Ep 449 - A Better Metric for Book Tracking?

Summary

Reading Glasses — Episode 449 Summary

Episode Title: A Better Metric for Book Tracking?
Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara
Release Date: February 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Brea and Mallory tackle the idea of tracking reading not by number of books, but instead by time spent reading. The hosts discuss the pros and cons of this metric, take on listener dilemmas about library e-books, and debate the ethics of leaving spicy romance novels in Little Free Libraries. The episode features a warm, bookish tone and plenty of tangents about reading habits, book technology, and community.

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What Are Brea and Mallory Reading? (00:44–04:18)

• Brea:

  • Devil Inside by Clay McLeod Chapman (Not yet published; horror romance)
    • “Man falls in love with a girl. Turns out the girl is a demon inside someone else's body.” (01:27)
    • “It walks that fine line where it is a horror book … but also, it is a romance. Like, it is a true romance.” (01:39)
    • Brea loved it, could not put it down, and recommends it for horror romance fans.
  • Brea will join Chapman for an Instagram Live event (“Date Night with the Devil”) on Feb 18, 5pm ET, discussing horror romance.

• Mallory:

  • The Body by Bethany C. Morrow (upcoming; horror/anti-romance)
    • Open: Woman gets into a car accident; husband starts acting weird. Unreliable narration, surreal, “You're not sure quite sure what is happening. It is great.” (03:18)
    • Mallory enjoys the “creepy, weird, surreal” marriage examination.

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Listener Feedback (04:26–08:32)

• Jessica's TBR/Library Hack (05:01):

  • “Get that book you own and want to read out from the library. The deadline still works for me even when I own my own copy … even the same format works.”
  • Both hosts have done this to motivate themselves to read owned books.

• Format Switching (05:30):

  • Mallory enjoys getting nonfiction audiobooks from the library even when she has or buys the print version: “I wish I was reading this on a walk, and I'll get the audiobook from the library.” (05:30)

• Lizzie’s Fan Letter (05:48):

  • Lizzie, an English professor, shares how the show brought her back to reading for pleasure and writing fiction:
    • “Reading has been such a joy and comfort. Your pod has also got me back into another long abandoned hobby, writing fiction.” (06:33, 06:55)
    • Used the show’s “wheelhouse” model to figure out what kind of book she wants to write.

• Lizzie’s Wheelhouse:

  • “Spooky, cozy feminist horror in witch lit. Glitches in the matrix, liminal spaces, communes/cults, writing against dominant narratives, mixed media, middle-aged women redefining success, critiques of capitalism, dark academia from faculty POV.” (07:41)

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Main Topic: Time Spent Reading vs. Books Read (13:32–23:30)

Topic Introduction & Listener Letter (Cass) (14:11)

• Cass suggests tracking reading by time invested, inspired by video game metrics, and asks the hosts’ thoughts:
  • “My current method is Kindle page count in Goodreads… Curious if you have better methods and what you think of tracking time versus finished book count.” (14:54)

Brea & Mallory’s Thoughts

• Historical Perspective (15:03):

  • People used to track reading time more often; Goodreads can log start/finish dates.
  • Audiobook listeners can track hours, but it can get complicated if speeding up playback. (15:36)

• For/Against Tracking Time:

  • Mallory:
    • Tracking time is “reading nirvana,” letting go of the numbers race:
      • “You can't cheat it. You can't inhale 10 graphic novels on the last day of the month ... it forces you to focus on reading itself instead of what you're reading.” (16:47)
  • Brea:
    • Agrees it could reduce stress of number-based goals:
      • “Instead of like, oh, this feels like a thing to check off ... reading just for a few hours, you can read whatever you want.” (17:21)

• Benefits for Reading Life:

  • “No sunken page fallacy with this, right?” (17:48)
  • Good for those returning to reading or struggling with perfectionist goals (19:08)

• Habit Tracking & Apps (18:00):

  • Both use the Focus Friend app: Set a timer (“bean”) to track focused activities, including reading. The act of “habit tracking” gets highlighted as helpful.
  • E-readers often display estimated reading time.

• How to Track Time? (20:11):

  • Mallory: Prefers a habit tracker over logging in a book journal:
    • “I get like a little every day, different color dot ... if I read even for two minutes.” (21:02)
    • Suggests setting a goal (e.g., 30 min/day or 5 hrs/week) for a “purple dot.”
  • Tracking hours can help reframe reading as a fun habit, not a performance metric.

• Who Should Try It?

  • People who feel stressed by book count or want to rebuild a fun reading routine.

Notable Quote

“If that is stressing you out and it feels like it's affecting your reading life, try switching over to this. I really like this idea.” (22:56, Mallory)

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Book Tech Dilemma: Library Ebooks & DNFing (24:24–28:59)

• Kimberly asks: Is it ethical to check out lots of e-audiobooks/ebooks from the library just to try them, since e-formats might be “used up” by non-readers (unlike physical books)?

• Brea & Mallory’s Advice:

  • “You’re not sure about any book … You're using the book in the way it’s intended.” (25:53, Brea)
  • “Those numbers still count towards circulation numbers for libraries.” (26:18, Mallory)
  • Sampling via library apps or publishers is encouraged (27:24; “pretend you’re at the bookish Costco”).
  • Audiobooks especially benefit from ‘try before you borrow,’ due to narrator fit.

