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Since Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine got an infusion of capital in 2021, north of $900 million, the actor-producer-entrepreneur’s output has gone into overdrive. Last year alone, she produced suspenseful series “Surface” (Apple TV+), with Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and “Daisy Jones and the Six” (Amazon), starring Riley Keough, as well as features including the adaptation of Delia Owens’ novel “Where the Crawdads Sing,” the romcoms “Something From Tiffany’s” and “Your Place or Mine,” in which she stars opposite Ashton Kutcher, and the Netflix drama “From Scratch,” starring Zoe Saldaña.
For book lovers, the most satisfying aspect of all of Witherspoon’s projects is that they’re adapted from her favorite books which she adds on a monthly basis to a list called Reese’s Book Club Picks. From novels to memoirs to collections of essays, the list runs the gamut in terms of plot and theme — but in every book, a woman is at the center of the story.
Check out the ten of the most popular Reese Witherspoon picks below:
‘Tiny Beautiful Things’ by Cheryl Strayed
“Tiny Beautiful Things” is a collection of the best essays from Cheryl Strayed’s wildly popular advice column “Dear Sugar.” Including six new columns and a new preface, the book offers humor, insight, compassion and honesty to help readers navigate life’s challenges. Through Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine, the bestselling book of essays has been adapted to a new Hulu series starring Katheryn Hahn.
‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ by Laura Dave
At the onset of this this page-turning thriller from Laura Dave, adapted to a limited series on Apple TV+ starring Jennifer Garner, a woman named Hannah Hall receives a note from her husband asking her to take care of his daughter Bailey when he disappears. Despite her confusion and fear, she desperately attempts to contact him before federal agents come to her door and she realizes her husband’s identity is not what he claimed. With the help of Bailey, who up until this point resented her stepmother, they investigate Owen’s past and build a new future for themselves.
‘The Vanishing Half’ by Brit Bennett
Brit Bennett’s “The Vanishing Half” was one of the biggest books of 2020, and is now coming to the screen with Aziza Barnes set to write and produce the HBO adaptation. It tells the story of two identical twin sisters growing up in the Jim Crow South before escaping at 16 and pursuing divergent life paths. There have been no casting announcements for the highly-anticipated series yet.
‘Little Fires Everywhere’ by Celeste Ng
Witherspoon herself starred alongside Kerry Washington in the Hulu adaptation of Celeste Ng’s acclaimed novel, which touches on themes of motherhood and the intensity of teenage love. The story follows an enigmatic mother-daughter duo who move into a new town and whose unconventional lifestyle threaten to shake up their community.
‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens
Delia Owens’ best-selling novel, whose film adaptation is available to stream on Netflix, follows the wild and unkempt Kye, suspected of a mysterious murder in a quiet fishing village. In the film, Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kye, alongside Taylor John Smith and Harris Dickinson.
‘Daisy Jones & The Six’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The rollicking drama-filled book by Taylor Jenkins Reid centers on a fictional rock band in the 1970s, loosely based off of Fleetwood Mac, following their rise through the ranks of the LA music scene and beyond, eventually becoming one of the most legendary bands in the world. The TV adaptation, available to stream on Prime Video, was in the works even before the book’s 2019 release.
‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ by Gail Honeyman
“Fleabag” director Harry Bradbeer will be directing a film adaptation of “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine,” which became a bestseller for years after Witherspoon chose the book as a top pick in 2017. The story follows the socially awkward Eleanor whose life changes when she becomes friends with a deeply unhygienic IT guy that works in her office, rescuing each other from the isolation each of them had been living.
‘The Marriage Portrait’ by Maggie O’Farrell
“The Marriage Portrait” tells the somewhat true story of Lucrezia di Cosimo de’Medici, forced at 15 to marry the older Alfonso II d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, in order to unite two powerful families. Alfonso takes her to a remote palace where she is subjected to totalitarian surveillance and control, a chilling saga that portrays a woman trapped in a web of power and deceit.
‘The House in the Pines’ by Ana Reyes
In Ana Reyes’s suspense debut, a young woman is still haunted by the death of her childhood best friend. When she discovers a disturbingly similar incident, she must confront her own hazy memories and return to a cabin in the New England woods to unravel the truth that has eluded her for years. Armed with only her wits and determination, she delves deeper into the mystery and uncovers a chilling connection that threatens to shatter her world.
‘On the Rooftop’ by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Set against the backdrop of a gentrifying San Francisco in the 1950s, “On the Rooftop” is a wholly original novel about a loving mother whose dreams of musical stardom for her three daughters clashes with their own ambitions.
‘Honey and Spice’ by Bolu Babalola
From the bestselling author Bolu Babalola, “Honey & Spice” is a dishy romp that offers up a page-turning and steamy romance between a college radio host and the campus playboy.
‘Outlawed’ by Anna North
A fugitive 17 year-old girl named Ada thinks she’s found her save haven when she finds an atypical gang that’s made up of outcast women who have formed their own family outside of ordinary 19th century society. But when they hatch a treacherous, and possibly deadly, plan to solidify their group, she’s forced to decide whether she’s willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.
