman's The Nineties. Klosterman writes poignant commentary on cultural and political movements of the decade of Gen Xers and even if he leaves a bunch of momentous happenings out, it will still give your book club so much to talk about whether it's in the book or not.
		11. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery And if diving into world happenings during your childhood seems fun, perhaps revisiting the next three books of your childhood might be, too! Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery is a classic coming-of-age story of a spirited and unconventional red-headed orphan girl shifting from foster home to foster home until she lands in Green Gables with a pair of elderly siblings. With descriptions so lush and vivid, readers will be transported into the narrative full of imagination, determination, a little romance, and a lot of love.
		12. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is a story that has seen several movie adaptations for each new generation. Why not revisit what made it a classic in the first place? The language of the novel is refreshing and light and the characters will stick with readers long after the last page has been read. Sibling rivalry, love, forgiveness, heartache, and triumph are still very real today. Discover or rediscover why Jo, Beth, Amy, and Meg (and of course, Laurie) have won the hearts of readers generation after generation.
		13. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett The nature and garden lovers of your women's book club are going to love uncovering The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Complete with the subtle magic of the natural world and a complex and flawed heroine, this classic book club book will transport readers back to the mysteries of childhood imagination and play. The protagonist, Mary, full of curiosity and determination, is orphaned in India and forced to move to Misselthwaite Manor—a place ripe with secrets and not exactly ready for Mary's stubbornness and sense of freedom. As the mysteries of the Manor unfold, the garden, Mary, and those around her (including readers) transform. Revisiting the books of your childhood may bring about a new perspective or help you rekindle the bookish friendships you fell in love with long ago. Or perhaps you missed these classics and get to pick them up for the first time.
		14. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett For historical fiction fans, have your book club check out The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Author Brit Bennett's second novel is an excellent book choice for women readers that explores familial and romantic relationships as well as individuality, race, class, colorism, and so much more. Brit Bennett's characters are so robust you will feel like you know them, too. The thought-provoking story follows the Vignes sisters—"the lost twins"—who leave the town they are from to forge lives of their own...until one comes back. With alternating narration leaping forward and backward in time, this one will be hard for your readers to put down.
		15. Run Rose, Run by Dolly Parton & James Patterson What do you get when you pair America's most beloved singer-songwriter (Dolly Parton) and the worlds #1 bestselling author (James Patterson)? A page-turning musical thriller that your ladies' book club will love! Run Rose, Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson gives you a rags-to-riches and friends-to-lovers storyline with mystery and suspense throughout! Get your Dolly fix by listening to the audio version and the companion album!
		16. Circe by Madeline Miller What do your book club members know about Circe from Greek mythology? You might only remember her as the witch who turned Odysseus and his men into swine on their journey back to Ithica from the Trojan War. That was great, wasn't it? But Madeline Miller's Circe takes her story and gives her so much more depth and understanding of the world around her. A feminist adventure novel, Circe by Madeline Miller is a must-read!
		17. The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow Speaking of witches...The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow definitely needs to be on your book club book to-read list! A historical fantasy with folklore and paranormal elements as well fractured fairy tales, The Once and Future Witches is much more than a story about witchcraft, it's also a story about what could happen when women forge connections and build community...like a women's book club?
		18. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood And on the opposite end of women circles and building community, we have the much awaited sequel to Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale in Atwood's The Testaments which brings us back to Gilead and yes, even Aunt Lydia, 15 years later. In Gilead, keeping women from trusting each other and creating bonds is intentional to avoid creating women who rebel against the laws of Gilead. The Testaments is as harrowing as The Handmaid's Tale, though with more perspective following three protagonists from different backgrounds. It's a page-turner that has readers wanting to see how these women's stories come together to try to tear Gilead down.
		19. The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monet Take your book selection on a slightly different dystopian path with The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, a book of short Afro-futuristic stories penned by widely acclaimed and unapologetic singer/songwriter, actor, and activist Janelle Monet in collaboration with five other authors. All stories are based in the same world following different characters whose memories and thoughts are controlled by the totalitarian society in which they live. The book explores themes of identity and belonging. Listen to the accompanying album Dirty Computer and watch the "emotion picture" on YouTube.

We'd love to hear what 2024 best women's book club books you have read and what's next on your list!