Ep 416 - Fooled by Blondes - Best and Worst Tropes

Summary

Podcast Summary: Reading Glasses - Ep 416: "Fooled by Blondes - Best and Worst Tropes"

Release Date: June 19, 2025

Hosts: Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara

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Introduction

In Episode 416 of Reading Glasses, hosts Brea Grant and Mallory O’Meara delve into the fascinating world of literary tropes, discussing their favorites, pet peeves, and the tropes they wish to see more of. The episode also touches upon the origins of the term "paperback" and concludes with personalized book recommendations for mothers. Throughout the discussion, Brea and Mallory engage listeners with insightful commentary, relatable anecdotes, and a touch of humor.

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Current Readings

Bria Grant: Brea is currently engrossed in Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly. She highlights the book's critical examination of Spotify's origins and its impact on how we consume music. A standout revelation for her is Spotify's use of fake artists to populate mood-based playlists, a strategy aimed at reducing costs and manipulating listener choices. At [01:19], Brea reflects,

"This book is really opening my eyes to the way I am consuming music and making me think more about artists when I'm choosing what I'm listening to."

Mallory O'Meara: Mallory is reading Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie Mayer, a fantasy romance that intertwines sci-fi elements. She describes the plot as a blend of romance and thriller, where the protagonist communicates with someone from a different timeline, leading to both humorous and poignant moments. At [05:40], Mallory enthuses,

"It is so fun. Like it's Bill's romantasy because romantic is the big thing right now, but it is romantici, like it is sci-fi and it is so sweet and so queer."

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Listener Feedback

The hosts share heartfelt messages from listeners, expressing appreciation for the podcast's role in overcoming reading slumps and providing valuable recommendations. Notably, Christine apologizes for an awkward experience at a signing event but fondly recalls the event overall. Another listener, Lynn, shares how the podcast helped her escape a reading slump during the pandemic, praising the hosts' enthusiasm and recommendations.

At [08:00], Mallory responds to Lynn:

"I give you all of my love and thanks, Bria."

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Main Discussion: Best and Worst Tropes

Favorites:

1. Fish Out of Water ([14:46] Brea Grant): Brea appreciates characters placed in unfamiliar or confusing situations, such as aliens or robots navigating human society. She cites Skydaddy as an example where a character's unique perspective offers fresh world-building insights.

2. Haunted House Trope ([16:11] Mallory O’Meara): Mallory's top favorite is the classic scenario where a grieving family moves into a haunted house. She loves the combination of spooky elements with deep backstories, enhancing character development and plot complexity.

3. Journey with a Lesson: Both hosts admire the trope where characters embark on significant journeys only to realize that what they truly need was within them all along. Brea references The Wizard of Oz as a quintessential example.

4. Enemies to Lovers ([18:25] Mallory O’Meara): Mallory enjoys narratives where antagonistic relationships evolve into romantic ones, appreciating the tension and character growth involved.

Least Favorites:

1. Animal Violence as Character Shorthand ([23:35] Brea Grant): Brea dislikes using animal violence to quickly establish a character's morality, feeling it oversimplifies complex emotions and relationships.

2. Love Triangles, Especially the Blonde vs. Dark Hair Dynamic ([24:14] Mallory O’Meara): Both hosts express frustration with stereotypical love triangles where the "bad boy" is morally superior to the "good boy," finding it predictable and uninspired.

3. Villain Monologues ([26:25] Mallory O’Meara): Mallory finds villain monologues irritating, as they often serve as convenient plot devices to reveal critical information, disrupting the story's flow.

4. Characters Making Unjustified Bad Choices ([27:35] Bria Grant): Brea criticizes scenarios where characters make poor decisions without sufficient reasoning, particularly in high-stakes situations like apocalypses.

5. Miscommunication Leading to Conflict ([27:55] Mallory O’Meara): Both hosts are frustrated with plotlines that rely on characters misunderstanding each other, especially when simple communication could resolve conflicts.

6. Isolated Tough Women ([29:20] Bria Grant): Brea feels tired of portraying strong female characters as completely isolated, lacking a supportive community and relying solely on a single romantic interest.

7. Smarter Female Best Friends Not Being Protagonists ([30:09] Mallory O’Meara): Mallory voices her annoyance at stories where intelligent female characters, like Hermione in Harry Potter, are relegated to supporting roles instead of leading the narrative.

Wished-for Tropes:

1. Returning to a Small Hometown ([31:09] Mallory O’Meara): Both hosts express a desire for more stories featuring characters returning to their roots, exploring personal growth and community dynamics.

2. Found Family Situations: Brea advocates for more narratives centered around friendships and community, highlighting the importance of supportive relationships beyond biological family ties.

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Bookish Question: Origins of "Paperback"

A listener named Ariel inquires about the terminology behind "hardcover" and "paperback" books. Brea and Mallory explain that both terms are widely used, with variations like "hardback" and "softcover" also existing. They speculate that the difference might be regional or generational. At [34:10], Mallory responds,

"Paperback is actually the older word by almost a hundred years."

They encourage listeners to reach out with more questions via email:

"If you want us to answer your bookish question, you can send it to [e-mail]."

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Recommendations: Books for Moms

A listener, Alex, requests book recommendations for his mother, who enjoys reading but has limited time due to her responsibilities. She appreciates fiction with BIPOC characters, real-world settings, and non-fiction with fun facts.

Brea's Recommendation: Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

"It's about a disease and ways to improve disease prevention worldwide. It just came out, so it's a little bit buzzy and very interesting."

Mallory's Recommendation: The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

"It's a literary fiction book about a house in Detroit and the family who has lived in it for generations. It's very family-centric and centers around the matriarch, making it perfect for moms."

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Conclusion

Brea and Mallory wrap up the episode by inviting listeners to engage with their content, share their favorite and least favorite tropes, and explore additional resources like their Discord server and merch store. They emphasize the importance of community and reader feedback in shaping the podcast's direction.

"Remember folks, it's summertime. You need a tank top, you need a cute sticker to put on your pool, your above ground pool... Go to our merch store, all kinds of cute stuff over there that is bookish and helps support us."

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Notable Quotes

• Bria Grant ([01:19]):

  "They're doing... it's mind-blowing. I guess it shouldn't be because of the sort of dystopian world we're living in, but this book is really opening my eyes to the way I am consuming music."

• Mallory O’Meara ([18:25]):

  "I want something that has some kind of backstory as to why they don't like each other or why they are diametrically opposed, but they're so sexy that they can't help banging."

• Bria Grant ([24:16]):

  "I'm surprised every time. Every time I'm like, wow, I don't know why, but I'm fooled. I'm fooled every time."

• Mallory O’Meara ([30:18]):

  "I want her. I don't want this."

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Stay Connected:

• Email: [e-mail]
• Instagram: @ReadingGlassesPodcast
• Merch Store: [Link in Show Notes]

Reading Glasses is part of Maximum Fun, a network of artist-owned shows supported directly by listeners.

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 talking about our favorite and most hated book tropes. Plus, we talk about the origin of the word paperback. Do you say paperback? Do you say something else? And we recommend books for moms.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But first, Bria, what are you reading?

[Bria Grant]

I am listening to an audiobook called Mood Machine. The.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, the Spotify book.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, the Spotify book. Moon Machine, the Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly. Liz Pelly reads the audio book as well. It's an investigation into Spotify and sort of. I didn't really know a lot about the origins of Spotify, so she gets into that. The real origins of Spotify, not what they say the origins of Spotify are. It will change the way you are listening to Spotify. And I would encourage anyone who's a Spotify user to check this book out, because I didn't know a lot of this. And the playlists that they're making. Okay, let me just tell you one small thing in this book. One thing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This hot, hot dirt from this book.

[Bria Grant]

This book, this book is not flinching, okay? And one thing that really blew my mind in the book is that they make these playlists, right? And they'll be like, oh, it's some. Whatever. Some sort of mood playlist for you. And they used to be full of real artists. And at some point they're like, you know, we could do is just make some fake artists and put music on there from these fake artists, and then we don't have to pay them as much. We can just. And then the real artist. So, no, not real. I mean, these are real people playing music, but they aren't actual people. This is not the music they created. They created it specifically for your Chill Moods playlist or whatever. So. And they will pretend some of these artists are real, and they'll be like, this guy is an Icelandic musician who only released his music on cassette tapes until 2019. But this now, for the first time, he's on Chill Moods playlist or whatever. And that's fake. That's not real. They're doing. It's mind blowing. I mean, I guess it shouldn't be because of the sort of dystopian world we're living in at this moment, but this book is really opening my eyes to the Way I am consuming music and making me think more about artists when I'm consuming music and thinking more about how I'm choosing what I'm listening to and who is helping me make those choices. So if you listen to Spotify, I really think you should check out this book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, it's not the best. So I. I have a whole system.

[Bria Grant]

You have a system? Tell me more.

[Mallory O'Meara]

My system is when an artist I like puts out an album, I buy it on Bandcamp or on vinyl, and then. So I have either the digital or the vinyl or both. But then I stream it on Spotify. So then they get the extra money from two pennies a month.

[Bria Grant]

Sure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But I stream it so they get the streams. But I always make sure to buy. Because band camp is the place to go if you want to, like, buy an album digitally. And they get more. Especially if you do it on Friday. Bandcamp Fridays. I know this is a book podcast, but if you're a big music person, like, we are Bandcamp Fridays, I think it's either more or all of the profits go to the artist instead of, like, having to split it with Bandcamp.

[Bria Grant]

Wow. Okay. I didn't know that. I. I mean, yeah, it's not just that they're obvious. We know artists aren't getting much money from Spotify, but it's so much more. It's so much. You're being manipulated in ways you don't know. And that's what pisses me off. Like, I guess it does piss me off that also, artists aren't making much money, but it pisses me off that my tastes are being manipulated. So I will listen to music that's not. That's designed for me to. So they don't have to pay artists money.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

And it's. And the thing is, I fall for it. Like, I look at these. These little bios, quote, unquote, curated playlists in these little bios, and I believe it. And anyway, book is fascinating and gets into the history of all this. And, like, you know anybody. Anyway, check this book out. What are you reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I am reading my book, the Pick a Book by its title.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, what is it?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Okay, well, so you had sent me a list, and I knew a lot of the books on that list.

[Bria Grant]

I haven't done mine yet.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And then Glasses sent in so many emails.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I had heard of. Because, again, that's the problem is I do all these anticipated books episodes. It's very hard to find a book that I've not heard of.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I picked a Book from one of our anticipated books, episodes, that I wanted to read as soon as I saw the title. It's called Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie Mayer.

[Bria Grant]

I also read this title and thought it was very good.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is very good title. It is really, really fun. It is like. It's a fun. This is. This is romantic. I. Oh, great.

