Are you on track to hit your reading goals by the end of the year? Three months into 2022, we’d like to share what our bibliophile staff has been reading or listening to for Scribd’s Bingo Reading Challenge. Below, we’ve highlighted some of our staff’s favorite stories from the past few months. Whether you’ve already gotten bingo this year or you’re still trying to form a reading habit, we hope these recommendations — from great audiobooks and podcasts to works by marginalized authors — provide inspiration.
Bitcoin Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
This book is an interesting follow-up to The Social Network. It follows the Winklevoss twins as they plan their next big move: cryptocurrency. The author keeps the subject entertaining, all while teaching the reader about the history of cryptocurrency. — Mike A., Data Scientist
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook
Earn Your Leisure is a business and finance podcast about investing and entrepreneurship. It gives insights into businesses and investing through a different lens, and includes interviews with various artists, music moguls, actors, and business entrepreneurs. — Austin S., Mobile QA
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook
How I Built This is a long-running, acclaimed podcast featuring interviews and stories from entrepreneurs who built well-known brands and businesses from the ground up. It highlights their backgrounds, plus the many challenges they overcame en route to success. — Matt M., Product Analyst
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook; By an entrepreneur
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
Walker is a professor of neuroscience and psychology and runs a sleep lab at UC Berkeley. This book is grounded in his 20+ years of research into the hows and whys of sleep. Walker tries hard to convince the reader to sleep enough hours each night, and — at least based on my experience — he succeeds at this goal. I read the first three chapters last year and started giving myself a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleeping time. — Shubham C., Machine Learning Engineer
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook; Self-help book
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
One of my goals this year is to write more. Zinsser has penned a great how-to for improving your writing — whether it’s novels, emails, even texts. Decades after its initial publication, this classic guide still inspires. — Shubham C., Machine Learning Engineer
Bingo boxes it can fill: Self-help book
OK Boomer, Let’s Talk by Jill Filipovic
OK Boomer, Let’s Talk is a deep-dive into how differently the baby boomer and millennial generations have emerged. Author Filipovic combats misconceptions and shares differences in politics, economic realities, education, social beliefs, and more in this biting attack succinctly captured by the namesake phrase “OK Boomer.” — Brittany C., Email
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
Vitale breaks down how the American police system emerged, how far its reach has become, and how short it falls in almost every realm it inhabits. This is an important book for anyone intrigued by the concept of defunding the police, American history and politics, or even how the institution of policing was established. — Brittany C., Email
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook
The Leavers by Lisa Ko
Reading this book felt like an exercise in compassion and empathy for the many tough decisions that come from wanting a life that’s different from the one you’re living. Ko’s characters are complex and not usually easy to like: There’s Polly, a woman who became a single mom and left her village in China to go to New York City for a better life, and Deming, her son, who’s separated from her and ultimately adopted but never forgets those early years. Immigration, adoption, coming of age, racism, poverty, addiction, and various other topics come to life in this book that was nearly impossible to put down. — Sarah S., Editorial
Bingo boxes it can fill: Book by an Asian author; Award-winning book
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
It’s always impressive when the various plot lines of a story begin to converge and everything that once seemed disconnected becomes cohesive. That’s the journey in Cloud Cuckoo Land, which is essentially about the difficulty — and beauty — in owning one’s non-conformity. Being a big fan of All the Light We Cannot See, I knew I was in good hands with Doerr’s follow-up book, but getting started took a fair bit of focus and faith until the stories began to come together. Each character shares a sense of hope for something better, or at least something different, that drives them to persevere even though none of them has it easy. Life just goes on. There’s a sort of resilience that seems so relatable these days. — Sarah S., Editorial
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook
Two things in life are certain: death and taxes. So what happens when a mundane accountant is turned into a vampire? Who knew complicated accounting could be fun when you mix in the undead, dragons, wereponies, and other mythological creatures.
