January 2026 Celebrity Book Club Picks, Ranked By Reviews

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January is a notoriously gray and dreary month, which is why it's ideal for curling up with a good novel. Whether you prefer the escapism of the fantasy romance book series dominating the New York Times bestseller list or a can't-put-it-down thriller, a great story can transport you. And after a 2025 where a lot happened, politically and culturally, it's exactly what we need.

If you're trying to decide what to read next, let Dua Lipa, Oprah, and Reese Witherspoon be your guide. Not only do their clubs offer highly lauded recommendations, they also allow you to participate in added discussion about the novels. Some of these clubs even offer exclusive interviews with the author, allowing you the chance to go deeper with the story.

Meanwhile, celebrity book clubs have had a major influence on the publishing industry. Stories that garner a celebrity pick typically shoot to the top of bestseller lists, which can be a blessing for debut authors trying to gain name recognition. "This is positive influencer behavior," wrote one Reddit user. "It's so rare. Don't let it die." So allow yourself to be directed to one of the highly regarded titles to jumpstart 2026.

Dua Lipa kicked off the year with a bang, selecting long time collaborator Mark Ronson's memoir "Night People: How to Be a DJ in '90s New York City" as the January 2026 pick for her Service95 Book Club. Ronson, a Grammy-winning producer who has worked with artists ranging from Lady Gaga to Amy Winehouse, traces his experience in the nightlife scene and music industry for an immersive portrait of the bygone decade. It turns out that his talent translates from beats to the page. "I knew my friend Mark was a genius in the studio, so to find he is also a pretty fine writer is an added joy," Lipa told GQ. "Reading this book makes me want to hit the clubs and dance all night."

Reviewers praised the book for its nostalgic portrait of the '90s as well as Ronson's unbridled honesty. "This was one of my favorite reads of the year: a deep dive into 90s New York night life that reads like a love letter to a lost art of partying and the music that soundtracked it," wrote one Goodreads reviewer.

Sylvia Plath's enduring and psychologically taut novel "The Bell Jar" was the January Pick for Dakota Johnson's Tea Time Book Club. The turbulent story follows Esther Greenwood, in New York City for a prestigious magazine internship, as she experiences a nervous breakdown that leads to her hospitalization. According to the book club's Instagram post, "The Bell Jar" is a long-time favorite of Johnson's. It also happens to be a book she's read onscreen; one X user shared snaps of the actress curled up with the classic novel during a scene in the 2016 film "How To Be Single." According to the Tea Time Book Club, Plath's prose will "leave the roots of your teeth tingling," and was well suited to anyone who loved the 2011 Lars Von Trier film "Melancholia" or preferred "not eating salad with your fingers."

I just spotted Dakota Johnson reading The Bell Jar in How to be Single and I am very excited about this because I looooove her. pic.twitter.com/6DiwFsdpf6

— Olivia Foster (@ladylazarusliv) October 20, 2020

The novel has been beloved for more than 30 years, in part for its claustrophobic depiction of the social expectations placed on women. "What is amazing about this writing is its immersive quality; you feel Esther's restrictive choices and alienation from her world," wrote one Goodreads reviewer. "The repeated questions (after she is being treated for her depression) about who will marry her now only reinforce the notion that for the intelligent and talented Esther Greenwood, there had never been a good way to extricate herself from a trap that she had always seen coming."

Jenna Bush Hager has a knack for selecting haunting domestic stories, like the heartbreaking family saga that was the very first Read With Jenna book pick, and her January 2026 selection confirms this. For the top of the year, the club will be diving into "Homeschooled: A Memoir," Stefan Merrill Block's intensely personal story about growing up outside the traditional school system, educated by his troubled mother. Block is relentlessly honest, and the narrative accumulates to a critique of the American homeschool system, which — without sufficient government oversight — allows many children to fall through the gaps. "I love its raw honesty and the very American story of one little boy growing up in a family where love is obvious, but so is dysfunction," wrote Jenna Bush Hager in the Instagram caption announcing the January pick.

Readers argue the strength of "Homeschooled" lies in its balance of uniquely personal story and universally applicable themes. "I liked it because it was well written and it resonated even though my life and upbringing was very different from his," wrote one Goodreads reviewer. "The mark of a good memoir is that it will connect with readers even when the subject or life of the writer is not at all the same." Block speaks frankly about his abusive mother without sliding into bitterness.

Reese Witherspoon did something unprecedented with her January 2026 book club pick: She selected a sequel. "The First Time I Saw Her" is the follow-up to a previous book club hit, "The Last Thing He Told Me," which Witherspoon herself produced into an acclaimed television adaptation starring Jennifer Garner. "I could not stop flipping the pages," said Witherspoon in an Instagram video where she chats with Jennifer Garner, who starred in the Apple TV series. "People are gonna love to have this in their book club. They're gonna love to see the return of these characters." The story centers, once again, on Hannah and her stepdaughter Bailey who are shocked out of the safe life they have built for themselves in Los Angeles by the reappearance of Hannah's husband, Owen.

Witherspoon is known to feature a good mystery — like the top rated thriller from Reese's Book Club — and author Laura Dave delivers here, with a harrowing, fast-paced narrative that will leave readers breathless. "Not only did it make tears stream down my face but it had my heart pumping away as the action took us from the streets of L.A. to the shores of the South of France," wrote one Goodreads reviewer. "Evocative, thought-provoking, and full of surprises, I was quickly swept up in this genre-bending tale to the extent that I couldn't put it down for even a minute."

The Good Morning America book club is currently featuring Paula McLain's novel "Skylark" for the month of January. The historical fiction book traces two different narratives in Paris: a woman during the 1600s and a man during World War II, teasing out the thematic similarities between two dramatically different lives. "Both storylines touch the underground space in Paris. There's the catacombs but there's also hundreds of square miles of underground tunnels," explained McLain, who spoke to Good Morning America about her inspiration for the story. "I took a six-hour clandestine tour of the tunnels with a guide... looking at these carvings and inscriptions that have been on the walls for thousands of years."

Readers were struck by the novel's elegant prose, and its immersive depiction of past Paris. "What a hauntingly beautiful novel that left me feeling both heartbroken and hopeful," wrote one Goodreads reviewer. "The characters are so rich, I felt their fear, longing, and desires as if I was alongside them in the midst of their turmoil."

In an effort to remain as objective as possible when ranking these book club selections, we ordered our picks based on the overall star rating on Goodreads. In the case of a tie, preference was given to the book with the highest volume of five-star ratings across both sites. We also surveyed user reviews to understand what readers liked and disliked about the selection in order to represent the book qualitatively as well as quantitatively.