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In addition to being the co-host of Today‘s fourth hour, Today with Hoda and Jenna, Jenna Bush Hager is a six-time published author, co-authoring children’s books with her twin sister Barbara, and penning a memoir of her own.
So it stands to reason that the news personality would also be a huge reader — and she is.
In March 2019, she picked the inaugural novel in the Read with Jenna book club, and every month since then, she’s highlighted one book (or two, during select months) and that book’s author on the Today Show.
The book club has a diverse roster of books, ranging from memoirs to thrillers, with plenty of family dramas sprinkled in.
If you want to catch up on the Read with Jenna selections, we’ve compiled all of them below, along with what Bush Hager had to say about them on the show when introducing them.
Goodreads rating: 4.36/5 stars In an Instagram post about the selection, Bush Hager wrote,”it’s about where we are when we’re in the middle of our life and expectations versus reality. It’s about love and friendship and finding that love when you least expect it.”
Goodreads rating: 4.50/5 stars When announcing her July pick, Bush Hager also announced that her production company, Thousand Voices, would be adapting the novel for TV. “It has something for everybody and it may be my most favorite book I’ve ever chosen,” she said, when announcing the genre- bending pick on Today.
Goodreads rating: 4.00/5 stars Swift River is a debut novel that follows Diamond during the summer of 1987 as she receives a letter from a relative she’s never met and begins uncovering secrets about her missing father. Introducing the pick, Bush Hager said, “it is so good. It’s hopeful, beautiful. It’s a story about race, identity, family, and ultimately, hope and love.”
Goodreads rating: 4.18/5 stars This generation-spanning family drama is “a love story, but it’s also a story about why we are who we are.” When introducing the pick, Bush Hager said, “I love this book about forgiveness and what it means to finally come home.”
Goodreads rating: 3.92/5 stars “This book is so good,” Bush Hager said while introducing the pick. “It’s a commentary on dating, swiping… it is humorous, hilarious, and it’s a love story, which we all need.”
The House on Mango Street Goodreads rating: 3.69/5 stars The Great Divide Goodreads rating: 4.05/5 stars In honor of Read with Jenna’s fifth anniversary, Bush Hager chose two books — a novel celebrating its 40th anniversary and one that’s newly published. Describing the books, she wrote,”these novels are complementary tales of ambition, identity, and resilience.”
Goodreads rating: 4.17/5 stars “I love this book so much,” Bush Hager says of the latest novel by Dolly Alderton. “I’m obsessed with it because it’s a deconstructed love story.” Good Material follows Jen as she tries to break down why her relationship with Andy ended after four years together.
Goodreads rating: 3.87/5 stars “If you loved Where the Crawdads Sing, you’re going to love, and I’m saying love, our first read of 2024,” Bush Hager said about the rural noir novel that follows three generations of women as family secrets come to light on an island off the coast of Michigan. “This is an incredible novel about exceptional women,” Bush Hager added. “It’s so beautiful. It’s about what we inherit.”
Goodreads rating: 4.23/5 stars Bush Hager’s final pick of 2023 is a historical novel about a group of citizens who worked to ensure that the lives of Jewish people in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II were not lost to history. “It is a book about love and resilience, about hope, even in the darkest moments,” Bush Hager said. “It’s timely and powerful, and it proves that even in the darkest corners, love still remains.”
Goodreads rating: 3.45/5 stars The Sun Sets in Singapore follows three Nigerian expats whose tight-knit community is rocked by a mysterious and handsome new arrival. “I loved this story about friendship, who we lean on, female ambition and what defines us,” Bush Hager said.
Goodreads rating: 4.48/5 stars How to Say Babylon is a memoir of author Safiya Sinclair’s experience growing up in a Rastafarian family in Jamaica and her struggle to break free from her father’s strict beliefs. “It’s a book about freedom, choice, becoming who we’re meant to be,” Bush Hager said about the book. “But it’s also about family and a mom’s devotion.”
Goodreads rating: 3.4/5 stars Amazing Grace Adams is set over just one day, with flashbacks inserted to help readers understand how Grace gets to the point she’s at: walking through London with a cake, determined to connect with her estranged teenage daughter. “I dare you not to fall wildly in love with Grace,” Bush Hager said.
Goodreads rating: 3.86/5 stars For August 2023, Bush Hager went with a throwback, rather than a new release. Summer Sisters by Judy Blume was first released in 1998, and it’s one of only four novels for adults penned by the legendary author. “It is the perfect, perfect beach read but that doesn’t mean that it’s an easy read,” Bush Hager said about the book, which follows two best friends throughout their lives as they spend summers together in Martha’s Vineyard.
Goodreads rating: 3.95/5 stars This multigenerational story follows three Vietnamese-American women dealing with the aftermath of their matriarch’s death. “You will sit down and finish this in one reading,” Bush Hager remarked. “That’s what I did!”
Goodreads rating: 3.67/5 stars According to Bush Hager, The Celebrants is “the perfect summer book,” so of course it was a June 2023 pick! The novel, which follows a group of college friends who make an unusual pact to celebrate each other while they’re still alive by throwing living funerals, will “make you cry on one page and laugh hysterically on the other.”
Goodreads rating: 4.15/5 stars Chain Gang All-Stars is set in a private prison system where female gladiators are given the chance to fight for their freedom. “It’ll make you have conversations about the prison industrial complex,” Bush Hager said. “It pushed me, for sure — but that’s the incredible thing about reading.
Goodreads rating: 3.22/5 stars “You’ve never been anywhere like the world Michelle created,” Bush Hager said about the debut novel. “That’s one of the things I love about reading. It’ll take you to places you’ve never traveled.” The novel takes place shortly on a settlement in the north of Canada and explores who and what survives in a warming world, plus the lengths people will go to just to survive.
Goodreads rating: 3.40/5 stars On the cover of Black Candle Women, Bush Hager compares the novel to the book and film Practical Magic. The story, which takes place over one year, follows four generations of Black women and a family love curse. “It’s about love, it’s about mothers and daughters — and it will bring you so much joy,” she said.
Goodreads rating: 4.08/5 stars “It felt singular and interesting — raw and new,” Bush Hager said about her February pick, the debut novel by Jessica George. Maame follows Maddie, a young woman trying to build a life for herself outside of the shadow of her family. The book’s summary says “it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong.”
Goodreads rating: 3.78/5 stars “Sam is about as perfect of a coming-of-age story I have ever read,” Bush Hager said, about the pick that kicked off 2023. “It explores what happens when one girl loses the wonder of childhood — the innocence of her early years only to reclaim her power and hope.”
Goodreads rating: 4.17/5 stars To round out 2022, Bush Hager went with a contemporary classic: Donna Tartt’s 1992 novel The Secret History. She described the book, which follows a group of classics students led down a dark and dangerous path, as “a pillar of the last 30 years in literature.”
Goodreads rating: 3.43/5 stars Just one month before spotlighting The Secret History, Bush Hager chose a book she describes as “The Secret History meets The Talented Mr. Ripley.” The Cloisters follows a circle of researchers who discover a mysterious tarot deck and other shocking secrets in New York’s Met Cloisters.
Goodreads rating: 4.07/5 stars “It’s epic in scope,” Bush Hager said. “I couldn’t believe how beautiful the writing was. I was underlining things — it just says so much about where we find hope and love amid our darkest times.”
Goodreads rating: 4.5/5 stars “It was a beautiful book about family, those that we have and those that we make, and the little family that they made on their journey, which was almost sort of Iliad-esque,” Bush Hager said. “An epic journey to their loved ones, because they had no choice.”
Goodreads rating: 3.88/5 stars This novel imagines the many, many generations of Afong Moy, the first known female Chinese immigrant to the United States. “It’s a book about strength and goodness,” Bush Hager said. “I just thought that this was the most incredible book that really displays the strength of women, and a time where I think we need it most.”
Goodreads rating: 4.01/5 stars If you could find out the exact number of years you had left on earth, would you? That’s the question The Measure asks. “I know it sounds like a book about death but really it’s a book about how we choose to live,” Bush Hager said.
Goodreads rating: 4.23/5 stars “This book perfectly portrays the power, vulnerability and solace I have always found in female friendship,” Bush Hager says of the novel that follows three navigating love, sex, faith, and major life changes together.
Goodreads rating: 4.41/5 stars “This novel is filled with love, humor, joy and healing,” Bush Hager said. “It demonstrates the power and beauty of unexpected friendships.”
Goodreads rating: 4.11/5 stars The story of Memphis unfolds over seventy years to paint a portrait of one family as they grapple with inheritance, brutality, justice, faith, forgiveness, sacrifice, and love. “This debut novel is a magnificent, engaging book about how love, trauma and sacrifice are passed down through three generations of Black women,” said Bush Hager.
Goodreads rating: 3.58/5 stars “It’s a story about love and identity and where we are from,” Bush Hager said. “It is about what makes us a family. I feel like it will lead to a lot of important conversations about what brings us together and what divides us. In a time when our country does seem so divided, I felt like it would be a healing, beautiful book for so many to read.”
Goodreads rating: 4.11/5 stars Following the death of their mother, siblings Byron and Benny are left with a puzzling inheritance: the recipe for her black cake, passed down through generations, and a voice memo where their mother shares the story of a young swimmer escaping her island home as she’s suspected of murder. “There was something almost mysterious about it,” Bush Hager noted. “I was on the edge of my seat. I wanted to know what was going to happen and who these character were.” The novel was adapted into a series for Hulu in 2023.
Goodreads rating: 3.54/5 stars “Is it possible for a book to be so good that it ruins reading all together?” Bush Hager remarked. “I had serious concerns that this might be true after finishing The School For Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan.”
Goodreads rating: 3.34/5 stars Bright Burning Things marked Irish author Lisa Harding’s U.S. debut. The novel depicts a mother’s ongoing struggle with addiction as she cares for, and tries not to lose, her young son. “While heartbreaking at times, I found the book to be about resilience and the power of a mother’s love,” Bush Hager said.
