Ep 446 - Should You Lie in Your Book Journal?

Summary

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Reading Glasses – Ep 446: Should You Lie in Your Book Journal?

Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara
Date: January 22, 2026

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Episode Overview

This spicy episode dives into the ethics and practicality of lying in your book tracker or reading journal. Brea and Mallory debate whether fudging the truth about your reading—like marking a book as read when you haven't finished it—is a harmless brain hack or a literary misdeed. The hosts also test a handcrafted wooden book stand and recommend books with complex political systems. Listener feedback and quirky bookish confessions abound in this lively, introspective discussion for every kind of reader.

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What the Hosts Are Reading

[00:39]

• Brea: "I'm double-timing—reading and listening to Nosferatu by Joe Hill for my book club. It's a thick boy, almost 700 pages. I watched the show but never read the book, so I'm excited we're doing it. The protagonist has a gift for finding things and there's a creepy Rolls Royce with a 'NOS4A2' plate taking kids to a place called Christmasland."

  • Mallory: “This book is never talked about when we talk about Christmas horror, and it really should be.” [02:13]

• Mallory: "I texted you about 'If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You' by Leigh Stein. It's a gothic thriller set in LA, with two storylines: one about a photographer invited to live in a declining architectural landmark converted into a hype house for influencers; the other about a fan investigating a missing tarot influencer."

  • "This got me out of kind of a slump... This was a book that I was like, do I need to do anything else today? Because I just want to read this book." [04:55]

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Listener Feedback & Hot Book Tips

[05:30]

• Megan: Submitted a tip for Libby app users—create a widget that displays your current book and its cover art, even for print readers, by opening a sample in the app.

  • Brea: “This is hot, hot, hot. Book tip in the morning.” [06:16]

• Priscilla: Used a family tamale-cooking tradition to fulfill a “two-person book club” Reading Glasses challenge, listening to 'Hidden Valley Road' with her sister during marathon cooking sessions.

  • Brea: “That is so cute... I love that you read that book. I read that book too. Honestly, I would like to have read that with my family because it's such a wild book.” [07:54]

  • Priscilla's wheelhouse includes: non-fiction that reads like fiction, disability memoirs, pop science, Japanese-translated fiction, cookbooks that make her cry, food histories, queer romance, neurodivergent characters, and the ‘yandere’ character archetype.

    • Brea explaining: “‘Yandere’... who starts sweet and loving, but whose affection becomes dangerously obsessive...” [08:28]

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Main Segment: Should You Lie in Your Book Tracker?

The Listener's Dilemma

[10:47]

• Anonymous Glasser writes in: If they get 20% into a book and decide it’s not for them, they look up a plot summary and mark it as “read” on Goodreads/Storygraph—pretending they've finished, for the sake of completion.

  • “Is this a book sin?”

Brea & Mallory Weigh In

• Brea: “I think this is great because what this person has done is hacked their own brain. There’s no Goodreads police. No one shows up at the door and asks, ‘Did you really read that book?’” [12:08]

• Mallory: “Marking it as read when you haven’t finished isn’t great, but it’s a mid-level sin. It would be worse if you were reviewing and rating the book too.” [13:51]

• Brea's Confession: She once ‘cheated’ on her 10,000 steps a day challenge, moving her arm to meet the goal: “Am I a liar? Yes. But did I finish it? Did I keep going? … It’s a hack for your brain.” [13:09]

• Mallory: “If this solution helps you dump books, I get that. But you might not remember years from now that you DNF’d. Are you counting that toward your end-of-year total? If you look back and see 150 books, but you didn’t finish 20, it throws off your assessment of your reading life.” [17:27]

• Mallory's Confession: She once skipped unpleasant exercise sets in her powerlifting journal: “The problem was it harmed me in the long run because I wasn’t getting as strong and my coach was making decisions based off those numbers.” [18:08]

Pros & Cons

• Brea: "Reading isn't about the system, it's about yourself. The obvious con is you have to come clean to people when they think you read something you didn’t." [15:04]
• Mallory: “If you’re posting it publicly, someone might want to talk about a book you didn’t finish. Plus, your reading stats and goals won’t be accurate.” [17:27]
• Brea: “You did do some work—tried a book, didn’t like it, and didn’t finish it. That’s still some work!” [19:39]

Alternative Solutions

[18:57]

• Track pages rather than books if you want measurable progress.

• Use DNF (“Did Not Finish”) features on tracking sites.

  • Mallory: “What if this reader was like, ‘I want to DNF 20 books this year’?”
  • Brea: “That’s interesting...you’re checking a box for yourself but not completely lying.”

• Only mark books as finished after actually finishing them.

  • Mallory: “Maybe it might just be as simple as waiting... That’s why it’s so easy for me to dump things—nobody knows.” [20:29]

• Make book tracking private so you can track however you want without social pressure. [22:51]

• Mostly: Do what serves your personal reading life. If marking unfinished books helps you move on and read more of what you love, who cares?

  • Brea: “Whatever you need to do to move on to read something you actually like.” [22:00]
  • Mallory: “We’re not going to tell anybody. Actually, we’re telling everybody, but not your name!” [21:09]

Notable Moment

• Mallory: “Reading isn’t about the system. Reading is about you. Someone should embroider that.” [16:05]

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Book Tech Review: Wooden Book Stand

[24:39]

Recently tested: a handcrafted, triangular wooden book stand with a mug holder (approx. $40 on Etsy).

