Ep 436 - Most Anticipated for November & December + THE LIBRARIANS!

Summary

Reading Glasses Ep 436 - Most Anticipated for November & December + THE LIBRARIANS!

Release Date: November 6, 2025

Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara
Special Guest: Kim A. Snyder (Director of The Librarians documentary)

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Episode Overview

The hosts dive into their most anticipated releases for November and December 2025, covering standout picks across genres. They discuss how to organize and maximize one’s reading life, weigh in on bookish listener questions, and share notable reader feedback. The episode's highlight is a deep, moving interview with documentary filmmaker Kim A. Snyder, whose new film The Librarians chronicles the fight against book bans and celebrates librarians as everyday heroes. Snyder discusses the urgent stakes of censorship, avenues for action, and the evolving role of libraries in communities.

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Reading Lately: Hosts' Current Reads

00:52 - 04:12

• Brea Grant:

  • Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
    • An epic novel told across three timelines: 1500s Santo Domingo, 1800s London, and 2019 Boston.
    • "It's beautifully written... I'm excited to see what happens in these three different timelines."
      — Brea (02:30)
    • Unsure if it involves vampires, but praises Schwab's storytelling and reveals this is her first V.E. Schwab experience.

• Mallory O’Meara:

  • Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave by Mariana Enriquez (narrated by Annette Amelia Oliveira)
    • A memoir/travelogue about falling in love with graveyards; part history, part art, a little spicy.
    • Begins with the author’s cemetery escapade in Italy: “This is the gothiest goth girl thing… it's so good. It's so compelling.”
      — Mallory (03:40)
    • A perfect October pick, highly recommended for fans of the macabre and the historical.

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Listener Feedback & Bookish Questions

04:16 - 07:48

• On Aging Up Reading Tastes:

  • Lexi recommends starting with pre-curated lists (book clubs, Indie Next) when graduating from YA to adult reads.
    • “This helped me narrow the pool of books...rather than jumping in the deep end.” — Lexi (04:33)

• Libby and Accessibility:

  • Kathleen shares how discovering Libby (the library e-reading/audiobook app) has been valuable for her family, especially those with visual impairments or dyslexia.

• When to DNF (“Did Not Finish”) Books:

  • Taylor dumps books if they "don’t spark joy or curiosity," even at 500 pages in.
    • "Reading should always be something I look forward to. So I dnf any book that doesn't spark joy or curiosity, no matter if I'm 5 pages in or 500." — Taylor (07:09)
    • Hosts celebrate the pro-DNF attitude.

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Most Anticipated Books: November 2025

13:26 - 22:45

Shared Pick

• Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite (My Sister the Serial Killer)
  • A funny, magical novel about a woman breaking a family curse and battling beliefs about reincarnation.
  • “We love a family curse. And she's just such a great author… we’ve been waiting.” — Mallory (14:37)

Brea’s Picks

• Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto

  • A familial, multi-generational literary fiction tale centering on a queer granddaughter and her glamorous grandmother.

• The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry

  • Haunted house/architectural horror in Chicago, perfect for fans of Last House on Needless Street and Tell Me I’m Worthless.

• The Merge by Grace Walker

  • Debut sci-fi: Two people merge consciousness in a future of dwindling resources.

Mallory’s Picks

• The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers

  • Romantasy about a bookseller restoring a magical bookshop, featuring ink magic and secret societies.

• The Burning Library by Gilly McMillan

  • Dark academia thriller in Scotland: rival secret societies of women hunt a medieval manuscript.

• Beasts of the Sea by Ida Terpene (translated from Finnish)

  • Historical fiction in three timelines, focused on a mysterious skeleton and human ambition.

• Black Owned: The Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore by Char Adams

  • Nonfiction on the role of Black-owned bookstores in political movements.

Additional Notables

• A Hundred Rules for Living to 100: An Optimistic Guide to a Happy Life by Dick Van Dyke
  • Autobiography and musings from the legendary performer; Brea hopes he narrates the audiobook.

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Most Anticipated Books: December 2025

25:54 - 35:53

Shared Pick

• Snake Eater by T. Kingfisher
  • Contemporary horror-fantasy: a woman moves into her late aunt's house and confronts an ancient god demanding fulfillment of a broken promise.
  • “You can tell I love T. Kingfisher because I'm willing to read a book with a snake on the cover.” — Mallory (26:25)

Brea’s Picks

• House of Day, House of Night by Olga Tokarczuk

  • Classic Polish novel newly translated into English, exploring a small town's gossipy, intertwined lives.

• We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope (ed. Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, Malka Older)

  • Anthology (stories, essays, interviews) on progressive social change.

• Anthology of Real Stories by Writers of Color 2025 (ed. Deesha Philyaw)

  • New collection following up last year's acclaimed edition.

• The Happiness Collector by Crystal King

  • Contemporary fantasy: a historian in Italy discovers her employers are gods, and finds herself caught in their machinations.

Mallory’s Picks

• Cape Fever by Nadia Davids

  • Gothic horror set in a decaying manor; maid and mysterious older woman deepen into haunted intrigue.

• Secrets of the First School (Edinburgh Nights #4) by T.L. Huchu

  • Finale of the beloved Edinburgh Nights series, featuring Ropa facing her toughest challenge in the world of the dead.
  • “I'm devastated to see the series come to an end...Ropa Moyo is one of my favorite main characters.” — Mallory (31:27)

• Galapagos by Fatima Vellus (translated by Hannah Cowders)

  • Queer, surreal fiction set around artists dying of AIDS who embark on a final voyage in the Galapagos.

• The Jaguar’s Roar by Michelinie Varenschick (trans. Juliana Barbas)

  • Dual timeline: 19th-century children from the Amazon taken to Europe; present-day journalist uncovers their fate.

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Interview Segment: Kim A. Snyder, Director of The Librarians

36:07 - 58:02

About the Film

• Origins & Scope

  • The film began four years ago in Texas, tracking attempts to remove books (notably via the “Kraus List” targeting LGBTQ and Black authors) and the growing attacks on librarians defending First Amendment rights.
    • “It chronicles the siege or attack on librarians around the country who are courageously standing up for our First Amendment rights and freedom to read.” — Kim A. Snyder (36:27)

• Why It Matters

  • Snyder draws parallels between the normalization of mass shootings and censorship in the U.S.
    • “There is a normalization that is very concerning...the normalization of censorship is happening at such a rapid, unprecedented rate...” — Kim A. Snyder (41:23)
  • PEN America reports over 20,000 books have been challenged or banned since 2021.

• Censorship as a Civil Rights Issue

  • The targeting of librarians and the removal of books is called “the major civil rights issue of our time” by those on the front lines.
    • “The broader attack on our freedom of expression in this country has gone so beyond the school books...to museums, institutions of higher learning, late night television...” — Kim A. Snyder (37:02)

Impact Campaign & Ways to Take Action

• Distribution & Screenings

  • Film is airing on PBS Independent Lens in February; wide screenings in art house cinemas, with over 85 U.S. cities committed.
  • "The idea is to encourage the return to civic engagement...to show up at their school board elections.” — Kim A. Snyder (44:16)
  • Partnering with Pen America: libraries, communities, and fundraising in support of small/rural libraries.
  • Global outreach: “Librarians Without Borders,” supporting global librarian advocacy.

• Get Involved

  • Visit thelibrariansfilm.com to see screenings or host the film locally.
  • Form on the website for libraries, citizens, or institutions to request screenings or panels.

• On the Library’s Role

  • "A lot of people, getting your first library card, your relationship to the first time you could read and access books was freedom." — Kim A. Snyder (49:39)
  • Libraries are community hubs, essential especially in rural areas for voting, programs, and as a safe space for exploration.

• Book Recommendations & Wheelhouse

  • Enjoys diverse voices, classics, and especially banned/contested books like Out of Darkness and All Boys Aren’t Blue.
  • Has found new appreciation for graphic novels: "the graphic novel is sophisticated… it’s like jazz." (54:11)

• Aspirations

  • Snyder expresses a desire to adapt the film’s themes into a graphic novel, inspired by the new generation’s communication styles and needs.

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Notable Quotes

• “This is the gothiest goth girl thing… it's so good. It's so compelling. If you're a weird goth person and you love cemeteries… this book is so great.”
  – Mallory, on Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave (03:40)

• “We love a family curse. And she's just such a great author… we’ve been waiting.”
  – Mallory, on Oyinkan Braithwaite (14:37)

• “Reading should always be something I look forward to. So I dnf any book that doesn't spark joy or curiosity, no matter if I'm 5 pages in or 500.”
  – Listener Taylor on DNFing (07:09)

• “A lot of people, getting your first library card, your relationship to the first time you could read and access books was freedom.”
  – Kim A. Snyder (49:39)

• "The normalization of censorship is happening at such a rapid, unprecedented rate that doesn't parallel any other time in our history...over 20,000 books have been challenged or banned since I think since 21."
  – Kim A. Snyder (41:23)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:52–04:12 – Hosts' current reading highlights
• 04:16–07:48 – Listener emails & advice
• 13:26–22:45 – Most Anticipated Books: November
• 25:54–35:53 – Most Anticipated Books: December
• 36:07–58:02 – In-depth interview w/ Kim A. Snyder
• 49:39 – Snyder’s reflections on libraries as freedom & community

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Tone & Style

Breezy, passionate, and often irreverent, Mallory and Brea blend practical reader advice with deep literary enthusiasm. The episode’s interview segment is thoughtful and urgent, with Kim A. Snyder expressing both the emotional resonance and political stakes of the book-banning crisis. Mutual excitement, humor, and a strong advocacy for libraries and diverse voices permeate the episode.

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Summary for the Uninitiated

This episode is perfect for readers wanting to expand their TBR (to-be-read) list with buzzy, diverse new releases and for anyone passionate about fighting censorship. The discussion blends literary trends, personal reading habits, and collective action. The interview with Kim A. Snyder is essential listening for those alarmed by the rise in book bans and interested in practical ways to support libraries, librarians, and the fundamental right to read.

Transcript

[Kim A. Snyder]

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 naming our most anticipated books For November and December 1st one of these is our last one of the year, and we know y' all love these episodes, so stick around. There's some great books coming out. Plus, we interview Kim A. Snyder, who is the filmmaker behind the new documentary about library librarians fighting book bands. It's a called the Librarians. It's a fantastic documentary, and y' all have been talking about it. And we got Kim on the show, so we're very excited to have her on. And she talks about fighting book bands. She talks about what you can do. She talks about making documentaries. It's a fantastic interview.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Give librarian swords.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, there we go.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Solve a lot of problems. But first, Priya, what are you reading?

[Bria Grant]

I'm reading a book that all of the glassers have already read, I think, this year, which is the new V. Schwab.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yeah.

[Bria Grant]

It is. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.

[Mallory O'Meara]

By Were on it, man.

[Bria Grant]

If I hadn't already read My Honker for the reading glasses Glasses challenge, this would be that I didn't realize. Over 500 pages. Oh, wow. Yeah, it's. It's huge. It takes place in three different timelines. 1500s in Santa Domingo, 1800s in London, and 2019 in Boston. I literally just started this book, so I can't tell you much right now, except that the 1500s one, it's about this young girl who she figures out that basically she has this bright red hair, and she knows that she has to, like, use that to her advantage because she's in sort of a disadvantaged situation where she's born into a disadvantaged situation. She knows she needs to find a way to get out of this, like, small town she lives in. And then I've also been in 2019 Boston, where there's a second book we've.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Read this year that is in 2019 in Boston.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, that's weird. Sad. Like a college party, and a girl, like, doesn't want to be there, and she meets this sort of mysterious other girl, and that girl starts. Is very alluring, and we get to see this whole relationship unfold. I think it's about vampires, but I don't know what the book is. Is it vampires?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I have no idea.

[Bria Grant]

Okay. Wow. I'm gonna find out, I guess. Sorry if that's a spoiler. I don't actually know what this book is about, but it is beautifully written. I think it's my first V. Schwab book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh my God.

[Bria Grant]

I know, because I didn't. I didn't read the Addie Larue book, which everyone else read, but I somehow didn't ever pick it up.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Exciting, though.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, it's great. And so far it's really good. It's really well written. I'm excited to see what happens in these three different timelines.

[Kim A. Snyder]

What are you reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I am reading a kind of sleeper hit for me. It's an audiobook. It is Somebody Is Walking on youn Grave by Mariana Enriquez. She wrote Our Share of Night, which was big buzzy book from last year. Literal big buzzy book. Huge book. I think it was like six or seven hundred pages. The narrator is Annette Amelia Oliveira, and it is a nonfiction book about graveyards. And it's like part memoir, part travelogue about like her falling in love with graveyards and traveling all around the world to like see different graveyards and walk around them. And it's just, it's fucking great. I was telling you before we started the. The opening is very explicit. Just a warning. If it's a great book for October, I'm really, really happy. Like, I got it. It just came up on the. From the library. I was like, yes, I got this during scary book season. But the opening chapter is about when she was a young woman. She like saw this really hot guy playing violin on the street in Italy and took him to the cemetery and they bang in the cemetery and it like makes her fall in love with cemeteries. I was like, this is the gothiest goth girl. It's so good. It's so compelling. If you, if you're a weird goth person and you love spooky stuff, if you love cemeteries, if you love anything, if you love history, if you love art. This book is so great. So far, I. It's long, it's a 14 hour audiobook, but I'm. I'm in. I'm on board, baby. So I'm reading Somebody Is Walking on youn Grave by Mariana Enriquez, read by Annette Amelia Oliveira.

[Bria Grant]

And I am reading Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E Schwab.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Very gothy titles. We are reading this, we are recording this the week before Halloween. So I want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Lexi wrote in to say hi. Mallory and Bria. I wanted to write in after listening to the episode about aging up your Reading because I dealt with this exact situation that Avery is. When I went to college, the characters in YA suddenly felt too young that I started to find the stories less believable and harder to get into for a time. But it felt intimidating that one section of the bookstore YA could suddenly open up to the rest of the entire bookstore. I didn't know where to start and struggled for a few years to find my taste. The game changer for me was starting with pre curated lists through things such as major book club picks or the indie Next list. This helped me narrow the pool of books to dip my toe into a smaller section and find what interested me rather than jumping in the deep end. This was a great entryway that helped me open up my reading taste and figure out where to find what I liked as an adult without getting overwhelmed by so many options. This is a great idea.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, that's great. So books that have been vetted basically that, that are. They're curated for you so you don't have to just jump in and not know what to pick. I like that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Kathleen wrote in and said, dear Brian Mallory, thank you for answering my question about comic book and manga on reading glasses last year. I wanted to reach out now with my overdue thank you because reading glasses is the reason I know about Libby. We were just talking about Libby on our other show, Reading Smart because our guests were getting all their books from Libby.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You know, we're big lib heads around here.

[Bria Grant]

My father recently lost his vision in one eye. Dad has never listened to an audiobook before, but Libby gives him something to do during his recovery from surgery. Thank you a thousand times for making me aware of this free resource. My brothers, the comic and manga enthusiast. Oh, I remember this now. Are dyslexic and I had forced them to get library cards and downloaded Libby to their phones. Back in the day, we used to play audiobooks by requesting cassette tapes from the center of Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic. Now learning Ally. Very few titles were available as audiobooks in the early 2000s. The quantity and variety of books available in audio format today is beyond what we could have imagined when my mom submitted request forms to get cassette tapes in the mail. I am going through hell. But reading glasses made my life better. Oh, that's so nice to hear, Kathleen.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, we're so happy to help.

[Bria Grant]

I remember in the 90s getting those giant look. One audiobook would be this huge thing of cassette tapes and I would listen to them.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh yeah. It would come in like a Book, right?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Basically a giant book. And you just take the whole thing. It was like, be like, you know, 15 cassette tapes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, back in the day. Yeah, I remember. Oh, my God. I had one of those, like, tape deck converters.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, yeah, sure. They had a little wire that goes into it.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Then Taylor wrote in to say hi. Brian Mallory, longtime listener, first time emailer. But I simply had to write in about your episode about when to dnf. My hard and fast rules are that if I'm no longer having fun or having a meaningful experience with the book, especially if I felt that for more than 50 pages, it's time to dump it. I've dumped a book 600 pages in because the thought of finishing the last 200 pages felt like a huge chore.

[Bria Grant]

Nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

In my opinion, reading should always be something I look forward to. So I dnf any book that doesn't spark joy or curiosity, no matter if I'm 5 pages in or 500. I love your show so much. It has always been a huge source of comfort to me. Thanks for being there through thick and thin from Taylor.

[Bria Grant]

Wow, Taylor, lots of respectful for you. Dumping a book at 500 pages in.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's is beautiful.

[Bria Grant]

That's very. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Do you want to read Taylor's wheelhouse?

[Bria Grant]

Haunted houses with three exclamation points. Complicated female main characters, fantastical creatures who earn my love, found family, and nonfiction that inspires me to read more on that particular subject.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This is fantastic. Great, excellent wheelhouse. And again, I love that idea of I'm not having fun anymore. This is not meaningful to me. Drop kick.

[Bria Grant]

It's great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

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. There's a link in the show. Notes before reach. Talk about our most anticipated books for November. We're going to take a quick break.

[Bria Grant]

Hey, y', all, it's Bria. Just dropping in a little note to let you know that if you are a member, look to your feed next week because you should be getting a bonus episode. It is a bonus book club episode picked by the Glassers. It's the new Sylvia Moreno Garcia book. We did it a week or two ago and we are dropping it into the feed. And if you are a glasser, look for that and listen for your fellow glassers on there. Glassers came up, they talked, they said stuff about the book. It was really fun. It was a super engaging conversation and if you aren't a member, you could go join right now and then you could also listen to that episode when it comes out next week. So just letting you know. Also, another small thing, I have an event coming up on Sunday, November 9th in Burbank, California. So if you're in Burbank, my movie 12 Hour Shift is playing at a very cool store called Killer Fitness, which is a cool female run horror store. And they're playing my movie 12 Hour Shift. I'm going to be there introducing it with a bunch of the cast. So if you've never seen the movie or if you want to see it with some people, it's a really fun movie to watch together. That is at 8pm this coming Sunday at Killer Fitness in Burbank.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Reading Glasses is sponsored in part this week by IngramSpark. Folks, we know you have a story to tell. You know, there's a lot of writers who listen to this show. A lot of writer glassers out there. It's time you share it with the world. And what's the easiest way to do that? IngramSpark IngramSpark can help you reach millions of readers worldwide. They have all kinds of powerful tools created for indie authors. Folks, publishing is real complicated. Writing a book is truly the least complicated part of being an author. But IngramSpark can help you with every step of the publishing process from formatting your physical books and ebooks to selling to using their large network to help you get your book into retailers worldwide.

[Kim A. Snyder]

I get it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I have written five books. I guess four and a half because Bria wrote half of the Reading Glasses book. But I know writing the book seems like like the big mountain to climb and, and then you get to the top and you're like, haha, I have the book. And then you look and there's an even bigger mountain out there right above you because you have to figure out how to get it into the hands of readers. It can be really frustrating, it can be really stressful. And IngramSpark can help alleviate a lot of those frustrations, a lot of those stresses and help get your book out in the world. What doesn't matter what kind of genre.

[Kim A. Snyder]

I don't know.

[Mallory O'Meara]

If you're writing cozy mysteries, you're writing some smut, you're writing some, some fantasy books. Whatever it is, a lot of folks have a story within them. They want to tell it, they want to write it, but they also want to get into the hands of readers. It's one of the best parts of being an author. It's not just writing the story, but sharing it. So if you're an indie author or you want to be an indie author, there's a little baby indie author inside of you and you want to feed it and have it grow. Use IngramSpark so you can get started right now for [e-mail] learn more that's IngramSpark. LearnMore. Most of the plants humans eat are technically grass. Most of the asphalt we drive on is almost a liquid. The formula of WD40 is San Diego's greatest secret. Zippers were invented by a Swedish immigrant. Love story on the podcast Secretly Incredibly Fascinating, we explore this type of amazing stuff. Stuff about ordinary topics like cabbage and batteries and socks. Topics you'd never expect to be. The title of the podcast Secretly Incredibly Fascinating. Find us by searching for the word secretly in your podcast app [e-mail] foreign this week we're talking about our most anticipated books that are coming out in November and December. This is the last roundup of 2025 books. This is our the penultimate because we only have one more roundup before Max Fun Drive next year.

[Bria Grant]

Oh wow. Okay. And this was unlocked.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So we picked out the books we are most excited about coming out this month and next. And most importantly, that we think the classers are going to be excited about across all genres. First off, like Bria just said, we want to thank our incredible and generous Max Fund members for making it possible for us to do this. Folks, you know these episodes take so much time. Truly. I I had to stop halfway through working on this episode because my eyes hurt.

[Bria Grant]

Oh my God.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I had to resume a few hours later because my eyeballs were hurting from looking at publishers lists. But I feel comfortable putting that much effort in. Because of our members. Yes, because our members love us and want us to be able to eat. And we really, really appreciate that you can be one of those lovely bookish angels by going to maximumfun.org joy and signing up to support the show. That's how you get access to the Discord if you email us your membership proof. And also again how you keep us eating. Brie and I just ate some sandwiches while we were recording and we paid for those sandwiches because of reading glasses.

