Ep 408 - Self Imposed Book Rules and Romance Ratings!

Summary

Reading Glasses Podcast - Episode 408 Summary Title: Self Imposed Book Rules and Romance Ratings!
Hosts: Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara
Release Date: April 24, 2025

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1. Episode Overview

In Episode 408 of Reading Glasses, hosts Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara delve into the intriguing world of self-imposed book rules and explore the functionalities of a romance rating website. The episode provides listeners with insightful discussions on personal reading habits, book recommendations, and solutions to common bookish dilemmas.

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2. Book Recommendations

a. Butter by Asako Yuzuki (00:33 – 05:02)

• Bria Grant introduces Butter, highlighting its captivating cover and intriguing plot:

  “It's about this woman who is a gourmet cook and a gourmet eater. I would say she just loves the finer things in life. And she's a serial killer…” [00:44]

• The narrative centers around a serial killer in a detention center who manipulates a journalist through her culinary skills. Bria emphasizes the book’s dark themes, including murder, fat phobia, and misogyny, offering valuable content warnings for potential readers.

b. Darkly by Marisha Pel (05:02 – 05:54)

• Mallory O’Meara shares her enthusiasm for Darkly, a YA novel that intertwines elements of mystery and competition:

  “It's about this teenage girl obsessed with old games and competitions… It's like a combination of a twisting mystery, end games, and competition.” [03:47]

• The story follows a teenage protagonist selected for a prestigious internship at a game designer’s mysterious factory, drawing parallels to classic tales like Willy Wonka.

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3. Listener Feedback: Queer Norm Books (05:02 – 07:40)

The hosts address feedback from listeners, particularly highlighting Sarah's appreciation for discussions on queer norm books. Sarah emphasizes the importance of casual diversity in literature, expressing a desire for more non-YA stories featuring diverse characters beyond their struggles:

“As a woman of color, I don't want to be defined and limited by my generational trauma… I need more non-YA stories where there is diversity just because the world is a diverse place.” [05:50]

Additional Recommendations:

• Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
• Divorced Men’s Club by Saxon James
• Single Dad’s Club by A.J. Truman
• The End by C.L. Polk
• The Rootless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Wagoner

Mallory’s Insight:

“We've been making our content calendar for the year for reading smut and I have been having to go out of my way to make sure we're finding smut written by authors of color.” [06:52]

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4. Enhancing the Reading Experience with Ambient Videos (07:40 – 09:20)

Valentina’s Tip: Listener Valentina suggests incorporating Yule log-style videos to create an immersive reading environment. These videos feature diverse settings like beaches, lakes, and enchanted forests, accompanied by soothing sounds such as fire crackles and natural ambiance:

“They have fire and water sounds and are so soothing. Sometimes there are crickets or other natural sounds too.” [07:40]

Mallory’s Experience:

“I use these literally every single day. I have a bunch of different YouTube channels that are like rain in magical Elf forest… I write to them, I read to them.” [08:33]

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5. Self-Imposed Book Rules (11:57 – 20:51)

The core discussion revolves around establishing personal guidelines to manage reading habits and book collections effectively.

a. Brea’s Approach:

• Backlist Focus: Brea aims to read more backlist books at the beginning of the year to explore older releases before diving into new ones.

  “I try to do a lot of backlist books at the beginning of the year because there are fewer new books from that year.” [12:22]

b. Mallory’s Strategy:

• Library Utilization: Mallory limits purchasing unfamiliar authors’ books by borrowing them first from the library.

  “If there's a book I'm interested in but I haven't read the author before, I'll try to get it from the library. This has saved me literally thousands of dollars.” [13:05]

• Selective Buying: She buys a hard copy only if she loves the library version and returns the ebook.

  “If I get that book from the library and I love it, I will sometimes go to Skylight and buy a hard copy and return the ebook to the library.” [13:21]

• Space Management: Recently, Mallory adopted a rule to keep only five-star reads in her permanently limited book space.

  “I only keep five-star reads... I have two stacks under each of my nightstands. These bookcases are pretty full.” [17:16]

c. Shared Practices:

• Genre Diversification: Both hosts strive to read different genres consecutively to maintain variety.

  “If I just read a sci-fi book, I'm not gonna read another sci-fi book. I try to read something else.” [13:44]

• Tracking Diversity: Emphasis on reading diverse authors to avoid homogeneity in book selections.

  “If the last four books are by CIS white men with no LGBTQ+ characters, I need to break one of these.” [18:24]

d. Overcoming Challenges:

• Mallory’s Relapse: Despite strict rules, Mallory admits to occasionally breaking them during book hauls but remains committed to her overarching goals.

  “I'm breaking my rule, but I am trying to make my way through my physical TBR.” [19:34]

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6. Book Tech: Romance IO Website Review (24:16 – 28:30)

The hosts evaluate Romance IO, a specialized platform akin to Goodreads but tailored for romance and smut genres.

a. User Interface Critique:

• Confusing Layout: Both hosts find the website aesthetically unpleasing and cluttered.

  “I find the layout confusing. Something about the size of the font… It's supposed to lead us to like, buying and looking at the ads.” [24:43]

b. Functional Insights:

• Spice Rating System: Users can rate books based on the level of explicit content, such as "Double Penetration" or "Grumpy/Cold Hero."

