Zero to Well-Read Turns 1!

Part book club, part English class, our Zero to Well-Read podcast is turning one this week, and it’s having quite a run!

Hosted by Book Riot CEO Jeff O’Neal and Chief of Staff Rebecca Schinsky, each episode tells you everything you need to know about an important book.

Covering everything from classics to cult faves, prize winners to pop culture phenomena, the show has become a hit with listeners, garnering more than 1.1 million downloads in its first year out.

Our Zero to Well-Read Podcast Primer

Here are a few of the most popular episodes to get you started:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Apple Podcasts | Spotify The Secret History by Donna Tartt: Apple Podcasts | Spotify The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler: Apple Podcasts | Spotify One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquez: Apple Podcasts | Spotify Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Guest experts like New York Times canon editor Gilbert Cruz, Toni Morrison scholar Namwali Serpell, political content creator Amanda Nelson, and “60 Songs That Explain the ’90s” host Rob Harvilla also come by for deep dives on timely topics.

An Anniversary Mailbag

If you’re already a Zero to Well-Readhead (I’m trying to make a thing happen, go with it), tune in to this week’s celebratory mailbag episode! I sat down with Jeff and Rebecca to answer tons of your listener letters. Here’s some of what we covered:

The process of selecting which titles to cover on the show How the podcast has (or hasn’t) changed our reading lives Feelings about spoilers A very fun bit of translation shenanigans Which authors we’re inviting to a fancy, make-believe dinner

Find Zero to Well-Read wherever you listen to podcasts, and join the guided read-along of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden.