WRBA Review: January

Real readers. Real recommendations.

Welcome

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.

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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).

Thanks again,

Will Pass

@willpassbooks