Reader Stories
Discover inspiring stories from our readers about how our books have transformed their lives, perspectives, and daily practices.
710 storys
Villa Coco Book Review: Why Chaos Beats Control Every Time
A young archivist who wants to organize everything meets a ninety-two-year-old baroness who refuses to be organized. Chaos wins. And it's beautiful.
Read storyDear Debbie Book Review: A Genius with Zero Fucks Left
A suburban mom with a 178 IQ writes an advice column for a year, then her own life falls apart—and she stops being reasonable.
Read storyAngel Down Book Review: War, Faith, and the Horror of Holiness
WWI trenches, an angel tangled in barbed wire, and a gravedigger who saw it. The whole novel is one sentence. Proust took seven volumes—Kraus does it in one breath.
Read storyA Marriage at Sea Book Review: Tested by Shipwreck and Still Standing
A British couple drifted 118 days in the Pacific on a five-foot raft. Not an adventure story—a story about two incompatible people who refused to let go.
Read storyAll the Living and the Dead: The People Who Stay
This book made me rethink everything I thought I knew about dying.
Read storyThe Anthropocene Reviewed Book Review: The People Who Stay
This book made me cry over a parking lot. John Green rates the Anthropocene. It works.
Read storyThe Wager Book Review: The Stories We Tell to Stay Alive
A shipwreck, a mutiny, and a question: when survival is all, what remains of your soul?
Read storyThe Song of the Cell Book Review: The People Who Stay
We are not one self. We are a choir of 37 trillion.
Read storySolito Book Review: The Boy Who Carried His Heart Across Borders
One boy's 3,000-mile migration: Why Solito is the most human story you'll read this year.
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