What Book Clubs Are Reading in September

This month, Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss select a novel that begins with the longing for a second child and unfolds into a moral dilemma that reshapes two families. 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 People Like Us by National Book Award winner Jason Mott. The novel follows two Black writers—one on a national book tour, the other confronting the aftermath of a school shooting. Through parallel narratives, Mott examines race, violence, and the role of the writer in public life.

Icelandic-Chinese musician Laufey’s September pick is a buzzy new release from Babel author R.F. Kuang. The novel follows two rival graduate students who team up to rescue their professor’s soul from Hell—literally.

This month, Natalie Portman highlights Rebecca Solnit’s powerful new essay collection, which urges readers to rethink what progress truly means. From a 300-year-old violin to a prisoner dreaming of the ocean, Solnit reflects on climate, feminism, democracy, and power—inviting us to question inherited narratives and embrace uncertainty and imperfection as forces for change. Portman calls it “an antidote to political paralysis.”

In honor of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, The New York Times Book Review turns to Pride and Prejudice for its September pick. It’s a chance to revisit—or finally read—this enduring comedy of manners, one of the most popular novels of all time.

Jenna Bush Hager calls her September pick “the book of the season, if not the year,” adding: “If you’re a fan of Amor Towles or Ann Patchett, I promise you will fall in love.” Set in postwar Ohio, this sweeping novel traces the ripple effects of a buried secret through two families and multiple generations, offering a quietly powerful portrait of small-town lives shaped by time, silence, and love.

“Goddamn this book is wild,” writes comedian John Mulaney of his latest pick. Set in suburban Illinois, Pan is a surreal, cerebral coming-of-age novel that follows a teenager whose first panic attack sends him spiraling through philosophy, myth, and memory.

Reese’s Book Club heads to the stars with a debut novel tracing one Cherokee woman’s dream of becoming NASA’s first Indigenous astronaut. Spanning decades and continents, the story explores how ambition can shape—and strain—our closest bonds.

Dua Lipa selects a Booker Prize finalist that blends murder mystery with biting social satire. Set in Mississippi, The Trees begins with a series of killings and opens into a dark, genre-blurring reckoning with racism in America. “It’s Percival at his very best,” Dua writes, “delivering one-liners that will make you howl with laughter, while simultaneously punching you in the gut.”

GMA’s September pick is a spellbinding speculative debut perfect for fans of The Midnight Library. Set during WWII, the story follows a girl trapped in a secret library that stores human memories—until a CIA agent enters her world and changes everything. “A sweeping, cinematic love story,” says the club.