Watch This Space

Zero to Well-Read is taking over the Substack

A lot has happened since we introduced the Zero to Well-Read podcast back in September.

We’ve read and discussed dozens of books, from English class staples to cult classics to pop culture phenomena. We’ve climbed the Apple Podcasts charts and earned a spot on the list of Essentials in the books category. We’ve notched more than 600,000 downloads. And we’ve heard from countless listeners who are leveling-up their reading lives alongside us. In short, it’s been a hell of a ride.

What’s Happening

Zero to Well-Read is the most fun we’ve had in a long time, and as we continue to explore ways to reach new listeners and grow the community, we’ll be converting this newsletter to focus on ZTWR.

We’ll be sharing background info, author insights, favorite quotes, and other miscellany from our research for each episode. If that sounds good to you—and we sure hope it does—you don’t need to do anything. The goods will land in your inbox in fresh new wrapping soon. If not, here’s your heads-up to unsubscribe. The BR Pod isn’t going anywhere.

In the Meantime

While we set up the ladders and prepare for a little renovation, here are a few highlight episodes to get you started.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: This is the one where it all began. We pop some champagne and kick off the show with a conversation about how this book ended up on high school curricula everywhere, why that’s the exact wrong age to read it, and how it still echoes in today’s culture. Apple | Spotify

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: It’s the OG of dark academia, and it still hits. Sex, drugs, classical literature, and a little murder for good measure. This one was a ton of fun and includes a delightfully deranged tangent about Miss Piggy. Apple | Spotify

The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler: This eerily prescient dystopian novel opens in 2024, and WHEW, did Butler get a scary number of things right about life in the future. Her life was as groundbreaking as her work, and we couldn’t be happier to see this book breaking into mainstream literary consciousness. Apple | Spotify

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson: This masterful history of America’s Great Migration reads like fiction in the very best way, and it deserves its place as the highest-rated nonfiction on the New York Times’s list of the 100 best books of the century so far. Truly an all-timer reading experience. Apple | Spotify

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: This book is not what you remember from 8th grade English class. We talk about what aged well, what no longer resonates, and why so many readers today still cite it as their favorite book. Apple | Spotify

✅ Subscribe in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your app of choice to catch a new episode every Tuesday, and watch this space for more updates. Thanks for rolling with the evolution!