Ep 457 - Introduction to the Show + Retired Book Hall of Fame!

Summary

Reading Glasses – Episode 457

Episode Title: Introduction to the Show + Retired Book Hall of Fame!
Date: April 9, 2026
Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara

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Episode Overview

This episode serves as the ultimate starting point for new and old listeners alike—a guided tour to the Reading Glasses podcast. Brea and Mallory break down the show’s mission, explain their long-standing inside jokes, introduce their bookish philosophies and podcast structure, and update the prestigious "Retired Book Hall of Fame." The episode is a celebration of community, inclusiveness, and book joy, geared at all types of readers.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What is Reading Glasses?

• Purpose: A "reading show" (not a book review show) designed to help listeners enhance their reading lives—more joy, less pressure, no guilt or shame about what or how much you read.
• Tagline: "Our mission is to help you read better. Not more. Not faster. Just better." (13:32)
• Format:
  • Listener feedback segment
  • Main segment (reading tips, deep dives, discussions on reading problems, etc.)
  • Rotating segments (book recommendations, reader problems, book tech tests)
• Inclusivity: Open to all readers—whether you read one book a year or a hundred.
• Genres: Hosts lean sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, but the show is inclusive of all genres and encourages discovery.

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2. Meet Your Hosts

Brea Grant

• Filmmaker, director, writer, former actress (notable for "Heroes" and "Dexter")
• Dog and cat lover, based in LA, obsessed with chocolate (with a hilarious anecdote about melting chocolate at SXSW—20:04)
• Writes in genres, comics, and short fiction

Mallory O’Meara

• Full-time author of nonfiction (focus on women’s history & horror)
• Lives in LA, collector of books, records, bourbon, and fountain pens
• Lover of powerlifting, hockey, monster movies, heavy metal
• Notoriously bad at keeping food in her fridge (the “Shrek’s fridge” joke—23:04)
• Swears frequently (explicit podcast!)

Quotable Moment:

"Bria's the snack one. I am the drink one. I'm a big bourbon and beer person. I hate food. I eat like a divorced dad." – Mallory (23:22)

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3. Signature Podcast Concepts

A. Core Philosophies & Terms

• Wheelhouse:
  Subjects or tropes that always attract you to a book

  • Example (Brea): “Science books about the brain, sci-fi about weird technology, apocalyptic journeys.” (28:34)
  • Example (Mallory): “Haunted houses, werewolves, memoirs about grief.” (28:59)

• Doghouse:
  Subjects or tropes you actively avoid (but might come back to!)

  • Mallory’s classic: "I hate a love triangle. ...If there’s a second love interest, I’m gonna run them over with my car. Just pick one." (29:33)

• Read Doorways (from librarian Nancy Pearl):
  The element that draws you into a book: Plot, Character, Setting, or Language

  • Hosts discuss how, for example, two vampire books could have the same wheelhouse but different primary doorways (plot vs. character driven, etc.) (32:15)

• Book Dumping / Sunken Page Fallacy:
  Strong encouragement to put down books you aren’t enjoying—at any point, no matter how far in (“You’re gonna die someday. Dump it!” – Mallory, 33:27)

• Bria vs. Mallory Readers:

  • Bria: e-reader, spoilers-okay, color-organized shelves, can fall asleep reading
  • Mallory: print book collector, avoids spoilers, genre-organized, reads straight through the night

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B. Long-Running In-Jokes

• “Sarahs”: Many listeners genuinely named Sarah; became shorthand for glasser community members
• Hot Book Tip & Slide Whistle: A talk-show parody leading to receiving (and using) real slide whistles
• Honkers: Books over 500 pages (“That’s a real honker”—35:54)
• Trash Babies: Jerks and bigots in the bookish world (“it’s someone acting like a baby who belongs in a trash can”—36:24)

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C. Community & Membership

• Discord Server: For supporters; “the hip, happening place” (15:47)
• Yearly Reading Glasses Challenge: Five book types + five activities, designed to improve and expand one’s reading life (16:57)
• Retired Book Hall of Fame: Frequently recommended books are ‘retired’ to make way for new favorites (see below)

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4. Listener Feedback Spotlights

• Audiobooks & Hobbies Hack:
  Megan shares that audiobooks finally clicked for her when combined with tactile hobbies (knitting, puzzles), letting her complete more projects and books (05:44)

• Library Holds Management:
  Amanda reframes her approach by letting holds “wash over her” and only buying books after they’ve truly been favorites (08:09)

• Library Conferences & Wheelhouse:
  Jean encourages non-members to attend library association conferences, and shares a wheelhouse matching hosts’ tastes: “Haunted houses, cults, Edinburgh, strong female friendships, dark academia.” (09:08)

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5. Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Mallory on Diversity:

  “If you have a problem with us talking about a book by a trans author, I really think maybe you should go walk into the sea and not come back out again.” (24:27)

• Explaining the Podcast Structure:

  “This is not a book review show… our mission is to help you read better. Not more, not faster, but better.” (13:16–13:32)

• Retiring Recurring Jokes:
  Discussion about the evolution of the “Reading Glasses Glasses Challenge” name, with escalating use of the word “glasses” until common sense prevailed (17:44)

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6. Retired Book Hall of Fame – 2026 Update (37:36)

Old List Highlights:

• Priest Daddy
• Wayward Children Series (esp. Every Heart a Doorway)
• A Head Full of Ghosts
• Magic for Liars
• Samantha Irby books
• Cersei
• Exit West
• My Best Friend’s Exorcism
• Many more

Newly Retired Books:

• Shady Hollow
• The Adventures of Mina Al-Sarafi
• Mexican Gothic
• Psalm for the Wild-Built
• Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies
• Light from Uncommon Stars
• A Letter to the Luminous Deep
• Legends and Lattes

"If you’re looking to see if this show is for you, maybe go look at this retired list. If you like them, you might be a Glasser." – Mallory (38:53)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:07 – 01:22: Opening; what Bria & Mallory are reading
• 05:36 – 09:16: Listener feedback and tips
• 12:05 – 18:26: Intro to Reading Glasses: history, mission, show structure
• 18:26 – 24:35: Host bios, signature traits, and fun bad food/accidental chocolate stories
• 25:10 – 36:35: Explanations of core terms ("wheelhouse", "doghouse", "read doorways", etc.), recurring jokes
• 36:35 – 39:11: The Retired Book Hall of Fame; advice for joining the community
• 39:11 – End: Community thanks and wrap-up

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Final Thoughts

This episode is the definitive explainer for Reading Glasses—what it is, who it’s for, and why the show has built such a strong, welcoming bookish community. Whether you’re a Sarah, a Bria, or a Mallory, you’ll find valuable tips, learn the show’s foundational terminology, and get the inside jokes and culture that make Reading Glasses so beloved.

"We are not trying to set huge number goals every year. We're trying to help you fall back in love—or fall in love for the first time—with books." – Mallory (13:32)

"For us, it doesn't matter if you read a hundred books a year, or one book a year. You are welcome here, no matter what genre you read or how you read it." – Bria (24:38)

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For More

• Join the Discord or newsletter via links in the show notes
• Submit your own feedback and reading stories: [e-mail]

Thanks for reading!

Transcript

[Bria Graham]

Foreign.

[Mallory O'Meara]

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

[Bria Graham]

Meara. And I'm Bria Graham, filmmaker and e reader. This episode, we're actually going to break down Reading Glasses. We're going to talk about ourselves.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Welcome.

[Bria Graham]

We have a lot of new listeners. We wanted to do an intro for the show and then for, for old ones as well. Like, you've been listening for a while and you're like, sometimes stuff comes up and you're like, wait, who are these people? Like, we explain concepts of the show. We talk about. We're going to reveal our long standing jokes.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

Or talk about them. Explain them to you. We're also going to go through the Glasser hall of fame and name our retired book recommendations because there's so many books we used to recommend and we're like, you know, we've said Priest Daddy too many times. We can't talk about Priest Daddy anymore. So there are books like that. So if you already know all this stuff about us, stick around because we're going to talk about all the retired books that we have. But, but also it's just a great way, you know, so when people are like, I like reading glasses, but like, what's this show about? You can point them to this episode. But also, I think you're gonna find out new stuff about your friends, Bria and Mallory. Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We're gonna, we're gonna rekindle our romance right here. But first, Bria, what are you reading?

[Bria Graham]

I am reading a book that was on our anticipated books list. It's a midnight pastry shop called Hua Waldong by Lee Anhua.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It is definitely a Bria book.

[Bria Graham]

Wow. Such a cute book. It's translated by Slynn Jung. I think that it doesn't say that on Goodreads, but it says that when I Google it. But it is. Oh, wow. So cute. What a cute little cozy book. Very much in the vein of before the coffee Gets Cold or something like that. If you love a magical realism book. Essentially this young woman, she inherits this bakery from her grandmother and she's like, I guess I'm gonna sell it. I don't know what I'm gonna do with it. And then grandmother's like, no left in left instructions for her and she was like, no, you have to open it. And it can only be open from 10pm to midnight every night.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, I remember talking about.