• Bottom Line:

  • Don’t fret; using library books—even if you DNF them—is normal, helps library stats, and supports diverse reading needs.

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Listener Dilemma: Spicy Books in Little Free Libraries (30:10–35:18)

Mallory’s Quandary

She wonders if it’s ok to put “very spicy open door romance books”—sometimes “just straight-up smut”—in neighborhood Little Free Libraries, given that the covers can look innocuous but the contents are extremely adult.

The Great Debate

• Brea:
  • Advises against leaving explicit material:
    • “Maybe putting what is essentially porn in a little free library is not the greatest idea. Like, would you put a Playboy in there?” (31:56)
• Mallory:
  • Sees a difference between visual porn and explicit romance but ultimately agrees:
    • “I do feel weird about some 12 year old grabbing icebreaker because it looks like a YA book.” (34:17)

Consensus & Community

• Best to donate “tamer” romance novels or those with clearly adult covers to Little Free Libraries, and bring explicit books to bookstores or other channels that can appropriately label or shelve them.
• The visual ambiguity of cartoonish romance covers raises concerns for children and parents.
• Mallory jokes about the classic “porn in a bush” stolen moment and the evolution of secret discoveries.

Memorable Exchange

“What’s a knot?” (33:12, Mallory, joking about a child discovering explicit terms)
“Now it’s porn in the Little Free Library.” (35:29, Brea)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On tracking time instead of number of books:
  • “This is when you break past the shackles of your number goals and you reach the pure bliss of reading just to read.” (16:47 — Mallory)
• On library book ethics:
  • “If I check out a book and I want to use it to do a f***ing headstand on, I’m using the book … You are using the book the way it is intended for you.” (26:18–26:52 — Brea)
• On spicy books in Little Free Libraries:
  • “There’s a difference between a centerfold Playboy spread and Icebreaker.” (32:05 — Mallory)
  • “Now it’s porn in the little free library.” (35:29 — Brea)

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Useful Resources & Recommendations

• Apps Discussed:
  • Focus Friend (productivity & habit timer)
• Book Titles Recommended:
  • Devil Inside by Clay McLeod Chapman
  • The Body by Bethany C. Morrow

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Community & Housekeeping

• MaxFun: Bonus content, Discord community, and merch available through Maximum Fun memberships.
• Newsletter: Get book lists from the show delivered monthly.
• Write In: [e-mail]

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Final Thoughts

This episode invites listeners to rethink reading metrics, prioritize joy and habit over competition, use library resources guilt-free, and be considerate with what they donate to community lending spaces. The hosts’ signature blend of humor, empathy, and practical advice shines throughout.

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Thanks for reading!

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'. Meara.

[A]

And I'm Bria Grant, filmmaker and e reader. In this episode, we're talking about the length of time read versus books read as a metric. Did that make sense how I said that? I said it in a weird way. But the time it takes you to read a book versus, like, the number of books you've read.

[B]

Interesting new way to track your reading.

[A]

Plus, we solve a book tech problem about library ebooks and debate putting smut in your little free library. Last night. Yeah.

[B]

But first, Bria, what are you reading?

[A]

I just finished a book by friend of the show. It's I. What a thrill. I got to read an early copy of Devil Inside by Clay McLeod Chapman, who's coming on our show.

[B]

We love Clay so much. I'm so jealous. I haven't got my arc of this yet.

[A]

Well, it's fantastic. And also, well, I'll plug. Because I'm doing something with him about the book on February 18th. But first, I'll tell you about the book. It's called Devil Inside, and it basically is. Do you remember. I haven't told him this, but do you remember that movie Fallen with Denzel Washington in it?

[B]

Yes, Weirdly, I watched that last year.

[A]

Okay. It's a good movie. It's kind of talking about it that much. This is basically if that was a horror romance, so.

[B]

God, I love Clay so much.

[A]

Man falls in love with a girl. Turns out the girl is a demon inside someone else's body. It's. And the demon hops. Tail is almost time. And the demon hops from body to body. And it is somehow. It is. It really does that. It. It walks that fine line where it is a horror book. There are things that are scary. There are things that are supernatural. There are things that are, like, you know, strange and unnerving, but also, it is a romance. Like, it is a true romance. They do fall in love. Romance readers would not be disappointed if you can handle the horror. So I.

[B]

This sounds like a. Like, my dream book. I'm so excited. You.

[A]

You would love it. And, Clay, I don't know why you haven't sent Mallory a copy. I do think he sent us e. Arcs. That's where I read it. But I loved it. And just a plug. We are doing something called date night with the Devil on February 18th at 5pm on Instagram Live. I don't know. Pacific oh, such a good eastern, I guess.

[B]

Eastern. Oh, okay. So it's LA people. It's Lunch with the Devil.

[A]

Yeah, Lunch with the Devil. Well, we're going to talk about horror romance and this book, the book does not come out for a few months, but we're going to talk pre order that baby. And you should pre order if you're a horror romance person. The book is sexy, the book is fun and it's very romantic and I just loved it. I could not put it down. I was talking about it a lot. Like people were. I kept wanting to bring it up to people. Like I just thought it was so wonderful. What are you reading?

[B]

I'm reading kind of a horror anti romance right now. I. Okay, we, we, we got a advanced copy of this book and very highly anticipated. It's the Body by Bethany C. Morrow. Man, this book, it is really, really good. I. I'm only, I'm not that far into it but it's basically this woman gets into. This is not a spoiler. This is how the book opens up. She gets into a car accident and truly as soon as the car accident happens, like she gets brought to the hospital, she's okay, but her husband meets her there. And as soon as the car accident happens, her husband starts acting weird. Like they have this really weird history where like she has a very contentious relationship with her parents, with her husband's parents. The marriage has been sort of beleaguered since they got married. People have been kind of against it and now her husband is acting really weird and weird stuff starts happening. And good anti Valentine's Day book I think. But it's really creepy. I love to see her return to more like because I think my favorite book by her is mem. So I love to see her return to like really weird, surreal. You're not sure, quite sure what is happening. It is great. It's like a great examination of marriage and you know, you're like, is this an unreliable reliable narrator or an unreliable situation? Like you know, I love surreal weird shit. So this is very much up my alley. So I'm reading the Body by Bethany.

[A]

C. Morrow and I read Devil Inside by Clay McLeod Chapman.

[B]

So we want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Jessica wrote in to say here's my stupid tip for the triage reader. So the triage reader was the person who has a TBR stack but that keeps getting overrided by the library books that this person has coming in. So they just keep reading library books even though they're pre ordering or buying hard copies of things that they're excited to read. So Jessica wrote in to say, here's my stupid tip for the triage reader. Get that book you own and want to read out from the library. The deadline still works for me even when I own my own copy, especially if I get it in a different format. But honestly, even the same format works. That is amazing. To just be like, you know what?

[A]

I'm giving myself a. I've done that. I have done that. Where there's books I want to read and then I can see it's available at the library. And I'm like, well, I'll just get it from the library. And then. But because I haven't. It's because I think a lot of us who are e readers, it's hard for us to go pick up those physical books. For me at least because I'm like, oh, I. But I have all these books, like right here on my Kindle and I don't need to like go elsewhere so that it does work for me if I just get that book from the library and put it on my Kindle and then I. And then I have a deadline. And it's also right there.

[B]

The different format thing. I do with do this with nonfiction sometimes because I. I really love reading nonfiction via audiobook. So I'll pre order or buy a non fiction book and then I'll get a little bit into it. I'm like, I wish I was reading this on a walk and I'll get the audiobook from the library.

[A]

I love that.

[B]

Yeah, we love double supporting authors. Fantastic.

[A]

Mm. Lizzie wrote in and said hi Brian. Mallory. This might not actually be my first fan mail. I may have sent a letter to Tori amos back in 95, but I'm great company. Thank you. I don't normally write into podcasts or participate in any online communities. I'm more of a lazy lurker. Regardless, I wanted to express my thanks and admiration for the work you do. I'm an English professor, so love of reading is kind of part of the job, I guess. But I was so burnt out after grad school, it took me years to return to reading for pleasure. And your podcast has propelled me back to the page slash e reader screen. And I'm really excited about my new practice of reading during nightly couch time instead of scrolling on my phone and half watching a show I've seen a million times. Especially now in the cold winter of our crumbling nation. Reading has been such a joy and comfort.

[B]

Your podcast the Cold Winter of Our Crumbly nation goes hard.

[A]

That is such a. You. We know. We can actually tell that you are. That you teach English is English professor. We.

[B]

We.

[A]

From that sentence, we know you're an English professor. Your pod has also got me back into another long abandoned hobby, writing fiction. I used your wheelhouse model to figure out what kind of book I'd like to read, and that is now the book I'm trying to write. Oh, I love that. I like the idea of creating a weird, temporary little world for people to step into if they want, or at least for me to step into, away from this garbage world. Do you both do a ton of intellectual, creative, and logistical labor and then you write professionally on top of it. How that's more Mallory than me. And it is also talking about and made a difference to so many. I do, but I'd write. I write in a different way.

[B]

Yeah, Bria's a screenwriter. Although I did finally hand in my novel. Very exciting. But. And Bria's handing in a project this week.

[A]

It literally, in two days, I have to hand in a movie. Lizzie, this email made my day. This is so wonderful. It's so nice to hear and to be on the same in the same category as Tori Amos. I mean, I just feel very honored. Wow, what a. What an honor. What an honor. Do you want to read Lizzie's Wheelhouse?

[B]

I do. It is spooky, cozy feminist horror in witch lit. Wow. Love that. Glitches in the matrix, liminal spaces. Everything seems normal, but something's just a little bit off. Love that. Communes and cults. Writing that exposes and pushes back against dominant narratives. Weirdness, mixed media like snippets of text, emails, annotations, sketches, etc embedded within the main narrative. Middle aged women coming into their power and redefining success and love. Critiques of capitalism and productivity, culture, female friendship, but also mean girl dynamics. Lake house, cabins and cottages. Well, we all. We're all obsessed with lake house cot now. Yes, we're all going to the cottage. Abandoned structures, creepy unes. Dark academia. From the POV of the faculty. This is a really good wheelhouse.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Love this. And thank you.

[A]

The faculty is very specific. And I like that. That it's dark academia, which is mostly students, but no, that's. Let's move it. Let's get the faculty in there.