[Bria Grant]

Romanticize in a row for you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I mean, it's called fantasy romance, but it is. I mean, it's sci fi. So it's about this main character. She's this woman. She is a hairdresser, and she's very frustrated with love. And she's like, it's kind of done with dating. And then one day, she's sitting at home and she gets a text from a wrong number. And. But the person texting her. The person texting her is on a date and is like, texting their date to be like, hey, I can't see you. I'm at the bar. Where are you? And she's like, hey, you got the wrong number. This is not your date.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And turns out that this woman who she's texting with got stood up, but they end up starting to talk, and, like, they get along so well that the main character's like, stay where you are. I'm gonna find. I'm gonna come to the bar and meet you. Only they. She gets there, the woman's not there. So they. She thinks that she got ghosted. Turns out what actually is happening is that they are in different timelines.

[Bria Grant]

Nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And the woman she was texting is in a timeline that is set five months back. So this woman is in a different timeline. And then what? Like, they're trying to figure out they can only text each other. They can figure out that they cannot call each other, they cannot send videos, they cannot send photos. They can look at each other's Instagram, but her. The woman she's texting with, her Instagram's five months behind.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And one day, she, like, right after this happens, her best. The woman's that she's texting. Her best friends show up and they're like, hey, what the. Our best friend was talking to you. And now she's missing. So they're.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, wow, that's cool.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So they're trying to bother find a. Figure out how to find each other in real life, but also find a timeline where she doesn't go missing because they don't know what happened to her. They don't know how to find her. So it's like a little bit of a thriller element, which I did not expect. But it's also like super cute because they keep texting each other and she they're both aware. They like figure out that they're on different timelines and they're like, you know, joking about it and like trying to find ways to to be together. It is so fun. Like it's Bill as romantasy because romantic is the big thing right now. But it is, it's romantici like it is a sci fi book and it is so sweet and so queer. Great book to read for Pride Month. I am really enjoying it. So that is Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie May.

[Bria Grant]

And I am reading Mood Machine, the Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly. Narrated by Liz Pelly.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Christine wrote in to say hello. Brianne Mallory. Just want to apologize on behalf of my city slash neighborhood, which was where the old location of Mysterious Galaxy was located.

[Bria Grant]

Wait, were we mad about this?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Christine says, I was at that signing that you were both.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, the one where the person said the thing about the. The weird thing to you?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

The person who wanted to have sex with the creature from the back and then wanted my personal address so she could come to my house and talk to me about how horny she was for Creature, Christine says. Unfortunately, I didn't know about the end of the line phenomenon then or I would have stayed around to move that freaky lady along. And as a sociology professor, I'm extra intrigued by all of the informal behavior research you're doing at events. I'm sorry that that's what you both remember from the day, but I remember it as a true delight being in the same room with my two favorite podcasters. That's nice, Christine. Thank you so much. And I'm so sorry this weird person overshadowed everybody, but it was a really fun event.

[Bria Grant]

It was fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It was. Yeah, definitely. That is what I remember as this lady who wanted to come to my home.

[Bria Grant]

Tara wrote in and said, hi Brian Mallory, this is an addition to the email from your listener, Juliet, that uses Story Graph to pick books from her TBR based on the mood pace and and genre tags. If you're adding a book to your TBR and you see that either the mood pace or genre tags are missing, report it to the app or site and the army of volunteer storygraph librarians will take care of it, usually within four to five days to get the tags added for you there's a link on every books page that you can click on to report missing or incorrect information. Thanks for all the work on the show. That's great. So I guess storygraph has librarians that can go and help you get all this stuff.

[Mallory O'Meara]

If you also I think they're volunteer though.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Bria Grant]

But if you want to be like Juliet and make sure you can pick a book based on a mood or a pace, then you can reach out to storygraph librarian volunteers. That's great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Shout out to storygraph librarians. May someday they'd be paid then. Lynn wrote in to say just wanted to send on oodles of thanks for your podcast. Reading has always been my biggest comfort blanket. However, during the pandemic I was finding it nearly impossible to read for so many reasons. My friend dragged me out of the reading slump by giving me a stack of books with stellar queer and female characters. When I ran out of that pile, I was scared that I would fall back into the SL looking for recommendations and motivation and found your podcast. Your reading tips, book recommendations and enthusiasm have helped turn this from a crawl out of a pit into a full skip across the fields to a playground with a swing. I give you all of my love and thanks Bria. Would you like to read this very Glasser wheelhouse?

[Bria Grant]

Yes. Cozy fantasy, queer norm fantasy witches. Books that start in media res and trust you catch up, slash fill in the gaps for yourself.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I also love books like that fill.

[Bria Grant]

The gaps yourself or tell you the ending in the first chapter. I love that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I also love it's a book clean that I just read a howdunit.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Love it. Brave little mice who are the rodents? Cute. Especially if they have swords. Very cute. Animal familiars. Books that begin very fun and silly and then knife you in the back with the feelings later on. Books that reveal more aspects to themselves every time you reread them.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Love this. You can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com if you want a list of all the books we talk about on the show delivered to your inbox every month. You can sign up for our newsletter link in the show Notes I have one quick bookmark.

