Reese's Book Club Definitely Has A Preference For Picking This One Genre

Reese Witherspoon is famous for hand-selecting picks for her book club, which means the list inevitably reflects the actress's personal taste. She launched the club because she's a passionate reader, and it's clear she loves a good thriller since more than a quarter of her selections fall into that category. The book club spans across genres, including everything from true crime to westerns to mysteries, united by a woman protagonist leading the story. Still, page-turners and pot-boilers dominate this book club.

The best thriller and mystery picks from Reese's book club range in subject matter and feel, from the historical slow burn of Clare Leslie Hall's "Broken Country" to the unsettling violence of Xochitl Gonzalez's "Anita De Monte Laughs Last." Even in the informal beginnings of the book club, these gripping, tense stories were the ones that most captured Witherspoon's imagination. Early on, she secured the production rights to Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl" and Liane Moriarty's "Big Little Lies," helping to adapt both novels for the screen. While these weren't formal book club selections, they marked the beginning of Witherspoon's career pivot to literary tastemaker.

Reese Witherspoon's passion for storytelling comes through in her knack for selecting stories that resonate with audiences, often from little-known authors. "I always knew from the time I was seven that I wanted to be a storyteller or an actor or a singer," she told Vanity Fair. "Or a writer. I always wanted to be a writer. I think that's why I'm in awe of writers because I've tried to sit down and do it."

Among the female-led thrillers that Witherspoon has selected for her book club, the highest-rated ones tackle drama crackling under the surface of seemingly quiet lives. In addition to being the top-rated thriller from Witherspoon's book club, "Broken Country" by Clare Leslie Hall earned an average of 4.46 stars on Goodreads, bringing forth stories that explore the dark underbellies of women's lives. This is true, too, of "Were The Crawdads Sing" by Lucy Foley, which earned a whopping 4.38 stars on Goodreads, uncovering the dark secrets of a private girl who lives outside social conventions. Similarly, "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng, which earned 4.07 stars, depicts a suburban community bristling with racial and economic tensions — a story so compelling it's one of Witherspoon's book club picks that made it to the screen. If Witherspoon's book club is committed to representing the female experience, then her selection of thrillers round out that perspective while depicting the dark side of life.