What Dan Read

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What Dan Read What Dan Read celebrates the life and legacy of Dan Pelzer through books, curiosity, and community.

Explore Dan's viral list of 3,599 titles, discover your next great read, and connect with fellow book lovers. 📚
🌐 NEW website is live ✨

Dan’s Saintly Shelf 📚 On September 24, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was beatified in St. Louis, Missouri, taking another s...
10/08/2026

Dan’s Saintly Shelf 📚

On September 24, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen was beatified in St. Louis, Missouri, taking another step toward sainthood and earning the title Blessed.

A pioneering voice on radio and television, Sheen brought conversations about faith to millions of Americans. And he was a familiar name on Dan’s bookshelves, too.

As a former Jesuit seminarian, Dan was always interested in reading about Catholic teaching. Sheen’s beatification gives us one more reason to revisit the books that found their way onto Dan’s remarkable list.

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Dan’s Nepal🇳🇵My dad spent part of the 1960s in Nepal, and one of the things I’ve noticed going through his 3,599-book re...
09/22/2026

Dan’s Nepal🇳🇵

My dad spent part of the 1960s in Nepal, and one of the things I’ve noticed going through his 3,599-book reading list is how often he returned to Nepal and the Himalayas in his reading. 📚

Some were on his list from the very beginning. Others came decades later.

This feels especially poignant right now.

The devastating floods that hit Nepal on August 26 have left communities across the Himalayas facing enormous loss. Thousands of people are still missing, homes and infrastructure have been destroyed, and rescue and relief efforts are continuing.

Nepal was a place my dad cared about long after he left it. He kept reading his way back there. 📖

If Nepal has ever meant something to you—or if you simply want to help people who are going through an unimaginable disaster—please consider giving to flood relief. 💝

Friends of Nepal is accepting donations specifically for the August floods.

🔗 Please click on the link in our stories to donate to flood relief 🔗

For my dad, Nepal wasn't just a place he once lived.
It stayed with him. 🇳🇵

The Books Nobody Wanted 📚🚫The rejection stories behind some of my dad’s favorite authors are pretty fascinating.Robert P...
09/11/2026

The Books Nobody Wanted 📚🚫

The rejection stories behind some of my dad’s favorite authors are pretty fascinating.

Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was rejected by 121 publishers. 1️⃣2️⃣1️⃣

Kathryn Stockett’s The Help was turned down by 60 agents before the 61st said yes. 6️⃣0️⃣

Madeleine L’Engle got 26 rejections for A Wrinkle in Time. 2️⃣6️⃣

Ray Bradbury reportedly collected around 800 rejection slips.

And Jack London faced roughly 600 rejections early in his career.

At some point, you have to wonder what made these writers keep going.

Because the people saying no couldn’t know what these books would eventually become.

They couldn’t know how many people would read them, love them, pass them along – or, years later, how they would end up on a list of 3,599 books kept by one very determined reader. 📚📋

Sometimes you just have to keep going long enough to get to the yes. 🎉

What other authors have good rejection stories?
Let us know in the comments ⤵️💬

Looking for a meaningful way to help with flood relief in Nepal?🇳🇵My dad, Dan Pelzer, taught English in Nepal in 1964. I...
09/04/2026

Looking for a meaningful way to help with flood relief in Nepal?🇳🇵

My dad, Dan Pelzer, taught English in Nepal in 1964. It was one of the experiences that stayed with him for the rest of his life, and he remained deeply connected to the country and its people.

If Dan were here today, he would be deeply concerned about the devastation caused by the floods, and he would want to help.

So I’m sharing a cause I think he would wholeheartedly support: friends_of_nepal’s Flood Relief Campaign, which supports locally led relief projects in Nepali communities. The organization is made up of former Peace Corps Volunteers who have longstanding relationships with Nepal and the people who live there.

If you’re looking for a way to contribute, I hope you’ll consider joining me in supporting this effort. Every dollar can make a difference.

For Dan, and for the people who meant so much to him. ❤️🇳🇵

Please visit the link in our bio or stories to donate.

📣 MacKenzie Scott is returning to fiction with a new novel. 📚She’s releasing “Last Days in Two Nations” chapter by chapt...
09/02/2026

📣 MacKenzie Scott is returning to fiction with a new novel. 📚

She’s releasing “Last Days in Two Nations” chapter by chapter on Substack, marking her first novel since 2013. The speculative novel explores belief, power and the ways people can become “trapped by beliefs that were not their own.”

It’s a return to the literary world where Scott began. At Princeton, she studied creative writing with Toni Morrison, who called her “one of the best students I’ve ever had.” Her debut novel, “The Testing of Luther Albright,”was published in 2005 and won an American Book Award.

Scott is best known today for her philanthropy, having given more than $26 billion to charitable causes.

Now she’s giving readers a new story. 🎁

❓Would you follow a novel chapter by chapter on Substack?
⤵ Comment below and let us know.

08/31/2026

What was everyone reading in 1986? 📚

We compared four books from Dan’s 1986 reading list with four of America’s bestselling books of 1986.
And one book made both lists. 👀

What were you reading in 1986?
Which of these would you read today?

Dan read 3,599 books over six decades and somehow we have a feeling even he would have happily accepted one more hour a ...
08/28/2026

Dan read 3,599 books over six decades and somehow we have a feeling even he would have happily accepted one more hour a day for reading. 📚

Because every reader knows the problem:
So many books. Not enough time.

There’s the book sitting on your nightstand. The new release everyone keeps recommending. The classic you’ve always meant to read. And, of course, the TBR list that somehow grows faster than you can read it. 😅

So imagine this:

⏰ You’ve just been given one extra hour every single day and you can only use it for reading.

What are you reaching for?
📖 Your current read
📚 Something from your TBR pile
✨ A new book recommendation
❤️ An old favorite you’d love to reread

Tell us the book, or the kind of book you’d choose. We may all find something new to add to our lists. 👇

Dan read "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by Fannie Flagg and now we’re curious about you.📚 Have you read...
08/24/2026

Dan read "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by Fannie Flagg and now we’re curious about you.

📚 Have you read it?
Loved it, liked it, skipped it, or never heard of it?

Tell us below. 👇

🎲 RANDOM 4 FRIDAY 📚Four books. No theme. No connection.Just four random picks from Dan’s 3,599-book reading list.📕1968: ...
08/21/2026

🎲 RANDOM 4 FRIDAY 📚

Four books. No theme. No connection.
Just four random picks from Dan’s 3,599-book reading list.

📕1968: "The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas
Classic / Adventure Fiction

📕1985: "Missile Envy” by Dr. Helen Caldicott
Politics / Nuclear Arms

📕2005: "Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith” by Anne Lamott
Memoir / Spirituality

📕2021: "Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” by Patrick Radden Keefe
Investigative Nonfiction

❓Which one would you pick?

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