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How does your book club plan what you’re going to read?
Do you map out the selections months in advance, or do you take it month-by-month? Some of the online book clubs I’ve seen do the former, releasing their list for the year at once (Roxane Gay’s book club does this, as does Erin and Dani’s Indigenous Reading Circle). The book clubs I’m a part of plan things as the months go by, which I like, but I can see the pros of both ways. Planning ahead gives people ample time to order books and read them if they can. You could even plan more robust activities around the books if you want more of an immersive experience. Depending on the book, you could have themed brunches and maybe even book-relevant group museum trips.
On the other hand, planning books as you go helps people pivot as their interests change, and it’s always nice to be flexible. No matter your planning method, the books I’ve gathered below are all especially book club-friendly picks from our Most Anticipated Books of 2025 list. There’s plenty to talk about within these books, which have examinations of family trauma, hellish dark academia, and a zany half-sibling road trip.
Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson
Following up the 2022 smash hit Black Cake (which has already been adapted into a series on Hulu), Wilkerson has another account of a Black family’s past. This particular family’s history is marred by one singular event. When she was a child, Ebby Freeman found her brother Baz dead on the floor, surrounded by a shattered old jar. It flipped, understandably, flipped her whole life in well-to-do New England upside down. And now, looking to avoid the media frenzy all too ready to descend on the scandal of her high-profile romance disintegrating, she moves to France. But being in France has her thinking—thinking about her brother, what happened, and a certain broken stoneware jar that was brought up North by an enslaved ancestor, and that may shine a light on her future.
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
Kuang is back in her dark academia bag with her latest, which follows Alice Law as she vies to become the best in the field of Magick. And she does a lot to get there. But then Professor Grimes—the greatest magician in the world— dies, and it’s kind of her fault. To rescue him, she and her rival Peter Murdoch employ all the pentagrams, spells, and learning at their disposal to guide them through hell to retrieve him. Though it might not be enough.
Parts of this remind me of Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, more deliciously hellish dark academia.
Run For the Hills by Kevin Wilson
Madeline Hill’s dad is not only a deadbeat who left her and her mom to fend for themselves 20 years ago on their farm in Tennessee—he’s like the Deadbeat Final Boss, because it turns out that he’s been starting families and leaving them for years. At least, that’s what Reuben Hill—who was left behind by their dad 30 years ago—claims when he pulls up out of nowhere in a PT Cruiser. He tells Mad that he’s hired someone to find their father and their many half-siblings. It gets even more crunchy when Reuben suggests Mad hops in for a road trip to meet them all. As they meet more and more of their siblings, it becomes clear that they all got different versions of the man, which leaves the question of who they will encounter at the end of their journey. Get ready for a sibling story full of road trip hijinks and all the feelings.
Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki
Set in the Samurai era of Japan, this romantasy promises Outlander and The Hurricane Wars realness. In it, young Scottish woman Isla Mackenzie is in Japan researching her family history when a wild storm sends her 128 years back in time. She lands smack dab in the middle of the Satsuma Rebellion, and though she meets her ancestors and finds an unexpected love in the charming samurai, Kei, she ultimately knows what will happen. She’s not sure if she should change the course of history or just focus on trying to get back to the present day.
Suggestion Section
Nibbles and Sips: Biscoff No-Bake Cheesecake
