If you’re a long haul Magpie, you might remember a short-lived in-person book club I hosted in Sheep Meadow in Central Park (and occasionally at the apartments of my glittering and fabulous creative friends, Inslee and Alison) in 2018. The conversations were rich; the friendships ran deep. We one time had the author of the book we were reading call in to the book club, and I still get butterflies thinking about it. It was stitched-together and informal — picnic blankets, paper cups of rose, a famous author crackling through my speaker phone while bikers whizzed by — but also one of those lighting-in-a-bottle arrangements you couldn’t recreate if you tried, with thoughtful readers from all different fields and backgrounds showing up robed in fascinating readings of the texts we’d chosen. I occasionally receive emails from these book club members and we always wax poetic about those nights in the field, and the earnestness with which everyone approached the books and the discourses around them.
I want to recreate elements of that experience, but for more Magpies — and I want to start simple, with the hope that this will evolve into something greater and more rich as time goes on. For now, let’s pick a book and try to read it by the 15th of the following month. I’ll be sharing thoughts, reading questions, conversation prompts as we make our way through, and you can arrive in the comments on the 15th ready to discuss. My thought is that some of you might use this cadence for your own in-person gatherings, too — and I can help by providing reading questions, possible menus, playlists, and other fun add-ons. Sort of a book club in a box vibe?
As I get more organized, I have lots of ambitious thoughts. Can we interview the authors here? Can we do a big Zoom conversation at some point? Can I find a well-read gal / celebrity and unpack the book with her on camera? Can we create our own rating systems? Etc etc etc! Suggestions and ideas welcome, as always.
For this month’s book club, we are reading Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore, which I would describe as a literary suspense.
Book jacket copy:
“A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers, but with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore.”
I am one quarter in and deeply impressed. The writing is poetic and rich, and I am enjoying the genre throttle: it feels at points like allegory, but reads like a juicy and compelling thriller. I know many Magpies have read and raved about this as one of the best books of 2025. You’ve got to join me!
1) what you’re reading right now;
2) what’s next in your TBR pile;
3) how you’d describe yourself as a reader, in AIM handle format, and feel free to be playful or serious — examples might be: repeatreader, hockeysmutgal233, oneofthemarchgirls, etc! Mine would be badbookgirl15 — the 15 is a wink to my actual erstwhile AIM handle, SmileyJen15, because I was 15 when I created it. LOL. More on being a bad book girl here, and below, via my Instagram account!
Post-Scripts.
+You can buy your own bad book girl hat here!
+Version 2.0 of anything is a good thing.
+My most popular book review. I cannot believe how many people have found this post on the Internet. You know what’s funny? Sometimes I’ve cheekily joked about how un-useful an advanced degree in literature is (of course I really believe it’s essential to my way of being), but the fact that — across all my thousands of posts — a book review has garnered the most interest from the outside world sort of makes a powerful point. Like, maybe I did learn something there. Thank you, Georgetown University.
+If you could go back to school, what would you study?
Shopping Break.
+I have a few events coming up next week and just did a big order at Shopbop to simplify. I’ll do a try-on and share next week in a blog post? I ordered these linen pants and this matching top, this butter-yellow SEA blouse, this Alemais mini, and this skirt. Shopbop makes returns so incredibly easy…
+I wore this under-$150 dress to cocktails with friends this week! So into crochet right now! A Magpie reader saw me wearing this (seen here) and shared that J. Crew Factory has a very similar style out now for under $60!
+My favorite counter spray. I have several of the scents and I think my favorite is Mayfair, with Doheny Drive as a close second. This is silly to write but using it gives me a Nancy Meyers kitchen vibe.
+Speaking of home care, a Magpie reader alerted me to the fact that our favorite vacuum is 20% off! We have had ours since our early NYC days and are obsessed with it. My mom bought one on my rec and loves it, too.
+It’s a butter yellow summer. I ordered these VB jeans. I own them in brown, too, and they are SO good. Rigid denim, fyi — take your true size if you are wearing mainly for events/occasion. For everyday wear, I’d go a size up and have them fit a little more loosely.
