At a glance
There is a whole population of people who love the idea of reading and cannot find the door. Life on Books hands them ten specific doors. The pitch is narrow and deliberate: these are not his personal favorites, they are books that are easy to read, genuinely engaging, and spread widely enough across genre that almost any taste finds a landing spot. Three of them run long on purpose, because finishing an 800 page book does something to your self image that finishing a 200 page book does not. The list, in the video's own order and in no ranked order of his own, runs from a dinosaur thriller to a 1947 noir to a Pulitzer winning western to a satire about literary theft.
Why this list exists (0:00)
The framing is the whole reason the list is shaped the way it is, so it is worth taking seriously before the titles start.
His diagnosis: "It seems like there's a lot of people who like the idea of reading books, but for one reason or another just have not been able to find an entry point into reading and build that habit and become a reader." The problem is not desire and it is not intelligence. It is the entry point. People pick the wrong first book, bounce, and conclude they are not readers.
So the brief he set for himself is explicit. Ten books that will make you a voracious reader, selected on three criteria: they are easy to read, they are engaging, and collectively they cover enough ground that "anybody, no matter what your tastes are, can find something in these books that they enjoy."
One more thing he says up front and repeats at the end: these are in no particular order, and they are not his personal favorites. They are books he liked that he thinks are good places to start. Different job entirely.
Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton (0:30)
First up, and he knows it is a strange opener: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.
He gets ahead of the obvious objection. You have almost certainly seen the film, and if you are anything like him, "the idea of reading a book after you've first seen the movie adaptation probably doesn't excite you too much." His answer: the book is different enough, and the writing is strong enough, that in this case it does not matter.
The difference he draws is tonal. The movie is a Hollywood summer blockbuster, an action film. The book is "much more like a thriller, maybe even borderline horror to a degree," because of the strange, almost supernatural quality of the dinosaurs and how they are created. Same premise, colder register.
Then the defense of Crichton as a writer, which is the real argument of this section. Crichton gets lumped into a pop fiction bin alongside Tom Clancy, dismissed as "cheap TV on paper." Life on Books rejects that: "his writing is very strong and quite literary. He tackles some pretty important sociological themes in the books." Those themes are in the movie too, he grants, but they are more present in the book.
The verdict is short and enthusiastic: it is an easy read, it is a page turner, he loved it, and he will probably reread it soon.
In a Lonely Place, by Dorothy B. Hughes (1:31)
Second: In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes. Another one with a film adaptation, though this time he has not seen it. (He places the novel in the 1950s; it was published in 1947, and the Nicholas Ray film followed in 1950.) The film stars Humphrey Bogart and is widely counted among the best noir films ever made.
He defines the genre for anyone who needs it, which is the kind of thing that makes this a beginner's list: a noir book is "kind of like a dark book about crime and like a detective story, if you will."
The plot as he tells it: a former World War II fighter pilot, now out of the military, is living in the California area and trying to reconnect with old friends and old love interests. There is also a serial killer loose in the area. He and a friend who is a detective start trying to piece together what is going on.
The honest part, and it is the most useful confession in the video: he did not love the first 10 to 15 percent of it. But it is a short book, so he toughed it out, and by the end he was totally hooked. That is a reading habit lesson smuggled into a recommendation, and he leaves it sitting there without underlining it.
What won him over was the psychology. "It's so darkly psychological and I think Hughes does a great job of kind of like getting into the heads of some of these characters and what their thought processes are." He recommends it to almost everybody, on the same two grounds he keeps returning to: it is super easy to read, and this one is genuinely short.
Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee (2:32)
Looking at his stack, he notices that two more of the books have screen adaptations, which was not intentional. The next of those is Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, later made into a television series.
His description: a multi generational family saga about a Korean family living predominantly through the Japanese occupation of Korea. It is a slow burn in a sense, and it digs hard into family dynamics during a period of political oppression.
He classifies it firmly as historical fiction, with a careful qualifier: the occupation is obviously a real event, though he does not believe any of the major characters are based on real prominent figures.