  “It has a spice rating system. So a lot of readers use this to see if a book is open or closed door.” [24:16]

• Community-Driven Content Warnings: The platform includes specific content warnings and tropes voted on by the community, ensuring reliability.

  “It's both very specific. And the content warnings are very clear.” [25:21]

c. Recommendations for Improvement:

• Enhanced Aesthetics: Both hosts suggest a more visually appealing design to enhance user experience.

  “It needs to look cuter… It feels like a website from the 90s.” [27:09]

• Simplified Rating System: Mallory proposes a straightforward open/closed door icon system for easier navigation.

  “I want open or closed door, that’s all I want. It would make so many of our lives easier.” [27:08]

d. Overall Rating:

• The hosts commend the website's functionality but deduct points for its lack of aesthetic appeal.

  “I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 5 for being useful but needing to look cuter.” [28:26]

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7. Listener Problem: Tracking Reading Demographics (28:30 – 33:49)

Listener Sarah poses two questions regarding tracking author demographics and LGBTQIA+ content in her reading log.

a. Counting Multiple Authors (28:30 – 30:35):

• Problem: How to account for books with multiple authors or illustrators in demographic tracking.
• Brea’s Solution: Count each contributor separately and consider the book’s overall diversity.

  “If a book has two authors, one is Black and one is white, I count that as a book written by a BIPOC author.” [29:58]

• Approach: Recognize the contribution of each author by tracking both the number of books and the diversity of authors involved.

b. Tracking LGBTQIA+ Content (30:35 – 33:49):

• Problem: Determining the relevance of a character's sexuality in tracking LGBTQIA+ representation.
• Brea’s Insight: Use criteria such as whether a character is a main character or simply present in the story.

  “Is it the main character or is it just present? If it's present, that's worth noting.” [31:16]

• Mallory’s Perspective: Emphasizes the importance of both main characters and casual representation for inclusivity.

  “It's important to have books where the struggles of those identities and races are part of the book, but also books where queer characters live normal lives.” [31:58]

c. Final Recommendations:

• Customization: Tailor tracking methods based on personal goals, whether focusing on author diversity or character representation.
• Comprehensive Counting: Include all contributors to ensure accurate representation metrics.

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8. Conclusion and Community Engagement (33:49 – End)

Brea and Mallory encourage listeners to engage with the podcast by submitting personal reading rules and questions. They highlight the vibrant community on Discord and invite new members to join via Maximum Fun memberships. Additionally, they promote their merchandise store and request listeners to rate and review the podcast to expand their reach.

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Notable Quotes:

• "It's a way to make sure each book stands on its own a little bit." – Mallory O'Meara [15:25]
• "It's important to acknowledge that people have contributed to this book, this thing that you're reading." – Brea Grant [29:55]
• "I think it's good to track if it's present because queer people live in the world." – Mallory O'Meara [31:58]

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Final Thoughts: Episode 408 of Reading Glasses offers a thoughtful exploration of how personal rules can shape and enhance one’s reading journey. Through book recommendations, community feedback, and practical advice on tracking reading habits, Brea and Mallory provide valuable resources for avid readers seeking to diversify and organize their literary pursuits.

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 self imposed book rules. What are those? Self imposed book rules? Rules for buying and reading that you put on yourself. No one made them but you. Plus, we're testing out a romance rating website and solve a problem about tracking a book with two authors.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But first, Bria, what are you reading?

[Bria Grant]

I just started a book called Butter by Asako Yuzuki. The translators, Pauli Barton. It came out last year.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I have not.

[Bria Grant]

It has a really cool cover.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Is it the COVID Yeah, but I've never heard of this.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, I just started it, so I'm going to tell you what it is about. It's about this woman who is a gourmet cook and a gourmet eater. I would say she just loves the fa. The finer things in life. And she's a serial killer and this journalist who wants to crack her case. So she's already in a detention center when we meet her. The serial killer. Ooh. And it's said that she kind of has seduced them through her cooking, but though there's like, they can't quite pin it on her. And there's this journalist who starts visiting her in this detention center and I don't know, let me see, what else is in this. Basically. Okay, yeah. She starts. She starts being like, well, the serial killer doesn't really want to talk about the murders, but she does want to talk about food. Right. And so. And she starts telling her, like, to go do certain things and eat certain things and how it will change her life. So it's Julia and Julia, but a much darker version of that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Julia, but for murdering.

[Bria Grant]

Murdering.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I love that. That's such a great page.

[Bria Grant]

I will say just content warnings for not just murder, but also fat phobia and anti women stuff.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Misogyny.

[Bria Grant]

That's right. That's the word for anti woman. So just for people to be aware, because some of that caught me off guard. But so far it's a. It's a. Interesting read. What are you reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, my God, Bria. I'm reading a book that has sucked me in. Oh, so good. I bought this. It came out last year. It was on our anticipated books, episodes, which are coming out very soon. It's Darkly by Marisha Pel. And this is her YA book. And if you like games or competitions, this book, it is about this teenage girl and she lives with her mom in Missouri. And she's like one of those teens that's obsessed with old, old stuff. Like her. Her mom owns an antique store. She dresses like it's the 1940s. She gets made fun of for it. She's kind of a loner and she's obsessed with this game designer, this. This woman. She was kind of like a. Like, she has a cult following. She made all these incredible games in the 90s, I believe it was 80s or 90s. And like, the games that this woman designed were like, really, really famous and. But now they're really, really rare. Like, some of the games are like, oh, you can only play them outside with flashlights at night. And like, it's like, really, really cool stuff. But this game, and there's a lot of mystery surrounding her and a lot. The whole world is very shocked when apparently this game designer had this foundation and they are taking interns for the summer. They were taking seven interns. Every kid around the world can apply. And it's basically you go to the factory for these games for the summer and learn how to make them. So it's like a million kids apply. And of course, no, not. Not a spoiler. Our main character, like, writes this, like, very impassioned letter about how she's stuck in this small town and she would do anything to get out of it. One of. One of the cats who lives in the antique store walks on the keyboard and presses enter. Because she's like, she's so embarrassed. She's like, I can't send this in. And then one of the cats presses enter, sends it, and that's why she gets chosen. It's her and six other people. Six other kids. It's kind of like Willy Wonka, like the six other kids. One of those from ice.

[Bria Grant]

You've already convinced me. I'm pre order. I'm ordering it right now.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So. Good. One of the kids is from Germany and they're all. All the kids are really quirky and they show up, they all have to fly to London and they get boated over to this, like, mysterious island where. Where the factory is. And of course, you know, there' kinds of mysteries. It's all things for them to solve. Who are these teens? Of course, all the teens have their own secrets. Why actually were they chosen? Were they chosen for a different reason? It. I'm only. I'm like a fourth of the way in. Bria. I cannot put this book down. It is so good. I do I love the main character so much. Of course, she's kind of like the, like the dorky teen and she thinks all the other teens are cooler than her. And it's so. It's so fun because I know a lot of people, a lot of glasses, like competition books. So this is like a combination of like twisting mystery, end games and competition.

[Bria Grant]

I'm gonna read this sounds great. And I didn't realize this is the same author as Night Film.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, that's cool. So that's the other fun part is that in the, in the book are all these, like, letters and you find out that the game designer was in love with this man and then they became mortal enemies and swore to like, kill each other. And you're getting letters between the two of them. It's so good.

[Bria Grant]

Very cool.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So that's Darkly by Marisha Basel and.

[Bria Grant]

Mine is Butter by Asaka Yazuki. Translated by Polly Barton Foreign.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Take a moment to share some listener feedback we got about queer norm books. Unsurprisingly, the Glassers love queer norm books. Sarah wrote in to say, hi, Brian Mallory, thank you once again for continuing to put great bookish content out into the world. I have been telling anyone who will listen about reading glasses and reading smile. Thank you so much, Sarah. Of course, it's a Sarah who's doing this. We appreciate you. So Sarah says, I love your discussion about queer norm books in the most recent episode. Since you asked for more examples, here are mine. 1. Winter's orbit by Everina Maxwell.

[Bria Grant]

I definitely never read Winter's Orbit.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This was a big glasser book the.

[Bria Grant]

Year it came out, though. I'm gonna add that to my list.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And Sarah says, a surprising amount of gay smut is queer norm. Some great series in this vein are Divorced Men's Club by Saxon James and the Single Dad's Club by A.J. truman. If you're in a. If you're in a smutty club, it's queer norm. Sarah says, thank you both for all you do. You two make the world a better place. Thank you so much.

[Bria Grant]

Sarah Stacy wrote in and said, hi Brian Mallory, I love you both and hearing your voices on my long, dreary commute home from from work is a weekly highlight. A I always get a good laugh and some good book recs. Was compelled to write to tell you I really enjoy the talk about queer norm books. I'm always on the hunt for books and movies too that have what I call casual diversity. I did know this was something that was gaining popularity. As a woman of color, I feel this is especially hard. It seems that in publishing and film production companies give promotion to stories with black leads when they lean into the racism slash, the slavery slash segregation. These are important topics, sure, but as a black woman, I don't want to be defined and limited by my generational trauma. Romance does pretty good, but some of the other genres seem behind. I need more non YA stories where there is diversity just because the world is a diverse place. That's right, more black vampires and fairies. Action stories that aren't centered around escaping slavery, unhinged women of color doing weird things. Tessa Moshe I know these books and movies are out there. I just hope they become more prominent. Thank you both for always reading and living with open minds and open hearts. Oh that's nice. But that is.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's the thing, honestly, because we've been making our content calendar for the year for reading smut and I have been having to go out of my way to make sure we're finding smut written by authors of color. Yeah, because a lot of it, or at least the ones that get all the marketing and are really popular are the ones written by white authors. Straight authors. But don't worry, next month folks, we got some queer smut coming and we I I found a bunch of really cool, exciting, romantasy and smut that is written by authors of color. So that's that's coming down the pipeline. Valentina wrote in to say hi. Brianne Mallory, thanks so much for all you do. I wanted to add my favorite queer norm books to your list. I love both even though I Knew The End by C.L. polk and the Rootless Lady's Guide Wizardry by C.M. wagoner. Oh yeah, and Valentina also has a hot book tip which we have talked about on the show. But I'm going to go over this.

