‘Book Matchmaker’ Recommends 6 Books to Make You Fall in Love With Reading Again
Take the reading type color quiz 2 million readers love and find the book that finally makes you put down your phone
Key Takeaways
- What draws you to a book isn't subject matter; it's the specific feeling or payoff it delivers.
- Readers are categorized into Yellow, Red, Orange, Green, Blue, or Purple types.
- Matching your color type lets you build a reading habit around pleasure, not discipline.
If you’ve ever finished a really good book and immediately wondered what to read next, you’re not alone. Or maybe you’re someone who would love to become a reader but hasn’t quite found a book that makes you want to put down your phone and pick one up. Either way, author, creator, and book lover behind Instagram account @stevenjreese, Steven Reese has an idea that might help.
His six-color reading personality quiz has been taken by more than 2 million people. Now, his new book, Read Your Color, reveals how understanding the way you like to read can help you discover your next favorite book or fall in love with reading for the first time.
His new book, on sale now, introduces six different reading types, each represented by a color, to help readers understand what draws them to a book. Whether you’re looking for an emotional connection, an exciting page-turner or a thought-provoking story, identifying your reading type can help you discover books you might never have considered picking up.
“The big shift that I’m trying to make in the book is that the kinds of books you like have nothing to do with subject matter or genre,” he explains. “It’s all about the experience that it gives you, and you can actually find that experience in a lot of different kinds of subject matter.”
What are the six reading types?
Reese’s framework starts with two questions: Are you a Heart reader or a Head reader? And are you a Roots reader or a Wings reader?
Heart readers prioritize an emotional or visceral experience. They want to feel something while reading. Head readers, meanwhile, want an intellectual experience that makes them think.
The Roots and Wings distinction has more to do with the writing itself. Roots readers tend to prefer more direct, grounded writing, while Wings readers gravitate toward more imaginative, inventive or poetic language and storytelling.
Where those preferences intersect on the six-color chart determines your reading type. Here’s what each one means, along with a book recommendation from Reese to get you started!
Yellow: Connection
Yellow readers want to feel connected to the people and relationships inside a book. They’re drawn to stories that make them feel as though they’ve been welcomed into someone else’s life, whether that’s through a compelling friendship, a romance or a deeply moving personal story.
While romance novels are a natural fit for many yellow readers, Reese says that same feeling of connection can be found in memoirs, biographies, essays and even poetry. So if you’ve been feeling burned out on your usual romance reads, you might find that what you’re really looking for is a deeper connection with the people you’re reading about.
Steven’s book recommendation: Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Red: Intensity
Red readers crave intensity. They’re looking for high stakes, suspense and stories that keep them turning pages because they simply have to know what happens next.
Thrillers and horror novels are favorites, but Reese says intensity isn’t limited to fiction. History books about war and conflict, true crime and journalistic nonfiction covering high-stakes issues can all deliver that same gripping experience. (Like this recommendation, which was adapted into a supernatural horror drama series on AMC.)
Reese identifies as a red reader himself, and it’s the type that first helped him discover his love of reading.
Steven’s book recommendation: The Terror by Dan Simmons
Orange: Wonder
Orange readers want to be transported somewhere they’ve never been. They’re drawn to imaginative writing, fascinating settings and stories that spark a sense of discovery.
Fantasy and science fiction are obvious fits, but Reese points out that historical books can offer a similar experience. Learning about ancient civilizations or exploring a culture completely different from your own can provide that same feeling of wonder. Speculative fiction and magical realism are other possibilities.
For orange readers, it’s all about discovering a new world, whether that world is entirely fictional or rooted in real history.
Steven’s book recommendation: Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel
Green: Clarity
Green readers want to walk away from a book knowing something they didn’t know before. They’re interested in learning, understanding the world and gaining information they can apply to their own lives or share with someone else.
History, business, productivity and nonfiction books are common favorites. But Reese says green readers shouldn’t overlook fiction. A novel can offer wisdom, explore political philosophy or teach readers something meaningful about the world, too.
