Celebrity Book Club Picks for May 2026 #celebritybookclubs

Are you wondering what your favourite Celebrity Book Club is reading this month? Do you enjoy book communities as a way to read along with others? If so, each of these celebrity book clubs is internet-based and open to all who follow. So if you’re like me and always on the lookout for the next great read, you will now find these picks all in one spot – That Happy Reader’s blog! Without further ado, let me introduce you to Celebrity Book Club Picks for May 2026. Click on the book’s cover to add it to your Goodreads shelf!

Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club (Hello Sunshine)’s pick for May 2026:

Founded in 2017, Hello Sunshine always chooses books with women at the centre of the story. Their website notes “We make our choices thoughtfully and look for ways to deepen our connection to books, authors and ourselves”.   This book club chose “The Fine Art of Lying” by Alexandra Andrews as their May 2026 pick.

Summary:

Clare Bast, an art-loving woman who left upstate New York for Manhattan’s Upper East Side after marrying her wealthy husband Jed, struggles with feeling like an outsider in their elite Park Avenue life despite her attempts to fit in, including an unfinished PhD and raising their daughter Sadie. When she is introduced to influential figures in the art world, she begins to rediscover her passion and feels pulled back into the career she once abandoned, especially after finding a significant artwork tied to her research in the home of a charming art dealer. However, her renewed sense of purpose turns dangerous when she unexpectedly becomes entangled in a murder scene and the theft of a priceless painting, leaving evidence that points toward her. As suspicion grows, Clare is drawn deeper into a shadowy world of corrupt dealers and international crime, forcing her to fight to clear her name and protect her family.

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Good Morning America’s Book Club’s pick:

The GMA Book Club is officially called “Cover to Cover” and was started in the Fall of 2019. Their selections highlight diversity and books are chosen from both fiction and non-fiction genres. The book club chose “Homebound” by Portia Elan as their May 2026 pick.

Summary:

The story follows five interconnected lives across time and space, beginning in 1983 with Becks, a lonely teenager in Cincinnati coping with her uncle’s death by completing a half-finished game he left behind, an act that unknowingly sets off ripples far beyond her world. What she creates ends up influencing a scientist, a sentient automaton, and a sea captain in different eras and settings, all of whom are driven by their own searches for meaning and connection, alongside a mysterious space traveler on an important mission. As their stories unfold and intersect in unexpected ways, the narrative explores how individual actions can echo across centuries, ultimately forming a larger tapestry about human (and post-human) interconnection, love, and shared purpose.

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Read With Jenna (Jenna Bush Hager)’s pick:

In March 2019, the former First Daughter announced her book club on the Today show.  Each month she chooses a book that is sure to generate discussion.  Jenna chose “Caller Unknown” by Gillian McAllister as her May 2026 pick.

Summary:

Simone travels with her daughter Lucy from the UK to Texas for a final trip together before Lucy leaves for university, but their vacation takes a terrifying turn when Lucy disappears from their rental cabin and Simone receives a phone with instructions and a ransom demand telling her not to contact the police. Despite her husband’s urging to involve authorities, Simone follows the kidnappers’ orders to protect her daughter and goes alone to a remote meeting place, where she discovers the demand is not for money but for her to carry out an unthinkable task. This sets off a dangerous chain of events across isolated Texas towns and deserts, forcing Simone into increasingly impossible moral choices as she fights to get Lucy back and confronts the limits of what she is willing to do as a mother.

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Oprah’s Book Club:

Oprah Winfrey started this book club in 1996 as a segment on her TV show. Many obscure titles have risen to bestseller status as a result of her picks. This book club does not choose books on a monthly basis but Oprah’s latest pick is “Go Gentle” by Maria Semple .

Summary:

Adora Hazzard is a Stoic philosopher living a carefully balanced and contented life on New York City’s Upper West Side, where she raises her teenage daughter, works as a moral tutor, and enjoys the support of a close-knit group of like-minded women in her building. Believing she has mastered happiness by wanting only what she already has, she maintains a stable routine—until a chance encounter with a mysterious, attractive stranger disrupts everything. Her orderly existence quickly unravels as she becomes entangled in black-market art dealings, secret affairs, and international intrigue, while unresolved elements from her past resurface. As desire and curiosity pull her beyond her self-imposed limits, Adora is forced into a dramatic mid-life transformation that challenges her beliefs and compels her to risk everything for a life she never thought she wanted.

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Other Recent Celebrity Book Club Selections:

April 2026

March 2026

February 2026

Do any of the May picks appeal to you? I don’t think I’ll choose to read any of these. Come back next month as I let you know what the June picks are!