WRBA Review: January
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