+Yellow denim looks for less here and here.
+One thought on styling the yellow jeans: a fun little white top like this (or this — $29!, this, this), this sandals (look for less here), a raffia tote, and fun earrings (look for less here).
+Sweetest girls’ sandals — omg.
+Monogrammable pique tissue box covers! Such a chic little bathroom / nightstand upgrade. They also have pique shower curtains — a Matouk vibe but less $.
+Inslee’s new ladybug prints are so charming.
+Love a bold statement pant — these and these are FUN.
+Just restocked my son’s boxer-briefs — these were so cute! (I also keep waiting for a restock on these ones from Quince.)
+Speaking of Quince: new summer colors in their woven bag (the sage is sooo good) and a great summer staple for a woman in a more traditional work environment. Meanwhile, doesn’t this feel like want you want to throw on while barefoot and sipping iced tea this summer?
+Drooling over this vase.
+Pretty summer lingerie.
+This lip liner in the color desert rose is one of my favorite beauty products. The consistency!! Glides on so easily and such a gorgeous everyday color — your lips but better.
+ICYMI: some of the Dorsey paracord necklaces are available for pre-order again!
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may receive compensation.
So excited for book club!
I picked up a copy of the book a couple weeks ago but it ended up in my TBR stack- this is incentive for me to start it!
I just finished “The Paris Express” and “Shakespeare’s Sisters: How Women Wrote the Renaissance” and have yet to start my next read, and though it needs to be “Sky Daddy” for my in-person bookclub it’ll probably be “The City of Night Birds” as I really enjoyed her other book “Beasts of a Little Land.” I’m fairly certain my AIM handle was reader12, not terribly creative, perhaps for this one @readeronthetrain since I get a lot of reading done on my trek into work.
I’m currently reading “The Gulag Archipalego” in an effort to better understand Russian history. I’ve never put much thought into the work of translators but my gosh, it makes me want to study the text further to contemplate how to translate such succinct phrasing from Russian to English.
My book group just picked up “The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi” which is at the top of my TBR pile.
AIM handle would be c@tchingup! – I’m trying to read the classics and more serious literature as an adult that I wasn’t interested in.
Love this , I am currently reading Good Dirt
1. Middletide
2. The Wedding People
3. @deliverlaterkindlereader
1: Reading Havoc, by Christopher Bollen
2:TBR: Dessert Course, Benjamin Delwiche; His and Hers, Alice Feeny; The Sequel, Jean Hanf Korelitz
3:Onlymurderbooksinthebuilding
1) Henry Henry Allen Bratton (heavy, but clever and excellently written- had me snickering on subway) and Turbulence by David Szalay (original plot)
2) Horse, Red Rising, Small Mercies
3) givemebooksorgivemedeathbychocolate or something equally groan-inducing.
Very excited to read WDS! Love Charlotte M. Migrations is one of my favorite book in recent memory.
1) Reading now: The Heiress (just finished), Enemies: A History of the FBI
2) TBR: Book Lovers, Zero Fail
3) Myself: SuckerForAStrongFemaleLead
GAH! So excited!!
I just picked up Wild Dark Shore from the library!!
Up next:
Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalyas by Jamaica Kindcaid… I also sent a copy to John’s mom so we’ll read it together 🙂
Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
It Starts With the Egg by Rebecca Fett…. fertility stuff!
AIM handle… I’ll keep my IG one: GirlsCanTell… I chose it because it’s the name of an album I love by Spoon, and I fancied it a bit mysterious and cheeky… A male friend asked, so what can girls tell? I said we can tell EVERYTHING! don’t forget it! ha!
