There are certain questions book clubs are very good at answering.
Did you like the ending? Whose side were you on? What did you make of that character? Would you recommend it?
And then there are the questions we can debate all night but never really answer: Where did that idea come from? Did the author always know it would end that way? How much of this character came from real life? What did they mean by that scene?
For those, there’s really only one person who can tell us.
So we thought: Why not invite them to book club?
This winter, Reading Group Choices is launching something brand new: Author Book Club, a yearlong reading experience that brings readers and writers together in a whole new way.
Here’s how it works…
For each Author Book Club gathering, we’ll read two books.
One will be a book written by our featured author. We’ll get to talk about the story with the person who created it, hear some of what happened behind the scenes, and ask those questions we usually have to try to answer for ourselves.
But that’s only half of the experience.
We want these gatherings to feel like book club—not a webinar, not a lecture, and not an hourlong sales pitch for somebody’s latest release.
We want to talk about books with authors we love.
So each of our authors is also choosing another book for us to read together. It might be an old favorite, an inspiration, a recent discovery, or simply a book they’ve been wanting to read.
And when we discuss that book, the author becomes part of the book club. We’ll all come to the conversation having read the same book, ready to talk about what we loved, what surprised us, what we questioned, and everything in between.
So who will we be reading with for our very first season?
We have an incredible lineup of authors joining us:
- Matthew Norman, author of seven novels including Grace & Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon and Charm City Rocks.
- Sarah Damoff, bestselling author of The Burning Side and The Bright Years.
- Vincent Yu, author of Seek Immediate Shelter, a 2026 Obama Summer Reading pick.
- And Catherine Newman, bestselling author of Wreck, Sandwich, and We All Want Impossible Things.
Author Book Club will meet four times over the course of the year, with each live virtual gathering including one of our featured authors and lasting about an hour.
We’ll collect questions from members ahead of time, so there’s no pressure to raise a virtual hand or think of the perfect question on the spot. When the evening arrives, all you have to do is get cozy with a snack and your favorite beverage, and tune in.
And if life gets in the way and you can’t join us live, members will have access to recordings of the conversations afterward.
Our authors are ready. The reading lists are taking shape. And now we’re looking forward to the best part—bringing everyone together.
Enrollment is open, and Author Book Club begins this winter. We’d love you to join us for a year of great books, great authors, and even better conversations.
