A running list of the books, plays, stories, and recordings Zach Woods has talked about in interviews, podcasts, and his own posts, with each entry cited to a datable source.
A note on scope: this catalogs literature Woods has mentioned, not a claim about everything he has read or his favorites. It mixes prose he read, plays his father read to him, audio performances, a photography book, and works he returns to as a kind of personal philosophy. A closing section gathers figures and unnamed works he has referenced but did not title. Where an entry rests on a single unverified mention, it says so.
A few patterns
The Witches, twice, nine years apart
In 2015 he told Marc Maron that Roald Dahl’s The Witches, read to him as a kid, left him half-convinced his own mother might be one, and gave him a looping anxiety he describes as lasting. In 2024, on Take Your Shoes Off, he named the same book again and called it “a whole way of relating to the world.” Read alongside the witches motif in The Accompanist, the reference has a long memory.
The Velveteen Rabbit, on repeat
A book he comes back to: the Skin Horse’s idea that a toy becomes “real” when it’s loved over a long time. He’s raised it across Silicon Valley’s finale, two 2024 interviews, and his own TikTok, often in relation to how he thinks about the characters he plays.
Stage plays at bedtime
His father read him Neil Simon and Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” the latter in place of the Berenstain Bears.
Recurring references
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (1922)
He invokes the Skin Horse’s idea, that a toy becomes “real” when it’s loved over a long time, when talking about how he approaches the characters he plays, and is clear it isn’t sentimental: he still plays their unsavory parts honestly.
Cited in: IndieWire, December 9, 2019; A.V. Club, January 25, 2024; The Daily Beast, February 12, 2020; @zachwoods on TikTok.
The Witches by Roald Dahl (1983)
Read to him as a child, it left him half-convinced his own mother might be a witch, a looping anxiety he’s described as lasting. Years later he returned to it as something more than a childhood scare, describing it as emblematic of how he relates to the world.
Cited in: WTF with Marc Maron, ep. 597, April 26, 2015; Take Your Shoes Off, ep. 258, June 4, 2024 (~36:00); COVE Podcast, ep. 31, January 23, 2024.
Books
Miles: The Autobiography by Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe (1989)
His teenage fixation. He’s said he read it again and again, latching onto the ready-made jazz-musician identity it offered. It’s also the source of a recurring childhood story about defending Davis’s view of Louis Armstrong.
Cited in: WTF with Marc Maron, ep. 597, April 26, 2015; Off Camera with Sam Jones, ep. 141, 2018; Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers, February 20, 2024 (~14:51).
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (1970)
He picked it up as research for Jared, figuring the character would love it, since in his head Jared was drawn to “old strong women.”
Cited in: BuzzFeed, April 9, 2015; BUILD Series, April 16, 2015.
Unposed by Craig Semetko (2010)
A street-photography book he bought and admired, singling out a shot of a man at a urinal beneath images of Marilyn Monroe.
Cited in: Men’s Journal, January 2020.
Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning by Peter Beinart (2025)
One of his cultural picks of 2025, which he described as a way to keep witnessing the violence in Gaza without turning away.
Cited in: Vulture, “What the Culturati 50 Loved in 2025,” December 2025.
Short stories and plays
“Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin (1957)
He’s named it his favorite short story.
Cited in: Men’s Journal, January 2020.
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson (1948)
His father read it to him as a bedtime story, in place of the Berenstain Bears.
Cited in: Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers, February 20, 2024 (~32:00).
Our Town by Thornton Wilder (1938)
He invokes Wilder when talking about mortality and gratitude, returning to a line he treats as a personal mantra: enjoy the ice cream before it melts. (Attributed to Wilder by Woods.) He has also spoken of loving Thornton Wilder’s plays more broadly, admiring their quiet moral center.
Cited in: IndieWire, April 19, 2017; Off Camera with Sam Jones, ep. 141, 2018.
Evanston Salt Costs Climbing by Will Arbery (2018)
One of his cultural picks of 2025. He’s singled out a moment when a ghost tells someone hoping to better the world that we’re really here to discover people, an idea he says has stuck with him.
Cited in: Vulture, “What the Culturati 50 Loved in 2025,” December 2025.
The Odd Couple (1965) and Lost in Yonkers (1991) by Neil Simon
Among the plays his father read to him at bedtime; he’s described them as funny, slightly corny comedies about mid-century Jewish New Yorkers.
Cited in: Interview Magazine, April 15, 2015.
Childhood audio storytelling
The Fool and the Flying Ship, narrated by Robin Williams (1991)
A family books-on-tape staple from childhood road trips; he remembers Robin Williams doing all the voices.
Cited in: Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers, February 20, 2024 (~31:00).
The Golden Drum by Jay O’Callahan (1984)
Another childhood listening title he recalls from family road trips. (Woods names only the title; the O’Callahan attribution is the archivist’s.)
Cited in: Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers, February 20, 2024 (~31:00).
Invoked figures and influences
Beyond the titled works above, Woods has named authors and figures, or referenced books without naming the specific title. These are sourced the same way, but listed separately: each points to a person or an unnamed work rather than a citable title.
Esther Perel
Figure invoked. Relationship therapist and author of Mating in Captivity (2006) and The State of Affairs (2017). Woods has referenced Perel by name across podcast appearances; he names the person, not a specific book.
Cited in: named across podcast appearances; specific episode citation pending.
Brené Brown
Figure invoked. Researcher and author of Daring Greatly (2012), Braving the Wilderness (2017), and Dare to Lead (2018), among others. Woods named a Brené Brown audiobook in a self-deprecating story about a minor car accident, recounted while describing himself in a wizard outfit. He names the author, not a specific title; any candidate predates the January 2020 appearance.
Cited in: Jimmy Kimmel Live!, January 14, 2020 (~6:30).
A Steve Jobs book
Research read. Woods has said he read “that Steve Jobs book” while preparing for Silicon Valley, without naming it. The likeliest candidate is Walter Isaacson’s 2011 biography Steve Jobs, but the title is inferred, not stated.
Cited in: Interview Magazine, April 15, 2015.
A Mark Zuckerberg book
Research read. In the same conversation, Woods said he read a book about Mark Zuckerberg as Silicon Valley research, again without naming it. Plausible candidates include David Kirkpatrick’s The Facebook Effect (2010) or Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires (2009); none is confirmed.
Cited in: Interview Magazine, April 15, 2015.
British one-act plays
Unnamed. Woods has recalled reading old British one-act plays as a kid, during a childhood without much TV. He does not name a title.
Cited in: The Late Late Show with James Corden, May 19, 2015 (4:20); Yahoo Entertainment, April 24, 2017.
Tennessee Williams plays
Author named, specific play not. Describing how he built a “patchwork conservatory” to learn acting, Woods says he’d fly to New York and do scenes from Tennessee Williams plays, alongside voice classes and Alexander Technique.
Cited in: Bullseye with Jesse Thorn, February 2020; Office Ladies, ep. 187, November 29, 2023 (~30:35).
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (1984)
Referenced indirectly. Woods brought up The Unbearable Lightness of Being as a novel that got adapted into a film, without naming Milan Kundera. Logged as an indirect reference rather than a stated read.
Cited in: Family Trips with the Meyers Brothers, February 20, 2024 (~28:40).
This is a living document. Entries are added as they’re sourced, and each is cited to the interview, podcast, or post where Woods mentioned the work. Spotted something we’ve missed, or have a better source for an entry? hello@dailyzachwoods.com.
Compiled and sourced by MK with assistance from pitsapitsa.