BONUS! Member Book Rex for July/August! - Reading Glasses

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[00:00]
A
Hey, Glassers. You're like, wow, an extra bonus episode in my feed. What could this possibly be? Well, this is a special episode. This is what we do for our members. This is the. Welcome to the. The VIP member lounge. I wish I. I have a slide whistle, but I really need a saxophone is what I need.
[00:17]
B
Yeah, that's right. That's right. It's a sexy lounge. It doesn't have to be sexy, actually. We'll give you all kinds of recommendations. It can be anything. But I mean, the lounge itself, the
[00:24]
A
books aren't necessarily sexy, but the lounge is sexy.
[00:27]
B
Oh, yeah. People are drinking martinis, velvet curtains, there's gold. Gold chairs, gold. I don't know why they're gold. Okay, it got weird. Sorry, sorry, sorry. It's great. It's very special. You would love it.
[00:38]
A
But we do this special thing every month where members write in and because we have such a very long, long, long, long backlog for recommendation requests, that segment on the show for our members, we do a special bonus episode every month where we do recommendations where you can get bumped up the list. And instead of waiting several years, you might only have to wait a month or two. And there. Some of these are real specific. You can ask for basically whatever kind of book that you want, the most specific things that you can think of. But we're dropping this in the main feed so folks know that we're doing this. All you got to do is go to maximumfun.org join to sign up at any level. Even for five bucks a month, you get access to these members only episodes and not just access to listen to them. You. You get to submit a recommendation request and we will answer. We are doing every single one with the ma with the recommendation request episodes on the main, main show, main feed, we kind of pick and choose this one. We do every single one. We do one every single month. And you can get in on that. Go to maximumfun.org join, sign up, support the show.
[01:38]
B
And this is the last time you will see this. So if you do not sign up, this is it. This is the one you're gonna see. We just wanted to share it with you. One freebie for you what we're doing over here for the members in this members every month. Yeah.
[01:50]
A
I don't know why I set my fin.
[01:52]
B
I just feel like people vibing. It's like a jazzy lounge maybe. I don't know. Okay.
[01:56]
A
Bria and I have cigarette holders, but there's chocolate on the end of them.
[02:01]
B
Candy cigarettes.
[02:02]
A
Bria's in, like, a dress with, like, a really high slit in the leg.
[02:06]
B
Yeah. Not in my pajamas. For sure, not in my pajamas. And reading glasses.
[02:16]
A
You're listening to Reading Glasses, a show about book culture and literary life designed to help you read better. I'm author and book devourer Mallory Omer,
[02:22]
B
and I'm Brave Grant, filmmaker and e reader. And welcome to the VIP Recommendations Lounge. I was just about to make a
[02:28]
A
saxophone noise, and then in the moment, I realized I don't know what kind of noise to make.
[02:33]
B
I love that, and I would love to hear it. Oh, that was so good. I loved it.
[02:42]
A
What's the swankiest noise I could think of?
[02:46]
B
This is a special bonus episode where we answer recommendation request from members only.
[02:51]
A
Yes. So you can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com if you want to submit a recommendation request. For this, you have to email us atreading glasses podcastmail.com but in the subject line, you have to say member recommendation request, and then you submit whatever you want. However, no. No request too big, no request too small here. We'll do the most specific things, the most broad things. We got you covered. And if you want a list of all the books we talk about on the show delivered to your inbox every month, you can sign up for our newsletter. There's a link in the show notes. All right, Bria, let's dive in. First one is from Andrea, who says, hi, Mallory and Bria. I'm part of a book, and although I love the ladies in the group with me, we have very different reading tastes. I want to pick something everyone can enjoy for my month. My reading taste is mostly fantasy, romance, and sci fi. Some of my favorite books are the Emily Wilde series, 10,000 Doors of January, and anything by Blake Crouch or Abby Jimenez. My book club enjoys, quote, important books, literary fiction, and, quote, women's fiction. I recommended the House in the Cerulean Sea formally, and they called it, quote, cute. Can you help me come up with a book we'll all enjoy? Although, to be fair, it is a very cute book.
[03:50]
B
It actually is cute. It is cute. You're right. It's cute.
[03:53]
A
What do you think Andrea's book club should read?
[03:55]
B
I'm going. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. An important book. It is science fiction, so I think that Andrea will like it, and I think it is also. It's literary fiction. It is women's fiction. It came out in the 90s, but I feel like it's one of those books that we've kind of revisited it's like this was a very important touchstone for science fiction and it's probably going to come true. Is unfortunately, weirdly true. It takes place in 2024, which is also very weird. But it's about this young woman where the world's very unsafe and these only safe neighborhoods are like, in these, like, communities. And they have this like, enclave they sort of defend. And there's this drug that's been released in the world that makes people really want to set fire to things. And at some point this.
[04:46]
A
It's called being alive.
[04:48]
B
Yeah. For some point, her community gets destroyed and. And then she decides to go on this, like, road trip with all these other, like, walk. Basically walk down what I think is like the four or five. It all takes place in California with a bunch of other refugees. And in doing so, she starts to build her own religion and she becomes this sort of like, savior. And so it has these, like, sci fi elements, it has these like, dystopian elements. But it's also what I think is a very important touchstone for science fiction. And I think we're now talking about it because I think it ushered in like a whole new kind of type of science fiction. So I think there's a lot of things to discuss within a book club. But also it is a really well written science fiction book. So if you like a fun book like that, it's not like, maybe as light as something like House on the Cerulean Sea, but it is really fun and it is very character focused and inner journey focused as well as like this, you know, it's like it's a woman on a journey, which of course, I am gonna recommend. So I think that could be a really great one for your book club. What do you have for Andrea?
[05:53]
A
I was thinking When Women Wore Dragons by Kelly Barnhouse.
[05:55]
B
Oh, that's great.
[05:57]
A
So this is very much. It is a fantasy book, but it's a low fantasy book, which means that it's like a regular world with a fantasy element that comes in. But it's also like, it's just a really important book about women's rage. If you missed it when it came. It was very big buzzy book when it came out a few years ago. And it's about just our regular world. And then one day a bunch of women turn into dragons and fly away. And the main. And the main character. This is like, I want a few years after this happened, and there's some people who don't want to talk about it. And the main character is trying to figure out, like, why her aunt turned into a dragon, but her mom didn't. And it's just like, again, it's all about women's rage. And I think it's kind of the perfect combo of, like, a book with an interesting fantasy element, but it also. It just has a lot of book club discussions about, like, women, women in society, patriarchy, rage, women being angry, women being allowed to be angry. There's a lot of. Really, it's a rich vein of discussion here, but it's still a fantasy book. So I think it might be kind of the perfect combo for this book club where it's not too. It's not like high fantasy. There's not a lot of. It's not a lot of onboarding with the world because it's our regular world. So I just.
[07:00]
B
I don't know.
[07:00]
A
I think it'll be the perfect, really good discussion book and the perfect way to sort of thread this needle for Andrea.
[07:07]
B
Yeah, you're going to impress the book club with this. These books, these are going to be great.
[07:11]
A
All right, what's the next one?
[07:13]
B
The next one's from Jessica, who said, hi, Bri and Mallory. My partner is not a big reader, but they've settled on one major wheelhouse item. Doomed queer time traveling romance.
[07:23]
A
So specific.
[07:25]
B
They were swept up in this Is how youw Lose the Time War and loved it. But I am struggling to find more books, specifically queer ones, in this narrow niche of theirs. We had more luck in TV and movies. All of them are doomed in the end, and not all of them are exclusively romantic, but they have the right vibe. So, like Tenant, the second season of Arcane. I appreciate any leads you have for me, and thank you for all the hard work you put into your podcasts. What do you have for Jessica's partner?
[07:50]
A
So, first off, I want to say this is the Jessica that wrote in and coined the term doghouse for us.
[07:55]
B
Oh, my God. Thank you, Jessica.
[07:57]
A
Wow. Which really made a mark on this podcast. So my recommendation for this is even though I Knew the End by CL Poke. So this is a doomed queer fantasy noir romance novella. So there's no time travel in this, but I think it's still kind of the same flavor. This is a fantasy noir, which is really fun, and it is Sapphic, and we love a short book. It's. It's also historical. There's a lot of sub genres going on in this, but it's basically about. It takes place in Chicago. It's about this magical detective, and she has this. This Magical detective, the Sapphic historical detective has sold her soul to save her brother's life. And she's offered. She has to do this one. It's one last job. She has to do this one last job before she has to go serve an eternity in hell. Because she's given up her soul to save her. Her brother's life. But she tries to turn it down. But the client that is offering her this job says, well, what if I give you the chance to have a future where you get to get where you don't have to go to hell and you get to grow old with the woman that you love? And she has three days to track down this. This notorious vampire serial killer. And in order to try to save her own soul and spend the rest of her life with the woman that she loves instead of going down to hell. And it's again, it's a novella, so it's really short. Packs a punch. But it has. I think it has a lot of the same flavor of, like, doom is hanging over this relationship. There's. There's fantasy elements. I think. I think Jessica will love this. What do you think, Bria?
[09:34]
B
Cool. I. The problem is, like, with me is that I cannot remember which books are doomed and which are not. So I was like, ooh, which ones are doomed? I can't remember. And like. Because I was like, future of another timeline. But then I was like, I think I'm pretty sure that one is not doomed. I think that ends happily. So I'm going with Time was by Ian McDonald. I think it is doomed, but I can't remember. It's just funny.
[09:57]
A
Question, is this doomed or not doomed? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[09:59]
B
How doomed is this on the scale of doomed to not do? It's a novella about a gay couple who, during World War II, who get caught up in experiment and they get lost in time and they spend the book trying to find each other across time as they're like, lost. So I think I cannot remember the ending, but I think it will. Check at least a few boxes for your partner. So. And it's a novella, so. So these should give you a good place to start. I think these are a couple fun.
[10:27]
A
And remember, folks, these are all in the show notes. You do not have to panic and write and pull off the highway and write these down. They're all in the show notes in order. Don't worry about memorizing the. The author of the title. All right, next one is Perdita, who wrote in to say hello. I'd love a recommendation for A book from the POV of the villain, please. I've already read and enjoyed Malice by Heather Walter, but I'm looking for one now that isn't an origin story retelling of a secondary character. I think what interests me most about it is two characters experiencing the same situation or world, but one interprets it differently and becomes a villain as a result. Many thanks in advance if you can squeeze it in. Bria, what do you think Perdita should read?
[11:08]
B
I am going with the Wasp Factory by Ian Banks. Okay. It is about a teenager who lives in this remote Scottish village. Their life is strange. The father's, like, kind of like a. He does, like. Like, not like a mad scientist, but experiments and stuff. Their mother left them years ago. The elder brother is in a psychiatric hospital. And the kid who's told from his point of view, he has gotten very violent. Like, he has frustrations, he's expressing them through violence. He has a bunch of strange rituals that he does. And then at one point, the brother escapes from the hospital and basically he's gonna return and there's things that the brother's gonna kind of uncover about what's been going on at the house. It is pretty horrifying to read. It is definitely a villain origin story of sorts. The other one I was thinking Mallory and I both read, if that is not for you, could be Yellowface by RF Kuang. I think that's a great reference, which is it's not a villain origin story in, like, a traditional sense, but it sort of is about a woman who steals another woman's book and starts to kind of, like, pretend that she wrote it and starts to lie about everything about herself, including her race. And it's just a very. Like, that is. And it's told from her perspective. And so the whole time you're, like, following this woman like, no, no, no, don't do this, don't do this. And she's not like a villain in that she's going to like neither of these recommendations. It's not someone who's, like, gonna go and, like, blow up the world or something. But I don't think that's exactly what Perdita is looking for. So I think either one of those books could. Could. Could fit this. What do you have?
[12:55]
A