[Bria Graham]

Okay, yeah. Also it's in like a lot of Debt. They don't have any money. And this. And this woman's like, I don't know. I guess I'm gonna. Gonna try to see if I understand my grandmother a little bit. And. And then the first night she's there, first of all, this shaman walks in and she's like, okay. And he's cute, by the way. And. And then a ghost walks in and is like, yeah. And. And it ends up being that these spirits visit her and it's their last stop before they, like, move on. And she touches them and you get to read their whole story. And the stories are like, kind of long. Like, they're like, there's probably only four or five stories in the whole book. And so you read their stories about how they ended up where they are, and then they have some regret. So, like, this guy who was falling in love with this woman and he wanted to take her on a date, and he was going to take her to do this really specific thing. He ended up dying before she was able to do that. And he wants the woman who owns the. The bakery to make this one treat for her that he said he was gonna bring her. And. And then she has to take it to her. And so it's. It's like. It's basically, she's like, fulfilling these things and they want to eat it too. Like, there's one young woman who, like, was. Wanted this thing to go to her best friend, and she tries the thing that. That they make, and she's like, this is. This is gross. She's like, I don't even like this. So it's just these, like. It basically ends up just being these stories about these people's lives. And then. And then there's a food element, which of course, I love. So it's like a bakery element. And I'm getting to look up what these different baked goods are because it's a lot of stuff that I have no idea what it is. And it's just really. Yeah, it's. It's really cute. It's a really fun book. It's been so relaxing to read at night when I ready for bed and I want something that's like, simple, cool story. I know what's going to happen. They're going to find out what's happening to these people and then what happened in their life. And she's going to make the baked good great. Perfect. That's exactly the cozy that I am looking for. And the COVID is so cute.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I remember it having a really cute cover because it's like a nighttime sun's twilight situation.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah, yeah. And there's like a little cat out front. Oh, there's a cat in it too. There's a cat element as well. What are you reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm reading a nonfiction book. I'm starting to read it because it's kind of research for our other show, which is reading Smut. It's called why Are People into that By Tina Horne. And it's a cultural investigation of kink. And it's. Every chapter is broken down into, like, this chapter is about, like, Femdoms. This chapter is about feet. This chapter is about. But it's like so much of what our other show is is more is. It's not. We don't really like. We don't review books from, like, a deep literary standpoint. It's more like, why is this book so popular? Why are people so into this? So I thought it would be fun to read a whole book that, like, breaks that stuff down that's like, you think people like this for this reason, but it's actually like, it has the psychological thing that really helps people. You know, like when we were talking about Nodding and Full Moon Rising, you're like, well, actually, I think people might like this because they want to be cuddled and they want to. They want closeness. And I find that stuff really interesting. And I really love when we talk about that on Reading Smut. And this book is that for. For nine hours. The audiobook is read by the author. She's a really, really great narrator. And it's just. It's really funny and well written and very interesting and just a really good, good look into, like, the weird stuff that people like and the reasons behind it. It's. It's definitely catnip for me. I love this sort of stuff. It's also very, very queer. Very. The author is queer. The book is very, very queer friendly, and I'm really enjoying it. So that's. Why Are People into that by Tina Horne.

[Bria Graham]

And I'm reading A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hua Wildong by Lee Anhua.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So we want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Megan wrote in to say hi, Bri and Mallory. I've always been an avid reader, regularly reading over a hundred print books each year.

[Bria Graham]

Wow.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Damn.

[Bria Graham]

Whoa.

[Mallory O'Meara]

However, my love of reading regularly prevents me from doing hobbies that I also love, like playing video games, knitting, cross stitching, etc. To the point that I have a massive backlog of projects and games. About a decade ago, I listened to a couple of audiobooks during my then super long commute and they made me squirm. I have ADHD due to the inactivity. This year I decided to try listening to audiobooks while doing my hobbies in Something just clicked. I finished three creative projects since January 1st and have listened to 10 audiobooks. Additionally, while all 10 audiobooks have been honkers, I either didn't finish in print or put off reading out of fear I'd get bored of them. I wish this was something I thought of a long time ago and wanted to share this little hack. Love the show. Your podcast was one I listened to on that long commute way back when. Thanks so much for all you do. I love this. And Bria, the amount of times I've been like, should I take up knitting so I can listen to more audiobooks?

[Bria Graham]

Yeah, I've been doing my list like

[Mallory O'Meara]

I do my audio Cassandra.

[Bria Graham]

She's a big knitter. She's a big knitter.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know. Cassandra knits because I'm like, she taught

[Bria Graham]

me how one time.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I am not an artistic person. I am not a crafty person. As you know. The closest I get is like sewing metal patches on like the bat or hockey patches onto the backs of clothes. And I do listen to audiobooks when I do that, but that's all I really have. And I have my audiobook box, but I'm like what can I do? Should I take up like puzzles? Because I like listening to audiobooks while doing it helps you focus because you're

[Bria Graham]

like, I love puzzles.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's have it. Doing something with your hands while you listen to audio is so great. I love this.

[Bria Graham]

Amanda wrote in and said hi Bria Mallory, I just want to share a different approach I've taken to the triage readers shelf sitter dilemma. When I began to have such a library bounty that purchase books were gathering dust. Instead of pumping the brakes on my holds, I hit the gas and reframed. The way I think about my bookshelves, I keep those holds flowing. Maximum moods and formats. If the borrow lapses and I'm still into it, I can hold it later. No pressure. It's really helped me to let go of my deadline anxiety and completionism and to feel free to read whatever I'm into right now. Now, instead of being part of the buffet, my bookcases are more like a humane version of a hunter's trophy wall. Each month I pick a few favorites to purchase, often digitally as we're tight on storage space, but physical and sometimes multiple copies. If it's something I'm evangelical about and will enjoy loaning or gifting or if there's a cool addition. This way, instead of gambling on a buzzy recommendation or enticing cover, I'm putting all of my book budgets into titles I genuinely loved. Plus, it's kind of a fun secret that most of the books I physically own have never been opened. I still subscribe to my favorite authors on Amazon to receive upcoming release not and pre order digitally elsewhere, but so far I've been able to easily fit those into the mix. And if I see something in the wild that I'm tempted to buy, I open up Libby and add it to my tbr. I hope this helps other low demand readers like me who can't plan ahead and edit their holes without the whole experience taking on stressful, homeworky vibes. Thanks so much for all you do to spark book joy.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I love that. I love this attitude so much.

[Bria Graham]

Instead of just pumping the brakes, like

[Mallory O'Meara]

just press go wash over me like a great bookish wave. I love that so much. And then Jean wrote in to say hi. Brianne Mallory. I was listening to the most recent episode episode and someone wrote in about their panel for their upcoming State Library Associations conference and Mallory mentioned wanting to go to a conference and I just wanted to share that. You can. It's just going to be more expensive if you're not a member. There's so much fun and you can get so many cool things in the exhibit hall. Bria Imagine you and I at a library conference. We're like, we're just here as fans, purely as fans of the concept of a librarian. We love librarians. You want to read Jean's wheelhouse, which is show us.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah. Yes. Oh my God, it is. Haunted houses, cults, Edinburgh, strong female friendships, and dark academia. Yeah, very much, very much us.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Love it. 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 delivered to your inbox every month, you can sign up for our newsletter. There's a link in the show notes. And before we break down us, we're gonna take a quick break.

[Bria Graham]

Reading Glasses is brought to you in part this week by ZOC Doc. Raise your hand if you've ever been one of those people like me who put off that dental cleaning. Maybe your annual checkup, any kind of doctor's appointment. Okay, sorry, that's me. Every year I just write down like, you got to go to the doctors this year. Every. Every time I'm like You got to do those annuals. The annuals of the. When there's something wrong, you go, you know. But when it's the annual one, you're like, oh, do I have to go? I guess I have to go. And especially as you get older. But hey, you know what? Sometimes what I do instead is I

[Mallory O'Meara]

go on the Internet.

[Bria Graham]

I start googling my symptoms, I ask my friends, but guess what, you could actually just go to a doctor. They went to medical school, they're trained for this stuff. And ZocDoc is a free app and website that helps you find and book high quality in network doctors so you can find someone you love, whether it's dermatology, dentistry, primary care. Wow, y'. All, I just have to tell you, I love my dentist, which is the first time I've ever said that in my life. Eye care, that's when I have to go to. And if you're listening to this show where you're a big reader, I bet you have to go get your eyes checked once a year, like me. There are 200 plus specialties offered on Zocdoc and you can easily search by specialty or symptom to build the care team that is right for you. When you're ready, you can see their real time availability and click to book instantly. No phone tag, no waiting around. You know what, y'? All? I use ZocDoc. Recently I wanted to switch my primary care physician. I hope my old one isn't listening, but I just, I was not. I didn't think it was a good fit. And so I went on Zocdoc and I found a new primary care physician. This is a really great app, so stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com glasses to find and instantly book a doctor you love today. That's z o c-o c.com glasses zocdoc.com glasses thanks Zocdoc, for sponsoring this message. I'm Emily Fleming.

