Ep 442 - Yearly Reading Wrap Up + 2026 Challenge Reveal!

Summary

Reading Glasses – Ep 442: Yearly Reading Wrap-Up + 2026 Challenge Reveal!

Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara
Date: December 18, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this highly anticipated annual episode, Brea and Mallory dive into their 2025 Reading Challenge wrap-up, reflecting on reading habits, book trends, and personal growth in their literary lives. After exchanging favorite reads and listener feedback, they dissect each challenge category and activity from the past year, sharing wins and lessons learned. They close with the much-awaited reveal of the 2026 Reading Glasses Challenge, offering a blend of creative prompts for book lovers. The tone is warm, witty, and unafraid to get cozy and nerdy about all things books.

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Opening Banter: How Is 2025 Already Over?

Timestamps: 00:07–01:13

• The hosts contemplate how fast the year has gone.
• “Year of our Lord being Dolly Parton, of course. Obviously.” – Mallory (00:25)
• “How is the year over?” – Bria (00:29)
• Promises of a wrap-up and a new challenge reveal.

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Current Reads

Timestamps: 01:13–04:41

Bria’s Pick: Dwelling by Emily Hunt Kivel

• Surreal literary fairy tale about a woman evicted from NYC, living in a house shaped like a boot in Texas.
• “It’s a house that looks like a boot.” – Bria (02:14)
• “Like the little old lady who lived in a shoe.” – Mallory (02:16)
• Noted for: great settings, shoes, and fairy tale elements.

Mallory’s Pick: The Unveiling by Quan Barry

• Antarctic cruise horror novel, “first horror book since We Ride Upon Sticks.”
• “She’s the only black person there on the whole cruise, which she does not feel great about, obviously.” – Mallory (03:12)
• Warnings for format: “There’s no f***ing chapters in this book…this book is just one big chunk.” (03:55)
• The Unveiling praised for atmosphere and winter vibes.

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Listener Feedback

Timestamps: 04:42–08:56

• International Libby Access Update: Sarah (France) found success using a London borough library after many failed attempts elsewhere.

  • “Boots on the ground, glasses on the ground, info from other countries.” – Mallory (05:35)

• Libby as Social Media Substitute: Daniel shares that reading magazines in the Libby app helped him quit Instagram.

  • “This is a hot book tip.” – Bria (06:16)
  • Daniel recommends Frankie (Australia) and Popeye (Japan).

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2025 Reading Challenge Wrap-up

Timestamps: 12:14–21:38

Challenge Entry & Prizes

• Submit completed challenge forms by Jan 4th for a chance to win a private Zoom with the hosts and other winners.
  • “We’re gonna talk about our 2026 reading goals and tracking and maybe give out some secret insider information…” – Mallory (12:35)

Reflections on Book Trends in 2025

• Brea: Surge in smut, romance, and apocalyptic SF. Sci-fi and apocalypse themes are merging with literary fiction. Noted return of 2000s nostalgia.
• Mallory: Cozy and “romantasy” genres have normalized. Fairy books aren't a novelty now—they “have their own parking space.”
  • “The fairies have settled in. The fairies have their own parking space. Like, they're just—they work here now.” – Mallory (15:22)
• Notable lack of “big retellings” this year and rising theme of “unhinged women.”
  • “So many women are unhinged.” – Bria (16:24)
• Glasser tastes: “genre fiction that’s queer and diverse, and literary fiction that's a little bit weird.”

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2025 Challenge Categories: What They Read & Learned

Timestamps: 16:44–21:38

1. Read a "Honker" (500+ pages)

• Bria: Iron Flame — “It is hard for me. This was a challenge. Indeed, a challenge.”
• Mallory: Several romantasy honkers. “I have had a lot of Honker hesitancy…pushing myself early in the year kind of cured some of that reluctance.”

2. Oldest Book on TBR

• Mallory: Cleansed multiple old books.
  • “I feel like the end of Shawshank Redemption, except instead of rain coming down, it’s pages and ink.” (18:18)
• Bria: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik.

3. Epistolary Novel

• Both read multiple titles; highlighted Karen Thompson Walker’s Strange Case of Jano.
• “Glad we did this because… I really do like an epistolary novel.” – Mallory (19:33)

4. Science Book

• Mallory: Multiple reads, including a new Mary Roach.
• Bria: Everything (unspecified), highlighted the importance of learning from science books.

5. Award-Winning Book by a Person of Color

• Bria: Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang – “surreal, weird body horror, beauty industry stuff.”
• Mallory: Nickel Boys – “Happy to be like, it's okay, Mallory, you can read this now.”

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Activity Portion Recap

Timestamps: 24:48–31:38

1. Pick a Book by Title Alone

• Both picked for each other.
• Bria: Spirit Collection of Thornhall – “I actually don’t know if I would have picked this by the title.”
• Mallory: Read multiple, noting the challenge of not already knowing about books: “It’s hard to pick something kind of sight unseen for me.”

2. Read a Book Slowly (over 1–2 months)

• Both did Dracula Daily newsletter.
  • “It was very interesting to experience Dracula in real time because you’re like, oh, this story took so long.” – Mallory (26:47)
  • “There were so many moments where I was like, I cannot believe we're still talking about this.” – Bria (27:07)

3. Subscribe to a Library Newsletter

• Bria: Libby’s newsletter (already had LA Public Library one).
• Mallory: Burbank Library newsletter. “It is worth it. Extra events, extra recommendations…”

4. Make a Top 10 Books List

• “It’s always fun doing this every year with you, Mallory.” – Bria (29:31)
• Both enjoy annual self-assessment and discovering reading patterns.

5. Two-Person Book Club

• Bria: Did with her mom, read LA nonfiction together.
• Mallory: “This is my favorite kind of book club…” Prefers deep dives with just one other person.

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Reading Life Revelations

Timestamps: 31:39–34:04

• Bria: Book portion “dictated” and invigorated her reading, especially during a reading rut. Especially enjoyed the two-person book club.
• Mallory: “Honker” broke her resistance to long books. Also loved two-person book clubs for manageable, meaningful discussion.

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THE 2026 READING GLASSES CHALLENGE REVEALED!

Timestamps: 34:04–38:21

Books

1. A currently banned book by an author who is still alive.
   • “We’re not celebrating banned books this year by reading Catcher in the Rye folks.” – Mallory (34:17)
2. A book in a genre or subgenre you’ve never tried.
3. A queer norm book.
4. Give an author a second chance.
5. Book set in a hotel or motel.

Activities

1. Themed snack or drink with a book.
   • “We've done immersive reading of like, listen to an ambiance or like a, like an oral experience. We have never done a food or drink immersive thing…” – Mallory (35:25)
2. Try a reading app or gadget.
3. Update your reading “wheelhouse.”
4. Participate in a readathon.
5. Thank a librarian.

• “Librarians are out there…on the front lines of a lot of terrible shit.” – Mallory (37:10)
• “It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Can truly be as simple as…‘Hey, I really appreciate the work that you do.’” – Mallory (37:30)

Logistics

• Categories and prompts will be in show notes and posted on social media.
• Submit 2025 challenge entries by January 4th.
• “I’m pumped about this challenge this year for 2026.” – Mallory (38:14)

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Final Thanks & Reflections

Timestamps: 38:21–40:25

• Gratitude for listeners, members, and the community.
• “I love this community. I love being a part of it. I love seeing what you're all reading. I love getting – unless it’s about musicals – I love getting feedback from you.” – Mallory (39:19)
• Celebrating 2,000 Apple Podcast reviews, promising a silly AMA bonus episode.

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Notable Quotes

• “The fairies have settled in. The fairies have their own parking space. Like, they're just—they work here now.” – Mallory, on “romantasy” becoming a staple (15:22)
• “So many women are unhinged.” – Bria (16:24)
• “Boots on the ground, glasses on the ground, info from other countries.” – Mallory, on international Libby tips (05:35)

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Essential Timestamps

• 00:07 – Episode intro and year recap begins
• 01:13 – Current reads segment
• 04:42 – Listener feedback: Libby international and magazine tips
• 12:14 – Wrap-up/reflection segment begins
• 16:44 – 2025 challenge breakdown (book categories)
• 24:48 – Activity challenge portion recap
• 31:39 – Reflections on what improved their reading lives
• 34:04 – 2026 Challenge announcement
• 38:21 – Closing thoughts, thanks, and recognition

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Tone & Vibe

Genuine, joyful, often irreverent—full of camaraderie and readerly deep-diving. The hosts blend practical advice with humor, pop culture references, and personal admissions about reading struggles and triumphs. The result is a welcoming, mentorship-driven space for book lovers of all stripes.

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For full challenge details and to participate, consult the episode show notes or Reading Glasses’ Instagram. And as always—thanks for reading, glasses!

Transcript

[Mallory O']

Foreign.

You're listening to Reading Glasses, a show about book culture and literary life designed to help you read better. I'm author and book devour, Mallory o'.

[Bria Grant]

Meara. And I'm Bria Grant, filmmaker and e reader. And this episode is our 2025 reading wrap up. This year of 2025. The year of our Lord. 2025. How?

[Mallory O']

Year of our Lord being Dolly Parton, of course. Obviously.

[Bria Grant]

I mean, who else would I be talking? I. It's cliche to say, but how is the year over? How is the year over?

[Mallory O']

I still feel like it's January. I know I'm still stuck in January. January was so awful that I. I feel like I got stuck there. And this whole year has been a dream sequence. And then I'm gonna wake up and there's gonna be the real 2025.

[Bria Grant]

I wish. Plus, we reveal our 2026 reading glasses glasses challenge, which we're very excited about.

[Mallory O']

We got a good one for next year.

[Bria Grant]

We really do. I will admit, Mallory came up with most of it completely on her own. And I had.

[Mallory O']

What are you talking about? Half of that stuff was from you. We put that document together.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, great.

[Mallory O']

Bria is so good that she forgets the good stuff that she does sometimes. But before we get into it and do these big reveals. Bria, what are you reading?

[Bria Grant]

I am actually reading another 2025 book. I am reading.

[Mallory O']

I am too.

[Bria Grant]

No worry. Okay, great.

[Mallory O']

Good.

[Bria Grant]

I don't feel weird about it. I'm reading a book called Dwelling by Emily Hunt. Kival or Kivel, maybe.

[Mallory O']

I think I have an arc of that.

[Bria Grant]

You may have.

[Mallory O']

Yeah, I think I have that somewhere.

[Bria Grant]

It's kind of a fairy tale, kind of surreal, kind of literary fiction. It's basically this woman lives in New York, and New York decides, guess what? We're gonna get rid of all renters. You have to own your house or you can be a rich person who comes in and rents. Like an Airbnb situation.

[Mallory O']

Yes. Okay.

[Bria Grant]

Everyone gets kicked out of their apartments at the exact same time. Yeah. And so she was like, what do I do? She was like, I think I have a distant cousin in this small town in Texas. So she goes there and. And all the houses there are really strange. Like, they're like these big, like, spidery style houses with all these extended, like, everything looks really weird in this world. Like, tons and tons of, like, additions put onto the houses. And she can't find a place to live at first. And then finally her second cousin helps her find this place. And it is A boot.

[Mallory O']

What?

[Bria Grant]

It's a house that looks like a boot.

[Mallory O']

Like the little old lady who lived in a shoe.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, It's a fairy tale. It's a fairy tale. And my God, people keep knocking on her door and they're like, is this the cobbler?

[Mallory O']

Because she moves into there and she's.