[Bria Grant]

We took a little break and then we weren't like chewing on them recording for you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We would never do that to everyone, but you are literally fueling the show. We adore you. Thank you so much. And remember, we're talking about a few of our picks, but there is a gigantic curated list with genres and wheelhouse items in the show notes. You don't know where to find those. Go to the episode page. Go to maximumfun.org go to the reading glasses page. Find the episode page for this. And there's a huge list. I work really hard on it. There's all the books they're authors and all the different wheelhouse items. And you can pre order them. You can put them on hold at the library. You can just gaze fondly at them if you want. All right, Bria November. We have one shared pick, but it's pretty exciting.

[Bria Grant]

We do. Yes. One shared pick. We are so excited. It's Cursed Daughters by Oyinkin Braithwaite, who wrote My Sister the Serial Killer, which we both love. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It came out a while ago. We haven't had another book from her since. So this was. This is pretty buzzy.

[Bria Grant]

It is really buzzy. It is about a young woman who has to shake off a family curse and the widely held belief in that she is the reincarnation of her dead cousin. And it's supposed to be funny. It is. She's just a really smart writer. And the family curse is no man will call your house his home, and if they try, they will not have peace. And that is handed down very practical.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Magicy, which sounds really fun. But we love a family curse. Very. And she, this is just such a great author. And again, we've been waiting for her to put out another book for a while. And when we had Becky Sprafford on the show, she was talking about this book.

[Bria Grant]

Yes, she was. I know. It's been on my list for, since, since she's been on the show.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right, so what's your individual pick, Bria?

[Bria Grant]

Well, obviously it's the new Jesse Q. Santo. Big Santanto fan over here.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Big, big Sutantos. Sutantians.

[Bria Grant]

Sutantian. This is. Next Time will Be Our Turn is the name of the book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We're doing literary fiction.

[Bria Grant]

I know, I'm excited. It is about a grandmother who tells her granddaughter this story, this like sweeping love story and her journey. And it just seems, it seems very exciting. So basically there's this woman, she's dreading the family's new year celebration where they all come together at this Michelin starred restaurant to flaunt their status. This is very Jessicusa Tanto, I feel like. And then her glamorous grandmother shows in, who walks in with a stunning woman on her arm and kisses her in front of everybody. And the granddaughter is like, wow, what is going on? And she always thought that she was the black sheep of the family, harboring queer feelings. And then she is able to hear her grandmother's story, and it's all about her grandmother's story about how she was sent to live with her Indochinese parents from Jakarta to Los Angeles, and then her trouble with, like, culture and gender norms and then going to college. It's all sorts of stuff, but it seems like it's just a really great, epic book. And I'm very excited for new Jesse Q. Satanto.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And we love. This is. We need to find out a word for this. But I love a book that's like. This is Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It's like this. It's like, really cool older woman who has an amazing story telling that story to a younger woman.

[Bria Grant]

Exactly, exactly. I love that. What's your first single pick?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, I'm pumped about this. I have an arc of it. The Bookshop below by Georgia Summers. So this is a standalone romantasy about a disgraced bookseller who gets the chance to restore the shuttered magical bookstore. And in order to restore this bookstore and help it out, she has to enter the dark underworld. And there's dark book magic, ink magic, shady book collectors. I think there's a secret society in this. I think there's also a secret society in her last book. So if you were a secret society person, Georgia Summers is the author for you. And this just sounds so fun. Was like, ink magic. Excuse me. I don't know what the romantic element of it, but I am. I'm in. I think it's. Oh, I'm looking right now.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Ooh.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Rival bookseller. So this is like. This is like you've got mail in, like, a dark magic book world.

[Bria Grant]

I love that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I was like, sign me the fuck up.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What's your next one?

[Bria Grant]

My next one is one that seems like you would like to the place where they buried your heart by Christina Henry. Christina Henry wrote a book I really liked called the Girl in Red, which is sort of a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood in, like, an apocalypse.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. She's done a few of these, like, fairy tale retellings and horror, like, makes. She makes, like, fairy tales horror.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. This one seems like it's just a straight up haunted house sort of horror. Maybe architectural horror, which I love architectural horror. It says it's perfect for fans of Last House on Needless street and Tell me I'm worthless.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Which, you know, that's. That's us. But it basically Takes place in Chicago. There's an abandoned house where kids are not supposed to go into it. And then some kids go in, and this. This girl goes in with her brother, and the brother disappears, and he never comes back out. And it's about her returning, you know, broke the family apart. But it's about her growing up, and then she's still living on that street, and she feels like. It's like things are coming back, and she has a kid of her own now, and it just seems like a great, like, haunted house. Spooky, scary book to get on before.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, sounds good to me.

[Bria Grant]

What's your next one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

All right, get ready for this.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

This is the Burning Library by Gilly McMillan. And this is a dark academia thriller that takes place in Scotland. And there's Scotland Alert. Rivaling secret orders of women who are battling each other to find a medieval manuscript.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, wow, you do like this one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I was like. I was like, what? Like, you know, my tongue turning into stairs and rolling down onto the table, like. And there's murder involved. I don't know where. It takes place in Scotland. I don't think it's an Edinburgh book. I think it's just a Scotland book.

[Bria Grant]

Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But for more than a century, two rival organizations of women have gone to deadly lengths to secure the valuable artifact in hopes of finding the original medieval manuscript from which it was torn. The Order of St. Catherine, devoted to the belief that women must pull strings in the shadows to exercise control. And, yeah, there's a. There's, like, multiple detectives who come in who are, like, getting involved in this rivalry. And as all of them grow further entangled in this ancient web, circumstances are spinning wildly out of control, and their lives may be in grave danger. I was like, rival secret societies of academic women? Are you kidding me?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. What? So fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, my God. All right, what's your next one? Oh, this is.

[Bria Grant]

I'm just a real. Not a normal.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Bria. I was gonna say this is out.

[Bria Grant]

Of left field, but it was on your list, and I was like, I do want to read this. It's called A Hundred Rules for Living to 100 An Optimistic Guide to a Happy Life by Mr. Dick Van Dyke. It's an autobiography. I'm hoping to find it on audio so I can listen to it. I really like Mary Poppins. It's very enjoyable. Dick Van Dyke seems like a nice man, and he lived to 100, and.

[Mallory O'Meara]

He wrote a book about it, and I'm excited. He's still living, right?

[Bria Grant]

Still living, yes. So I just Thought this would be a fun one to listen to. I'm excited to listen to Dick Van Dyke talking about being an optimist.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Do we know that he's doing the audiobook?

[Bria Grant]

I don't know.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm hoping they must. They must happen to the.

[Bria Grant]

I'm hoping. This is what I would like. This is my. Come on, November. Like, give me the audiobook of. Of the Dick Van Dyke. Hell yeah. He does it. It's on Liberal FM right now. You can pre order it.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Bam.

[Bria Grant]

Pre ordering this at this exact moment. Because I would like to hear Dick Van Dyke do his own audiobook. Seems like a thrill. What's your next one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

So my next one is a translated book. It's a Finnish book. It is Beasts of the Sea by Ida Terpene. I'm not good with Finnish. So this is a historical fiction book that is a triple timeline.

[Bria Grant]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Takes place in Finland. So you have one timeline in the 1700s with a naturalist. You have one. One timeline in the 1850s in Alaska. And then the main character is the governor of Alaska. And the 1950s, you have a museum curator. And it all centers around this very unique, interesting skeleton that is found in the 1700s. They make this, like. It's this crew. They're like, on this great northern expedition and they find this very fascinating, like, sea cow skeleton. And then you fast forward 100 years to Alaska. The Finnish governor of Alaska has sent this. These men to find this skeleton. It, like, has a lot of historical significance. They're trying to find it. And then again another hundred years in the 1950s. It's a curator at the Finnish Museum of Natural History is assigned the task of refurbishing the skeleton. So it's like, through this one skeleton and it's like kind of journey around the world and its historical significance. It's like story of human ambition and the things that humans have done to destroy this world. And I'm really interested in it. You know, I like zoology, like animals. And I love a historical fiction. And I love. I'm like, ooh, two. It's like those, like, razor commercials where it's like, you thought four blades were good. What about five? And I'm like, oh, I like. I like parallel timelines. What about triple timelines? Okay. Oh, I knew you were gonna pick this next one. Yeah. This is a Bria book.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Is.

[Bria Grant]

I've never. This is a debut author. It's called the Merge by Grace Walker. It is set in a time in which the Earth's resources are on the decline. And so There's a highly controversial procedure in which two people's consciousnesses can be combined to exist in one body. This is.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Wow. Instead of being roommates in an apartment, you gotta be roommates in a body.

[Bria Grant]

And it centers around a woman who has Alzheimer's and her daughter. And they are the people who sign up to do this procedure. And it just sounds great. This sounds like a total Bria book. Cool, Weird sci fi stuff. What's your last one of November?

[Mallory O'Meara]

My last one is a nonfiction book. It is Black Owned the Revolutionary Life of the Black Bookstore by Char Adams. Yeah, it's a history book that's just the role of black owned bookstores and black political movements throughout the U.S. i love a bookstore history. So I was like, this sounds fucking awesome. It's not something I've ever read before. I'm not really that familiar with this type of history because I don't think. Obviously the book hasn't been released on it yet. And yeah, I love the idea of like, like a bookstore's role in like political movements. So. Sounds great. I'm really excited. So you can send your thoughts on November books to reading glasses podcast gmail.com. before we get to December, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is sponsored in part this week by our pals over at Green Chef. Folks, Halloween is over, but it's still fall. Listen, November really gets the short end of the stick here because a lot of people jump right into Christmas. There's a whole month of fall still. There's still a lot of cozy sweaters to be worn, warm flavors to eat, nice crisp air. The leaves are still out there. The leaves haven't gone away. They want you to enjoy fall to the fullest. And one of the best ways to do that is to eat some tasty fall meals. It's the perfect time to enjoy some fall flavors in an easy, healthy way. And with Green Chef, which is the number one meal kit for clean eating, you can do just that. They have their heat and eat meals, which is so fantastic. It's a delicious, wholesome meal in just three minutes. You know, I love that. Oh, so quick, so easy. But if you want to make food, which a lot of people do, a lot of people actually like cooking, or they like cooking, but they just don't like everything around cooking, the planning, the shopping, the organizing, this is for you. Their recipes feature fresh, organic, seasonal produce and 100 responsibly sourced proteins to help feel your best. So it doesn't matter what kind of diet you have Whether you are gluten free, you're plant based, you need to eat a lot of protein. Like me, Green Chef can help you eat some delicious seasonal fall meals in a quick, easy way. You can bring your healthy habits into fall. We all know that this is the time of year where we all start backsliding into not caring about what we're eating the last couple months of the year. Normally a wash, you can stop that. You can have healthy eating habits and enjoy fall flavors at the same time. So you can make this fall your healthiest yet with Green chef. Head to greenchef.com 50glasses and use code 50glasses to get 50% off your first month. Then 20% off for two months with free shipping. That's code [e-mail] 50glasses, 50 glasses. So many glasses. Jackie K. Hi and welcome to the Maximum Fun.org podcast, the Jackie and Laurie show, where we talk about standup comedy and how much we love it and.

[Kim A. Snyder]

How much it enrages us. We have a lot of experience and.

[Mallory O'Meara]

A lot of stories and a lot.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Of time on our hands. So check us out. It's one hour a week and we drop it every Wednesday on maximafun.org.

[Bria Grant]

All.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Right, we are back. Let's get into our most anticipated books coming out in December. All right, just like November. We have one shared pick, one shared.

[Bria Grant]

Pick which is said some places November, some places December. We think it's December though.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I've seen more places say it's coming out in December than in November. So I'm hoping you want to tell.

[Kim A. Snyder]

People what it is.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Is it is the snake eater.

[Bria Grant]

Just snake it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, just snake eater.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. It's like when my dad used to.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Call Walmart the Walmart.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Or when I always say the Instagram. So this is Snake Eater by T. Kingfisher. And you can tell that I love T. Kingfisher because I'm willing to read a book with a snake on the.

[Bria Grant]

COVID I thought you would not want this one.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So this is like contemporary horror fantasy.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

From her it's. But this is, this is something that T. King Fisher loves. It's a woman leaving the city to live in her late aunt's house. This is like the third horror book she has or fourth twisted ones, House Good Bones. And what was the other one? Hollow Places. Deacon Fisher loves a lady going to her relative's old busted up house or store. But so she, this woman leaves the city to live in her late aunt's house and apparently an ancient God comes calling because her aunt had an unfulfilled promise to said God. And I was like, yeah, I mean, I'll read any T. Kingfisher is one of those authors. I'll just read anything that she's going to write. But this is like my favorite type of her books is like, her. Her horror, and I'm really pumped about it. But it's also kind of fantasy, which I'm interested in.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Because she has a lot of fantasy books and a lot of horror books. And I. I don't think I've read one of hers where they're both kind of melded together, but, like spirits, old gods, supernatural forces. I'm in. Hopefully there won't be too many snake things.

[Bria Grant]

Hopefully not too many snakes.

[Kim A. Snyder]

No.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'll have to have you read this before I do.

[Bria Grant]

I can do it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I can do it. All right. What's your first individual pick?

[Bria Grant]

My first one is. It is a author that I really like. It's a book called House of Day, House of Night, which is Polish. It actually was published first in 1998 and is just now being published in English for the first time. It's by Olga Tukarczyk. She wrote Drive your plow over the Bones of the Dead. This one is translated for the first time in English by Antonia Lloyd Jones. It is. It says that it is anecdotes with recipes and gossip. It's a novel about a small town in Poland, this one area that's been part of Poland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia in the past. And it's basically this narrator goes through and she discovers all the little stories about all the people who live in the town. Everything from the caller who wins the radio quiz every day to this man who causes international tension when he dies because he's straddling the border between Poland and former Czechoslovakia. Yeah. So, like, all these little stories about these people in this town. It sounds really great. I really like her writing, so I'm excited to see this one. It seems like a cool December book. What's your. What's your first solo one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Haunted house book.