I'm gonna recommend Vicious by V E Schwab. And this. This is more of like, a classic comic book y kind of villain story. It's about these two. Two guys, they're in college and they're trying to. They're doing these experience These academic experience experiments, trying to develop, like, special powers until something goes wrong one day. And then things get really experimental and they do both basically develop superhero powers. And essentially one of them becomes good and one of them becomes a villain. And so you're getting it both from both perspectives of like, one guy's trying to do good, one guy's trying to do bad. And it's like this kind of comic book style world and you're getting. And it's not a retelling of anything. And I. And you're getting both perspectives from the hero and the villain. So I think it'll scratch the itch that Perdita is looking for. All right, last one.
[13:44]
B
Okay, that's last one.
[13:45]
A
Last one is from Fee, who says, hi, Brianne Mallory. I've been a long time fan of the show and maximum member since 2022. Thank you so much. Thank you so much to all of the people who are members who are wrote in for this. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you so much for offering this as an option for members. I want to. Oh, God. This is my favorite one of the bunch. Bria. I wanted to ask for a recommendation for books that are similar in tone and vibe to the show Widow's Bay, Specifically New England small town with a secret horror, but with a comedic edge. Bonus points if it features a skeptic protagonist who doesn't believe in supernatural. The only book I've read with similar vibes is dead 11 by Jimmy Giuliano. Thanks again and happy reading. Pray I was born to answer this question. What do you think?
[14:21]
B
You. You really nailed it, by the way. You completely nailed it. I had a little bit of trouble with this, but I'm gonna go. Paul Bearers Club by Paul Tremblay, because, okay, it has someone dealing with whether or not they believe in the supernatural, which is something I think Paul does really well. But this is about this kid. He's a 17 year old. It all takes place in. It takes place in new. But it's about a kid who is kind of a loner in high school in the 80s, like, listens to metal and stuff and lives in a small town.
[14:55]
A
It's not funny in like a goofy way, but it is funny in, like a snarky kind of way, which Paulo's really good at.
[15:02]
B
Yeah. And he's. And he goes to this club for volunteer pallbearers and then he makes this new flower friend and it becomes this kind of strange friendship. And basically they're trying to. He starts to try to figure out if there's something supernatural was going on through during this time. And he writes this book, which. This is the book. The book is within the book. So the book is what he's writing. It's called Paul Barrows Club, a Memoir. And it's about him, like, trying to figure out was she supernatural, was there something going on? But also, she got the book and she started writing in the margins. She, like, corrects stuff throughout the book. There's, like, her take on the book. You do need to read this in a physical book. Maybe they did figure out.
[15:52]
A
No, they figured.
[15:53]
B
They fixed it. They fixed it. Okay, okay, okay, okay. But she, like, makes cuts within his book. So it's her, and she's funny and snarky and interesting. And so I think it will, like, scratch that itch. And it all takes place in New England, so you'll get that little aspect of it. But what do you have? I feel like you really nailed this first.
[16:10]
A
I, you know, I'm so obsessed with Widow's Bay. I've already seen it twice. I actually went to a Widow's Bay party this past weekend where a friend of mine made her whole house look like the Salty Whale and, like, covered it with Widow's Bay stuff. And we all went in character.
[16:25]
B
Who'd you go as?
[16:26]
A
I went as the scene. You haven't got to the scene this. This episode yet, but I went on. I went as the mayor from the boat episode. So I, like, had a life jacket on a can of Vienna sausages. And it was. It was so much fun. We had such a great time. I'm so, like. It's funny because I've been seeing this a lot online as people are like, I need more books that are like widow's bag. So I've got two recommendations for this. One is Meddling Kids by Edgar Kentaro, which is a book you and I both love. It's kind of like it needs Lovecraft, but really funny. And that's the. And I'm recommending Meddling Kids for the tone. So you have the kind of classic setup where it's like a bunch a group of kids who defeat thought they defeated an evil in this small town when they were kids, and turns out they didn't, so they have to go back as adults. And some of them are a little skeptical, but it's very. Edgar Kentaro is really, really funny. And it's a little bit goofy and it has that kind of, like, scary things are happening, but we're joking about it as they're happening tone. So Tone wise and then content wise or like like small town secrets, weird things happening, a small New England town. I'm going to recommend All Hallows by Christopher golden, friend of the show. So this book takes place in 19, in like mid-80s in Massachusetts, Halloween night. And these two families are on this, on this one street are like fighting they're fault. Like the families are kind of falling apart. And while this is and like all these family secrets are coming out all the while while people are trick or treating, these four weird looking kids are going from door to door and they're wearing these really old vintage costumes and they're really afraid of something and they're begging people to like help hide them to keep them safe from somebody called the Cunning Man. And something weird is happen in the woods and the problem is this fan, like the families that are trying to help them are, are themselves falling apart and dealing with a bunch of family secrets coming out. So you have this like family secret, small town secrets happening in the midst of this like horror thing that is happening in, in a New England town. So I think from a, from a plot standpoint this is going to sort of scratch that itch. And you know we love Christopher golden, he's just such a, such a great horror author. So between Meddling Kids and All Hallows I think that's going to sort of scratch that widow's Bay itch for you. So again folks, check out the show notes. We've got all the books that we talked about in this, in this episode listed there. If you want to submit your recommendation request for that's Members, remember you got to put in the subject line, say member recommendation request, email it to us. We are so happy to be able to do these. We're so happy that you, the people listening, hopefully either our members or will become members. We work really hard on the show. All you got to do if you are not a member is go to maximumfun.org join to sign up. Even at five bucks a month you get to listen to these episodes and you get to submit requests for them. As always, we also want to thank the wonderful mods who are in our Discord server and our Facebook group. And there's all kinds of fun merch and our Void merch store. There's a link in the show notes and if you like the show, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. So great for us and helps us reach more readers. You can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses podcast. Thanks for listening.
[19:32]
B
Thanks for reading, Sam.

