Ep 384 - How Long Should You Keep a Book on Your TBR?

Summary

Reading Glasses Podcast Summary

Episode: Ep 384 - How Long Should You Keep a Book on Your TBR?
Hosts: Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara
Release Date: November 7, 2024

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1. Introduction

In this episode of Reading Glasses, hosts Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara delve into the topic of long-term "To-Be-Read" (TBR) books—those lingering on the list for years without being read. Inspired by a listener named Sandra, they explore the reasons why certain books remain on TBR for extended periods and discuss strategies for managing them effectively.

2. Current Reads

Bria's Current Read:
Bria is currently listening to The Life Impossible by Matt Haig, narrated by Joanna Lumley and Jordan Stevenson. She provides a synopsis of the novel, highlighting its magical and mysterious elements, such as the recurring olive jar in the protagonist's refrigerator and the exploration of life beyond perceived endings.

Bria Grant [00:42]: "Matt Haig wrote the Midnight Library, which was a lot of people's favorite book a couple of years ago. This is about a woman and retired math teacher who suddenly... discovers a jar full of weird water in a rundown house in Ibiza."

Mallory's Current Read:
Mallory is embarking on Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer, the fourth book in the Southern Reach series. She expresses excitement about the prequel nature of the novel and its potential to answer lingering questions from the original trilogy.

Mallory O’Meara [02:37]: "I love Jeff VanderMeer. I love his particular brand of weird, spooky sci-fi horror... Absolution is going to answer some questions."

3. Listener Feedback

Bob's Feedback [04:44]:
Bob shares his experience with book club assignments that don't align with his preferences. Mallory and Bria offer encouragement to continue participating for the social aspects, even if the books themselves aren't always appealing.

Bria Grant [04:53]: "Oh, what happens when you're getting assigned books that you don't want to read?"

Lindsay's Update [05:47]:
Lindsay thanks the hosts for their advice on focusing on reading appeal factors instead of creating a rigid wheelhouse. She shares her personalized reading appeals, which include elements like dark comedy and high stakes with calm vibes.

Mallory O’Meara [06:24]: "These are all appeal factors... a great base to pick new books from."

Tracy's Success Story [06:51]:
Tracy describes how the hosts' advice transformed her travel reading habits, leading her to explore public libraries and independent bookstores. Her positive experiences include discovering new authors and enjoying personalized recommendations.

Mallory O’Meara [07:45]: "Thanks for helping me be my best bookish self."

4. Horny Fairy Book Club Announcement

The hosts announce the formation of the "Horny Fairy Book Club," selecting A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas as its inaugural read. They encourage listeners to join the members-only Zoom meeting scheduled for the first week of December.

Mallory O’Meara [08:05]: "We're finally going to do it. The glasses have spoken. We're going to do A Court of Thorns and Roses."

5. Main Discussion: Long-term TBR Books

Sandra's Inspiration [12:26]:
The episode's main discussion revolves around books that have been on the hosts' TBR lists for years. They analyze why certain books resist being read and debate whether there should be a time limit for keeping books on TBR.

Bria’s Long-term TBR Example [13:02]:
Bria mentions having books on her TBR list for up to five years, primarily those by authors she admires or that have come up in conversations, such as works by Sally Rooney.

Bria Grant [14:14]: "It's the TBR list of my mind... I do want to read that, but they aren't really on the active lists."

Mallory’s Long-term TBR Example [15:06]:
Mallory discusses Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, which has been on her list for about eleven years. She attributes its lingering presence to its complexity and iconic status in literature.

Mallory O’Meara [15:06]: "I have been meaning to read David Mitchell for so long... I have literally been carrying a copy of Cloud Atlas around for like 11 years."

Debate on Keeping Long-term TBRs [17:07]:
The hosts debate whether it's advisable to keep books on TBR indefinitely. They consider factors like the book's importance, difficulty level, and personal interest.

Mallory O’Meara [17:03]: "Any book that feels important or harder to read is going to take a while to come off the TBR."

Bria Grant [18:22]: "If there's a book you know you want to eventually read... it's okay to keep it on your TBR for that long."

6. Listener Problem: Audiobook Gifting and Recommendations

Kathleen’s Query [21:38]:
Kathleen reaches out with a two-part question: gifting audiobooks to her dyslexic and ADHD brothers and seeking recommendations for non-Marvel/DC superhero comics and manga suitable for teenagers.

Recommendations for Audiobook Gifting [22:31]:
Bria suggests Amazon Audible and Libro.fm subscriptions, highlighting their monthly credit systems and extensive libraries. Mallory emphasizes the benefits of setting up Libby for free access through public libraries.