The goal is to finish a book feeling as though you’ve gained a new perspective or learned something valuable.
Steven’s book recommendation: Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard
Blue: Meaning
Blue readers love an intellectual challenge. They’re drawn to books that explore the bigger questions of life, purpose and what it means to be human.
They enjoy wrestling with complicated ideas and open-ended questions, and they’re often drawn to literary fiction and contemplative literature. Reese describes blue readers as people who are perfectly happy to look out the window on a rainy day and spend time thinking.
For these readers, a book doesn’t necessarily need to provide all the answers. Sometimes the most rewarding experience is being invited to consider a question from a completely different perspective.
Steven’s book recommendation: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Purple: Surprise
Purple readers want to experience something completely unexpected. They’re drawn to books that feel unusual, inventive, artistic or even a little strange.
Think boundary-pushing storytelling, postmodern literature and translated fiction that introduces readers to unfamiliar cultures and ways of thinking. These are the readers who love discovering an idea or a writing style they’ve never encountered before.
While other readers might prefer a more straightforward story, purple readers enjoy being surprised by the way an author tells it.
Steven’s book recommendation: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
How a Stephen King book turned Steven into a reader
Interestingly enough, Reese didn’t become a reader until his early 20s. After trying a few recommended books, including Dostoevsky and a self-help title, he found himself scrolling on his phone instead of reading.
That changed when a book-loving coworker recommended The Stand by Stephen King. Reese initially laughed at the suggestion, considering he struggled to finish even a 200-page book. But he gave it a chance and finished the nearly 1,000-page novel in just three weeks.
“It didn’t teach me how to be productive. It didn’t make me a smarter person. It was just a book,” he recalls.
He soon moved on to more thrillers, horror, and true crime, and he quickly discovered that he loved the intensity of high-stakes stories. Eventually, that led him to a 600-page biography about Frederick Douglass, which delivered the same sense of intensity in a completely different format.
Rather than forcing himself to read what he thought he should, Reese had discovered what made him want to read. “That is how I built a reading life on desire and not discipline,” he says. This philosophy changed everything for Steven.
How Steven’s book recommendations inspired a viral quiz
After discovering his own reading preferences, Reese started helping friends find books they’d enjoy, often encouraging them to try something outside their usual genres. As he made recommendations, he noticed he was sorting people into categories based on what they wanted from a book.
“When I’m talking to different friends, I’m putting them in little categories in my head, and I just started putting language to those categories,” he explains.
Those observations became his six reading types, and eventually, the quiz that’s now been taken by more than 2 million people.
Click here to take the free quiz!
He’s even helped his own family and friends branch out. His dad, who typically read business and productivity books, initially resisted Reese’s recommendation of the thriller All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby. But he loved it so much that he soon asked for another book. Reese says he now occasionally finds his dad reading thrillers instead of watching sports like he used to always do.
He also recommended the nonfiction memoir Educated by Tara Westover to a friend who typically stuck to contemporary fiction and said she didn’t read nonfiction. She gave it a chance and loved it.
Reese says reading preferences can also evolve with different seasons of life. Although he still identifies as a red reader, becoming a dad has made him more interested in books that explore life’s bigger questions, drawing him toward blue reading, too.
The book Steven wishes more people would read
One book Reese especially wishes more people would discover is Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner. The novel follows two married couples whose friendship spans decades, exploring the joys and complexities of growing older together.
Reese loves how it captures the little moments that shape adult friendships, from jealousy and hurt feelings to encouragement and connection.
“It’s just really good,” he says. “It puts a lot of feelings in scenes, little tensions that are in those friendships that I didn’t know other people felt.”
It’s a fitting final recommendation from someone who believes the right book can open up an entirely new world of reading. And with Read Your Color, Reese hopes to help more people find books they love, whether they’re longtime readers or just getting started.
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