[B]

I love that. So you can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com if you want a list of all the books we talk about on the show. Deliver to your inbox every month. You can sign up for our newsletter. There's a link in the show notes, quick bookmark. We've got a lot of new listeners right now. We're so excited to have you all welcome new glassers, all the new Sarahs out there. We actually did for the Reading Glasses challenge winners last year we did one of the, one of the winners was named Sarah, of course, and she told us that she started listening to the show because of our promo that says hey, is your name Sarah? So hey, if you're new, if you're a new Sarah, we're so excited to have you. But if you want a little bit more reading glasses, you want almost a decade's worth of bonus episodes, you want to get in our Discord, which is my favorite place on the Internet. You want to support the show, you want to get in on the on the special members only stuff. Gotta join Max Fun and it's not expensive. For five bucks a month go to maximumfun.org join they'll there's a link in the show notes. Just email us your receipt and you're going to get Instead of me as Aladdin on a on a carpet, it's me as Mallory on a on a book that's flying through the sky. I'm showing you a whole new world of a glasser community. We would love to have you there. It's so fun. Truly the disco. We get emails all the time from folks who just love the Discord. It's a blast in there and people are always recommend recommending books to each other, talking about what they're reading. Also just talking about random stuff, video games and crafting. There's a great pets channel, a lot of really cute pets out there in the glasser community. So if you want to support us, we've been putting out the show every single week for almost a decade and you want to get some cool free stuff and a lot of bonus episodes. MaximumFun.org join sign up for even just 5 bucks a month and email us your proof. Your A screenshot of your membership and we'll that's the magical key that opens the door to the world of glassers. So before we debate length of time read versus books read as a metric, we're going to take a quick break. Reading Glasses is sponsored in part this week by Green Chef. Folks, it's February, which means all the exciting New Year's resolution shininess has worn off and and now we're in the thick of it. We're in the trenches. We're in the. We're crawling along Trying to make things happen in this very stressful world. And at least for me, the hardest thing, the thing that causes me the most stress is food. And there's one thing that cuts through all that noise, makes it so easy to eat healthy. They deliver real farm sourced ingredients. It's Green Chef. But Bria, what is Green Chef?

[A]

Green Chef, hey, it's a box delivery service. Maybe you didn't know that, but that is what it is if you have been living under a rock. But it is a great box delivery service. They deliver organic produce and responsibly sourced proteins and seafood. And with options like Mediterranean, high protein, high fiber, plant based and more. There are so many choices to support any healthy lifestyle. So you can make your habits better for the planet. If that was one of your New Year's resolutions, hey, you can get started right here. Green Chef cuts down on food waste by 20% versus grocery shopping and offsets 100% of delivery emissions, which we really like.

[B]

Yes, folks, Bria and I are the type of people that ask for a lot of substitutions At a restaurant we.

[A]

Got, we both, we're embarrassing to eat with. We're so embarrassing to eat with. We go somewhere, we say, I'm sorry, but I have to ask a few questions about your menu. That's us.

[B]

Like, neither of us eat meat, but we both have weird food allergies. So there's all sorts of stuff that we, we don't, we can't eat. And because of that, I thought it would be very difficult to find a food box. But Green Chef is so great. They cater to so many different types of diets, all while being fresh with certified organic produce. Easy. What is better when you are stressed out and don't know what to have for dinner than a magical box showing up on your doorstep with meals planned, organized, ready to cook. It truly, truly makes your life easier. So you can head to greenchef.com 50glasses and use code 50glasses to get 50 off your first month, then 20 off for two months with free shipping. That's code [e-mail] 50glasses. 50glasses.

[C]

Are you a celebrity? Are you searching for meaning, connection and a little levity these days? Hi, I'm Kumail Nanjiani, actor, writer, and yes, a celebrity too. And I've got four words for you. Bullseye with Jesse Thorne. Are you tired of junkets, red carpets? Sick of the endless spicy snacks you have to eat? Do you want to connect with someone who gets your work and laugh with you a little? Join me, Andre 3000 Tom Hanks, Tina Fey, and many more and become a guest on Bullseye with Jesse Thorne from NPR and Maximum.

[B]

This week we're delving into a different way to measure your reading. Are you laughing at me because of this week?

[A]

I didn't laugh. I didn't laugh. I smiled. I did a little smirk. I smirked. Not. Never not funny.

[B]

Folks, we were doing this show for almost 10 years. We're starting to lose our minds. So this is all about not books read, not pages read, but length of time spent reading. Is this a good alternative? Could it benefit your reading life? We are getting into it. So today's episode was inspired by Cass. Bria, you want to read Cass's email?

[A]

Hello, I am a pretty new listener and just caught up on your end of year slash start of year episodes. You had mentioned that people may want to track things that Cawpile doesn't cover, and I have a suggestion. I'm actually much more used to tracking my video game playing and time investment is a bigger factor there. The difference between a one hour game versus 150 hour game is astonishing. Although books aren't quite that drastically different as Stephen King, taking your whole month is just as meaningful as a handful of novellas that total up to the same time, even though your numbers for the month change. I haven't found a perfect way to track book length, which is somewhat arbitrary no matter how you do it. But my current method is Kindle page count in Goodreads. Oh, that's interesting. Curious if you have better methods and what you think of tracking time versus finished book count.

[B]

Wow, Bria, this is a whole new world.

[A]

Whole new world.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This is.

[B]

Speaking of Aladdin, what do we think of this? What do you think?

[A]

Well, I do think some people do track time. We and especially when we first started the show, people would write in about how they tracked their reading time. That seemed like much more of a bigger deal, but now we never talk about it anymore. Like 8 years ago people would track how long they read and how long a particular book would take. And sometimes it would just be by like day. They'd be like, I started it this day, I finished it this day. And Goodreads tracks that if you want. This feels very hard to me, but obviously I like a challenge, so this is somewhat interesting. Also on Cawpile you track your audio book hours.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So that's like an easy thing to track. Although it's kind of interesting because if you listen to it on a higher speed, it's not the actual hours Listened. So if you go look at like I listen on Liberal fm, which we're an affiliate of and y' all can use our discount code if you would like. But if you use Liberal fm, you can go and see like, okay, this is a six hour audiobook or an eight hour audiobook, but I listen to it at 1.4 or whatever.

[B]

I still count that as the length of whatever.

[A]

The audiobook will say the same.

[B]

Okay, I'm not doing an equation. I'm not. I'm not doing a math problem to.

[A]

Figure out readers, not mathematicians over here.

[B]

Sorry.

[A]

Don't ask us to do math problem. I was a math major for my first year of college.

[B]

Oh my God. What?

[A]

Priya, why? I'm good at math.

[B]

I know you are, but that actually, no, that does. Is very. It makes a lot of sense to me. But why did you switch to history?

[A]

I love, I love a theoretical. I love like an equation with a very specific correct answer. It makes me feel really happy. Like, which is weird because I do art stuff and there's no correct.

[B]

No, that makes sense for your brain quite a bit.

[A]

You like things. Helps me. I like it when it makes sense.

[B]

I like when you're a very structured person.

[A]

What do you think about timing your reading?

[B]

I think that's cool as this. To me, this is like reading nirvana. This is when you break past the shackles of your number goals and you reach the pure bliss of reading just to read honestly. Might try that for February. I love it because it's truly focused on the reading itself. It's not like racking up a number of books read or pages read because you can't cheat it. You can't like inhale 10 graphic novels on the last day of the month and be like, Look, I read 20 books. This forces you to focus on reading itself instead of specifically what you're reading. And I really like that. Okay, do we think this could benefit someone's reading life?

[A]

I mean, okay, what you're saying. I like what you're saying right now because there's so many people who I feel like write into us and they're like, I wanted to read a hundred books a year this year and whatever. Like they have these very specific goals and they feel kind of that it's a bit of a curse once they start making these lists instead of like, oh, this like, it feels like a thing to check off. Whereas like reading just for a few hours, you can read whatever you want. You're probably more likely to like not finish something that you didn't like you're.

[B]

Yeah, you will.

[A]

You'll.

[B]

There's no sunken page fallacy with this, right?

[A]

That's right. That's right. It's a little bit like tracking pages, which I know some people do.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I think for me, I use that Focus app, that Focus brand.

[B]

Oh, our beans. Oh, yeah. Ozzy Osmine. I'm saving up for his. For to expand his home currently.

[A]

I. I expanded. I'm. I'm in room two, baby. Wow. Rooms you got.

[B]

I'm saving up. I'm close to saving up for the kitchen right now.

[A]

Oh, nice. It is shocking how much time I spend doing things. Like, I, I do it when I'm writing because I'll be like, yeah, I do the same when I'm writing. Yeah. And setting that little bean off to do some knitting. If y' all don't know what we're talking about. There's an app called.

[B]

Someone's listening to this. Like, what the are you talking about?

[A]

There's an app called Focus Friend and you have this little bean and you say like, okay, I'm gonna do this for 30 minutes or an hour, I'm gonna focus. And then he goes in, or we.

[B]

Tested it out for the show, go.

[A]

Back and they go knit. And then you. Whatever. It's very satisfying because then you knit like a fucking scarf or something. And then you get to buy like room stuff. So the only thing I'll say is that for a lot of e readers, I think this is sort of built in because we open up our book and we're like, oh, this is a six and a half hour book. A lot of us don't read exactly that amount of time. That part is built in. But I think like, the general idea, the idea of like doing hours instead of books is probably pretty healthy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What do you think?

[B]

I. I really think so. I think this would help if someone was getting stressed out about their reading life or they like really wanna. They're really concerned about getting back to the basics and enjoying reading again. Especially if they haven't been reading for years. They've been in a years long book slump. They had a, they had a kid, they went to grad school. All the sort of normal reasons, because I don't think this is a slump buster. But if you want to work on integrating reading for fun into your life again, I think this might do.

[A]

You're like, yeah. And especially if it's like. I think when I envisioned this, I was like, it's someone sitting down and they're starting A stopwatch and stuff, which doesn't sound great to me, but if you're like, no, I'm just gonna read for 30 minutes every day.

[B]

Yeah, that's more what I'm thinking.

[A]

For 15 minutes in the morning. That does sound lovely.

[B]

Yeah. Because it's like, it could be a book, it could be a magazine. It could be reading your own journals. You could read an interesting article. It gets you in the habit of reading itself and not necessarily blowing through books. You know what I mean? And that could be, you know, 30 minutes before bed, reading for 15 minutes over breakfast. Like, it really. I do like this quite a bit.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All right, so how would someone track this? Would they put in their compile? How would you be setting goals?

[A]

I mean, well, again, try this bean knit.

[B]

Try out this bean baby called I do love on your phone.

[A]

Yeah, you name your bean. Mine's just called bean bun. But you name this bean. Because the one thing that would be hard about this for me if I was doing like a stopwatch every time I read is that I do fall asleep reading. And what I count the amount of time I'm literally like having dreams with a book. Like, I'm like, book open and I am eyes closed. I'm asleep. I am asleep, but I am still have my book. Like, how do I count that time? But if you're a day reader, I think, you know, ready, set, read. Little stopwatch, little. Like, just setting aside time and like, doing it that way is probably better than the stopwatch, which is, of course, where my brain goes. Do you have like a someone.

[B]

Someone with a headband on and sneakers standing next to you? Personally, what I would do for this is I would get a. I would use a habit tracker instead of a book tracker. Like, figure out a reasonable time, whatever you want, 30 minutes a day. Or maybe you could do like, I want to do five hours a week and track it on a calendar. I love this because I love a habit tracker. I have this really beautiful calendar from Washi Station that is right here next to my. Next to me on my computer that I track four habits with reading, writing, exercising, and going out to do something fun. And I get like a little every day, different color dot for. And I'm not trying, Like, I'm trying to read and write every day, but I don't exercise every day, so I don't die. And I obviously don't go out every day because that's too much time. I'm very busy lady. But I have different colored dots for each activity. And Right now I get a little purple circle on a day if I read, if I mark, even if I read anything at all, even for two minutes. But I love the idea of having to hit a minimum amount of time. Like I read for 30 minutes today. And that's how I've earned my little. My little purple dot. Also, again, like you said, this would be so easy for audiobook readers. But I'm into calendar. I will. I'll take a photo. I'll text you a photo of it. It's really cute. Huge tangent. But I. I love Washi Station. I've talked about them in my own newsletter so much. They're such a great, wonderful website that does washi and different stationary things that all made by independent artists, all kind of. Aviva collects them. It was a person who runs Washi Station and they work with all of these different artists to get merch made of their cool art. And it's. It's really wonderful. I love this calendar so, so much. But, yeah, that's what I would do, I think. I mean, I guess you could, in your book tracker, you could track how many hours each book took. But this, this, for me, this is less focused on, like on a book journal and more of a. More. It's more of a habit. It's less book, it's specific focused. But I think this could be really good. So if you're someone who's just. Who's getting back into reading or you feel like gotten too obsessed with metrics, too obsessed with how many books you're reading a year, if that is stressing you out and it feels like it's affecting your reading life, try switching over to this. I really like this idea. And thank you to Cass, who wrote in this really fun little topic for us. So you can send your thoughts on length of time reading versus books read as a metric to reading glasses podcast gmail.com. before we solve a book tech dilemma, we're going to take a quick break.

[A]

Hey, Alexis. Hey, Ella. What animal has the most teeth?

[B]

I would guess a shark, a snail. No, snails don't have teeth.

[A]

They have thousands and they are freaky looking.

[B]

No, I don't want that to be true.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Did you know that the hippocampus in your brain is named after the half horse, half fish, sea creature found in Greek mythology?

[A]

I didn't know that. But we're meant to be doing animal trivia and hippocampus isn't a real animal.

[B]

Well, that doesn't matter on comfort creatures.

[A]

You're right, it doesn't matter at all.

[B]

Comfort Creatures is a cozy show for lovers of animals of all shapes and sizes, real and unreal.

[A]

If that sounds like your cup of tea, then join us every Thursday for new episodes on MaximumFun.org.

[B]

Time to look at some Book Tech Advances in Bookish Technology this week we have a book tech dilemma sent to us from Kimberly Kimberly says Dear Brianne Mallory, Due to dyslexia and some vision issues, I am largely an audiobook reader. I'll do ebooks largely for non fiction that I need to take notes on. I can enlarge the text for those growing up. I had no problem dnfing a book that didn't fit me, I think largely due to there being no sunk cost since they were library books. If I didn't like it, I returned it and the next person got to read it that much sooner. I mentioned this philosophy to a friend who pointed out that those were physical books that as long as they weren't damaged, weren't going to cost the library more money because I checked them out and quickly returned them. If anything, the fact that I was making frequent trips and checking out a large number of ebooks could help their funding. Eaudio and ebooks have artificial limits on them. So am I being ethical by trying out books like this? Many of the titles I want to try aren't available in large print through my library system. I also think of large print as a more limited resource for people who need them and aren't comfortable with E audio or ebooks. Should I avoid borrowing E audio ebooks that I'm not sure about in May dnf? All right, this is a question we get pretty frequently, but I don't think we've talked about it in a while. So a little refresher. Bria, what do you think?

[A]

Well, okay, first of all, Mallory is going to talk about this, but you there is sampling. You can sample books from the library and you should definitely take part of that. And you can do it from audio and ebook books. So that's a way for you to avoid borrowing something that you are not sure about. But honestly, we're all borrowing books. We're not sure. You're not sure about any book. You know, like, you're not gonna.

[B]

You're not so true.

[A]

Like you buy a book and you're not sure and we would encourage you to not read the book if you don't like it. So like, I don't think this is not harmful. Listen, if you're doing this with like 500 books a year. Like, maybe consider, like, reading a couple pages before you do it. But I think this is a safe space for you to try books. And I don't think we should measure whether or not you properly used a book the way you're supposed to use it on whether or not you finish it.

[B]

Although also, those numbers still count towards circulation numbers for libraries.

[A]

Yeah, they. They do. They do. Like, if I check out a book and I want to use it to do a fucking headstand on, I'm using the book. You know what I mean?

[B]

Like, that. Also, libraries still have to replace those physical books, too. It's not like they stay perfect forever.

[A]

Yeah. And, like, maybe I'm checking out a book because I need to read one chapter for, like, a research paper or something. I think that that is still, you know, and you also read one chapter just to try it out. It's all the same, you know? So, like, you are using the book in the way it is intended for you. You need to use something. So, like, let's.

[B]

Let's.

[A]

Y', all, let's quit judging ourselves. Okay? Like, let's. Let's.

[B]

You can.

[A]

You can. Don't feel bad. You're using again. Like Mallory just said, you. The library, it helps them when you check stuff out. Yeah. If you're doing a thousand books a year and not reading any of them, maybe you need to find, like, another way to, like, books out. Like, you know, whatever.

[B]

Like, yeah. If you're checking the same book out from the library. If you check the same book out from the library 20 times this year and you've never read it, and you keep getting the ebook out and then immediately returning it, maybe. What are you doing?

[A]

Sample. Like, you know, but yeah. Yeah. Mallory. Yeah. What do you think?

[B]

Yeah. Remember, folks, sample that stuff. Pretend you're at the bookish Costco. You are strolling those aisles. You are. I say this as someone who's never eaten a sample from Costco. I've never purchased anything from Costco, but I know Costco has.

[A]

You've been in a Costco?

[B]

I've been inside of one. And I walked around, and we didn't buy anything because the thing that we were there for, they did not have. But I know people love those samples. I know people love the samples. I know people love the Costco food, like the hot dogs and stuff. I know people feel very strongly about that.

[A]

But where I get my Beyond Burgers, they sell them in bulk. Yeah.

[B]

Bria's just got a pallet of Beyond Burger.

[A]

It's this is nice. My mom buys it for me in this, like, pack of, like, 20. It's like, crazy.

[B]

Love a Beyond burger. But yeah, you're so pretend you were in. You're in Bookish Costco. Because it's. Honestly, it's been such a huge game changer for me, especially because I'm the type of person that I can usually tell within a chapter if I'm gonna like something or not. So I will. If there's a. Often, if there's a book that I'm interested in. Like, I'm going, I'm doing our anticipated books episodes, and I'm like, oh, this looks really good. And if it's on Libby already, I will look and I can read a chapter and I go, oh, this looks good. And then I will put it on hold. It's so great. You're.

[A]

You're a better woman than me. I'm just getting those books. I'm just getting them and I read a chapter. I'm like, no, thank you. Like, I don't. I don't have the energy, okay? There's only many hours in the day. I can't be checking out a sample. And then. Look, if you're all worried about it, I know I said you could do that. You should get a sample. But also, like, I. I think I might read the book. Look, am I optimistic about the books that I'm going to like? Yeah, I'm way more optimistic than the books I actually want to read and about the amount of time I have.

[B]

Well, but also, we get a lot of people who. Who have problems with audiobook narrow narrators. It's so great for audiobooks because you kind of know almost instantly if you're into a narrator or not want. That is really, really helpful. I'm with you, Bru. Check out those books, baby. Oh, but you. If you want, you can save yourself some time by taking a few minutes with the sample, checking out the audiobooks. This is not. This is you. You are allowed to sample. You are allowed to get a tiny little plastic cup filled with one slice of book and see if you like it. But. But mostly, be nice to yourselves. God, look at you. You're already. You're getting a book from the library. You're supporting your library. You're saving money. Like, be nice. Take a breath. You're doing great. Yeah. So you can send your book tech dilemmas or problems or quandaries or any. Any synonym of. Of that word to reading glasses, podcastmail.com. Now, let's solve a bookish problem from one of our listeners, which is me. Bria did not know that this was me and texted me last time I.

[A]

Skipped over this, and I was like, who wrote? Because it was like, bria, this is a question for you. And I was like, who wrot go say? And then. And then I. She's like.

[B]

She literally was like, is this.

[A]

I was in a color session till, like, super late, and I was like, trying to, like, get through this. And anyway, that's very funny. So, yes, you. You wrote it in. I just did not read the first sentence of this paragraph. Sorry, Cassandra. This is. I don't know why I would think it was Cassandra, by the way. I have no idea why this is not something she would write in, so.

[B]

Oh, my God. It made me laugh really hard. All right. But today's listener is me. Hi, my name. Hi, Brian. Mallory. This is Mallory. I've been a glasser from the beginning, so. Glasser.

[A]

Long time glasser.

[B]

Long time glasser. No, I don't think this is the first time I've wrote in. Maybe it is.

[A]

No, it's not, actually.

[B]

So we get a lot of arcs, as, you know, being the other half of this podcast. So I regularly bring stuff to my little free library. Any book that I don't like that I have a hard copy of, I bring into a little free library. And then the other day, I was collecting my stack to bring, and I realized that half of them were very spicy open door romance books. Few of them are just straight up smut. And I almost texted you to ask this, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna save this for the show. I think this would be a fun little problem to solve. What do we think? Can you put smut in a little free library? Should I stick a copy of I Accidentally Summoned a Demon next to a dusty old Percy Jackson book in a pile of grimy picture books. What do you think does not belong in a little free library?

