What Book Clubs Are Reading in March

Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss's latest pick features a new mother experiencing amnesia, premonitions, and hallucinations a year after childbirth. After disappearing and being discovered unconscious in Prospect Park, the line between her delusions and actual prophecies grows increasingly unclear in this haunting psychological mystery. 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.

If you haven’t yet read the latest novel by 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang, now is the perfect opportunity to read it along with The New York Times Book Club. Awarded the Nobel Prize "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life," the acclaimed South Korean author of The Vegetarian delivers a powerful new novel that follows a perilous journey to save a pet bird, uncovering a hidden chapter of Korean history and lost voices.

The Handmaid's Tale meets Minority Report in Jenna Bush Hager’s March book club pick. Recently nominated for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, this mind-bending novel follows a woman who arrives at LAX—only to be detained by agents due to a chilling prediction: a dream-surveillance algorithm has flagged her as a future threat to her husband. Confined to a retention center for "observation," she finds herself among other women imprisoned by their own dreams. “It’s truly a meditation on free will, sisterhood, and the power of love,” mused the Today host.

Oprah’s latest book club pick—already acquired by A24 Productions—is a multigenerational epic centered around a love triangle that has critics raving. The Washington Post hails it as “a transporting wonder” with “one of the most touching endings in years,” while Kirkus describes it as “sprawling and elegant—a novel that feels both old-fashioned and bracingly inventive.”

The National Book Foundation's executive director, Ruth Dickey, hosts Read with NBF, a monthly book club showcasing recent National Book Award winners. March's selection features the 2024 Translated Literature Prize recipient—an evocative historical romance set in 1930s Taiwan. The novel follows a Japanese novelist who develops feelings for her charismatic Taiwanese interpreter while they navigate what the National Book Foundation describes as "the intricate intersections of language, politics, and popular culture" during a complex historical period.

Kirkus called GMA’s March pick a "compelling, tautly plotted book" appealing to both Gone Girl enthusiasts and readers who appreciate "smart, well-crafted fiction." This read-in-one-night thriller follows a compulsive liar whose seemingly harmless deceptions entangle her with a wealthy couple harboring far more sinister secrets.

For March, Reese Witherspoon selected what she describes as "an unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives... but it's also a masterfully crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page."

Dua Lipa's latest book club pick is a 2018 Pulitzer Prize finalist novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities, each making their way to the Big Oakland Powwow. “The connections between the cast reveal themselves bit by bit as events spiral towards a violent and horrific crescendo in the Big Oakland Powwow, an occasion that holds a desperate significance for each of them,” says Dua Lipa. “Among the tragedy that is foreshadowed throughout, there is also redemption and humanity. It’s a stunning book.”

The California Book Club’s March pick is a debut novel set in Reno, Nevada, where eight teenage girls compete in a national boxing competition. Nominated for the 2024 Booker Prize and featured on Barack Obama’s summer reading list, this novel has been described by the club as "a knockout," with prose that “dances like a fighter in the ring.”

The lit-loving indie rocker Florence Welch selected Octavia Butler's prophetic masterpiece for March. Written by the Pasadena native in 1993, this dystopian novel takes place in 2024 America, where a young woman with heightened empathy confronts societal collapse and resource scarcity. This powerful narrative has gained renewed significance for readers affected by California's recent fires.