This post contains links to products that I may receive compensation from at no additional cost to you. View my Affiliate Disclosure page here.
The best book club picks for October 2020 list is ready for you!
I, for one, am so ready for all things fall! It takes a bit for that to arrive to Phoenix but I have already started to consume all the pumpkin bread so I think I’m off to a great start. Pumpkin treats and a book is always a great combo!
So the October book club list features books in all kinds of genres—time travel, literary fiction, fantasy, beach read thriller and even a Christmas romance, too. BTW, if you want something super spooky, I highly recommend you all check out The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James, which is on my must-read book club picks for 2020.
Let’s get into the best book club picks for October 2020!
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Matt Haig is very special to Book Club Chat. My book club questions for his novel How to Stop Time is actually the first article that went big for the site. When you start a new blog, it takes time to get traffic. After I wrote the questions for that novel, I started to receive lots of visitors! Anyway, I’m very excited that he has a new novel out, The Midnight Library. Here’s the synopsis:
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?
In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
You can order the book on Amazon here. Check back for my book club questions!
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab is getting a TON of good buzz! It’s definitely more historical fantasy and sounds really intriguing. Here’s the synopsis:
France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever―and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
You can order the book on Amazon here. Check back for my book club questions!
Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
Troubles in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand is the conclusion of her Winter in Paradise series. And what’s nice with her books is that you don’t have to read the other stories to understand what’s happening in the latest. Here’s the synopsis:
After uprooting her life in the States, Irene Steele has just settled in at the villa on St. John where her husband Russ had been living a double life. But a visit from the FBI shakes her foundations, and Irene once again learns just how little she knew about the man she loved.
With help from their friends, Irene and her sons set up their lives while evidence mounts that the helicopter crash that killed Russ may not have been an accident. Meanwhile, the island watches this drama unfold — including the driver of a Jeep with tinted windows who seems to be shadowing the Steele family.
As a storm gathers strength in the Atlantic, surprises are in store for the Steeles: help from a mysterious source, and a new beginning in the paradise that has become their home. At last all will be revealed about the secrets and lies that brought Irene and her sons to St. John — and the truth that transformed them all.
You can order the book on Amazon here. Check back for my book club questions!
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam is another story getting lots of attention. It sounds very unique and different and will no doubt lead to much discussion and engagement for book clubs. Here’s the synopsis:
Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe.
Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?
Suspenseful and provocative, Rumaan Alam’s third novel is keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped—and unexpected new ones are forged—in moments of crisis.
You can order the book on Amazon here. Check back for my book club questions!
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
For a lighter read, check out In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren! Sometimes you just need to read a cute holiday book and October is a great time to start (after all, this is the month we get Hallmark Christmas movies!). Here’s the synopsis:
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.
But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.
The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.
Jam-packed with yuletide cheer, an unforgettable cast of characters, and Christina Lauren’s trademark “downright hilarious” (Helen Hoang, author of The Bride Test) hijinks, this swoon-worthy romantic read will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays.
You can order the book on Amazon here. Check back for my book club questions!
Happy reading!
