Ep 414 - Book Buying vs Book Reading - Different Hobbies!

Summary

Reading Glasses Podcast Episode 414 Summary

Episode Title: Book Buying vs Book Reading - Different Hobbies!
Release Date: June 5, 2025
Hosts: Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara

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Introduction

In Episode 414 of Reading Glasses, hosts Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara delve into the nuanced distinction between book owning and book reading, exploring how these interconnected yet distinct hobbies can sometimes clash. They also experiment with a reader personality test popular on social media and provide tailored book recommendations to listeners.

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Current Reads

Brea Grant shares her excitement about reading Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaughey. She highlights the novel’s unique setting and mysterious narrative:

"[00:37] Brea Grant: I am reading a book I've been looking forward to for a while because I'm a big fan... This island is far away from everything... It's a real woman on a journey."

Mallory O’Meara discusses her nonfiction pick, Sick Houses by Layla Taylor, emphasizing its exploration of haunted houses in pop culture:

"[02:16] Mallory O'Meara: It is Sick Houses by Layla Taylor... It's all about haunted houses and like how they reflect our culture... it's definitely in the running for like favorite non fiction books of the year so far."

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Listener Feedback

The hosts engage with listener Emma, who inquires about jailbreaking Kindles to bypass Amazon’s restrictions:

"[03:35] Bria Grant: Ooh. Love you, nerds."

Brea and Mallory discuss the technical challenges Emma faces, such as firmware updates preventing jailbreak attempts, and consider testing the process on Brea's Kindle:

"[04:26] Bria Grant: Oh, maybe I should do this for next week's show."

Another listener, Deborah, shares insights on using Link Plus for inter-library loans in California, prompting a discussion on maximizing library resources:

"[06:05] Mallory O'Meara: This is wild."

Ian’s feedback addresses the struggle of managing a growing TBR (To-Be-Read) list, especially with rare and collectible books, setting the stage for the episode’s main discussion.

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Main Discussion: Book Owning vs Book Reading

Inspired by listener Zach’s dilemma of balancing book collecting with actual reading, Brea and Mallory categorize readers based on their buying and reading habits:

• Low Book Buy, High Book Read
• High Book Buy, High Book Read
• High Book Buy, Low Book Read

Mallory self-identifies as a "book wood chipper," someone who both acquires and reads a large volume of books:

"[13:27] Mallory O'Meara: I read a ton and I also acquire a ton of books. I love book shopping... I have a high probability that I am going to read it within a few months or that year."

Brea contrasts her approach, which leans towards minimal purchases and utilizing library resources:

"[13:31] Bria Grant: I buy almost no books. I buy as few books as I can... I rely on the library to prevent myself from spending too much on books."

Key Insights:

• Space and Budget Management: Zach struggles with the physical space his collection occupies and the financial investment it represents. The hosts suggest reassessing the purpose of each book—whether it's for reading or merely for collection.

• Sunken Shelf Fallacy: They introduce the concept where the time and money spent acquiring a book can make one feel obligated to read it, even if there's no genuine interest.

• Practical Advice:

  • Culling Collections: Regularly review and sell books that no longer spark joy or interest.
  • Alternate Formats: Utilize ebooks and audiobooks for books intended for collection, allowing physical copies to remain pristine.
  • Reading Challenges: Set goals to read books from the collection within a specific timeframe to reduce clutter.

"[15:44] Bria Grant: It's okay to have a hobby... I think you need to think about what Mallory and I call the sunken page fallacy."

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Reader Personality Test: Read Your Color

The hosts experiment with the Read Your Color personality test, which aims to categorize readers to provide personalized book recommendations. Both Brea and Mallory received varying results upon multiple attempts:

• Brea's Result: Purple - Unbound Innovator

  "[31:11] Brea Grant: A bold, unconventional thinker who thrives on experimental storytelling and genre-defying narratives..."

• Mallory's Result: Orange - Serial World Hopper

  "[34:05] Mallory O'Meara: The Orange Reader thrives on masterful world building... expansive worlds, epic adventures."

Hosts' Takeaways:

• The test offers broad categories that may not accurately reflect the hosts' specific tastes.
• While it might be beneficial for new readers or those uncertain about their preferences, seasoned listeners may find it less effective.
• They express skepticism about the quiz's ability to capture the depth of their reading profiles and its limited genre-specific recommendations.

"[35:16] Bria Grant: I think this can be helpful if you are getting back into reading or just getting into reading for the first time..."
"[33:14] Bria Grant: ...the descriptions are vague enough to where they kind of sound like everybody."

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Book Recommendations

Responding to Rowan’s request for queer Romantasy books featuring non-binary or women-loving-women characters, the hosts offer the following suggestions:

• Brea Grant: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
  A magical romance set on a New York City subway where a woman discovers another woman displaced in time.

  "[39:14] Bria Grant: ...I am gonna recommend One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston... it is a sexy little romance book."

• Mallory O’Meara: The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. McLean
  A sapphic Romantasy about rival zookeepers striving to save phoenixes in a magical zoo.

  "[41:24] Mallory O'Meara: It is so lovely. Like very good. Queer, romantic."

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Conclusion

Brea and Mallory wrap up the episode by encouraging listeners to engage with them via email for book recommendations and feedback. They highlight the importance of distinguishing between the joy of acquiring books and the fulfillment of reading them, offering practical strategies to maintain a healthy balance between the two hobbies.

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Notable Quotes:

• "You are the Indiana Jones of finding rare books." — Bria Grant (17:18)

• "Therefore, if you're getting back into reading or just getting into reading for the first time and you really, truly have no clue what you like, it's been 10 years since you were a reader or you just never got into reading and now you want to." — Mallory O’Meara (35:08)

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Final Thoughts

This episode of Reading Glasses offers valuable insights into managing book collections without compromising the joy of reading. By addressing listener concerns and providing actionable advice, Brea and Mallory foster a community of mindful readers who appreciate both the art of owning books and the pleasure of immersing themselves in new stories.

Transcript

[Bria Grant]

Foreign.

[Mallory O'Meara]

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 discussing the differences between book owning and book reading.

[Mallory O'Meara]

They're different hobbies.

[Bria Grant]

We're also testing out a reader personality test that y' all have strong opinions on. And we know. We've seen it on social media. We're testing it. We're gonna tell you what color we are, so stick around. And we're recommending Queer Romantasy.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But first, Bria, what are you reading this week?

[Bria Grant]

I am reading a book I've been looking forward to for a while because I'm a big fan. I can see the COVID It's Wild Dark Shore by. Can you see it?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

By Charlotte McConaughey.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's like your new favorite author.

[Bria Grant]

I. Yeah, I know. I've read three of her books in the last year. Is that right? And this one, I'm not very far into it, but so far it is about a family, a dad and three kids who live on an island close to Antarctica in the middle of nowhere. And it's like it. This is the opposite of like, a. A summer book. This is like. It's like, cold. There's, like, waves hitting the shore. It's freezing. And there's a seed bank on there. Like a seed bank that they're. They store all the seeds from every. Everywhere in the world. You know what a seed bank. Seed bank is, right? Like, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And it's a bank where all seeds go to put their money.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah, that's right. And at some point point, a woman. They find a woman's body in the ocean, and she's still alive.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Whoa.

[Bria Grant]

And. But it's. This island is far away from everything. So it's like, why. How did she get here? Why is she here?

[Mallory O'Meara]

And in.

[Bria Grant]

In Charlotte fashion, it becomes a little bit of a mystery. You find out she has a mystery of why she's there.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You find loves a woman who's in a place for a mysterious purpose.

[Bria Grant]

It's a real woman on a journey. Always a woman's on a journey. But this is from multiple perspectives, which I know people like, we had someone reach out to us a few years ago who wanted books set near Antarctica.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yep.

[Bria Grant]

And this is one very rare to read something like that. And also, like, just a dark island book that has a lot of nature. It's also sort of like eco Thrillery eco horror. I'm loving it so far. I'm very excited to see what happens as the mystery unfolds. What are you reading this week?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I am reading a nonfiction book that I've been wicked, wicked excited about. It is Sick Houses by Layla Taylor. I loved Layla Taylor's last book, Darkly. I think it came out in 2020. This is her book, get this Glassers. It is a non fiction book all about haunted houses in pop culture.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, wait, it's non fiction.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's non fiction. Sick houses. So it's all about haunted houses and like how they reflect our culture. Like haunted houses. Wow.

[Bria Grant]

This is a book made for you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I know. I've been so anticipating it. Unfortunately, I wanted to get it on audio, but the Los Angeles Public Library does not have the audiobook. So I'm reading the ebook from the library. But it is so fucking good. It's, it's, it's. It's haunted houses and movies. It's haunted houses and books. It's haunted houses in like our popular conscious and like what they tell us about the American dream and American culture and about class and race and it's so great and it's not wicked long. So it's just, it's so perfect. I'm so. It's like, it's definitely in the, in the running for like favorite non fiction books of the year so far. I'm so happy with it. It is Sick Houses by Layla Taylor.

[Bria Grant]

And mine is Wild Dark Shore, a novel by Charlotte McConaughey.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Emma wrote in to say hi, Bri and Mallory. There are nerds coming to the rescue when it comes to keeping corporations off our books.

[Bria Grant]

Ooh. Love you, nerds.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I know. Have people sent this to you on Instagram? People have been emailing about this quite a bit and it's been kind of a buzzy thing in the, in the glasser community. It's about jailbreaking your Kindle.

[Bria Grant]

Nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So Emma says, here's a link to a video about jailbreaking your Kindle to remove the Amazon storefront and make your Kindle able to handle PDFs and import books from other sources.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, I know how to do some of that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So the video that Emma sent us is for more recent Kindles, but not on the most recent firmware. Emma says, I know this because I tried to chill break my Kindle, but nothing happened because I turned on WI Fi and got the newest update downloaded. Sobbing There are people working on this version and they recommend anybody with this newest firmware update to put their Kind Airplane mode to prevent further updates if they wish to try to jailbreak with a newer mod. And Emma left a Reddit thread where people are tracking that.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, maybe I should do this for next week's show.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think we should try it out. Emma says hopefully this can mean that people who have Kindles already could get access to epubs and not have to shell out a lot of money for a completely new device. As always, thank you both so much for all that you do. And this was spurred on by the fact that Amazon's not letting you download books anymore, right?

[Bria Grant]

Whoa. I'm not letting you download books.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, there's something that, that changed on Kindle where it's like you can't. Were going to change it so you can't down like, keep. I don't know what it was. I'm. I'm not a Kindle user, so I.

[Bria Grant]

I don't know because I basically only use the library, so I actually don't know. I know that there is a different way the library thing is working now, but I don't know what the. I guess I don't know.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I. Kindle, where it was like, you don't have. You can't save your books or something.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't remember what it was. I. I'm. Again, I don't use Kindle. I'm only going off of what I can.

[Bria Grant]

Even if you buy them, you don't get to.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Let me. Let me look it up, because I can. I can feel the glassers getting angry at me.

[Bria Grant]

Okay. Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. This February, Amazon removed the download and transfer via USB feature for Kindle books.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, okay. Yeah. So used to, you could. You could download books on your computer and you could transfer them via usb so you could download them from another source. Someone could get you the PDF of a book and you could read it that way. But now I guess you can't do it through usb. That makes sense. I was just wondering if you could download stuff from like Bookshop and push.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, that's what I think this can do. If you. If you could put epubs and PDFs, you can get them from anywhere.

[Bria Grant]

I don't know if you get a PDF when you download from Bookshop, though. I think you just read it within their app. But it's good. There'd be something to look into.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, let's watch.

[Bria Grant]

I mean, I.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We should do a. We should do a book tax segment on this.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We're gonna jailbreak Bria's Kindle.

[Bria Grant]

Let's jailbreak it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Breaking the law. Breaking.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, speaking of libraries, Deborah wrote in and said hi. A bookish friend recently told me that when a book isn't available at our local library system, she'll use Link plus, which allows participating public and university libraries in California to loan physical books to each other so that you can read them. You can find the list of member libraries here. If the book you want is on Link plus, you can request it through your local library account and choose which branch it will be delivered to. When your book arrives, the library will email you like a normal hold. I've already had two books delivered from the San Francisco and Woodland California library in my Palo Alto. Free of charged. I may never buy a book again. Whoa. Okay. So you can do it within another library system.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. That's wild.

[Bria Grant]

That is wild. Have you done that?

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, but that's cool as.

[Bria Grant]

Because I feel like you have a lot of rare books that you're looking for.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, but I'm gonna have to try this.

[Bria Grant]

That's very interesting.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Plus, I have.

[Bria Grant]

We're breaking all sorts of systems.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I do have library cards to multiple library systems in California.

[Bria Grant]

Nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But not from some of the one. Not from one of the ones that this class is recommending. Pretty cool. I think that that merits a hot book. Tips. Ian wrote in to say. Hi, Brian, Mallory. First off, thank you both for everything you do. I held off for a while on listening to reading glasses because I was afraid you would blow up my TBR list and you did, but it was so worth it. You two have recommended so many good books to me, it is a joy. Plus, as a semi reformed cocktail nerd, I was super excited for girly drinks. And I'm getting my mom a copy of Daughter of Daring because her academic focus was women breaking into the arts. I also wanted to thank you for your discussion of trash baby authors and tattoos. I read Sandman so many times, I've lost count. And have met Gaiman and made an ass of myself in front of him several times and generally just loved most of what he wrote. When his came out, it was a gut punch. I didn't know and it sucks. Turns out he's a terrible person, but his work is a huge part of who I am. Your take was genuinely comforting to me, even without a tattoo. Bria, you want to read Ian's Wheelhouse?

[Bria Grant]

That's nice. Someone said this was like Le Guin spaceship, AI's folklore and myth retellings and Modern recontextualizations, Dark academia. Aren't you glad you're not a sailor in the 1800s? Question mark. Regency drama, Dickensian, but supernatural.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Love it. 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 a newsletter. There's a link in the show notes. So quick bookmark for me. Someone emailed the show recently who was surprised because they read lady from the Black Lagoon and didn't realize it was me. I'm an author. I'm an authority that I introduced myself on the show as an author and book devourer for a reason. I would love if new glassers who don't are not familiar with me and my work to check out my books. I have five books out, one of which is with Bria Grant. We're both authors so if you like, if you love reading glasses, if you're new here, read our books.

[Bria Grant]

We have books.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I have movies too, but Bria's movies. I write women's, women's history. I have three women's history books out. I have a middle grade book about filmmaking for girls out Bri. And I have a half essay collection, half book journal out. But yeah, if you like women's history, you like listening to me make weird jokes, read my books. Check them out. So before we talk about book owning versus book reading, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is sponsored in part this week by Zoc Doc Folks, all of us have at some point in our lives woken up with something wrong. Something is swollen, something is weird looking, something is itchy, something is red, something hurts. And then the first thing you do is google it and then soon you think that you have a rare disease that is only in the Arctic. Maybe you are the thing from the John Carpenter movie and you start to panic. You know what you actually should do though is go see a real professional and you can find them on zocdoc.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, 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, are located nearby, are a good fit for any medical need you may have, and are highly rated by verified patients. Once you find the right doctor, you can see their actual appointment openings. Choose a slot that works for you and then you click and you instantly book that visit.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Did I ever tell you about the time that I tried to make A gynecologist appointment with a gynecologist that was dead.

[Bria Grant]

I think you did last time we did this ad on an ad for sock doc.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Trying to book a doctor's appointment makes you feel like you're in a horror movie. Like that doctor hasn't been here for 50 years.

[Bria Grant]

It's totally true. I have had a persistent cough for a really long time and this is the kind of thing that is very helpful because you know, you wake up and you go, wow, I have had this cough for so long. I should really just go to a.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Doctor or I'm just going to die. You're like, I'm just going to lay in the road.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, don't do that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Don't do that. Use Zoc Dog. So folks, stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com glasses to find an instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's Zoc. D O C.com glasses zocdoc.com glasses glasses glasses.

[C]

Hey, do you have a favorite episode of Star Trek? If you do, you should also have a favorite Star Trek podcast. Greatest Trek is about all the new streaming Star Trek shows and it's a great companion to the Greatest Generation, our hit show about back catalog Star Trek that you grew up with. It's a comedy podcast by two folks who used to be video producers. So it's a serious mix of comedy and insight that fits right into the Maximum Fun network of shows. And Greatest Trek is one of the most popular Star Trek podcasts in the world. So if you're following Following Lower Decks, Prodigy or Strange New Worlds, come hang out with us every Friday as we roast and review our favorite Star Trek shows. It's on maximumfun.org YouTube or your podcatching app.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This week we're talking about the differences between book owning and book reading. They are different hobbies even though they have a lot of crossover. Sometimes, however, one causes problems with the other and we have some solutions. So today's episode was inspired by Zach who wrote in to say, Dear Bri and Mallory, been avidly listening to your show for the past two years. It reminds me why I get excited about reading and it takes me out of my slump forming habits. Got an ongoing problem for dumping books. However, most of my reading is older stuff so my TBR has a lot that second hand are kind of rare. There's a bunch of material that I had to dig up from ebay or paperback swap, plus some signed or limited editions. I was raised by a comic collector so I have this annoying sense about how valuable a book may be. Some of these took years to find and I don't always get around to picking up a title until years later. I get squeamish about letting a book go if I know it'd be hard to find again. I think part of my problem is treating some books as a reading investment for some time down the line. Unfortunately, the investments take up room. Separate issue. I rely on my library to prevent myself from spending too much on books. And it works. But now I'm much less likely to pick up the books I already own twice a year. I like to put a self imposed ban on borrowing books until I get through a number of titles on my shelf. I wonder if other people do this. Bria, before we get into advice, I think I, I, I picture this as a square one of the. Remember those like genetic squares from.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, yeah, sure. But recessive and dominant genes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. Instead of recessive and dominant, it's book owning and book buying. I think you are low book buy, high book read. Yeah, I think I am high book buy and high book read. Some people are. Or high book buy, low book read. Am I right with this? That you are. You are a low book buyer.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, for sure. I buy almost no books. I buy as few books as I can. I rarely buy books, but sometimes I buy comics and then. And you're talking about physical books? Yes, because ebooks I do buy more. But yeah, yeah, I'm not buying a lot of books. Yeah, you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, I am just books. I call myself a book wood chipper because books go in, books come out, put books in my brain, squeeze books out. My life is literally just a constant stream of books. I read a ton and I also acquire a ton of books. I love book shopping. I love having a house full of books. Even though I use the library literally every day, I still between books that I'm buying and books that are sent to us for the show, I just have a ton of books coming into my house. And nowadays if I buy a book, there is a high probability that I am going to read it within a few months or that year.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like I have really honed in.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

My, my book buying to book reading pipeline.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right. But what advice do we have for people who acquire a lot of books but feel guilty reading them because they want to protect them as objects? Kind of like Zach.

[Bria Grant]

I mean, I get it, I get it. It's okay to have a hobby. But it seems like maybe Zach doesn't have Space for this hobby or that is becoming.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Take up a lot of space.

[Bria Grant]

A problem. Like, I want to collect Shetland ponies, but I cannot. I mean.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I mean, you have a very small Shetland pony.

[Bria Grant]

I'm gonna put a little. But I mean. Or I want to collect, you know, lots of cursions, but I can't. I'm not allowed to collect this many. Too many cats. I think that the key is, it depends on if you see them as a collection or you see them as an assignment. I think that's first of all very important. Like, if you feel dread every time you look at those books, which is what I feel when I have a lot of books, I think you got to slow. Slow down the buying. Slow your roll a little bit. I. So I think there is that. I think you need to think about what Mallory and I call the sunken page fallacy. Well, this is more just.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Actually, this is the sunken shelf.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Where it's. You spent a lot of time getting this book and a lot of money getting this book. But the book, you don't actually want the book. So it seems more valuable than it actually is because you spent money on it and you spent time on it. But just because you did that, if you actually don't want to read the book or you don't want to own the book, then it's not really worth that time or money, unfortunately. And that was fine. I'll talk about that in a little bit. But yeah, so just think about whether or not this is a sunken second shelf fallacy. Yeah. Second cost fallacy. I'll just put the original idea.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, I like sunken shelf because the shelf is sinking because of the weight of the books.

[Bria Grant]

What do you think Zach should. What do you think about.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, for people who are also. Who do want to read the books, but, like, they have worked really hard to acquire these books, but because they work so hard to acquire them, they're hesitant to. They don't want to crack the spine. Like, I don't think there's anything wrong with buying a hard copy of a book and then reading the E version or audiobook version because you want to display the print version.

[Bria Grant]

Sure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, I do not think there's the problem with that. Like you said, though, if you have the space for it and if you have the budget for it, but if you find yourself accumulating way too many hard copies of books that you aren't reading because you feel nervous about handling them, seem like Zach is. It seems like it's time to reassess this is where the differentiation between book buying and book reading comes in. Like, are you getting a collector's excitement from the acquisition and then you're not going to read the book for years? Or maybe not at all. Maybe you should start regularly going through your collection and find books that you aren't actually excited to read and sell them and then you can use that money to acquire more rare books. But you should start calling.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, well, I think you and I are kind of. We're honing in on the same thing, which is the searching is. Might be the fun thing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Like, I think it's fun that Zach likes doing. It's something I also, I love an assignment I love like to get into like where I'm like I'm looking for something very specific. It's not books, but I do it about other things. It's just something I like getting lost in to be like a one track mind on something. Because I think there's just something about fun about that search. Right. So Zach is sort of like the Indiana Jones of finding rare books, which is.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I would read the out of that book.

[Bria Grant]

I think that is just Indiana. He's just finding rare objects. So maybe, maybe Zach is Indiana Jones.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, I feel like Indiana Jones doesn't do books.

[Bria Grant]

No, but he's okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Waller Bridges. Indiana Jones might.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, that's true. That's true. I think it's okay. It's okay to have a hobby, but I think maybe is it possible to use this hobby on something else? Okay, like here's my idea. Like go to Reddit where people are searching for rare titles. Try to. Or try to find these weird titles as gifts for friends. Like I think think of this as a hobby you. That you like to do, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have to read these books. Like, can you use it? Can you use this skill? You have like a magic power set of skills. That's right.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Can you use these skills to find lost children, perhaps?

[Bria Grant]

That's right.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Rescue people in the Andes.

[Bria Grant]

That's right. Anything you could do so these books don't end up at your house.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Like, could you use this skill of searching for something else?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, I think one good tip for calling is to go through all of them and see which ones have ebooks or audiobooks.

[Bria Grant]

Sure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And if they do read them in that form and if you don't like them, get rid of the hard copy. That's a good culling thing I do. I've been actually doing that. Like I have a, a bunch of nonfiction books And I got excited to read them like many of us do. And. But then I will test them out on the, at the library. And if I should have done that before I bought them. But I'm getting, I'm getting better. These are books that I bought years ago. But I'm going, I'm getting through them.

[Bria Grant]

Sure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think what happens really is it's a very common reader thing is you get the excitement from going to a bookstore. It's very fun to shop for books. And then you don't read them right away. And then a year later with that excitement gone, because the like, the new release excitement is gone. You're like, why did I buy this again?

[Bria Grant]

Right.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And then.

[Bria Grant]

And you're testing them out in E form. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You can read a sample on living.

[Bria Grant]

Of course. Of course. Yeah, I know.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

But why are you not just picking up the book itself off the shelf?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Because I've been really liking non fiction in audio.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, okay, okay, okay. Got it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So.

[Bria Grant]

Because I could see, I could see me doing that because I just prefer reading on an E reader. And also I can't see the print that's so small on a regular book anymore.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's another thing. Oh man. I got a book that I was so excited about and I opened it up and that print was small as hell.

[Bria Grant]

It's a real problem for me.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Heartbreaker. I also think we all have to come clean. We have to think of these things as separate hobbies. Like it's a meme on the bookish Internet. But I actually think it might help people to think of them as two totally different things.

[Bria Grant]

What things?

[Mallory O'Meara]

The. The acquisition of books and the reading of books.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, are you buying this book as a display piece for your collection? Think of it as art because that's that. I think the. The trying to make it two things is what is throwing a lot of people off. Because let's say you spend the money on a fancy like sprayed edge version of a book you are excited about. But then it gets there and it's so pretty and it's got those sprayed edges and a fancy cover and you don't want to read it. So you need to think of them as things. I think of this book that you bought as art. And don't put pressure on yourself to read that copy of it. Like I. I have some vintage romance paperbacks that I use for this on a shelf in my living room. It's very fun. But on the flip side, like those are not part of my tbr.

[Bria Grant]

Got it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You Know what I mean? Those are books that I like looking at because they have smutty old covers on them.

[Bria Grant]

Would you compare it to, like, you know, you like movies and so you buy like a movie poster.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

That doesn't mean you have to re. Watch that movie a bunch of times. It's just. That's a poster I like. Yeah, yeah, something.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, something like that. It's like, it helps to think of it as art and not acquire tons and tons of them to sit in a box somewhere.

[Bria Grant]

Sure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Because if you are buying fancy, fancy versions, like, what is the point? And like, you're just having it as a hoard.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Okay. And then. But the thing is, if you are buying them, this is where you have to come clean with yourself. If you're like, no, I really want to read this, and bitch, you got to read it.

[Bria Grant]

You got to read the book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You got to read that book.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. And if you bought the book to read it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

If you don't look at it, if you don't think you're. I have a rule where if I don't think I'm going to read a book within the next year, I don't buy it.

[Bria Grant]

That's fair. I think that's fair.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think a lot of people hope.

[Bria Grant]

They'Re going to read in the next year and then they don't do it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. And I think Zach is having this collector's problem where Zach's like, well, even if I don't read in the next year, this thing is a rare thing and I might never see it again. Right. That's where the. Can I get it somewhere else comes into mind. Like, if you can find and get an ebook or audiobook copy, get that first. And then if you like it, I.

[Bria Grant]

Think you just gotta use this skill set for something else. I think you need to start Indiana Jonesing something else every so often. Because obviously this is a skill you have or a hobby you have. But then I think you need to think of it as a hobby where it's like, you aren't going to read those books.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's what I mean. Like, yeah, you have to think of it as like, the acquisition is the thing, and stop putting pressure on yourself to. To read them. Because if. If you're thinking about it as an acquisition, then you're going to be more mindful of what you are acquiring because you are thinking about the space. You're not just like, oh, I'm getting books, I'm getting books, I'm getting books. You have to. You're like, all right, well, piece fit into my collection. Whereas if you're looking at them as books, you might read them and then get rid of them if you don't like them. So it, I. I really do think it, it really helped me because I do like old paperbacks.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But I feel the same way as act like I don't like those smutty old, hard, old romance novels I have. I don't want to read them because they're going to fall apart. And once I was like, you know what? I'm gonna just look at them as art. Like, it really helped me.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right. So Bria, do you. Do you even do this? Do you have rare books?

[Bria Grant]

No, I have some book like things that are rare and important to me and I have.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What is a book like thing?

[Bria Grant]

Okay, that's a good question. Well, I have. My mom made a 12 hour shift, a movie. I directed a box for it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I know.

[Bria Grant]

So I have that, like, it's like a, A balance version of the script with a box. So I have that. And then I have a lot of coffee table books. Book like things. I have this thing that I will never part with. Have I talked about this on the show? That I found someone's journal when I was.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You did talk about this on the show.

[Bria Grant]

It's been a really long time since I talked about it. And look, is this ethical? I'm not sure. But I found someone's journal in college. I kept it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I still feel like you're publishing it.

[Bria Grant]

It is falling apart. But I have this random person's journal because my friends and I really enjoyed it in college. And that's something I keep, you know. So anyway, that's a rare book. That's rare. But no, I don't really keep precious things. I don't have a lot of precious things in general, though. That's sort of who I am. But what about you?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm the same way. Like, I actually do have some really rare books and fancy editions, but it's always. Because they're every. Every single one of them I've ever gotten has been a gift from somebody.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't buy them for myself.

[Bria Grant]

That's true. And I do have some gifts. Like I have a couple really nice editions of books. And those are like I. I keep.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

And. And I have some rare, like, nice editions of some comic stuff.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. I have copies of really, really old, like 100 year old copies of Dracula, Frankenstein, Faust, Edgar Allan Poe collection. And I have a hardcover and signed, illustrated by Ralph Steadman Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Okay, but that was that. These are all gifts. I like, very notoriously, among people that are close to me. I don't like owning things I have to be careful with. Like, it makes me very. I feel. I deeply understand, Zach, because I really don't like having to be careful with a book.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, I. I want to be able to drink my bourbon. I want to be able to put it face down if I need to go pet my cat. Like, I don't want to feel like I'm in a museum. Yeah. Same in my home.

[Bria Grant]

I have a friend staying with me right now, and he is like, I love that your home's so lived in. And I was like, I think this is an insult, but it's okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

No, but I'm the same way.