His craft note is about pacing, and it is a real distinction. Slow burn and bad pacing are not the same thing. "Even though it's a slow burn, I think the pacing is very good."
Aside: why he put chunky books on a beginner list (3:33)
He breaks the list here to defend a choice that looks like a mistake, and this aside is the intellectual center of the video.
Several books on the list are long. That is deliberate. "The reason why I think it's really cool to include longer books in your new reading habit journey is reading long books gives you a very big sense of accomplishment compared to something shorter."
Then the line that explains the whole selection philosophy: "having something that's engaging and really easy to read but has some length to it is going to make you feel like you are a badass reader."
The mechanism is identity, not information. A new reader who closes an 800 page novel has evidence about who they are. That evidence is what turns a completed book into a habit. So he wanted a bunch of books like that on the list, and he notes Pachinko is not even the longest one coming.
Shadow Divers, by Robert Kurson (4:06)
The only nonfiction pick, and one of his all time favorite nonfiction books: Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson.
He pitches it in both directions. If you are already a big fiction reader, you will still love this. If you lean nonfiction, it checks several boxes, including a substantial amount of military history.
The story: a group of deep sea divers who more or less dive for hidden and sunken treasure catch wind that there might be a sunken German U-boat off the northeast coast of the United States. The stakes if it is really down there are double. They would be finding a boat that was previously unaccounted for, and they would be proving that a German submarine came much closer to the American land mass than anyone thought the Nazis ever reached. "So that alone has a lot of intrigue to it."
But the reason it is on the list is Kurson's prose in the water. "Kersonen does such a fabulous job of describing the underwater scenes when these divers go down on these deep sea dives," he says, and the payoff is physical: it is one of the very few books that has ever given him a strong visceral reaction. "It's made my heart race. It made my palm sweat." An absolute page turner. He adds that the fact it is nonfiction gives it an extra oomph you would not get from a novel.
The caveat, which he raises himself. There have been rebuttals to this book, pushback about some of the details. Without spoiling it, he notes that a pretty tragic situation happens in the book, and specific details about that particular event have been called into question. His position is not a retraction: overall he thinks it is a really well researched, well done book, and "if you aren't super hung up on every little single detail and just kind of acknowledge that even non-fiction doesn't always get it right or maybe even just bends the truth just a little bit to tell a more cohesive story, I think you'll absolutely love this."
Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry (6:39)
The longest book on the list, at almost 900 pages: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, published in 1985. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (he checks himself mid sentence and confirms it, and the prize was awarded in 1986 for the 1985 novel).
He includes it for a reason that has nothing to do with his own rating: reader satisfaction on this book is extraordinarily high. A lot of people in the reading community rate it as their all time favorite book.
His own take is the most candid moment in the video. "I thought it was good. I thought it might be a little overrated, but I don't want that to dissuade you from reading it because again, most people absolutely love this one." He recommends a book he is lukewarm on because the evidence from other readers overwhelms his own reaction. That is a rare thing on a recommendation list.
People call it the best western novel ever written, and he calls it "a masterclass on characters. There are so many interesting, funny, fun, lovable, endearing characters in this book."
The plot: former US marshals in the 1800s who have lost their way, because the need for marshals has waned. They have a small farm and ranch in Texas, and they decide to move to Montana and start a cattle ranch. So it is a book about leaving the past behind and starting on something new. But this is a time when the Midwest was undeveloped in terms of infrastructure, so going that way was very dangerous and took a long time. A lot of pitfalls. No cars: they are all on horseback, herding hundreds and hundreds of cows north. The book is their journey and the interpersonal relationships along it. "It's a very sad book, very emotionally gripping book."
And the reassurance, delivered as a promise: even though it is quite long, "I promise you it is totally approachable and you'll get through this in just a couple weeks."
The Long Ships, by Frans G. Bengtsson (8:14)
The only work of translated literature on the list, and he explains at length why there is only one.
He is a big reader of translated lit personally. He kept it off this list because jumping in with translated work when you have not been in the habit of reading can be tough. Euphemisms and colloquialisms may not land for an English speaker. More than that, "there's a lot of different types of storytelling that is used throughout the world and you get a lot of that in translated lit." If you are just trying to get into the groove of reading, starting with something experimental or very foreign feeling might not work for you.
None of that applies here. The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson, translated from Swedish by Michael Meyer.
The pitch is gloriously simple: it is a book about Vikings. "It's basically just a Viking adventure story. Very fun, very fast-paced."
And the anecdote that sells it better than any plot summary could: when Bengtsson was asked what his motivation for the book was, or what the meaning or message behind it was, he said there wasn't one. He just wanted to write a really fun story. Life on Books thinks he accomplished exactly that.
Length: a little on the chunky side, just over 500 pages, but a super easy read. His social proof is direct and personal: "pretty much everyone that I've recommended this book to has come back and said that they really enjoyed it."
City of Thieves, by David Benioff (9:45)
He introduces this one by the author first, for the recognition hit. David Benioff was one of the writers on the Game of Thrones television show. His aside: "even though they completely dropped the ball in the last two seasons, this book is excellent."
The book is City of Thieves, historical fiction set during World War II in Russia, following two Russian soldiers.
He then teaches the history, because the setup does not work without it. Hitler and Stalin had a pact. They were going to buddy up to one another. Hitler broke it and attacked Russia, and Russia was not really prepared. The strain on Russian infrastructure was enormous: suddenly they were fighting one of the world's most powerful militaries while short on food and short on supplies. People were going cold, hungry, homeless. And, crucially, that extended to the soldiers too. "Just because you were in the military doesn't mean you were well fed, well taken care of, and you were being asked to put your life on the line and go out there and push your body to its limit and potentially sacrifice your life. And you might not have even had the adequate weaponry to fight or you've been gone without eating or sleeping." A very difficult time.
Against that backdrop, the premise is almost absurd and that is the point. The characters are tasked with finding eggs for their commander's daughter, who is getting married, so a wedding cake can be made. There are pretty high stakes if they do not come back with the goods. And during that period, finding eggs is very challenging.
His verdict: "a very endearing story, well-paced." It is a New York Times bestseller, which he offers as a bonus if that is something you care about, and another book with very high reader satisfaction.
The last three, outside his wheelhouse (11:15)
Before the final three he sets expectations. These are "pretty far outside my personal wheelhouse." He likes to dip his toes into different genres every once in a while, even though he is typically reading more dense literature. He enjoyed all three of these, and all three are very popular.
That framing matters. The last three are on the list because they work on other people, not because they are his lane.
Between Two Fires, by Christopher Buehlman (11:47)
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. Another historical fiction, this one set during the black plague. It follows a disgraced knight who befriends a young girl and a priest and tries to help them navigate their way to safety.
Genre, in his blend: historical fiction, horror, and fantasy. Very action packed.
Content warning, given plainly. "It's very adult. So there's some pretty brutal violence, some sexually explicit stuff, a lot of action, but it's a fun read."
And then the single most actionable sentence in the whole video for a nervous beginner: on today's list, this is possibly the very easiest to read. "I would say the prose is the most approachable out of any book I'm going to talk about today. So, if you really want something super simple to start with, this might be a good choice."
A Far Better Rest, by Susanne Alleyn (12:49)
This one comes with a diagnosis of a very specific reader, and it is sharply observed.
Part of why people want to become readers, he argues, is that being an intellectual has been romanticized. Reading literature, being able to participate in conversations or communities where people are well read and well versed in the classics. That is a real motivation. But then "sometimes you pick up a book that was written in the 1800s and the language is just so different from how we speak today it almost feels like you're reading a different language."
So this is the book for people who want access to those stories with modernized language: A Far Better Rest by Susanne Alleyn (Soho Press, 2000; her debut novel, and she has no Wikipedia page of her own, so Open Library is the cleanest index of her work).
It is a retelling of A Tale of Two Cities, which he names as his personal favorite Charles Dickens novel. His account of the barrier: Dickens is known for being very wordy, he was a British man living in the 19th century, so a very long time ago, and if you are American, British English and American English can be vastly different. That gap is a real language barrier for people.
Alleyn's move is to take the perspective of one of the less central figures in A Tale of Two Cities and tell his side of the story. (The narrator is Sydney Carton, and the title lifts the novel's closing line, "It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.") The story is a lot of fun and it follows a similar thread to the original text, but, and this is the entire point of the recommendation, "Allen's writing is absolutely nothing like Charles Dickens. So, if you don't like Charles Dickens style, but you want to gain access to that story, this is an awesome choice."
Book club interlude: Bomarzo (14:15)
Just before the last book, he plugs the Life on Books book club on Patreon.
March's pick is Bomarzo by Manuel Mujica Lainez, originally written in Spanish by an Argentine author and later translated into English.
How the club runs: every month they put four or five books up for a vote, everyone in the community votes, and they read the winner. The range is deliberately wide. Sometimes translated work, sometimes modern, sometimes classics. It all depends.
Beyond the reading, there is a very active Discord community where they talk about books, movies, music, and just making friends. He calls it very active and very fun, and also the best way to support the channel.
Yellowface, by R. F. Kuang (14:54)
The last book, and he flags that it might surprise people that he likes it, because it is not at all what he typically reads. He really did like it: Yellowface by R. F. Kuang, which has now sold over a million copies.
He gives it a category with a slight raised eyebrow: this is what he would call a BookTok book. There is a set of maybe five to fifteen to twenty books that get talked about over and over again on that platform. "People just for whatever reason just continue to promote some of these same books and they become part of the zeitgeist on that platform." This is definitely one of them. And it is still, he says, a really well written, really fun book. Very funny, very satirical.
The premise: a woman who is a writer, but not a very successful one, has a tenuous friendship with another woman writer who is much more successful. That woman dies. She takes one of the dead writer's unpublished manuscripts and passes it off as her own. The rest of the story follows the fallout from that decision.
Underneath the satire it tackles racism, and it takes a close look at the publishing industry, which "has come under fire for a number of years now for not really caring about the quality of a work but really just trying to check boxes kind of like performative progressivism, like, oh we publish diverse authors, but they don't really care about what these people are writing. They're just publishing their books because they're people of color or maybe they're part of the LGBT community or whatever it is."
He then does something worth noting on a book recommendation channel: he declines to editorialize. "I'm not making any comments one way or another about all that stuff. I'm just telling you what the book is about." He found it prescient and he found it funny.
Why it works as an entry point: even though it has serious themes and undertones, on its surface it really is just a simple, entertaining story. Easy to read.
And the closing argument for popular books generally, which loops back to lever four: "the cool thing about reading popular books is you will not be short of anyone to have a conversation about it." If you know readers, there is a good chance they have read a lot of the books on this list. "Talking about books with other people is part of what makes the reading experience so fun. Reading doesn't have to be an individual activity."
The two favors he asks (17:27)
He closes with two requests, one for each half of his audience.
If you are a new reader building the habit: tell him in the comments which of these actually sounded the most interesting to you.
If you are an experienced reader: drop your own recommendations in the comments. This is explicitly not an exhaustive list, so help other people out with titles that might get them started.
And a pointer for anyone who wants the other list: these are not his personal favorites, they are books he liked that he thinks are good places to start. His real all time favorites are covered in an episode of the Life on Books podcast, linked from the video.
