For as long as I can remember, the month of March always put a little pep in my step. Flowers bloom, the sun shines and four leaf clovers make me feel lucky. However, aside from the start of spring and St. Patrick’s Day, March signifies a rather important celebratory month: Women’s History Month. So how can we celebrate the women of our past, present and future? 

We can read about them. Reading might seem like a simple task, but it offers the opportunity to change the common narratives we may have about others. Through reading a diverse array of stories, we are less likely to generalize people based on one aspect of their identity—such as their gender.

Until the late 19th and 20th century in America, women’s literature was often overshadowed by the written work of men. In fact, women’s literature is a rather new form of study in the academia field. When women started writing their stories and publishing them, conversations arose about intersectionality and the relationship between our race, gender, religion, and class in society which has furthered our knowledge of the perspectives women have about the world rather than just listening to the perspectives of men. 

So, where can you find books out there that tell you an interesting and relative story about women? Here’s where to begin. 

Three words, friends: Celebrity book clubs.  Specifically, Reese’s Book Club, which was founded by the actress Reese Witherspoon. Her book club and affiliate media company, Hello Sunshine, launched in 2017 and have changed the literary world for women in remarkable ways.  The book club chooses stories about women that are written by women authors, and many of these books have since reached the New York Times bestseller lists.

Celebrity book clubs are not a new phenomenon to the literary world. American talk show host Oprah Winfrey famously started Oprah’s Book Club back in 1996 and featured the discussions as segments in her television show. Oprah primarily selected books focused on race and made “black literature popular literature,” according to an article in Mother Jones. Her presence in society heavily influenced the consciousness of her viewers and brought important conversations about race in the U.S.—and what it was like to be a Black woman in the U.S.— to the forefront of modern day literature. 

These celebrity platforms have  impacted the decisions of their followers. Writer and editor Seija Rankin describes in her Entertainment article from March 2018 that Celeste Ng—the author of Reese’s Book Club pick Little Fires Everywhere that later became a TV mini-series—called celebrity book clubs “miracle workers.” Rankin writes that there have been “several occasions in which fans of Hello Sunshine have reached out to her [referring to Celeste Ng] or stopped her at bookstores… to say that they learned about her book via Witherspoon.”  Bringing authors and readers together is one of the greatest impacts these book clubs have had on the industry. 

Reese’s Book Club is a prime example of women supporting women in an industry that has predominantly dictated by men. Sharing these stories about women, whether fiction or nonfiction, connects readers and authors to different perspectives from women all around the world. They offer lessons on what being a woman today means and how we perceive ourselves in the public eye. An article in Vox noted that of the 28 Reese’s Book Club picks, not one has sold fewer than 10,000 print copies, which is basically the equivalent of hitting the jackpot for authors. 

Growing up, I was never one to grab a book and read in my free time. It’s not that I did not like to read, it was just that I rarely found books that piqued my interest when I was going through grade school. It all felt very forced to me with the silent reading sessions set during school hours and assigned readings for classes. But as I got older, a friend of mine who is an avid reader introduced me to a few romance novels, and I’ve become hooked. 

However, after reading a few of the romantic-centered stories, I found myself in a slump again and did not know where to turn. When I heard the buzz about Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, I turned to Reese’s Book Club and realized it was one of her picks. This book was captivating and thought-provoking. After reading one of Reese’s picks, I recognized the power these book clubs held and how they can invoke people to read stories they otherwise wouldn’t. 

In celebration of Women’s History Month, it’s important to recognize the efforts women have made in the past to get us where we are now and to recognize the women of our present that are making efforts to join us together today. This March, I encourage you to feel all those natural spring feelings and consider picking up a hobby to learn something new. Reese’s Book Club is just one way we can learn about women’s voices around the world and grow together.     

In the words of the club: “Women: May we write them truer, raise them higher, and read them here.”