Six Books for Your Reading Type

And why curation is a big deal in the books space

Why are there so many people telling me what to read?

I cannot think of a single medium of communication that is more highly curated than books. Not only are books curated by agents, publishers, and bookstores—but even the few that achieve the rare feat of being published are further curated by editors’ picks, librarians, lit-curriculum writers, BookTok recs, and word of mouth.

But why? Why does there seem to be such a demand for people telling us what to read?

I think I’m finally starting to figure it out.

When you look at the media landscape, we have more options than ever to keep ourselves informed, entertained, and inspired. Movies, music, TV shows, books, news, social media—the list goes on.

But not all of these mediums are created equal. Each of them differs in two major categories:

1) Volume

This is the amount of content out there (i.e., what gets released every year) in a particular medium. Music scores incredibly high here—thousands of songs hit Spotify every single morning. Movies are at the low end. There are only a few dozen films that make it to your local theater each year—and there isn’t that much more going straight to streaming comparatively.

2) Time Required

This is how much time it takes to actually finish the thing you’re consuming. Music sits at the very bottom—most songs take 3–5 minutes. Even an entire album is under an hour (unless we’re talking about a Taylor’s Version). Movies land somewhere in the middle at ~2 hours. TV shows range from 8 to 25+ hours and sit toward the top end of this scale.

The rule: the higher the number in each of these categories, the greater the need for curation. Or, as a one-liner: High Volume × High Time = High Curation.

Books break both of these scales.

There are literally tens of thousands of books published every year—the volume is on par with music. And time to complete? Most books will take longer to finish than it would take to watch a short season of a TV show.

Just look at this silly little chart I made.

This is why curation for books matters.

The issue is, we have some pretty bad curators out there. BookTok algorithms and Amazon’s “if you liked ___ you’ll love ___” are not good curation. They hinge on the worst way to recommend new books: genre (gross).

This is why I created Read Your Color—to build a new space for better curation. When we curate based on the kind of reader you are, we create lifelong readers who love to read. And that’s the goal of this whole thing.

So—in the spirit of curation—here are your books for the week.

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Your Weekly Recs

Orange Reader — The Mountain in the Sea (Ray Nayler)
Sentient octopuses, a sealed-off archipelago, and a biotech corporation with its own private army—this is first contact as thought experiment and chase novel. Nayler builds a world that feels eerily plausible, asking what intelligence means and what we owe it. Big sense of place, big ideas, and the heady thrill of discovery.

Yellow Reader — Wild Game (Adrienne Brodeur)
A daughter becomes her mother’s confidante in an illicit affair, and the secret remakes their family. Brodeur’s memoir is intimate, to say the least. It’s a story about loyalty, shame, and the ripple effect of bad decisions.

Green Reader — Cloudsplitter (Russell Banks)
Told by Owen Brown, son of abolitionist John Brown, this sweeping novel grapples with zealotry and justice. It’s fiction for Green readers because it’s a well-researched, fictionalized account—you’ll finish feeling how this series of true events may have felt, not just knowing what happened.

Blue Reader — The River Runs South (Audrey Ingram)
A young mother returns to the South after a long hiatus. This is a story about grief, belonging, and the complexity of rebuilding a life—reflective and tender, with a setting you can see, touch, taste, and smell. A perfect read for thinking slow and feeling deeply.

Purple Reader — Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth (Wole Soyinka)
A cynical satire that ricochets through conspiracies in a country selling its soul with a smile. A very strange book (but the strange Purple readers love). It’s a wild ride that should not be undertaken lightly.

Red Reader — Slow Horses (Mick Herron)
This became an Apple TV smash hit for a reason: you’re not going to be able to put it down. Herron blends dry gallows humor with real stakes, tightening the vise one chapter at a time. High stakes, moral gray zones, and a finale that’s one of the best payoffs in modern thrillers.

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