Summary5 min read

Reading Glasses - BONUS! Member Book Rex for July/August!
August 7, 2026
Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara

Episode Overview

In this special bonus edition of Reading Glasses, Brea and Mallory open the doors to their exclusive VIP Recommendations Lounge—a monthly segment typically reserved for members only. Listeners are treated to an inside look at how supporting members receive personalized book recommendations based on their most specific or challenging requests, with the hosts diving deep to cover each one. Bookish problems, eclectic tastes, and tricky reading vibes are solved with humor, warmth, and razor-sharp book knowledge. This episode provides a taste of the unique value offered to Glassers who join as members, featuring a mix of literary fiction, genre gems, and even the quest for "doomed queer time-travel romance."

Key Discussion Points & Listener Requests

1. The VIP Member Lounge Vibe

Brea and Mallory set the tone with playful banter about a "jazzy, sexy" lounge filled with martinis, velvet curtains, and gold chairs.
- “Bria and I have cigarette holders, but there's chocolate on the end of them.” – Mallory (02:00)
- “Not in my pajamas. For sure, not in my pajamas. And reading glasses.” – Brea (02:07)

2. Personalized Book Club Pick (Andrea’s Request)

Listener Request: Andrea seeks a book that bridges her love of fantasy, romance, and sci-fi with her book club’s preference for literary, “important,” and “women’s fiction,” aiming for something with broad appeal.

Recommendations

Brea:
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
  - “It's literary fiction. It is women's fiction...It takes place in 2024.” (03:55)
  - Noted for rich themes, character focus, and a dystopian yet relatable setting.
Mallory:
- When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
  - “It's just a really important book about women's rage...But it's still a fantasy book.” (05:56)
  - Emphasizes accessible fantasy with social commentary, making it ideal for lively book club discussions.

3. Doomed Queer Time-Travel Romance (Jessica’s Request)

Listener Request: Jessica asks for doomed queer time-travel romances, in the vein of This Is How You Lose the Time War. TV and movies have been an easier fit, but books are needed.

Recommendations

Mallory:
- Even Though I Knew the End by C.L. Polk
  - “This is a doomed queer fantasy noir romance novella. So there's no time travel in this, but I think it's still kind of the same flavor.” (07:56)
  - Sapphic historical fantasy noir, featuring a count-down-to-doom relationship and a punchy, short narrative.
Brea:
- Time Was by Ian McDonald
  - “It's a novella about a gay couple who, during World War II, who get caught up in experiment and they get lost in time and they spend the book trying to find each other across time.” (09:59)
  - Unsure if it ends as doomed as desired, but offers the right vibe and themes—also a novella.

4. Villain POV—Not an Origin Story (Perdita’s Request)

Listener Request: Perdita seeks books told from the villain’s point of view, but not origin stories or retellings of secondary characters.

