Books with Betsy

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