[Bria Grant]

So we have another podcast. It's called Reading Smut. We're trying to get it out there in the world. Please go subscribe. Go check it out. Go give us stars. It's we really need in order. We have a lot of guests on that show so this really helps us if you just go give us some some five star reviews. Let us know if you're over there listening to Reading Smut. Write us in and tell us what podcast you're listening to or if you're a producer for a big podcast that can help us out. Just let us know. We're trying to get the word out there about Reading Smut. We think it's a cool show. We have a lot of followers here on Reading Glasses, and we really appreciate it and we're building over there. So help us out in any way you can. Do some reposts.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, we want to know what. What your favorite podcasts are.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Quick bookmark for me. I just wanted to apologize because I was supposed to do an event in Kansas City last week and I got tornadoed out of it.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It was a big. There were multiple tornadoes in Kansas City, so my event got canceled and I got stuck in Oklahoma for a while. Was a big thing, but I will be coming. Thank you to all the glassers who signed up for that event. I will be coming back in August. We have not picked a date yet, but do not fear. I am returning. So before we talk about tropes, we're going to take a quick break.

[Bria Grant]

Reading Glasses is brought to you in part this week by Tea Experience. Hey, tea lovers. Listen up, y' all. If you subscribe to the Reading Glasses newsletter. You know, I actually shouted out to Experience in our newsletter as well because I loved it so much. I love teaspirience. If you haven't tried t experience yet, you are missing out. They have amazing loose leaf teas that you will be loving this summer. Whether you're starting your tea journey or you've been brewing for years, there is the perfect blend waiting for you. Okay, so they have all sorts of great teas. They are all loose leaf, which means you put them in that cute little thing, you dip it in the tea water. It's so lovely. Tea water. Tea water is also just called water, but you can call it whatever you want. I'm going to call it delicious. It's expertly crafted, balanced flavors, aromas, and health benefits in every sip. And there is something for everyone. Y' all may know I don't drink a lot of caffeine, but there are calming teas. There's just some really good flavored teas, and there's energizing blends for those who like that caffeine. What I've been doing is I've actually been making cold brew with these. I put them in my little cold brew. Like, it's like a. A tall pitcher that has a like a net in it or of some sort of. And then I make a little blend. And I've been doing like a really nice cold chamomile tea and it has been a hit in my house. That cold brew tea is going faster than anything in the fridge. But you can make anything you want. You can make it hot, you can make it cold, you can make it hot. I sit down later. Anything you want. This tea is really good and y' all know I love tea, so this has been such a bonus for me to get this tea in the mail. It was very exciting. It comes in these cute little very artisan looking containers that you're going to want to display. They are gorgeous. So are you ready to experience premium tea like never before? Head over to teespirience.com and use code GLASSES to get 15% off your first order glasses.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hi, everybody. It's Ellen Weatherford and Christian Weatherford. People say not to judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, but we can judge a snake by its ability to fly or a spider by its ability to dive or a dung beetle by its ability to navigate with the starlight of the Milky Way galaxy. On Just the Zoo of Us, we rate our favorite animals out of 10 in the categories of physical effectiveness, behavioral ingenuity, and of course, aesthetics. Guest experts like biologists, ecologists, musicians, comedians, and more join us to share their unique insights into the animal kingdom. Listen with the whole family on maximumfun.org or wherever you get your podcasts this week. We're talking tropes. Which ones are our favorites? Which ones are the worst? And which ones do we wish there were more of? Why are you laughing?

[Bria Grant]

Something about talking tropes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Brie and I have turned into 80s business women with a We look like we both look like Ricky Lake in 1989.

[Bria Grant]

That's right.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We got big hair, big shoulder pads, and we're talking tropes.

[Bria Grant]

Talking tropes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right, first, let's get into our favorites. Tropes that we are happy to read over and over again. Bria, what do you think are the best tropes? What are your favorites?

[Bria Grant]

I like a fish out of water. Like a person who's in a situation where they find new confusing. They're figuring things out they don't already know about. They.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You do love this.

[Bria Grant]

And they can't understand. And this. They just can't understand it. This person doesn't understand it. And it's usually. It's sometimes like an alien. It's sometimes like an animal. Like It's. It's usually a robot. So I like that kind of. That kind of thing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Who are like, pointing out how confusing there's certain aspects of our world are. That is always really fun.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. They're like, why do you have to get. Why can't you say this one thing you really want to say at the signing about the creature from the Black Lagoon?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Because it's weird. Don't say it.

[Bria Grant]

So it's usually very funny. They make mistakes or it's very poignant. So I like that. The fish out of water.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. I love that matchup with like. Like you said someone in the world and you're always. Then you're like, why just. Why don't you just tell that girl you love her? And he's like, no, no, no, I can't do that.

[Bria Grant]

Also, like, there's some books like this where it's like you're seeing people. You kind of see the world through a new light. Like Skydaddy is one of these where it's like, because it's from such a different perspective of a person who's like, I'm gonna marry a plane. And you have to kind of start to buy into that world. So it's sort of a fish out of water, sort of a. Just like this is a new sort of a person just seeing the world in a different way.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You love this trope because it's a world building trope. Because it's a setting trope.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, it is. I had trouble find when I was thinking, I was like, can I just say, like, you know, a mall. Can I say a mall? That's not a trope. What's your. What do. What do you like? What's one of your favorites?

[Mallory O'Meara]

You already know my tippity top.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

My tippity top is a grieving family moves into a new house that is actually old house that is haunted as hell. The thing about this trope and why it is my top and why, like I say, you know, it is a trope and it is like, it's something that's very popular and sometimes people use that as a derogatory thing. Like, oh, it's so tropey. The thing is though, I will read a million books like this and I will never get tired of it. Like, it's like, I have read 500 books and I will read 500 more. I just love it.