Recommendations

Brea:
- The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
  - “It is definitely a villain origin story of sorts." (11:08)
  - Explores violence, ritual, and a disturbed mind from a first-person perspective.
- Yellowface by R.F. Kuang (bonus mention)
  - “It's told from her perspective...she's not like a villain in that she's going to like...blow up the world.” (11:39)
  - Centers on literary theft, unreliable narrator, and social commentary.
Mallory:
- Vicious by V. E. Schwab
  - “It’s more of like, a classic comic book-y kind of villain story...you’re getting it from both perspectives of like, one guy’s trying to do good, one guy’s trying to do bad.” (12:54)
  - Competing super-powered foes, hero and villain both narrate.

5. Comedic Small-Town New England Horror (Fee’s Request)

Listener Request: Fee seeks books matching the tone and vibe of Widow’s Bay: small-town New England horror with humor and, ideally, a skeptical protagonist.

Recommendations

Brea:
- Paul Bearers Club by Paul Tremblay
  - “It has someone dealing with whether or not they believe in the supernatural.” (14:21)
  - Features New England setting, snark, ambiguous supernatural, dual unreliable narration with funny margin notes. Physical copy recommended.
Mallory:
- Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
  - “Kind of like it meets Lovecraft, but really funny.” (16:10)
  - Adult Scooby-Doo vibes, horror with comedic undertones.
- All Hallows by Christopher Golden
  - “Small town secrets happening in the midst of this like horror thing that is happening in, in a New England town.” (17:30)
  - Set in 1980s Massachusetts, with Halloween, dark family secrets, and supernatural elements.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“You can ask for basically whatever kind of book that you want, the most specific things that you can think of.” – Mallory (00:38)
“My partner...their major wheelhouse item: doomed queer time traveling romance.” – Jessica’s request, read by Brea (07:15)
“Question: Is this doomed or not doomed? How doomed is this on the scale of doomed to not doomed?” – Mallory (09:56)
“I am so obsessed with Widow’s Bay...I actually went to a Widow’s Bay party this past weekend where a friend of mine made her whole house look like the Salty Whale.” – Mallory (16:10)

Timestamps for Key Segments

00:00–02:22 — VIP lounge intro, member perks, setting the scene
02:22–03:49 — Book club picks (Andrea’s request)
03:49–05:52 — Brea’s and Mallory’s book club recommendations
07:13–10:27 — Doomed queer time-travel romance (Jessica’s request)
10:27–12:54 — POV of the villain, non-origin (Perdita’s request)
13:44–18:45 — Comedic New England small-town horror (Fee’s request)
18:45–End — Encouragement to join, Discord/mod appreciation, contact info, closing thanks

How to Access, Participate & Support

Members submit highly specific requests and get answers every month.
Notable: Every single request gets covered in these member episodes.
To join: Go to maximumfun.org/join. As little as $5/month grants access and the ability to submit personalized requests.
Book lists for every episode: Always in the show notes.

Whether you’re hungry for “women’s rage” fantasy, hunting the elusive doomed-relationship sci-fi, or want a snarky horror comfort read set in New England, this episode delivers inventive, engaging, and often offbeat recommendations. The camaraderie, wit, and pure bookishness of Bria and Mallory make it as entertaining as it is informative—for members and aspiring Glassers alike.

