Play 2026 Book Bingo
Best Book Club Books for 2026
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.If you’re looking for new discussion-worthy book club books for 2026, you’ve come to the right place. Even if you’re not in a book club, as long as you love reading excellent books, these recommendations are for you!
Discussion-Worthy Book Club Recommendations for 2026
We originally published this list in January with titles publishing in the first part of the year, and now we’ve updated it to include books with release dates through October of 2026. Watch for further updates in our Friday newsletter!
Partita
Book Summary
Livia grew up in a small town in Eastern Tennessee farm country, where she honed her skills as a gifted pianist despite her difficult childhood. She uses her talent to leave her family behind and attend Indiana University’s music conservatory on a scholarship. At the school, she meets Sigurd, a political activist, who becomes her lover until an accident forces her to return home.
In the present day, Livia has made peace with her marriage and modest life back home. But when Sigurd calls out of the blue, she is shaken. She recounts all the good and the bad that have led her to her current self as she weighs whether or not to accept his invitation to reunite.
Good People
Book Summary
In the manicured suburbs of Northern Virginia, the Sharafs look like a model success story. Afghan refugees who fled war and rebuilt from nothing, they’ve earned the house, the reputation, and the quiet respect of neighbors and community alike. They are the very picture of the American dream. But a family this admired is also a family closely watched, and the people around them, both in the Afghan community and beyond it, each hold their own version of who the Sharafs really are.
Then the eldest daughter, Zorah, is dead, and a private tragedy becomes public property. Through a mosaic of voices including neighbors, acquaintances, eyewitnesses, newspaper articles, and police reports, the story of what happened is pieced together from the outside in, with the family’s own perspective conspicuously absent. As gossip hardens into narrative and assumption into judgment, the same set of facts bends toward wildly different conclusions, forcing the question of how well anyone can ever truly know the people next door.
What to Expect in This Book
This story is told in a true crime format, with all the POVs coming from outside the Sharaf household. The audiobook uses full-cast narration to fully immerse you in the different points of view.
From the subject matter to the unique ways the story unfolds, you’ll have plenty of talking points for your book club with this debut. The story does include some violence, so be sure to check trigger warnings if needed.
Peck & Peck
Book Summary
Peck & Peck is the world’s most renowned but dysfunctional poetry journal, and they’ve just hired twenty-something Batter Gray. He had a rough start to life, losing his twin brother at birth and then being named after his mother’s heroic dog.
To Batter, poetry not only represents the power of humanity but holds the key to its survival. As he finds his footing among the eccentric Peck & Peck crew, Batter discovers the transformative power of language and a community he never knew he needed.
Thoughts on This Book
If your book club enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry, don’t miss this much-anticipated sophomore novel by Bonnie Garmus. Keep in mind that it’s a character-driven literary fiction, with a mix of emotion, humor, and absurdity.
Daughters of the Sun and Moon
Book Summary
In 1870, three young women arrive in post-Civil War Los Angeles, then a small, dusty, and violent pueblo of 6,000 people. Seventeen-year-old Dove is sent for her arranged marriage to a much older merchant. Her bound feet and father’s role as an imperial scholar give her a higher position in life.
Petal is a big-footed daughter of peasants and was sent to Gold Mountain (America) when her father sold her to buy rice seed. On the ship, she is sold again.
Moon is the most educated of the group and is already married to a doctor of Chinese medicine. She speaks English and has a beautiful face, but her failed footbinding caused a limp that diminishes her value in the eyes of others.
While all three have come with desires such as love, freedom, and justice, they arrive in a town rife with anti-Chinese sentiment. During the Night of Horrors, in which rioters attacked the Chinese population of LA, they face the unthinkable and must use bravery, endurance, and friendship to survive.
About the Author
Lisa See’s novels, including Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, The Island of Sea Women, and The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, are always rated very highly by our readers. We can’t wait to pick up this release because we know it will be both a page-turning read and an educational one, as we were previously not aware of the Chinese Massacre of 1871, also known as the Night of Horrors.
Life as Planned
Book Summary
Identical twins Remy and Ashleigh had their futures forever altered by a childhood decision, and that act of love follows them for decades even as they follow dramatically different courses.
Ashleigh lives in London with a great career, dream house, and a picture-perfect family. But everything she has is built upon a lie. Meanwhile, Remy stayed in their smaller town and finds joy in simple pleasures while still feeling the weight of being the ‘other twin’ who hasn’t outwardly achieved as much as Ashleigh.
Despite their separation, both sisters long for the closeness they once had. But is it too late?
Thoughts on This Book
If your club enjoys books that explore ‘the path not taken,’ this poignant family drama could be a hit.
The Burning Side
Book Summary
The same night that Leo reveals to his wife April that he’s ready for a divorce, their home catches fire as their children sleep. While they all make it out of the home safely, watching happy memories burn is especially devastating at a time when they don’t expect to make new positive memories together.
April’s parents invite them to stay at their home, and the close proximity makes it apparent for the first time that April’s dad is struggling with his memory. As the story unfolds, we see how April and Leo fell in love in the past, along with the pivotal moments that led them to their present brokenness. The narration alternates between Leo, April, and April’s mom, giving a well-rounded view of the family.
Why This Book Made the List
This is a phenomenal sophomore novel by the author of The Bright Years, and it packs the same emotional punch. Sarah Damoff seems to understand humans on a deep level and uses beautiful words to help readers feel what the characters are experiencing.
The Seven Daughters of Dupree
Book Summary
In 1995, 14-year-old Tati is determined to find her father’s identity. However, her mom and grandma have many secrets with no inclination to share them. As Tati digs into her family history, she finds more questions than answers.
Tati’s 1995 storyline alternates between her POV and those of her female ancestors, going all the way back to Jubi’s attempt to pass as white in 1917. You’ll see both trauma and resilience passed down through the generations.
Thoughts on This Book
If your club loves multigenerational sagas, this is a compelling pick! Keep in mind that, because the timeline isn’t linear and covers seven generations, it may slow your reading speed, as more focus is required to follow the connections. That said, the novel is on the shorter side at only 336 pages, so it’s not as large a time commitment as the synopsis may lead you to believe.
The Calamity Club
Book Summary
The Great Depression is deepening across the country, including in Oxford, Mississippi, where both rich and poor families have fallen on hard times. But the old social order remains, which makes things even harder for women without status.
In this tough environment, the lives of Meg, Birdie, and Charlie collide into an unlikely sisterhood as they try to take control of their lives. Meg is an eleven-year-old at the Orphan Asylum who is determined to keep her spirit despite being deemed unadoptable. Birdie is unmarried and has come to town to ask her social-climbing sister for help. And Charlie is running from her past and out of luck, but still full of grit.
What Made This One of Our Favorites
This is the first book from Kathryn Stockett since her best-selling debut novel, The Help, seventeen years ago.
One of our long-time readers picked up this book as soon as it was released and immediately emailed us after reading, recommending that we also pick it up ASAP. She said, “It’s stunning in every sense of the word. I’ve read/listened to quite a few fantastic books this year so far, but this is in the foreground by miles.” And she was right!
This is a long book (Angela listened to the audio version, which clocks in at 29 hours), but it’s so, so worth it! You’ll laugh, cry, and cheer while savoring every beautiful word of this epic story of resilience and friendship.
Book Summary
For sixty years, eighty-one-year-old Elsie has lived on the same idyllic street. She’s equal parts cantankerous and witty, but no one would guess that she’s kept her real identity hidden all these years.
When her 93-year-old neighbor passes away, Elsie becomes a “person of interest” to the police. They discover that as a child, she was known as “Mad Mabel,” due to a series of deaths around her, culminating in a murder charge when she was a teenager.
When Elsie agrees to be interviewed on YouTube, you’ll see her life story unfold in a dual timeline, including her present-day friendship with her 7-year-old neighbor, Persephone.
Our Thoughts on This Book
This book truly has a bit of everything. While Sally Hepworth normally writes twisty suspense thrillers, and Mad Mabel includes those aspects, it also stretches beyond what you would expect into a very character-driven dual-timeline read about family, friendships, and the enduring effects of childhood trauma. Melissa couldn’t put it down and immediately recommended it to her sister-in-law, who also loved it.
We recommend not reading any other reviews before picking this one up to avoid spoilers, but if you have any specific sensitivities, check for trigger warnings, as some tough topics are included.
Keeper of Lost Children
Book Summary
In 1965, teenage Sophia had the opportunity to integrate a prestigious boarding school in Maryland. But a chance meeting with a classmate unveils a secret that upends her world.
In the 1950s, Ethel spots a group of mixed-race children following a nun. Desperate for her own family with her American husband, she’s intrigued and follows them.
In 1948, Ozzie volunteered for the Army, hoping to help break barriers for other Black soldiers. Unfortunately, he finds that racism has followed him from Pennsylvania to his assignment in Allied-occupied Germany. His only solace is in the arms of Jelka, a German woman struggling with the lack of resources in her destroyed country.
The story alternates between the lives of these characters until we see how one woman’s vision will change the course of countless lives.
Historical Context
This novel from the author of The House of Eve and Yellow Wife is based on the real Mabel Grammer and her “Brown Baby Plan.”
Whistler
Book Summary
Fifty-three-year-old Daphne is visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art with her husband, Jonathan, when he notices a white-haired man seems to be following them. While Daphne thinks he’s imagining things, Jonathan eventually approaches the man and is shocked to learn that the man was Daphne’s stepfather, Eddie, whom Daphne hasn’t seen since she was a child.
While their relationship was brief, they adored each other and had a lasting impact on each other’s lives. Now that they’ve met again, it’s finally time to talk about a fateful accident that changed the trajectory of the family.
After the meeting, the story continues in alternating timelines between Daphne as a child in the 1980s and her present-day life in NYC, as we slowly discover what happened that separated Daphne and Eddie while watching them reunite as adults.
Why This Book Made the List
Melissa saw an interview with Ann Patchett in which she said that only a few pages of this book mention a horse, yet she worked with a painter to create the perfect horse for the cover. She was intrigued enough to pick up the book right away without even reading the description.
Ann Patchett narrates the book herself, which adds to the story and makes it feel more personal, which is perfect for the book’s themes of family. Melissa was drawn into the story immediately and kept finding tasks to do around the house that would give her time to listen. Just keep in mind that it’s a very character-driven read about relationships rather than an action-heavy read.
A Pair of Aces
Book Summary
In 1930s New York, the notorious Mob boss Lucky Luciano brought together two unlikely allies. Eunice Carter is Manhattan’s first Black female prosecutor, and she is determined to bring him down, despite all the prosecutors who failed before her. Polly is the madam for a high-class brothel, but Lucky has endangered her girls, and she’s ready to see the end of his reign.
Together, Eunice and Polly use a unique network of women to assemble the evidence that launches the most sensational trial New York City has ever seen.
About the Authors
We’ve really enjoyed the first two collaborations by this writing duo, The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies. They do a great job telling the stories of impactful women that history has forgotten.
Marie Benedict also has a solo-authored 2026 release that could be a good book club pick titled Daughter of Egypt about Lady Evelyn Herbert, who was present when Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened in the 1920s, and the mystery surrounding Egypt’s first woman pharaoh.
More Than Enough
Book Summary
Polly is a high school English teacher who is open to discussing anything, including her struggles with IVF, her complicated relationship with her mother, and the lives of her private school students, with her close-knit book club. Other than her verterinarian husband, the other three women are the bedrock of her life.
However, everything changes when they give her a DNA kit as a joke, and she is matched with a stranger. While Polly is sure that it’s a mistake, she also starts investigating her family’s past.
What to Expect in This Novel
Anna Quindlen excels at writing character-driven novels about “average,” relatable women. While the DNA test has a mysterious element, the book unfolds slowly as you step into the characters’ daily lives.
Like many real-life book clubs, the book club in More Than Enough serves as a regular connection point between friends rather than a time when they actually discuss books. However, you’ll still find some literary references related to Polly’s job teaching English at a private high school.
Hollow Bones
Book Summary
Molly was only two months old on September 11th, 2001, but that day changed the trajectory of her life. Her mother went to an appointment that morning at the World Trade Center and never came home. Though her father and stepmother gave her a beautiful life and loved her dearly, she grew up with a dread of disasters.
As an adult, Molly runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness and is charged with minimizing the loss of life during storms, epidemics, and airplane crashes. Her new husband works as a police polygraph expert, and their love for each other is a solace in this dangerous world.
But then something unexpected upends their marriage and makes them both question everything they thought they knew.
Consider This Before Reading
While not marketed as a sequel, this book shares characters with Picoult’s 2004 bestseller, My Sister’s Keeper, and does include spoilers for the ending of that book. So, if it’s on your TBR list, be sure to read it before Hollow Bones.
This novel features multiple POVs, and reviewers say you’ll change who you’re rooting for as the story evolves and moral dilemmas are introduced.
Check trigger warnings if needed, as some difficult topics are included.
When Lemons Give You Life
Book Summary
Retired Michelin-star chef Griff Barlow now lives at the Sunny Glen Aged Care Facility, where the beige slop they call food has caused him to completely lose his appetite. Done with living, he breaks into the nursing home kitchen to bake himself one last tart. He intends it to be his final meal, but he finds that cooking stirs a dormant joy.
Griff begins regularly sneaking into the kitchen after dark to serve much-needed flavor and comfort to his fellow residents. In turn, they feel more alive with each delicious bite of his cooking. But behind the apron is a lie big enough to destroy the one thing Griff has left to protect.
Meanwhile, Griff’s younger sister, Lisa, is navigating both a midlife ADHD diagnosis and a spark of new romance. Despite their fractured sibling relationship, she is his sole visitor at Sunny Glen, showing up time and again in hopes of reconciliation.
Can Griff and Lisa finally discover a recipe for forgiveness?
Why We Think You’ll Love It
We adored Anna Johnston’s debut novel, The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife, so we can’t wait to read her sophomore novel, which is described as a heartwarming and humorous story about forgiveness and second chances.
Johnston draws on her past experience as the social support coordinator in her grandfather’s nursing home to once again bring her setting to life.
Kin
Book Summary
Vernice and Annie have known each other their whole lives. They were raised in the same small town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana. Bonded at an early age by the loss of their mothers (one through death and the other through abandonment), the girls formed a deep friendship. But they are fated to lead very different lives.
After her mother’s death, Vernice’s aunt is determined to give her a stable home, and at the age of 18, Vernice moves to Atlanta to attend Spelman College. There, she joins a sisterhood of powerfully connected Black women and marries into a wealthy family.
Annie, on the other hand, is constantly haunted by the hole in her life left by her mother’s abandonment and is fixated on the idea of finding her. Her efforts to track her mother down set her on a journey into a world of peril and adversity that will lead her to a battle for her own life.
Thoughts on This Book
Tayari Jones, the author of An American Marriage, is a master at writing complex relationships. Set in the South throughout the 1950s and 60s, a time of segregation and the Civil Rights Movement, Kin is a novel about powerful bonds of friendship and sisterhood, as well as mothers and daughters.
Early readers of this novel say that it does not have a concrete ending that ties up all of the loose ends, but rather leaves certain questions up to the interpretation of the reader. Keep this in mind if you prefer a story with a clear and definitive conclusion.
Good Joy, Bad Joy
Book Summary
Joy has followed all the rules for eighty years. She was a devoted wife and mother in a quaint Hudson Valley town, contrary to her lifelong best friend, Hazel, who has always been adventurous and still lives in Brooklyn. When Hazel is diagnosed with a terminal illness, she’s comfortable knowing that she’s already lived a full life. However, Joy is devastated by the news.
Joy becomes determined to not only make the most of Hazel’s final moments, but to make sure she’s not wasting her own final years as well. And if she needs to break a couple of laws and, along the way, make friends with a newcomer the neighbors believe is a criminal, so be it.
Our Thoughts on This Book
Melissa loved Mikki Brammer’s first novel, The Collected Regrets of Clover, so she couldn’t wait to pick up her sophomore release. Thankfully, it didn’t disappoint and contained the same mix of heart and humor. It’s a good read for fans of Fredrik Backman!
This Story Might Save Your Life
Book Summary
Best friends Joy and Benny cohost a beloved podcast where they share a new survival story each week, finding life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Not only does everyone want to be their friend, but it’s a lucrative empire thanks to the business-savviness of their manager, Xander, who is also Joy’s husband.
One morning, Benny arrives at Joy and Xander’s to find shattered glass and an empty house. The only clue he can find is a previously unseen first draft of Joy’s memoir. As time passes, the odds seem unlikely that the couple will be found alive, and police have Benny at the top of their suspect list. Millions of listeners feel like they know everything about Joy and Benny, but what secrets have they hidden from their fans, and each other?
Reader Thoughts on This Book
Angela listened to the audiobook, which features one of her favorite narrators – Julia Whelan, alongside Sean Patrick, and the chemistry between the two in their podcast scenes really made her fall in love with the characters.
The short chapters alternate between Benny’s perspective after Joy’s disappearance and excerpts from Joy’s draft memoir that give you glimpses into the past. Many of the chapters end with mini-cliffhangers, making the book impossible to put down. Angela binged it in just two days and was torn between racing to the finish and not wanting it to end. If only Joy and Benny’s podcast were real, Angela would be a loyal listener, for sure!
Land
Book Summary
On a remote peninsula at the western edge of Ireland, the land is still raw with loss more than a decade after the Great Hunger (the potato famine). Tomás is a gifted but poorly paid surveyor hired by the British Ordnance Survey to map the territory and tally the devastation the potato blight left behind. His ten-year-old son, Liam, is by his side, but would rather be anywhere than out chronicling the wreck of a world he’s only beginning to understand.
But the deeper Tomás and Liam move into the land, the more they find that maps can’t hold everything. Beneath the official survey lies another history of the settlers, invaders, and oppressors who shaped this ground long before the famine, and of the people and stories that refuse to be erased from it. As father and son press on, something shifts in Tomás, and Liam must reckon with a change he doesn’t understand and a task far larger than the one they set out to complete.
What to Expect in This Book
Although this story centers on Tomás and Liam ten years after the Great Hunger, it also stretches back millennia and forward a century-plus, making it a sprawling, multigenerational, nonlinear novel. Most readers enjoy this deep look into Irish history, but if you prefer a linear structure, it may be a more challenging read.
That’s What Friends Are For
Book Summary
If you loved The Golden Girls, then you’re going to want to meet The Golden Gays of Palm Springs! Theodore (Teddy) has created a fabulous life in his pink, mid-century desert home that he shares with three friends. Barry is a former child actor still trying to cling to his youth and his hair. Ron is an uprooted Christian from the Midwest with a big heart. And Sid, who came out late in life, has never been in love. Despite their sniping and bickering, they’ve created a great life for themselves in their golden years.
Things get upended when Teddy’s estranged sister, Trudy, shows up at their doorstep alongside her dramatic teenage granddaughter. Despite Teddy’s efforts to keep Trudy at a distance, she manages to worm her way into all their lives. When the real reason for her visit is revealed, the secrets they’ve all been keeping begin unraveling.
Why This Book Made the List
Wade Rouse said he was inspired by the character Coco, the gay housekeeper on the hit TV show The Golden Girls, who was cut after the pilot episode to make room for Sophia as a main character. In an interview with People magazine, Rouse explains, “I fictionalize the life of this actor who had the role of a lifetime ripped away from him and share the struggle of a man trying to get that back his entire career.”
For the past decade, Wade Rouse has been publishing feel-good novels under the pen name Viola Shipman. He chose that alias to honor his grandmother, whose memory inspires his works of fiction. This novel marks his first novel published under his own name. Likewise, it is his first novel to feature gay main characters.
Angela picked this book up as soon as it was published, and it is one of her favorites of the year! It’s the perfect balance of humor and heart, and by the last page, Angela was so sad to say goodbye to Teddy and his wonderful friends!
Book Summary
In 1664, Alouette was the 18-year-old daughter of a master dyer at the famed Gobelin Tapestry Works. She dreams of a life bigger than the one she was born into, but instead, her life takes a terrible turn when her dad is wrongfully arrested. Things get worse when she tries to save him, but instead ends up sent to the Salpêtrière asylum, where thousands of women are held captive and cruelly treated. But she’s not the only brave woman there, and she finds some unlikely allies.
Three centuries later, in 1939, a medical student named Kristof is doing his psychiatric residency in Paris. His neighbors are a Jewish family who fled Poland, but now the Nazis are threatening their new home. Kristof is their only hope of survival. Over the next three years, his life looks dramatically different from what he planned when he entered medical school.
Thoughts on This Book
Unlike most popular dual-timeline novels that contrast WWII with a present-day storyline, Skylark takes us back to a less commonly covered period in history. This would be a great fit for clubs that enjoy historical fiction but are looking for an interesting twist. Plan on discussing how you think the stories are related to each other.
Be aware that the story starts at a slower pace, and it may take you a bit longer than normal to be hooked. However, reviewers say it’s worth the wait, and you will connect with the characters once you get to know them.
Big Little Truths
Book Summary
Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie had five-year-olds in Big Little Lies, but now it’s been ten years, and the women are dealing with teenagers and all the drama that comes with fifteen-year-olds. While most of the parents are currently in an uproar about the high school principal receiving a finger in the mail, these women have more pressing concerns.
Celeste’s mother-in-law, Mary Louise, is behaving oddly—is it old-age forgetfulness and forthrightness, or something more sinister? Madeline is facing perhaps the biggest challenge of her life; Jane is at a dangerous fork in her marriage; Bonnie has realized there’s only so much solace in yoga. And Renata is living her best life… Revenge is sweet.
When a strange man begins lurking around the school and asking questions, the women must finally face the full repercussions of the big little truths they have and haven’t shared with their kids.
Consider This Before Reading
We don’t normally include sequels on our book club book lists; however, we know that Big Little Lies was a huge book club read when it was released in 2014 and that many clubs will be eager to pick up this long-awaited follow-up.
That said, the publisher has also said that this book will stand alone if any of your members missed Big Little Lies or if you’ve forgotten the details.
Lake Effect
Book Summary
In 1977, Nina lived in Rochester, New York, with her husband and her teenage daughter, Clara. When a recently divorced friend gives her a copy of The Joy of Sex, it becomes impossible for Nina to ignore the lack of intimacy in her marriage. She finds herself craving more and pursues it through an intoxicating fling with a neighbor. But in doing so, she risks the reputations of both families and ends up unraveling her daughter’s world just as Clara is on the cusp of adulthood.
Years later, Clara works as a food stylist in New York City. She has never quite been able to move past the long-ago scandal of her mom’s affair. When she returns home for a family wedding while still wrestling with her own demons, she makes a decision that turns her life upside down.
Thoughts on This Book
While Angela really enjoyed Sweeney’s last novel, Good Company, it didn’t quite hit the mark with many readers. However, the early reviews of Lake Effect are singing its praises, and we are looking forward to diving into the family drama.
This promises to be another novel where you won’t always agree with the characters’ decisions, but often those books provide the very best discussion opportunities!
Where the Wildflowers Grow
Book Summary
Leigh is the last person in her family line, and she knows this because she witnessed the death of everyone else. And when the transport bus to prison that she’s on crashes, she again witnesses the death of everyone but herself. The only option she sees is to do what she’s always done. She must find a way to survive.
As she searches for a safe place to hide, Leigh finds a flower farm, tucked away from the rest of the world. The owners have built it from the wreckage of their own lives, creating a peaceful found family. As she begins to heal and find redemption on the farm, she’s still at risk of her past catching up to her.
A Far-Flung Life
Book Summary
This epic novel is set in the vast expanse of Western Australia, where a million-acre sheep station is merely a dot on the map.
All it takes is a few seconds of inattention on a lonely outback road for the lives of the MacBride family to be forever shattered. But fate wasn’t done with them yet. Another turn of events will cause one of them to lose their life and another to sacrifice theirs for the sake of an innocent child.
Why This Book Made the List
It’s been more than a decade since we read M.L. Stedman’s debut novel, The Light Between Oceans, and yet the story has stuck with us all these years. We still think about the moral complexities of good people making bad decisions with the best intentions.
We’re excited for Stedman’s long-awaited sophomore novel. This family saga promises to also challenge readers with moral and ethical questions.
Life: A Love Story
Book Summary
Ninety-two-year-old Florence “Flo” Greene is nearing the end of her life and has decided to leave her home and her possessions to Ruthie. Although she has since moved away, Ruthie grew up next door to Flo and is like a surrogate daughter to the elderly woman.
In addition to her will, Flo decides to write Ruthie a letter detailing the meaningful events of her life and the objects of significance in her home. All the while, Flo continues to seek out new adventures and to intervene in the lives of her friends and neighbors.
In her final weeks, Flo encourages Teresa to open her heart to romance; she visits the library for advice from librarian Mimi; and she counsels Ruthie to give her marriage another chance by sharing a long-held secret about her own seemingly perfect husband.
Why This Book Made the List
Several of Elizabeth Berg’s novels have been popular with our readers across our reading challenges, so her 2026 release immediately caught our eye. We love an uplifting read, and we know many of you do, too!
Women of a Promiscuous Nature
Book Summary
Ruth is a young, unmarried woman who has never shared more than a kiss with a man. But one day, she’s walking through town to her diner job when she’s stopped by the local sheriff, who insists that she accompany him to a health clinic. By the end of the day, she is one of dozens of women suspected of being “promiscuous,” held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women.
Dorothy is the colony’s superintendent and believes she is transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society. And she creates these transformations through her strict rulebook and harsh consequences for anyone who doesn’t stay in line.
Why This is a Great Book Club Pick
The questions about eugenics that arise when learning about the early-20th-century ‘American Plan’ policies (linked to the Chamberlain–Kahn Act) will give your club plenty to discuss. It’s a great pick for clubs that had good discussions about Take My Hand.
Printable Version of this List
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Will These Books Be Easily Available at Libraries?
While many of our curated book lists are filled with high-quality backlist titles, sometimes it’s fun to look ahead and explore upcoming book releases. If your book club members prefer to obtain their books from the local library, then new releases aren’t always the best option. Unfortunately, popular books published this year are likely to have long library waitlists.
For great recommendations from prior years, be sure to check out our list of Best Books Club Books of 2025, Best Books Club Books of 2024, Best Book Club Books of 2023, and Best Book Club Books of 2022. We also have more great book club picks on our Book Club Resources page, as well as lists of the best backlist books from each year from 2012 forward.
More 5-Star Book Recommendations
If you’re looking for more five-star book recommendations, be sure to check out the lists below. Each one is filled with excellent book ideas for your book club.
