Reading Glasses, Ep 455 — "Hot Tips for ADHD Readers + Pirate/Treasure Hunting Recs!"
(March 26, 2026)
Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara

Episode Overview

In this episode, Brea and Mallory dedicate the show to tackling one of their most listener-requested topics: practical tips for ADHD readers. Using audience-sourced advice and real experiences, they break down strategies for staying engaged with books, share how to work with (not against) ADHD brains, and discuss how these methods can be helpful even for non-ADHD readers in our increasingly distracted world. They wrap up with pirate and treasure hunting book recommendations for listeners who want a taste of adventure in their reading lives.

What Are You Reading? [00:31–05:10]

Brea

• Reads "All Boys Aren’t Blue" by George M. Johnson
  • Selected for the Reading Glasses annual challenge: Read a currently banned book by a living author.
  • "It is a bunch of really beautifully written, like, funny, but poignant essays. I was not prepared for it to be funny and as, like, charming." [00:49, Brea]
  • Explores issues of identity, fitting in, and intersectional experiences as a queer Black man.
  • Brea: "It should be fucking required reading because it's so great." [02:37]

Mallory

• Reads "The Burning Library" by Gilly McMillan
  • Described as a high-octane, code-breaking thriller set in Scotland with murdered authors, secret manuscripts, and competing all-female rival organizations.
  • "It's so thrilling. It's so fun. It's so well written...making my brain fire." [04:19, Mallory]
  • Mallory highlights the immersive detail and cryptographic puzzles that got her out of a reading slump.

Listener Feedback & Book Time vs Pages [05:10–09:05]

• Sarah (former children’s librarian) notes that reading by time (minutes read), not pages, increases enjoyment and self-identification as readers.
  • "Tracking how long you read is a good thing for your reading life." [05:39, Mallory]
• Emerson (NASA/Blue Origin engineer) shares they designed lunar lander cables while listening to the podcast, and discusses how prosopagnosia (face blindness) impacts character visualization.
  • "I have face blindness and I cannot remember what anyone's face looks like as soon as I'm not with them anymore." [06:22, Emerson]
• Mallory teases a future episode about what readers picture while reading.

Quick Bookmark: Mallory’s Women’s History Books [08:10–09:05]

• Mallory highlights her body of work focusing on women’s history, name-dropping her books and promising "If you love this loud, fast talking New England girl who swears way too much, there's more of it for you out there." [09:07]

Featured Topic: Hot Tips for ADHD Readers [12:00–29:49]

Both hosts clarify: Neither is ADHD, so these are real listener-sourced, “tested and tried” tips.

E-Readers, Gamification & Habit Stacking [12:52–15:50]

Avery’s Tips

• "E-Readers forever": Always at hand, enabling micro-readings (e.g., while waiting in line).
• Use features like "minutes left in chapter" for small, achievable goals and gamification: "My ADHD also loves a small achievable goals and B gamification." [13:31, Avery]
• Large fonts (especially while moving).
• Using well-stocked E-readers to switch books instantly keeps momentum up.

Mallory’s anecdote: “I remember that time I went on the date and the guy showed up and was like, wow, the font's real big on your Kobo. And I was like, I'm gonna hit you with my car off.” [13:58, Mallory]

Kira’s Tips

• Task-switching is hard; physically replace TV remotes with books to make reading the easiest option.
• Gamification apps (Storygraph, Pagebound, etc.) help sustain motivation: “Knowing I can make my little streak counter turn orange and I can literally level up like a video game character gets me to listen to or read a chapter…” [15:36, Kira]

Flexibility, Format-Switching & Reducing Pressure [15:50–17:32]

Bethany’s Tips

• “Sometimes the brain says not today to reading. And I’ve learned to just let it go and find something else to do. Take the pressure off. Pressure makes it worse.” [15:50, Bethany]
• Change formats—audio, print, digital—for novelty or easier focus.
• Use a timer for short reading sprints: “Try to set the timer for five to 10 minutes. To try to read something and if the timer goes off and I'm still not into it, then I put it down later.” [16:48, Bethany]
• Seek novelty: pick new books through the library to satisfy impulse/hyperfixation.
• Pre-spoil: Reading about plot points in advance can make a book feel “safe,” reducing anxiety and encouraging engagement.

Audiobooks, Speed, and Task Switching [19:02–21:36]

Daphne’s Tips

• Multitask with audiobooks; speed up playback to avoid drifting ("on 1x speed, it just goes too slow and my mind will wander" [19:21]).
• Alternate reading with other hobbies in “small chunks” to prevent boredom.
• "Treat reading a bit like a chore"—sometimes scheduling it as a task can get you over the activation barrier.

