7 Reese Witherspoon Book Picks to Read While Waiting for Whiskey in a Teacup

August 30 2018
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Reese Witherspoon is not only a talented actress but also a huge bookworm. Over the past several years she has optioned several books to adapt into movies or TV series. She has produced and starred in several adaptations including A Wrinkle in TimeWild, and the HBO hit series Big Little Lies.  

In recent years she also launched her own book club to help highlight women’s stories. Here are some of my favorite picks from the Reese Witherspoon Book Club, which I’ll be reading in the buildup to Whiskey in a Teacup, pubbing on September 18th!  

This post was originally published on GetLiterary.com.

In a Dark, Dark Wood
by Ruth Ware

Reese is a big fan of Ruth Ware. She has recommended three of Ruth’s books to her book club. In A Dark, Dark WoodThe Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying GameLooking for a dark and twisty thriller (or three)Ruth Ware is perfect for you. Each of these stories will keep you guessing and keep you reading all night to uncover the mystery. 

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In a Dark, Dark Wood
Ruth Ware

*AUTHOR OF THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 and THE LYING GAME
*INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY, AND LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER
*SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

An NPR Best Book of the Year * An Entertainment Weekly Summer Books Pick * A Buzzfeed “31 Books to Get Excited About this Summer” Pick * A Publishers Weekly “Top Ten Mysteries and Thrillers” Pick * A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year * A BookReporter Summer Reading Pick * A New York Post “Best Novels to Read this Summer” Pick * A Shelf Awareness “Book Expo America 2015 Buzz Book” Pick

What should be a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in Ruth Ware’s suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted psychological thriller.

Sometimes the only thing to fear…is yourself.

When reclusive writer Leonora is invited to the English countryside for a weekend away, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. But as the first night falls, revelations unfold among friends old and new, an unnerving memory shatters Leonora’s reserve, and a haunting realization creeps in: the party is not alone in the woods.

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Are You Sleeping
by Kathleen Barber

This contorted psychological thriller from Kathleen Barber is Serial meets In a Dark, Dark Wood. When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell talks about a murder case on a mega-hit podcast, the case is reopened and threatens to unravel the carefully constructed life of the victim’s daughter.  

Reese loved this story so much that she decided to adapt it for TV. The show will be produced by Reese’s Hello Sunshine production company and will star Octavia Spencer! We can’t wait to see it hit the silver screen next year!  

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Are You Sleeping
Kathleen Barber

Serial meets Ruth Ware’s In A Dark, Dark Wood in this inventive and twisty psychological thriller about a megahit podcast that reopens a murder case—and threatens to unravel the carefully constructed life of the victim’s daughter.The only thing more dangerous than a lie…is the truth. Josie Buhrman has spent the last ten years trying to escape her family and with good reason. After her father’s murder thirteen years prior, her mother ran away to join a cult and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie’s closest friend and confidant, betrayed her in an unimaginable way. Now, Josie has finally put down roots in New York, settling into domestic life with her partner Caleb, and that’s where she intends to stay. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past—starting with her last name. When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a megahit podcast that reopens the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, Josie’s world begins to unravel. Meanwhile, the unexpected death of Josie’s long-absent mother forces her to return to her Midwestern hometown where she must confront the demons from her past—and the lies on which she has staked her future.

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Luckiest Girl Alive
by Jessica Knoll

Reese Witherspoon described this book as “one of those reads you just can’t put down.”  

As a teenager, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue-blood fiancé, she’s  this close  to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve. But she has a secret that she hopes nobody will ever find out.  

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Luckiest Girl Alive
Jessica Knoll

Ani FaNelli is the epitome of young, modern women. And that’s not a good thing. Image-obsessed, cruel, and deceptive, Ani isn’t crazy so much as extraordinarily damaged from two traumatic high school events that are expertly revealed, piece by piece, in this masterful debut. I loved the anger in this political, well-observed novel, made more powerful by the reveal that Knoll’s own sexual assault contributed to its creation. Contemporary and timely: believe the hype.

Crazy like: Carrie Bradshaw with a cleaver.

Best crazy moment: Ani’s choice of porn. (Ouch.)

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In the Country We Love
by Diane Guerrero

You might recognize Diane Guerrero from Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, but her real-life story is even more eye-opening than the characters she plays. When she was just fourteen, her parents were detained and deported. She was at school when her parents were taken away. Born in the US, Diane was able to stay here and went to live with family friends.  

Today, many families around the country are also navigating the fallout from ICE raids, being torn apart and separated. In the Country We Love details Diane’s heartbreaking story and the struggles of many undocumented residents around this country and their fight to keep their families together.  

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In the Country We Love
Diane Guerrero

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Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
by Balli Kaur Jaswal

I have to say…this one caught my eye because of the title. I was born and raised here in the States, but my family is from the Punjab region of Pakistan. I grew up learning both English and Urdu with a little mix of Punjabi.  

The Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows is a tale of being stuck between cultures. A first-generation daughter of Indian immigrants, Nikki lives in West London. As a law school dropout, she doesn’t have a lot of cash, so she impulsively takes a job teaching a creative writing class at the Punjabi community center. She quickly learns that many of the women who signed up for the class thought they were taking an English literacy course, rather than learning the art of short-story writing. But when one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories among Nikki’s things, she suggests that those are the kind of stories they should be writing. Nikki learns that the widows have been hiding some sexy fantasies and memories underneath their white dupattas. Find out what happens as a consequence. 

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Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
Balli Kaur Jaswal

Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club Pick A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls. Every woman has a secret life . . . Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community. Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected—and exciting—kind. As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community’s "moral police." But when the widows’ gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife—a modern woman like Nikki—and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.

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Whiskey in a Teacup
Reese Witherspoon

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