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Transcript54 lines

[00:00]
A
Hey, Glassers. You're like, wow, an extra bonus episode in my feed. What could this possibly be? Well, this is a special episode. This is what we do for our members. This is the. Welcome to the. The VIP member lounge. I wish I. I have a slide whistle, but I really need a saxophone is what I need.
[00:17]
B
Yeah, that's right. That's right. It's a sexy lounge. It doesn't have to be sexy, actually. We'll give you all kinds of recommendations. It can be anything. But I mean, the lounge itself, the
[00:24]
A
books aren't necessarily sexy, but the lounge is sexy.
[00:27]
B
Oh, yeah. People are drinking martinis, velvet curtains, there's gold. Gold chairs, gold. I don't know why they're gold. Okay, it got weird. Sorry, sorry, sorry. It's great. It's very special. You would love it.
[00:38]
A
But we do this special thing every month where members write in and because we have such a very long, long, long, long backlog for recommendation requests, that segment on the show for our members, we do a special bonus episode every month where we do recommendations where you can get bumped up the list. And instead of waiting several years, you might only have to wait a month or two. And there. Some of these are real specific. You can ask for basically whatever kind of book that you want, the most specific things that you can think of. But we're dropping this in the main feed so folks know that we're doing this. All you got to do is go to maximumfun.org join to sign up at any level. Even for five bucks a month, you get access to these members only episodes and not just access to listen to them. You. You get to submit a recommendation request and we will answer. We are doing every single one with the ma with the recommendation request episodes on the main, main show, main feed, we kind of pick and choose this one. We do every single one. We do one every single month. And you can get in on that. Go to maximumfun.org join, sign up, support the show.
[01:38]
B
And this is the last time you will see this. So if you do not sign up, this is it. This is the one you're gonna see. We just wanted to share it with you. One freebie for you what we're doing over here for the members in this members every month. Yeah.
[01:50]
A
I don't know why I set my fin.
[01:52]
B
I just feel like people vibing. It's like a jazzy lounge maybe. I don't know. Okay.
[01:56]
A
Bria and I have cigarette holders, but there's chocolate on the end of them.
[02:01]
B
Candy cigarettes.
[02:02]
A
Bria's in, like, a dress with, like, a really high slit in the leg.
[02:06]
B
Yeah. Not in my pajamas. For sure, not in my pajamas. And reading glasses.
[02:16]
A
You're listening to Reading Glasses, a show about book culture and literary life designed to help you read better. I'm author and book devourer Mallory Omer,
[02:22]
B
and I'm Brave Grant, filmmaker and e reader. And welcome to the VIP Recommendations Lounge. I was just about to make a
[02:28]
A
saxophone noise, and then in the moment, I realized I don't know what kind of noise to make.
[02:33]
B
I love that, and I would love to hear it. Oh, that was so good. I loved it.
[02:42]
A
What's the swankiest noise I could think of?
[02:46]
B
This is a special bonus episode where we answer recommendation request from members only.
[02:51]
A
Yes. So you can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com if you want to submit a recommendation request. For this, you have to email us atreading glasses podcastmail.com but in the subject line, you have to say member recommendation request, and then you submit whatever you want. However, no. No request too big, no request too small here. We'll do the most specific things, the most broad things. We got you covered. And if you want a list of all the books we talk about on the show delivered to your inbox every month, you can sign up for our newsletter. There's a link in the show notes. All right, Bria, let's dive in. First one is from Andrea, who says, hi, Mallory and Bria. I'm part of a book, and although I love the ladies in the group with me, we have very different reading tastes. I want to pick something everyone can enjoy for my month. My reading taste is mostly fantasy, romance, and sci fi. Some of my favorite books are the Emily Wilde series, 10,000 Doors of January, and anything by Blake Crouch or Abby Jimenez. My book club enjoys, quote, important books, literary fiction, and, quote, women's fiction. I recommended the House in the Cerulean Sea formally, and they called it, quote, cute. Can you help me come up with a book we'll all enjoy? Although, to be fair, it is a very cute book.
[03:50]
B
It actually is cute. It is cute. You're right. It's cute.
[03:53]
A
What do you think Andrea's book club should read?
[03:55]
B
I'm going. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. An important book. It is science fiction, so I think that Andrea will like it, and I think it is also. It's literary fiction. It is women's fiction. It came out in the 90s, but I feel like it's one of those books that we've kind of revisited it's like this was a very important touchstone for science fiction and it's probably going to come true. Is unfortunately, weirdly true. It takes place in 2024, which is also very weird. But it's about this young woman where the world's very unsafe and these only safe neighborhoods are like, in these, like, communities. And they have this like, enclave they sort of defend. And there's this drug that's been released in the world that makes people really want to set fire to things. And at some point this.
[04:46]
A
It's called being alive.
[04:48]
B
Yeah. For some point, her community gets destroyed and. And then she decides to go on this, like, road trip with all these other, like, walk. Basically walk down what I think is like the four or five. It all takes place in California with a bunch of other refugees. And in doing so, she starts to build her own religion and she becomes this sort of like, savior. And so it has these, like, sci fi elements, it has these like, dystopian elements. But it's also what I think is a very important touchstone for science fiction. And I think we're now talking about it because I think it ushered in like a whole new kind of type of science fiction. So I think there's a lot of things to discuss within a book club. But also it is a really well written science fiction book. So if you like a fun book like that, it's not like, maybe as light as something like House on the Cerulean Sea, but it is really fun and it is very character focused and inner journey focused as well as like this, you know, it's like it's a woman on a journey, which of course, I am gonna recommend. So I think that could be a really great one for your book club. What do you have for Andrea?
[05:53]
A
I was thinking When Women Wore Dragons by Kelly Barnhouse.
[05:55]
B
Oh, that's great.
[05:57]
A