The full list
| Book | Author | Genre | Why it is on the list |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jurassic Park | Michael Crichton | Science thriller, borderline horror | Darker and more literary than the blockbuster film, and a straight page turner. |
| In a Lonely Place | Dorothy B. Hughes | Noir crime | Short and darkly psychological. Push through the first 15 percent and it hooks you. |
| Pachinko | Min Jin Lee | Historical fiction, family saga | A slow burn with excellent pacing, and long enough to feel like an achievement. |
| Shadow Divers | Robert Kurson | Narrative nonfiction, military history | The only nonfiction pick, and the only book that made his heart race and his palms sweat. |
| Lonesome Dove | Larry McMurtry | Western | Almost 900 pages, a Pulitzer winner, and many readers' all time favorite book. |
| The Long Ships | Frans G. Bengtsson | Viking adventure (translated) | 500 plus pages of pure fun, written with no message in mind, and everyone he lends it to loves it. |
| City of Thieves | David Benioff | Historical fiction, World War II | An absurd quest for eggs inside a brutal siege. Endearing, well paced, high reader satisfaction. |
| Between Two Fires | Christopher Buehlman | Historical fiction, horror, fantasy | The most approachable prose on the entire list. Very adult: brutal violence and explicit content. |
| A Far Better Rest | Susanne Alleyn (Open Library) | Historical fiction, retelling | A Tale of Two Cities in modern language, so you get the classic without the 19th century wall. |
| Yellowface | R. F. Kuang | Literary satire | A million copies sold, funny and prescient, and everyone you know has already read it. |
Where to start, by what you are actually afraid of
| If this is you | Start with | His reason, in his words |
|---|---|---|
| "I want the simplest possible sentences" | Between Two Fires | "The prose is the most approachable out of any book I'm going to talk about today." |
| "I need something I can finish this week" | In a Lonely Place | "It's a short book, so I toughed it out and by the end I was totally hooked." |
| "I want to feel like a badass reader" | Lonesome Dove | Almost 900 pages, but "totally approachable and you'll get through this in just a couple weeks." |
| "I already love the movie" | Jurassic Park | "The book is different enough and the writing is strong enough that I think it's not going to matter." |
| "I do not read made up stories" | Shadow Divers | "The fact that it's non-fiction just adds a little bit of oomph to it." |
| "I just want fun with no homework" | The Long Ships | The author said there was no message: "I just wanted to write a really fun story." |
| "I want a book that will wreck me" | Pachinko | A slow burn that "really digs into family dynamics during a really difficult time of political oppression." |
| "I want history without a textbook" | City of Thieves | "It's just a very endearing story, well-paced," set against a war he explains as he goes. |
| "I want the classics without the wall" | A Far Better Rest | "If you don't like Charles Dickens style, but you want to gain access to that story, this is an awesome choice." |
| "I want someone to talk to about it" | Yellowface | "You will not be short of anyone to have a conversation about it." |
Key takeaways
- The problem is the entry point, not the person. People who like the idea of reading usually bounce off a badly chosen first book and conclude they are not readers.
- Selection criteria that actually work for a beginner: easy to read, engaging, and spread wide enough across genre that any taste finds one.
- Long books belong on a beginner list. Finishing 900 pages changes your self image in a way finishing 200 pages does not. Engaging plus easy plus long makes you "feel like you are a badass reader."
- Slow burn and bad pacing are different things. Pachinko is the example.
- Being bored by the opening is not a verdict on the book. He nearly abandoned In a Lonely Place in the first 15 percent and ended up loving it.
- Recommend on reader satisfaction, not just your own taste. He puts Lonesome Dove on the list while openly calling it possibly overrated for him, because most readers adore it.
- Translated literature is worth avoiding early, not forever. Unfamiliar colloquialisms and unfamiliar storytelling shapes are extra load on a habit that is not built yet. The Long Ships is the exception because it is pure adventure.
- Popular books have a real functional advantage: other people have read them, and talking about books is half the pleasure. Reading does not have to be a solo activity.
- Nonfiction can out thrill fiction. Shadow Divers is the only book that ever gave him a physical reaction.
- Genre snobbery costs you books. Crichton is dismissed as pop fiction and is, in his reading, strong and quite literary.