[Bria Grant]

That CM Wagner wrote that book. You love the Village Library Demon Hunting Society.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So now I want to read the Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry for sure. Valentina says YouTube has a wide variety of yule log style videos that instantly cozy up your reading space. My daughter and I did a two person book club for the RG challenge and we wanted to put on a fireplace video. Most people know about these. However, we discovered there are also videos. Fires on beaches and lakes, at sunset, in rooms with bookshelves and reading nooks and in the forest. They have fire and water sounds and are so soothing. Sometimes there are crickets or other natural sounds too. They even have some AI generated visual videos of castles, woodland, glens, meadows, haunted places Reading nooks, libraries and bookstores. Rain and more. I hate AI, but the videos are seriously kind of mesmerizing and make a good backdrop for reading books with specific settings and genres. I use these literally every single day. Do like, I have a bunch of different YouTube channels that are like rain in magical Elf forest.

[Bria Grant]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Fantasy planes. Like, I love these videos I have even when I'm not reading, but I, I write to them, I read to them. It's also just nice to like have it on.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, the ambiance is really, really nice. So I, I love these. I like, I like to match it to my book.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Last night while I was reading Darkly, I was reading the part where they're like taking the boat over to the factory. I found one that was like, you know, magical sea voyage or whatever the fuck.

[Bria Grant]

You're big on these.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I love these. I highly recommend them.

[Bria Grant]

Slightly distracting, so I have to be the right book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Well, because, well, there's also. There are two. There. There are some that have music, which I do, but there are also some that are Valentina's talking about that are just like wind.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Fire.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's birds. Water.

[Bria Grant]

Like still sometimes distracting for me, but sometimes I can get into it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Cool.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[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 before we talk self imposed book rules, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is brought to you in part this week by our old pal, Storyworth. Folks, Mother's Day is coming up and if you want to make your mom feel extra special this Mother's Day, give her something unique, give her something heartfelt, give her something that's going to keep on giving. It's called Story Worth. Bria, what is Story worth?

[Bria Grant]

Well, each week, Story Worth emails your loved one a memory provoking question that you help pick. Questions like, did you ever get in trouble at school? Or how did you decide how many children to have? All your loved one needs is to respond to that email with a story. Long or short doesn't matter. They can either write a story or record it over the phone for Storyworth to transcribe. After a year, Storyworth compiles all those stories and photos, if you want, into a beautiful keepsake hardcover book that you'll be able to share and revisit for generations to come. So basically they're telling you all of these stories. Stories. Maybe things you haven't thought about asking or things you have thought about asking. And they'll write them all down. Story with does this for you. And they send you a really beautiful book. And I have one for my mother. It's lovely. I definitely cherish it. It's such a nice thing to know that I have, that I'll be able to have forever. These stories that she told folks.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Moms love these. Bria's mom, I have given it to. I gave it to my ex's mom. She loved it. This is like, this is truly a mom gift. And it's so fun. Like it's one of those things where a lot, like Bria said, a lot of these are questions that once you see them, you're very curious. But they're just not like questions that you would think to ask your mom in the course of everyday conversation. But they make really wonderful stories. And the photos with them. The book is like, it's really nice too. It's like nice quality. It's just gonna be so fun. And it's like a thing that you can do because your mom's gonna be answering these questions over the course of a year. Like, I don't know, it's fun year long project. You can talk about them and then you get to keep it forever. And like Bria's mom did, you can order multiple copies.

[Bria Grant]

Yep. It. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So no matter how many kids your mom has, she can get one for each of you.

[Bria Grant]

Exactly.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So you can give all the moms in your life a unique, heartfelt gift you'll cherish for years. Storyworth right now save $10 on your first purchase when you go to storyworth.com glasses that's storyworth.com glasses to save $10 on your first purchase. Glasses.

[Bria Grant]

Glasses.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This week we're talking about self imposed book rules. Do you have any personal rules about what you buy, how you get your books or what you read? Should you? We are getting into it. So today's episode was inspired by all the talk I see in the discord about Glasser's personal self imposed book rules. I think it's just so interesting to see especially how it affects people's reading lives. Like, Bria, do you have any of these for like how you get books, how you read books?

[Bria Grant]

I probably should. I mean, I have things I think that are more like habit e and they're not super strict. I'm not, I'm not super strict with a lot of rules. So I Have rules that basically I try to do a lot of backlist books at the beginning of the year because there are fewer new books from that year. And I usually don't do that many books from like the year before. I try to go like deeper into my backlist, and at the end of the year, I do mostly new books. But it's not a hard and fast rule. It's just that kind of ends up being what it is. And it is something at the beginning of the year. I always look forward to dipping into that backlist a little bit. What about you? Do you have books for how you get or read books?

[Mallory O'Meara]

You said books.

[Bria Grant]

I really did. I did have books. I did have books.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Do you have books for how you get books?

[Bria Grant]

Wow. Folks, we are rules. You have rules.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, my God. You know what's funny is when we. I started writing this episode, I didn't think so. And then I started thinking about it and I was like, wait, no, I actually have a bunch. A general rule that I started a couple years ago is if there's a book I'm interested in but I haven't read the author before, I'll try to get it from the library. This has saved me literally thousands of.