[Bria Grant]

Like, he's like, I just like that I can, like, you know, put my feet up and it doesn't matter. And I'm like, I think you're saying that it's messy, but that's okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But I'm the same. I want to put my feet on my coffee table. I don't. I don't want to. I will never own furniture that is covered by plastic.

[Bria Grant]

No.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, I want. I want stuff to be. Look like it is owned by me.

[Bria Grant]

Sure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, I do not. I do not endeavor to protect the. Everything I own from stains or creases. Like, it's just not who I am. I know that there are people who are like that.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I have lived with those people, and it has been an adventure. But. And I. And I sympathize with that because I. Some people just, like, they like to keep things pristine. It's just not how I function.

[Bria Grant]

Sure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But. So to summarize, I think, Zach, for you specifically and other people who are having this problem, I think you need to do a call. And by. And the way to start is by looking if there's other editions of those books. And for the ones that aren't, I think you need to. To assess. Are you. Why do you have them? What's the. Like, you need to. Really. You need to turn a chair around and sit in it and look at yourself in the mirror and go, hey, pal, what is the point of these books if you.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Don't want to read them?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Are they art or are they for reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

And if they're. If they're neither. If you just are having them because you feel like you will never have access to them again, you gotta get rid of them.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And if there's a copy of a book that is rare, that doesn't have an ebook, that doesn't have an audiobook, you gotta read that copy of the book if you want to read it. And, like, and maybe you do do the opposite of what you're doing right now is Zach is using the library to try to, you know, save money, maybe make a goal. Maybe you do a reading challenge for yourself. Read one of your books from this collection every month.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, great. I like that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Or remember that if Glasser V. Wrote in to say that they. They were giving themselves, like, a book budget for every book they owned, they.

[Bria Grant]

Every book they got rid of, they got to get another one. Right.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It was every book that. Yeah. Every book that they read that they already owned, they got credits to buy more books.

[Bria Grant]

Right, right, right.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think that something like that would really help Zach. Like one of every one of these rare books that you either read or get rid of, you get credits to buy more rare books.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah. But I think you should use a skill set to go like, find a murderer or something. Like, you need to go be one of those armchair detectives who go on Reddit and they're like, oh, Golden State killer got him. Like, I think you need to be that guy.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Zach is sitting in a chair going, enhance, Enhance.

[Bria Grant]

Is that my skill?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Look at that license plate for good.

[Bria Grant]

Use it for good.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Wow. Next time I'm. I've lost something, I'm calling Zach. All right. So you can send your thoughts on Book Owning vs Book Reading to Reading Glasses podcastmail.com Before we test out a reader personality test, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is sponsored in part this week by our old pal, Story Words.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, we love them.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Folks, Father's Day is coming down the pipeline. Fathers are tough to get gifts for. It's tough to make Father's Day feel ties so many times.

[Bria Grant]

Golf stuff.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Stuff.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Books that they're never gonna read unless.

[Mallory O'Meara]

They'Re about World War II. But you can make Father's Day unique and get a heartfelt gift that is not a tie that'll truly make him feel loved. It's called story worth memoirs. Bria, what is story worth?

[Bria Grant]

Each week, story worth emails, your dad or other loved one. You know, this is not just for dads. This is for all people. Dad shaped folk, they get a memory provoking question that you get to pick questions like, did you ever get in trouble in school? Or what were your favorite toys as a child? And then they can respond over email or record it on the phone for Storyworth to transcribe. And then after a year, Storyworth compiles all your loved ones stories and photos into a beautiful keepsake hardcover book. Photos are printed in vibrant color. It's a treasure you'll be able to share and revisit for generations.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Folks, we love Story worth. That's why they've been a sponsor of the show for a really, really long time. We have gotten story Worth for our family members. They are always a huge it because they're one. They make a really good gift. But they also because Storyworth asks these questions every week. It's like, it's like the gift that keeps on giving. Quite literally. You get the experience of your dad or your mom or whoever answering these questions. And then at the very end of the process, which has been so fun, you get this beautiful book. So give the dads in your life a unique, heartfelt gift you'll all cherish for years. Story worth Right now you can save 15 during their Father's Day sale when you go to StoryWorth.com glasses that's StoryWorth.com glasses to save 15 on your order glasses. After 400 episodes, the maximum Film universe is kicking off a brand new phase. We have got a brand new host, hilarious writer and comedian Kevin Avery. Hey, that's me. Kevin's teaming up with me, film critic Alonso Duraldi and me, producer and film festival programmer Drea Clarke. Together we're taking on summer blockbuster season by talking about some of the biggest movies in theater beginners. That makes this the perfect time to join the Maximum film gang.

[C]

Reserve your maximum film ticket, pre order.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Your maximum film custom popcorn bucket.

[Bria Grant]

We're trying to say it's a great.

[C]

Time to start listening to the podcast.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So jump back into the continuing adventures of maximum Film. Every week on maximum fun.org Time to test out some book tech advances in bookish technology. This week we're testing out an online reader personality test called read your color. It is free. There is a link in the show notes just readyyourcolor.com Approximately 5 billion people sent us this people, I know you're mad about it. Some people love it. This is very divisive. Some people really love it.

[Bria Grant]

People are really only responded with like kind of weird responses. And I'm like, y' all can, it's not a big deal.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Really like it.

[Bria Grant]

You don't have to like it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Okay, so this is a reader personality test and it basically it's kind of trying to do what we do is like Help people figure out what kinds of books that they like. And the description says, most people don't know what kind of reader they are, which is why they waste time on books they never finish. True read your color is an assessment that helps you discover your unique reader type so you can finally find books that match you. Take the quiz, get personalized recommendations, and never read a book that you don't love again. Bria, first off, what did you get? And therefore, what did you think? This is not what I thought you were going to get.

[Bria Grant]

So weird. I think I took it twice. I took it the first time and I couldn't remember what I got.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I took it twice and I got different results both times.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I think I. Because I just was like, well, maybe I would read that. I changed my mind.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's exactly what I did. The first time I did it, I was like, no, no, no, no, no. And then the second time I was.

[Bria Grant]

Like, well, maybe I think I was green originally. And now I'm yellow originally. Purple. I'm the unbound innovator.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You are an unbound innovative program.

[Bria Grant]

A bold, unconventional thinker who thrives on experimental storytelling and genre defying narratives. They read to challenge norms, stretch their imagination, and fuel radical creativity. After finishing a book, they want to feel intellectually awakened and creatively invigorated, as if they've glimpsed a new way of seeing the world. This includes experimental and postmodern novels, surreal and dreamlike fables. I don't know about that. Books with nonlinear structures and shifting perspectives. Love that. Genre mashups and speculative fictions with a philosophical edge. Love that. Literary fiction that plays with forms and language. These are all me. Avant garde essays or unconventional memoirs. Speculative cultural criticism, futurist manifestos, and radical theory, philosophy and psychology that explores abstract or fringe ideas. Maybe books on creativity, animation, or alternative ways of thinking. Yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But then it record so it gives you like categories of books that it thinks you will be matched with. But then it gives you recommendations based.

[Bria Grant]

Off Those are pretty good. I'd say the first half, yes. Second half I'm like, maybe. And then the books it got re recommended. I was like, oh, no.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

No, no, no. Not these. Cloud Atlas. Infinite Jest? No. Kafka on the Shore. Okay, that one works. The road, which I did love so.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But not because it's like of the reasons you like the road because you like books with roads in them.

[Bria Grant]

I do love books with roads in them.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I loves a book that takes.

[Bria Grant]

Place on a road I was big on. Yeah, I really Am I like an apocalypse? I like. It does say genre mashups in speculative fiction, which is sort of that. But yeah, I think, look, in some ways you got My Color Purple.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Just my color.

[Bria Grant]

But it's your color. Nonlinear structure, shifting perspectives. Yes, I do like all this. If a book is sort of a unique, weird thing, I am going to go for it. But also, I do think there are just certain genres I like, because the whole thing about this is that, like, not everyone just picking up books because it may not be your genre or it may not be that you read specific genres, which could be true. I think there's some people this is really gonna work for.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, I feel the same.

[Bria Grant]

But there's other people who are like, not at all. You got orange.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Orange.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I do want to say. So if you have not taken this, basically, it gives you 24.

[Bria Grant]

Yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hypothetical books. Yeah, it's like, would you read a thriller?

[Bria Grant]

And it's like, very specific. It's like a CEO who falls in love with a secretary and it's all about how he gave up his life for whatever.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. And then you have five responses that's like. Like, definitely not read. Wouldn't. Would probably not read. Might read. Might. Probably would read, and then definitely would read.

[Bria Grant]

Correct.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And so I got an Orange Reader, which is a serial world hopper, which I think is more you. So it says the Orange Reader thrives on masterful world building. They look for stories with imagination, exploration, and vivid storytelling that transports them far beyond the ordinary. They seek out expansive worlds, epic adventures, and richly detailed narratives that ignite their sense of wonder and possibility. For them, reading is about discovery, excitement, and embarking on journeys that stretch the boundaries of imagination. This sounds more like you than it does.

[Bria Grant]

I think they're kind of vague enough to where they kind of sound like everybody.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

So, you know, like. Yes, this one has. Mine also is about stretching your imagination and yours also says exploration.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Anybody in the world who. Who's like, nope, don't even look at my imagination. I don't want to imagine anything.

[Bria Grant]

Readers are looking to stretch their imagination.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, they've got stretchy ass imaginations.

[Bria Grant]

All that being said, I feel like.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Inside of our brain is the. Is the set of flubber. Yeah. And that is your imagination. All right, so the list that it gave me was epic fantasy and richly imagined sagas. Sci fi that explores speculative futures and alternate realities.

[Bria Grant]

I get this one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Historical fiction packed with adventure, discovery and immersive detail. Dystopian stories that challenge society's pick.

[Bria Grant]

That's wrong.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's what I mean. An imaginative tales that blend realism with fantastical or speculative elements. And then it recommended Outlander, Dune, and Brandon Sanderson.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So here's my thoughts. One, this clearly does not reflect me at all. Overall, I do think that this would be a helpful quiz if you are getting back into reading or just getting into reading for the first time and you really, truly have no clue what you like. It's been 10 years since you were reader or you just never got into reading and now you want to. But this is for someone who doesn't listen to reading glasses.

[Bria Grant]

Maybe that's why the people are mad about it. I mean, look, I like taking a.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Quiz I do like.

[Bria Grant]

So that was fun. It was fun. And I took it twice and got two different answers. Maybe I got orange to begin with. I can't remember.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think that this quiz is a lesser version of knowing your doorway in your wheelhouse.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

If you know your doorway in your wheelhouse, I don't think this has that much to offer you because knowing that I am a plot reader and knowing the stuff that I like, I pick pretty good books. Like, I like. I think finding out my doorway was way more effective than in picking books better suited to me. And my biggest beef with this quiz, most of the books were not books that are for me. Not a single haunted house book in the whole bunch. Yeah, there's not a lot of horror. There was not a lot of books that I seek out. No smut. So there was. There was one romance one. Or a couple romance ones.

[Bria Grant]

A couple romances. And yeah, you're right. There was no questions about horror. Is that what you mean?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, there was. There was one. There was a couple that could go horror.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But there was no. A grieving family into a new home.

[Bria Grant]

That's right.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You know, it just. It didn't feel like it was a lot of books that I go for. Again, if. I think this. This quiz could be great. If you are. If you as a glasser, have someone in your life that is trying to get into reading and they have, like, we know people like this. When you ask them what their wheelhouse is, they have no clue.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah, I think this can be.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I think this would be great for them. But if you are someone who listens to the show and you don't have trouble finding books and you know yourself as a reader, I don't think there's any point to taking this aside from if you want to get mad at the Internet real quick.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, sure. But it's fun to take a little quiz.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I did read through all of the different types.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think I should have been a red reader because that is like a plot thriller. But I don't. The thing is, I am a plot reader, but I don't read a lot of, like, stereotypical thriller books. So a lot of the ones that they were that like. Yeah, it was like a CEO.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. There were multiple CEO ones, I feel like. And I was like, the problem with this is I don't want to read about a CEO.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. That was my thing. I do like reading thrillers. Like Tana French and Megan Abbott are two of my favorite authors. But, like, I don't read. I want to read a corporate espionage thriller.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, God.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Plot. But I think that's good for whoever. So I was like, oh, now, now, seeing this, I can see where I would have. Which book I should have chosen if I wanted to get a plot reader.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I think that's the problem.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So, yeah, I mean, we'll put a link to this in the show notes. You can try it if you want to get grumpy about something or. I mean it. We all love taking a quiz, but I think that this could be good if you have someone and you don't.

[Bria Grant]

Have to give your email address or anything. So it's not like they're tracking you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. Which is great.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So you can send your book tag ideas or more quizzes that are making you mad to reading glasses podcastmail.com now let's answer a recommendation request from Rowan, who says, hi, Brianne Mallory. My name is Rowan. I know this is silly, but I feel like I don't fit into the Romantasy fandom because it seems to be very cishet, even though I love the concept. So I was wondering if the host of my favorite book podcast could help me find some queer Romantasy books, specifically with non binary and or women loving women characters. Bria, what do you think Roman should read?

[Bria Grant]

This just, like, blew my mind because there's a character in the book I'm reading named Rowan, which is not a very common name. And it's the head. It's like the chapter I'm on. It's like from Rowan's perspective. Wow, that was so weird. Anyway, I just had this, like, reality. My brain suddenly was like, am I in my book? You know when that happens? When you're like, wait, where am I? Okay, okay. On our other last. On our other show, reading Smut. Well, I was like, well, there's A lot of romantic sci fi, which I feel like hasn't taken off in part because of the name, but also sometimes romantic sci fi is kind of romantic. Yeah. Well.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And also, I just want to say, Rowan, we have recommended a lot of queer Romantasy books on this show. We.

[Bria Grant]

We have.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think maybe we just recommend so many books that people. They're not people aren't clocking all of them. But I do. I think I have put queer Romantasy in every single anticipated books episode we've ever done. So I am begging you on my hands and knees with bloody tears in my eyes, folks, please read the show notes and please read the show notes.

[Bria Grant]

Really do a lot of work on those. And also reading a lot of romantic me. I'm gonna recommend romantic sci fi that falls into Romantasy, because, listen, you people don't ask for it, but sometimes you actually want romantic sci fi too.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, it's also, there's. There's some blurred lines with it, I think.

[Bria Grant]

I agree. Because sometimes it's like, well, it's sci fi, but it would never happen.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

So does that make it science fiction? What is it? It's just sometimes the difference between science fiction and fantasy is fluffy dresses.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

You know what I mean? It's the clothes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's the clothes.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, so I'm gonna recommend One Last stop by Casey McQuiston, which is about a woman who's on the subway in New York City, sees this gorgeous other woman, and she's like, wow, who is this woman? Well, turns out this is a magic train, which.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Or a sci fi train.

[Bria Grant]

Or a sci Fi train, but I think it's sort of magic. And unfortunately, this woman is displaced in time. I've never seen Outlander.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Wow. You're right.

[Bria Grant]

This is out. This is the Outlander of New York subways. Wow. Which is a fantasy.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I never thought about that. But, yeah, like, telepathy could be magic or sci fi. Right.

[Bria Grant]

And if you're displaced in time, that's pretty tough to be real. Anyway, there is sex on the train. It is great. The woman is displaced in time and they have to figure it all out. But also, it's like a sexy little romance book. And I love Casey McQuiston. What do you have her own.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I am gonna recommend a book. I have talked on this show.

[Bria Grant]

Okay. Multiple times. I don't remember it, so.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Okay.

[Bria Grant]

That's what I redescribe it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think I. Because I have an. That is like, I. What is a photographic memory, but just for books. That's What I have.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, you have a book of graphic memory.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I remember every single book we've ever talked about. Not true, but a very.

[Bria Grant]

Because I don't remember books I talked about last week so that I talked about. Cut.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yeah, I. Well, Rowan, maybe you didn't remember, but I recommended this book a bunch of times. It's called the Phoenix Keeper by S.A. mcLean. It is literally Glasser Nip. It is a sapphic romantasy about rival zookeepers and a magical zoo. They're trying to save some phoenixes. The authors the s and essay McLean is Sarah. Wow. It was literally designed in a lab.

[Bria Grant]

Wow. By the way, I got some feedback on Instagram that people do want the Sarah shirts.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, okay. All right. Good to know. But this book is so cute and so fun and yeah, it's just two magical lesbians trying to make magical phoenixes. And it is so. It's so lovely. Like very good. Queer, romantic. So that's the Phoenix Keeper by S.A. mcLean.

[Bria Grant]

And mine is One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston.

[Mallory O'Meara]

If you want us to answer your recommendation request, send it to reading glasses podcast gmail.com as always, want to thank the wonderful mods here on our Discord server and our Facebook group. Remember, you want to buy cute stickers. Totes tank tops. Getting hot out there. Check out our Void merch store. There's a link in the show notes and if you like the show, please write and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice folks. It's so nice. It's so nice. We appreciate it so much and it really helps the show go on your podcast app. You have to do it on the mobile version. Can't do it on the desktop version. Open up your phone. We all have our phones nearby. I wish we didn't, but we do. Open it up. You're gonna open it up to look at other crap. Might as well. In the. In the midst of.

[Bria Grant]

You're listening on the phone right now on your phone.

[C]

Open up that app.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Give us a 5 rating. It would warm our lovely little hearts. You can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading. Maximum Fun. A worker owned network of artist owned shows supported directly by you.