So this is very much. It is a fantasy book, but it's a low fantasy book, which means that it's like a regular world with a fantasy element that comes in. But it's also like, it's just a really important book about women's rage. If you missed it when it came. It was very big buzzy book when it came out a few years ago. And it's about just our regular world. And then one day a bunch of women turn into dragons and fly away. And the main. And the main character. This is like, I want a few years after this happened, and there's some people who don't want to talk about it. And the main character is trying to figure out, like, why her aunt turned into a dragon, but her mom didn't. And it's just like, again, it's all about women's rage. And I think it's kind of the perfect combo of, like, a book with an interesting fantasy element, but it also. It just has a lot of book club discussions about, like, women, women in society, patriarchy, rage, women being angry, women being allowed to be angry. There's a lot of. Really, it's a rich vein of discussion here, but it's still a fantasy book. So I think it might be kind of the perfect combo for this book club where it's not too. It's not like high fantasy. There's not a lot of. It's not a lot of onboarding with the world because it's our regular world. So I just.
[07:00]
B
I don't know.
[07:00]
A
I think it'll be the perfect, really good discussion book and the perfect way to sort of thread this needle for Andrea.
[07:07]
B
Yeah, you're going to impress the book club with this. These books, these are going to be great.
[07:11]
A
All right, what's the next one?
[07:13]
B
The next one's from Jessica, who said, hi, Bri and Mallory. My partner is not a big reader, but they've settled on one major wheelhouse item. Doomed queer time traveling romance.
[07:23]
A
So specific.
[07:25]
B
They were swept up in this Is how youw Lose the Time War and loved it. But I am struggling to find more books, specifically queer ones, in this narrow niche of theirs. We had more luck in TV and movies. All of them are doomed in the end, and not all of them are exclusively romantic, but they have the right vibe. So, like Tenant, the second season of Arcane. I appreciate any leads you have for me, and thank you for all the hard work you put into your podcasts. What do you have for Jessica's partner?
[07:50]
A
So, first off, I want to say this is the Jessica that wrote in and coined the term doghouse for us.
[07:55]
B
Oh, my God. Thank you, Jessica.
[07:57]
A
Wow. Which really made a mark on this podcast. So my recommendation for this is even though I Knew the End by CL Poke. So this is a doomed queer fantasy noir romance novella. So there's no time travel in this, but I think it's still kind of the same flavor. This is a fantasy noir, which is really fun, and it is Sapphic, and we love a short book. It's. It's also historical. There's a lot of sub genres going on in this, but it's basically about. It takes place in Chicago. It's about this magical detective, and she has this. This Magical detective, the Sapphic historical detective has sold her soul to save her brother's life. And she's offered. She has to do this one. It's one last job. She has to do this one last job before she has to go serve an eternity in hell. Because she's given up her soul to save her. Her brother's life. But she tries to turn it down. But the client that is offering her this job says, well, what if I give you the chance to have a future where you get to get where you don't have to go to hell and you get to grow old with the woman that you love? And she has three days to track down this. This notorious vampire serial killer. And in order to try to save her own soul and spend the rest of her life with the woman that she loves instead of going down to hell. And it's again, it's a novella, so it's really short. Packs a punch. But it has. I think it has a lot of the same flavor of, like, doom is hanging over this relationship. There's. There's fantasy elements. I think. I think Jessica will love this. What do you think, Bria?
[09:34]
B
Cool. I. The problem is, like, with me is that I cannot remember which books are doomed and which are not. So I was like, ooh, which ones are doomed? I can't remember. And like. Because I was like, future of another timeline. But then I was like, I think I'm pretty sure that one is not doomed. I think that ends happily. So I'm going with Time was by Ian McDonald. I think it is doomed, but I can't remember. It's just funny.
[09:57]
A
Question, is this doomed or not doomed? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[09:59]
B
How doomed is this on the scale of doomed to not do? It's a novella about a gay couple who, during World War II, who get caught up in experiment and they get lost in time and they spend the book trying to find each other across time as they're like, lost. So I think I cannot remember the ending, but I think it will. Check at least a few boxes for your partner. So. And it's a novella, so. So these should give you a good place to start. I think these are a couple fun.
[10:27]
A
And remember, folks, these are all in the show notes. You do not have to panic and write and pull off the highway and write these down. They're all in the show notes in order. Don't worry about memorizing the. The author of the title. All right, next one is Perdita, who wrote in to say hello. I'd love a recommendation for A book from the POV of the villain, please. I've already read and enjoyed Malice by Heather Walter, but I'm looking for one now that isn't an origin story retelling of a secondary character. I think what interests me most about it is two characters experiencing the same situation or world, but one interprets it differently and becomes a villain as a result. Many thanks in advance if you can squeeze it in. Bria, what do you think Perdita should read?
[11:08]
B
I am going with the Wasp Factory by Ian Banks. Okay. It is about a teenager who lives in this remote Scottish village. Their life is strange. The father's, like, kind of like a. He does, like. Like, not like a mad scientist, but experiments and stuff. Their mother left them years ago. The elder brother is in a psychiatric hospital. And the kid who's told from his point of view, he has gotten very violent. Like, he has frustrations, he's expressing them through violence. He has a bunch of strange rituals that he does. And then at one point, the brother escapes from the hospital and basically he's gonna return and there's things that the brother's gonna kind of uncover about what's been going on at the house. It is pretty horrifying to read. It is definitely a villain origin story of sorts. The other one I was thinking Mallory and I both read, if that is not for you, could be Yellowface by RF Kuang. I think that's a great reference, which is it's not a villain origin story in, like, a traditional sense, but it sort of is about a woman who steals another woman's book and starts to kind of, like, pretend that she wrote it and starts to lie about everything about herself, including her race. And it's just a very. Like, that is. And it's told from her perspective. And so the whole time you're, like, following this woman like, no, no, no, don't do this, don't do this. And she's not like a villain in that she's going to like neither of these recommendations. It's not someone who's, like, gonna go and, like, blow up the world or something. But I don't think that's exactly what Perdita is looking for. So I think either one of those books could. Could. Could fit this. What do you have?
[12:55]
A