Hi all- ha! Wild Dark Shore is just up as next on my NBR! Currently reading All the Colors of the Dark – it’s excellent and much more suspense mystery than I normally read. I have always been a reader, love good fiction – anything by Barbara Kingsolver, literary psychological memoirs like Glass Castle and Educated, I loved Ocean Vuong’s On Earth we’re Briefly Gorgeous, have an ongoing book club with my husband and friends for 25 years! book name is booklover64
1) All the Colors of the Dark
2) The Lioness of Boston
3) twiggyreader – twiggy2010 was my AIM name ha! Love this idea
Currently Reading: Wild Dark Shore – perfect timing!! I am halfway through and finding it deeply engrossing. The Waiting Game – The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens, by Nicola Clark and How Can I Help?- Saving Nature with Your Yard, by Doug Tallamy. A chaotic mix! I try to have a fiction and nonfiction going simultaneously.
Up Next: Isola, by Allegra Goodman and Lawless, How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes, by Leah Litman.
AIM name: theIMPORTANTbook16 – an inside joke with my husband and kids. A few years ago, as I finished The Overstory by Richard Powers, they witnessed me sobbing (talk about a book hangover!) and exclaiming “this book is so IMPORTANT!” They laugh about it regularly, and whenever they see me reading a new book just love to ask, “Is this an IMPORTANT book?!” Lol.
Excited for the book club!!
Jen—I always look forward to reading your posts and have frequent conversations with you in my mind. Our discursive topics include the value of advanced degrees in literature (going to graduate school changed my life), the persistent difficulty of even considering perfection, parenting, how wearing precisely the right (or rightly wrong) shoe shifts the whole tone of a day and just how great those GAP white kick flairs continue to be. Thank you for this!
Right now— in the wake of a spring cold—I’m again obsessing over the fabulous Tana French. I’m re-reading The Likeness in her Dublin series and am about to move on to The Witch Elm. (I allow myself re-reads, especially when I’m sick )
I just finished James (yes!) and The God of the Woods (I wanted to love it more) After Tana French I think I’ll pick up Sleep by Honor Jones and Point Counter Point by Alford Huxley.
I’m afraid I’m a constant reader since first grade and the realization that could read. Sometimes I read to escape, other times to learn, and sometimes with an eye toward teaching (emeritus professor —still teach a course or two a year).
I’m picking Original Bad Girl 25 as my name. I know the use of original seems fraudulent in that many deserving bad girls came before me. But I named my first book Fast Cars and Bad Girls for all of us word loving occasionally rule defying girls quite a long time ago. And of course I would love a hat.
Ok. Enough said. I’m back to reclining on the couch u see a throw with a book. Cheers!
1. Currently reading “The Birth of the Republic” by Edmund Morgan. I just finished my first year of law school, and my constitutional law class reinvigorated my interest in the American Revolution, I’ve had this book on my shelf for a couple of years, and now seemed like as good a time as any to read it. I’m really enjoying it so far! It’s easy to read and it’s a good refresher of that time period.
2. “One Golden Summer.” When I read “Every Summer After” a couple years ago, it sucked me in like no book has done in a long time, and I’m hoping One Golden Summer is the same!
3. hmmm something like ILuvUsedBookstores7
Just finished Walking with Sam by Andrew McCarthy
Currently reading Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry.
rarebookgirl as I’m the daughter of a rare/out of print book dealer.
hi Jenifer… I’m also the daughter of a rare book dealer (and book binder:) XO
Very cool, They definitely don’t work in the mainstream and at least in our house growing up you never knew who would be joining us for dinner from the people he met at his store.
This sounds great and love this month’s selection!
1. Currently reading I Regret Almost Everything by Keith McNally
2. I’m a mood based reader, but I think next up is Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3. Ha, that’s a good prompt. I might be Dabbler007;-) I like all sorts of genres and the 007 harkens back to my original AIM as well.
1. Mythos by Stephen Fry. My love of mythology/mythological retellings runs deep!
2. I’ll grab a cozy mystery from my TBR book pile for a quick and uncomplicated next read.
3. Neverendingbookpile would be my handle!
1) Just finished The Marriage Portrait – beautifully written!
2) Grief Is For People
3) LittleWomenQ5Years – q is the medical abbreviation for “every” – my favorite re-read!
Ahhh I love the AIM handle! So clever!
Thanks for joining 🙂
Reading right now: The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho (felt spiritually called to reread) and Indistractible by Nir Eyal (trying to work through some distraction issues)
2) what’s next in your TBR pile; Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel for a summer co-read with my best friend
3) how you’d describe yourself as a reader, in AIM handle format, @chattychaosferret — because I’m so chatty and chaotic in my reading choices and I love to be curled up, burrowed in a blanket like a ferret (according to my husband)
Yay! Can’t wait!! xx
Welcome @chattychaosferret — love the name and can’t wait for you to bring the chatty energy to our book discussion next month!
TY for joining!
I just finished The Drowned by John Banville. I am a big fan of his standalone, more “literary” works but his detective series (of which this is a part) is enticing and brilliantly written.
My TBR pile, if it were actual books (thank you Kindle!) would easily hit the ceiling of most DC monuments. I will likely read The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel next; her turns of phrase and perspectives on the mundane and the odd are like no other writer’s.
My handle would be 2books2eyes; I always have (at least, sigh) 2 books going at once. I read literary fiction, mystery/thrillers, poetry, health, essays and cultural/art/social history mainly. No genre fiction.
I love this! And am so impressed/intrigued by my Magpies who read two books simultaneously. I really only ever do this if I’m reading something intense that needs a lighter “side car” for bedtime / middle of the night, but the idea of reading two substantive books concurrently dazzles me. How and why do you do it this way? Do you go by mood, i.e., “I need more of x right now” or “I’m gripped by Y; I’ll keep going there…”
Thanks for the recs!
xx
I have always read 2 books at once. No idea why but I do know that the books are always dissimilar and mood-based! Or I will read about a great book on a blog (like yours!) or an article and take it from there. The NPR Book Concierge is a GREAT resource if you are standing at the metaphorical book buffet and don’t know what to put on your plate. I get great ideas from there.
1) Reading now: Broken Country
2) Next up: The Berry Pickers
3) LoftyReader (I live in a loft condo )
Excited to join the new club!
LoftyReader has entered the chat! Woohoo, thanks for joining. You’ll have to share your Berry Pickers thoughts, too — I read that earlier this year and thought it was gorgeous.
xx
I love this! Will definitely be joining in. I’m currently reading Circe (which I think was actually a recommendation by you?), and next on my TBR is a romantasy! Either The Bridge Kingdom or Shield of Sparrows. My OG screen name was wheresjack105 (because my name is Jill and I was 12 ), but if I based it off of my book shelf as a kid it would have been HPgurl4eva but now it would likely be inthemiddleof4books or ijudgebooksbytheircovers
The envy I have for you right now — Circe left the worst book hangover of my entire life. I couldn’t find anything that fit the bill for months after. So jealous of you right now!
Have been hearing lots of chirps about “Shield of Sparrows”!
Nothing wrong with picking a pretty cover 🙂
xx
I read EVERYTHING, Fiction, Non-fiction, the WSJ daily. Medical journals, I often read 2 or more books at a time, one fiction, one nonfiction. I am currently reading: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green- NF about the history and ongoing issue of Tuberculosis- fascinating! And, just starting for my in person book club Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.
On my TBR list- SO MUCH! Two days ago I went to a book signing/reading by David Sedaris, bough a Visual compendium of his diaries that I can’t wait to read. Also, at the bookstore that was hosting his show, I bought a book about the Judgement of Paris in 1976, the wine tasting that put Napa on the map.
ireadeverythingandmore
I love an omnivorous reader! You must be the BEST dinner party seatmate. You can trot out conversation for any kind of interest/reader!
Thanks for joining us!
xx
I LOVED Life After Life! I read it over 10 years ago and still think about it.
So excited about this – the book has been on my TBR and excited to dive in!
Woohoo! Welcome welcome; can’t wait to discuss next month!
Love the idea of a virtual book club!
1) I’m currently reading “Turning Corners” by Mike Smith for my family book club
2) Funny enough, I just got an email from my library that my hold on “Wild Dark Shore” is ready for pickup, so that is next on my TBR
3) Oh gosh, I think my AIM handle would be AlwaysreadinG18 – I always loved baking my pre-marriage initials into my screen names and user names, and 18 is my lucky number.
Kismet! You were MEANT to read this book with me 🙂
Love the idea of a family book club 🙂
See you next month AlwaysreadingG18
1. Currently reading: Hold Still, memoir by photographer Sally Mann – this month’s pick for my (IRL) book club. Would have never selected this on my own but it’s such a fascinating read. She muses on her childhood in rural Virginia, marriage, deep dives into her family genealogy and writes incredible literary portraits of her parents, reflects on race in her upbringing, and ponders the impact of her sometimes-controversial intimate photography. I think you’d really like this one, Jen! It reminds me of how you write about your time in Charlottesville and your parents/siblings/upbringing. I also had no idea who Sally Mann was until I googled while starting the book and quickly recognized some of her most iconic images.
2) Have two long-awaited library holds finally ready for me: The Plot and Isola. Have spent weeks on the hold list for Wild Dark Shore, so I’ll tune into the conversation likely later this summer!
3) number1librarystan
Wow, thanks for the rec! I’ve added it to my TBR, too. I’m easily drawn into books that touch on craft — this sounds right up my alley.
Join in whenever you’re ready to discuss WDS; this is the beauty of a virtual and asynchronous club.
xx
1. The House in the Cerulean Sea
2. Midnight Library
3. JoMarchsBestie
Jo March’s Bestie!!! I love you already!!
Welcome!
Currently reading – Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey- a nonfiction collection of wrongful convictions. What an opening look at a broken justice system.
Up next – The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
AIM (!) handle – Libbyfan89 – the Libby app is the best!
Hi Libbyfan89! Thanks for joining us!! Love the diversity of your reading list. Can’t wait to talk WDS!
xx
So excited for book club!
I’m reading We Were the Lucky Ones, which is fascinating and great storytelling, but I feel like I’m reading it as the peeking emoji bc I’m not sure I’m up for reading about WWII atrocities right now!
Next up – possibly The Blue Hour, or maybe something like an Agatha Christie if I need comfort reading after Lucky Ones.
I’ll make my reader AIM handle PlaceHold98 after my fav button on the library website 😉 Speaking of which – can I humbly request a backlist title for book club from time to time, for those of us who mainly use the library and are languishing on the holds list for new books like WDS?
Ahhh! This is my favorite AIM handle shared today! So fab! Yes, I’ll be sure to include backlist picks too. We love a classic!
xx
Currently reading “This Strange Eventful Hostory” by Claire Messud
TBR pile is so long don’t think I will ever finish it in my lifetime because I keep adding to it. “Wild Dark Shores” , “ Rebel Empresses”
FreeLibraryWhore16
CWbookstorefestival16
Readseverything16
LOL at your screennames and I appreciate that you came up with several, because didn’t we all have a secret AIM handle to snoop on people with? HA!
I’ve heard great things about Messud but never read her. LMK what you think!
And thanks for joining!
xx
(1) Reading “Why We Sleep” – haven’t gotten to the answer yet, ha!
(2) Next will be Wild Dark Shore !
(3) xodarkntwistyxo – the dark and twisty because I do find myself gravitating toward more serious/dark novels and then also love a good twisty thriller. The xo because (1) it’s a nod to my own AIM screen name (xomolls711xo) and (2) because I love an Emily Henry etc. every once in a while!
I love this creative and thoughtful screenname! You pack a lot into it — legacy, reading tastes, affection, openness to genre! Beautiful!
Welcome!!
>Current Read: The Colony Club – a cute historical fiction about a female architect in NYC at the turn of the century.
>Next Read: Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger
>PaperCopyPlease13 – My preference is always for the physical copy of a book, and 13 is my lucky number
I love the diversity of readers and reader preferences! We have Kindle lovers and paper lovers — and I love that both of you are experts in yourself as a reader / pursue your own reading joy seriously by paying attention to the distinction.
