{"id":56281,"date":"2025-05-03T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/?p=56281"},"modified":"2025-05-01T09:27:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T14:27:18","slug":"mays-celebrity-book-club-picks-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/mays-celebrity-book-club-picks-4\/","title":{"rendered":"May’s Celebrity Book Club Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bestsellers Club<\/a> is\u00a0a service that automatically places you on hold for authors, celebrity picks, nonfiction picks, and fiction picks. Choose any author, celebrity pick, fiction pick, and\/or nonfiction pick and The Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! Still have questions? Click here\u00a0<\/a>for a list of FAQs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a new month which means that Jenna Bush Hager and Reese Witherspoon have picked new books for their book clubs! Reminder that if you join Bestsellers Club<\/a>, you can choose to have their selections automatically put on hold for you.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>Oprah has selected Matriarch: A Memoir<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Tina Knowles-Lawson\u00a0for her latest pick.<\/p>\n

Curious what Matriarch<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.<\/p>\n

A revealing personal life story like no other\u2014enlightening, entertaining, surprising, empowering\u2014and a testament to the world-making power of Black motherhood<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou are Celestine,\u201d she said. She squatted to push the hair off my face and pull leaves off my pajama legs. \u201cLike my sister and my grandmother.\u201d And there, under the pecan tree, as she did countless times, that day my mother told me stories of the mothers and daughters that went before me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Tina Knowles, the mother of iconic singer-songwriters Beyonc\u00e9 Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles, and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: a determined, self-possessed, self-aware, and wise woman who raised and inspired some of the great artists of our time. But this story is about so much more than that.<\/em><\/p>\n

Matriarch begins with a precocious, if unruly, little girl growing up in 1950s Galveston, the youngest of seven. She is in love with her world, with extended family on every other porch and the sounds of Motown and the lapping beach always within earshot. But as the realities of race and the limitations of girlhood set in, she begins to dream of a more grandiose world. Her instincts and impulsive nature drive her far beyond the shores of Texas to discover the life awaiting her on the other side of childhood.<\/em><\/p>\n

That life\u2019s journey\u2014through grief and tragedy, creative and romantic risks and turmoil, the nurturing of superstar offspring and of her own special gifts\u2014is the remarkable story she shares with readers here. This is a page-turning chronicle of family love and heartbreak, of loss and perseverance, and of the kind of creativity, audacity, and will it takes for a girl from Galveston to change the world. It\u2019s one brilliant woman\u2019s intimate and revealing story, and a multigenerational family saga that carries within it the story of America\u2014and the wisdom that women pass on to one another, mothers to daughters, across generations.<\/em> – One World<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>Jenna Bush Hager has selected\u00a0The Names<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Florence Knapp for her May pick.<\/p>\n

Curious what The Names<\/strong><\/em><\/a> is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.<\/p>\n

The extraordinary novel that asks: Can a name change the course of a life?<\/em><\/p>\n

In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son\u2019s birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him. But when the registrar asks what she\u2019d like to call the child, Cora hesitates\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora\u2019s and her young son\u2019s lives, shaped by her choice of name. In richly layered prose, The Names explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.<\/em><\/p>\n

With exceptional sensitivity and depth, Knapp draws us into the story of one family, told through a prism of what-ifs, causing us to consider the \u201cone . . . precious life\u201d we are given. The book\u2019s brilliantly imaginative structure, propulsive storytelling, and emotional, gut-wrenching power are certain to make The Names a modern classic.<\/em> – Pamela Dorman Books<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>Reese Witherspoon has selected\u00a0Great Big Beautiful Life<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Emily Henry for her May pick.<\/p>\n

Curious what Great Big Beautiful Life<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.<\/p>\n

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they\u2019re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years\u2014or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she\u2019ll choose the person who\u2019ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice\u2019s head in the game.<\/em><\/p>\n

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice\u2014and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.<\/em><\/p>\n

Two: She\u2019s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.<\/em><\/p>\n

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can\u2019t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they\u2019re in the same room.<\/em><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s becoming abundantly clear that their story\u2014just like the tale Margaret\u2019s spinning\u2014could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who\u2019s telling it. –\u00a0<\/em>Berkley<\/p>\n

\n

Join Bestsellers Club<\/a>\u00a0to have Oprah, Jenna, and Reese\u2019s adult selections automatically put on hold for you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bestsellers Club is\u00a0a service that automatically places you on hold for authors, celebrity picks, nonfiction picks, and fiction picks. Choose any author, celebrity pick, fiction pick, and\/or nonfiction pick and The Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! Still have[Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[361,9934,10,1,8],"tags":[5293,9989,6096,6306,10226,10138,5267,2340,2538,1765,10225,10151],"class_list":["post-56281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-books","category-bestsellers-club","category-books","category-reference","category-staff-picks","tag-readwithjenna","tag-bestsellers-club","tag-celebrity-pick","tag-emily-henry","tag-florence-knapp","tag-great-big-beautiful-life","tag-jenna-bush-hager","tag-matriarch","tag-oprah-winfrey","tag-reese-witherspoon","tag-the-names","tag-tina-knowles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXx-eDL","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56281"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56877,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56281\/revisions\/56877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}