Bria Grant [22:50]: "If you're willing to pay that $15 bucks every month, it could work."

Comic and Manga Recommendations [27:20]:
Bria recommends Local Man by Tim Seeley for non-Marvel/DC superhero comics, while Mallory suggests Hellboy by Mike Mignola. For manga, Bria lists titles like Blame!, Tokyo Ghoul, and Made in Abyss, and Mallory recommends Biomega for its engaging sci-fi action.

Mallory O’Meara [28:28]: "Hellboy is perfect for someone wanting to branch out from traditional superheroes."

7. Conclusion and Announcements

The episode wraps up with hosts encouraging listeners to submit their own long-term TBR experiences and promoting their merchandise store. They reiterate the importance of managing TBR lists to reduce stress and enhance the reading experience.

Mallory O’Meara [21:15]: "They're cozy. They're settled. They're helping other books that are new to the TBR show in the world."

They also invite listeners to rate and review the podcast to help grow the community.

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Notable Quotes:

• Bria Grant [00:42]: "Matt Haig wrote the Midnight Library, which was a lot of people's favorite book a couple of years ago."

• Mallory O’Meara [17:03]: "Any book that feels important or harder to read is going to take a while to come off the TBR."

• Bria Grant [22:50]: "If you're willing to pay that $15 bucks every month, it could work."

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Final Thoughts:

This episode offers valuable insights into managing long-term TBR lists, emphasizing the balance between personal interest and practicality. The hosts provide thoughtful recommendations for both managing TBRs and selecting suitable reading materials for diverse needs, making it a must-listen for dedicated book lovers seeking to optimize their reading habits.

Transcript

[Mallory O'Meara]

Foreign. 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 O'Meara.

[Bria Grant]

And I'm Bria Grant, filmmaker and e reader. This episode, we're talking about books that have been on our TBR for a long time and why we keep them there.

[Mallory O'Meara]

The TBR long haulers.

[Bria Grant]

Are we ever going to read them? We don't know. Plus, we recommend graphic novels and solve an audiobook gifting problem first.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Bria, what are you reading?

[Bria Grant]

I am listening to a book that I'm sure a lot of people have on their TBRs for the end of the year. Kind of listening to reading a thon that a lot of us do. It's the Life Impossible by Matt Haig.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Read by Joanna Lumley and Jordan Stevens. It's a long one. I didn't realize that when I'm. I'm looking at the time now, I'm about halfway through. Matt Haig wrote the Midnight Library, which was a lot of people's favorite book a couple years ago. This is about a woman and retired math teacher who suddenly this friend who she knew but didn't know well, she gets to notice that she's been left this woman's house in Ibiza. And she's like, I guess I'm gonna go and see what this house is. And she arrives, and it's this rundown little house in this very obviously, Ibiza is very beautiful. And inside the refrigerator, there's this jar, an olive jar, full of this kind of weird water. And that's kind of all that's there.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's like Bria's nightmare is an olive jar, an empty olive jar with no olive, suddenly.

[Bria Grant]

And then gradually she. So her friend died, but kind of under mysterious circumstances. And she's like, well, I'm gonna try to figure out why she left me this house. And sort of like, why what's going on? And the weird thing about the olive jar is that she empties out the water a couple times, and then she goes back and the water's back in there. And it turns out it's about. I mean, there's magic happening. And she starts to mirror people. Along the way. Yeah, along the way. And it's this woman who sort of is a. Is a very logical person. She's a math teacher. She believes in logic, and she's seeing a lot of things that defy her logical brain. And she's older, she's in her 70s, and she's like, you know, kind of thinks that her life up until this point, her child has passed away and her husband has passed away. And she's like, my life is kind of over. She's kind of thinks of her life is over. And what she's discovering being in this sort of magical, beautiful place is that maybe her life isn't over. And the more she uncovers about her friend who's gone, who they say may be drowned, but she also. There's. Her friend also predicted her own death. And the more she discovers is that maybe things can be much different than she thought they could be.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Listen, life is never over. There's always more olives to eat.

[Bria Grant]

That's right. You can fill up that jar again. What are you reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

We were just talking about this off mic and I'm about to start. I just got it. The brand new Southern Reach novel by Jeff Vandermeer.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hotly anticipated. No one thought that there was going to be another book in the series. Everyone thought that the Area X trilogy was going to stay a trilogy. And then boom, boom, boom. Vandermeer surprised us all with a fourth book. But I guess this is actually a prequel. So if you have read Annihilation and the Southern Reach trilogy, you know that there's. It's very surreal. There's a lot of questions that were unanswered. So this book is sort of a three part book. It's broken up into three parts, and it's about three different expeditions that were before the events of tetralogy. Tetralogy. That sounds magical.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, it's cool.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, this is a. Has made the Southern Reach books a tetralogy, but so it's about these three other expeditions that happened before the events of the original trilogy. And it's going to be answering some questions. And I am not reading the original trilogy all over again. Yeah, I did a Wikipedia surf.

[Bria Grant]

That's fair. Also, it's a prequel, so do you need to know?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, I mean, if it's answering some questions, I want to at least kind of like jog my memory.

[Bria Grant]

You want to remember what the questions were? Yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, I first read it, I mean, the year it came out. It was such a big.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It was such a smart way that they published it because, like, the books all came out like four or six months apart from each other. So Annihilation came out, was a huge splash. And then authority and acceptance came out, like a few months. And it was just like. It was a really smart way to build it. But I Haven't reread them since that, like, I think it was 10 years ago, maybe.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, it's been a while.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Maybe less than that. So I wanted to. Good, good time to jog your memory. But I'm excited. I love Jeff Vandermeer. I love his particular brand of weird, spooky sci fi. Sci fi horror. However, you. You got your peanut butter in my chocolate. You got your chocolate in your peanut butter. I love the way he melds genres and I love the Southern Reach books and I'm really excited about this. So that's Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer.

[Bria Grant]

And mine Is the Life Impossible, a novel by Matt Haig, narrated by Joanna Lumley and Jordan Stevenson.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So we want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Bob wrote in to say, hey, Mallory and Bria, just following up in the book club book problems that Ally had with bad books at the book club.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, what happens when you're getting assigned books that you don't want to read?

[Mallory O'Meara]

But you like the book club, right? I'm a member of a sci fi book club in Belfast, and sometimes I just don't find some of the books appealing. So I just don't read them and roll up anyway. And I start with, I didn't read this. It looked like it was not for me. I asked the other members about it and what they thought. So I am part of the chat. Routinely we have people who don't read the book and we're all just very chill about it. It also means that if you feel like you don't have very much to say other than the book was good or the book was bad, the pressure is off. We also vot group of four or five books for our next book. And if someone hasn't been liking a lot of what there's been, we try and make sure the stuff they like is represented on the poll. This all happened because we also happily talk about the book club itself and how it's going. Having a relaxed vibe in general has meant that out of this book club have spun two callic Cthulhu campaigns, a pub quiz team, and a sewing circle. I love the podcast and thanks for all the work you do. So this was we were suggesting, just roll up to that book club anyway. Don't read those goddamn books.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, you don't have to read the book. That's what I think is that you can go and go for the socializing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Go for the olives.

[Bria Grant]

Go for the olives. Lindsay wrote in follow up sent. Lindsay was the glasser who had trouble making a wheelhouse. And we suggested she might like reading appeal factors instead. And Lindsay said, thank you so much for your advice on looking at my reading appeals instead of making a wheelhouse. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. So Lindsay wrote her reading appeals. They are weird pacing, narrator or vibe, dark comedy, a way too normal about their circumstances, main character, third person perspective, high stakes, but calm vibes and facts about historical everyday life. It sounds to me like you have a wheelhouse.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, but these are all appeal factors. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but this is. Yeah, this is. This is a great base to pick new books from.

[Bria Grant]

Absolutely. And. But I do think you could also call this your wheelhouse. This feels to me like if you had sent this as a wheelhouse, I'd be like, yeah, you're just. It's about the pacing, it's about the perspective. Like those are all things that can be in your wheelhouse as well.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So it doesn't have to be subjects and tropes.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, exactly. So I think this is great. Fantastic. Now I can tell people what kind of books I like without saying anything is fine. Thanks again.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Cute. Then Tracy wrote in to say hi there. Your episode on how to buy books on vacation has forever changed the way that I travel and I wanted to thank you both. If I'm in a new city, I will now seek out and take a self tour of the public library. Many of them are historic buildings and often have displays relating to the area. I even saw a lady from the Black Lagoon on a staff pick shelf at the St. Louis Public Library. Thank you, Tracy. And thank you, St. Louis Public Library. I also now, for better or worse, have multiple digital subscriptions from libraries I visited. I now also incorporate independent bookstores into my trips. I was recently hiking through Vermont and took a day off trail in Rutland to resupply. When I walked past Phoenix Books, I wandered inside and immediately asked if they shipped as I wouldn't be able to carry more books with me on the trail. They replied that they did and I then launched into my wheelhouse and they recommended me some books that were totally at my alley, none of which I was familiar with and one was even by a local author. I spent enough that they even told me I wouldn't have to pay for the shipping. I felt like such a pro.

[Bria Grant]

Nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Thanks for helping me be my best bookish self. Bria, you want to read Tracy's wheelhouse?

[Bria Grant]

Hard headed women, fucked up families, small creepy towns, arrogant protagonists, Maine witches, snowy landscapes, and books that take place in a single isolated setting.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Great wheelhouse. And Tracy, we are so happy. This is. I'm loving that you're living your best bookish life.

[Bria Grant]

So nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So you can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com 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 and folks, one big throbbing bookmark from us. We have made our decision about what the Horny Fairy Book Club is going to be. So folks, should not have been a surprise. The top book between all the votes on Slack and all the emails we got was A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. Everyone wants us to read this. Bria's already read it. I own it. I haven't read it yet. But it got so many votes. We did. There was a lot of votes for anything but Acotar, but it got outvoted by ACOTAR itself. So we're gonna do it. Maybe this could be a gateway to other horny fairy books for folks horny fairy books that are not as well known. But we're finally going to do it. The glasses have spoken. We're going to do a Court of Thorn and Roses. So get it from the library. Read it on audio. Read it however you want to read it. But at the end of this month we're going to do a Horny Fairy book club, Zoom. We haven't picked the date yet, but that is coming and all right, so we're going to do first week week of December, so you'll have a month to read it. It is a long one, so don't procrastinate. I. I have already started. I have begun my descent into the world of horny fairies. But we will be all reading the book we're going to do. It's going to be a members only book club, Zoom. And we'll have question. People can talk about it. We're excited. This is a thing that got unlocked because of the members who joined during this year's Max Fun Drive. And we're really grateful to you. Thank you for caring enough about us to want to sign up and support us. And we're thanking you by talking about fairy smut. So again, that's the court A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. And we're gonna talk about it first week of December. So. And if you want to get in on that, you can join. Go to maximumfund.org join to sign up so you can get an invitation to that members only horny book club party. It's going to be pretty wild. Okay, so before we talk about long term TBR books, we're going to take a quick break.

[Bria Grant]

Reading Glasses is brought to you in part this week by Soul Reader. Look, I know you glasses out there, you love your little technologies, you love finding new ways to read, finding ways to improve your reading life. And Soul Reader, it's here to help you do it. Soul Reader is a reading technology company creating tools to illuminate the mind. The first product is Soul Reader, the world's first wearable e reader. So you know, you're reading, you're trying to concentrate, and, oh, you get a little text. Oh, maybe I should check an email. Oh, I. You know what? I opened Instagram today. That is what it's like to read in this day and age. You know, you hear us talking about it, it is easy to get distracted. But that is why Soul created the Soul Reader, a wearable e reader that helps you shut out the world and get back to reading. You put on the Soul Reader like a pair of glasses and then you lay back and you see the pages of your book right in front of you on an E ink screen. So imagine if it's your E ink reader, but it's in glasses, so it's Soul Read Reader. It's kind of like noise canceling for your eyes. A single device designed to help you reclaim your reading routine by cutting out distractions. Mallory and I both tried this. We were very surprised. We had no idea that anything like this existed. But I can just see the glassers getting in their cozy bed, getting in their cozy pajamas. You got all your drinks and snacks right there and you put on these glasses and you just click on through. You're not distracted by anything. You're just living your best reading life. That is what we want for you. So check out Soul Reader at Soul Reader. To start reading without distraction, use code glasses at checkout to receive free shipping on your purchase of Soul Reader limited edition. Available now. You never know what you'll learn more about on the celebrity trivia show Go fact yourself.

[C]

For over 150 episodes, we've welcomed guests like DJ Jazzy Jeff, Audie Cornish, and Andy Richter to tell us why they love what they love and then get quizzed on it.

[Bria Grant]

And past quizzes have included some pretty unexpected topics, like reverse painting, the perfect.

[C]

Flip turn while swimming, Prince's house party playlist from that one episode of New.

[Bria Grant]

Girl, and so much more.

[C]

Plus our Guests meet surprise experts in their topics.

[Bria Grant]

Like the time we met an actual celebrity cow.

[C]

So listen to go fact yourself twice a month, every month, on maximum fun.

[Bria Grant]

Do it for the cow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This week we're talking about long term tbrs books that have been on our tbrs for the long haul. We're talking years and years. Should you keep a book on your TBR for that long? If so, why? What makes a book survive multiple TBR cullings? Before we get into it, we just want to say today's episode was inspired by Sandra who made a thread in the Slack channel asking what book has been on everyone's TBR the longest. It was such a cool question and I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I was like, we gotta talk about this on the show. This is such an interesting thing. Thank you, Sandra. So first off, Bria, do you even have any books like this? Do you have books that have been on your TBR for five years, 10 years? 15 years?

[Bria Grant]

I mean, I guess. I mean definitely five years, 10 years. I don't know, maybe. I mean there are books that come up and I'm like, oh yeah, I do. I wanna read that. It's that. But that's more the TBR list of my mind. You know the one where I'm like, I do wanna read that and I just know that I wann but it's not my actual digital TBR list. I think I call that too often. Wait, I am gonna look and see what's been on there the longest though. Let me. I will look while we're, while you're talking. But what about you? Do you have ones?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I have a handful. Not that many. I think you and I both do pretty regular TBR trimmings. And also I move so much and I because of that I cull my TBR so often that very few books survive because my TBR is a physical tbr. I have an entire bookcase that is my tbr. But there are a few lifers on there. There are a few books I've had on there for over. What is your longest?

[Bria Grant]

There are some on my like, I have a notes app that I just kind of keep books on there and the one that looks to be the oldest is from 2019, so that is five years. But I do call that pretty often and I just haven't gone through it in a minute. There's ones, like I said, it's more like ones in my head that I'm like, I do eventually want to read that book, but I just haven't but they aren't really on the like active lists.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I guess they're not active duty.

[Bria Grant]

No.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So which books, why do you think they're still on your tbr?

[Bria Grant]

Well, there are definitely books that are by authors that I like. Like backlist books by authors that I like that come up that I've like only gotten to know the author recently. I've started reading them recently or maybe they come up in conversation or ones books I just missed for whatever reason that I'll be like, oh, I never read that and I should read that. Like that I just try to remedy. I think those are the books that come up more often that are not necessarily on the list, but they're books that I do want to eventually read. I know, like, okay, for example, I've never read a Sally Rooney book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Neither am I actually. But you know who got us on the curious about Sally Rooney is our old sound wizard, Sean Cook.

[Bria Grant]

Sean, who's here somewhere. So I think about that a lot and I think, oh, I want to read that. Because people will be like, oh, I'm reading the new Sally Rooney. I'm like, oh, I do want to read that. And so there's books like that that I think I think about and I think I will eventually read, but they aren't on like the active list at the moment. What about you?

[Mallory O'Meara]

One example is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I have been meaning to read David Mitchell for so fucking long and he's like such an important kind of iconic author that I still want to read him even so I have literally been carrying a copy of Cloud Atlas around for like 11 years. Oh my God, it is ridiculous. The pages are starting to yellow.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I was, it was so funny because I put it because I have this TBR book shelf bookcase and when I moved into my new house, I was like putting it away and I was like, oh, Cloud Atlas, I still want to read this. And I open it up, it's like the book is aging in the time that I've owned it.

[Bria Grant]

Now maybe this should be one on our reading glasses challenge for next year is like, read your oldest tbr.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's actually a really fun idea. Put that in there. My theory, because I have a few other books that are like this that have been on my TBR for over 10 years, probably less than 5, but there are some on there is that any book that feels important or harder to read is going to take a while to come off the tbr. And I think that's what's going on with Cloud Atlas is because I know it's kind of like the blueprints, kind of, like, unusual. It's like, you know, a little harder to read. It's, like, kind of surreal. It's a lot going on. So it feels like a book that I need to dedicate more time to or, like, a book that I should take on vacation or a book that I, like, need to really sit down and focus on another book that I know a lot of people feel like this is, like, House of Leaves, you know, that a lot of poor people want to read House of Leaves, but.

[Bria Grant]

I'll never read it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's not a Bria book. No, I. I love House of Leaves because it's a haunted house book. But. But I think it's books like that that are like. It's like this sort of unique mix of kind of important or iconic in some way, but more difficult to read, more of a barrier to entry than, like, your average novel. So it feels like it takes more time. And that's what's been going on with me. With Cloud Atlas, I actually had more David Mitchell books, and I made myself get rid of them because I was like, all right, motherfucker. You can read as many David Mitchell books as you want, but you have to read Cloud Atlas first. And I was like, all right. And that was, like, a year ago, and I still haven't read Cloud Atlas.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, wow. We're gonna follow up on this at some point.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Should we even do this? Am I. Am I doing a bad thing, Bria? Should I keep a book on my TBR that long? Is there, like, a year? Do we think there's, like, a cutoff for the amount of years?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Like, is Cloud Atlas, like, hanging over your head sort of gambly style? Is it on a cloud? Yeah. And I mean, look, I think the thing about these books is they don't disappear. Cloud Atlas.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Cloud Atlas is starting to yellow. Okay.

