What Book Clubs Are Reading in August

This month, Belletrist features a memoir from political writer and podcaster Molly Jong-Fast, chronicling a year marked by her mother Erica Jong’s dementia diagnosis and her husband’s sudden illness. Raised in the shadow of Fear of Flying and the cultural weight it carried, Jong-Fast reflects on a complicated upbringing, shifting family roles, and the emotional cost of caretaking. Sign up today at Tertulia.com/Belletrist to have each monthly Belletrist book pick delivered to your mailbox, along with an intimate author conversation at the end of the month.

Stephen Colbert’s latest book club pick is a gripping true story of survival. One of the most anticipated nonfiction releases of the season, it follows a British couple stranded in the Pacific Ocean after a whale sinks their boat. Set adrift on a tiny raft, they face months of hunger, uncertainty, and isolation—testing the limits of human endurance and the strength of their marriage.

Jimmy Fallon’s Summer Book Club is back, and this year’s pick is the latest from Swedish sensation Fredrik Backman. In this moving tale of grief, unlikely friendships, and quiet heroism, Backman brings the same warmth and wit that made A Man Called Ove a global favorite.

Dua Lipa heads to rural Victoria, Australia, for her August pick—a chilling true crime account of a father who drove his car into a dam on Father’s Day, killing his three sons. Written by one of Australia’s most celebrated writers, this courtroom chronicle doubles as a psychological excavation. “She’s not looking for monsters,” Dua writes, “but ordinary people pushed beyond their emotional limits.”

For August, The New York Times Book Club take readers to the edge of the world with Charlotte McConaghy’s newest novel. Set on a storm-battered island near Antarctica, it follows a grieving family, a mysterious castaway, and the fragile seed bank they’ve been left to guard. “A path back to connection and community,” writes The New York Times Book Review, “abounds with evocative nature writing.”

Mary Calvi’s CBS New York book club travels to Italy this month with Adriana Trigiani’s latest novel. After a divorce, a woman leaves her New Jersey hometown to uncover family history in Tuscany and Lake Como, where she rediscovers her passion for art and a second chance at love.The New York Times praises Trigiani as “a comedy writer with a heart of gold,” while Booklist calls the novel “big‑hearted,” perfect for breezy summer discussions

“Here's your opportunity to read one of America's most beloved writers,” Oprah said in announcing her latest pick from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls. Set in a small upstate New York town, the novel follows the diverging paths of those who stayed and those who left, exploring how memory, personal history, and place shape identity across time.

This month, Dylan Mulvaney turns to a NASA-set love story with Taylor Jenkins Reid’s latest, already a standout beach read of summer 2025. Set in 1980s Houston, it follows a young physicist training for space as a romance complicates the mission of a lifetime.

Queen Camilla’s latest pick is the 2024 Booker Prize winner set aboard a space station, where six astronauts reflect on Earth over the course of a single day. “Along with many others, I was deeply moved by Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize–winning novel,” the Queen wrote. “Her elegantly constructed and thoughtful writing captures the quiet wonder of life on Earth, through the perspective of astronauts observing it from space.”

Anand Giridharadas and Leigh Haber turn to climate fiction for August with their latest Ink Book Club pick. Set in a desert village where the sun is vanishing, Sunbirth follows two sisters confronting the mysteries of their father’s death and a world growing darker by the day. BookPage calls it “a surreal masterpiece to ponder with pleasure.”