[Bria Grant]

It.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I. It never gets old for me. Every single time I see it doesn't matter who the author is. I'm like, grieving family moves into a news house. Like, there's some spooky. Hell, yeah. Like, I just. I. I love it because I love haunted house books. Because, like. Because I love. I. I love grief books. Even before Scott died last year, like, I just been. Like, I love a grief book for some. I think it's because things get weird in grief books. But haunted house books are so great to me because you get the timeline of what's the spooky stuff going on with the family, but then you get the history, the backstory. I live for the backstory. So it's like the perfect combination for me of, like, spooky stuff with, like, oh, and they're going to go to the library to look up what happens with the book. They look up what happens with the house, and they go to the microfiche machine and they find a spooky article about something spooky that happened. Like, I just. I love all of it. And.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Never get tired of it.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What's your next one?

[Bria Grant]

Well, we just talked about this last week, but going on a journey, but really the trope is you go on this very long journey only to discover that what you need is right in front of you. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

The real journey is the stuff inside you.

[Bria Grant]

Right. It's the wizard of Oz. It's like the whole. She traveled all this way, but really all she needed was to clack her heels. And she could have done that a long time ago, but she had to go on the journey to learn the lesson.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. She had to go on the journey to learn to appreciate home.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. I'll call it the wizard of Oz trope. Because I. Because it's a very. It's. It's a tropey thing, and we often know it's coming at the end of the book. We're like, oh, yeah, they're gonna. It's gonna turn out that, you know, this person's traveling across the country to find their family when their family was the person in the car with them or whatever, you know? But I. I love that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But that's. That's what I mean about these tropes is, like, you. They're so tropey that you even know how it's gonna end up, but you love it so much that it doesn't even matter.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, for sure. What's your next one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm picking my favorite romance trope, which is the most popular, which is enemies to lovers. But something I realized recently when I was in Austin. Last week, me and my friends watched the Thomas Crown Affair twice in A row. One of our friends showed up right at the end and was like, you're watching Thomas Crown Affair. Because I had never seen it. And then we're like, run it back. And I was like, oh, I don't just like enemies to lovers. I like enemies and lovers. Okay, explain when they're still enemies and they're banging.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, got it, got it, got it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I love this because, for me, I think enemies to lovers is really great because you get all of the banter and you get. It's like there is a journey involved. Like, I. I don't actually. Like, Even if it's insta. Lust. It's, like, too easy. I want. There's got to be some problem there. So the enemy is like, there's got to be some kind of. This. There's going to be some kind of story, some kind of backstory as to why they don't like each other or why they are diametrically opposed, but they're so sexy that they can't help banging. Like, I'm like, oh, yeah. I love enemies and lovers.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And they stay enemies for almost the whole. Yeah. Very into that.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What is your next favorite trope?

[Bria Grant]

I like a Found Family situation. Is that a true. Yeah. Is that. It's just a wheelhouse.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I mean, it's.

[Bria Grant]

I was actually having trouble with this a little bit because I was like, my wheelhouse is my tr. Or my tr.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, a trope is. It's like. It's a very commonly used situation. And Found Family totally is.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. It's. People aren't necessarily necessarily related, but they learn to love each other and they open up over the course of the book. Yeah, I like that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Love that.

[Bria Grant]

Like, I like when you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

A motley crew.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, Motley crew. Which is about to. You have this one. You have that, too. I don't have a Mle.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Crew.

[Bria Grant]

No, you have a Getting back. Bam. Oh, this. Back together. Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Sorry. I'm reading ahead. What is your next one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Inheritance with Strings Attached.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, nice. Yes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Good. Again. It's so funny. These are all, like, backstory. I love.

[Bria Grant]

You like it when it's not on the page. Well, I. But you're starting with.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm a history writer. Like, I just love a history. So I love. I've read several books like that this year, and I realize. I just love this. I love when a main character gets a letter out of the blue from a weird family member or friend or someone they know, and they're. They want to give them a house or some money. Or whatever the it is. But there's a weird, weird strings attached. They've got to do something, and it's normally something that they either don't want to do or is, like, deeply against all of their beliefs. Like, I just love these books so much. Darkly by Marisha Pacel is like this. There's so many books.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. I think I just got options. Did you get options?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know, but I hope so.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But, yeah, this is another thing that I will again if I see this on the back of a book. I'm like an inheritance, but there's strings.

[Bria Grant]

And what will the strings be?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like? Especially, like, a lot of these books involve, like, a big house. Someone has to move into a house or live at a weird house or.

[Bria Grant]

Like, you know, this comes back to the house.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I love houses.

[Bria Grant]

The spooky, spooky house. It's like, this is why we're friends.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You're just.

[Bria Grant]

We're just. It's like the zip line. But you're friends with me just for the spooky house.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I just like hanging. I get here an hour before, and I just hang out in Bria's house. Spooky house. But, yeah, I love that. What is your last favorite trope?

[Bria Grant]

I love a meta book, which is not a trope necessarily, but it's when that's a trope. It's when you already know what we're talking about. It's a little bit like, you, like, it's a murder mystery, and then the people go, oh, we're in a murder mystery.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's totally true.

[Bria Grant]

It's like in Scream, where they know the rules of slashers. And so there's a lot of horror books that are like, okay, the rules of slashers are this. Or, like, oh, I'm in a time loop.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Stephen Graham Jones is the angel of Indian Lake.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Jade Daniels trilogy.

[Bria Grant]

Yep, yep. And there's a lot of things, like, where someone goes like, oh, my God, we are. We're living in parallel universes. How do we get out of this? You know, like, figuring we're on the wrong timeline. I like when people. It's not like they haven't ever read a sci fi book before. They're like, oh, I know the rules. And that, to me, is very fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I. I love it when there's always one character who's like, oh, you all made fun of me for being a nerd.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But all those comic books that I read are helping me along.

[Bria Grant]

So helpful.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What else do you like my last favorite trope? You're not gonna believe this, Bria, but it is one that involves a history. Okay, guys, I love history. I love backstory. It's getting the band or a friend group back together.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

After it's decades later, after something bad happened.

[Bria Grant]

Like, it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. It is maybe the most famous one. And they've got to write the wrong or finished what they started. And especially, like, Chuck Wendig's new book is, like this, where especially. I love when you get the twin timelines of, like, what happened back then, because you don't know exactly what happened.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And you get the timeline of when they're teenagers or kids, and then you get what's happening now.

[Bria Grant]

Like, I love that now and then.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

Of books.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, you will. But if I read the back of a book, and it's like a friend group who's been estranged from each other for years, and they've got to go back to the scene of the crime.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Or they go to go back to their small town. They have, like. I love that. All right, so we talked about our favorites. Bria, what are some tropes that we hate? They like books that we. If we see this trope, we'll either dump the book or we maybe not even pick it up in the first place.

[Bria Grant]

Well, this is more of a doghouse item, but I am going to start here.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think this is a trope, especially in horror.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Where animal violence, especially at the top, to let you know, like, this person is sad because their dog got killed. Or we know this person is a bad person because they killed this animal. It really bothers me, and I. It's something.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's like a shorthand to be like, this person's a bat, like a villain.

[Bria Grant]

And. And I just read a book that at the end, this happened, which I forgave it. It is something about it being at the beginning for me, where it's like, you're setting a tone.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

And I thank God this was at the end because I really liked the book. But, yeah, that's just a general one for me, where I have a little bit of trouble and I will stop reading a book if I'm like, I get it. It's violent, but I don't want to. I get it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This person sucks.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. What about you? Oh, I know Yours.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Fucking love triangles.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Especially I was telling. Talking to you about this, texting you with this few months ago. Like, the most popular one, especially right now, is that it's a girl trying to decide between the good boy who's blonde and the bad boy who' got dark hair. But the bad boy is actually the morally good one, and the good boy with the blonde hair is actually bad.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I cannot stand this.

[Bria Grant]

Very common.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is so common. And it, like. I mean, fourth wing is this. It's like, it's a really. And I get it. It's like, people love it. It is very popular for a reason. It's very big in romantasy. But because it's so tropey, I immediately know what's gonna happen. I know that she's not gonna end up with a good blonde boy.

[Bria Grant]

I'm surprised every time. Every time. I'm like, wow. I don't know why, but I'm fooled. I'm fooled every time. It doesn't to me. I'm always like, oh, with this. It's gonna be this guy. And then it's not. I'm like, it's not that guy.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I am never told.

[Bria Grant]

I mean, because I read, oh, this.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Guy with dark hair was rude to you. Oh, you're gonna marry him.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You know, it's approximately 600 pages because.

[Bria Grant]

You'Re goth and you're like. You see the guy with the dark hair, and you're like, I know he's really the good guy, whereas I don't. I don't see it because I'm not goth.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. I get goth vision.

[Bria Grant]

You got vision.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm like, ah, yes. The dark boy with. With dark hair and dark thoughts. He's true. His. His dark clothes cover up his purity and goodness.

[Bria Grant]

I don't see it. You're right.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm still relying on irritating to me.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right. What's another trope that you despise?

[Bria Grant]

I really. This is a common one. It's a very successful person realizing at some point money doesn't matter and love does, and then they're still rich at the end, and then they get it all, and I'm like, what? Like, so the lesson you learned is that you got to be rich? Like, you were a piece of shit, basically. And then you. You realize, oh, you know, I love Trump's all. And it's like, but I am shit.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. But I still have a bunch of.

[Bria Grant]

Money, and I get everything. Like, no. I don't know. I just. I don't. Punishment. You should have punishment or you should.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Give all your money away.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I just don't. I don't like this trope. I don't feel like it's not as heartwarming. As people want it to be. Oh, it's the scrooge trope. And don't get me wrong, I love, I, I do love that original story. It's just that now it is sometimes still a story and I'm like, I don't like it. What else?

[Mallory O'Meara]

The villain monologue.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, I was gonna say. Which is a podcast. That's what a podcast villain monologue. I can say that because I am a podcaster.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hey guys. Here another brought to you by Better.

[Bria Grant]

Health, my villain monologue.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hey guys, what's up? I got another monologue for you this week. Oh my God. Yeah, I just like when I get to the end of the book and the villain starts monologuing and that's how they get caught. Because they.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, because they mention something.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Cuz they mention something or they're talking for so long that the calvary shows up and like, oh, it's so irritating. I always, I'm just. It drives me nuts because it's so hard to skip because there's so much plot in the villain monologue. And I'm just like, a really good villain would not do this. They would just, you know, put you in the evil submarine or drown you in lizards or whatever they're doing. Like, I cannot stand the villain monologue.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And. But they're just so desperate to show how clever they are that they. Oh God. Drives me nuts. All right, what's your next one?