[Bria Grant]

But it's not gonna go out of print is what I'm saying. At least not currently. Again, in our current, current state of democracy. We're recording this on October.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Pre election.

[Bria Grant]

In pre election. But if it's a good book, I do think people. I don't even know if it needs to be on your tbr, because I think people will keep bringing it up to you. People will be like, hey, have you read the Sally Rooney book? And I'll be like, no, I shouldn't.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, we're not going to forget about Sally Rooney.

[Bria Grant]

No, we really aren't. Your friends are Going to talk about it. Good books stick around for a long time. Cloud Atlas, people are going to talk about that for a long time. Yeah. What do you think? Should people be getting rid of? I. I just don't think you should limit yourself. Even though I do think you should call, I do think you should not have something that feels overwhelming. But if there's a book you know, you want to eventually read, I don't want you to. I don't think people should limit themselves, but I think they should let them go if they don't think you're actually.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I agree. I think you should not limit yourself with the book. But I do think that if you have a lot of books like that, maybe you should. I think you should maybe limit the amount of lifers you have on your tbr.

[Bria Grant]

I see. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, I've probably got fewer than seven books like this on my tbr, and they're all kind of like that. They're all books that, like, are by famous authors that are, like, kind of require a little more thought than. Than the average novel. But again, if you have a book you still want to read, you like, you know, and you just want to dive into it at the right time, I think it's okay to keep it on your TBR for that long. But again, if you have 50 books that are like this, and you've had these 50 books on your TBR for 15 years, I think it's time to call. But if you have, like, less than 10, I don't think that's a problem. But you're just not gonna. You're just not gonna read those books. And I think what's gonna happen, I'm predicting it now next year. I'm eventually gonna be like, mallory, what's wrong with you? And I'm gonna get rid of Cloud Atlas. And then six months after that, I'm gonna be seized by the desire to read Cloud Atlas and I'm gonna get it from the fucking library and be like, why did I get rid of this book? I know that's gonna happen, but I. But if that's what it takes to get me to read it, then that's what it takes to get me to read it. Yeah, but if you have a lot of books that are on your TBR for that long, I think you're right. Trim them and see what happens. Because maybe you take Sally Rooney off your TBR and then there's another Sally Rooney adaptation that comes out and you're like, damn, I really want to read Sally Rooney.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Or maybe you never think about Sally Rooney again. I think you will. These books, like, kind of have a way of finding their. Like, weaseling their way back into your life, worming their way back in. But I. Which is why I don't worry about it that much. It's like, I don't think I'm gonna forget about Sally Rooney.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I mean, I think the only thing I'm starting to become concerned about is the aging process of these books.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. That. That. Because I don't have that many physical of these kinds of books, then it's. It's also.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Although I will say I did read that book that I read during the readathon, Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan. I have. That had been on my TBR for 10 years. I had moved with that book.

[Bria Grant]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And it was yellowing and aged, but I read it, and I'm glad that I did.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Amazing author.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But now. So now I have, like, maybe six books like that on my tbr. But eventually I did read them.

[Bria Grant]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Which is not good for me because then my brain's like, buy more books. Don't get rid of them.

[Bria Grant]

Don't get rid of them. You're gonna actually read them.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But that was a book where every single time I moved, every single time I called, I was like, this is a haunted house book. I'm gonna read it someday.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You know what? I did, and I enjoyed it.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But again, if. It depends on how you feel about your tbr, if you like. For me, this is a physical issue because I keep a print physical tbr. If it's just on a spreadsheet somewhere and you don't care, it doesn't feel stressful to you, then that's fine. But if I. We get a lot of glasses who write in and they're like, oh, there's a thousand books on my TBR list. It's making me really stressed out. Get rid of those books that have been on there for a really long time.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Really look at them critically. But other than that, keep those lifers. Let them hang out. They're probably real comfortable on your tbr. They probably got their favorite seat. You know, they're all. They're cozy. They're. They're real settled. They're helping other books that are new to the TBR showing in the world.

[Bria Grant]

When they show up, they're like, this is the bookshelf. It's where we live for teen years.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We're rapidly aging, but Mallory won't get rid of us. So you can send your thoughts on long term TBR books or reading glasses. Podcastmail.com before we solve an audiobook gifting problem, we're going to take a quick break.

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It's on MaximumFun.org, youTube, or your podcatching app.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Now let's solve a bookish problem from one of our listeners. This is actually a twofer. This is a reading problem and a recommendation request. Kathleen wrote in with a big email, so we're making it one big segment that is actually broken into two. So Kathleen says, hi Brian, Mallory, I'm asking this well in advance so that maybe, just maybe, you can answer my book recommendation. Before Christmas we got in under the wire. We're doing good.

