How to Choose a Book

10 low-lift ideas for finding your next book club pick

Here's the scene: Your book club meeting is wrapping up. The lively conversation has dwindled, the snacks have been picked over, and everyone is keen to move on and get home. But first you have to figure out what to read next.

Sometimes the hardest part about a book club meeting is picking a book. Some clubs plan their entire year of titles in advance. But for many of us, the process isn't that organized. Maybe a few people have suggested titles (the same people every time, perhaps), but how can you quickly come to a group consensus? Here are ten low-lift ideas for choosing your next book club book.

1. Choose out of a hat  

Put all the suggested titles into a hat (or some other container) and allow the upcoming host to draw the winner. If you want to get even more random about it, pull suggestions from lists like this one, rather than getting them from group members.

2. Spin the wheel

Another idea we heard about is, instead of randomly selecting from titles, a group spins a wheel to randomly select the member who will make your choice. You could take this even further and follow up with a random selection of genre to give the chooser some direction and help ensure diversity of choices. It's simple enough to rig up a spinner (maybe you already have one from a board game or something) and use tape or sticky notes to affix the names of your members and types of genres you'd like to include

3. Anonymous vote

If you do have a list of suggestions to choose from and want to make the selection more of a democratic process, have people write down their number one choice and drop them into the hat and then tally the votes. Keep it anonymous to avoid hurt feelings or people voting based on who made the suggestion.

4. Take turns

If coming to a group consensus seems to be the challenge, consider a simple rotation, perhaps alphabetically, so that everyone gets a turn to choose a book. This can also serve as a way to include members who may be shy about voicing their preferences or opinions.

5. Check availability

It can be tempting to choose from the hot, new titles of the moment, but there's an argument to be made for choosing books that have been out long enough to find an inexpensive used copy or widely available through the library. To get you started, here is a list of great book club books that have lots of used copies available here at ThriftBooks.

• The Martian by Andy Weir—An astronaut fights to survive after being stranded on Mars.
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens—At once an ode to nature, a coming-of-age story, and a murder mystery.
• Into Thin Air by John Krakauer—The author's first-hand account of a disastrous storm on the summit of Mt. Everest that claimed five lives.
• Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult—A stunning page-turner with richly layered characters and a gripping moral dilemma.
• The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton—A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery.

To find more bestsellers available at great prices, explore our ThriftBooks Deals.

6. Revisit the classics

There's a reason they're still around. Most of the classics have become so because they're good! These are also titles that are generally available to borrow from the local library or find an inexpensive used copy. And, no matter how well read we are, there are always some acclaimed titles we've missed. Or perhaps we gave them a cursory read in school, but weren't ready to truly appreciate them. Here are some of the books on our lists.

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy—Who can resist a doomed love affair?
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier—This psychological thriller is a haunting gothic tale of obsessive love.
• Native Son by Richard Wright—A young Black man is caught in a downward spiral after killing a young White woman in a moment of panic.
• My Ántonia by Willa Cather—A spirited young immigrant pursues life and happiness in Nebraska.
• Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez—A man waits more than half a century for his true love.
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston—The story of a 1930s Southern Black woman exploring her independence.

7. Draw from past group favorites

What are some of the book club books you all remember enjoying? Make a list of these authors and start exploring their back catalogues. For example, our book club came up with this list of the authors who have written some of our group favorites:

• Donna Tartt—You may have read The Goldfinch or The Secret History, but have you tried The Little Friend?
• George Orwell—If your group loves 1984 and Animal Farm, try Coming Up for Air.
• Margaret Atwood—Go beyond The Handmaid's Tale, and dive into Oryx and Crake, the first in the excellent MaddAddam trilogy.
• Charles Portis—True Grit is his most popular title, but you can find the same wit and singular style in Norwood.
• Kazuo Ishiguro—If you're a fan of Never Let Me Go, try The Buried Giant.
• Ann Patchett—We loved The Dutch House, but you can't go wrong with any of her books, including her first novel, The Patron Saint of Liars.
• Cormac McCarthy—If The Road and No Country for Old Men struck a chord, we highly recommend Suttree.

8. Explore upcoming book-to-screen adaptations

We all like to read (or even reread) before we watch, so pay attention to the book-to-screen buzz and queue those most anticipated titles up on your book-club list. Here are a few that we're excited about.

• We Were Liars by Lockart has been adapted to a thriller television series coming out June 18 on Amazon Prime.
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley will get a flashy new treatment in the upcoming film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. It's scheduled for release, November 2025.
• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro: Directed by Taika Waititi, the film, slated for 2025 release will star Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams.
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is reported to be in development as the newest Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

9. Ask a trusted reader

Your local librarian or bookseller (or maybe even your well-read friends) are always good resources for book recommendations. Tell them what kinds of books your group has enjoyed and ask for a list of suggestions to bring to your group.

10. Choose a public or celebrity book club to follow

If you and your group really want to push the easy button and just find some sort of authority to suggest books on an ongoing basis, you could find a public or celebrity book club to follow. There are tons of these to research, but here are a few prominent options.

• The New York Times Book Review Book Club suggests one book each month to discuss with readers, complete with a discussion on their podcast. This month, it's Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.
• Since starting her book club in 1996, Oprah Winfrey has been a frontrunner in the celeb book club trend. Her current pick: The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong.
• International pop star, Dua Lipa created her book club with the goal of representing "diverse global voices, telling powerful stories spanning fiction, memoir and manifesto": Widow Basquiat by Jennifer Clement.
• "Where women's stories shine" reads the tagline for Reese Witherspoon's book club, with a focus on books "with a woman at the center of the story": The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King.
• TODAY host, author, and former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager hand-selects a new book every month to share with her book club: A Family Matter by Claire Lynch.

Are you a book club member? Let us know if you have any suggestions for choosing new books to read.

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Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon