Ep 410 - Facts for Parties - Science Books for the Reading Glasses Challenge!

Summary

Reading Glasses Podcast Summary: Episode 410 - "Facts for Parties - Science Books for the Reading Glasses Challenge!"

Release Date: May 8, 2025
Hosts: Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara
Title: Ep 410 - Facts for Parties - Science Books for the Reading Glasses Challenge!

---

Introduction: Current Reads

Mallory O'Meara and Brea Grant kick off the episode by sharing the books they are currently immersing themselves in.

• Brea's Pick: The Center by Aisha Manazir Siddiqui [00:33]

  • Synopsis: Follows a Pakistani translator in London whose boyfriend mysteriously learns a new language in just ten days. Their relationship unravels as she delves into the secrets behind his rapid linguistic acquisition.
  • Quote: "It's like literary fiction, slash, mystery, slash. It's all told from a first-person perspective, which is very cool, very weird, very fun."

• Mallory's Choice: The Fair Botanist by Sarah Sheridan [01:51]

  • Synopsis: A historical fiction set in Edinburgh, featuring two protagonists—a content sex worker developing a mesmerizing perfume and a newly arrived artist obsessed with a rare blooming plant in the botanical garden.
  • Quote: "It's all about plants and perfumes and botany with beautiful descriptions of Scotland in the early summer."

Listener Feedback: Managing a Massive TBR

Juliet shares her strategy for handling an extensive To-Be-Read (TBR) list of over a thousand books. As a mood reader with diverse interests, Juliet treats her TBR as a "menu" rather than a definitive list.

• Key Tip: Utilize StoryGraph to manage and organize reading lists.
  • Features Highlighted:
    • To Read Pile: Randomly selects 4-5 books from the TBR to reduce overwhelm.
    • Up Next: Allows selection of up to five priority books.
    • Filter Options: Sort by mood, genre, pace, length, etc.

Quote from Mallory [03:57]: "We got a hot book tip in the morning. So Juliet says StoryGraph has been a game changer for me."

Honorable Mention: Centralizing the entire TBR using StoryGraph's features can significantly streamline the reading process.

Listener Spotlight: Overcoming Reading Slumps with Hyper-Fixations

Kira discusses her struggle with reading slumps caused by hyper-fixations due to ADHD. Her solution involves integrating book-related spin-off content to reignite her reading habit.

• Strategy:
  • Incorporate books related to her favorite shows, games, and mythology.
  • Maintain a small backlog of these books to serve as treats during slumps.

Quote from Kira [07:18]: "Hope this helps other people who never considered that their other interests might also be books."

Upcoming Event: Spring Readathon

The hosts announce their first Spring Readathon scheduled for Sunday, May 18th.

• Details:
  • Duration: 10 AM to 5 PM Pacific Time (flexible to accommodate all time zones)
  • Activities: Live stream check-ins on Instagram, reading sessions, and community engagement.

Quote [24:28]: "We're going to start with a live stream on our Instagram at 10 o'clock in the morning."

Sponsored Segment: Aura Frames

Mallory and Brea introduce their sponsor, Aura Frames, highlighting it as an ideal Mother's Day gift.

• Key Features:
  • Unlimited Storage: Share countless photos directly from your phone.
  • Aesthetic Appeal: Fits seamlessly into any home decor.
  • Special Offer: $35 off plus free shipping on the Carver mat frame using promo code Glasses at AuraFrames.com.

Quote from Bria [09:41]: "She'll also love that an Aura frame means she gets to see more of you."

Bookish Question: Should You Get a Library Book Signed?

Listener Blaze inquires about the appropriateness of getting library books signed by authors, expressing concerns about potential repercussions.

• Hosts' Response:
  • Positive Outlook: Many authors are open to signing books specifically for libraries.
  • Best Practices:
    • Targeted Signing: Have the book signed to the library itself (e.g., "Los Angeles Public Library") rather than personalizing it.
    • Avoid Misrepresentation: Ensure authenticity to prevent confusion or accusations of vandalism.

Quote from Mallory [23:24]: "You can send your thoughts on science books to [e-mail]."

Recommendation Request: Social Justice YA Books

Eve seeks recommendations for young adult (YA) books that tackle social justice themes. The hosts enthusiastically respond with their top picks.

• Recommended Books:

  1. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

     • Synopsis: Chronicles the life of a young girl who witnesses her best friend being shot by police, sparking community turmoil and protests.
     • Quote from Bria [30:13]: "Hate U Give is about a girl who witnesses a shooting. It's really a great book with social justice at the center."

  2. Attack of the Black Rectangles by AS King

     • Synopsis: A middle-grade novel where a young boy discovers that library books are being censored, leading him and his friends to challenge intolerance in their community.
     • Quote from Mallory [30:28]: "Every single AS King book, you can bank on there being an interesting speculative element and a little bit of queer representation."

Off-Topic Discussion: Musicals Preferences

In a lighthearted tangent, the hosts debate their differing tastes in musicals.

• Mallory's Stance:

  • Prefers animated musicals like Beauty and the Beast.
  • Admits a general dislike for live-action musicals due to the singing aspect.

• Brea's Stance:

  • Avid fan of musicals, enjoys both classic and contemporary titles like Wicked, Hadestown, and Little Shop of Horrors.

Notable Quote from Mallory [27:20]: "I have several wrong opinions. I know that this is one of my wrong opinions. I know that I’m wrong about musicals."

Final Thoughts and Outro

The episode concludes with a call to action for listeners to rate and review the podcast, join their Discord community, and check out the Reading Glasses merchandise to support the show and their feline friends.

Quote from Mallory [36:09]: "If you like the show and ... don't feel that you like the show more than I like musicals, which is not very much, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice."

---

Stay Connected:

• Email: [e-mail]
• Discord: Join via MaximumFun.org
• Merchandise: Available at the Void Merch Store [Link in Show Notes]

Support the Show: Your ratings, reviews, and merch purchases help keep the Reading Glasses community vibrant and ensure more insightful discussions every week.

---

Thank you for listening to Reading Glasses! Keep reading and see you next week.

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 devour, Mallory o' Meara.

[Bria Grant]

And I'm Bria Grant, filmmaker and E reader. This episode, we're ticking off another box in the 2025 reading glasses glasses Glasses challenge. Read a science book. Plus, we solve a problem about getting a library book signed. Should you do that? Is this something we're doing now? Okay. And we're recommending YA books that deal with social justice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But first, Bria, what are you reading?

[Bria Grant]

I am reading the Center C E N T R E. It came out two years ago. It's been on my list for a while. It's by Aisha Manazir Siddiqui. It is about a translator, a Pakistani translator who lives in London, who is dating this guy who goes away and he. He becomes fluent in a language he wasn't fluent in in, like, 10 days.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh.

[Bria Grant]

And she's like, and it's a mysterious place. And he's like, I'm going to tell you about it, but I'm only allowed to tell one person in my whole life.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What?

[Bria Grant]

And he does tell her about it. And then they break up. And then she wants to go. And so she goes. She's a translator, right? And she's like, well, what if I could also translate in Russian? So she goes. And in 10 days, through this immersive program that seems slightly mysterious, she learns Russian completely. Lind can speak like a native Russian speaker. Whoa. As things go on, she starts to be like, is this weird? What's going on? How can I do this? And that's kind of where I'm at right now, is that she's trying to figure out what's going on. It's like literary fiction, slash, mystery, slash. It's all told from a first person perspective, which I know some people really like. And it is. It's very cool, very weird, very fun. Our world, but different kind of stuff. What are you reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I am reading a book I talked about in our Spring Books episode that was on my tbr.

[Bria Grant]

And.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I started reading it. And folks, it is so fucking good.

[Bria Grant]

Oh.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is the Fair Botanist by Sarah Sheridan. And this is historical fiction set in Edinburgh. As you know, I'm legally required to read a certain amount of Edinburgh books per year. And so it's like the summer has just begun. And the book has two protagonists. One is this woman. She's a sex worker, and she's very happy with her life. She's like very happy to be a sex worker. She's like very good at it. She recognizes that at some point she's going to age out of this work. So she's. What she's trying to do is come up with like a perfume that, that like drives men wild. But she's like kind of doing it secretly. She doesn't want people to know what she's doing. Like, cuz, you know, people are weird about her occupation. She's like, she has hired this like, young kid and put him through school specifically to help her like, learn how to like do chemistry and make like, make this perfume. And she becomes friends with this widow that has just moved to Edinburgh who is an artist and they're both kind of obsessed with this botanical garden that is in Edinburgh that has just opened and there's a very rare plant that is going to bloom that summer and everybody wants a piece of this rare plant. And everyone has like secrets and secret reasons.

[Bria Grant]

Great. I want to read this.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is so fun. It is so well written and it's like, it's all about plants and perfumes and botany and like, it's like, there's so many beautiful descriptions of like Scotland in the early summer. And it's like, it's such a great springtime book. I'm really enjoying it. Really fun. Great historical fiction. So that's the Fair Botanist by Sarah.

[Bria Grant]

Sheridan and mine is the center by Aisha Manazir Siddiqui.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So we want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Juliet wrote in to say hi Bri and Mallory. I had some thoughts about managing long TBRs. I. I have a large TBR over a thousand books. As I am a mood reader, I have a wide wheelhouse and I rarely, if ever take books off my tbr. To me, my TBR list is not necessarily a list of books I want to read in my lifetime, but more like a menu I can choose from. And it's important to have a lot of food options to satisfy my mood reading cravings.

[Bria Grant]

I like that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Anyway, here's my hot book tip. For others who don't regularly cull their tbr. I'm holding my mic with one hand and do it in skill sets like.

[Bria Grant]

Put this on your LinkedIn as a. As a resume.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We got a hot book tip in the morning. So Juliet says storygraph has been a game changer for me. When you log into the app or the website, it shows a section called To Read pile with a random selection of four to five books from your tbr. When I'm really stumped about what to read next. Sometimes I will just refresh the page until I see something that catches my eye. In terms of organizing my tbr, I also use their Up Next feature to choose up to five books that I will focus on reading asap. It usually reflects books that I'm very excited and motivated to read. As I'm a library user. I also add books that are coming very soon in my Libby hold section. Both of these features help me feel much less overwhelmed than trying to pick books out of my huge tbr.

[Bria Grant]

I love this. What a great feature on storygraph that I didn't exist.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, neither do I. So cool. Some other honorable mention Story Graph features include features that are helpful for picking your next book from a long TBR are one Use the Suggestions button on the Up Next page to get suggestions from your TBR and 2 use the filter on your TBR page to find books by mood, genre, pace, length, and more. Thank you for making the podcast and I hope this might help some other mood readers or people with long tbrs out there. This is this is a smorgasbord of hot book tips.

[Bria Grant]

This is so many tips.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This is a hot book tip. Optimus prime it is. I have remembered from last episode.

[Bria Grant]

The only this is the thing that really impresses me though is that Juliet typed in all thousand of her TBR lists into this website.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

Which is very impressive. That's extremely impressive. I don't have anything that centralized so that I'm quite impressed with, but very cool. Let us know if other people are using these features on storygraph. That's very fun. Super Hot Kira wrote in and said hey Mallory and Bria, maybe this is a hot book tip. Maybe I'm just late to figuring this out, but it's worth sharing for others who have the same issue of hyper fixation caused slumps. I love reading, but at least once a year my ADHD latches onto an entirely different thing. And as much as I want to read, I simply don't because there are so many seasons of ER to watch, thousands of hours of actual play shows to consume, or God forbid I get into a new video game. It's not that I don't want to read, it's that I feel like I physically can't because my brain just wanders off to whatever I'm obsessed with and oops, I don't know what any of the last 10 pages said. Then I realized a ton of these have book related spin off content. When I got into critical role, I didn't read for months and then I got caught up and no idea what to do because I wanted more content but there were no more episodes. So come to find out there are whole books that are prequels for a lot of my favorite characters comics exploring side characters and villains and now they're even publishing in universe books. Next one being a canonically awful erotica. Not only did they get me back into the reading routine, but I was actually able to pay attention because it was more of what was stealing my focus. It's been a massive game changer and now I keep a small backlog of some of the books connected to my main hyper fixations. This way if I feel a slump coming on, I have a D and D book to dangle in front of me as a little treat. My go to are books related Some of my favorite favorite game series comics based on my favorite actual plays and even retellings based on the mythology of folklore haunting my every waking thought. Hope this helps other people who never considered that their other interests might also be books. That's cool.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This is. This is a kind of thing we.

[Bria Grant]

Tell people like a little bit, but I think this definitely deserves the hot book. There we go. I don't think we've thought about this for, you know, like for slumps. Yeah, for slums and like, you know, you're finished with critical role. Go read some of the back story. Like that's. That's really interesting. Do you want to read Kira's Wheelhouse?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. Kira's Wheelhouse is stories headed to an unavoidable tragedy that they can never escape. Love triangles that are really just a trio so codependent that they're listed as frequently bought together on Amazon. So cute. A political fantasy where two characters simply being in the same room gives me the same level of stress as a multi chapter battle. Wonky timelines used to erode trust in the narrator. Real life history being used as the setting for genre fiction where historical events influence the magic monster, etc and vice versa. Old Hollywood shown in its true chaotic messed up glory regardless of genre and gay Love it. Love it. So you can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com if you want a list of all the books we talk about on our show delivered to your inbox every month. You can sign up for our newsletter. There's a link in the show notes. So quick bookmark from us. Just a reminder that we are doing our first spring Readathon. All of you wonderful reading glasses. Maximum fun members unlocked seasonal Readathon so the first One we're going to do is our spring Readathon. It is happening Sunday, May 18th. It is. We're going to usually do it. We're going to read from 10 o' clock in the morning Pacific Time to 5 o' clock at night Pacific time. But you can start whenever. It doesn't matter what time zone are in. Go buck wild. You want to read for only a few hours. You want to read for 24 hours straight and drink a bunch of caffeine. Folks, choose your own adventure here. But we are going to start with a live stream on our Instagram at 10 o' clock in the morning. We're going to check in throughout the day and then we're going to have another one at the end of the day. I'm excited. I'm going to pick out some spring books first Seasonal Readathon. We're so excited. Thank you so much, folks for unlocking this. It's going to be a blast. So that's May 18th. So before we talk about science books, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is brought to you in part this week by Aura Frames. Folks, Mother's Day is around the corner and gifts can be pretty stressful. It's hard to pick out something for your mom. Your mom's usually the person who's got everything figured out. She's got her house all nice. You have no idea what to add to it. Do you get her a candle? Do you get her a bathrobe? Do you get her pajamas? What doesn't she have? Bria? What is something that moms probably don't have but they would love?

[Bria Grant]

What about a digital photo frame? It's named Best Digital Photo Frame by Wirecutter. It's Aura Frames. They are guaranteed to give you a great gift this year for your mom. Aura frames come with unlimited storage so you can share as many photos as you want from your phone to your mom's frame. That means you can send those photos right to the frame. Not only will she be grateful that it's not, you know, some sweater or something you picked out last minute, she'll also love that an aura frame means she gets to see more of you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Folks, these are really cool and they look very nice. They're going to look great on a mantelpiece. They're going to look great in a nice living room on a side table. Moms have a lot of specialty tables and shelves for things. Always looking for fun stuff to fill them up. This is perfect and it's thoughtful and the best Part is, you can get it for a deal. They have a great deal for Mother's Day. For a limited time, listeners can save on the perfect gift by visiting Oraframes.com to get $35 off plus free shipping on their best selling Carver mat frame. That's a U R A frames.com promo code. Glasses. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply.

[Bria Grant]

Glasses.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hey, we're the Eurovangelists and it's the most wonderful time of the year. Because the Eurovision Song Contest is next week, 37 countries will face off in.

[Bria Grant]

Basel, Switzerland, to determine who has the.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Best song in Europe. On our show, we've argued about all the songs and we are heading to Europe to bring you our reactions straight from Switzerland. And on our next episode, we're going to predict who's going to survive the semifinals, compete in the grand final and ultimately win Eurovision 2025. Albania, baby. It's Malta, Latvia. But we won't be alone.

[Bria Grant]

Glenn Weldon of NPR's Pop Culture Happy.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hour will be with us, sharing his own predictions and telling us why we're wrong. So make sure you're ready for Eurovision by listening to your evangelists on Maximum Fun, available everywhere you get podcasts. This week, we're ticking off another box on the 2025 reading. Glasses, glasses, glasses, glasses, glasses. Challenge. We need to reset this.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, we gotta go back to someone. Glasses.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Glasses squared. Glasses cubed. But the box we're ticking off today is. Read a science book. Why did we put this on the challenge? How are we completing this? And of course, how can it improve your reading life? First off, of course, the rules. Very important for the glasses.

[Bria Grant]

We all love rules. We love rules here. So, Mallory, to count for the challenge of the book has to be a nonfiction book about any kind of science.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. This can't be a novel about a scientist. This has to be a nonfiction book.

[Bria Grant]

Right. So a nature book, a medicine book, a psychology book. It can be anything like that. It doesn't have to be a new release, it doesn't have to be frontless, but something that would just count into science and like pop science.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Is fine. That's what we're all.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

We're not doing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We do not. You don't have to pick up a textbook. I'm doing pop science.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. And get creative with it. The world of science is huge. Maybe you think of science and you're like, oh, boring. But that's sexuality, animal science, space, food science, environmental science, climate, geology, botany, disease, bugs, the ocean Dinosaurs. The world of science is vast and there's probably going to be something in there that you're interested in.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. So why did we put this on the challenge, Mallory?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, things are pretty bad here in the United States, Bria. Science itself is under attack. The current administration that we have is gutting science organizations. It's making it very difficult to get scientific information. So it's a good year to support science writers, science publications. Science needs a little help.

[Bria Grant]

It does need a little bit of help. And look, a lot of these books are going to have. They actually document where they get their information from. This is not just some random video on tick tock like so these books have been vetted. And finding a book that has proper scientific information, I think maybe that's one of the rules as well.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, maybe we're going to have to get in the habit of this because there's a lot of media publications that are not putting out scientifically accurate information. We wish that this was not the way things are, but it is. We live in hell. But so on the other side of things, Bria, how could this improve someone's reading life?

[Bria Grant]

Well, first of all, I mean, I love learning things through books. I love learning, learning through books. But also it's nice to have a fun fact to share at a party. Oh, you know, when I was reading last week, I talked about the, when the world stopped shopping. I was like, did you know in there was a scientific, an economic downturn in this one country? And because of that, like, I mean, I had a lot of great facts. But if you're not a science person or non fiction person, there is probably a science book for you out there, right, Mallory?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yeah. Like if you're worried about finding one, you like, get a short audiobook from the library. There are plenty of accessible, very entertaining and short science books that are great on audio. I think a lot of people who don't read a lot of nonfiction have this idea that nonfiction is very dense and boring.

[Bria Grant]

But you can get a Mary Roach book. You can get a really fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You can get the new John Green, which I'm also reading right now.

[Bria Grant]

That's what I'm counting from my science book. That's what I'm going to count. I'll talk about it in a second.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Okay. I mean science can be really fun and really funny and not a big lift.

[Bria Grant]

So.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right, talk about it how you're completing this part of the challenge with.

[Bria Grant]

I did, I listened to Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green, which was great. It's gonna be one of my favorites of the year. It goes into everything. I mean, his theory is actually his Instagram and TikTok is very funny right now because people will say, john Green, this thing happened. How does that relate to tuberculosis? And then he goes. They're like, how did the Pope dying relate to tuberculosis? And he'd go. He's like, this is very easy. The Pope had tuberculosis when he was a kid. He only has one lung. Like, he goes into it. Like, he's. He thinks everything is related to tuberculosis. And he sort of. I mean, this book kind of proved he's right, but he also is. The history of disease, tuberculosis, and then sort of what we have done. Tuberculosis still kills more people every year than any other disease, which blew.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. I'm halfway through it right now. And there is a part in the beginning where he talks about how, like, every time he goes to a party, that's all he talks about.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I was like, this is what the goal of this. Of the. This reading challenge is, is. Is to be that person at the party with. With the subject.

[Bria Grant]

Exactly. And we didn't know. I think when we put this on the reading glasses challenge, that we will be defending vaccines.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We're defending everything.

[Bria Grant]

The fact that we have to talk about vaccines when we put this on the challenge. But that John Green gets into a lot about how wonderful medication has been to help. I mean, there's still some tuberculosis strains. Some of it, the medication doesn't help, but a lot of it does. But the important thing is medicine and research works, and we have to keep financing that and funding that so that diseases don't come back. We don't want tuberculosis outbreaks in America.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Nope. We don't.

[Bria Grant]

We don't want them anyway. That was my choice for the book. But I do read a lot of science books. Ish.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. I mean, I was kind of looking to you because you. You. Of the two of us, you. I read more history, and I think you read a lot more science.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah. What are you doing?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know why I'm reading so many medical books this year.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But I am. I don't know what happened, but I'm reading a book that I've been extremely curious about for a long time, but it's, like, kind of a honker. So I had just been waiting. It's the emperor of all maladies.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, yeah. I know this book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. By Siddhartha Mukherjee. And this is like. I mean, it won the pulitz. Like, this is one of the medical Books. It's essentially a biography of cancer by this very famous oncologist. And it's a lot of history, but it's also a lot of science. It's like how cancer works, how it is treated, how to fight it in the future, what science is being developed to work on it. As I said, it is honker. It's almost 600 pages. And again, this has just been like a book that I was aware of for so long because, like, of medical books, it's. I mean, it's like the king. It's the. It's the emperor of medical books. And when a couple weeks ago, me and HWB went to Ojai, went to Bart's Book Books, which is like one of my favorite bookstores in the country. And we were walking around and I just saw a copy of it and I was like, you know, when you just know, you're like, all right, it is time. It is time for me to read this book. And it's so fucking great. It is like, for a almost 600 page book about cancer, it is so compelling. Like, it. I mean, it really. It almost is like a thriller. And I read a really great review that was like, it's like a thriller and cancer is the protagonist.

[Bria Grant]

Wow. Okay, great. Fantastic.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I've actually never read it and I. I mean, it's very interesting for me because cancer is one of those things that is so ubiquitous and we all know what cancer is, but I didn't really know what the science of it was. And like, I mean, I think everybody in our lot, like, I don't think there's a single person I know that hasn't been affected by cancer.

[Bria Grant]

Sure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Of course, I've had family members who have died of cancer. And you kind of are familiar with like, how it is treated, but you don't really know how it all works. So, like, really interesting medical science, but also mixed with some medical history. And it's just, it's fantastic. And I will be definitely giving you some hot cancer facts.

[Bria Grant]

Cancer facts.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Cancer facts. But yeah, I'm really enjoying this and I'm having a lot of fun. As much fun as you can have reading about cancer and tuberculosis. It's so funny.

[Bria Grant]

We both went disease.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know why, but I'm reading this at the same time I'm reading everything is tuberculosis.

[Bria Grant]

Well, that's interesting.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Just a lot of medical history, I don't. But I'm really into it. Could not tell you why, so we'd love to know what you're doing. For this challenge, you can send your thoughts on science books to reading glasses podcast gmail.com. before we solve a problem about getting a library book signed, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is sponsored in part this week by zocdoc. Folks, it's springtime, there's allergies. Maybe you're waking up with a funky symptom and you don't know if it's the trees outside or something going on inside your body. Something is swollen, something is itchy, something is red, something hurts, something feels weird. And then the first thing you do, like we all do, is we Google it. And then all of a sudden you think you have some rare disease that is only in the jungles of the Amazon. What you actually need to do is talk to a real professional and you can find them on zocdoc. But Bria, what is Zocdoc?

[Bria Grant]

Zocdoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in network doctors and click to instantly book an appointment. You can filter doctors who take your insurance, where they're located, if they're a good fit for the medical need you have, or how highly they are rated by verified patients. This is very helpful, depending on what you're looking for. And then once you find the right doctor, you can see their actual appointments so you don't have to worry about whether or not they have any openings. You choose a time that works for you and you book instantly.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This happened to me a few years ago where I was trying to find a new gynecologist and it was like, it was like I felt like Indiana Jones trying to find a lost temple. Like, it was so difficult without help. And I finally found one that I thought was great and they were like, oh, yeah, she died. I felt like I was in a horror movie. It's like, oh, that gynecologist hasn't been here for, for over 50 years. It's really difficult. But Zocdoc takes away all of that. They take away the hassle, they save you time. It really makes things so much easier for you. And in this day and age, we all need a little help. We all need things to be a little easier for us. Let Sock doc take one thing off of your plate. So stop putting those doctor's appointments off and go to Zocdoc.com glasses to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's Zocdoc.com Glasses Zocdoc.com Glasses Glasses. Glasses.

[Bria Grant]

You never know what you'll Learn more about on the celebrity trivia show Go Fact yourself.

[Mallory O'Meara]

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

[Bria Grant]

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

[Mallory O'Meara]

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

[Bria Grant]

Girl, and so much more.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Plus, our guests meet surprise experts in.

[Bria Grant]

Their topics, like the time we met an actual celebrity cow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So listen to Go Fact Yourself twice a month, every month, on maximum fun. Do it for the cow. Now, let's answer a bookish question from one of our listeners. Blaze writes in hello Glassers. I've had what I think is a really funny idea, but it may potentially be considered vandalism. And at least as far as library materials are concerned, I'm not interested in that. So before I go through with it, I thought I would ask a podcast with a large audience of librarians and Sarahs about potential repercussions. An annual book festival has started up at a library system near me, where many authors, both large and small, sit on panels, give talks, and sign their books for fans. I think it would be hilarious to get a library book signed by the author. And then do you want to read Blaze's Wheelhouse?

[Bria Grant]

Mm. A ragtag group of misfits goes on an adventure sci fi that your dad would like. Silly and pro silly, all capitalized and prose that make you check if the author has a poetry collection. Oh, that's nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And then Blaze says, love the pod. Thanks to you, I put books on my TBR faster than I can read them. I'll let you decide whether that's a blessing or a curse. Keep up the good work. Bria, what do we think?

[Bria Grant]

I think we ask a librarian about this. I mean, I don't. I personally do think it's kind of cool. Like you. Okay, so you're in the library. There's this librarian, there's a person speaking there.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You go get their book and get it signed.

[Bria Grant]

And you get it signed. I think it's kind of fun. They might already be doing it. The library? No, the libraries don't.

[Mallory O'Meara]

They don't necessarily.

[Bria Grant]

So you're seeking a library? Tell me, tell me.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I have signed library books. I have. I have been on the receiving end of this.

[Bria Grant]

From a librarian or a patron.

[Mallory O'Meara]

From an author who has been asked to sign a book for a library.

[Bria Grant]

No, no. Like, who's bringing it up to You.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, both. I have had library patrons bring their library books to me to sign, and I have had librarians bring their books to me to sign, which is why I'm leaning on the side of it's okay. Because I've had librarians come and be like, this is the. This is your book in our library system. Can you sign it to my library?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, definitely don't sign it to Blaze. No.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Okay, so that's that. Let's walk through this. So, like, I think it's fine if you are getting it signed specifically to the library. Not to blaze, but to, like, you know, the Los Angeles Public Library, whatever library. Like maybe your specific branch. Because let's. Like, I can't imagine that the librarians are going to get mad about it one, because they're probably not going to even notice for a while. And it might be a cool thing for future patrons to see. I'm kind of on the side of why the hell not? Because, like, if you walk through it, as long as you're not, like, someone isn't signing it in like, paint. I don't know.

[Bria Grant]

Well, here's the only question. If you don't tell the librarians and they see it, are they gonna think it's fake?

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, I don't think so.

[Bria Grant]

Cuz, like, I could easily go sign up. You know, I can be like, Suzanne Collins, it's me.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's me, Suzanne Collins, it's me, Suzanne Collins. You know what's funny? I remember one time I went to go sign a book at a bookstore that I will not name. Actually, no, it. It was Barnes and Noble. It was a corporation. And they carded me for maybe for this very thing. I was going to sign a stack of lady from the Black Lagoons and Girly drinks, and they're like, can we see your id? Wow.

[Bria Grant]

Your pictures on that, you look very specific.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Okay, that was the other thing that made me laugh really hard as I was like, I have a very particular look and there is literally a. I was like, the ID is the book. It's a picture of me on the book. But if it's not affecting the book, it doesn't affect how you read it. It's not like you're removing anything or.

[Bria Grant]

Like, I guess just my question is if I is a librarian and I was. Librarians weigh in. Yeah, because if I was a librarian and I looked at something and I was like, oh, this? Someone signed this. But I didn't know that. We didn't approve this. Like, if they would think it was fake, but I guess if the author was there, they'd be like, oh, this author just wouldn't.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I think, honestly, I think it's cool that like, I like doing it as an author because I love seeing my books in libraries and it's fun to be like, hey, this is. It feels like a little gift that you're giving like here to like. And obviously this is to the author's discretion, but like, to a particular branch, to a particular system, to the patrons of this particular system.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, that's just, that's nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You know, I, I think it's fine as long as they're. As long as it's not affecting the book and you bring it back. Because there's. We have had people write in and be like, there's a signed copy of this book from the library. Can I steal it? And like, no, you cannot steal from the library. But it is, I think it's kind of cute to get a book signed to, to the. That library.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think it's okay, but. Glasser librarians, rise up. Please let us know. Let us know what you think. If you want us to solve your reader problem, you could send it to reading glassespodcast gmail.com Time to answer a recommendation request from Eve, who says hi, Brianne. Mallory, I was just realizing that I've read three different social justice YA books in the past few weeks and it must be a wheelhouse item, but I think it's a genre that's really gaining traction and it is so helpful for learning about social issues, especially for me as a middle aged white lady. I'd love to have wrecks for similar books. It makes me me so happy for today's young people that they have them available, whereas folks my age had pretty much nothing. And it makes me rage that some busybodies want to take them out of libraries. Thanks for your podcast. It's added so much to my life, Mallory. It warms my cold New England heart every time I hear you say Wicked. I love it.

[Bria Grant]

How did people from New England feel about the movie Wicked? I will say I listen to the soundtrack a lot. So I'm asking. It's on my. It's on my mind.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I will say there I did receive a lot of memes and a lot of photos of like Boston or like, of Marquis when Wicked and Queer were playing at the same time. Because, like, I mean, which is the perfect way to describe a lot of these social justice YA books is Wicked Queer. Glassers love a Wicked Queer book.

[Bria Grant]

That's funny.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's funny. Yeah, it's. It's good meme, I think. I think it's very funny. I actually haven't seen Wicked because I would rather walk into traffic than see a musical, but. Oh, wow. I do love that it has. I do love that it has brought Bostonian and New England nomenclature into the widespread social discussion.

[Bria Grant]

Any musicals?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I would rather walk into traffic.

[Bria Grant]

No. Do you like Little Shop of Horse?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Kind of.

[Bria Grant]

Wow. I love musicals.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, I. As soon as people start singing, I get very angry.

[Bria Grant]

I could literally watch nothing but musicals.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You know what the only musical that I liked as a kid? Cats.

[Bria Grant]

Okay. Well, that doesn't even count, so that's weird.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Actually, you know what? Really funny side tangent? Up until last weekend, the only two live pieces of theater, I've only ever seen two plays in my life. They're both Cats. And then HWB and his sister took me to see a one man show of Hamlet. And afterwards my boyfriend was like, well, what did you think? And I was like, more compelling than Cats.

[Bria Grant]

You're like, the bar is quite low.

[Mallory O'Meara]

The bar is quite low. The only frame of reference I have is Cats.

[Bria Grant]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Quite compelling.

[Bria Grant]

Wow. Wow, that's wild.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. I'm not a big theater person. I don't like people singing at me. Oh, I guess I like Hamilton.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But I've never seen it live.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't really like musicals where people like. I don't like musical movies. Okay.

[Bria Grant]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know, there's something about it that just makes me want to hit things.

[Bria Grant]

Wow. I just love them so much, you know?

[Mallory O'Meara]

You liked musicals?

[Bria Grant]

Love them. Love musical. Yeah, I love musicals. And I'm not like a big musical. He's like, I'm not a big. I didn't do musical theater or whatever. I just like them.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What are some musicals that you like?

[Bria Grant]

Well, a Little Shop of Horrors is like one of my favorite. Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And Wicked, I love.

[Bria Grant]

I'm really loving the new Wicked soundtrack. Oh, and speaking of retellings, I really loved.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I guess I kind of liked the Gerard Butler Phantom of the Opera.

[Bria Grant]

Hadestown. I loved Hadestown. I listened to that musical quite a bit. There's a musical horror movie called Anna and the Apocalypse. It's quite good.

[Mallory O'Meara]

The Christmas one?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. No, I just. I'm that like, very stereotypical person that hates musical theater, hates musicals, gets very angry.

[Bria Grant]

I'm not like a musical. I'm not a person that, like. I feel like there's a whole group of people who. That is like, Their thing. And I'm not that. I. I literally have only started learning about musicals in the last. Like, not that long. But I just. But I've always liked them. Like, when I go see them, I'm like, I love this. Like, I love every minute of it. I love the sincerity. I love the re. The singing. I love singing and I love dancing. I mean, I. I love watching it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I guess the dancing doesn't bother me. It's the singing.

[Bria Grant]

Interesting. Wow. Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Wow. This is such a tangent. This is nothing to read.

[Bria Grant]

The Hate U Give.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You were gonna recommend that by Angie Thomas.

[Bria Grant]

We haven't gotten to recommend the Hate U Give in a long time.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, but I mean, her. She's got a. I mean, Hate U Give on the come up. Like.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All of her books are very.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Social Justice.

[Bria Grant]

Social justice. If you haven't dipped your toe into Angie Thomas, which I kind of bet you have, but if you haven't, definitely try it, Try it out. The Hate U Give is about a girl who witnesses a shooting. It's the shooting of her childhood best friend. And the whole city ends up in turmoil and there's protesters and there's cops going after people. And it's really great book with social justice at the center. I just. I. Mallory and I both really loved it and can't recommend it enough. What do you got?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I gotta recommend My Queen as King. Yeah, this is a. I think this book was on my best of the year when it came out. It's a middle grade book, but I think this is also what Eve is looking for. It's the Attack of the Black Rectangles. It's about this young boy, he's in middle school and he in. His friends are fighting back because they're. They're given this book to read as like. Like assigned reading. And they realize that it's censored. Like, someone is hand censored each copy of the book. And like, that's where the Attack of the Black Rectangles comes from. And him and his friends are like, what the. So they start protesting against this and against intolerance in their community. And there's a very wicked cool, slightly speculative element. Every single as King book, you can bank on there being an interesting speculative element and a little. Maybe not wicked queer, but a little bit. It's funny I'm saying this because, like, in typical Boston parlance, that is a insult, but I am reclaiming it for reading glasses. We love a wicked queer book, but a lot of as King books have. Have a Queer element. And so this book is, even though it is so, so serious and about this very serious thing, it is really funny. It's extremely relevant right now. I've talked on the show before. I am a part of Authors Against Book Bans and we are getting emergency emails constantly. I am constantly sending to legislatures and representatives. It's very. I mean I almost want to reread this book and I really feel like as King is one of my favorite. I mean she's one of my favorite authors, but she writes teens and kids in a way that is so respectful. I saw a thread in the, in the Reading Glasses Discord the other day about like a doghouse item for a lot of people is like people who write teens and clearly are like, how do you do fellow kids? Like, they just don't know how teens talk. And as King just like, like really writes in this, like she just assumes so much competence on the behalf of teens and I love that about her and she brings that to her middle grade books as well. And I just love this book. It like. And again, it's so relevant right now. So it's Attack of the Black Rectangles.

[Bria Grant]

By AS King and I'm gonna say the Hate U Give by Angie Thomas.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So you can send your recommendation request to reading glasses podcast gmail.com as always, want to thank the wonderful mods who run our Discord server, that's brand new and our Facebook group. Folks, if you missed the drive and you want to get in on our Discord server, just go to maximumfun. Org join, send over proof of your membership to that email address and we'll give you an invite to the Discord. There's also one for Reading Smut, but they are separate discords and you have to be a Max Fund member of both podcasts to get invites to both Discords. But we'd love to have you. It's. It's hip happening in there. And remember, if you are looking for fun, cool Reading Glasses merch to show off your love of reading and help us feed our cats. You can go to our Void merch store. There's a link in the show notes.

[Bria Grant]

What about Disney movies? Do you like those about like Frozen?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I've never seen Frozen.

[Bria Grant]

It's great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I like Beauty and the Beast. I like the old ones. Yeah, that's a musical, but I think it's different when it's animated. There's like something about real people doing it that like makes me sorry just thinking about maybe I think maybe it's like that like Cold, grumpy New Englandness where I'm like, what the are you singing about?

[Bria Grant]

You know, it's time to try Defying Gravity.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm gonna drink Blue beach, and you.

[Bria Grant]

Cannot pull me down.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No. Oh, God. I definitely feel like that grumpy New England neighbor that is like, shut the up. And it's one of those. I have very. I have several wrong opinions. And I know that that is one of my wrong opinions. No, but I don't.

[Bria Grant]

You can like what you like.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It just. I hate and I hate what I hate and I like. There's something about musicals that just. I. I just feel like that grumpy neighbor. I am the grumpy neighbor in the background of a musical that's like slamming my door and sitting in quiet in my. In my living room. Yeah, okay, but I love Beauty and the Beast. Love the OG Beauty. I don't like any of the. I've never seen any of the live action remakes. Maybe it's because I don't like. I don't like real people singing.

[Bria Grant]

You don't like real people singing Because.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm such a huge music person. Yeah, but I just don't want to watch anybody sing. Okay, Just shut the up over there. Sorry. Tangent in the middle of our.

[Bria Grant]

In the outro.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Keep this in. And I, I, I. Okay. I can already feel the glassers sending us emails.

[Bria Grant]

I know you cannot hold me down.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I know that there are glasses who are. Start writing in recommendations for musicals for me, and you are welcome. I probably will not watch them. I just. I like. As soon as I. I have a really funny story where my friend. I didn't know anything about La La Land, and my. One of my friends was like, oh, I think you'll like it. There's a scene in it that's kind of David Lynchy.

[Bria Grant]

And I remember you telling me this, and I was like, that's a bad recommendation.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It will hold this against this friend for the rest of my life because I. I did not know it was a musical. And I sat down and the first scene happened, and I was like, what? I was so mad. I do not like La La Land, which I know is another one of my incorrect opinions. And I was so pissed, I literally got out and I immediately texted him. I was like, I'm gonna hit you with my car. What's wrong with you? It's just. I. Again, I. I don't know. Maybe I just don't like. I'm too New Englandy, and I don't like people being too happy or too earnest?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, it's very.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm a very earnest person, though, which is weird.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know what.

[Bria Grant]

We need to examine that maybe.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm gonna talk about this in therapy. Do musical therapy. Oh my God, I'm so. This is such a tangent. So if you like the show and you don't feel that you like the show more than I like musicals, which is not very much, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It's so great for us, folks. It is so great for us. It really makes a difference. It'll only take you 30 seconds on your mobile app. Give us a little rating, give us a little review and if you want, you can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com you can send your thoughts about how I'm wrong about musicals. I know that I'm wrong, wrong. I know that this is wrong.

[Bria Grant]

No, you can like what you like.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But let me know. I'm sure you have folks have opinions and recommendations. Combine us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading. Maximum Fun, a worker owned network of artist owned shows supported directly by you.