Jenna Bush Hager chooses books every month for her book club on the Today show. This list is her picks from 2025, in descending order from December to January.
I read two of them this year:Â The Dream Hotel and The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus. And, of course, I read Pride and Prejudice a long time ago and have reread and savored it over the years.
Click on each title to read our review (or publisher’s synopsis and our Rapid Rating) of the book and get the detailed content ratings (except for Pride and Prejudice, which I don’t have reviewed because I’ve focused Rated Reads on recently published books) but which is definitely rated None. In that case, the link will take you to Amazon, where if you purchase the book, I will receive a small portion of your purchase because I am an Amazon affiliate.)
- Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen — None
- Cursed Daughters, by Oyinkan Braithwaite — High
- The Irish Goodbye, by Heather Aimee O’Neill — High
- Buckeye, by Patrick Ryan — High
- My Other Heart, by Emma Nanami Strenner — High
- Happy Wife, by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores — High
- A Family Matter, by Claire Lynch — Mild
- The Names, by Florence Knapp — Moderate
- Heartwood, by Amity Gage — High
- The Dream Hotel, by Laila Lalami — High
- This Is a Love Story, by Jessica Soffer — High
- The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, by Emma Knight — High