Thanks for joining, Catherine!
xx
My current read is Wish You Were Here by Jess K Hardy, Next in my tbr pile is One Golden Summer.
LMK what you think about OGS! I really enjoyed!!
Thanks for joining!
xx
I am currently reading The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. It won the Booker Prize a while back. I’m reading it because I read her more recent Birnam Wood and loved it. The Luminaries is very interesting, I’ve never read anything like it. But it is a doorstopper and hard to keep up with all the plot threads. I just finished The Favorites which is sort of like Daisy Jones and the Six set in the world of Olympic Ice Dancing – extremely fun read.
Next I want to read Careless People, the memoir from a woman who worked at Facebook, which I’ve heard is wild.
AMI handle: half&halfreader (half serious reads, half ‘bad’ books)
I’m skipping Wild Dark Shore because I am frankly not up for anything with apocalyptic-adjacent themes at this point. But I love the idea of a Magpie book club and will catch the next one!
Hi Mia! I also loved Birnam Wood – it was so different. But I couldn’t get into The Luminaries for some reason. Please report back on your thoughts once you’re finished, I might take another crack at it.
The Luminaries took a while to really start getting exciting – like, over halfway. I’ve been so impressed with the strength of the writing and the construction of the plot throughout, but it has not been a particularly easy read. I almost feel like I’m not smart enough to follow all the intricacies of the story. I’m glad I’m reading it, but I’ve had to approach it like a challenge, and I try not to do that with too many books.
Love a half and half reader! The Arnold Palmer of readers — just perfect.
Join us for the next one!!
Now joining and reading Wild Dark Shore.
Next The God Of The Woods.
SO excited for this Book Club :))))))
Hurray! Welcome and can’t wait to discuss!
xx
1) what you’re reading right now;
Show Don’t Tell, Curtis Sittenfeld
2) what’s next in your TBR pile;
The Griffith Sisters, Jennifer Weiner
Boyfriend Material
3) how you’d describe yourself as a reader, in AIM handle format
@bannedbookgirl22
Love!! I haven’t read that Sittenfeld but I do like some of her other work! Let us know what you think!
xx
1) what you’re reading right now; The Bright Years (Oh soooooo good!) and The Great Believers
2) I really want to read The Missing Half and The Safari, will see what my mood is!
3) My AIM handle would be : IReadBooksInBars
LOL – love the handle. No shame in that! It made me think actually of the opposite: my Dad bringing his enormous tomes on the world wars and Winston Churchill into Church so he could read them while waiting for our grade school performances and awards ceremonies to start. It always struck me as so wrong (?) to be reading a war tome in a Church but now I get it — he loves to read and why not?
xx
Current read: Onyx Storm
Next in my TBR: At the whim of my library hold list (I “gave up” buying books for myself several years ago and it’s felt so liberating!). Hopefully WDS or another thriller/mystery book. I also have a few historical fiction titles that I’ve been patiently waiting to become available.
AIM Handle: Probably something like ratherbereading09
Love!! Welcome, Nicole!
1) Sunrise on the Reaping (Hunger Games)
2) The Safari, What if I Never Get Over You, Great Big Beautiful Life, This Book Will Bury Me, Mad House, Here One Moment
3) kindledevotee
So excited by the idea of a book club, Jen! I read Wild, Dark, Shore on your recommendation and have so many thoughts still! Also consider myself a bad book girlie myself. Can’t wait to join!
Hurray! So glad you’re joining us and can’t wait for your thoughts on WDS. Please also let me know what you think about the new Emily Henry. I have it downloaded but it’s gotten such mixed reviews? I’m thinking of reading it after WDS.
xx
I am reading Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Next in my TBR is The In-Between by Hadley Vlahos, RN
Me as a reader in AIM handle format:
wishingiwasaprofessorofenglishlit
Your AIM handle — you and me both! I still feel like that’s my doppelganger life?
I really enjoyed RBC. Let me know what you think!
I just read this book and loved it! Love the book club idea!!
Hurray! Can’t wait to discuss next month!