[Bria Grant]

A person making bad choices to move the story along. I need reason. I need more reasoning. Like, it's like I'm in an apocalyptic scenario. The world has ended and I leave my 5 year old sister to go pick some berries. But I wasn't hungry. Like, no. Like, give me better reasons.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I better need those berries. Those berries better be a life or death decision.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I like, I like the decisions to match the level of where we're living. And I know things get normalized in apocalypse, but I just need. I need good reasoning in an apocalyptic scenario for sure. Or any scenario. But I read a lot of apocalypse books.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

What's your next one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Miscommunication.

[Bria Grant]

Oh yeah, you hate that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh God.

[Bria Grant]

Especially if something can be solved with a text.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Just talk to each other, for God's sake. Like, it's so eer. I mean, this happens a lot in romance tropes. Like the biggest thing is like, oh, either the main character. The main character sees something and misconstrues it in a way that that's not actually what's happening. And if they had just something from.

[Bria Grant]

Distant and just text and be like, hey, did I just see you kissing that person?

[Mallory O'Meara]

And then they're like, no, actually, they were dying and I was giving them mouth to mouth.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, oh. I mean, again, it's in all genres, but it's the most, it's the most egregious in romance because it normally leads to, like, a very ridiculous third act breakup. And you're like, come on, people. You love this person and you're not gonna like, give them the benefit of a phone call or a text.

[Bria Grant]

That's right. That's right. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, come on now. Yeah, just write them, write them a letter, let them explain themselves. And then if you don't like their reasoning or don't like whatever it is, then you can be like, whatever.

[Bria Grant]

It's also just kind of a lack of acknowledgment that we're on our, we're on our phones all of the time and we're texting each other constantly.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. But also it just like, it feel. A lot of the times it feels like, you know, like they're like, all right, well, I have to have a third act breakup. I have. How can I, how can I tear them asunder? And it's something like that. Like, I'm like, come on now. I, I. But I also don't like a third act breakup. That would be another trope that I don't like. But what is, what is your last one?

[Bria Grant]

I'm getting a little tired of tough women being completely isolated. Slash, no one likes her. Oh, yeah, because she is so tough. Except for one dude. One dude usually likes her. Like, one man is like, I like you and I like your toughness. I do feel like that I think this is part of the I like a found family thing because it's people recognizing, like, hey, I do. This woman is tough and she is isolated, and I'm still going to be her friend. And it's a community of people. As opposed to just like one person.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Who sees the beauty in this tough.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Woman who's fighting because they've gotten to know her and gotten, gotten behind her spiky exterior.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. I kind of like, I look, I like a tough woman. It's the isolation where I'm like, let's. Let's give her some pals. You know, it's not something I dislike all the time, but I just, I wanted to have more. This may just mean me. This made me, me looking at people I know being like, oh, she had more friends. What about you?

[Mallory O'Meara]

The smarter female best Friend. This drives me bananas because, like, all right, well, why isn't she the protagonist? Yeah, I want to follow her.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, that always used to drive me nuts in Harry Potter. I was like, why the. Is Hermione not the main character?

[Bria Grant]

Smarter?

[Mallory O'Meara]

She's the greatest witch of her age, and she's not the protagonist of this book. Are you kidding me?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah, she is. She's really.

[Mallory O'Meara]

God, that drives me nuts. Like, I. It really bothers me. It feels like it's something. We don't see it as much anymore. It's definitely kind of. It does feel dated because it's like, all right, well, I've got a spunky female character in here, and she's actually the smarter one, and she knows how to do all the things. But this guy is the main character, because. Guy.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And. But she's here to solve all the problems and fix all the things. Like. Like, I want to know what I. I want her.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't want this.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right, so finally, is there a trope that we wish we saw more of? What is something you are craving?

[Bria Grant]

I'm gonna go. I. More friendships. Because that is what I keep coming back to, is I'm like, what about their community? What about. So I. I do. I do like more friendships, but I love what you wrote. What you wrote is really actually better because what. What are you saying?

[Mallory O'Meara]

A character who returns to their small hometown. Any genre.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, we like it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We love it. Because you know what I was thinking, like, we loved Unlikely Animals a few years ago by Annie Harnett. Like, I love. I love a character returning to their small town. Normally, it's because they have to. There's, like, a funeral or, like, something calls them back. And I like this because I love a backstory. I love anything that that brings some backstory into it. But, like, I always love. I feel like this is a really fun one because you get to see a lot of, like, the character's arc. Either they have changed a lot, and they're, like, reckoning with that when they get back and are, like, talking to all their old friends and going and seeing all the old places they used to hang out, or they haven't changed that much, and they have to reckon with that. Like, yeah, this is just a fun opportunity to do a lot of character stuff and setting stuff and plot stuff. And I like it in spooky situations, but I also just. Just, like, in Unlikely Animals, I like in anything.

[Bria Grant]

I also like a small town with a secret, which is a location thing for Me, obviously. And something, you know, I know you like as well.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, we have seen.

[Bria Grant]

We see it, but we don't see it as much as I feel like as we.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We want.

[Bria Grant]

I feel like if there's. We would read every book. The small town was a secret. We've read them all.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, there's a lot.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But we want more.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I'll take more.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Okay. So you can send your thoughts on your favorite and least favorite tropes to Reading Glasses podcast gmail.com. so, before we talk about the origins of the word paperback, we're going to take a quick break. The wizards answer. Eight by eight, the conclaves call to demonstrate their arcane gift, their single spell. They number 64. Until a conflagration 63 and 62 they soon shall be. As one by one the wizards die. Till one remains to reign on high. Join us for Taz Royale, an oops. All Wizards Battle Royale season of the Adventure Zone every other Thursday on MaximumFun.org or wherever you get your podcasts. Time to answer a bookish question from Ariel, who says, hello. I have a query I was hoping you or one of your friends in publishing could answer. Why do we call books hardcover and paperback? Why isn't it one or the other hardcovers have hardbacks, too? This has been driving me crazy for years. Okay, this might surprise you, but a lot of people do say hardback and paperback. Yeah, I think I said in hardcover and soft cover.

[Bria Grant]

Yes, but people don't say paper cover. No, paperback, paperback.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But it's either. It's either hardback and paperback or hardcover and soft cover.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, got it, got it, got it. Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hardbound is also used. Oh, yeah, but I see the hardcover, hardback, paperback, soft cover the most. What do you call them, Bria?

[Bria Grant]

I say hardback and. No, I say paperback and what do I say? Someone listening to this podcast is like, I know. I say say hardcover. I guess I say hardcover. I don't ever talk about it, which seems weird considering I do it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I was gonna say that's very surprising.

[Bria Grant]

Paperback more than anything else, but I don't know what I said. I guess I say hardcover. What do you say?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I say paperback and hardcover. Yeah, but we know quite a few people who say paperback and hardback and hardcover and soft cover. Friend of the show, Jordan Morris. I was thinking about this, and I saw he had a story from some con that he did recently, and he was selling his comics, and it said hardcover, soft cover.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I just think it may be maybe it's a generational thing. Maybe it's a. Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Calling Jordan old.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Or I was also going to say maybe it's a regional thing.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, I think also maybe comic could be comics. Oh, yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So the thing is, paperback is actually the older word by almost a hundred years.

[Bria Grant]

Wow. Really?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Because paperback seems, I don't know, paperback as opposed to paper or soft cover. Soft cover, yeah. You know, it might just be a regional thing or maybe your age, but you can use either word. These words exist. It just. Just for whatever reason, hardcover and paperback in our world is in. Like in the bookish world. Those one out.

[Bria Grant]

Those are the one they want out. They went.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So what Ariel can do is. Is I think hardcover.

[Bria Grant]

I do think it's probably regional. I bet it's regional.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You have people right in.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. All right.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So if you want us to answer your bookish question, you can send it to reading glasses podcast gmail.com. now let's answer a recommendation request from one of our listeners. Alex writes in. Hi, Brian. Mallory, thank you so much for the podcast. I look forward to every week. I appreciate all the work you put into it, especially the book recs episodes.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, Mallory loves you calling those out. Thank you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Thank you, Alex.

[Bria Grant]

Alex, you just made a friend for life.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I always find at least one book in the show notes that I didn't know about that perfectly fits my wheelhouse. I would really appreciate your book recommendations for my mom. She likes reading but hasn't had a lot of time to read between raising three kids and now helping me raise my son. She is really interested in reading what I'm reading, but our wheelhouses do not overlap very much. I'm mostly a Honker series fantasy reader, which I know my mom isn't into. So far, her favorite reads have been Fire Keeper's Daughter by Angeline Boone, Julie, and 10,000 doors of January by Alex E. Harrow. She's also read every Malcolm Gladwell book. She likes fiction set in the real world or similar to ours. Bipoc characters and authors and fun facts, non fiction. Thank you for your help. I got excited about this and I picked this even though it is dad month, because we very we get so a mountain of recommendation requests for dads. Don't get a lot for moms.

[Bria Grant]

No.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So this one's for you moms a month late. Bria, what do you think Alex's mom should read?

[Bria Grant]

Read. I'm gonna go with John Green. Everything is tuberculosis. We were literally talking for. We were about tuberculosis just right before we started. You're gonna get a lot of fun facts. I mean, they're not so fun, but they are facts. And it's about a disease and it's about ways to improve disease prevention worldwide. It just came out, so it's a little bit buzzy. It's going to give her a lot of facts. And it is something we don't talk about very much, but I think it's actually quite interesting. And tuberculosis is on the rise and is the number one disease, like in the world. Kills the most people in the world every year. Except for 2020. Back for you, what do you have for Alex's mom?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm going the other direction. I'm doing Real World with bipoc characters and author. And I'm recommending the Turner House by Angela Flournoy who has a new book coming out this year and I'm wicked excited about it. But this is one that came out quite a few years ago. Backless book, so very easy to get. It's a literary fiction book about a house in Detroit and the family who has lived in it for generations. And the matriarch of the family gets sick and everyone's kind of like called back home to figure out what to do, what to do with the house, like what to do about the matriarch. It is so good and it's so engaging and you're getting the stories of all these different people in this family. Great mom books. It's like very, very family centric and all centered around this mom. So moms on moms on moms.

[Bria Grant]

Moms on moms.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Mom layers. I'm recommending the Turner House by Angela Flournoy.

[Bria Grant]

And I'm recommending Everything is Sparkulosis by John Green.

[Mallory O'Meara]

If you want us to answer your recommendation request, you can send it to reading glasses podcastmail.com as always, we want to thank the wonderful mods who run our Discord server and our Facebook group. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to them. So wonderful. And remember folks, it's summertime. You need a tank top, you need a cute sticker to put on your pool, your above ground pool. I don't know, you need a tote bag to put in your picnic stuff. Go to our Void merch store, all kinds of cute stuff over there that is bookish and helps support us. And if you like the show, folks, we're trying to get to 2, 000 reviews on Apple Podcasts, please go over there. If you use it, open up your phone, open up the Apple Podcast mobile app, give us a nice little review or a five star rating. It is so great for the warms our hearts and makes us love you more than we already do. 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.