When Dan Pelzer passed away last year at age 92, he left behind a mostly handwritten list of 3,599 books he had read as an adult.
He started keeping track of the books he was reading in 1962 while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal. For the rest of his adult life, he made it his personal goal to read at least 100 pages every day.
Pelzer’s book selections were wide-ranging, from literary classics like Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” to genre fiction like Sue Grafton murder mysteries and nonfiction titles — he was especially drawn to books about spirituality and military history. His final two entries are Gabrielle Zevin’s “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” and “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens, both dated in December 2023.
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Now, his daughter, Marci Pelzer of Milwaukee, is the keeper of this list, which caught the attention of news outlets around the world and went viral online. She continues to share her dad’s story through a website and social media project called What Dan Read, and she’s hoping to write a book of her own about it.
Marci Pelzer spoke with “Wisconsin Today” about her dad’s love of reading and how she is keeping his memory alive through this list.
The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Kate Archer Kent: Based on this list, your dad logged nearly 3,600 books in his adult life. It sounds like he was a voracious reader. What memories do you have of your dad reading?
Marci Pelzer: Well, you know, I thought all dads read voraciously until I was a lot older. But some of the most special memories were my dad taking me to all the libraries in Columbus, Ohio. We spent Saturday mornings at the downtown library in Columbus, sitting in a tree house in the children’s room reading children’s books. That’s my favorite memory with my dad.
KAK: You didn’t find out that your dad was keeping this reading list until you were an adult. What was it like to stumble onto this extra detail about your father’s life?
MP: Oh, it was incredible, because he was so nonchalant about it. We think he was keeping it at work all those years. The first time I ever saw it, he was living in the retirement home, and I was in my 30s. I couldn’t believe it — going back all the way to 1964 and how organized it was. What a document!
KAK: The last line of your father’s obituary says, “You could also honor Dan by reading a real page-turner.” Do you think of your dad when you’re devouring a book and unable to put it down?
MP: Absolutely. I always think of the conversations we used to have about books, the things we liked, the things we read together, and also, just the experiences of reading throughout his life as I go on without him — knowing that he was reading “All the President’s Men” when my brother was born, and he read “Love Story” the week before he went on his first date with my mom. He was reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” on my first day of kindergarten. It’s so special to discover those things after he’s gone.
KAK: As keeper of this list — now you have it at your home in Milwaukee — how has it become part of your story?
MP: It’s a pleasure, because every time I talk to people, they want to tell me about their own book lists, their parents’ reading habits, how much they value the library, what I should be reading next. And so it’s opened up this whole conversation about books and reading.
What would be most special to my dad is really getting people back to the library. He loved the library so much, and the thought that his book list was getting people to take out their library cards and go browse the books and pick out something really great? That would make him so happy.
