On this episode, Will Pass, author and creator of Who Reads Books Anymore, talks about the joy of the library with his kids, how much he learns about books when talking to strangers, and the book that hooked him as a young reader. We also talk a lot about how people develop a rich reading life and I hope this inspires listeners to encourage a non-reader in their life!

Will’s Author Site 

Who Reads Books Anymore

The Second Smartest Dog That Ever Lived 

Pre-Order The Whirlpool of Lebanon 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

What Betsy’s reading: 

Culpability by Bruce Holsinger 

Code Noir by Canisia Lubrin

The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy 

Books Highlighted by Will:

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki 

Nest by Terry Goodkind

A Little Like Magic by Sarah Kurpiel 

Merle’s Door: Lessons From a Free-Thinking Dog by Ted Kerasote 

Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal 

Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson 

The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist 

The Stranger by Albert Camus

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher 

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 

Corner by Zo-O

We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins 

Baby Talk by Stella Blackstone

Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt 

The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt

French Exit by Patrick deWitt 

The Stand by Stephen King 

Crypt of the Moon Spider by Nathan Ballingrud 

Heidi by Johanna Spyri 

Angels by Denis Johnson 

Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson 

Death With Interruptions by José Saramago 

Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind 

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein 

I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal 

Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson

On this episode, Sofia and Becca from Off Color Book Club join me to discuss the most recent Off Color Book Club book, There There by Tommy Orange. 

My Book Club Guide

If you’re interested in joining the Off Color Book Club in the future, our next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 17th to discuss Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli. All are welcome! 

On this episode, Nicole Abrahamson, Off Color Book Club Member, talks about her extremely varied reading life that is inspired by the idea of trying anything once. We also talk about the importance of talking about why you might not like a book and she drops a ton of titles that you might want to add to your TBR. 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

What Betsy’s reading: 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 

The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy 

There, There by Tommy Orange 

Books Highlighted by Nicole:

East of Eden by John Steinbeck 

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough 

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy 

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen 

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr 

About Grace by Anthony Doerr

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Clarie Lombardo 

Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang 

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros 

Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff 

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell 

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen 

Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

On this episode, Rachel Larkins, a listener of Books with Betsy, talks about her project to read all the winners of the Hugo award, so we talk about a lot of really great sci-fi books. We also dish about how great the Book Riot podcast universe is and we might convince you to pick up Dune. 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

What Betsy’s reading: 

Ring by Michele Lerner

You Wanna Be On Top? by Sarah Hartshorne

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 

The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits

The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy 

Books Highlighted by Rachel:

Enders Game by Orson Scott Card 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell 

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter Miller 

Prophet Song by Paul Lynch 

Among Others by Jo Walton 

Network Effect by Martha Wells 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 

Dune by Frank Herbert 

Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman 

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion 

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu 

Travel Team by Mike Lupica 

Recursion by Blake Crouch 

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang 

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson 

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros 

On this episode, Amanda Moulson, co-host of the Curious Readers podcast, talks about finding her heartland as a reader, how much women’s voices influence her reading life, and the ways that podcasting about books changes how she interacts with books. We also go down a bit of an awards rabbit hole and find our shared love of pen and paper. 

Curious Readers Podcast 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

What Betsy’s reading: 

So Far Gone by Jess Walter 

The Compound by Aisling Rawle 

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabelle Wilkerson 

Books Highlighted by Amanda:

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry 

The Melting by Lize Spit 

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason 

Green Dot by Madeleine Gray 

Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny 

Angel Down by Daniel Kraus 

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad 

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel 

Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry 

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell 

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell 

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver 

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny 

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan 

On the Calculation of Volume by Solvej Balle 

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

On this episode, Stephanie Majercik and Nicole Abrahamson from Off Color Book Club join me to discuss the most recent Off Color Book Club book, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. 

My Book Club Guide

If you’re interested in joining the Off Color Book Club in the future, our next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 17th to discuss There There by Tommy Orange. All are welcome! 

On this episode, Giorgia Riddell, of Fostered Fiction, talks about her love for used books, especially those that are already annotated, her memories of listening to books on road trips, and we get into the current reading stats from last year and encourage anyone who wants to talk about reading online to go out there and do it. 

Fostered Fiction on TikTok 

Fostered Fiction on Instagram 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

What Betsy’s reading: 

Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa

Tilt by Emma Pattee 

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir 

Books Highlighted by Giorgia:

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt 

You Weren’t Meant to be Human by Andrew Joseph White 

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 

Lie With Me by Phillipe Besson 

What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez 

Creep by Emma van Straaten 

Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon 

The Will of the Many by James Islington 

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab 

If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga 

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger 

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket 

The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale 

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins 

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez 

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin 

Is This a Cry For Help? by Emily Austin 

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut 

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood 

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams 

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi 

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones 

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden 

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone

The Only One Left by Riley Sager 

Gone Girl by Gilian Flynn 

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk 

Endling by Maria Reva 

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 

On this episode, Alexander Davidson, an English teacher and author, talks about his life as a self-proclaimed chaotic mood reader and gives a lot of really excellent book recommendations from a wide range of genres. He also talks about his recently developed love for audiobooks, and gives some great recommendations for narrators to look out for. 

