Last January one of my personal goals was to trade some of my wind-down and watch Netflix time for more intentional reading time. I quickly went through all of the books on my personal desired reading list and then was left wondering, “what should I read next?” During a routine coffee date with Reese Witherspoon, she and I realized how similar our taste in novels is and decided to create a book club. Okay, I guess that’s not really how it happened. One day at the beginning of the summer, I was very bored and started following a few of my favorite celebrities on Instagram. One of whom was Reese Witherspoon and I stumbled across her book club. Witherspoon has been posting her recent favorite reads for the past few years and adding them to her book club, referred to as #RWbookclub. Not only are Witherspoon’s choices phenomenally crafted works of art, but they also share a pattern of having strong dynamic female leads.

In 2011, Reese Witherspoon was frustrated with being offered roles in films that were about sidekicks and romantic partners. She used that frustration and her love for reading to fuel a passion to create movies about strong, dynamic, and not always likable females. In 2012, Witherspoon and partner , Bruna Papandrea, launched Pacific Standard, a film production company that would bring best sellers to the box office. Reese Witherspoon has used her influential role in society to step up to the plate for female voices. The company is unique because it often keeps the screenplay in the hands of the original author. In four years the company has already taken huge strides in telling exciting stories about female characters that audiences can enjoy. Pacific Standard entered the scene with “Gone Girl”, adapted from Gillian Flynn’s bestseller. Pacific Standard purchased rights to the book before it was published in June of 2012, and the film was released in October of 2014. The second film produced by the duo was “Wild”, an adaptation of the bestselling novel by Cheryl Strayed. The film was released in December of 2014. The two films earned a combined total of three Oscar nominations and grossed over a half a billion dollars. Pacific Standard is currently working on 16 projects that are all based on books. The next release will be an HBO series in 2017 based on Liane Moriarty’s “Big Little Lies”, the series will include Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shiane Woodley, and Laura Dern. Pacific Standard has also shared plans to adapt, “Luckiest Girl Alive”, “All is Not Forgotten”, “In a Dark Dark Wood” and “Ashley’s War”.

The books in the #RWbookclub are enthralling because they contain mystery, murder and personal growth. The books inspire female confidence and support the empowerment of women. Below are Reese’s suggestions that have my personal stamp of approval (in no particular order).

1. "Luckiest Girl Alive" by Jessica Knoll

2. "All Is Not Forgotten" by Wendy Walker

3. "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

4. "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty

5. "In Dark Dark Wood" by Ruth Ware

6. "Truly Madly Guilty" by Liane Moriarty