A few weeks ago I interviewed a woman in the library who reads 30 books a month.

Yes, mathematicians, that’s one book a day!

How does she do it?

In her own words:

I read between 300 and 500 pages a day. I spend three to four hours reading. I’m 80 years old. And I’m alone. My husband passed away. When I’m not out doing things like this literature group, this writing group, or my art group—or teaching yoga or whatever—I’m reading.

I hope I’m half as happy and engaged as her when I’m her age (or even now).

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She highly recommended the Lymond Chronicles series by Dorothy Dunnett, which she’s read 13 (!) times because it’s “so full of detail and so well done.”

If we can’t trust a recommendation from someone who reads a book a day, who can we trust?

Here are the other standout recommendations from last month.

Recommended Books

⭐ Starred recommendations have been recommended in a prior month, suggesting they are extra-super-duper-good books (or at least very popular right now).

Fiction

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas

He was originally kind of going after revenge. He then changed his mind and it was about having a good life.

THIS MUCH I KNOW IS TRUE by Wally Lamb

It started out with a bang, and then it was just interesting all the way through.

ANIMA RISING by Christopher Moore

Absolutely hilarious.

⭐ THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION by Beth Brower

It’s the most adorable storytelling. You fall in love with all of the characters. It’s just so entertaining and lovely. They’re lovely books.

A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES by Sarah J. Maas

I’ve been reading the ACOTAR series. My friend suggested it and I was pretty resistant at first because a lot of people are like, “It’s just fairy smut.” But it actually has a pretty good plot.

Nonfiction

I AND THOU by Martin Buber

Life changing book for me. In a nutshell, it says: As I become I, I say thou. So you don’t become a full person until you actualize relationships with someone else.

WILD THING by Sue Prideaux

I loved that book. It really brought out the struggles that he went through.

NOTE: I loved Wild Thing, too. It’s a beautiful look at the life of a truly starving artist. I recommend the physical version instead of the ebook because of the color prints.

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Support the Show

Thanks so much for reading the WRBA Review and watching the show. I hope this series offers a fun way to discover new books and better understand the role books play in our culture.

If you’d like to support the project, please consider purchasing my first novel (available now) and/or my second novel (coming September 2026).

Proceeds allow me to buy food + coffee (short-term goal) while moving me one step closer to my dream of being a full-time book person (long-term goal).

Thanks again,

Will Pass

@willpassbooks

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“How many books have you read in the past month?”

In February, I asked 58 strangers this question, and a whopping 84% reported that they’d read at least one book.

Wait. Eighty-four percent?

Your skepticism is justified. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, 48.5% of adults in the US read a book in the past year, which means the rate is even lower on a per-month basis.

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So what’s going on here?

Three possible explanations:

1. People are lying

   1. Because people do lie, and I leave my polygraph machine at home. That said, I give interviewees the benefit of the doubt, since a random dude (i.e. me) is recording them, and that can make anyone nervous and forgetful.

2. Selection bias

   1. When I first started filming this series, I just walked up to strangers, camera rolling, and asked the question. But after being told how rude this is (and it is), I’ve changed my approach. Now I say, “Excuse me, could I please ask you a question for a YouTube video?” Sometimes that’s enough. People go for it. Other times, people want to know what I’m going to ask. So I tell them. Some people then decline the interview because they don’t read books. Moving forward, I may say it’s a family-friendly series about hobbies. Still too deceptive?

3. Location bias

   1. Most of the February episodes were filmed in Fort Collins and Boulder, both of which are college towns in Colorado. These places are full of students, academics, and bookworms. I also filmed three episodes in bookstores, further inflating the density of readers per capita.

So maybe we shouldn’t call this a science experiment.

Amateur sociological adventure?

Sure.

That has a nice ring to it.

Statistics

Locations: Fort Collins, Boulder, Timnath (Colorado)

People approached: 105

Agreed to talk: 58 (56%)

Read a book: 49 (84%)

Did not read any books: 9 (16%)

Average books per person: 2.4

Average books per reader: 2.9

Books Mentioned in February: 49

Below you’ll find a complete list of all 49 books discussed on the show in the past month.

⭐ = strong recommendation

Fiction: 31 of 49 (63%)

A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter Miller

A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole

AUDITION by Ryu Murakami

BLOOD MERIDIAN by Cormac McCarthy

THE BLUEST EYE by Toni Morrison

⭐ CAMP DAMASCUS by Chuck Tingle

Even though he’s more known for his campy romance, Chuck Tingle released three horror novels that are incredible. Camp Damascus…incredible book…just good, queer horror.

CRYPT OF THE MOON SPIDER by Nathan Ballingrud

THE DARK SECRET by Tui T. Sutherland

⭐ DAIKON by Samuel Hawley

It’s historical fiction. It’s about if the US actually had three atomic bombs and one of them fell into the hands of the Japanese. But it’s told from the Japanese perspective. It’s really good. Highly recommend.

DON QUIXOTE by Miguel Cervantes

EMPIRE OF STORMS by Sarah J. Maas

HEATED RIVALRY by Rachel Reid

THE HOUSEMAID by Freida McFadden

LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding

MEDEA by Euripides

THE MINISTRY OF TIME by Kaliane Bradley

MORNING STAR by Pierce Brown

NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burroughs

⭐ THE NATURAL WAY OF THINGS by Charlotte Wood

I read a new book that’s coming out—it’s a reprinting—The Natural Way of Things, which is about a group of women who get kidnapped…but their kidnappers abandon them, and they start hunting rabbits…they become feral rabbit women. It’s super awesome. I would definitely recommend that one.

THE NO-END HOUSE by Jeremy Bates

OLD YELLER by Fred Gipson

ONE GOLDEN SUMMER by Carley Fortune

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry

PIERCING by Ryu Murakami

PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir

⭐ RE: ZERO by Tappei Nagatsuki

It’s a fantasy about someone who is sent to another world with no inherent mental maturity or powers. He has to learn to grow up, basically. (Asked what book he would recommend to get someone into manga.)

TELL ME EVERYTHING by Elizabeth Strout

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee

⭐ THE UNSELECTED JOURNALS OF EMMA M. LION by Beth Brower

It’s kind of like a Jane Austen kind of take, but different. Set in the eighteen hundreds. It’s really good. It’s a journal, the way the book is laid out…instead of chapters. They’re just really well done.

WE WERE NEVER HERE by Andrea Bartz

ZEN AND THE ART OF FAKING IT by Jordan Sonnenblick

Nonfiction: 16 of 49 (33%)

THE ART OF WAR by Sun Tzu

THE BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO STOICISM by Matthew Van Natta

THE COMFORT OF CROWS by Margaret Renkl

CONSIDER THE LOBSTER by David Foster Wallace

⭐ DOCTORS BY NATURE by Jaap de Roode

I just finished Doctors by Nature, which is about how animals medicate themselves. It was insane. So good.

THE ESSENTIAL WRITINGS OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON by Ralph Waldo Emerson

FORTY YEARS STONED by Tom Huth

THE GO-GIVER by Bob Burg

IKIGAI by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles

⭐ THE SOUND OF A WILD SNAIL EATING by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is a memoir. While it’s a book about being sick and chronic illness, you learn a lot about snails. I haven’t met anyone that didn’t enjoy it after they read it.

THINK AND GROW RICH by Napoleon Hill

TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH by Mary Trump

TURNING TO BIRDS by Lili Taylor

WHY FISH DON'T EXIST by Lulu Miller

Religious Texts: 2 of 49 (4%)

THE BIBLE

THE BOOK OF MORMON

Thank you

Thanks so much for reading the WRBA Review and watching the show. I hope this series offers a fun, positive way to understand how people are engaging with books, and why.

If you’d like to support the project, please consider purchasing my first novel (available now) and/or my second novel (coming September 2026).

Proceeds allow me to buy food + coffee (short-term goal) while moving me one step closer to my dream of being a full-time book person (long-term goal).