Mr. D Reads on Instagram 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

What Betsy’s reading: 

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and his Mother) by Rabih Alameddine

Books Highlighted by Alexander:

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway 

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 

Just Mercy by Brian Stevenson 

Beach Read by Emily Henry

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

The Guncle by Steven Rowley 

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch 

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes 

Young Mungo by Douglas Stewart 

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides 

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 

Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah 

All books available on my Bookshop.org episode page.  

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 

Matilda by Roald Dahl 

Holes by Louis Sachar 

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds 

Beartown by Fredrik Backman 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 

The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley 

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams 

Forget Me Not by Julie Soto

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine 

James by Percival Everett 

The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty 

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern 

North Woods by Daniel Mason 

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart 

On this episode, past guests of Books with Betsy and I share our favorite books of 2025! Listen to hear about lots of great 2025 books and the excellent backlist we got to this year. 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

Betsy’s Top 11 Books (in no particular order): 

The Sisters by Jonas Hassan Khemiri 

Endling by Maria Reva

The Director by Daniel Kehlmann 

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey 

Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet 

Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing

Devil is Fine by John Vercher 

There is a Rio Grande in Heaven by Ruben Reyes, Jr. 

A Guardian and A Thief by Megha Majumdar 

Reservoir Bitches by Dalia de la Cerda 

Books Highlighted by Guests:

Tina of TBR, etc: 

One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford 

Dominion by Addie E. Citchens

Red Clay by Charles B. Fancher 

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid 

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Jen Price:

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

Canada by Mike Myers 

Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza

Saltwater by Katy Hays

Come Fly With Me by Camille Di Maio

Bre of Brezzylovesbooks: 

Plantains and Our Becoming: Poems by Melania Luisa Marte

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing From Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo 

Maggie; or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee 

Maggie Brennan: 

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib 

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar 

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai 

Wolf Pack by Amelia Brunskill 

Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed  

Amy Smalley: 

Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce 

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith 

The Carpool Detectives: A True Story of Four Moms, Two Bodies, and One Mysterious Cold Case by Chuck Hogan 

Grace & Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman 

Carrie Vittitoe: 

My Father’s Paradise: A Son’s Search for His Family’s Past by Ariel Sabar  

Angel Down by Daniel Kraus 

The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon 

Mary Hopper: 

The Black Wolf by Louise Penny 

Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore 

The Moscow Sleepers by Stella Rimington 

The Searcher by Tana French 

The Hunter by Tana French 

Aflame: Learning From Silence by Pico Iyer 

Karishma Verma: 

The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading by James Patterson and Matt Eversman 

You Wanna Be on Top?: A Memoir of Makeovers, Manipulation, and Not Becoming America's Next Top Model by Sarah Hartshorne 

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez 

The Housemaid’s Secret by Frieda McFadden 

The House of My Mother: A Daughter’s Quest for Freedom by Shari Franke

Alayna Mills: 

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Flashlight by Susan Choi 

We Do Not Part by Han Kang 

Last Call at the Local by Sarah Grunder Ruiz 

Heart the Lover by Lily King

On this episode, past guests of Books with Betsy and I share our favorite books of 2025! Listen to hear about lots of great 2025 books and the excellent backlist we got to this year. 

Books mentioned in this episode: 

Betsy’s Best Categorically (books that…): 

Shocked me: 

It’s Not the End of the World by Jonathan Parks-Ramage

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell 

Made me Cry:

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai 

Are You Happy? By Lori Ostlund 

Underrated:

Fundamentally by Noussaibah Younis 

What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown 

Recommend Widely:

There is No Place For Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone 

Isola by Allegra Goodman 

Hard to Recommend: 

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby 

Flesh by David Szalay 

Made me Think About my Life Differently:

Uzumaki by Junji Ito 

Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa 

Books Highlighted by Guests:

Deedi Brown: 

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Telephone by Percival Everett 

Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age by Vauhini Vara 

Francisco Rafael Peralta-Cerda: 

Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman 

Displacement by Kiku Hughes 

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang 

Chloe Waryan: 

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt 

Woodworking by Emily St. James 

Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

Jess Abra Sandy: 

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix 

Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews

Soft Science & Other Poems by Franny Choi 

Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong 

Shakia Perry: 

Issac’s Song by Daniel Black 

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby 

Zeal by Morgan Jerkins 

Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan 

Chelsey Stone: 

The Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd

Creatures of Passage by Morowa Yejidé

Deirdre Harrison: 

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer 

Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself by Lisa Marchiano 

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley 

Chirri & Chirra: The Snowy Day by Kaya Doi & Yuki Kaneko 

The Red Fruit by Lee Gee Eun 

Red Sled by Lita Judge 

Jordan Hernandez: 

This is Your Mother by Erika J. Simpson 

The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley 

Loca by Alejandro Heredia 

Liv Hoselton: 

Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green 

A Noble Madness: The Dark Side of Collecting from Antiquity to Now by James Delbourgo 

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Frankenstein by Mary Shelly 

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 

Leah Rachel von Essen: 

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts 

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert 

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon