Ep 388 - Are Cozy Books Brat?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Reading Glasses Episode 388 - "Are Cozy Books Brat?"

Release Date: December 5, 2024
Hosts: Brea Grant and Mallory O'Meara

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I. Introduction to the Cozy Book Challenge

In Episode 388 of Reading Glasses, hosts Brea Grant and Mallory O'Meara delve into the realm of cozy literature as they complete the final box of their 2024 Reading Glasses Challenge—"Read a Cozy Book." This segment sets the stage for an in-depth exploration of cozy genres, their appeal, and their place in contemporary literature.

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II. Hosts’ Experiences with Cozy Books

Bria Grant shares her recent read, Welcome to the Hyenam Dong Bookshop by Juan Kwangbo Reem, highlighting its transformation from a period of personal turmoil to a heartwarming narrative about running a neighborhood bookshop. She remarks:

"Initially, the protagonist was crying every day and struggling, but the story gracefully transitions into a cozy portrayal of community and connection."
[17:21] Bria Grant

In contrast, Mallory O'Meara discusses her choice of Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis—a cozy sci-fi novel. She appreciates its unique setting in a floating space hotel and its focus on found family:

"It's a cozy sci-fi about a floating space hotel and the found family that resides there. It felt like a fun branch out into a genre I don’t typically explore."
[18:06] Mallory O'Meara

These selections underscore the diversity within the cozy genre, ranging from heartfelt personal stories to imaginative sci-fi settings.

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III. The Role and Popularity of Cozy Books

The hosts explore why they included cozy books in their reading challenge and discuss the sustained popularity of cozy genres. Mallory notes:

"For many readers, cozy books offer a respite from stress—low stakes with comforting resolutions."
[16:14] Mallory O'Meara

Bria adds that cozy books often serve as a haven for those with hectic lives, providing predictable and soothing narratives:

"It's nice to slow down with a book where everything's going to be okay. No high-stakes drama, just a comforting story."
[16:17] Bria Grant

They deliberate whether the current cozy trend is a mere fad or a lasting staple in the literary world. Mallory confidently asserts:

"I think cozy is here to stay. It's reinventing itself for a new generation, moving beyond the traditional settings and tropes."
[21:28] Mallory O'Meara

Bria concurs, emphasizing the genre's evolution and enduring appeal:

"Cozy has been around for a long time, and its ability to blend with other genres—like sci-fi or romance—keeps it relevant and beloved."
[21:52] Bria Grant

Their discussion highlights how cozy genres adapt to contemporary tastes, ensuring their continued relevance and popularity.

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IV. Listener Feedback: Communicating with Authors About Sad Memoirs

A listener named Vivi reaches out with a heartfelt question: "How do you talk to authors about their sad memoirs without making the conversation overwhelmingly heavy?" This segment addresses the delicate balance of expressing appreciation for an author's vulnerable work without overstepping.

Bria suggests focusing on the personal impact the book had on the reader:

"You can say, 'Your work meant a lot to me. It helped me through a trying time.' It doesn't have to be detailed—just authentic appreciation."
[30:43] Bria Grant

Mallory adds that acknowledging the author's vulnerability can be deeply meaningful:

"Thank you for your strength and vulnerability. It’s a beautiful way to let an author know their honesty had a significant impact on you."
[33:35] Mallory O'Meara

They emphasize that simple, sincere expressions of gratitude can effectively convey admiration without burdening the author:

"Be honest and say that the book had a big impact on you. It’s about connecting with the author through their work."
[32:06] Mallory O'Meara

This advice provides listeners with thoughtful ways to engage positively with authors whose works resonate deeply.

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V. Book Tech: Ultimate Romance Reading Challenge

The hosts introduce a new reading tool—the Ultimate Romance Reading Challenge—provided by their publisher, Will and Owen. Mallory describes it as an engaging scrapbook-style challenge with 25 romance-themed prompts, each unlocking themed prizes upon completion:

"There are prompts like 'Read a romance novel with LGBTQ characters' or 'Read a romance novel published in the year you were conceived.' Completing these earns you cute, themed prizes."
[25:22] Mallory O'Meara

Bria praises the challenge's design and potential as a gift:

"It's very cute and makes a great gift for romance-reading friends or a fun self-treat to inspire diverse reading within the genre."
[26:19] Bria Grant

They appreciate its flexibility, as it doesn't impose time constraints, allowing readers to progress at their own pace:

"It's not timed or dated, so you can enjoy it as long as you like without any pressure."
[27:04] Bria Grant

Overall, the Ultimate Romance Reading Challenge is lauded as a delightful way to encourage readers to explore various facets of romance literature.

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VI. Closing: Community Engagement and Gratitude

As the episode wraps up, Mallory and Bria express gratitude to their community, especially the moderators of their Facebook group, and encourage listeners to rate and review the podcast to help it reach more book lovers. They remind listeners to check out their store for cozy merchandise and tease their upcoming events:

"If you like the show, please rate and review us on your favorite podcast app. It helps us reach more people who love reading as much as we do."
[Various Closing Remarks]

They also invite listeners to join their book launch party at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, highlighting the community-centric spirit of the podcast.

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Notable Quotes

• Mallory O'Meara [19:59]: "Low stakes books have been helping me get out of a slump because they feel more soothing and less overwhelming."

• Bria Grant [21:52]: "Cozy has been around for a long time, and its ability to blend with other genres keeps it relevant and beloved."

• Mallory O'Meara [33:35]: "Thank you for your strength and vulnerability. It’s a beautiful way to let an author know their honesty had a significant impact on you."

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Conclusion

Episode 388 of Reading Glasses offers a comprehensive look into the cozy genre, its significance, and its evolving nature. Through personal anecdotes, thoughtful discussions, and community interaction, Brea Grant and Mallory O'Meara provide listeners with valuable insights into how cozy books can enrich their reading lives. Whether you're a longtime cozy enthusiast or curious about exploring this comforting genre, this episode delivers engaging content and practical advice to enhance your literary journey.

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 ticking off the latest box.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, the last.

[Bria Grant]

The last box. Last box while we did it. Of the 2024 reading glasses. Glasses challenge. Read a cozy book. Are you done with the challenge? I still have to do a holiday one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I'm done.

[Bria Grant]

All right. And solve a problem about how to talk to authors about their sad memo.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But first, what are you reading, Bria?

[Bria Grant]

Well, I was in a sad mood.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I wonder why.

[Bria Grant]

As all of us were. And I was like, what's a book that will cheer me up? And so I got the audio version of the new Barry Sonnenfeld book called Best Possible Place, Worst Possible True Stories from a Career in Hollywood. He directed such movies as Men in Black 1, Men in Black 2.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I was just talking about this at.

[Bria Grant]

His family, at a.

[Mallory O'Meara]

At a. At drinks or something with somebody recently.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, about him or.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, somebody brought him up. I don't know why.

[Bria Grant]

Maybe because this book just came out. It just came out.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, maybe that's why.

[Bria Grant]

He also was a DP before that and shot a bunch of really very big things. This is just a book of him talking shit. It's just him being, like, this person hard to work with and like, this studio executive. God, I hate this person.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We love a spicy.

[Bria Grant]

They're the worst. You get the feeling like, you know, people probably. He's very opinionated. People probably have opinions about him. But I did quite enjoy it. It was very funny. It's very much. I listened to it all in, like, two days, and it's like, there's like 70 chapters. Like, it's like, it's. It's not a. It's not a short book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm still working on my Rob Halford one. I'm surprised.

[Bria Grant]

It was. It's just like, oh, he had stories about Donald Trump. He had stories about Michael Jackson. Like, he's really done a lot of really interesting things, and he has a sense of humor about everything. So I just. I just really enjoyed it. It was a really nice little escape from. Even though this is the industry I work in, he's at a different level and came up at a different time. So it was just sort of an escape from everything. I really enjoyed it. I could not get enough of it. What. What are you. What are you reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I took the total opposite Track. I'm reading a horrifying horror book.

[Bria Grant]

Great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Because it's making me feel slightly better because at least I'm not in this book.

[Bria Grant]

Great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's Coup de Grace by Sophia Azram. And first off, I want to thank the wonderful folks at Titan for sending us this book. I was really excited when I got it because one is really pretty and we talked about it. It was one of our most anticipated books. But also I didn't realize it was short. So short book alert. If you challenge doers out there like, oh no, it's December. I need to pack reading for the year with short books. This will help. So real quick before I dive into what this book is about, this book is about suicide. So if that's not something you want, want to hear about right now, this is the time to hit 30 seconds forward a few times. I'm going to be about talking about this book for a couple minutes and just, I'm, I'm vamping right now to give you time to hit that fast forward button. Okay? So as we talked about this on the show for our most anticipated books and so far it's delivering, it's fantastic. It's about this young man and he likes. It's short, so it gets right to the point you are, he's on the subway and he's heading. He, his whole plan is he's like, I'm gonna get off at the last stop of the subway station, like, whatever. He's in Montreal. He's like, I'm gonna take the subway as far as it goes. And then I'm gonna get off and walk to the ocean and fill my pockets with rocks and end it all. And he falls asleep and when he wakes up, he's like, oh, okay, I guess I'm here at the end of the line. And he gets out. Nobody's at the station and it's never. Not a station he's ever seen before. It's a really weird looking station. And he realizes soon that he can't get out and he meets some weird people in there and he very, yeah, he very quickly realizes that it's kind of like a horror version of Piranesi where he, he's trapped in this infinite subway station and really has to come to terms with his life, his desire to not be alive anymore, his mental health, his, his decisions, who he is as a, as a person. It's also a queer book, if you're interested. He, he is gay and he meets a really sexy guy on the way there, which is really fun. Very cute. But it, it is very scary. But it like, it's like the evil version of a Matt Haig book.

[Bria Grant]

Wow. I love that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And what I really like about it too is that even though it is very short, Sophia Azharam doesn't skimp on language. Like, this is a language first book for sure. They are very like, very like, kind of reminds me almost of like Cassandra Kah in a way. Just like really florid. Beautiful word choice, great diction, Very, very creative, very unique. So if you're a language person, like, this would be a great book for you, but again, super short. Best of all worlds. So I'm enjoying it. It's coup de gras by Sevilla Ezram.

[Bria Grant]

And I listened to the best possible place, worst possible time. True Stories from a Career in Hollywood by Barry Sonnenfeld.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So we want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Renee wrote in to say hi. I know I missed the book box listener mail roundup, but glassers should check out their local libraries. Folks, get ready for a hot book tip.

[Bria Grant]

Wait, what was the. What was the.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Someone wanted to know if getting a subscript description box was a book box.

[Bria Grant]

Okay. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So this is very hot tip. I was torn between wanting the fun and surprise of a book subscription box and trying to be more selective about the books that live in my house. When I found out that my library offers a bi monthly book box service.

[Bria Grant]

What?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I filled out a quick survey about my reading preferences and they pick a book and check it out for me every other month. All I have to do is go pick it up and I can update my survey at any time. There is a tchotchke in the box, but depending on the library, glasses might be to opt out of that piece. The books they've picked for me have all been great and if I happen to have already read what they picked out, all I have to do is let them know and they'll swap it out for an alternate. Thanks for all the work you do. This is so cool.

[Bria Grant]

Whoa. Do we know what library or where Renee lives?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Nope. But this is so cool. Like, I love libraries so goddamn much. I want to see if the. We got to see if the Los.

[Bria Grant]

Angeles library does this right now.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Maybe smaller ones do. I feel like in LA it might be too much.

[Bria Grant]

Wow, that is so cool. No, I don't think LA does this, but that is very, very cool. Wow. So neat. I'm glad that libraries are getting. They're like, this is a trend. We see it we're gonna jump on that as well. Yeah, it's great. Megan Rodin said. Dearie and Glasses, I've listened to your podcast off and off and ever since finding it through sword and laser. Hey, lately I find myself in the biggest book slump, and working my way through old episodes is helping me get back into reading and cheering me up through some very stressful shit. I look forward to your show every week, and as I get into bookish habits, I thought of a book slash library service tip I'd like to share. Hot book tip Saving reading lists through your library account. This is something I didn't even learn until I worked at a library for a few years and even some of our most avid patrons were surprised you could do it. I save lists of books I want to read on my library account. I'm a mood reader, so I keep a lot of lists for different categories. Micro histories, nature writing, witchy fantasy, folk horror, et cetera. When I'm in the mood for that specific thing, I log into my account, pick a few titles from the relevant list that sound interesting and put them on hold. This saves incredibly long lists in a way that is organized for how I like to read and I don't have to look baby on another platform and slash app. It's also great when I want to try something out of my comfort zone without spending money on something I might not love. Okay, but is this like the wish list? That's what I use on my library. I use the wish list at my library.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So this is how it works. When you look at titles in your library's catalog, there's usually a small add to list button nearby. Click this and it will direct you to creating a list that you can add to or refer back to anytime you log in. Your lists are private and saved as long as your library account is active. I used this all the time. When patrons would want help looking for multiple books but be worried about too many holes coming in at once. I saved them to a list on their library account for later and showed them how to make their own.

[Bria Grant]

I do not have this on.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I have this on Libby and I.

[Bria Grant]

But not on the lapl like website.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh well, I have mine on Libby and I do have a little TBR saved.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Oh, on Libby you can do like you can make all sorts of lists, right? Like you can. You can label anything. But.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But this is great for mood readers.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, very much. Oh, I like this. This is a great tip.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You want to read Megan's Wheelhouse?

[Bria Grant]

I do. Folk, horror, fantasy with Eldritch Horror, Haunted Forest Everything by Caitlin Doughty. Nonfiction deep dives of N topics, Books about animal learning and intelligence. Sarcastic robots, plucky space crews just trying to do their job in the midst of some much bigger galactic chaos, fantasy or sci fi mixed with classic noir mystery elements. Thank you for all the work you put into your podcast and the wonderful supportive community you built around it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So you can email us at reading classes 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. That's the link in the Show Notes. Quick bookmark from us, folks. Our book comes out next month.

[Bria Grant]

Oh my gosh.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Our book comes out next month. The no Pressure Book Journal. Oh my goodness. You can pre order it now. There's a link in the show Notes.

[Bria Grant]

Order for your friends. Get it for a gift.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This is the this is a great thing to get for someone as a gift for or all the husbands that you write in about and boyfriends that you want to read more. This is a great, great gift for them. We designed it so it's perfect for someone who has never heard of reading glasses or for someone who loves reading glasses. It is wicked cute. We worked really hard on designing it. It's part book tracking journal. It's part workbook to like learn more about yourself as a reader. And then part essay collection of all the distilled wisdom that Bria and I have from almost eight years of doing this show. So anytime you Quick refresher on reading better, dumping books, getting rid of guilt and shame and pressure in your reading life. This book is for you. And also we want to say we are doing a book launch party for this. We're really excited about it. We're doing it our our beloved Skylight Books here in Los Angeles on the Thursday the 23rd. You can go on the Skylight Books website. I'll put a link in the show notes. I think it's up there yet. On the. I think it's finally up there. But yeah, we're launching this bad boy in person. Come party with us. We're gonna be talking about reading, talking about books, talking about. It's gonna be a blast. Maybe I'll bring some.

[Bria Grant]

Maybe you do live book recommendations there. Is that a good idea?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Maybe. Yeah. We could like do a drawing.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, I like that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Let us know if you have fun ideas or stuff that you want us to do at this book launch. But we hope to see some of you there. We hope to see a lot of you there. Actually, we're really excited. This book is really about getting rid of all guilt and shame and pressure and any negativity in your reading life. It's the perfect thing to get to start the year off. So please pre order it and please come out link in the show notes for both the book and the Los Angeles event. And hey, if you're around in the California area and you have a library or a bookstore or you want us to come do an event about this at, we'll come. It has to be a place that we can drive to. Unless you want to pay us money. Fly us somewhere, which we will also do. But you gotta fly us. But we will. You're in Long Beach.

[Bria Grant]

You're in Orange County.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Orange County. You're some. You're not quite as far away as San Francisco, but maybe kind of like a San Diego. San Diego.

[Bria Grant]

Like a San Diego.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We could do maybe. We'll see if Mysterious Galaxy wants to do this, but yeah, we'll, we'd love to come out and bring the show on the road, but so slide into our email for that. We're really excited and thank you for the support for everyone who's already pre ordered it and I know a lot of you have. We really, really appreciate it. We've been working hard on this for a long time. We're really proud of it. So before we talk about cozy books, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is brought to you in part this week by Green Chef. Green Chef, which is now owned by HelloFresh, which means a wider array of meal plans to choose from and something for everyone. We love switching between the brands and now you can enjoy both at a discount with us. All right folks, fall is almost over. The days are so short. It gets dark basically at noon now. But somehow we still have even more to do. The holidays are coming up. We're all so, so busy. And you know what can help you with that? You know what can make your busy weeks easier? Home delivery of step by step recipes and quality whole foods including organ fresh produce in every box. That's what Green Chef is. Green Chef is a CCOF certified meal kit company. It makes eating well easy with plans to fit every lifestyle. Folks, it doesn't matter if you're keto, paleo, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free. Maybe you just want to eat more balanced meals. If you are the type of person that always is asking for substitutions at a restaurant, don't worry, Green Chef has got you covered. They've got a range of recipes to suit your preferences. You can taste what's in season with Green Chef on their menu right now, you can find all the colors and flavors of fall. Fall is the most delicious season. We all know this. It's the tastiest season where we all look forward every year to eating stuff in fall. Cranberries, brussels sprouts, green beans, maple syrup, pumpkin stuff, squash stuff. You'll find it all at Green Chef. Every single week, you can find menu options for every lifestyle. If you're a plant based person, you can do customizable plant based options. Bria and I are both plant based. It' so easy to eat that way with Green Chef. Brie and I love this. Their meals are fantastic. They're tasty. You all know how much I hate cooking. We're sliding into the most cooking heavy time of year and I don't like it. It getting dark and cold does not make me want to cook any more than I normally do. But Green Chef makes it so easy. I don't have to think too much. Everything's already portioned out for me. The recipe's there. It's easy to make. It's quick. Truly makes cooking so easy and fast. So right now, go to greenchef.com glasses50 and use code GLASS50 for 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next two months. That's code [e-mail] GLASSES50 to get 50% off your first box PLUS 20% off your next two months classes.

[Bria Grant]

Hello?

[C]

Hey, is. Is this Meredith?

[Mallory O'Meara]

This is.

[C]

This is Alex Schmidt from Secretly Incredibly Fascinating I'm clown. Because you have been named the Maximum Fun member of the month for the month of December. Yeah. As the member of the month, you are going to get a $25 gift card to the Maximum Fun store. You get a special member of the month bumper sticker, and you get to use a special parking spot at the Maximum Fun headquarters in Los Angeles, California.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Definitely getting plenty of return on my investment. I have not worked through all the bonus content yet.

[C]

If you're a Max Fund member, you can become the next Max Fund member of the month.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Month.

[C]

Support [e-mail] Join.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This week, we're ticking off the final box on the 2024 reading glasses glasses. Glasses. Glasses. Challenge. Read a cozy book in any genre. Why did we put this on the challenge? How can it improve your reading life? And what did we do to complete this part of the challenge ourselves? So first off, the rul Very important for a lot of glassers. It has to be a cozy book, but the genre does not matter. You can have cozy, mystery, cozy, sci fi, fantasy, romance, etc. Reminder that cozy means low stakes and the violence and the sex occur off page, if they happen at all. This is not. You're not seeing any slapping and sliding. You're not seeing any stabbing and bleeding. It's all happening off the page.

[Bria Grant]

Did you say slappin and sliding? You want to take that back? I can't. Like, are you. Do you want to.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm trying to describe sex in a cozy, not graphic way.

[Bria Grant]

I see, I see. And you went with slapping and sliding.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Better than sucking and fucking.

[Bria Grant]

I see. Though that's what you were replacing. Yeah, I see, I see.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I was trying to make it a little, like, less graphic.

[Bria Grant]

The sliding part is what I think I'm stuck on, but okay, let's just go. Let's move on.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's less graphic than sucking and fucking.

[Bria Grant]

Definitely.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Listen, it's very hard for me to be appropriate. Okay, great.

[Bria Grant]

Keep it cozy, Mallory. Keep it cozy.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Slapping and sliding. I mean, it could be anything. It could be making food. It could be sex. It's all happening off the page.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, why do we put this on the challenge in case?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Why?

[Bria Grant]

Well, cozy books have been extremely popular for the past few years, and it seemed like a fun thing for us to investigate and read about. And, hey, it's been kind of a lot happening this last year.

[Mallory O'Meara]

The worst year of my life.

[Bria Grant]

And maybe that's why people like cozy stories. But some people, I know, people with a lot of hectic lives, always have liked cozy stories. So I think for some people, it's just like, you know, this is not going to be a stressful story. It's going to be something, you know. You know how it's going to end. You know, it's going to be. Everything's going to be okay. And, you know, there's not going to be any slapping. Zero sliding, no climbing, no falling.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What other verbs would you use for sex?

[Bria Grant]

I don't know. That's what I'm using now.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Thrusting is still too graphic. It's a lot pushing and pulling.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Sorry, folks. It's been a long year.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right. So, Bria, how did we complete this part of the challenge?

[Bria Grant]

Well, I like my slapping and sliding on the page, so I. This was actually kind of hard for me. I tried a few different books and was unsuccessful. But then I was like. Because it's just. Some are too cozy for me. Some I'M like, I need a little bit more happening here. I need a little bit more.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I need a little more stabbing. No more slapping.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. I think a mystery is probably best for me, but I did do some non mysteries. The book that I talked about on the show that I did is. Welcome to the Hyenam Dong Bookshop by Juan Kwangbo Reem. Translated by Shanna Tan or Shawna Tan. I'm not sure. It's about a bookshop in South Korea. That a woman, she's having a tough time. She's going through a divorce. She quit her job. She's not very happy and she's like, I'm gonna open a bookshop.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Which seems like it would be so much more stressful, but it's instead cozy. This is such a cozy thing of like, my life is bad. I'm gonna become a small business owner.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Although the first few months she admits that she just cried every day because she didn't know what she was doing. But then it becomes cozy and it's just like this. This is what it's like to run a neighborhood bookshop. And people come in, she has conversations and authors come to speak. And she's very excited about that. And it's kind of emotional at times because she's running this bookshop and then she hires someone that's kind of it. And so it's cozy. It's simple, low stakes. Low stakes. Low stakes. I mean, if you thought about it, it might be high stakes if you lost everything you had like in a bookshop, but never gets into that. And she doesn't. It's successful and you know it's gonna be.

[Mallory O'Meara]

She skips over the crying part.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, exactly. She kind of does, actually. What did you read for this?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm actually in the middle.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, love that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I decided to pick Floating Hotel.

[Bria Grant]

Is this cozy?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, it's a cozy sci fi.

[Bria Grant]

I didn't know that. It's on my list.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis. It came out this year. It's a cozy sci fi about a floating space hotel and found family and like the people who live and work in this hotel. I picked it because I've been doing a lot of cozy mysteries and that didn't feel like a stretch for me because, you know, I've been on that Shady Hollow train so long.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And you know, I love a cozy romance and there's been some cozy fantasies. So I wanted to branch out a little because it is the reading glasses challenge and I don't read a lot of Sci fi. So this is my first ever cozy sci fi. I know there's not too many, but I'm really enjoying it so far. It felt fun to branch out. I've never read about a floating space hotel, but I do like books about hotels.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, me too.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I thought this was the perfect thing. So, Bria, how do we think this can improve people's reading lives?

[Bria Grant]

Well, I think it's good to try something new. And you and I aren't doing a ton of. I mean, you're doing more cozies than I am. I can definitely go for books that are more exciting than this. Some wild science fiction plot set in the near future and, like, everyone is dying and it's one guy left and he's walking around like, that's actually, like, what I probably would more likely pick up. Sometimes it's, like, nice to slow down. At least that's what I'm told by the Internet. The Internet says slow down, and so I feel like this is me trying to slow down a little bit. Yeah. And it is nice. And I did really enjoy her talking about the bookshop and, like, stuff. And she's like. And then this guy came in and he's. He doesn't have a great marriage. And so we talked about that and I'm like, oh, it's fascinating. Like, it is. Kind of. There's something comforting about it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, for sure, for sure.

[Bria Grant]

What about you?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm gl. I think that this can improve your reading life because oftentimes, you know, we're feeling too stressed out to read. We do recommend getting sucked into early, compelling book like a thriller. Like, it'll suck you right in. It's really high stakes. You can't stop reading it. But maybe that is a stress overload. If you're finding that books like that are not hitting for you right now when you're really stressed out or having a hard time. Me, I've had the worst year of my life. And I found that cozy, low stakes books were much easier for me to get into because sometimes I'd pick up a book and be like, oh, I can't read about this right now. I can't read about another stressed out mom.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I. I can't even help myself.

[Bria Grant]

She's stressed.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm stressed out. Yeah. It's like, man lady, listen to me. So the low stakes books have been helping. I think when your brain hurts from stress, reading something soothing can actually be a great way to get yourself out of a slump because it feels the barrier to entry does feel much lower and it just feels. It's a little more soothing. So if you're not again, and I. That does work for me sometimes is picking up a book that is high stakes because it just sucks. Because I love being sucked right in. I'm a plot reader. But when you're really. Sometimes it's good to try a cozy book. So I think that's. That's how it can. Can really help some. Some readers. So bring. Big question here. Do we think this coziness is a fad or is it here to stay?

[Bria Grant]

Well, I think it's been here a long time. All those little lady books solving mysteries, and they're always solved by the end. Those are cozy, like those British books. Or there's a lot of these that I don't know that much about them. But I think what's happened recently is cozy spread into other genres that we haven't seen as much. So you end up. You're not in a small British town in the countryside.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You're in a small British town that's in Spain.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. But I think the genre people, I think they will keep coming back to.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It because it's a Trump presidency on the way.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, that's part of it. And I think also now that people, they've realized that, like, there is a hunger for this, that people will be like, oh, they don't just want space opera, they want space cozy. Like, that is gonna be something that other readers are going to be clamoring for. Outside of the cozy mystery, which I think is where we tend to see it. The cozy business owner. I don't know if that's new or not, but that is such a.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's a baked in long sort of intro.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. So I don't know. I think that it's here to stay. I don't know if it will become less faddish, but I think. Is faddish a word you think? Okay, I think it will definitely be here to say because there's always gonna be people who are like, I take comfort in these mysteries and they're solved by the end. And that's what I like.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Everything happens off page. I don't have to worry about seeing anything.

[Bria Grant]

Do you think this fad will continue? Do you think it's a fad?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, I think I agree with you. It's one. I love that cozy has been a sub genre for so long with an older set of readers. I think in like a very specific type of read. I mean, I remember I had Friends, moms and grandmothers growing up that loved these books. And I love that this new generation of readers is mixing cozy in with other genres, doing new cozy mysteries in a, like, kind of a different way. I love that. I do think for the next four years they're gonna be staying because we're all gonna need them. I think the buzziness might fade a little bit, but I think it's gonna stay something that readers are looking for. Especially now. It's articulating a type of book that people really like and it's become a really good descriptor of things. I think we're gonna need comfort read. So I, I think, I think it's, it's here to stay. I think the low stack, I. A lot of people, I think, have been looking for low stakes books recently. So that's something I think is going to stick around. I mean, I don't think it's going. We're always going to have the epic fantasies, the intense thrillers, but I, I think this is finally cozy's chance of, of reinventing itself for a new generation and people are falling in love. And because, I mean, I think up until the last few years we all had an idea of what a cozy book looked like. It was a mass market paperback with a, a cheesy illustrated cover with like a cat knocking over a pie that was like death filling. I don't know, I don't know anything about pies, but like, it was like a pun name. It's like a very specific. And those are still coming out a lot. But like, I think there was a lot of readers that were like, oh, that's not for me. You know, that's like a grandma book. And a lot of these books that are coming out, they have new covers and they don't have the pun titles, but they're the same kind of thing. It's again, just reinvented for a new generation. And I think that's fucking great and cool and, and maybe this will cause some new readers to look back. I mean, I told you I just started watching Murder She Wrote.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, it's a great show.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Great show. Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Cozy's going brat. How about that?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Cozy's Brat. Oh my God, I haven't even listened to that album. But I know what that means.

[Bria Grant]

I know what it means.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Also as cozy as Brat this year. Brat is cozy. Cozy Little Brat.

[Bria Grant]

Cozy Little Brat.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Oh my God, I love it. All right, you can send your thoughts on cozy books to reading glassespodcastmail.com before we test out The Romance Challenge. The ultimate Romance Challenge, as it's called. We're gonna take a quick break.

[D]

Hello, teachers and faculty. This is Janet Varney. I'm here to remind you that listening to my podcast, the JV Club with Janet Varney is part of the curriculum for the school year. Learning about the teenage years of such guests as Alison Brie, Vicki Peterson, John Hodgman, and so many more is a valuable and enriching experience, one you have no choice but to embrace, because, yes, listening is mandatory. The JV Club with Janet Varney is available every Thursday on Maximum Fun or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you. And remember, no running in the halls.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Time to test out some book tech. Advances in bookish technology. This week's book tech was sent to us by Roxanne. Thank you so, so much, as always, Roxanne. We really appreciate it. It's called the Ultimate Romance Reading Challenge. It's a big set of prizes. It's basically. It looks like a big scrapbook. There's no pages or anything.

[Bria Grant]

Well, we did a similar book, right? We did the Reading the Ultimate Reading Challenge.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

I like that. There's, like, a penultimate one. This is, like, the ultimate one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This is the one that won all the boxing battles with the other, but this one's specifically for romance. So it's like a reading challenge where you have these prompts. There's 25 of them, and after you complete them, you get prizes. So some of the prompts, like, read a book with an enemies to lovers premise. Read a romance novel with a protagonist that's much older than you are. Read one published in the year you were conceived. Conceived is very specific that it.

[Bria Grant]

Well, it is a romance.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, fierce.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And read a romance novel with LGBTQ character. And then the prizes that you get after you complete those prompts, they're all in little, like, envelopes that you open.

[Bria Grant]

Them up, and it's like a little. It's very cute.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Greeting cards, a little mini notebook, stickers, bookmarks. They're all themed romance and bookish. They're very cute. A lot of book imagery, a lot of heart imagery. The whole thing is very cute. It's pretty big. It looks like. Like a. It's like the size of a coffee table book, but it's. Again, there's no pages. It's just each side is all of the little envelopes and things, and it's very adorable. It's all illustrated. So what do we think of this, Bria?

[Bria Grant]

We should also say that this is our publisher.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

So we should let you know that we are reviewing something and it is our publisher.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. So this is put out by Will and Owen.

[Bria Grant]

Yes. So we want to just let you know. We know that we're. Aw. We actually put this on a. I'm.

[Mallory O'Meara]

A HarperCollins author and I review Harper.

[Bria Grant]

Books all the time. There you go. I think it's very cute. In the same way we thought the ultimate reading challenge was very cute. Maybe a really fun thing to give your romance reading pals or a little gift for yourself. A little treat yourself gift where you're like, I'm gonna read a lot of romance or I'm reading a lot of romance. Here's something that will inspire me to maybe pick up different types of romance books.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Or if you already read a lot of romance, it'd be fun to get prizes for stuff that you already read.

[Bria Grant]

I already did. Just go through it and see what you did this year. And you're like, wow, look, I got a little. And the prizes are. They're giving you these prizes. Pretty fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

They're very cute.

[Bria Grant]

It's very fun. What did you think of it?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think again, I think this would make a great gift. Fun thing to do with a friend if they also have one. That would be, I think would be really fun. Some of the prompts were very cool, which I like. Again, the enemies like different tropes, different types of protagonists I really like. Some I did find were kind of reaching. Spend the day pretending to be the protagonist of your book is weird to me.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, yeah. And if someone did that to me, I would not like it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, they would.

[Bria Grant]

If someone was pretending to be. No, I don't like like that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

If someone ripped off their bodice in the middle of the. Although, I don't know. Maybe that would be kind of cool. But I don't know. I. I just like. I. I would not. Personally, I would not do that.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I would feel I would not want to do that. But I'm not an actor.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. And I was. And I still don't want to do it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I would just open up that envelope and be like, well, I'm taking this. This is a mulligan. But Mo, again, most of them are very cool and fun. If you like reading challenges and you get a lot out of doing them.

[Bria Grant]

Them.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think this is a fun thing to get for yourself. The thing that's really great about this, maybe what makes it the ultimate reading challenge, who could say is it's not timed or dated or anything. So it's not like, you have to do this in a year. It's just it as it is. You could spend your whole life doing this if you wanted to. There's no life goals. Life goals. There's no pressure, which we, you know, we love on this show. And if you're really into romance and you like having maybe you read a lot and you're like, you want a prompt. You want an excuse to try something new in the same genre, this is great for that. I'm giving it a four out of five pages because I didn't love all of the prompts. But over overall, I think it's fun and the prizes are really cute and it's all, like, stuff that you're gonna use. You know, it's again, greeting cards, bookmarks, sticky notes, stickers.

[Bria Grant]

I like the idea of it being a life goal on your deathbed. You're like, I never did the one where I pretended to be a protagonist.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, no. But then you could die, and then.

[Bria Grant]

You would be some protagonists.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Some protagonists die.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

There's plenty of romance books where someone dies or is on their deathbed, and then the last thing you do is open up the little envelope and you.

[Bria Grant]

Get a tiny pencil.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You get a tiny pencil.

[Bria Grant]

Like, thank God.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's what you write your will and testament with. Tiny pencil. How many pages are you going to give me?

[Bria Grant]

4 out of 5?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Okay. Yeah, we're going to. We're going to put this in the show notes. Roxanne, thank you again for getting this for us. It was so cute and so fun to check out. So you can send your book tech ideas to reading glasses podcastmail.com or check out our wish list in the show notes. Now let's solve a bookish problem for one of our listeners. VV Writes in. Hi, Brian, Mallory. I went through my list of books I read this year and tried to send a nice comment to all the ones I rated four stars or a above with living authors. Man, that's so.

[Bria Grant]

I have so many thoughts.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Really.

[Bria Grant]

In a good way.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, okay, good. Because I was like, this is so lovely. This is. You can tell Vivi is the type of person who always returns their cart at the grocery store.

[Bria Grant]

Definitely. Oh, gosh.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm also that if you don't turn your cart, I hope Santa doesn't give you anything.

[Bria Grant]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Anyway, V says it was actually really nice once I got over the initial panic of awkwardness. But when I got to a memoir that was less than rosy, I blanked. What do you say to the author of a book you love, but the book is all about how messed up their life was. Or a non fiction book about how terrible the history of our country. Country is. Or about some horrific war or plague. I want to give these authors positive comments too. Not just authors who write fiction, because I love their work and their books often really have an impact on me. But I don't know what to say. We've talked on the show before about how to review memoirs that are, you know, very intense, very sad, very traumatic. But we haven't talked about what to say to an author directly about them. So that's why I put this in here because I think this could also be really helpful at signings and author events. So, Bria, what do you think Vivi should.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, I want to return to the part where Vivi is telling people that, like writing nice notes to authors. I want to try to do this. I may try to do this this year because, you know, things have been bad and maybe it'd be nice to get a nice little note from someone saying, like, hey, just want to let you know, love your books. Like, I'm going to try to do it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Write into your day all the time.

[Bria Grant]

At least to like the top books of the year, you know, like that. That just seems. I feel like I don't tell people that enough that I love their work and I should do that more because there's a lot of things that really inspire me and I talk about all the time and those people hardly have no idea.