[Bria Grant]

We're doing it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, I was so proud of us. I have two younger brothers, ages 21 and 18, and they're both dyslexic. Before audiobooks became mainstream, they were almost exclusively used as assistive technology, which meant that relatively few books were available in audio form. More audiobooks exist now, but they're still quite expensive. So my first brother doesn't use them anymore. He only reads comic books. And my second brother can still get audiobook recordings of his textbooks, but the only fiction he reads is graphic novels. Sorry to ask so many questions, but in your opinion, is it worthwhile to buy my first brother an Amazon subscription so that he can get audiobooks? I'm thinking of getting him one for Christmas, but it seems like you have to pay for a subscription and then pay for the books. I'd rather he use Libby, but my brother has adhd, so all the steps of getting a library card might be a challenge. I want you to know that I really appreciate all the episodes where you discuss assistive technology. Books centering neurodiverse and disabled characters are more important than you can possibly imagine. Please continue to highlight these Books and support disabled authors. Kathleen, we got you covered. Bria, what should Kathleen gift her brother for Christmas?

[Bria Grant]

Okay, so for Amazon Audible, which is what you're talking about, if you pay for the subscription, that means you're gonna pay for it every month. He gets credits every month for books and there are many in there that are free. So he does not have to purchase books if you're already paying for the subscription. It's the same with Libro fm. I love Libro fm. That's the one I use where I pay a monthly subscription of 15 bucks. Amazon's the same price. They both roll over credits and the credits last like a year. So if he doesn't use one one month, he can use two the next month, which is great. So I think it could work if you're willing to pay that 15 bucks every month. It's a steep gift price I think, but you could try it for a year and. Or try it for six months and see if he likes it. He'll have the credit expire after a year. So even if you do it for six months and he can still use it for the next six months. And there's also just a big library which could be helpful. A free stuff on Amazon and there are some comic related books there you could set up for him. Like there's a Locke and Key companion story. There's a lot of Marvel stuff. So I think this could be really great. I also think buying you more comic books is also a good gift. Like don't, don't let them eat or.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Let them eat comics.

[Bria Grant]

Let them eat comics. You know, if he likes comic books, great. Read comic books. That sounds awesome. You could buy him a gift certificate to his favorite comic book store. You can give him a gift certificate. I don't know what he reads through. Like I do a lot of comixology stuff. All sorts of places we like. Hello comics. That's a great place. You can get him a gift certificate to there since you probably don't know what he's he's read. But I think you're being really thoughtful and this is a cool gift. What do you think?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh well, I want to co sign Libro fm. We love Libro fm. We've been working with them for a long time.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, we are an affiliate of theirs. But I also do pay for it every month.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I. It's a, it's a fantastic app. Very easy to use. I really like it and it's. I have gifted Libro FM subscriptions to people before.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Very easy to do great.

[Bria Grant]

Did you do it for like a year or did you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think I. I think they have six, three months. Six months and a year. Yeah. And I did six months for someone.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. And if you are a member, you get a certain number of free books, and then you get a discount on other books. So, like, a lot of times I end up wanting more than the one book. A. And I will just pay for another book. But you get a member discount.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. Also, you know what a great gift is? Is driving your brother to the library and setting up Libby on his phone for him. I mean, that's nice because that'll be for free and in however long it takes the library card to expire. Like, I have a lot of friends that love audiobooks and just don't want to take the time to go to the library and set it up. But it's a great gift for somebody because they. By the. When they finally get Libby on their phone, they're like, oh, my God, this is amazing. I think it's worth, even if it's not a gift, like, great fun day to hang out with your brother. You go get lunch and then you go to the. Drive him to the library, get him a library card and set. It doesn' that's the thing is when you do it and, like, make a thing out of it, it doesn't. I did that with Scott before he died, which is funny because now I'm like, oh, someone take his library card. It's probably still got some years left, his library card. But I did that for Scott. I went one time I went down and visited him, and one of the days I was like, all right, motherfucker, we're going to the library. I'm setting up Louis on your phone. And it's like, it really is a game changer. So don't, like, even if you're not buying him something, that's a great thing to do for somebody.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Also, there's a lot of great audio adaptations of graphic novels.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ye.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I was thinking has a really great adaptation with like, a full cast on everything. But, yeah, there's a bunch of. Of graphic novels that have gotten, like, full cast cool adaptations. So that those would be really fun. All right. And then Kathleen also has a recommendation request for said brothers. So the first brother has a special interest in superheroes, but I've gotten him so many Marvel and DC comic books that I can't remember which ones he already has. Do you know of any superhero comics or graphic novels that are not Marvel or dc and my second brother reads primarily manga. He has most of the Demon Slayer manga and some of the Spy X family. What are some good manga books to buy for a teenager? All right, Bria.

