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Selecting a book that lacks thematic depth is one of the key mistakes you don’t want to make when picking a new read for your book club. After all, you want a pick that will keep everyone engaged, provoke strong opinions, and inspire lively conversations. If you choose a flashy story with little substance, then even if you take the time to cultivate questions for your book club discussion, it will be difficult to get a rousing conversation going. But that doesn’t mean you need to tackle “War and Peace” either.

They sometimes get dismissed as fluff, but plenty of celebrity memoirs are great, well-written books. While many of them coast by on salacious gossip and shocking circumstances, the best ones have more artistic ambitions — taking on highly singular lives in the spotlight to explore the same questions about the human experience as classic literature. If you’re looking for a book club read that blends a little gossip with great writing or a more profound meditation on the creative process, a celebrity memoir might be the perfect next choice.