Subscribe now

Thanks again,

Will Pass

@willpassbooks

Welcome to the first ever WRBA Review, a monthly newsletter summarizing the books mentioned and recommended on Who Reads Books Anymore?, a series of impromptu interviews with strangers about their reading lives.

As this is the first month, and I’m a cat on a hot tin internet, filming and editing and working a day job, this first installment is partial (since January 21). But fear not, dear reader—I’m building some spreadsheets that would make any data analyst salivate, and have grand plans to make this an informative and entertaining addition to your reading life.

Please subscribe if you’d like to have the WRBA Review delivered monthly via email. It’s free. Cancel anytime—no hard feelings.

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Statistics

Location: Fort Collins, Colorado

People approached: 53

Agreed to talk: 31 (58%)

Read a book: 21 (68%)

Did not read any books: 10 (32%)

Average books per person: 2

Average books per reader: 2.5

Books Mentioned

Fiction

A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER by Holly Jackson

Really good. It’s a series of three, and it doesn’t really get there until the last one. You think you’ve got it, and you think you’ve got it, but no—she twists you there.

ABHORSEN (OLD KINGDOM #3) by Garth Nix

THE CORRESPONDENT by Virginia Evans

DAUGHTER OF MOLOKA’I by Alan Brennert

ENDYMION by John Keats

GO AS A RIVER by Shelley Read

HARRY POTTER by J. K. Rowling

HEIDI by Johanna Spyri

HOLY LACRIMONY by Michael DeForge

THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by Ursula K. Le Guin

THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN by Marjan Kamali

Very, very good. Recommend. And it came highly recommended from a lot of women.

LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott

MARTYR! by Kaveh Akbar

THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir

MOLOKA’I by Alan Brennert

MUSTACHE BABY by Bridget Heos

THE NATURALS by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

THE NIGHTINGALE by Kristin Hannah

THE ODYSSEY by Homer

PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary is a really good book, and they’re turning it into a movie with Ryan Gosling. It’s fantastic. It’s on the edge of your seat.

REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt

THE SECOND-SMARTEST DOG THAT EVER LIVED by Will Pass

STARTER VILLAIN by John Scalzi

THREE KEYS by Laura Pritchett

TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens

Nonfiction

BLUE HIGHWAYS by William Least Heat-Moon and Bill McKibben

DIRECT ACTION by David Graeber

HIDDEN POTENTIAL by Adam Grant

IT DIDN’T START WITH YOU by Mark Wolynn

LIFE AFTER CARS by Sarah Goodyear, Doug Gordon, and Aaron Naparstek

I’m really enjoying it. It’s about how car culture in America has impacted our health and well-being. We feel like cars are freedom, and we need it. And I drove here in a car.

OUTLIVE by Peter Attia and Bill Gifford

PEACEFUL PARENT, HAPPY KIDS by Laura Markham

REVENGE OF THE TIPPING POINT by Malcolm Gladwell

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH by William L. Shirer

SHIFT: MANAGING YOUR EMOTIONS by Ethan Kross

THE TEARS OF THINGS by Richard Rohr

WRITING FICTION, TENTH EDITION by Janet Burroway, Elizabeth Stuckey-French, and Ned Stuckey-French

Thank you

Thanks so much for reading the WRBA Review and watching the show. I hope this project offers a fun, positive way to understand how real people are engaging—or not engaging—with books, and why that matters.

If you’d like to support the project even more, consider purchasing my novel, which allows me to buy food + coffee (short-term goal) and moves me one step closer to my dream of being a full-time book person (long-term goal).

Subscribe now

Thanks again,

Will Pass

@willpassbooks

Subscribe now

Welcome

Once a month, I’ll send you a list of the books mentioned on the show.

No reviews.
No hot takes.
No trying to convince you to read anything.

Sometimes I’ll add a sentence or two about why someone loved a book, or what surprised me about an episode. Sometimes not.

Unsubscribe anytime—no hard feelings.

Thanks for being here,
Will