[Bria Grant]

Okay. For the first brother who likes superheroes, I'm gonna recommend Local man by Tim Seeley. There are two recent collected graphic novels out, and they're about a guy who used to be a superhero, but it didn't work out for him. So now he had to move home to the Midwest and go back home. And he also still has powers. He starts helping solve this local crime. There's a lot of him going back with the other. This is an image book, by the way, so it's not Marvel or dc.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I remember you talking about this.

[Bria Grant]

It was one of my favorite favorites of the year. It's great. I just really enjoyed it. And it's superheroes, but it's like superhero adjacent. But there's a lot of superhero stuff in it. So it's like part mystery, part superhero. I think he'd really like it for the manga. I haven't read that much manga, so I consulted my manga pal Matthew Price for suggestions. And he said based on Demon Slayer and Spy Family. He gave the following suggestions and we'll. We will put these in the show notes, but it's blame with an exclamation point. Tokyo Ghoul, Kaguya Sama, Tokyo Revengers, and Made in Abyss. He's a big manga reader and he said those would be. If he hasn't read any of those, those could be really good ones. What do you have for the. The two brothers.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So for the first brother. Brother. The first, I am recommending Hellboy.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, yeah, it's great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Very iconic. This is. This is like a great. And Hellboy is kind of an anti hero, but it still follows the same. Like somebody with powers doing cool things. And it's so. You know, it's so famous, so iconic, so well known in the comic book world that if the brother hasn't read these, he really should.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And it's Dark Horse, so it's not Marvel or dc. It's very long series. It's perfect for someone to wanting. Who's read a lot of superhero stuff and wants to branch out a little bit because again, Hellboy is kind of like an anti hero. Besides the Goon, it's probably my favorite superhero series. I'm not really big into superheroes, but I fucking love Hellboy. And obviously Mike Mignola's art is just incredible. It's so fucking good. It really? Is that that famous and iconic for a reason? It's just incredible. And for the second brother, for manga, I am recommending Biomega. So it's a sci fi manga and it's really fun and action packed. It's about a guy and his AI companion and the companion is kind of like attached to his motorcycle. The two of them are tasked with finding humans who are immune to the zombie affection that is spreading very quickly around the world. So again, very fast paced, very action packed. And I think there's only six in the series. So like pretty easy to get all of them and read all of them good. Like sometimes you manga is just like comic books where sometimes you're like, there's 35 books in this series. Oh, I don't want to get into that. Like, too intimidating. But there's only six in this one. It's really fun. Highly recommend. So that's for non Marvel DC superhero comics, I'm recommending Hellboy by Mike Mignola. And for manga, I am recommending Biomega. Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

And I'm recommending Local man by Tim Seeley and then a whole list of stuff including Tokyo Ghoul. Blame Made in Abyss. We will definitely put this list in our show notes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. So, Kathleen, I hope this helps you. We worked really hard to get this in under the wire for Christmas. I really had to bump this up. But this, folks, this is what you got to do. If you have a timely request for us, you got to get it in as soon as possible. It takes us. We have so many. We literally.

[Bria Grant]

Mallory, I don't think this is. This is a dangerous thing for you to say because people are gonna be like, mine's highly.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I prefer if people don't write in with timely requests at all because I feel awful about it. But if you do, if you really want to. But Kathleen gave us like six months to get to this and that's the way to do it. Thank you, Kathleen. And hopefully you get some good reading apps and graphic novels and manga for your brothers. So if you want us to solve your reader problem or answer your recommendation request, you can send it to readingglassespodcastmail.com as always, want to thank the wonderful mods who run our Facebook group. And remember, folks, it's getting chilly out there. Time for sweatshirts. Check out our void merch store. There's so many cool new ones. Even like we did, we released a spooky line. Jordan did a great job designing them. But if you're a real spooky person, you can be spooky all year. Spooky even in December. Spooky in November. Spooky around Christmas. Get a Horror Reader sweatshirt. I have a Horror reader T shirt that's orange. It's really cute. Bria has a horror reader notebook which is really fun. There's all kinds of stuff. You should check out the link in our show notes to our Void Merch store. And if you like the show and want to do something totally nice and totally free, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It's so great for the show folks. It is fantastic and it really helps us get more listeners. You can email us@reading glassespodcastmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading. Maximum Fun, A worker owned network of artist owned shows supported directly by.