[Bria Grant]

Nice.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is Cape Fever by Nadia Davids. And so this is a gothic thriller. It's set in the 1920s, you know, hell of a historical horror. And it's about this young woman, she's a maid, and she finds herself entangled with the spirits of a decaying manor and the secrets of its enigmatic owner. I mean, that's catnip for me. What's interesting is it doesn't say where it takes place. It says in A small, unnamed city in a colonial empire. So I don't know where in the world it takes place, but, yeah, it's, you know, this woman, she thinks she's found the perfect job as this personal maid to this eccentric older woman who lives in a decaying home. But of course, as soon as she starts working there, she realizes there's a lot more going on to that house. And strange weekly things happens. And I think part of it might be in letters because. Because I know, Like, I know that in the book, she has a ritual with this strange woman she works for where the woman, one of them dictates and the other one writes letters to the woman's son. And it says, a ritual that binds the two women to one another and eventually threatens the sanity of both. So I'm like, oh, I wonder if there's, like, some fun structural elements. Like, there's, like, letters mixed in here. But, yeah, psychological suspension. Gothic themes for fans of Sylvia Moreno Garcia and Daphne du Maurier. So sign me the fuck up.

[Bria Grant]

Sounds great.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What's your next one?

[Bria Grant]

My next one is called We Will Rise Again. Speculative stories and essays on protest, resistance, and hope. Check out these editors here. Karen Lord, Annalenewitz and Malcolm. And older, like, wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And it's got. There's an interview with. With. Because it's not just stories. It's stories, essays, and there's an inner. There's interviews. I know there's. Charlie.

[Bria Grant]

Jane Anders is in this NK Jemisin. Lots of, like, those are just the editors.

[Mallory O'Meara]

The.

[Bria Grant]

The people who wrote are, like, also really fant. Exploring topics from disability justice to environmental activism to community care to collective world building. Their whole thing is they're championing realistic, progressive social change using speculative fiction, which is fantastic. And it also sounds like it's all sorts of a mix of things. I love this. It sounds like just a nice way to end the year reading a book like this. I'm excited for that. What's your next one? Oh, of course. Of course. You. You chose this one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Of course. We're big, big Tlhuchu fans on the show. Friend of the show. We adore him. And this is the final Edinburgh Knights book. Secrets of the First School is the title of it. I'm kind of devastated that this. I'm really okay. Both. There's two series that got me back into series. Shady Hollow and Edinburgh Nights. They're both ending this year. And I'm like, my heart can't take it. I just read the last Shady Hollow book, and I got kind of like, Emotional reading, the end of it. Because I love that series so much. And the same thing is going to happen to me. Ropamoyo is one of my favorite main characters in all of horror fantasy. I love her so much. I am devastated to see the series come to an end. I mean, I'm very excited to see what Tendai does after this. I love his writing so much. But I am very sad that the series is coming to an end. I'm not going to tell you too much other than Ropa is stuck in the world of the dead and she has to get out and stop this horrible cult from taking over Edinburgh and taking over Edinburgh Magic. And there's like a lot of stuff that pays off in these last two books, like secrets about her family that you don't find out. Like, the way that he crafted how this whole series plays out is so magnificent to me and so, like, I'm very, very excited to read it. But again, I'm very, very devastated. If you're a horror spooky person who likes fantasy and you're not reading the Library of the Dead books, what's wrong with you?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What's going on? Yeah, get it together. What's your next one?

[Bria Grant]

My next pick is an anthology of real stories by writers of color 2025. It's the second in the series and, you know, you're familiar with the editor.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Deesha Philyaw. She wrote the Secret Lives of Church Ladies, which I talked about on the show when I was reading it. It's like one of my favorite short story collections that I've read in the past few years. So her editing a collection of short stories, I'm like, sign me the fuck up. This sounds amazing.

[Bria Grant]

Hell yeah. What's your next one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

My next one is Galapagos by Fatima Vellus.

[Bria Grant]

This looks interesting to me too. I almost picked this up.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I am FASC translated book. It's translated by Hannah Cowders. This is a weird fiction book. It's very queer. And it's like, yeah, it sounds like a really surreal story. It's about a group of artists who are dying of AIDS and they embark on a surreal final voyage through the Galapagos Islands. I was like, that sounds great.

[Bria Grant]

Apparently, I don't think I've ever read a book that took place there.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think, yeah, besides, like, when I read Origin of Species and like, Darwin books, like, I don't think I've read a novel that takes place there. And it's. I'm trying to figure out what it got translated from but yeah, it just sounds. Apparently the writing is like very poetic and it's just very. This sounds like maybe a language book for, for people. But it's. Yeah, these, these people, they're. I guess they're also. Their, their bodies are cloaked in the skins of the dead.

[Bria Grant]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know what that means, but you know, I love a weird ass fucking book. And yeah, this just sounds strange and weird and I'm very curious about it.

[Kim A. Snyder]

It.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What are.

[Kim A. Snyder]

My last one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, so your last one for December.

[Bria Grant]

It'S the Happiness Collector by Crystal King. This sounds up my alley. It's a contemporary fantasy novel. It's this historian. She needs to make some money. She gets this dream job in Italy. But then it takes a dark turn when she learns her employers are gods. That's in the description.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, I didn't know that's what, that's what it was.

[Bria Grant]

So she keeps. It's like this place and they want to do experiments and company's kind of elusive and weird, but then she goes to these, these sites to do these experiments and the site either vanishes or struck by tragedy soon after she's been there. And then it turns out she figures out that she's just a mortal pawn in a game between gods. Ooh. So it sounds pretty fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's a fun type of book. Is like human irritated by gods doing things.

[Bria Grant]

100%. That sounds, it's totally up my alley. What's your last one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

My last one is the Jaguar's Roar, another translated book. So the author is Michelinie Varenschick and the translator is Juliana Barbas. So this is another parallel timelines book. You know, I love that. So in the first timeline is 1817, there's two German scientists traveling across Brazil and into the Amazon. Among the collection they bring is two indigenous children that they think are. Think is okay to just take with them, I guess. And you know, they display these kids all over Europe, but really little is known about the kids themselves and the, the kids died. So I think this actually, this is something that actually happens. It's kind of like an imagining of what happened to them. So you have the storyline in the 1800s where the kids get taken and then you have a modern storyline where I think she's like a writer or a journalist or something, but she is trying to in the modern day, living in Sao Paulo, trying to find out what happened to these kids. And like I, I love, I love a parallel storyline. I love a parallel storyline of. Here's the story of what happened. Here's the story of this person trying to solve this mystery in the modern day.

[Bria Grant]

I love that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. So this sounds really, really great. All right, we're gonna take a quick break before our interview with the filmmaker behind the book banning documentary, the Librarians, Kim A. Snyder.

[Bria Grant]

And here we are with Oscar nominated and Peabody Award winning director and producer, Kim A. Snyder. Kim, thank you so much for coming on the show.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Thanks for having me.

[Bria Grant]

So people have been sending me your links, like, saying that this movie is coming out. They've been very excited about it, our listeners in particular. So I'm very excited that you came on. Can you tell us a little bit about your documentary, the Librarians?

[Kim A. Snyder]

Sure. It's it. We. We've. We started it about four years ago at this point, and it chronicles the siege or attack on librarians around the country who are courageously standing up for our First Amendment rights and freedom to read.

[Bria Grant]

Well, it's fantastic. I can definitely vouch for it. It is great. And I think you did such a good job of documenting what's going on right now. What really struck me was one of the librarians said that banning books is one of the major civil rights issues of our time. Can you speak a little bit more about that in general?

[Kim A. Snyder]

Sure. You know, as I said, we started quite a while ago in Texas when a list of 850 books called the Kraus List was issued and that schools should look to remove from their library shelves. And it became quickly apparent that the vast majority of them were targeting books about LGBTQ themes or subjects and black history books of authors of color. And I think in the beginning, one of the librarians said, we're the canaries in the coal mine. And we were looking at school libraries in the beginning. And then one of the stories was a public library. Now we're four years out. And I think that it's become apparent that the broader attack on our freedom of expression in this country has gone so beyond the school books and the school libraries to museums and institutions of higher learning and late night television and on and on. So I think the relevance, it's hitting a nerve from what we could see since we released it at the beginning of the year at the Sundance Film Festival. It's really been hitting a nerve with audiences, not just here, but around the world about the larger significance of what it means to remove these books and then, more singularly, to actually go after our librarians.

[Bria Grant]

That really does strike me as true. It was the canary in the coal mine. I guess we're looking Back now and trying to figure out what we could have done. But so these issues are obviously incredibly important. Our listeners are really, really interested in trying to help these help stop this kind of thing from happening. What got you involved in this kind of work and what inspired you to make this documentary? Because it's a little bit of a pivot for you. I mean, you've done other documentaries, but more in the gun control arena, Correct?

[Kim A. Snyder]

Right. I spent over a decade in the space of storytelling and social impact filmmaking around issues of gun violence. But it's interesting, I would say, at the time, I always say that the subjects or the films that you kind of don't think. It's kind of like getting a puppy where, you know, maybe rationally that you're in for a long haul, but there's an emotional pull and you're like, oh, my goodness, goodness, three, three, four years in. It's not like, I don't know that it can end up like that, but it becomes just so much a part of your life for years. And I didn't think that hard. It was a impulsive thing. And I always say that it, it, it feels like romance in that sometimes there's just a spark and something that attracts you that's kind of beyond words that you just instinctually know. That's right. That happened with this story. Now, looking back, I see a lot of things that make sense about why in the trajectory of my work, this would make sense in that there's a parallel for me looking back at the gun violence work and this. Well, Second Amendment and First Amendment, two important tenets of our democracy that are at stake with. But both involve that the stakes are highest for young people, and both are about really an infringement on the human rights of young people, particularly middle schoolers and high schoolers who either don't really have a lot of agency or say in having to show up at school with the fear of being shot or having their rights to have the books that they need and want available on their shelves because of what a minority of parents feel is appropriate. And I think there's also a lack of respect there of young people, not only for their rights, but for the fact that you can drive when you're 16, you can bear arms, you can be recruited to go serve our country. But in the state of Utah right now, you can't bring a personal copy of a book that has been banned to school without being penalized. So there's that piece of it. But I think there's another parallel, which is that in Both issues. There is a normalization that is very concerning over the past years where there's a creep and suddenly you wake up and you're living in a country where it's normalized that. That it is unlike anywhere else on earth where, you know, gun violence is the number one killer of our youth. That is not true anywhere on the planet. And that's normalized. That shootings happen every minute and every day and you can't take them in anymore. So the shock when I made the movie Newtown of, you know, 26 first graders and their educators being, you know, slaughtered, which was such a shock, I think everybody remembers where they were. A lot of people suddenly is sort of normal. I mean, not to that, but yes, there are the bigger ones. But the idea of everyday shootings in America is part of American life. And. But the anxiety and the fear in the short film that I just. The one we got the Oscar nomination for, which was called Death by Numbers, there is that element of breaking. What I try to do with my work is break through that numbness and that normalization through humanizing a particular story. In that case, it was one young woman who had survived. And to really understand that in that case, there is nothing that should ever be normalized about the anxiety that a vet vast number of young people feel every time they walk out their door. And in the same way, the normalization of censorship is happening at such a rapid, unprecedented rate that doesn't parallel any other time in our history. Yes, there have been book bans, but nothing that even compares. I think the recent PEN America stats that just came out. And we are partnering with PEN America in our Impact campaign that over 20,000 books have been challenged or banned since I think since 21. I think that's the stat. And you know, that normalization of an unprecedented time in America, but also compared to anywhere else. Well, that's not true. We do know other places on earth that do censor material and we certainly know references in history that are very disturbing of what that meant. So there are those parallels between the body of work that I've done.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, that is very disturbing. Can you talk more about your Impact campaign? Because I think that's something people will be really interested in when they see the movie. Can you talk more about what people can do once they've seen it?

[Kim A. Snyder]

Well, thanks for asking. I mean, just to contextualize, this is a David and Goliath story. Right now. The documentary space is very challenging. We are seeing a shrinking of platforms. The bigger streamers are in the corporatization of our nonfiction storytelling space has meant that a lot of films like this have no place. All these wonderful films coming out of places like Sundance have no home. We're lucky in that we partnered early on with pbs, but of course they're under attack. We are airing on independent Lens in February of 2016. And that will go forth, we are told, and we're partnering with them with. They have a partnership with over 4,000 libraries. So that's the end of the train. What is really exciting, despite tough times, is a little title like this that doesn't have the big streamer might behind it, that we've not only done an amazing festival run with now 15 awards, we. It's been pretty great. But we also have been able to go out theatrically, which normally is hard to begin with, and maybe you get New York, la. We just opened at the Film Forum in New York City. We just learned an hour ago that our run has been extended. Then we're in LA, but we now have booked over 85 cities with this film in art house cinemas throughout the country. A lot of them are in the heartland and a lot of them are selling out. And I say that not to brag, but because it means it's striking a nerve in the heartland. Exactly where this is needed and where the school board words, as we kind of reveal, are being played out around issues of censorship. So I'm working with this amazing team sitting around me that are working really day and night to do impact in a lot of ways. We're getting it out to really, libraries across the country through conferences and individual libraries, campuses and art house cinemas. And the idea is to encourage the return to civic engagement around issues. As one librarian says, this should not be a political issue. There's no place for partisan politics in school libraries because it only hurts kids. This is not a space that should be used as a weapon for people's political agendas. And so we want to open up that dialogue. We are sincere in trying to reach the middle. We have. One of our subjects is a proud Republican who has concerns about what this means in her town of Texas, the implications for public education and for just our First Amendment rights. So we're taking it out through these. This. This network of theatrical release in the next four months to before our broadcast, to really reach that middle, to affect to and really to encourage people to show up at their school board elections. There's like an average of a 6% turnout. It really matters to just become informed about who these people are, who are, who are. So we're saying, go hyperlocal. There's agency right now in what's happening in your own town, in your own library. And sometimes it starts from there and creeps out in terms of issues of censorship and other things, school safety. So we're encouraging that. We are really excited about working with ways to get some of these banned books that are attacking marginalized voices, you know, beautiful books that have queer characters, or authors of, you know, books about black history to make sure that these. These. These books are accessible to young people through a number of ways. And we're working with the film to help small and rural libraries sustain themselves. We're gifting it to them to use as fundraisers. So we're doing so much. And lastly, we're growing a movement with the librarians, and I'm calling it Librarians Without Borders because there are librarians around the world who've reached out to us, including Germany. I'm leaving in about three hours, and we'll end this Europe trip at the German National Librarian to sit amongst German librarians who know all too well what this might mean, what's happening in this country. Amazing.

[Bria Grant]

I love Librarians Without Borders. That is a great.

[Kim A. Snyder]

And you could learn all about that. You could learn all about that at our website, which is thelibrariansfilm.com you can learn where it's screening.