[Bria Grant]

Dollars, probably tens of thousand cousins.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, God. On the flip side, if I get that book from the library and I love it, I will sometimes go to skylight and buy a hard copy and return the ebook to the library.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So like an author can. Can ascend. Ascend to being purchased. But if I'm not familiar with an author before, I. I try to get it from the library to make sure that I like it first. So do Brian, do you have any rules for what types of books you read?

[Bria Grant]

I think you and I both do this, but I do try to do one different genre. So if I just read a sci fi book, I'm not gonna read another sci fi book. I try to read something else if I just write a mystery. And that's just. Just a taste preference where I'm just like, I just read a book like this. I don't need to read another book like this. I also almost always do nonfiction on audio these days, and that's a newer thing for me. So I have a nonfiction going on audiobook and a fiction going at the same time. And I never am going to have two sci fi books going. Sometimes I'll have two fiction books if they're like different sort of fiction. And I usually prefer to read comics in physical format. But I do make exceptions and get them on my, like little, My iPad. Just if it's like a single issue. I don't usually go buy single issue comics.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

But if it's out, the whole book is out. Then I'm probably going to buy the whole comic book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What do they call them? Floppies? Flappies?

[Bria Grant]

Trades? Trade paperbacks.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, single issues.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, I. I guess that is what they call them. I don't know.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Flappies. It's got to be floppies.

[Bria Grant]

Floppies.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, maybe.

[Bria Grant]

I don't know. I call them single issues.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I can't remember this word that people. There's like an industry word for them.

[Bria Grant]

H. Anyway, what about you?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I. I'm the same way. And what's funny is I can't remember when I started doing this.

[Bria Grant]

The genre thing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, it has to be. And I try to push myself pretty far. Like if I do a horror book, then I'll try to like, do a literary fiction. Like I, I try, I try to make it pretty different, but I just, I don't even remember when I started doing this. But it's such an ingrained rule that it's become a habit. And I like it because it helps make each book kind of stand on its own a little bit. I like, I think this maybe started because if I left my own devices, I will read nothing but horror and haunted house books. And it does kind of feel like cookies. Like at first it's like very fun. If I'm reading nothing but horror and then I'm like, oh, I can't remember any of these books together.

[Bria Grant]

Like, which haunted house am I in now?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. You never know. It's like when a kid thinks that they want to eat a bunch of candy and then after a while they get a stomachache and then they throw up. That's me. But with haunted house books and horror books and it's like I like doing it because it helps me re. Read more widely. And I, I'm the kind of person that likes having some parameters for things because I want to read so many books that it, it is easier to pick the next one if I have just a small little rule or parameter or whatever in order to pick the next one. You know what I mean? So what about rules for what books you keep in your house?

[Bria Grant]

Oh, not really. I rarely clean out my book space, but I did just clean it out. And I, I have a. I. Because I buy so many graphic novels and comics, I have a shelf for those. And I decided if I couldn't remember what they were about, I had to.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Let Them go that's awesome.

[Bria Grant]

Like. And they're. And you know I have a very short. My memory is not great. So this was actually a very relieving because the review I looked at it, I was like, I don't know why I bought this. I don't know when I bought this.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's awesome.

[Bria Grant]

And so I got rid of about half of the graphic novels I had waiting for me. So. Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And that's heavy. Graphic novels are heavy.

[Bria Grant]

East side, you should check those little free libraries. They are piling up with some good graphic novels that I don't know what they're about but I liked. I wanted to read them at one point. What about you for books you keep in the house? I mean you move more often than I do.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I move all the time. God, I hate it. Like I. Who was I just talking to? Oh, friend of the show. Ross Blotcher. I was talking to Ross about this and because I've for a big chunk of my. I think it was from the time I was 16 to recently I moved almost every year.

[Bria Grant]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Which is awful. I hate moving. But what's funny is I. It wasn't until this last year when I moved back to LA that I started this rule that I'm probably gonna permanently keep until I become. If I ever get super rich and buy a house that's gigantic and have a huge library. I only keep five star reads.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I used to keep every single book that I read and then haul them around with me. I did that and moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

[Bria Grant]

Oh wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like. Like a psychopath.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. That's a lot.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It was like a turtle but instead of a shell it was 5000 books.

[Bria Grant]

A little old lady lived in her book basically.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And so my current house is very small and I only have five bookcases plus two stacks under each of my nightstands. And these bookcases are pretty full. So I really have to love a book to fit it in there. And I keep a stack of books in a crate by my front door. And those are books that I donate or put in little free libraries and those are books that even books that I like, I liked but not enough to keep it.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I think this is a rule I'm going to keep. So do. Are there any rules that we think we should implement? Like some that I see a lot in the Glasser community are like a no buy rule for a certain amount of time reading a certain amount of types of books or authors. No new books, working your way through your tbr like any, any rule that you think would fun.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I, I mean, I know by rule is good. I don't, I mean, again, I don't buy that many books. So I, I'm working my way through my TBR is something I'm always doing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This is a goal to lifelong.

[Bria Grant]

It will never be. Yeah. I think the compounding system has made me more aware of reading diversely. Like if the last four books I look at it, oh, these are by CIS white men. They feature no LGBTQ plus characters, no characters with disabilities. I need to go through that TBR pile and go, okay, what? You need to break one of these? Like, you need to make sure one of these is being checked off in some way. Because I think otherwise you can get stuck in these. In these patterns.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Because even now, a lot of books that get more publish, more publicity and marketing push are by white male authors.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, for sure. Especially, I mean, I read a lot of science fiction and that's just always. That's just the case of science fiction.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You know what's funny is that's what I do when I buy books. I have a buying books rule where if I am going to the store and I'm buying more than one book, which if I'm going to the bookstore, it's hard to buy just one. They're like potato chips. I cannot buy all white authors.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I have like. And it's kind of fun because I will literally go up like the. Not the last time, but the time before I went to the rip bodice. I was like, hey, I want to buy some smut, and I don't want it to all be white. Do you have recommendations? Like, I just will ask booksellers that. But I. It is a rule for me. I cannot buy a stack of. Of white authors. I have to have at least one author of color in that stack.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I also was doing pretty good at doing a no buy. Making my way through a physical because I have a big. My, my. I, I show.

[Bria Grant]

Does that include no library or. No, I just don't buy. Okay, don't.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, no buying. And if you watch the video that I recorded during the fun drive you I took, I did a little home library tour. I have one bookcase that is my TBR bookcase. And I was trying to make my way through it, but a lot of good books came out this year that I wanted to buy. So I have been doing a lot of new releases. I guess it's just like a loose rule where I'm Trying to buy less backlist. Although I. This weekend I'm going away to. Actually, I can say it, because this episode will not be out by the time I'm there. Or this. Yeah, I'll. I'll have already gone by the time this episode comes out. I'm going to Bart's Books in Ohio with hwb and I am definitely bringing home a gigantic tote bag full of books. So I'm breaking my. I have. I've barely even talked about this rule and I'm already breaking it. But, like, I am trying to make my way through my physical tbr and I've done a pretty good job of it this year. Like, there's, there's space in, like, when I first started it, the book case was like completely packed and then there were stacks of books on top of those books and now there's a little air in there. So the problem is I have to work against that thing in my brain that's like, oh, well, there's air. This space in this bookcase, I need to fill it back up again. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. That's the whole point is to make the space.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I need to get a little stricter with it. Maybe after I'm done with this vacation. But I've been enjoying it, I think. I think it's good to have little, like, rules again, like, especially with reading. There's so many books out there that it feels nice to have like some sort of stipulation. It makes it less overwhelming, I think. So send your own personal, self imposed book rules to reading glasses podcastmail.com before we test out some book tech, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is brought to you in part this week by Green Chef. Folks, we are stepping into spring, which means it's the perfect time to refresh your meal routine. Maybe you're cleaning out your closet, you're cleaning out your front yard, you're cleaning out your house. Why not clean out your meals? Green Chef gives you dietitian approved recipes that feature fresh, organic, seasonal produce and 100% responsibly sourced proteins.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. So Green Chef makes it easy to spend less time in the kitchen and more time in that beautiful spring air out in the park. Wherever you want to go, they have heat and eat meals. You can enjoy delicious, wholesome meals in just three minutes. You don't even have to do any cooking. That's amazing. Whether it's a salad ready in five minutes or protein packed breakfast or just a smoothie. To fuel your day, Green Chef has you covered for the busiest of days. Plus they have 80 weekly options. And week to week flexibility, Green Chef really does have it all.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So if you were looking, they really do.

[Bria Grant]

Whatever your dietary need, whatever time you have, Green Chef is making it easier for you to eat healthy and eat delicious food.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, folks, you know we love Green Chef. They've been a long time sponsor of the show. Because I hate cooking. I find every part of it stressful. But with Green Chef, it's so easy. You get it delivered to your house. You get these nice little paper bags full of all of your meals. You can customize them over 80 options for a week. Week, folks, whatever you like, they're gonna have something for you. All the ingredients are. Are set out. Everything's picked out. It takes all of the stress out of cooking, and it's healthy stuff. You know, this is the time of year where, like, all right, maybe you had some. Some New Year's resolutions for, for changing your diet or changing your habits. Now's the time where you got to put the rubber to the road. Now's the time where all that New Year's excitement is worn off. And what better way to keep you on the trajectory that you want than meals that get delivered right to your house? Super easy. Fantastic. We love them. So you can make this spring your most delicious yet with Green chef. Head to greenchef.com 50glasses and use code 50glasses to get 50 off your first month. Then 20 off for two months with free shipping. That's code [e-mail] 50glasses glasses. WrestleMania is the biggest and busiest time of the year for wrestling. And the tights and fights podcast is more important than ever.

[Bria Grant]

We have so many questions to explore. How can you understand John Cena's motivation as a bad guy?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Why is a car crash actually a great expression of friendship? You mean fwendship, right? Of course. Whether you're a longtime wrestling fan or coming back after a break, Titan Fights has you covered this. Wrestlemania.

[Bria Grant]

And every weekend at after on maximum fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Time to test out some book tech. Advances in bookish technology. This week we're talking about the website Romance IO. So this is a popular romance rating website that sort of like Goodreads for smut smut reads. And every page for a book features a plot, synopsis, user reviews and ratings, content tags, and most importantly for readers, a spice rating system. So a lot of readers use this to see if a book is open or closed door. What do we think of this bria.

[Bria Grant]

I find the layout confusing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is. I mean, it's like Goodreads in the way that it is not aesthetically pleasing.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Something about the size of the font.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is small.

[Bria Grant]

And the way this font is so small. And I know I can make it bigger, but. But everything's small.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, I know.

[Bria Grant]

It's supposed to lead us to like, buying and looking at the ads. Like, I feel like the ads were very. And the books that they wanted me to buy were very central, whereas the thing I was trying to look at wasn't central, but the info was useful. So people can vote on various things I. I went and did. I Got Abducted by Aliens, the Kimberly Lemming book that we just did for a ring spot. And they can vote for stuff. And so it gets a little thumbs up if people like this is in this book. So this one had like, thumbs up on Double Penetration and Grumpy Slash Cold Hero. So it was like, you get to see.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's both very specific.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, very specific. And then also it had content warnings. So it's both like the sex stuff that happens, general tropes if you're looking for it, but also content warnings that they're very clear about. And I like that the community voted on it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

It's not just like a bookseller or.

[Mallory O'Meara]

The author or whatever, like AI generated.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, it's kind of helpful. Actual reason there's stuff that the community is going to pick up on, like the grumpy, you know, main character or whatever. Like that kind of stuff that I think maybe someone like an AI bot might not put in there or something. So I do think it's quite helpful. Aesthetically confusing to me.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. I mean, I agree. I love this website. I use it all the time, but it is not. It needs.

[Bria Grant]

You don't hang out on there.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, it's very utilitarian.

[Bria Grant]

Like, it's kind of like, you know how fast food places, they. Things are like a certain color, so you don't stick around. It feels like that to me.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, it's trying to. It's definitely trying to stay here. Get you out the door. Yeah. It's not like a website you. You. You want to browse because it's cute looking. Like it is very, very utilitarian. But I use this all the time for the show, especially when we gave personalized recommendations for the drive. A lot of glassers, when they ask for recommendations for romance, they specify, I either want this open door or I want this closed door. So. And because publishing, I actually was telling my My agent, this. A few weeks ago, I was like, why can't publishing just either have an open door or closed door icon on the book? Book. That is the thing that I want. I don't think a rating system would work, but like just open or closed door, that's all I want. It's all a lot of readers want. And I'm. Because a lot of people who write into the show want closed door. I want open door. I want that door off the hinges.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. No doors.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No doors. I want it smutty as hell again. I think it could be a little cuter design wise. But it's not worse than Goodreads.

[Bria Grant]

No, no, no, no, no. But Goodreads, I mean that the standard. The standards are too low.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Standards are in.

[Bria Grant]

Hell yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, storygraph is so cute. Fable is cute. Maybe the fable team needs to get together with Romance IO.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And figure this out. Especially because it's like romance.

[Bria Grant]

You know, it just feels like a website from the 90s.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

Where it's just like. It's a lot of Geocities page and like. Yeah. There's a lot going on here.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm expecting like some like pixelated confetti to come down. Like a little banana.

[Bria Grant]

Looked at the website in the corner.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah, it was. It's just. That's the only thing about it. But it is a helpful website if you can figure out. It just took me a second to even figure out, like, what am I looking at here? Like.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. And it's frustrating because there are a lot of. Of like when I was doing recommendations for the drive, a lot of people asked for romance. Even like on the like description on the publisher's website for some of these books. It doesn't say if it's closed or.

[Bria Grant]

Open door because it would be very easy to just say that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And like some books, if you kind of read in between the lines, it'll say. A lot of books will say steamy or spicy and that tells you that it's open door. Some people will sit like sweet or innocent, which just tell me if it's closed or open door. Like, and like the, the information about the book. It's like it's this many pages. It's either closed or open door. Publishers, the first publisher who gets it together and does that. Oh my God. Gonna make so many of our lives easier. And I'll buy more books. So we like this. We're gonna put a link in the show notes. I'm gonna give it a 4 out of 5 pages just because I think it needs to look cuter.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I agree it's useful, but yeah, the. The aesthetics were not pleasing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. So if you have ideas for book tech you want us to test out, send them to reading glasses podcast gmail.com. now, let's solve a bookish problem from one of our listeners. Sarah writes in to say. Hi, Brianne Mallory. I have a question about tracking your reading. Actually, Sarah has two questions, so we're going to break them up. My preferred way to track my reading is a simple list. In a physical journal, I just list title and author in a numbered list split up by month. At the end of each year, I reflect on my favorite reads of the year, maybe add a little sticker or star to my top books, and also enjoy breaking down what I've read a little bit by category. Yes, I do this myself. Instead of using an app, I might see how many books I've read in different genres. But in particular, I'll look at author demographics, gender, and ethnicity. In particular, here's my first question. How do you count author demographics for books with more than one author? Or a graphic novel that has an author and an illustrator? Do you count it as two more total authors or do they count together as one? What's the protocol? Am I counting the number of books by black authors or the number of black authors? Bria, what do you think?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, this is a good question and it's a problem for me as well. If it is a graphic novel, I think counting the artist and the author is worth looking at. Like, like. And same thing with two authors. Like, I think it is worth counting and I think counting going number of books by Black authors by. Vs Number of Black authors. Yeah, I think the latter is important because it's important to acknowledge that people have contributed to this book, this thing that you're reading.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I agree.

