What Book Clubs Are Reading in November

This month, Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss select a speculative thriller from Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer that begins with a federal agent’s hunt for a terrorist threat and spirals into a chase through shifting timelines and consciousness. 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 November pick is a coming-of-age story set in a small Irish village where a teenage boy goes to live with his grandparents and discovers love, loss, and belonging. Colbert calls it the perfect Thanksgiving read—“there’s nothing better than reading about complicated families when they aren’t yours.”

The New York Times Book Review Book Club celebrates the release of the new film starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal by revisiting Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet, the moving, inventive novel that inspired it. “No one should miss a chance to return to this beloved novel,” the club declared.

Oprah’s latest book club pick is a National Book Award finalist set in a near-future Indian city on the brink of collapse. Over one tense week, two families—one fleeing, one stealing—are forced to make impossible choices to protect their children. “I was spellbound from the very first page and I’m still thinking about it today,” Oprah said.

This month, the Good Morning America Book Club spotlights a warm and funny follow-up to the beloved Sandwich. Set in western Massachusetts, it follows a woman balancing life with her grown daughter and aging father while becoming obsessed with a nearby train crash. The club calls it “a story filled with humor, heart, and the complicated truths about family, marriage, and the unexpected twists of life.”

Dua Lipa’s November choice revisits Atwood’s chilling vision of Gilead, a theocratic regime where women’s rights are stripped away. The pop star calls it “a book that terrified me in high school,” and, after rereading it alongside Atwood’s new memoir Book of Lives, sees it anew: “Her memoir gives fascinating context to the story… and makes it feel unsettlingly familiar to events taking place across the world right now.”

Reese’s November pick takes readers to a remote island near Antarctica, where a family’s isolation is shattered when a mysterious woman washes ashore during a storm. Blending ecological thriller and dark romance, it’s a story about trust, survival, and the fierce urge to protect what we love. “I tore through it,” Reese said. “It’s deep, beautiful, and propulsive.”

This month, Jenna Bush Hager selects the long-awaited new novel from Booker-nominated author Oyinkan Braithwaite. Set in Lagos, it follows a young woman determined to escape a family curse that binds her to the soul of her dead cousin. “This book made me laugh, cry, and reach for a pen to underline its truths,” Jenna writes.

For November, RuPaul’s Book Club spotlights an autofictional novel by Gish Jen that spans continents and generations, following a Chinese American family from 1930s Shanghai to Cold War–era New York and the contradictions of suburban American life.

The South Asian author–focused book club founded by actor and comedian Lilly Singh turns this month to a new memoir from Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. Reflecting on life after surviving the Taliban’s attack at fifteen, she writes with openness about friendship, mental health, and discovering who she is beyond the world’s expectations.