Chapters
- 0:00 The problem: people who like the idea of reading and cannot find the door
- 0:30 Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
- 1:31 In a Lonely Place, by Dorothy B. Hughes
- 2:32 Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee
- 3:33 Aside: why chunky books belong on a beginner list
- 4:06 Shadow Divers, by Robert Kurson (the only nonfiction pick)
- 6:09 The caveat: rebuttals to some of the details in Shadow Divers
- 6:39 Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry (the longest, at almost 900 pages)
- 8:14 The Long Ships, by Frans G. Bengtsson (the only translated book, and why there is only one)
- 9:45 City of Thieves, by David Benioff
- 10:15 The World War II context behind City of Thieves
- 11:15 The last three, outside his personal wheelhouse
- 11:47 Between Two Fires, by Christopher Buehlman (easiest prose on the list)
- 12:49 A Far Better Rest, by Susanne Alleyn (Dickens without the 19th century wall)
- 14:15 Book club interlude: Bomarzo, by Manuel Mujica Lainez
- 14:54 Yellowface, by R. F. Kuang
- 17:10 Why popular books are worth reading: you get someone to talk to
- 17:27 Two favors: new readers pick one, experienced readers add yours
Notable quotes
"It seems like there's a lot of people who like the idea of reading books, but for one reason or another just have not been able to find an entry point into reading and build that habit and become a reader." (0:00)
"I would say that his writing is very strong and quite literary. He tackles some pretty important sociological themes in the books." (1:01, on Michael Crichton)
"I actually didn't love maybe the first 10 to 15% of it, but it's a short book, so I toughed it out and by the end I was totally hooked." (2:32, on In a Lonely Place)
"Reading long books gives you a very big sense of accomplishment compared to something shorter." (3:33)
"Having something that's engaging and really easy to read but has some length to it is going to make you feel like you are a badass reader." (4:06)
"It's made my heart race. It made my palm sweat. It's just an absolute page turner of a book." (5:38, on Shadow Divers)
"I thought it was good. I thought it might be a little overrated, but I don't want that to dissuade you from reading it because again, most people absolutely love this one." (6:39, on Lonesome Dove)
"There wasn't one. I just wanted to write a really fun story." (9:14, quoting Frans G. Bengtsson on the meaning behind The Long Ships)
"Even though they completely dropped the ball in the last two seasons, this book is excellent." (9:45, on David Benioff and Game of Thrones)
"I would say the prose is the most approachable out of any book I'm going to talk about today." (12:18, on Between Two Fires)
"Sometimes you pick up a book that was written in the 1800s and the language is just so different from how we speak today it almost feels like you're reading a different language." (12:49)
"I'm not making any comments one way or another about all that stuff. I'm just telling you what the book is about." (16:26, on the publishing industry themes in Yellowface)
"Talking about books with other people is part of what makes the reading experience so fun. Reading doesn't have to be an individual activity." (17:10)
Resources mentioned
The ten books
- Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
- In a Lonely Place (1947), by Dorothy B. Hughes
- Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee
- Shadow Divers, by Robert Kurson
- Lonesome Dove (1985), by Larry McMurtry
- The Long Ships, by Frans G. Bengtsson, translated from Swedish by Michael Meyer
- City of Thieves, by David Benioff
- Between Two Fires, by Christopher Buehlman
- A Far Better Rest, by Susanne Alleyn (Soho Press; her books on Open Library)
- Yellowface, by R. F. Kuang
Also named in the video
- Bomarzo, by Manuel Mujica Lainez (the book club's March pick)
- A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, and its narrator in Alleyn's retelling, Sydney Carton
- Tom Clancy (the pop fiction bin Crichton gets lumped into)
Adaptations referenced
- Jurassic Park (1993 film)
- In a Lonely Place (1950 film), directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Humphrey Bogart
- Pachinko (TV series)
- Game of Thrones (David Benioff was one of its writers)
Context and background
- Korea under Japanese rule (Pachinko)
- The Molotov and Ribbentrop Pact and Operation Barbarossa (City of Thieves)
- The Siege of Leningrad (City of Thieves)
- The Black Death (Between Two Fires)
- The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Lonesome Dove)
- The New York Times Best Seller list (City of Thieves)
- BookTok (Yellowface)
- Film noir and the western and historical fiction (genres he defines as he goes)
Life on Books
- The book club on Patreon, including the Discord community
- The Life on Books channel
- Instagram: @alifeonbooks
- The mailing list (giveaways and projects)
- Read one book from every country, his online resource
- Freedom, the distraction blocking app he recommends for reading more (his link)