[Bria Grant]

Like, no, not the cobbler. And then somewhere she's like, maybe I should just be a cobbler. So it's just this, like, woman's life as she's going through sort of like fairy tale esque, sort of weird, bizarro surreal world. It's very weird fiction.

[Mallory O']

Oh, my God.

[Bria Grant]

I got to read this as great locations, great settings. So great. Great shoes, actually. They do talk a lot about shoes. It's a really good time. What are you reading?

[Mallory O']

I am reading a book. A lot of glassers save for the end of the year because it's like a Christmas winter horror. It's the Unveiling by Quan Berry. Oh, we love Quan Berry on this show. She hasn't done a horror book in a bit. This is her first horror book since We Ride Upon Sticks. Because her book before this was a more literary fiction book. This is more genre. And it is about this woman. She's a film scout for a production company, I think, and she's on a luxury cruise in Antarctica to, like, scout locations for this film that might be happening. And she's the only black person there on the. On the, like, the whole cruise, which she does not feel great about, obviously. And this is not a spoiler. It is in the description that, like, you know how when you go on this cruise, there's like, different excursions that you go on, and during a kayaking excursion, something bad happens and all of them get stranded on this remote island in Antarctica. And I'm sure you can guess nothing good happens when you're stranded on a remote island in Antarctica. And it is. It's real scary so far. Even though I maybe should have read this before. So it could have, you know, been on our. We already released our Best of the Year, but I wanted to save it for the winter because it's a. It's a Christmasy. Like, the book starts on Christmas Eve, so. Okay, yeah. But something I do have to say that I don't love and I want to warn people about ahead of time. There's no fucking chapters in this book. There are page breaks, there are breaks, but this book is just one big chunk. And I don't love that. Not, not, not. Not for me. But it's Quan Berry. So I'm gonna keep reading it but just for people who is if that's a deal breaker for you. So you know ahead of time. But I think this is gonna be really scary and really fun and I'm excited about it. It's the unveiling by Quan Berry and.

[Bria Grant]

I'm reading Dwelling by Emily Hunt. Kibble Foreign.

[Mallory O']

So we want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. We got some follow up from Sarah from France. So Sarah was the one we were collecting information about international Libby cards for. So Sarah and France.

[Bria Grant]

And we gave you a lot of information.

[Mallory O']

Yes and Sarah has got back to us. So Sarah says you guys are the best. Thank you so much for all the wonderful international Libby suggestions. I went step by step through the list but many of them failed on the last step as they wouldn't accept international numbers or addresses or some other box in the forms. Did not work. Boo. But luckily the London Borough suggestions worked. So I'm back on Libby.

[Bria Grant]

Hurrah.

[Mallory O']

Seriously. Thank you ladies so much. I really hope some other international fans found a working route onto Libby too. So much. Thank yous and mercies from France. So this is good to know because this is the kind of stuff that we can't test. So we need somebody, we need a boots on the ground, glasses on the ground, info from other countries. And Sarah, I'm sorry that most of them did not work, but the London Borough libraries did work and we're happy that you're back on Libby.

[Bria Grant]

Daniel wrote in and said Dear Bria and Mallory. In a recent episode, Mallory mentioned getting on Libby every day to have something to look at while being off social media. I wanted to write in to say that I did the exact same thing when I quit Instagram last year and to share a Libby feature that really helped me out. Most libraries have digital subscriptions to a huge collection of local and international magazines that you can check out and read directly in the Libby app. Whenever I felt the need to scroll, I started substituting social media for flipping through a magazine I on Libby instead.

[Mallory O']

This is Wait wait wait.

Oh hold on.

[Bria Grant]

This is so hot. This is the hottest.

[Mallory O']

This is a hot book tip.

[Bria Grant]

It hit all the notes. My brain was craving pretty pictures, short texts and learning about cool people, art, events, fashion and music. It's like having a slower version of social media with a finite amount of curated content and no comment section. Wow. I love that magazine. Culture is still pretty strong outside North America, so there's a lot of great stuff to explore from around the world Two favorites of mine are Frankie, a magazine out of Australia and Popeye out of of Japan. Thank you so much for all you do. I discover your podcast in 2022. It completely changed my reading life. You two helped me reach a major reading milestone during grad school.

[Mallory O']

Wow. Reading on hard mode. I will say Daniel wrote in. I think I believe the. The subject line for this email is using Libby as Nicorette Gump.

[Bria Grant]

Oh my God.

[Mallory O']

To quit social media. And that is kind of what I'm using it like. But because I know friend of the show Chelsea Devantes is always posting about looking at magazines through Libby and I have. There's a couple of been an article I've wanted to read that has been like paywalled online. And I'm like, I can look at it through Libby, but I need to. I need to do this. This is a wicked hot book tip. So if we will. Sorry. You can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com if you want a list of all the books we talk about on the show delivered to your inbox every month, you can sign up for our newsletter. There's a link in the show notes, folks, reminder. You're gonna wake up next Thursday and be like, where's reading glasses? We are sleeping, folks. That's what we're doing. We're sleeping, we're reading. We're taking next week off. We got our shit together ahead of time and we're taking a week off for the first time in two years. We're. Yeah, we're gonna. We're gon. We're gonna not be doing podcast stuff for one single week of the year. I think we've earned it, Bria. I think we've earned a one week of rest. And if you are craving reading glasses, you want something in your feed. There's a lot of bonus episodes for members to tide you over until the new year. There's nine years worth of bonus episodes, so I don't even know how many. I truly don't know how many. Bria. There's so many bonus episodes we've done. If you want to access them, go to maximumfun.org join sign up. Get loads of bonus episodes. BoCo bonus content, as we call it here on Max Fun. But you're not just getting that for five bucks. You get that. You get the access to the discord. If you email us a screenshot of your membership and you give Bria and I the gift of Christmas, the holiday spirit you get. You get stuff. We would get stuff. It's a Beautiful thing. So if this whole year you've been listening to Reading glasses and we've been helping out your reading life, go in the show notes, click the link to sign up. Support us. You'll get stuff and our hearts. I will do a recreation of that scene from the Grinch where my heart will grow three sizes burst out of my chest. It'll be really special. We really appreciate our members and you can become one right now. So before we wrap up our urine reading, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is brought to you in.

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Glasses.

[John Hodgman]

Greetings. I am John Hodgman, co host and co creator of the Judge John Hodgman podcast along with Jesse Thorne here on the Maximum Fund Network. And I am here with Max Fund member of the Month, Keith, who has been a Maximum Fund member since when, Keith?

[Keith]

Oh, at least three or four years now. I don't recall exactly when I fell prey to the pledge drive, but it got ahold of me and I've yet to relent.

[John Hodgman]

Oh, we shall not ever let go. Now you join us telephonically from a different country from ours. Which is which?

[Keith]

I moved to Vera, Portugal back in August of this year.

[John Hodgman]

I hear evening birds chirping behind you. And what are the names of those birds?

[Keith]

We do have quite a few spoonbills and quite a few flamingos as well.

[John Hodgman]

So what would you say to the birds around you and the people listening who are considering supporting the show?

[Keith]

You know, it's just nice to have a little bit of investment in the things that I love. Knowing that I'm making sure that those podcasts are still being created makes me feel good.

[John Hodgman]

We're so pleased to have you be our Maximum Fund Member of the month. Thank you very much, Keith in Portugal. This month's Maximum Fund member of the Month.

[Keith]

Obrigado.

[Bria Grant]

Become a Max Fund member [e-mail] join.

[Mallory O']

Foreign.

This week it is our yearly wrap up episode. How did we like this year's challenge? What did we get out of it? And what did we think of this year in books? First off, we want to thank everyone for entering the challenge. You what? The way that you enter the Reading Glasses challenge is you email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com your completed challenge form. So you just like copy out all of the types of books and then the challenges and underneath the honor system, you just write how you completed them. You have to send that in. You have to email that to readingglassespodcastmail.com by January 4th. After that we're not accepting them because on January 5th is when I'm picking winners. It's our first day back, so you gotta get em in by the fourth. The prize this year is something a little different. We're doing something a little different this year. Normally we send out boxes of books, but this year we are doing a private zoom with Bria and I and the other winners and we're gonna talk about our 2026 reading goals and tracking and maybe give out some secret insider information about our reading lives that we don't talk about on the show. So if you wanna do that, you wanna get entered to Win that. Email your challenge form to us by January 4th. All right, before we get into the challenge, what was our overall impression of books in 2025? Bria, as professional book podcasters, what do you think? Trends, Buzzy things, buzzy genres, buddies, buzzy books. What do you. What are you. What did you observe this year?

[Bria Grant]

Well, obviously, we saw smut and romance as a trend. So much so we started another podcast about it. We started a second podcast because we said this is a trend we should be following. I also feel like I was seeing a rise of, like, science fiction and apocalypse in general and kind of making its way into, like, literary fiction. So I feel like a couple years ago we were like, horror has made its way into literary fiction in a big way. I feel like right now it's been more science fictiony. Apocalypse crossing over with, like, some bigger genres.

[Mallory O']

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Or, like, more books that, like, may not. You may not see crossover with sci fi. And I think we've seen, like, the return of some things. Like, I mean, having sunrise on the Reaping, I think is kind of a big thing. Like, seeing kind of return of those kind of books is interesting.

[Mallory O']

2000S nostalgia is real big, and people want to go back and feel that feeling.

[Bria Grant]

Makes me feel ancient. What kind of trends have you seen?

[Mallory O']

Well, remember, what was it like? It was the 2010s, when Hunger Games was all huge.

[Bria Grant]

That sounds right. What are you saying?

[Mallory O']

Pretty interesting trends this year. We talk about this a little bit on our other show, reading smut. But it feels like cozy is still buzzy. But none of my best books of the year were cozy as glasses. Think of cozy. And there weren't any cozy books in the best glasser books or. No, there was one. One or two. But it feels like there was a big flood of cozy books, and then the next huge one has not come out yet. It feels like it's sort of cozy, is starting to, like, take its permanent place, kind of settle into the genre world. I think it's a genre modifier that is absolutely here to stay. And it's becoming less buzzy and kind of just like finding its place. Same with Romantasy in fairy books. Like, there were no. Well, the river. The river has roots. Is a. Is a fairy book. But it didn't feel like there was a big flood of them or. That's not true. No, it's not that there was a flood. It's just they've become kind of normalized. Like, it's not like, oh, my God, what are all these fairies doing? Here, the fairies have settled in. The fairies have their own parking space. Like, they're just. They work here now. Like, they're just here to stay. Same with Romantasy. It just like. I guess what I'm saying is that it feels like things that were really buzzy last year are no longer just here to stay. They're just part of. Part of the literary genre, literary landscape. I think the next buzzy thing is coming down the pipeline. Like you. I think escapist books were really big, generally characters, like, getting out of their life. Even in, like, real life scenarios, it seems like people getting out of their lives was a big theme this year. Also interesting to know. No big retellings this year.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, my God. I didn't think about that. You're right.

[Mallory O']

I mean, there were. There were published retellings this year, and some of them were popular, but there's. There was no, like, there's no Cersei this year. There was. There was no big, big retellings. And same thing with the cozy. It feels like retail. Where retellings are right now is where cozy's gonna be in a few years. It's just, like, a part of the landscape. It's not like its own, like, new buzzy thing that everyone's talking about. It's just kind of like a part of things. And we were right in spotting the rise of unhinged women. That's been a big theme this year.

[Bria Grant]

So many women are unhinged. Yeah.

[Mallory O']

And it's funny. The glasser tastes are always the same. Glassers like, genre fiction that's queer and diverse and literary fiction that's a little bit weird. Like, that is what. What glasser is like on the whole. All right, so let's go through our 2025 reading glasses challenge. How do we complete them? What do we think of them? First up is all the books. And the first one is a Honker.

And you.

You read a. A Honk and Honker for this one.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. 500 plus pages. I read Iron Flame. I read the second I. I. This is a book everyone. All the glasses loved. I think I read and listened to it. Maybe I just listened to it. I can't remember, but I did. Oh, no, I listened to it. I remember I, like, lost the. I was listening to it as, like, a cast version, and then I got a different version, and, like, it was completely confusing. But, yep, I did this. Mallory, I do not like long books. It is. Is hard for me. It is. It is a. This was a challenge. Indeed, a challenge. And I Am glad I did it. And I try not to shy away from long books. Like, if there's something that I'm like, I do really want to read this, but this was definitely a tough one for me, but I stuck in there for this challenge and also because I wanted to know what happened in Iron Flame. What about you? You've read more than me.

[Mallory O']

I read a few of these, and they were almost all Romantasy, which is not something I realized until we put together this episode. It is funny that we decided to put Honker on the challenge in the year where, like, Romantasy is just coming, becoming an accepted part of the landscape because so many Romantasy books are so long. My first book of the year, A Heart of Blood and ashes, was almost 600 pages for me. I'm glad we put this on the challenge this year because I have had a lot of Honker hesitancy. Like, I just have been really shying away from long books, and I do feel like pushing myself to do one so early in the year kind of cured some of that. That reluctance. I definitely still love a short book, and I love flying through a book, but this. This helped me not be as shy about them. What was our. What was our next challenge?

[Bria Grant]

To read the oldest book on your TBR list. What did you do?

[Mallory O']

I read several. I feel so cleansed, Bria. I feel like the end of the Shawshank Redemption, except instead of rain coming down, it's pages and ink. Like, I really did a big TBR cleanse. I. And I feel very good about it. Like, I don't look at my TBR and go, like, ugh. Anymore. Like, I feel. Feel happy. Did you get through yours?

[Bria Grant]

I read the oldest book I still have. My TBR is longer than it's ever been. The longest TBR that's ever existed. But I like it. It feels to me more like a storage place than it does. Like, this is what I have to read. But I read Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. I read this right at the beginning of the year. I don't really remember reading it that much, but I definitely read it and I wrote it down. But this was. But, yes, that it was my oldest book, and I'm glad I got r that one. And I actually just went and did a little bit of a back cleanse and, like, was like, okay, if I don't want to read any of these in the next, like, four or five months, I'm gonna get rid of them. Like, the ones that have been on there for, like, Years and years and that felt nice. Yeah. Yeah. What's the next one?

[Mallory O']

Next one was epistolary novel which was super fun. What did you read for this?

[Bria Grant]

I. I feel like I've read a few. I love epistolary. I mean we are going to read this regardless. And I think I counted the Strange Case of Jano by Karen Thompson Walker. But I've read. Read quite a few this year. You did too?

[Mallory O']

Yeah, I mean I, I'll name a letter from the loans, I'm sure. But I read a few of these and I'm glad we did this because this was something that we both really like and I never really was like, oh, this is a thing that I like and like articulated that to myself and I'm glad we did because yeah, I really do like an epistolary novel. What was our next one?

[Bria Grant]

A science book. What did you write for science?

[Mallory O']

I, I guess I've read multiples in every category for this. It feels like I haven't been reading as many science books over the past few years. Like it feels like over the past few taken over science, I have taken over history and I just have not been reading a ton of science books. So I'm glad that I did this. Pretty excellent to have this in a year with a new Mary Roach book because we both read Replaceable you and really liked it. What did you. Oh, you read.

[Bria Grant]

Everything which I loved, which definitely also a science book. Learned a lot. It was a good one. What's the next thing on our list?

[Mallory O']

All right, last book category is an award winning book by a person of color. And what was your pick?

[Bria Grant]

I read Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Wong which was great, like surreal, weird body horror, beauty industry stuff which you really like. I do like it. I. This was a great, it was a backlist book which was really fun and made me do a little bit of research which I appreciated. So I liked that category. What about you?

[Mallory O']

I finally read Nickel Boys so I think I can't, I think we've talked about this on the show but sometimes something that happens on reading glasses where one of us reads a really big buzzy book and talks about it on the show so the other one feels like they don't really have to read it because we already covered it on the show. What happened with Nickel Boys? You read it before I did and there's something in my brain that's like, oh, Bria cover Bria. We've got this book covered and I, I bought it when it came out and I've just kind of had it on my TBR for a while. It was just getting dusty in my old TBR bookcase. And so I was finally happy to be like, it's okay, Mallory, you can read this now. All right, so overall, really fun books portion, I think. And before we get into the activity portion, we're going to take a quick break. You could send your thoughts to reading glassespodcastmail.com.

Reading Glasses is sponsored in part this week by Storyworth. Folks, Storyworth has been a long time sponsor of the show and there's a reason for it. We love Storyworth. If you listen to the last ad and you're like, you're really starting to sweat because there's not a lot of time before Christmas, Storyworth can help you this holiday season. Each week, okay? This is the way that it works. Each week, Storyworth emails your loved one, maybe a sibling, a spouse, an aunt, somebody that you love. They email them a question prompt and they can either write the story over email or they can record it over the phone for Storyworth to transcribe, which is really cool because we all have those relatives that just tell a good story and you want it the way that they tell it. And then after a year, Storyworth takes all of these responses to these question prompts and compiles them and with some photos into a beautiful keepsake hardcover book. This year, they added a bunch of new features to make storytelling even easier with personalized questions.

That's.

That's right. You can have Storyworth pick the questions if you want, but you can also pick them, which is really cool. They have a magic layout, new book designs, and really vibrant color printing to make the finished books look even more beautiful. They have printed out over a million.

Of these bad boys.

They've preserved 35 million family stories since their founding 13 years ago. And they have 48,000 five star reviews on Trustpilot.

That's a lot. Bria and I have both used Storyworth.

We love it. Bria's mom, very famously. We've told this story a bunch of times, used Storyworth, and got copies of the books for other people in their family.

It is.

It's just such a great, super thoughtful gift. And it's a great, super thoughtful gift because it's a gift for you too. Because these are questions that you might not think to ask your family members, but you really want to know the answers to them. It makes you closer. It's so thoughtful. It's such a great gift. And it's something that you can do last minute, which is really nice because I know we're getting real close to Christmas. So give your loved ones a unique keepsake you'll all cherish for years. Storyworth Memoirs right now save $10 or more during their holiday sale. When you go to storyworth.com glasses, that's storyworth.com glasses to save $10 or more on your order.

Glasses.

[Bria Grant]

I'm Emily Fleming.

[Jordan Morris]

I'm Jordan Morris. And I'm Matt Lieb. We are real comedy writers, real friends, and real cheapskates. On every episode of our PO Podcast. Free with ads. We why pay for expensive streaming services when you can get free movies from apps with weird names?

[Bria Grant]

Each week we review the freest movies the Internet has to offer. Classics like Pride and Prejudice, cult classics.

[Jordan Morris]

Like Point Break and Holy sh. T. What did I just watch? Classics like Teen Witch tune in every.

[Bria Grant]

Week as we take a deep dive into the Internet's bargain bin Every Tuesday.

[Jordan Morris]

On MaximumFun.org or your favorite favorite pod place.

[Mallory O']

Okay, let's get into the second half of the challenge, which is activities. The first one is pick a book based on the title. And we kind of picked each other's for this, which was very fun.

[Bria Grant]

This was fun.

[Mallory O']

And so you did Spirit collection of Thornhall, which you.

[Bria Grant]

Yes.

[Mallory O']

Was one. You picked the list and I. How did this go? I. You made a list and I picked it or I made a list. Yeah, you picked from that.

[Bria Grant]

I definitely made a list and you just picked it. I. I had a bunch for the show and I named like, five, and you picked that one, which is like a horror romance kind of book. And I thought it was great. It was really fun. And I was glad you picked it because I actually don't know if I would have picked this by the title. I would have been like, oh, maybe I'll do the sci fi title where it's like, you know, somebody's in space or whatever. So this was good that you picked it, because I think it was one that I was like, okay, this is interesting. I like this idea, but I was happy you picked that one. And then what did I pick for you?

[Mallory O']

Oh, my God. I'm trying to remember. It was another ghost book. I'll have to go back in my caw pile. But it was a while ago, and I don't remember because I ended up, after all the hubbub about me trying to do this on hard mode, I ended up reading multiple books like this. I read that one, which was like a ghostly thriller. I read some from the library that I just picked up off of, like, off of Libby, just, like, put on hold based on the title. And also, I was on the Ripped Bodice website and I was looking at a list of something and I saw the book. I Accidentally Summoned a Demon Boyfriend by Jessica Cage and just bought it based off of the title alone. I think I'm always gonna struggle with this one because we just. We know a lot about books and I do all the anticipated books episodes. So it's like my brain is constantly filled with. Not, like, it's hard to pick something kind of sight unseen for me, but it is fun when I can manage it. Like, it was very fun. God, I can. I cannot believe I cannot remember the name of this book because that's my superpower normally. But, like, it was very fun to be like, all right, Bria sent me this title. I'm diving right in. Because I love that feel. I love the feeling of going into the book completely everything unknown, no clue what's going on. I love that feeling and it's hard for me to achieve it. So what's the next activity?

[Bria Grant]

Read a book slowly over the course of a month or two? Well, we both did one thing, but you're counting something different.

[Mallory O']

Yeah, we both did Dracula Daily, which I thought was really, really fun. It was very interesting to experience the book like that, and it was very interesting to read it over a long period of time, but also to experience Dracula in real time because you're like, oh, this story took so long. Like, God, they take, like. Back then. It took so long to get places. Poor Mina's on that river for. For weeks.

[Bria Grant]

They. So long on the river. So long on that river. There was like. And there's so many. There were so many moments where I was like, I cannot believe we're still talking about this. This is. It's been like a week since we've got an email and they're still doing. It was a really fun way to read a book with actual, like, dates that we know. Like, the dates are in the book. An epistolary book. Yeah.

[Mallory O']

It did feel kind of anticlimactic at the end, though, because you get the last one and you're like, I literally.

[Bria Grant]

Got the last one. And then I emailed someone else who I knew was doing it and I was like, was that the last one? And they were like, yeah. And I was like, oh, God, I feel like I've been doing this for so long that I. I didn't remember that that would be the last.

[Mallory O']

Yeah, I think also because in books and in the Book like you get kind of like a rec. There's a little bit like you flashback a little bit towards what stuff that was going on. Like, you just get a little bit more at the end where when you're doing it chronologically, you're like, yep. And we took care of Dracula spoilers, I guess, for a 200 year old book, but that's it. But it was really fun to experience it that way. I did this with a couple other things. I've learned that this is the most fun for me when I'm doing it with another person. And that's why I like Dracula daily, because I have so many. Like our friend Brian Collins would text me in the morning and be like, man, fucking Mina's at it again. Like, like it felt like really fun to experience the book with people. Like I, I did Ethan of Athos over a few months and that was like really fun to like talk about it with somebody else. Reading a novel on my own over that length of time, I lose interest. But this, I do feel like this was a fun experience for me and I do feel like it made me learn some stuff about myself as a reader. And then our next one was subscribe to a library newsletter. Which one did you subscribe to, Bria?

[Bria Grant]

I subscribe to Libby's newsletter, which is library adjacent. I feel like that counts 100 because I already, already was subscribed to the Los Angeles Public Library. So.

[Mallory O']

Yes. And I feel like it's one of those things where you, you use Libby a lot, but maybe you're not subscribing to their newsletter.

[Bria Grant]

Gotta know what the newsletter happens with the newsletter.

[Mallory O']

What about you?

[Bria Grant]

What did you do?

[Mallory O']

I did the Burbank library because, you know, we obviously live very close to Burbank, but Burbank is its own separate city with its own separate library system. So it has its own separate library newsletter. And it's. I think it's very easy to forget about libraries and systems that are very near you. But if you are close to them, which we close to Burbank, it is worth it. Extra events, extra recommendations, extra knowing what's going on around you. And then, Bria, what's the penultimate thing? What's the penultimate activity?

[Bria Grant]

Make a list of your top 10 books of the year. Front or backlist? We did this last week. We did this. We just recorded the show. But it's always fun doing this every year with you, Melody.

[Mallory O']

Yes, that is one of. I mean, it's, it's our, one of our most popular episodes of the year. But it's also, I look. We look forward to it. Like, we joke about how hard, hard we train for it, but it is really, really fun. And I love a self assessment. So I love putting together my favorite books and I am very interested to see what the glassers think of this and what the glasser. What the glassers get out of it. If they hate it, if they love it, if it like, you know, put some things in perspective about there because you and I both are suddenly you a book podcaster.

[Bria Grant]

Do you feel like a book podcaster? Is there a lot of pressure? You know what it's like to be us?

[Mallory O']

You can get a slide whistle and read your list aloud to your family and friends. That's kind of bam. That's your own. That's reading glasses at home. But I'm. Yeah, I'm very like you and I both. It was fun to look at our and be like, oh, we like. This year was the year of books that are unique and not like other things we've read. And it was, It's. I feel like you don't really. It's hard to get those kinds of personal revelations if you're not looking over, you know, you're reading for the year. And then the last one, Bria was a two person book club with a friend. Your friend is your mom?

[Bria Grant]

My mom. My mom is my mom, who is.

[Mallory O']

One of my favorite people to talk about books with.

[Bria Grant]

Also your friend. It was, it was great. We had a really great time. We read a nonfiction book together that is based in Los Angeles and it was fantastic. I love this. Did you. You did it? You did this multiple times too?

[Mallory O']

Yeah, I really.

[Bria Grant]

Mallory is over here just overachieving this year.

[Mallory O']

But I like. It was. I did this a few times with a few people and it was just so fun. I think this is my favorite kind of book club because it's like, for me, it's really tough to dive into the meat of a book with a huge group of people because, like, you only kind of get your chance to say your piece like once or twice when you're with, you know, 10, 20 people. I really like checking in with people as I read it and I think it's easier to do when it's just you and one. That one other person. It's just more manageable that way. Next year, I'm actually gonna try to convince my weekly movie club to do this. My two guy best friends.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O']

Because we all have very similar tastes in books. So I think I'm gonna see if I can get the boys to do. To do a book club, but yeah, this is just so fun. And it's funny that I like that when we put something on the list that has to do with, like, friends and like, other other people.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O']

All right, well, speaking of Bria, what's.

[Bria Grant]

Out of our little private reading bubble?

[Mallory O']

What was your favorite part, or at least maybe the part that improved your reading life the most this year?

[Bria Grant]

Well, I feel like I've been in a real rut. So the book portion actually did make me think about what I was reading, especially the first part of the year, because I finished it in the first part of the year. So that was really helpful. Like, it was like read a. You know, like, kind of dictated what I was going to read, which I appreciate. I kind of wanted that guidance. But I really enjoy the two person book club. I don't do it often. And so that was a really good time to, like, be able to talk about this book with my mom. And it was all about Amy Simple McPherson. So we just were like, sending ideas back and forth. I was like, this lady. This lady is like tricking everybody. And so it's like a really a fun, like, fun thing to get to do. Yeah, I loved it. I love, I love that part of it.

[Mallory O']

What improved your life in the book portion? It was probably the honker, because there I have so many honkers that I have been just saving for years because I have. My brain has been so fried since. Since 2020, like a lot of people. And I have my brain. Every time I see a big book, it's like, nope, don't want it too big. And so the honker, like, I had to.

[Bria Grant]

That's our other chef. That's our other chef.

[Mallory O']

Don't want it too big or do want it too big?

[Bria Grant]

Yes.

[Mallory O']

Right, ladies, Ladies. But the, like, I, I right out of the gate. First book I read this year was almost 600 pages. And like, it, it like kind of broke something in my brain where I was like, oh, yeah, I can read a 600 page book. It's okay. And so I'm glad that I did that. And the activity portion was also, probably two person book club. Like, it's just so fun to read a book with a person with someone at the same time. Especially like we said, when it's just you and other person and you can text each other because, like, again, with a giant book club, some people are reading the book the night before. Some people, like, it's kind of hard to check in as you go with that many people. But when it's two or three people, it's just. It's so much you. I feel like you get. Can get a lot more out of it. And it was. It was just so fun to be like, oh, my God, what's gonna happen to him? What do we. What do we think? And, yeah, I really, really enjoyed it. All right, folks, so again, if you want to submit to the challenge, we're gonna pick. We haven't decided how many winners we're gonna pick. I guess it depends on how many. Any submissions we get, Send your completed challenge forms to reading glasses podcast gmail.com by January 4th. All right, Bria, Are you ready to announce next year's challenge? Pretty big deal. This is one of the biggest announcements we. We make all year long.

[Bria Grant]

Truly. It is the biggest. It definitely is. Yeah, I'm ready. Should I do books or activities? Do you do books? You mean you do books.

[Mallory O']

I'll do activities.

Right.

[Bria Grant]

All right, here are books. Ready. Currently banned book by an author that's still alive.

[Mallory O']

Yeah, we're not celebrating banned books this year by. By reading Catcher in the Rye, folks. It's gonna be.

[Bria Grant]

We're not doing that.

[Mallory O']

Banned right now by an author that will benefit from your book sale.

[Bria Grant]

Correct? Correct. A book in a genre or subgenre you've never tried. So this might be hard for some people if you're a wide reader, but I think you can figure it out.

[Mallory O']

I'm excited about this.

[Bria Grant]

Me too. Me too. I don't know what I'm gonna read, but I'm excited. A queer norm Book.

[Mallory O']

Book.

[Bria Grant]

Give an author a second chance. An author you've tried before. You're like, this isn't for me. We want you to try it again. You don't finish it. Just give a chance. This is just trying to give them a shot. And a book that takes place in a hotel or a motel. Something Mallory and I both really like.

[Mallory O']

After we did our favorite establishments episode, I was like, we. I think. No, this was. This was one you suggested. You were like, wouldn't it be fun if we did? We put a motel hotel book on the challenge next year? And I was like, that's super fun. Very fun.

[Bria Grant]

All right, what are the activities? All right.

[Mallory O']

Activities for 20, 26. First one themed snack or drink with the book that you're reading, which. This is a. This is another. This is another one that. This was a you one. I would never have put a food item on this.

[Bria Grant]

No wonder I think it's cute. I came up with it.

[Mallory O']

But it's really fun. I mean, we've, we've talked about. We've done a few things on the show this year where people are doing really immersive reading. And we've done immersive reading of like, listen to a. Like an ambiance or like a, like an oral experience. We have never done a food or drink, like, immersive thing. So I think that's gonna be really fun. So that's one oral.

[Bria Grant]

Different kind of oral.

[Mallory O']

Or again, if we were. If it was on our other show, it'd be different. Different conversation.

[Bria Grant]

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

[Mallory O']

Second is try a reading app or a gadget. You know, we test out a lot of book tech on the show, so try something new. Maybe it will improve your reading life. I'm looking forward trying. We haven't done a reading app roundup in a while, so I'm excited to delve in and seeing what. What, what. What else isn't out there. And new third is update your wheelhouse. We had so much fun doing that this year that we were like, we should make this. We should make this the thing that everyone's got to do. And we, we got to maybe do yearly. Then four is participate in a readathon. It does not have to be ours. We are doing one this winter, probably in January, I think. But we just want you to like, take a day, even if it's just for a couple hours and like, like read to yourself. Take one day, one afternoon, one morning, one night out of the whole year to have yourself a big or little readathon and, and enjoy it. And then the last one, number five is thank a librarian man. Librarians are out there on the truly on the front lines of a lot of terrible shit that's happening in this country. And a lot of feedback we get from librarians is just for. To have people acknowledge the work that they're doing. So when you go to pick up your holds or when even if you just send a. Send an email or if you know a librarian, we. We have some. We've had some on the show and you can. What is it on Blue Sky? Skeetin at em.

Sleetin at em.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I think it is skeet.

[Mallory O']

That's weird because it isn't that like. Isn't that shooting like a skeet shooting? Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Isn't it also like. I think it's also something for either show. Yeah, but sure, write them, write them, write them on Blue Sky.

[Mallory O']

Yeah. However, social media, email in person, we just want you. And it doesn't have to be a big thing. Can truly be as simple as when you were going to pick up your hold. Just be like, hey, I really appreciate the work that, that you do. Thank you so much. I know that it's tough being a librarian. That's it. That's all you gotta do. So that's it. We're obviously these are gonna be in the show notes and I'm sure some Glassers are going to make a challenge on Storygraph or, you know, make a, make a list somewhere on the Internet. They also Bria will be making a graphic to go on our Instagram. We are really, I. I'm pumped about this, this challenge this year for 2026. I think this is really fun. I'm pumped about it. So again, if you want to participate, you can email your completed challenge forms by January 4th. But hey, thanks for 2025. We really appreciate you. We appreciate our members, obviously, who make it possible for us to pay our bills and to do the show as.

Much as we do it and do.

As much as many things as we do for this show. You are the reason why we do it. Anyone who has listened to the show, told your friends about the show, reviewed us on Apple podcasts or Spotify or whatever podcast listening app you use, whoever has supported us or has listened to the show or been part of this community this year, thank you so much. We really appreciate you. I am not on social media. Really. The only places I can stand to be right now are like the reading glasses Discord. I love this community. I love being a part of it. I love seeing what you're all reading. I love getting. Unless it's about musicals, I love getting feedback from you. Here's to another year of reading glasses. You all mean so much to us and thank you for for being the best reading community on the Internet. Obviously we're biased, but we think you folks are the best. So as always want to thank the wonderful mods who run our Discord server and our Facebook group. Remember, if you got some Christmas gift cards and you're looking for something to spend it on, you can buy reading glasses merch in our Void merch store. Get yourself a library user sweatshirt for Christmas. If you've done a you're looking to celebrate all the all the reading you did this year. A nice library user sweatshirt Reading glasses sweatshirt would look pretty good and keep you warm while you're while you're reading this winter. There's a link for that in the show notes and if you like the show, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. That's right folks. You finally got us to 2000 reviews on Apple Podcasts. So we are releasing a bonus episode with our silly ama some of the questions that you sent us very soon. So you did that. We appreciate you. We know that we're all going to die someday. We all have a finite amount of time on this earth. So for everyone who took the 30 seconds out of their one precious life to support the show and give us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts and all of the podcast listening apps, we really appreciate it. So we're going to answer some real weird questions on a bonus episode that is coming very soon. You can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening, thanks for reading and Happy Holidays. Maximum Fun.

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