• Brea: “Very cute. I don’t think I would personally ever use it, but it feels really nice and handmade—a great gift.”
• Mallory: “I love being able to put my book right down next to me and keep my drink inches away... It’s very classy looking... I’ll be using it for myself.”
  • “[...] you don’t have to use a bookmark. You just put it right down on the stand.”
• Pricey but sturdy and beautiful; both hosts give it 4/5 pages.

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Book Recommendation Request: Complex Political Systems

[29:18]
Listener Kenny’s Request: Books with complex/interesting political systems (like The Goblin Emperor or Ancillary Justice). Likes: political intrigue, queer sword-wielding ladies, meaningful smut, asexual characters, magic, etc.

Recommendations

• Brea: Infomocracy by Malka Older – A sci-fi thriller set in a world of micro-democracies, each with different laws and leadership, providing lots of intricate political machinations.

  • “It’s so different from anything I’ve ever read and is intriguing, kind of thrillery, and really fun.” [31:03]

• Mallory: A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos, tr. Hildegarde Serle – Fantasy about a world split into floating ‘arcs,’ each ruled by different political families with their own laws and magic. Features a quietly strong protagonist thrust into an elaborate political (and magical) world.

  • “Complex magic system, complex political system... It also ticks off atypical heroes choosing responsibility over love, authors that trust the reader... I think Kenny’s gonna love it.” [32:53]

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Memorable Quotes

• "No one is coming, and they're like: 'Did you really read that book?'" – Brea [12:30]
• "Reading isn’t about the system. Reading is about you." – Mallory [16:05]
• “We live in hell anyways. We might as well be sinning.” – Mallory [21:55]
• “Just don’t lie to me to my face. I don’t like that.” – Brea [22:08]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• What Are You Reading? – [00:39]
• Hot Book Tips & Listener Feedback – [05:30]
• Core Discussion: Lying in Your Book Journal – [10:47]
• Debate & Solutions – [12:08], [15:01], [17:27], [18:57], [20:07], [22:51]
• Book Tech Review: Wooden Book Stand – [24:39]
• Book Recommendations: Complex Political Systems – [29:18]

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Closing Thoughts

Ultimately, Mallory and Brea agree: your reading life is yours to shape. Whether you want to bend the truth in your book journal, track your DNFs, or make your reading log private, the important thing is to read what you love, track it however suits your brain, and keep having fun. Just don’t get caught in an awkward convo about a book you didn’t finish!

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Contact & Community:

• Send recommendations or thoughts to [e-mail]
• Join their newsletter for book lists
• Connect via Discord and Facebook (links in show notes)

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Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

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'.

[A]

Meara. And I'm Bria Grant, filmmaker and e reader.

[B]

Oh, this is a spicy episode.

[A]

We're debating whether or not you should lie in your book tracker.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

And I actually think Mallory and I may disagree about this, by the way, so. So get ready for a hearty debate. Plus, we test out a wooden book stand that Mallory loves, and I'm giving back to her and recommending books with complex political systems.

[B]

First, Bria, what are you reading? I'm.

[A]

I'm double timing. I'm reading and listening to.

[B]

Because. Double timing.

[A]

My book Club is read 2. Two weeks in a row. I'm talking about my book club. My book club is reading Nosferatu by Joe Hill. Oh.

[B]

Which starts off in my hometown, Haverhill, Massachusetts.

[A]

I actually was gonna mention that to you. Yes, it does. I've actually never read this one of his, which I love. Joe Hill, huge Joe Hill fan. And this one I just happen to have never read, so I'm excited that we picked it. Yeah. So we're doing. I'm reading it both physically, but then I'm also listening to it because our book club is in one week, and I just started it, and it is a very long. It's a thick boy. Let me see. It's a. It's almost 700 pages.

[B]

Yeah, it's a big one.

[A]

Also, the other thing is, I watched the show weirdly.

[B]

I've only read the book. I've never watched the show.

[A]

Okay. So I didn't know how close it's, but basically, okay. So far I've gotten through. There's a girl named Victoria who also goes by the brat, who has a gift for finding things, and her mother misplaces a bracelet, and she's able to find it by going over this rickety bridge that is, like, maybe not real. It goes wherever she needs to go. And at the same time, it's just so. This is so great, Joe Hill, where it's like multiple characters, multiple things happening at the same time. There is a guy. Guy who picks up kids and likes to take them for a ride in his Nosferatu.

[B]

It's a Rolls Royce Wraith.

[A]

Yes, that's right. That's right. With a Nosferatu vanity plate. And then he can slip right out of the everyday world and onto hidden roads that transport them to Scotland. Place called Christmasland. And that's just that's just been introduced. I literally just started this book.

[B]

This book is never talked about when we talk about Christmas horror. And it really should be.

[A]

Oh, yeah, good point. We're very excited. Joe Hill, I believe, is coming to our. Gonna zoom in, which is great.

[B]

Oh, that's fun.

[A]

Again, I wanna. We need to bring on my. The woman who runs my book club because she does such a good job.

[B]

I actually think we should, because we. I have. I've been collecting some book club questions and I think we should just bring. Have Chelsea again.

[A]

She's. She's very. You know, she keeps it really straight and narrow. Like she. We have to be there, we have to respond. We're very have to do with books. She's very strict. You have. You gotta. You don't have to read the book, but you have to give it a shot. But it's. Yes. So that's what I'm reading. What are you reading?

[B]

I texted you about this book and it. I cannot stop thinking about it. It's called if you're seeing this, it's meant for you by Leigh Stein. This is one of those books that I had on hold forever last year. And it can't make my best of the year because it came out last year, but I'm fine. I finally, of course, in January, all these books that I wanted to read are coming in. And this is like. It's not a horror book. It's more like. It's a gothic novel. Gothic thriller, I would say. And it takes place in la, which is really exciting. There are two storylines. One is about this woman. It starts off she' literally on her way to move in with her boyfriend. And her friends sent her a Reddit post that her boyfriend very clearly made about her that about how he doesn't want her to move in with him, even though it was his idea. So she's panicking. She's not sure what to do and she decides to finally accept. Because when she was a teenager she was like sort of a teenage photographer prodigy. And this. She met this random man on the Internet who lived in la, who lives in the. Which. Which in real life is the Ennis House, I think it is. It's like that weird house in LA that Buffy like. There's a very famous scenes in a lot of movies, but a lot of people know it from Buffy. It's like made out of like concrete blocks. It's like Neo Mayan style.

[A]

He.

[B]

His family owns this house. He lives in this house. When she was a teenager, he had an exhibition of her photographs in this house, but she never went back.

[A]

It's in Blade Runner, too.

[B]

Yeah, I think it's in a bunch of. Bunch of things. But this man has always, like, wanted to support her and help her out. So she takes his advice to come move into the house because he has turned it into a hype house for influencers. Oh, my God. Because he's like, the house requires so much money to repair because it's been run down, and it's. It needs to be renovated. There's parts that are falling down. And. And he got the idea to bring a bunch of influencers in to, like, make content and live in this house. But he's so in over his head, and he needs her to be kind of like a. A Gen Z translator, essentially. And then the. But there's a lot of weird stuff about the house, and the house makes you feel very weird. And the other story is from one of the influencers that applied to be at this hype house and got accepted because she's obsessed with one of the influencers that used to be at the house. But she disappeared. She was a tarot influencer, and one day she just stopped posting, moved out of the house. No one knows what happened to her.

[A]

Sounds good.

[B]

So she wants to know what. Find out what happened to this woman whose content she loves so much. And they're all trying to, like, build their followings, make money. But some really weird stuff's happening in this house. They all have weird connections with each other. I won't say much more, but it's really, really. This got me out of kind of a slump. Like, this was a book that I was like, do I need to do anything else today? Because I just want to read this book. So I'm reading. If you're seeing this, it's meant for you by Lee Stein.

[A]

And I am reading Nostragi by Joho.

[B]

So we want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Megan wrote in to say. Hi, Brianne Mallory. I've been a listener and fan since episode one. Wow. And I'm so excited that I finally have a hot book tip I'd love to share. For Libby users and those who use Apple devices, you can create a widget for the app that will show you what you're currently listening to or reading. But did you know this will also show the COVID art if you just open a sample of the book and the app.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Indeed. This has been a game changer for me to be able to remember the author of what I'm currently reading and enjoy the beautiful cover art. I'm mostly a print book reader so when I start a new book I go into Libby and find the title and click Read Sample and then the widget will show the book without having to download or keep a copy from the next person in line. Now I am always ready to answer the question of what are you reading?

[A]

This is a problem for those of us who are e readers or people like what are you reading? I'm like the name of the book is and I have to really think about it. Yeah, yeah, this is hot, hot hot hot.

[B]

Book tip in the Morning Megan says thank you so much for the show. Since becoming a glasser, I found my calling as a library assistant. Cannot thank you both enough for what you do to inspire your listeners to find their place in the bookish world.

[A]

So cute.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Amazing. That's so cool.

[B]

I am downloading this widget today.

[A]

Yeah, that sounds amazing. Priscilla wrote in and said hi Bri Mallory, I wanted to write in to let you know how I am fulfilling the two person book club for the 2025 reading glasses challenge. Which I am not going to lie, has been difficult for me as I often let my mood dictate my next read. I am also in a book club with some bookish friends and feel awkward asking only one of them to do a buddy read with me. That's fair. So as the end of the year approached, I was ready to accept that this was not going to be an item I was going to be able to cross off my list. Enter my family's most time honored tradition Christmas Tamales. This past week, when my sister came over to kick off our annual Christmas tamale prep which is about 12 to 14 hours from start to finish, cooking, assembling and bagging suggested an audiobook. She was all for it. I recommended Hidden Valley Road Inside the Mind of the American Family. That is such a wild book to listen to with your family by Robert Kolker. Needless to say, it was a great listen and a wonderful way to complete the challenge. We paused, discuss what we just listened to and researched various topics or people mentioned. Although we did not finish the book, it was a great way to spend the day. I hope we can make this part of our tradition from years to come. That is so cute.

[B]

I love this.

[A]

Thank you for such a wonderful podcast and setting up this challenge. It was a great way to bring my passion for reading into my traditions with my family. I love it. You do single handedly reignited my passion for reading and giving me a community I've been craving for a long time. That is so.

[B]

This is so great.

[A]

Lovely. I love that. Priscilla and Fantastic. That's so cute. And I love that you read that book. I read that book too. It is. Honestly, I would like to have read that with my family because it's such a wild book.

[B]

And a great discussion book too.

[A]

Really is. Do you want to read Priscilla's Wheelhouse?

[B]

Yes. It's non fiction that reads like fiction. Disability memoirs, pop science books about behavior. Human, animal, plant, Japanese translated fiction. Is this Rias?

[A]

It's me.

[B]

Cookbooks that make me cry. Food histories. Queer romance. Strong, funny female characters. Neurodivergent main characters. Yan. I don't know what this is. Yandere Male main character.

[A]

Oh, it's a Japanese term for fictional character archetype, often in anime or manga, who starts sweet and loving, but whose affection becomes dangerously obsessive, psychotic or violent, often leaning to kidnapping, stalking or murders of rivals. Oh, that's fantastic.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

I've never heard that word.

[B]

New word. Why choose romance? Cozy bookstores, Zombie apocalypse. But heartwarming or informative. P.S. i bought myself a library user shirt and your book for Christmas. Looking forward to renewing my membership for years to come. Is this a perfect email?

[A]

Thank you so much.

[B]

Is this the best email ever?

[A]

It's so nice.

[B]

Thank you God so much. Wow. 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. Before we debate about lying in your book tracker, we're going to take a quick break. Foreign.

[C]

Hello, I'm Sierra Kato, host of TV Chef Fantasy League, and I'm here with Max Fund Member of the Month Dan Kotnik, who has been a Maximum fun member since 2023.

[D]

Thank you very much.

[C]

As the Max Fund Member of the Month, Dan, you'll be getting a $25 gift card to the Maximum Fund Store and you get a special Member of the Month bumper sticker. Yeah, this is a huge one. You get a parking spot at Max Fun Headquarters HQ in Los Angeles, California.

[D]

Sounds good.

[C]

Is there anything else you'd like to add as Member of the Month?

[D]

This is my opportunity to say thank you to everyone. That is a part of Maximum Fun because you guys have just created a media environment that clearly resonates with a lot of people. Being able to do that organically is really impressive and I think that's the root of why I've been such a big supporter. And so I want to just thank you guys for committing to that goal.

[C]

It's for members like you, Dan, and you specifically are member of the month for a reason.

[D]

Thanks. Bye.

[B]

Become a Max Fund member [e-mail] join. This week we've got a doozy of a discussion question. Is it okay to lie in your book tracker? Does this benefit you in any way, or are you committing a bookish sin? We're diving into it. Bri, you want to read this anonymous Glasser question?

[A]

Yes. Okay. This podcast has given me so many excellent tools for introspection when it comes to my reading preferences that typically, I'm pretty good at choosing books I know I'll like, but in the rare instance that I pick up a book that isn't for me, I have a really hard time dumping that book. This is in part because I'm a completionist, and also partly because I hate the idea of not getting to mark a book on Storygraphs or Goodreads if I'm already good ways into it.

[B]

So this is the Sunken Page Fallacy. Yeah, this Gloucester really seems like they're having a hard time with the Sunken Page fallacy.

[A]

Yes. So here's my book Sin. If I get up to 20% or more into a book and then realize I'm not vibing with it, I will look at a plot summary and mark it as read on Goodreads or Storygraph. Anyway, I fully pretend to others that I've read the whole book. I know this is deceitful, but is literally the only way I can convince myself to not sit and read the whole book for the sake of marking it as read. And you're right. Life is just too short for that. Maybe you can absolve me in my book guilt, maybe you can't. But this dubious advice will help some other completionists live in sin rather than waste hours on bad books. Maybe the entire RG community will band together in outrage upon finding that there is a liar in their midst. Who knows? But I have to get this off my chest.

[B]

Wow, this is a really brave confession.

[A]

So brave.

[B]

I mean, I guess it is Anonymous, so it's. But it is. I mean, I'm sure that this was a hard email to write.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

I'm actually really proud of this Glasser for coming.

[A]

I love it.

[B]

Let's dive in. What do you think? Is this. Is this a book sin?

[A]

Well, first of all, let's honor this bravery.

[B]

Let's honor.

[A]

Let's honor and honor this bravery. We. Hats off to the bravery of lying in your own book tracking journal. Okay, I think. Listen, don't get mad at me, okay? Don't come for me. I think this is great. I think this is great because what this person has done is hacked their own brain. Okay.

[B]

Okay. You know what you need to do on this journey.

[A]

You know what you need to do to move on. And there are. There's no Goodreads police. No one shows up the door. And they're like, what happened on page 72? Like, no one is coming. And they're like, did you really read that book?

[B]

Like, that's a really funny SNL skit.

[A]

Like, you may have to pretend and Godspeed to you on that. I don't know what to do about that. But, like, I actually did it. Okay. Can I make a confession of my own? A brave, brave confession. Are you ready for this? I did 10,000 steps a day for one year and there were days where I was like, I'm not going to get it.

[B]

Oh, you told me about this. You were just like, pacing around.

[A]

No, some days I was pacing around and sometimes I was just moving my arm around a lot.

[B]

Why don't you just attach it to Aggie and let her run around?

[A]

Because if it's 11pm and I don't have time.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then I was like, but if I miss a day, I'm not going to complete. Now I. My average steps was way over 10,000. So I feel like I did it. Which is. Should have been. I should have averaged it again.

[B]

Books a month.

[A]

Like, yeah, yeah. Sometimes you can't do it. And like. So. Yes. Am I a liar? Yes. But did I finish it? Did I keep going? Because I know if on June 1st I didn't get those 10,000 steps, I was never, ever going to keep going. I'm going to quit. I'm very much like, I have to do it every day kind of person. So I'll admit that. And I think this is a little bit of a hack for this person's brain and they know this is what they need to do to move on.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And that I think is good. What do you think?

[B]

I think this is. Isn't the worst.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I think it would be more sinful if this glasser was like, raiding the.

[A]

Book or like, reviewing. I loved it. Okay.

[B]

Yeah. They're like writing a whole review for a book that they didn't finish.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

Marking it as red when you haven't finished it yet isn't great. But it's like a mid level sin. Yeah. Like what are mid level sins? Coveting your neighbor's wife.

[A]

Who gets. I think they're all actually the same. That's the weird thing about sins. They actually coveting and murdering are the exact same.

[B]

Right?

[A]

No, it's the same. Counts as the same.

[B]

Who do we talk to about this?

[A]

Well, I don't know about. For Catholics, but for like, you know, regular run of the old Southern Baptist. That's you. For Christian generally, you're like, it's the same lying and, and stealing. Same thing.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

I know.

[B]

So instead of coveting your neighbor's wife, why don't you just steal her?

[A]

Yeah, same problem, same murder and it's the same thing. Well, that's.

[B]

Then that's, that's not solving your problem. You want her?

[A]

It depends on the problem you have, but yes.

[B]

Yes, yes, yes. Anyway, I understand the reasoning behind this and I agree with you. I think if this is the solution this person found to help them dump books.

[A]

I get that. Okay. Yeah.

[B]

I do think there is a better way to do it.

[A]

Oh, yes. Okay. Okay. Do you want to talk about a better way?

[B]

Well, let's get into, let's get into this. Does this have actually, does this have pros? Does this have cons? Like, what do you think?

[A]

Okay, I think that this is one of those things where you actually wrote.

[B]

Something really beautiful in here.

[A]

Oh, did I write something beautiful? Which part? I don't remember what I wrote your thing. Okay. Okay. I think this person has truly figured something else. So sorry. I think this person has truly figured themselves out or and maybe they are cheating the system, but reading isn't about the system. Right. It's about yourself. You figured it out. Right. The obvious con is you have to come clean to people and explain that the said system. When someone's like, oh, I saw you read this. You have to be like, no, I actually didn't read that. Like that is. That is going to be part of your life. But they will either think you're, you know, an insane person or ingenious. And I think that's something you can spark a conversation with. But I think that like there, it's not about fulfilling the system. You can use the system to the best of your ability. And I think there's people who, they have to do things true for themselves or people have to do things true for the world or some combination of the two. Right. And like this person obviously doesn't give a. About what the world thinks.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's just what they do for themselves to keep themselves on track.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And I think that's a pro.

[B]

Yeah, I think that's beautiful. Bria, the con isn't about you reading. Reading isn't about the system. Reading is about you is. I think someone should embroider that.

[A]

Great, great. And what about you got pros and cons? I mean, what happens when you have to tell someone?

[B]

Well, yeah, that's a pickle. That's a pickle. I mean, I've definitely been in that situation on dates before when a guy claimed to be a reader and I'm like, oh, yeah, tell me about that book. And he's like, he doesn't know because have you heard of this is new kind of like epidemic on dating apps? Which I'm never going on a dating app again, so I'm never having to deal with this. But a lot of guys are taking photos with a court of thorn and roses to, like, eat.

[A]

Are you serious?

[B]

Yeah. It's a huge thing. And then the women are like, so excited to talk to them about fairy smut, and they've never actually read it. Wow. Okay. Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So, okay. I. I actually am in favor of this person doing this if it's helping them. But I do want to point out that I think this might have some unintended long term effects. And I'm going to do a little confession of my own here. So if you're posting this publicly again, people are going to believe you and think you read this book, and then you're gonna have a. Have to have a really awkward conversation based off of the first 10 of the book that you read. More importantly, the thing that I'm worried about for Anonymous and that I would be worried about for anyone who does stuff like this, as someone who has done, I'm about to confess something. A couple years from now, you might not remember that you DNF'd it.

[A]

Yeah, that's tough.

[B]

And the biggest question here is, are you counting that book towards the end of the year goal?

[A]

Right.