[Bria Grant]

And if someone wanted to bring it to their hometown or something, is that where they would go as well?

[Kim A. Snyder]

Well, there's. There's sort of waves of timing, but right now they can go to a website and see if it's playing anywhere near them at a theater, and if it isn't, or either way, if you're a librarian or a citizen that wants to host a screening, there's a form to fill out, and people can contact us about how to get it to their town by way of theater, campus, or library.

[Bria Grant]

And say the name of the website again. I feel like I cut you off a little bit.

[Kim A. Snyder]

The librariansfilm.com love that.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, I have a couple fun questions. Obviously, this is a heavy subject, but what is your relationship to the library? Did you grow up going to the library? Do you go there often?

[Kim A. Snyder]

Now, that's a great question. Yes. In fact, the film played last night, and I couldn't be there. In Princeton, New Jersey, where I grew up spending enormous amounts of time. My mother and father had an art gallery there, and my mom used to leave me there all day sometimes. And I just had been thinking about. About another reason. I think that this Strikes a nerve is that for a lot of people, getting your first library card, your relationship to the first time you could read and access books was freedom. Because there weren't many other things at that age that for me anyway, that you had complete carte blanche, you know, the candy store, there were limits. You know, you couldn't get every piece of candy. But when I went to that library, it was like, wow, the world was your oyster and you could explore subjects you were interested in. You really were free. And you could find out who you wanted to be or what characters you related to, whether it be, you know, Harriet the Spy or Ray Bradbury. I was a big Ray Bradbury sci fi person when I was a kid. But, you know, you start to learn a lot about who you are through story. And yeah, it's a place that there's wonder, there's awe, and there's agency. So that was my, my feelings about. I was a voracious reader. And I know times have changed because it is true that even myself say this guiltily. I don't read as much as I used to because of the amount. Well, first of all, because I'm so steeped in the films I do with a lot of film watching and maybe reading around the. That specificity. But it's also social media and what we're bombarded with in terms of information. It's hard for all of us to carve out a time to just find a quiet time and read a good book. But yes, I am encouraged by my experience through this movie to be revisiting the library. The library. A lot of people, I think, question, are kids reading anymore? And why do we even need. Need libraries? And, but especially I think in rural and small town places, these are hubs. These are way more than just about go and check. People vote there. There's all kinds of programs. So yes, that's a lot of affection. And I've just gained such respect for this profession and the heroism, true heroism of seeing them, these librarians we've worked with and so many more that have joined our ranks as being true patriots in this particular moment in history.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I felt that too. The movie really moved me and I, and watching, I mean, librarians, I feel like they go into the profession knowing they're going to. It is in part a community job. Right. Because it's dealing with the public. It's not just about books. But I think a lot of them didn't know they would be, you know, defending these books. And this is, it's just become such A different job probably than what they signed up for, but they're all in. Which really, I thought was quite moving. Speaking of your reading tastes, we like to ask our guest, what is your wheelhouse? I know you read a lot for your work, but what kind of books do you like to read? And, like, if you see a book about this, like, what will it will. You'll pick it up no matter what.

[Kim A. Snyder]

What? Well, like music. I'm a real music person. I'm very eclectic. So, you know, as a kid, sci fi was really attractive to me. I loved the book Slaughterhouse Five that had all these wonderful elements. I also love my classics. I love Don Quixote and Thomas Vaughn's the Magic Mountain. But as I said, time now is an enemy of being able to really go back. Maybe when I older yet, I'll get back to some of that time now. I'm definitely interested in literature. That is, voices that we haven't always heard in the past. I'm certainly. I mean, it's not new literature, but, you know, Toni Morrison, some of the banned books that. There's a book called out of Darkness that's been banned quite heavily. That is an author from Texas, a 1930s period piece that I loved. All Boys Aren't Blue, another banned book by George M. Johnson. There are just, you know, and I have to say the other thing, as a older person is understanding the significance of the graphic novel, which is a genre of young adult literature that's been banned a lot. And I think the visual aspect of that and understanding a new language, just like a lot of us Luddites have had to understand new languages of younger generations that grew up on the Internet. The graphic novel is sophisticated in a way. Let's say jazz was sophisticated. You know, I hadn't made that analogy, but I think there are analogies in some ways to jazz, in that there's a lot of things going on at once. And it's, you know, whereas I think some people from my generation might think, why would you want to take that class at and, you know, and make it a graphic novel? Isn't that dumbing it down? But it's also something that I think is respectful of certain young readers who might have challenges and can take information in differently. So that's something I want to know more, and I want to, you know, be able to. I have a kind of fantasy to actually adapt our movie in some way, you know, the. Into a graphic novel, because we have.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, that's real great.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Yeah, we have real superheroes by way of these librarians who are kind of the. I don't know. I'm gonna date myself. By referring to Scooby Doo.

[Bria Grant]

That's a relevant reference.

[Kim A. Snyder]

You know, it's like these, like, unlikely heroes that are out there fighting for truth and what's right and integrity.

[Bria Grant]

Anyway, I think that's a great idea, and I will be the first in line to buy it. If you. If you write that, it sounds fantastic. So where can people find you? Where can people find the film? If they want to know more, they.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Should go to the librariansfilm.com our website. There is a screenings page that, as I said, tells you where it might be playing, and it's really in. Every day there's a new theater. And what's exciting is that these theaters are often arranging panel discussions in that local place and conversations afterwards. And I'm finding that there's a desire for a lot of people to be in community right now. They're looking again for ways to not just be alone, absorbing these things that might be emotional, of importance in front of their devices. And they want to go to the local cinema again, which makes all of us in this industry really hopeful if that might be true. I mean, the pandemic kind of really put a kibosh on that for a while. And now I think people love being together and experiencing a story together. I mean, we do it naturally. You know, we're all watching our shows, and people then get together and have dinner. And, you know, it always interests me when you're at a restaurant. Restaurant. And eavesdropping or hearing how many people are talking about the show they just watched. You know, the latest question.

[Bria Grant]

What are you watching? What are you watching?

[Kim A. Snyder]

That's the one question. So the power of story has always for human beings, been that. And I think whether it be processing it together at a dinner, we'd like to do it collectively. You know, storytelling is, you know, from the beginning of time, sitting around in a circle and, you know, the tradition of storytelling. So getting together in a given place and maybe having a space afterwards to process is something I think a lot of people really are wanting. And we hope we can encourage that through the tour that we're doing.

[Bria Grant]

Fantastic. All right. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

[Kim A. Snyder]

Thanks a lot.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So, as always, want to thank the wonderful mods who run our Discord server and our Facebook group. Remember. Oh, it's getting cold. It's getting, like, really cold. I had to have my property manager come and turn my heat on. So if you want to stay toasty while you're reading. Go to the reading glasses store and get some get a sweatshirt. Get a library user sweatshirt. We we love them. We love our merch and it helps us feed our hungry cats and if you like the show please please please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It is so great for us. We really want to drop this silly AMA episode. It's going to be as promised quite silly but we were not going to do it until we hit 2000 reviews on Apple Podcasts and you have the power just like you can prevent forest fires. You can also get us to 2000 reviews on Apple podcasts please do so. It's really great for the show and helps us reach more list can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading. Maximum Fun a worker owned network of artist owned shows supported directly by you.