12 Book Club Picks for March 2025 To Start Your Spring Reading
Welcome to spring and a new round of “what did the book clubs select this month”! I have a roundup of selections from a bunch of great book clubs which are all very different from each other but all have at least a virtual component.
This month’s fiction selections: a romance that takes you into the world of podcasting (from an NPR host!); a sweeping saga over six decades of Chinese history; a literary debut centering a what-could-be-world with reparations; a near future set sci-fi where dreams are surveilled; a second-chance rom-com; a banned YA graphic novel; a multigenerational novel about three friends; a deadly magic dark academia; a twisty suspense; and a genre mix with a love triangle and courtroom drama.
And in nonfiction there’s a celebrity memoir, a history book that looks at the “myth that white women were merely bystanders in American slavery,” and a look at iconic spaces to tell a cultural history of queer women. Pick any book, pick a bunch, buddy read, fully join the book club, or just dump them all on your TBR—you can’t lose!
The Audacious Book Club
Back After This by Linda Holmes
About the book club: Author Roxane Gay (Bad Feminist, Ayiti, The Banks) selects a book every month with the goal of uplifting “authentic and necessary perspectives from writers who fearlessly share their stories.” Here are the Book Club FAQs.
What Roxane said about the book: “Back After This is a delightful read, full of wit and human connection and the intrigue and mundanities of a career in media in the nation’s capital, plus the addition of a very large, very endearing dog named Buddy. I’m looking forward to discussing this book with you throughout the month of March and we will be in conversation with Linda on March 26th at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST.”
Follow Roxane Gay on social media: Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads
Subtle Asian Book Club
Homeseeking by Karissa Chen
About the book club: Tiffany and Alexandra, longtime friends, created the Subtle Asian Book Club in 2020 with the goal of uplifting Asian voices and storytellers. You can read along with the monthly book pick, join in on discussions on social media, and watch videos of their live author interviews.
About the book: If you’re in the mood for a sweeping saga that centers one couple to tell six decades of Chinese history, this is your book club this month!
Follow Subtle Asian Book Club on social media: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Discord
Sapph-Lit
A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women’s Culture by June Thomas
About the book club: Born from TikTok, Sapph-Lit is a safe space book club for sapphic women and nonbinary readers to come together and chat books and life as well as offer each other support. One book a month is selected, alternating between fiction and nonfiction.
What Sapph-Lit said about the book: “A riveting cultural history of queer women’s lives told through six iconic spaces.”
Eclectix The Book Club
Acts of Forgiveness by Maura Cheeks
About the book club: Dawnshaeé Reid is a self-proclaimed eclectic blogger who created this book club with Black authors as a priority. It aims to highlight a wide range of genres. There’s an in-person, once-a-month meeting option if you’re in Louisville, KY, and a virtual option that meets the last Tuesday of every month.
What Eclectix The Book Club said about the book: “Love the idea of a bold literary debut, and a book whose premise centers the conversation of reparations, race, family, and identity, I know the discussion for this one will be packed with so much depth.”
Follow Eclectix The Book Club on social media: Instagram, Discord, TikTok
Mocha Girls Read
Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
About the book club: Mocha Girls Read is a monthly book club of Black women who love to read. They currently have chapters in 14 cities across the United States. Starting in 2024, anyone can join an “IG Live every first Saturday of the month at 5 pm PT. Alysia, our founder, will chat about our current book club selection.”
What Mocha Girls Read said about the book: “7 days of nominations! 7 days of voting! We have a winner for our next book of 2025. The Mocha Girl Read March 2025 Monthly Book Selection is Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis.”
Follow Mocha Girls Read on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, MeetUp, Goodreads, Pinterest
TODAY Book Club, #ReadWithJenna
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
About the book club: Jenna Bush Hager—current co-host of Today with Hoda & Jenna—independently chooses a book each month that she personally loves. (“Jenna was not paid to mention these items and is unaffiliated with the authors and publishers“)
What Jenna said about the book: “This is a book about how technology shackles us even when it connects us, how it can make us not feel present, and it’s a commentary on that. It is a book that is filled with beautiful characters who you will never forget, and it really shows the power we all have to dream.’”
Follow Read With Jenna on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Read With Jenna Goodreads group
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The Stacks Book Club
They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
About the book cub: Hosted by Traci Thomas, The Stacks is a podcast that chats all about books, and there’s a monthly book club. The book chosen for the month is discussed on the podcast the last week of the month with a selected special guest.
What The Stacks Book Club said about the book: “The Stacks Book Club selection for March is They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers. This award-winning work of history challenges the long-held myth that white women were merely bystanders in American slavery, revealing their active and profitable role in the system and reshaping our understanding of power and complicity in the slave economy. Backed by extensive research and firsthand accounts, They Were Her Property is an eye-opening read that offers plenty to discuss and unpack.”
Follow The Stacks on social media: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok
Matzah Book Soup: A Jewish Own Voices Book Club for All
Never Planned on You by Lindsay Hameroff
About the book club: Lillianne Leight and Amanda Spivack created this book club with a focus on Jewish books and characters “with varying relationships to Judaism” that welcomes all readers—Jewish and non.
What Matzah Book Soup said about the book: “We are so excited to announce that our April pick is Never Planned on You by @LindsayHameroff! We’re so excited to have Lindsay back with us, and we’ll be chatting about this second chance romance on March 26th at 8 PM EST!”
Follow Matzah Book Soup on social media: Instagram, Facebook
Teen Banned Book Club at NYPL
Go with the Flow by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann
About the book club: The NYPL is selecting young adult books that have been challenged or banned from schools and offering them free nationwide via digital access. The book club also hosts the authors for an event.
What The New York Public Library’s Teen Banned Book Club said about the book: “Our latest Teen Banned Book Club pick is Go with the Flow by Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann. The book is available on Libby for unlimited download—no holds or wait times—for NYPL cardholders through April 30. Plus, download our free discussion guide and sign up for our book club event with the authors!”
Follow The New York Public Library on social media: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram
Oprah’s Book Club
Dream State by Eric Puchner
About the book club: Oprah’s book club has taken on different forms over decades, starting in 1996 on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She’s still book clubbing, and this month she picked her 111th title!
What Oprah said about the book: “You likely haven’t heard of this novel (it just came out today!), but you may remember its author from his first novel, Model Home, which was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award. Oprah calls Puchner a ‘master storyteller’ and describes her latest pick as ‘an exquisite examination of the most important relationships we have in our lives.’”
Follow Oprah’s Book Club on social media: Instagram, Twitter
Good Morning America’s GMA Book Club
Count My Lies by Sophie Stava
About the book club: Read along with Good Morning America Book Club, which aims to “showcase book picks from a wide range of compelling authors.”
What GMA said about the book: “With a razor-sharp plot and shocking twists, Count My Lies is an unputdownable suspense novel about deception, privilege and the price of keeping up appearances.”
GMA Young Adult pick: “💌 The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor is our #GMABookClub YA pick for March! 💌
This dark academic fantasy is full of deadly magic and dangerous secrets and follows Maeve as she risks everything to uncover the truth after receiving a mysterious letter about her father.”
Reese’s Book Club
Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall
About the book club: Every month, Reese Witherspoon picks a book for Reese’s Book Club that centers a woman in its story.
What Reese said about the book: “The March @ReesesBookClub pick is here, and you’re going to LOSE YOUR CHICKEN over it! 🤯 Broken Country by @ClareLeslieHall is a gripping mix of thrilling murder mystery, and a once-in-a-lifetime chance to relive your truest love story all over again… plus, that ending?! I did NOT see it coming!”
Follow Reese’s Book Club on social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube
