“It is not easy to make a friend let alone lose one.”
Looking for the perfect book club books for 2024? Whether you’re a seasoned attendee or just starting out with reading groups, choosing the right book is key to sparking meaningful discussions and keeping everyone engaged. Thankfully, 2024 is proving to be a real treasure trove of new releases, with a wide variety of genres and authors offering thought-provoking and compelling stories that are sure to get a conversation going. From thrillers that get your heart rate pumping to poignant pieces of literary fiction that explore deep emotional themes, we here at What We Reading thought we would round up the best book club books from 2024, all of which come with the potential of becoming a favourite at your next meet-up!
Goodbye Birdie Greenwing – Ericka Waller
Starting off our list of book club books from 2024 is Ericka Waller’s Goodbye Birdie Greenwing. The story follows Birdie, Ada and Jane, three women who are all lost in life. Birdie has been at a loss ever since her beloved twin sister and husband passed away eight years ago. Jane Brown hoped that a change in scenery would be the fresh start she needed. Whilst she has difficulty standing up for herself, her daughter, Frankie, has no such problem. Finally, Ada Kowalski thought that becoming an oncologist would be a dream come true. In reality, she is overworked, lonely and exhausted.
When a series of incidents brings their lives crashing together, these unlikely allies will find there’s always much more to an individual than what meets the eye. Goodbye Birdie Greenwing is a celebration of female relationships, exploring the decisions we make and how we justify them, making it perfect for dissecting in a reading group.
Annie Bot – Sierra Greer
Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner, Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical whims, she has his dinner prepared every evening, wears the outfits he picks out for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. She might not be the best at keeping his house tidy, but she is desperate to please him. She’s also beginning to learn.
Doug claims he loves that Annie’s artificial intelligence makes her seem more like a real woman. However, the more human Annie becomes, the less perfectly she begins to behave. As Annie’s relationship with Doug grows more difficult, she begins to wonder whether he truly wants what he says he does. One of the best feminist sci-fi novels, Annie Bot is full of themes to unpack that help make it one of the best book club books from 2024.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles – Rufi Thorpe
As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet has always been aware she would have to make it on her own. She enrols in her local junior college, though she has no idea how she’ll ever make a living. She never planned to have an affair with her English professor. Whilst the affair itself is brief, it’s still enough for her to wind up pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, Margo decides to keep the baby out of naivete and a desire to hold on to something bigger.
At twenty years old, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed and on the verge of eviction. When her father asks to move in with her, she hatches a plan to fix her money woes: starting an OnlyFans. With advice from her father about crafting a compelling character and making an audience fall in love with them, she soon finds herself a viral sensation. But, what will the price be of internet fame? Funny, insightful and tender, Margo’s Got Money Trouble is one of the best book club books from 2024 all about the power of controlling your own narrative through the lens of a relatable and loveable protagonist.
I Cheerfully Refuse – Leif Enger
One of the most popular 2024 book club books, Leif Enger’s I Cheerfully Refuse is the tale of Rainy, an aspiring musician setting sail on Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply loved, bookselling wife. On the water, he searches for refuge in the harbours, fogs and remote islands of the inland sea.
After running into lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, he soon lands and discovers an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling elite, a desolate infrastructure and a lawless society. As his guileless nature starts to make a rebel out of him, Rainy’s personal adventure to find the love of his life soon grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike along the way.
The Women – Kristin Hannah
Twenty-year-old nursing student France ‘Frankie’ McGrath was raised in the sun-drenched, picturesque world of Southern California, yet, when her brother is shipped out to serve in the Vietnam War, she finds herself following his path with the Army Nurse Corps. Frankie is quickly overwhelmed by the ferocity and destruction of conflict and becomes one of the lucky, brave, broken and lost.
But the war is just the start for Frankie and veteran compatriots. The real battle comes from returning home to an increasingly divided America to angry protesters and to a nation that is keen to forget all about Vietnam. Kristin Hannah’s The Women shines the spotlight on the untold story of the women who fought in Vietnam, as well as on all women who have committed and sacrificed so much for their nations. A story of bold patriotism and deep friendship, it is undoubtedly one of the best books for your book club in 2024.
Check Out The Best Books Like The Women
Mrs. Quinn’s Rise To Fame – Olivia Ford
One of the best book club books from 2024 for lighter reading groups comes from Olivia Ford in Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame. After fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health takes a turn for the worse, and her friends’ lives become focused on their grandchildren, Jenny decides she wants something for herself. She secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time television show, Britain Bakes.
She is whisked into an alien world of bright cameras and timed challenges, but Jenny soon finds herself revelling in her newfound independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, start to unearth memories that have been buried for decades. With her stock rising, she struggles to keep a lid on the one secret she has ever kept from her husband, something that could shatter the very foundations of their marriage. By putting herself in the limelight, has Jenny concocted a recipe for disaster?
The Heiress – Rachel Hawkins
When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman but also its most notorious. The victim of an infamous kidnapping as a child and a four-time widow, Ruby ruled over the small town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s grand estate in the Blue Ridge mountains. When she dies, all of her land and fortune are passed down to her adopted son, Camden. However, to everyone’s surprise, Cam announces he wants nothing to do with the money, or with the surviving McTavishes.
A decade on, the death of his uncle brings Cam and his wife, Jules, back to Ashby House. As the estate begins to take hold of the couple, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Were all of her husband’s deaths tragic accidents? And why did she adopt Cam? Soon, Jules and Cam discover inheritance can entail much more than what’s written in a will in this popular 2024 thriller book for reading groups.
The Fury – Alex Michaelides
Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex-movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the dreary English weather and spend Easter on her private idyllic Greek island. Only this year, a dramatic and tragic scandal would unfold. Lana and her friends find themselves trapped overnight, allowing old friendships to fester, and old resentments to brew.
Alex Michaelides’ The Fury is a 2024 thriller that follows the group and their cat-and-mouse game on the island. Full of wit, twists and turns and a shocking climax that concludes with violence and death, it is the perfect homage to classic mysteries like And Then There Were None, and full of discussion-worthy themes that help make it a great book club pick.
Check Out Our The Fury Book Review
The Husbands – Holly Gramazio
When Lauren comes home to her flat in London one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. The only problem is that she isn’t married. She has never seen this man before. Nevertheless, according to her friends, her much-improved decor and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.
As Lauren attempts to work out how she could be married to a person she can’t remember ever meeting, Michael ducks into the attic to change a lightbulb and suddenly vanishes. In his place, a new man appears and a new, somewhat altered life re-forms around her. Lauren realises that the attic is supplying an infinite supply of husbands. In her big-hearted 2024 debut novel, The Husbands, Holly Gramazio asks readers: if swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know when to stop trying to do better and start actually living?
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A Great Country – Shilpi Somaya Gowda
Pacific Hills in California is a gated community with ocean views, well-tended gardens, and blue pools. It is now the new home of the Shah family. For the Shah parents, moving into the community represents the crowning achievement of twenty years’ worth of hard work and dreaming. But, for their children, success is not so simple.
The differences among the five members of the Shah family are minor irritants, arguments between parents and children, and older siblings against younger ones. But, one evening, the twelve-year-old son is arrested. The fallout from that event shakes every family member’s perception of themselves as individuals, of their place in the community, and as Americans. Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s A Great Country is a poignant exploration of how we define success and explores themes of immigration, generational conflict, social class and privilege, providing the perfect amount of discussion points for any book club.
The God Of The Woods – Liz Moore
Early morning, August 1975: a camp counsellor discovers an empty bunk. Its owner, Barbara Van Laar, has disappeared. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old either; she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the residents in the region. And this isn’t the first time that a Van Laar child has vanished. Barbara’s older brother went missing in a similar fashion fourteen years previously and was never found.
As a panicked search gets underway, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the many secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in their shadow, Liz Moore weaves together a pulsating, multi-layered story that invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrecy and second chances. One of the best mystery book club books from 2024, The God of the Woods is full of reveals and twists that demand to be discussed.
Come And Get It – Kiley Reid
It’s 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job and buy a house of her own. So, when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy, albeit unorthodox opportunity, she jumps at the opportunity. Yet, Millie’s starry-eyed hustle soon becomes jeopardised by eccentric new friends, vengeful dorm pranks and illicit intrigue.
Kiley Reid’s 2024 book, Come and Get It is a story about a residential assistant and her messy entanglement with an older professor and three unruly students. One of the best book club books from the year, it delves into money, privilege, race and power dynamics that invites readers to draw their own conclusions, which should be great for encouraging a hearty discussion during your next meet-up!
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