[B]

Because I'm not worried about you. I'm not worried about a reader pretending that they have higher numbers than they did. But, like, it's gonna throw off any reader goals that you have. And then, then you. You don't. The. I mean, part of the point of tracking your reading is being able to accurately assess your reading life. So if you look at the end of the year and you're like, Damn, I read 150 books in like 20 of those. You didn't actually read.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Then maybe you're not gonna be able to accurately assess any changes that you want to make to your reading life. And I'm gonna. All right, now, time for my little confession. So I keep powerlifting journal, and my coach used to program me something called Copenhagen planks, which I hate doing.

[A]

What is it?

[B]

That is when you. You're like, hold yourself sideways on a table or a bench and you hold yourself up with your adductors, the ones that. The inside ones. It's a pain in the ass, actually. It's a pain in the leg. And sometimes I'd mark them as done when I hadn't actually done them. And the problem was is that it harmed me in the long run because I wasn't getting as strong and my coach was making decisions off what to program for me based off of those numbers. So not a one to one, obviously. But, like, I think this reader might need to think about, like, why are you tracking in the first place? And if it's to read more and remember what you read, this does sort of fuck that up. Yeah, yeah. So what should people who do this? Because I'm sure that this is not the only reader out there that does this. Are there any ideas of what they could do instead of that might be less bookishly sinful?

[A]

Well, this is not what I wrote down. But what about tracking pages instead of. But they want Goodreads. I guess they want Goodreads because I say tracking pages, then those pages do count towards a number. And then you're like, oh, I read 20% of the books. You are getting numbers. You're getting something out of it. But I don't think it's going to do that. I think what you maybe call pile has a DNF option for sure.

[B]

I think Storygraph has one too.

[A]

Well, Goodreads, you can label things dnf.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I think you can always check it off on Goodreads and then label it DNF so you know you didn't finish it and a lot of people do.

[B]

And a hot, hot tip. What if this reader was like, I want to DNF20 books this year.

[A]

Great. Yes. And then. Okay, that's interesting. That's a great tip. So then you're checking off a box for yourself, but then you're still not completely lying.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I think that's great. That's great. I think, you know, you're doing something. You did do some work here, which is that you tried a book, you didn't like it and you didn't finish it. That is Some work and think that that's what you're saying is that plowing through the book we don't think is a good idea. If you aren't liking the book, just DNF the book. And yeah, I think you're right. Maybe, maybe that's. Maybe that's the solution. What's your solution?

[B]

I was thinking about this and I was like, why don't I have this problem? And I'm like, oh, it's because I don't mark anything until I'm already done.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So I wonder if it would help this reader to just not marketing until I'm done. Yeah. Like, don't write anything down. Because I think some people are writing or marking books down when they're in the middle of reading them. Like, I am reading this and I think it's hard for people to go so far as to mark something that mark that you're reading a thing and then not be able to transition that into a red book.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So maybe it might just be as simple as waiting a little while and then you're not beholden to anything. That's why it's so easy for me to dump things, because nobody knows.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's not written down anywhere that I've read this book.

[A]

But I think the problem is that this person wants to be able to dump it. The only way they can do it is they are able to get that little bit of. That little bit of like dopamine hit by saying, I read.

[B]

Tracking something.

[A]

Yeah, by tracking something. So maybe do the tracking and labeling at dnf, but also go live your life.

[B]

Yeah. Like if, like if this is working for you. And that's ultimately, that's the thing, is if this is working for you and you're really happy with your reading life, it. You've done it cares.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We're not going to tell anybody. Actually, we're telling everybody. We're telling the whole world right now, but we're not going to tell anyone.

[A]

But we don't know your name and we are not releasing it.

[B]

No. And that's ultimately, like you said, all of these reading tips are about you enjoying your reading life. My only, again, my only concern is that because it's starting to happen where I've kept a book journal for so long because after we talked about it the other day, I went and looked back at some of my old book journals and I'm like, I have no memory of reading this.

[A]

Sure. Yeah, sure.

[B]

Not to bring up another Gandalf reference for somehow, but it's like, that's. Even I have no memory of this place to be looking at my book journal sometimes. And it does freak me out to think that I could be lying to myself.

[A]

That is a little concerning.

[B]

Yes. So. But if that's not a concern or this person's not worried about it, it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Sin.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

World is it where we live in hell anyways. We might as well be sinning life short.

[A]

Like whatever you need to do to move on to read something you actually like.

[B]

Exactly. If this is serving, making your reading life better and making you get to books that you like faster, that's fine.

[A]

Just don't lie to me to my face. I don't like that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Maybe like keep the. The lying part to a minimum where explain to people what we're doing, what you're doing. I think a lot of people will be like, I get it. You know, Like, I don't think you need to. Like, I think the only thing is when you have to start lying about, like, whether or not you've read the book. That does seem very complicated. You're digging a hole right there.

[B]

That is really stressful.

[A]

Yeah. What if you find out that I've never read any of the books we've talked about on the show?

[B]

Bria's never read Away with children book.

[A]

I've never read a single book.

[B]

Or what if. If someone was like, hey, I saw you read this book on Goodreads. I picked it up because of you. Let's talk about it. See, that kind of stuff keeps me up at night. That's. I could never do this.

[A]

But I also.

[B]

That's another reason why I don't track my books in public.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, sure, sure.

[B]

But I do. I do think there's some other solutions I would love to see on.

[A]

Oh, that's an idea. What if. What if this person made their Goodreads private?

[B]

That might help. That might solve a lot of these problems.