Mallory: “Bria and I are the types of people that...get motivated and excited to tick things off...if you’re the same way, this can be really helpful for you.” [21:29, Mallory]

Novelty, Rituals, and Reducing Distraction [21:43–29:13]

Sarah’s Tips

• Change things up periodically (new locations, treats, coffee shop reading dates).
• Routine can help, but needs to feel fresh.
• Use alarms to trigger reading time and “put your phone across the room.”

Adriana’s Tips

• Read multiple books at once in different formats (e.g., e-book at night, audio for chores).
• Keep book choices short to avoid guilt about slow progress.
• Noise-canceling headphones reduce distractions.
• Seek fast-paced books: “It's too easy to zone out if you feel like your brain is moving faster than the pace of the book.” [24:31, Adriana]
• Fidget item recommended (e.g., hair tie, cat, even a nail).
• DNF (do not finish) what doesn’t work; sample narrators for audiobooks before committing.

Stephanie’s Tips

• Ride out hyperfixations on media (TV, video games, songs) before switching to reading—"Like when you get a song stuck in your head, listen a few times until you can move on.” [26:19, Stephanie]
• Put phone out of reach to resist distraction temptations.
• Visual triggers (like placing unread books everywhere) can create guilt and slump, rather than motivation; out-of-sight can be helpful.
  • “It wasn’t until I started listening to your podcast that I was able to let go of my book guilt and began enjoying reading again.” [28:12, Stephanie]

Brea: “That is the great thing about an e reader. Not to preach the E reader gospel here, but, you know, a lot of times I don't even know what the book I'm reading looks like.” [29:27]

Listener Recommendation Request: Pirate/Treasure Hunting Books [30:30–33:26]

Haley asks for "pirate treasure hunting books, nonfiction or fiction," with extra points for badass, heroic women, fake dating, romance, cozy, or books-about-books content.

Recommendations

• Brea: Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh

  • YA sci-fi with a “universal treasure hunt” theme—people search for mysterious colored spheres with life-changing powers, sparking competition and adventure.
  • “It's as if there's all these things out there and you want to find these things. So everyone is constantly on the lookout for them.” [31:33, Brea]

• Mallory: Captured by Beverly Jenkins

  • Pirate romance with adventure, high seas battles, island escapades, and a rescued heroine who doesn’t want to fall for her “notoriously sexy” pirate captor.
  • “There’s...a lot of time on ships, there’s pirate battles, there’s scenes on beautiful islands. It’s really, really fun and a really fun romance.” [33:16, Mallory]

Mallory cracks up about their massive listener mail backlog:
“I even looked at this, and I was like, wow, that's really bad. I looked at our...the combined document is 300 pages long.” [30:44, Mallory]
Brea: “Should we do an entire episode that's just...”
Mallory: “We would have to do a whole year of it. There's no way.” [30:51]

Memorable Quotes

• “We have literal, like, machines that live in our palms that are like, look at me, look at me and nothing else. And they're addictive machines and they're called phones.” [12:24, Brea]
• “Small chunks will save the world.” [20:10, Mallory]
• “The second you put a book down somewhere, a timer starts...If I have a book in a spot for longer than a week, it ceases to become a book and it becomes a part of that table.” [28:51, Mallory]
• On spoiler-comfort reading: "If my brain is doing too much, I'm like, well, I already know what's going to happen, so this is a safe book. It's a safe choice for me.” [17:32, Brea]

Key Takeaways & Tone

• The episode is warm, honest, supportive, and irreverent, filled with typical Reading Glasses banter and swearing-for-emphasis.
• While the tips focus on ADHD readers, the hosts repeatedly note the universal application to all modern, distracted readers ("If you live with a phone, these tips probably help you.").
• The community-driven nature of the segment—listeners helping listeners—anchors the show in its crowd-sourced, empathetic, problem-solving spirit.
• The pirate/treasure recs are delivered playfully, with a nod to the hosts’ own massive recommendation backlog.

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:31] – What Are You Reading?
• [05:10] – Listener Feedback: Reading by Time/Minutes, Face Blindness & Visualization
• [09:05] – Mallory’s Women’s History Books
• [12:00] – ADHD Reader Tips (start of main topic)
  • [12:52] – E-Readers & Gamification
  • [15:50] – Flexibility and Spoilers
  • [19:02] – Audiobook Speed and Multitasking
  • [21:43] – Novelty and Rituals
  • [24:31] – Fidget Items and DNF Philosophy
  • [26:19] – Hyperfixation and Task Transition
  • [28:12] – Visual Triggers and Book Guilt
• [30:30] – Pirate/Treasure Hunting Book Recommendations

For Further Feedback

Listeners are encouraged to send in more ADHD tips and book rec requests, because, as Mallory says:
“I’m doing my best out here. I’m fighting for my life. We get a lot of emails...It’s just truly such a high volume that...I’m compiling. Bria’s eating bananas. We’re doing our best.” [34:40]

Contact: readingglassespodcast@gmail.com
Instagram: @readingglassespodcast

Closing:
“Thanks for listening and thanks for reading.”