Bingo boxes it can fill: Book with a wordy title; Fantasy; Podcast or audiobook
After Dark with the Duke by Julie Anne Long
Long’s After Dark with the Duke offers a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, distinct and delightful secondary characters, lessons on consent, and the best kind of romantic resolution. The writing is gorgeous, with Long dropping heart-rending prose that make a great story even better. — Megan F., Content Acquisition
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook
The Viscount Made Me Do It by Diana Quincy
Quincy's Clandestine Affairs Regency-set series pairs Arab women with British lords. The inherent conflict within those pairings is heightened by misunderstandings in how the other half lives and loves. Quincy's The Viscount Made Me Do It has a heroine who is a bonesetter — a maligned profession during the Regency period, especially if the job is done by a woman and a foreigner. The titular viscount is skeptical of bonesetting in general, and stumbles across the heroine when he’s trying to solve his parents’ murder. He’s suspicious, as is she, but together they solve the mystery and also fall in love. — Megan F., Content Acquisition
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
No one intrigues or inspires me quite as much as author, naturalist, and animal-lover Montgomery. The Soul of an Octopus is an education on — and a love letter to — one of the most clever and emotionally intelligent animals in the sea. As in all of her books, Montgomery isn’t afraid to dive in and get her hands dirty, exploring alongside the octopuses while showing the utmost respect. — Lanie P., Editorial
Bingo boxes it can fill: Upbeat book
Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent
Nugent (Unraveling Oliver) doesn’t wrap up her thrillers in a tidy bow — and that’s what makes them so wonderfully creepy. Lydia has a dark secret (actually, she has a few). When her son begins to put two and two together, she’ll stop at nothing to keep her family intact. “Lying in Wait” is a mystery within a mystery, giving readers tantalizing snippets from the past until the eerie end. — Lanie P., Editorial
Bingo boxes it can fill: Mystery
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Austen’s last completed novel is her most romantic and hopeful love story, and it’s the mother of the “second chance” trope. Anne Elliot is an accomplished evolution of all the previous Austen heroines. Throughout the novel, we see her transcend pride and prejudice, and tune into her own sense and sensibility to become the person she wants to be.
Bingo boxes it can fill: Podcast or audiobook; Adapted for the screen
Grounded by Erin Yu-Juin McMorrow
When McMorrow set out to write a book about the devastating effect climate change has had on the quality of the Earth’s soil, she realized she couldn't talk about the decrease in soil fertility without connecting the dots between factory farming, capitalism, the divine feminine, misogyny, white supremacy, and the destruction of indigenous peoples’ farming practices (which are far more aligned with respecting the Earth). What results is an enlightening read about one of the most neglected parts of the climate change conversation — our soil rapidly being depleted — and a memoir of a woman discovering her own connection to femininity and developing her own spiritual practices. — Dana H., Editorial
Bingo boxes it can fill: About climate change
The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
Unlike other personal finance books full of budgeting advice, The Psychology of Money explains the difference between the mentalities of those who are rich and those who are wealthy, why being reasonable is better than being rational, and so many more simple yet eye-opening revelations. — Ashley M., Editorial
Bingo boxes it can fill: Book by an entrepreneur
Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome
Punch Me Up to the Gods is a raw and affecting memoir about growing up Black and gay in rural Ohio. A self-deprecating, dark strain of humor hums throughout the book, eliciting brief chuckles between devastating punches to the gut. — Ashley M., Editorial
Bingo boxes it can fill: Book by a Black author; Book by an LGBTQ+ author; Memoir
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is about a woman in Hollywood during the 1950s onward. The novel portrays her life through three different perspectives: Her own point of view, magazine articles at the time, and the book she hired a local writer to write. — Pamela F., People Experience
Bingo boxes it can fill: Blowing up on #BookTok; Wordy title
About the Author: Ashley McDonnell
Ashley is a Senior Editorial Associate at Scribd who loves Ernest Hemingway, “The Hunger Games,” and ice hockey. When she’s not reading or at the rink, she’s making nerdy podcasts about anime and manga.