[Mallory O'Meara]

As someone who this happens to, it is lovely. I went to a movie yesterday and somebody came up to me afterwards and like, are you the author of the lady from the Black Lagoon? And I was like, I am. And I was. It was just so nice to have someone be like, wow, amazing. Like, it really brightens your day.

[Bria Grant]

So how do you tell people? I think there's a way to tell people you connected with their work without saying. It was like, oh, there's laugh out loud. Funny. There's a way to say it. I would say your work meant a lot to me. It helped me get through a trying time. And that's kind of what people want to hear, right? That's actually why we're doing all of the things we do is like that it connected with you in some way. And it doesn't have to be the way it was even intended. It doesn't have to be any of that. It has to. Just the fact that you connected with the work, that's all you need to say is like, I really connected with this work, I thought the book was really beautiful. I thought exactly what you said. Where it's like, I thought what you. It really had an impact on me. And, you know, I agree with you. And I learned more about how crappy the country or whatever it is. I think telling people exactly that. And the people who wrote the sad memoirs, they wrote it so someone would connect with that and, like, hopefully see something in their lives that made them. Then it'll hopefully make you feel less alone. Right. Especially the sad memoirs, I think. So I think it's perfectly fine to write someone and just tell them their work connected with you in some way. What do you think?

[Mallory O'Meara]

So, as an author who has written a part memoir and may be working on a full memoir, who can say, this is something I encounter a lot. And I have had people who have come to my signings and been like, I don't know what to say about this part of your book because it's made me cry. And then they start crying, and I give them a hug. Like, this is. This is a lot of VV. You are not alone. A lot of people are like, I love this thing, but I don't know how to talk about it. But I think you just got to be honest. Like, say that everything that you're saying, say the book had a big impact on you. You can thank them for their honesty. You can say, thank you for being so vulnerable. This had a big impact on me. I really think there's a lot of crossover with how you talk about fiction, how compelling it is. Say you couldn't put it down, how beautiful the writing is.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You know, you don't have to say, wow, this was so fun to read about how me and your mom is like. But you can say how it affected you.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Be like. Be like, I couldn't stop thinking about this.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Or this made me. I connected to this because of something that happened to me, you know? Or this made me think about something differently. Like, you can. You can say all of this stuff, and it really means a lot to authors. And it. It is. Again, it's just like talking about a lot of novels.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, there's a ton of. Not like, Colson Whitehead. Do you think people are coming up to him and going, oh, the nickel boys. What a laugh a minute. You know? But they're saying, wow, this really impacted me. The writing was really beautiful. I, like, I could not put it. It was very compelling to me.

[Bria Grant]

I like what you said. I think. Thank you for your. For Your vulnerability is actually like for a memoir. Like, you read something and someone went through a really hard thing and then they talk about it. That's not easy.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's not easy to write about.

[Bria Grant]

I think thank you for your vulnerability and your strength is just a really nice thing to say.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's a beautiful thing to say to somebody.

[Bria Grant]

You can keep it simple. You don't have to tell them about your life story. You can just say thank you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I am going to give you a hot tip. As someone who has done this a lot, if you are at a sign, I would not be like, oh, let me tell you the story of this horrible thing that happened to me.

[Bria Grant]

It's tough.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is really tough. I understand the impulse to be like, I want to share this thing, but there's a. Remember that you were talking to an author who has to talk to a hundred other people after you and if you make her cry, it's gonna be hard.

[Bria Grant]

So that's.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And also. And a quick note, that's also maybe not the right venue for that.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I agree.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's just hard because then that author has to become the depository for all these really sad stories. And it's there. There is a time and a place for it. But maybe this is not that. Yeah, but you can allude to it, be like, hey, something similar happened to me and the way that you wrote about it really impacted me. But thank you for your strength. Is think is so beautiful.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, it's nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What a lovely thing to say to somebody.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Can you imagine hearing that? Sounds great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, man. Someone say that.

[Bria Grant]

Mallory, thank you for your strength.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Priya, thank you for your strength. Vivi, this is a great question. Thank you so much for writing in. I think this is something that is going to be helpful for. For a lot of readers. If you want us to solve your reader problem, you can send it to reading glasses podcastmail.com as always, want to thank the wonderful cozy. Oh, it's getting cold out. I hope those mods are got their shawls on. They're all cozy. Thank you so much. The mods who run our Facebook group. We appreciate you all so much. It's been a long time since we've been on Facebook, but we know the group is still active over there and we really appreciate you. We know that that community would not be able to continue without the work that you all put in and the creativity that you put into to the different days like the posts. And for certain days of the week, it's really, really appreciated. Even though we're not there. And remember all kinds of fun stuff in the Reading Glasses Void March store. You want some totes? You want a nice sweatshirt? I was wearing one of our sweatshirts the other day. Nice and cozy. It's getting real fucking cold here in la. You can check out our store in the show notes and if you like the show, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It is so great for us folks. You don't even understand. It really is. It helps people. Some people who have never heard of reading glasses, they look at, they're like damn, look at all those. Review a lot of people, it's like it's the same thing where if you see a restaurant with a lot of four or five star reviews, you're like, I want to eat there, definitely. But people look at it and they're like, I want to listen to that. So we really appreciate it means a lot to us. You can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com, find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading. Maximum Fun, a workaround network network of artist owned shows supported directly by.