What We're Reading
Tracking our current reads, past favorites, and upcoming picks
April 2026 Book
The Correspondent
The Correspondent is our April pick, told through decades of Sybil’s letters tracing relationships, memories, and her unresolved past.
Sybil revisits choices, and says what’s hard to voice to family, friends, and public figures through her letters.
The Correspondent has been raved about by Ann Patchett, and The Wall Street Journal which called it a breakout novel not to miss, no wonder it reached #1 on the NYT bestseller list.
We’ve heard the book explores regret, forgiveness, aging and how small interactions define a life.
Some JH Bookclub members have already finished and loved it, so we expect lively discussion on reflection, slowing down, and staying connected.
May's Book
Yesteryear
A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother (some say Trad Wife) who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.
“A bold and biting satire, Yesteryear…will have you cackling and gasping right to the final page.” —Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid series
May's book
Feb & Mar 2026 Book
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny
This book led to a discussion that reminds us why book club is valuable to us. Some members loved it, while others found it difficult to engage with, even bleak at times. Still, everyone agreed the writing is beautiful, and we were glad to have read it together.
We discussed how culture and upbringing shape what we find comforting, what we enjoy.
A big topic was happiness and whether it shifts across cultures. While we all recognize that individuals experience happiness differently, the book pushed us to consider whether different cultures might have different baselines. Some readers saw the characters as deeply unhappy and struggled to understand why they didn’t change their circumstances, while others pointed out that what feels bleak from one perspective may feel stable or even comforting from another.
We also explored feeling other how identity and perception shifts depending on context. This extended to a broader conversation about how our tastes are influenced by community.
It’s a strong choice for book clubs, even if not everyone enjoys the read the same. Beautiful writing and insights were appreciated by all.
January 2026 Read
Bring The House Down
Charlotte Runcie's book, set at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival, brings you into the world of artists and critics. The story hinges on a one-star review given by a theatre critic who sleeps with the actress after he pans the show but before it's published. She reads the review the morning after, still in the flat with the critic. She leaves humiliated. She rewrites her show, furiously telling the story of him picking her up after her show. Her new audience interactive show goes viral and results in the loss of his job.
We discussed the value and uniqueness of live theater, what art is, and how anonymous reviews affect our actions compared to the opinions of critics we regularly follow or those of people we know. We talked about enjoying art in person, and discussed what’s entertainment vs someone’s public rant.
It’s a great book for sparking discussion for thinking about art, artists and criticism, and we felt the author wrote well in both the female and male voice.