I'm gonna recommend Vicious by V E Schwab. And this. This is more of like, a classic comic book y kind of villain story. It's about these two. Two guys, they're in college and they're trying to. They're doing these experience These academic experience experiments, trying to develop, like, special powers until something goes wrong one day. And then things get really experimental and they do both basically develop superhero powers. And essentially one of them becomes good and one of them becomes a villain. And so you're getting it both from both perspectives of like, one guy's trying to do good, one guy's trying to do bad. And it's like this kind of comic book style world and you're getting. And it's not a retelling of anything. And I. And you're getting both perspectives from the hero and the villain. So I think it'll scratch the itch that Perdita is looking for. All right, last one.
[13:44]
B
Okay, that's last one.
[13:45]
A
Last one is from Fee, who says, hi, Brianne Mallory. I've been a long time fan of the show and maximum member since 2022. Thank you so much. Thank you so much to all of the people who are members who are wrote in for this. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you so much for offering this as an option for members. I want to. Oh, God. This is my favorite one of the bunch. Bria. I wanted to ask for a recommendation for books that are similar in tone and vibe to the show Widow's Bay, Specifically New England small town with a secret horror, but with a comedic edge. Bonus points if it features a skeptic protagonist who doesn't believe in supernatural. The only book I've read with similar vibes is dead 11 by Jimmy Giuliano. Thanks again and happy reading. Pray I was born to answer this question. What do you think?
[14:21]
B
You. You really nailed it, by the way. You completely nailed it. I had a little bit of trouble with this, but I'm gonna go. Paul Bearers Club by Paul Tremblay, because, okay, it has someone dealing with whether or not they believe in the supernatural, which is something I think Paul does really well. But this is about this kid. He's a 17 year old. It all takes place in. It takes place in new. But it's about a kid who is kind of a loner in high school in the 80s, like, listens to metal and stuff and lives in a small town.
[14:55]
A
It's not funny in like a goofy way, but it is funny in, like a snarky kind of way, which Paulo's really good at.
[15:02]
B
Yeah. And he's. And he goes to this club for volunteer pallbearers and then he makes this new flower friend and it becomes this kind of strange friendship. And basically they're trying to. He starts to try to figure out if there's something supernatural was going on through during this time. And he writes this book, which. This is the book. The book is within the book. So the book is what he's writing. It's called Paul Barrows Club, a Memoir. And it's about him, like, trying to figure out was she supernatural, was there something going on? But also, she got the book and she started writing in the margins. She, like, corrects stuff throughout the book. There's, like, her take on the book. You do need to read this in a physical book. Maybe they did figure out.
[15:52]
A
No, they figured.
[15:53]
B
They fixed it. They fixed it. Okay, okay, okay, okay. But she, like, makes cuts within his book. So it's her, and she's funny and snarky and interesting. And so I think it will, like, scratch that itch. And it all takes place in New England, so you'll get that little aspect of it. But what do you have? I feel like you really nailed this first.
[16:10]
A
I, you know, I'm so obsessed with Widow's Bay. I've already seen it twice. I actually went to a Widow's Bay party this past weekend where a friend of mine made her whole house look like the Salty Whale and, like, covered it with Widow's Bay stuff. And we all went in character.
[16:25]
B
Who'd you go as?
[16:26]
A
I went as the scene. You haven't got to the scene this. This episode yet, but I went on. I went as the mayor from the boat episode. So I, like, had a life jacket on a can of Vienna sausages. And it was. It was so much fun. We had such a great time. I'm so, like. It's funny because I've been seeing this a lot online as people are like, I need more books that are like widow's bag. So I've got two recommendations for this. One is Meddling Kids by Edgar Kentaro, which is a book you and I both love. It's kind of like it needs Lovecraft, but really funny. And that's the. And I'm recommending Meddling Kids for the tone. So you have the kind of classic setup where it's like a bunch a group of kids who defeat thought they defeated an evil in this small town when they were kids, and turns out they didn't, so they have to go back as adults. And some of them are a little skeptical, but it's very. Edgar Kentaro is really, really funny. And it's a little bit goofy and it has that kind of, like, scary things are happening, but we're joking about it as they're happening tone. So Tone wise and then content wise or like like small town secrets, weird things happening, a small New England town. I'm going to recommend All Hallows by Christopher golden, friend of the show. So this book takes place in 19, in like mid-80s in Massachusetts, Halloween night. And these two families are on this, on this one street are like fighting they're fault. Like the families are kind of falling apart. And while this is and like all these family secrets are coming out all the while while people are trick or treating, these four weird looking kids are going from door to door and they're wearing these really old vintage costumes and they're really afraid of something and they're begging people to like help hide them to keep them safe from somebody called the Cunning Man. And something weird is happen in the woods and the problem is this fan, like the families that are trying to help them are, are themselves falling apart and dealing with a bunch of family secrets coming out. So you have this like family secret, small town secrets happening in the midst of this like horror thing that is happening in, in a New England town. So I think from a, from a plot standpoint this is going to sort of scratch that itch. And you know we love Christopher golden, he's just such a, such a great horror author. So between Meddling Kids and All Hallows I think that's going to sort of scratch that widow's Bay itch for you. So again folks, check out the show notes. We've got all the books that we talked about in this, in this episode listed there. If you want to submit your recommendation request for that's Members, remember you got to put in the subject line, say member recommendation request, email it to us. We are so happy to be able to do these. We're so happy that you, the people listening, hopefully either our members or will become members. We work really hard on the show. All you got to do if you are not a member is go to maximumfun.org join to sign up. Even at five bucks a month you get to listen to these episodes and you get to submit requests for them. As always, we also want to thank the wonderful mods who are in our Discord server and our Facebook group. And there's all kinds of fun merch and our Void merch store. There's a link in the show notes and if you like the show, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. So great for us and helps us reach more readers. You can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses podcast. Thanks for listening.
[19:32]
B
Thanks for reading, Sam.