[A]

And then you do whatever you want.

[B]

I do think a lot of problems, a lot of like, social reader problems come from this kind of thing. So that's why I got me and my old book buddy. Nobody knows what's going in there. Just between me and book buddy and Satan. That's all no one knows. But anonymous right back in. Let us know what you decide to do. And if you decide to keep this habit or you decide to just to. To try something else. And if you do, let us know also, you can send your thoughts on lying in your book tracking journal to read. I cannot wait to see the Emails we're going to get about this I already know we're going to get, but I'm actually, I think it's going to be great. I think we're going to get some really interesting emails from both sides.

[A]

Okay, excited.

[B]

Send them to reading glasses podcastmail.com before we test out a wooden book stand, we're going to take a quick break.

[E]

You know, we've been doing My Brother, My brother me for 15 years and maybe, maybe you stopped listening for a while. Maybe you never listen and you're probably assuming three white guys talking for 15 years. I know where this has ended up, but no, no, you would be wrong. We're as shocked as you are that we have not fallen into some sort of horrific scandal or just turned into a big crypto thing. Yeah, you don't even really know how crypto works. The only NFTs I'm into are naughty.

[B]

Funny Things, which is what we talk about on My Brother.

[E]

My Brother and me, we serve it up every Monday for you if you're listening. And if not, we just leave it out back until it goes rotten. So check it out on Maximum Fun or wherever you get your podcasts.

[B]

Time to test out some book tech. Advances in book technology. This week's book tech was purchased off our Etsy list by a lovely glasser. Please write to us and let us know if this was you. Also, big psa. We took down our Etsy wish list.

[A]

We took it down.

[B]

We were having some problems with it and we heard from some glassers that some of the items. Items we had on there were actually AI. It's just too much of a pain. So we're gonna go wish list less for now.

[A]

Yeah, if you want, you could, you could send us a little. We have a backup, but you could send us a gift card if you want and we can buy whatever you suggest people have done.

[B]

We're happy to do that, but the Etsy thing was just too much of a pain. We're having problems with the wish list itself. We were having problems, but yeah, there's just certain things. It's AI is getting harder and harder to detect. And we had a glasser, a couple glassers who wrote it and was like, hey, I think that's thing is AI. So we're very sorry about that and we're just gonna shut it all down for now until we can figure out something else. But again, we have a bunch of stuff that people have sent us that are in the pipeline to test, and one of them is this beautiful wooden bookstand it's about $40 off of Etsy. There'll be a link in the show notes. And this is not AI because it's actually just a triangle of wood. It's a wooden triangular stand. It looks like a little wooden tent that you can put a book on, page down on. And it's attached to a flat piece of wood that has a cup holder. What did we think of this?

[A]

First of all? Very cute.

[B]

Very cute.

[A]

I don't think I would personally ever use it.

[B]

Well, because you can't put an E reader on it.

[A]

You can balance an E reader on it. Oh, I didn't even think about E reader on it. Yeah. But I am going to give it back to you, which I read your review and then it was like, oh, you wrote, wrote down that you want it back. So that's great. Great aesthetic. I'm actually looking at the Etsy store. The Etsy store is candelini, which seems like pasta. Seems like it's like all wooden made book things, handmade book things and. No, and other things too. It's like a, A cutting board and like stuff like, oh, you can serve like nuts on this little board thing. You want a board, a cheese board, things like that. But this feels very handmade. It feels like a really nice gift. Again, I don't think I need. It has a little place for your mug, which is so cute. But I do think it's a. It's. It is very cute. It's very well designed and. And you loved it.

[B]

I love this thing. I love being able to put my book right down next to me and I love having my drink inches away. If I'm reading, I don't want to be reaching, I don't want to be leaning. I want my book right next to me, which is why I. I normally have a tray. But I tried this thing out. It's very classy looking. It is.

[A]

It's nice.

[B]

It's very, very.

[A]

I actually used it to hold a bunch of my Christmas cards. After I tried it out, it held my Christmas cards during the holidays.

[B]

That said, 40 bucks isn't cheap. So I will say you can get a kind of similar experience with a tray, which is what I usually use. I love having a little tray next to me. And I'll keep.

[A]

But the tray won't hold the book open, which is what this does. Okay.

[B]

But I do really like this. And honestly, I like this for just leaving the book while, like, I'm doing other stuff in the house. I really like that.

[A]

That's cute.

[B]

I will be keeping this and using it for myself because it is, you know, not cheap. I'm giving it a four out of five pages. But I love this. If you are looking, this is. This is a great gift. And if you are looking to keep your drink next to you but also have your book, oh, it's great because then you don't have to use a bookmark. You just put it right down on the stand.

[A]

This does feel like if you're settling in for a long day of reading, this also feels just like a nice. Like you're doing a little readathon day. It's really nice.

[B]

Which we gotta have our winter readathon coming up.

[A]

I know.

[B]

All right, so how many pages are you giving this? I'll do four out of five. Yeah, four out of five. This is great. Please write us and let us know if this was you because we want to give you a shout out so you can send your book tech ideas toreading glasses podcastmail.com. Now let's answer a recommendation request from Kenny, who says, hi, Brian Mallory. I'm a relatively new listener. I found you with Reading Smut and immediately fell into reading glasses and have by now worked my way through a few years of your back catalog. Loving every second. Shout out to all the people who are finding this show through Reading Smut. Yeah, we do not talk about penises on this show, but we do give a lot of more tips.

[A]

Yeah, we do.

[B]

Pun intended.

[A]

Just the tips on this one.

[B]

God, I saw the weirdest thing the other day. That was. It was hot dog balls.

[A]

I. This also came up on my Instagram. Probably because you liked it. And then I didn't even like it.

[B]

I said, but I did save a photo of it and send it to some people. But Hot dog balls.

[A]

Yeah. Someone was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I literally think that's where I just got that joke from.

[B]

I said, how are you going to cook it? My friend was like, you boil it and strain it like pasta. Ugh. What are you gonna do with a hot dog ball?

[A]

What aren't you gonna do with it? Put in a little, I don't know, casserole or. I don't know, what do you do? I don't know. Put it in a pasta.

[B]

Oh, imagine hot dog pasta. Hot dog pasta. Horrifying. Anyway, Kenny, thank you for joining us from Reading Smut. And Kenny says, I'd really appreciate some help with a reading recommendation. I'm looking for books with complex slash interesting political systems, a la the Goblin Emperor or Ancillary justice. This has proven somewhat difficult to search for, so I figured I'd try crowdsourcing again. That's why AI ain't got shit on us. I found myself very taken by the way. Both these novels center on characters in the middle of this huge mechanism with a million moving parts trying to make the best choices they can to reach their goal. Genre matters less than circumstances, and I appreciate anything you sling my way. Thank you for all the work you've done building this community and spreading the good word of reading your amazing Bria. You want to read Kenny's wheelhouse?

[A]

Intriguing political systems, queer big ladies with big swords, well conceived magic systems, atypical heroes choosing responsibility over love, asexual characters, smut and kink that makes you think, and authors that trust the reader, and books that don't do the work for you.

[B]

All right, what do you think? What should Kenny read?

[A]

Well, I'm going science fiction, even though that's not totally in your wheelhouse. But this is a but.

[B]

Kenny said genre matters less than circumstances.

[A]

Okay, so I'm going in for Democracy by Malka and older. She has lots of books. All of all these books. Her books have interesting political systems, so check that out, because some are a little bit more like fantasy than sci fi, but this one in particular is about a world in which there are micro democracies. So, like, on this street, there's these laws, and then you go to this one and there's other laws and you have a different, like, mayor. And then you go to this one and it's like totally. They run it totally different. And it all takes place during an election time. I hope this is what Kenny means by political systems. Is that what we. What we think? Okay, great. It's a really fun one if that's what you're looking for. It could be. It's so different than anything I've ever read and is intriguing, kind of thrillery. It's. It's a really fun one.

[B]

I think it's a great wreck.

[A]

Okay, what do you got?

[B]

I'm gonna recommend A Winter's Promise by Christelle Debos. Is translated by Hildegard Searle. All right, Come on a journey with me. So this is a fantasy book. It takes place in this fantastical world, sort of many years after what they call, like, the Great Sundering. It's when the world was split up into floating celestial islands they call arcs. And every island is ruled by a political family with their own specific magical power. So you have very different communities with very, like you said, Very different laws, very different value systems, and also very different types of magic. And the main character lives on this arc. She's comes from this family that comes from Anima, and her family's magic kind of centers on objects. Like, her best friend is a scarf that, like, moves around. Excuse me. Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

It's. It's awesome. Okay. Scarf doesn't talk or anything, but, like, if she's feeling sad, it will, like, cuddler. Oh, wow.

[A]

I want that scarf.

[B]

She works in this museum, and she has the ability to read the past of objects so she can touch something. She wears gloves all the time, but when she can touch something, she can see who owned it. It's past. She's very quiet, very bookish, very happy working in this museum despite coming from this ruling family. And she is very surprised one day to come home to find out that she's betrothed to the son of another ark. This very dangerous ark that is snowy. It's called the Pole. Basically, like their Arctic. She's soon drawn into a very complicated political game that has huge consequences for the entire world. So you have, like, complex magic system, but also complex political system that she is, like, kind of on the edge of and then finds herself in the middle of, and she's trying to make choices that are best for her, but also, like, keep her alive. It's. It's so fucking good. It also ticks off atypical heroes choosing responsibility over love and authors that trust the reader. Like, this book is very cerebral, and I think it'll tick off a lot of boxes for Kenny. I think Kenny's gonna love it.

[A]

Great.

[B]

So mine is A Winter's Promise by Christel Debos, translated by Hildegard Searle and.

[A]

I'm doing Inform See by Malka and older.

[B]

If you want us to answer your recommendation request, you can send it to reading glasses podcast gmail.com as always, want to thank the wonderful mods who run our Discord server and our Facebook group. Remember, we don't sell animated scarves in our merch store, unfortunately. But we do have sell really cool sweatshirts. So if you want to feel snuggly while you're reading, check out the link in the show notes to our merch. And if you like the show, please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It is so great for us and helps us reach more listeners. You can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com. find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses this podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading. Maximum fun. A worker owned network of artist owned shows supported directly by you.