[Bria Grant]

So thinking it more like that is helpful. What do you think?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I mean, I. Ultimately, I think it depends, like Sarah said, where you're tracking, what you're tracking for. If you want to focus on the authors, track that or books track that. But I personally track the number of books because like you said, I. I feel like it's not fair to one of those authors if you're like, well, this book doesn't count because it's also by a white author. My rule is if one of those authors is part of a certain demographic, I count the whole book as that. Like, if a book has two authors, one is black and one is white, I count that as a book written by a bipoc author.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Film festivals do this too for like female or like directors. And if you're a co director, they still. You can still go be in a female directed program because you did direct it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, 100%.

[Bria Grant]

Even though you co directed.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I directed. I feel like we're taking away credit.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

From one of. One of the authors or from the. The illustrator, if someone was a co creator on that accounts. So. And then Sarah has another question.

[Bria Grant]

Double questions.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Double questions.

[Bria Grant]

Sarah's with double questions.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Sarah's always have double questions. And you love them for it. Side question. I never specifically tracked LGBTQIA plus content before, but I read a lot of Queer Romance and thought I'd try it this year. How central does a character have to be? Slash, how relevant does their sexuality have to be before you check that box? Bria, what do you think? Think?

[Bria Grant]

Well, Mallory, I think both had a revelation with this, with the copile system, because I thought the way they did this was very helpful. And it's basically. Is it the main character or is it just present?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, or.

[Bria Grant]

Or not at all, obviously. But just present is worth noting because like we said about the queer norm books, queer people live in the world. Great. That's a step in the direction of the world that I live in. And that is more inclusive. And it may not be the main character, but like, yes, let's include them. Because I don't think, like, it has to be central for it to be like, oh, we're being a little bit more inclusive. And in fact, like we said with the queer norm books, a lot of people. Mallory got out the slide whistle. I thought she was gonna whistle for something. And I was like, I was like a trained dog. Like, I like, stop for a second. Like when you pick up a leash, you know, the dog's like for a walk. A lot of people like it when being queer isn't central to the story, like we said. So, you know, paleontologist happens to like women, but she also goes on a big adventure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, queer norm. It's like, because, I mean, there are a lot of books out there. And same with bipoc authors that like, it's important to have books where the struggles of those identities and races is part of the book. But it's also just as important to like, have those people living normal ass lives, you know, like, not every queer book has to be a coming out story or a struggle. Like, it's important to have both. So, yeah, I think it's good to track if it's present.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But you know, like, so Cawpile is the main character present absent. When it comes to reading more queer books, though I do like to count main characters. Like, that is something that is important to me because it's kind of what the book's about. Even if the sexuality isn't present. I think is important to make sure you are reading books where the queer character is the main character. It's such like a queer thing where it's like, oh, it's the gay best friend, you know, so it's. I, I do like to make sure that I'm reading books where the queer character is the main character. It's by a queer author. So at the end of the year, I mean, this is my first cop, my, my rookie Cawpile year, I will be looking to see what percentage of books have a main character that is queer. That's the one that, that is the statistic that I will be. But I mean, again, it's. We get a lot of questions from people that are like, how do I track? What do I track? It's up to you. Like, what is your goal for this? Like, are you just tracking to see what you read or do you have a goal in mind? It seems like Sarah is trying to read more queer books and for me, I would generally try to make sure that I'm reading books that have main characters.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But if you're just tracking just to see, like just to get data on what you're reading, you know, then. Then maybe you do the either main character present absent. You know, the Cawpile way, man. We have like, so we are Cawpile pilled.

[Bria Grant]

We owe that this person book roast. Yeah, we really. We do.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We should have her on the show.

[Bria Grant]

Oh yeah, let's do it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Do you think she'd come on reading glasses?

[Bria Grant]

I don't know.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I bet we can get her on the show. Oh, that'd be very exciting.

[Bria Grant]

Would be.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So if you have questions about how to track, what to track. We love making a call on this kind of stuff. And so we can help you send those questions toreading glasses podcastmail.com and as always, we want to thank the wonderful mods who are in our Facebook group and our Discord channel. And folks, it's not too late. If you listen to the drive episodes late and you miss them and you're like, oh no, you can still be part of this. The if you join now, you're not going to be part of our goals. That is, that is done. But all year round, baby, you can go to maximumfun.org join to sign up. Send your receipt or proof of membership to reading glasses podcast gmail.com and we'll give you an invite to the Discord. It is is hip happening in there. Thanks to our wonderful mods who are keeping things running. It's really really fun. The Slack is still going but it is closed. Slack is an exclusive club that cannot no longer be entered by by new members, but you can get it on that Discord and it is fucking awesome in there. Again, go to maximumfun.org join to sign up. Send your receipt or proof of membership toreading glasses podcastmail.com and remember there's all kinds of cool ass shit in our Void Merch store. There's totes and stickers and shirts and sweatshirts. All kinds of fun stuff. There's a link in the show notes for that. And if you like the show, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It's so great for us. It helps us reach more readers. It warms our hearts. You can email us at readingglassespodcastmail.com, find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading.

[Bria Grant]

Thanks for Reading.

[Mallory O'Meara]

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