Goodreads rating: 3.57/5 stars The Family spans years, telling a mafia story through the lens of two best friends who are the daughters of different families. As they grow up their loyalty to each other, and to their Families, is continually tested.
Goodreads rating: 4.23/5 stars “When I read Amor Towles third and most recent book, The Lincoln Highway, I knew I had to share it with my book club,” Bush Hager remarked. “Not only is it one of the most beautifully written books I have ever picked up, it’s a story about hope, friendship and companionship in a time when we need it so much.”
Goodreads rating: 4.18/5 stars “From joyful childhood memories to the fear and trauma that accompanied her families undocumented status, Wang’s detailed descriptions will transport readers to the streets of New York City’s Chinatown,” Hager said, about Wang’s memoir.
Goodreads rating: 3.12/5 stars The Turnout is a mystery thriller set at a family-run ballet studio as a mysterious interloper threatens the studio and their upcoming production of The Nutcracker. “I love how Megan Abbott looks at the darker sides of things that we all remember, such as ballet classes as children,” said Bush Hager.
Goodreads rating: 4.05/5 stars Bush Hager describes Hell of a Book, which won the 2021 National Book Award, as “a beautiful story about family love and dedication to finding out who we are.” The novel follows a Black author on a cross-country book tour as multiple storylines about Black men in the past, present, and future unfold.
Goodreads rating: 4.05/5 stars The third novel in Taylor Jenkins Reid’s famous four quartet (following The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six) is Malibu Rising, which follows the four children of a famous rockstar (and husband of Evelyn Hugo, from that novel), as they throw an epic party that changes all of their lives forever. “I felt like Malibu Rising was a compulsively fun read that anybody would want to throw in their beach bag,” said Bush Hager.
Goodreads rating: 4.11/5 stars “Now, more than ever, I love reading about women who chart their own courses,” Bush Hager said, explaining her May 2021 pick. “As a mom of two little girls and a young boy, I believe it is important to highlight fictional and nonfictional stories of fierce, independent women who don’t conform to what society says we need to be.”
Goodreads rating: 3.36/5 stars This novel is about the bonds of marriage and friendship, and the strange coming-of-age that happens as adults become empty nesters. “I was captivated by the way the author writes intimately about human connection, including the ties between mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, and friends,” Bush Hager said.
Goodreads rating: 3.57/5 stars What’s Mine and Yours follows two families whose paths become intertwined over 20 years when two mothers find themselves on opposite sides of an integration debate affecting their school district. “The story is epic in scope. It is about understanding the demons and the hardships that come before us and how they affect our lives,” Bush Hager explained.
Send for Me Goodreads rating: 3.44/5 stars The Four Winds Goodreads rating: 4.3/5 stars In February 2021, Bush Hager picked not one, but two historical fiction novels as her Read With Jenna book of the month. “Choosing two historical fictions for February was not intentional but it definitely emphasizes our readers’ desire to explore this genre,” she said, explaining that a group of club members chose The Four Winds, while Send for Me was her pick.
Goodreads rating: 3.72/5 stars “Black Buck is my favorite type of book: a surprise, a fresh gift,” Bush Hager explained. “Alternating moments of satirical humor with heartbreaking realities, this is a book that will have readers both laughing and crying.” This satire of America’s workforce follows an unambitious 22-year-old working in sales who reimagines himself as a ruthless salesman named Buck.
Goodreads rating: 4.11/5 stars Bush Hager’s final pick of 2020 is a classic from Toni Morrison, who is the TODAY host’s favorite author of all time. The novel tells the story of an 11-year-old in Ohio who longs to be blonde-haired and blue-eyed. “I was totally in awe of Toni Morrison’s ability to make us feel like we were walking in Pecola’s footsteps,” Bush Hager recalled, of the first time she read the book as a student.
Goodreads rating: 3.56/5 stars “White Ivy is a juicy and fun read with a shocking twist. It’s a coming-of-age novel that will lead to conversations about otherness and ambition,” Bush Hager said.
Goodreads rating: 3.17/5 stars Bush Hager’s October 2020 pick was recently made into a Netflix original movie starring Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali, executive produced by the Obamas. “It is a suspense at its core, but to call it only a thriller discredits the incredible detail and intimacy with which the author writes about and understands family dynamics and race,” Bush Hager explained.
Goodreads rating: 4.12/5 stars Transcendent Kingdom follows a sixth-year PhD student coping with loss, mental illness and addiction in her family, and unanswered questions. Bush Hager says, “Where do we look for solace when the worst happens? How do we make sense of senseless tragedies? This is a story about those big questions.”
Here For It Goodreads rating: 4.04/5 stars The Comeback Goodreads rating: 3.74/5 stars Noelle Santos, owner of The Lit Bar in The Bronx, New York, chose Here For It in collaboration with Jenna. The memoir, presented in the form of essays, chronicles Thomas’ experience growing up Black and gay. The Comeback, on the other hand, is a novel that follows a young actress reckoning with abuse in Hollywood.