[A]

I love this. I love this. I think they're so funny about someone picking up like a cartoon cover smut and then getting. And then it's like hockey smut and like, just. That's very funny. As funny as I think that is, I'm gonna actually say no, I think you shouldn't do it. I think if someone isn't keeping an eye on a 10 year old and maybe putting what is essentially porn in a little free library is not the greatest idea. Like, would you put a Playboy in there? You know?

[B]

Well, but there's no pictures in these books.

[A]

Okay, but I'm not okay. Correct. Yes.

[B]

I think there's a difference between a centerfold Playboy spread and icebreaker.

[A]

Okay, I do think there is a difference, but I do think that we can get into like the, the philosophy of like physiology here. But I do think that, that you. I mean, I don't know, I guess the question. Okay, here's the question. Why would you not put a Playboy in because you don't want to turn, turn somebody on who's not correct?

[B]

No, I want to put a Playboy in there because who the would want to touch a used Playboy?

[A]

Well, who wants to touch your used smart books?

[B]

Wow. I guess I wish I could have. I should have put stickers on them that says for professional use only.

[A]

That's right. I think, I mean, look, yes. Do I think it's like, not as a Playboy is different. I do, but I also think there may be things that are a little too adult and a child would not understand in a smut book.

[B]

I, the thing is, I actually do agree with you because my thought was.

[A]

That I feel like, why is this tentacle? Like, it's just like maybe they should.

[B]

Understand 10 year olds walking up to their mom going, what's a knot?

[A]

Oh God. See, that's the fear right there. And I think, you know, different people experience what they understand sex in different ways. And like, maybe some people are more visual and some people are like more verbal or whatever. And I think like, maybe all of it should be explained before someone sees something where they're like forever scarred by the touching of horns or something.

[B]

40 years from now some woman is having her, her husband put on tentacles. Be like, listen, when I was 10, I found this.

[A]

Jackson.

[B]

It really imprinted on me. So yeah, my thought was that I put the tamer romance in there that looks like a romance novel. Okay, but this like the straight up smut, like I accidentally summoned a demon boyfriend I, I bring. There's a local bookstore near me that takes book donations and I feel comfortable giving that to them because they will put it in a place that is marked for that kind of stuff. And then, you know, obviously I recycle my arcs because a lot of young people go to little free libraries and I do feel weird about some 12 year old grabbing icebreaker because it looks like a YA book. You know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I think like, especially like you think that should be a conversation for them and their parents, not them in a hockey. Hockey smut book.

[B]

As much as I want to get kids into hockey, I don't.

[A]

This is such a funny problem to have, though. It is a witch one is okay.

[B]

For the little free library. This is a very uniquely Mallory o' Meara problem to have.

[A]

Yeah, it's really true.

[B]

But I'm sure there's a lot of romance readers who have the same thing. We get a lot of people who are stressed out about what to do with their little free libraries. So I thought it would be nice for me to have my own quandary with this. And I'm sure we're going to get a bunch of people who actually have very differing opinions on this.

[A]

I would love to hear it. I do think you're like the ones that look like romance. I weirdly am more comfortable with those going in because I think it's signaling like that's what I mean. Certain adults type book.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You know, and.

[B]

But the ones with like cartoony like cutesy covers and then you open it up and it's like his not inflated. You know, like I'm like inflated. That's what they do.

[A]

A little bit of the modern day porn in a bush. Something we talk about on our, our other show. We do another show called Reading Smut. If you don't know. And okay, what if I did?

[B]

Okay, okay, what do I do? What do I put?

[A]

Yeah, because everyone has a story about when they were kids that they found porn in a bush which does not exist anymore, but now it's porn in the little free library.

[B]

What if I put all the regular books in the little free library and then next to the little free library, I stick all the small books in a bush? Yeah.

[A]

That is where you're supposed to find them. Like that's where you find yourself.

[B]

I'm just dying at the thought of me going on my audiobook walk and I put some books in the little free library and then I keep walk and underneath the overpass I. I toss a tote bag full of all my smut books. That's great. But yeah, I think overall I completely agree with you. And this is how I felt. I was, I, I immediately was like this feels weird to do. So I'm glad you're agreeing with me that it just feels strange. Especially because at least a little free library near me there's a. There's always a lot of kids books in there. There's always a lot of like middle grade books. There's always like picture books in there. It just feels. And there's a lot of kids who go, I'm sure are walking home from school and go through little free libraries without any supervision, you know, And I just, I do feel weird about that. And I don't mean, and I don't mean like teenagers. I think maybe a teenager could be okay with it, but I'm talking about like, like a 10 year old, a 9 year old, an 8 year old who's like hooray, there's a, there's a middle grade book in here. Look, it's a cute ice skater with a cute pretty dress on. And cut to screaming, yeah, all right, write in. I'm very interested because I'm sure that there are people who have some differing opinions, strong thoughts, angles we haven't thought of. If you want us to solve your reader problem, 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. Folks, we have the best mods. Truly. They we were talking to Max Fun HQ about our Discord recently and I was like we just have the best mods. We lucked out. They I don't have. I never worry about anything with them. So thank you, thank you, thank you. All the work you put into our online spaces is so appreciated. And remember, you want to buy cute stuff. Totes shirts stickers. I really love my other car as a TBR list sticker that I've turned into a magnet. That's how you know it's my car. Go to our Void March store. There's a link in the show notes 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. It warms our hearts and really helps grow the show. You can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading.

[A]

Thanks for reading.

[B]

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