[Mallory O'Meara]

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

[Bria Graham]

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

[Mallory O'Meara]

like Point Break and Holy what did I just watch. Classics like Teen Witch tune in every

[Bria Graham]

week as we take a deep dive into the Internet's bargain bin.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Every Tuesday on MaximumFun.org or your favorite pod place. This week we're talking about us. Welcome to an introduction to Reading Glasses where we break down who we are, what we do, the core tenants of the show, and most importantly, our long running jokes. And for our longtime listeners, we're updating the reading Glasses hall of fame with our retired book recommendations. First off, Bria, we've been doing the show for nine years.

[Bria Graham]

It's a long time.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's a long time. And we realize we've never done one of these start here episodes. After the New York Times article came out, we had a few people email be like, where should I start? And I was like, I don't know. Most people just jump in. So because of these new listeners, you

[Bria Graham]

can, that's the whole point of the show is you should be able to just jump the fucking jump in, jump

[Mallory O'Meara]

on in the water.

[Bria Graham]

We're talking about stuff but we, but we also try to like make sure we're explaining what we're talking about for the most part. But there are things, you're right, we're just, we're just glossing over as if you've been listening for nine years.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So we're figured better late than ever. Now we have officially are making an intro to the show episode and welcome, welcome to Reading Glasses. So the whole mission of the show, this is not a book review show. This is not where we're not going to be breaking down books in detail.

[Bria Graham]

No. People often are like, what are you reading for the show right now? And I'm like, nothing, nothing. I'm reading stuff for fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's not just for me. Yes. Reading Glasses is not. We don't think of it as a book show. We think of it as a reading show. Our mission is to help you read better. Not more, not faster, but better. And to us that means reading without guilt, without shame, without pressure. We are not trying to set huge number goals every year. We are trying to help you fall back in love or fall in love for the first time with books.

[Bria Graham]

So we come out every Thursday and the shows are like this. They, we read out our listener feedback, usually about a recent episode. You can write us, you can send us listener feedback and we will read it on the show. And then we have our main segment which is about some sort of topic relevant to reader life. Anything from new kinds of books to a big question to. We just did tips for ADHD readers or book club tips, you know, so anything that we think might help you read better. And then we have rotating segments. We answer a book recommendation requests which we really appreciate those. We are a bit behind by about a year. A year? Oh, no, a lot of years.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We get a lot of them, but we keep. Keep them coming because we. We love to see them and we do our best with them.

[Bria Graham]

We solve a reader problem or we test out some book tech. And for us, that can be anything from an app, a gadget, to an accessory, like pillows, tote bags, or even, like, candles. We've. We've tested candles. We tested a plastic bag on this show.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. And you know what?

[Bria Graham]

It was great, which is an inside job. It was great to see if. If you could put your e reader in it and use it in the

[Mallory O'Meara]

time and you can. We loved the plastic. Honestly, one of the best pieces of book tech we've ever found.

[Bria Graham]

At this point, we've done almost 500 shows, which is so many.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, my God.

[Bria Graham]

There are show notes for each episode, which, depending on how you listen to the show, are in the episode. Details are available on the webpage for that episode. You can also go to Maximum Fun, but it should be available where you normally get show notes. That's also how you sign up to get our newsletter, which comes out once a month, where we include one extra book recommendation from both from each of us, and we round out all the books we talked about. So in case you're like, ah, I don't want to write this down, you can subscribe to that newsletter and. And you're going to get those books at the beginning of each month that will have the books from last month. Plus, there's more Bria and Mallory in there. We talk about, like, what we're listening to, what we're eating. Yeah. What we're watching, like, things like that. Little more. More personal things about us.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We're also part of the Maximum Fun Podcast network, which we are really proud of because it's, as far as we know, it's the only podcast network that is cooperatively owned and run. We're just super proud. We love being on Max Fun. We've been on Max Fun from the beginning. And the way that it works is that every year for two weeks in the spring, Max Fun does a big fundraising drive, kind of like NPR does, to encourage people to sign up to be members and support us. So for just $5 a month, you can help us keep the lights on, get access to our Discord. That's how you get into the reading glasses. Discord. It's a hip, happening place. You can support a bunch of really awesome people. It's kind of like, it's like if Patreon was more of a community, like, that's you're far for. And I mean, we say five bucks a month. Maybe you're rich. Maybe you're like, I want to give these ladies 100 bucks a month. We're not going to kick that out. That's very exciting. But for just five bucks, you get all of the stuff. You get access to the discord. You get part of Maximum Fun. You get all the bonus content. After doing nine years of the show, we have a lot of bonus content. So there's a link in the show notes for that you go to maximum fun.orgjoin to sign up. You sent you email us of screenshot of your membership. And that unlocks the magical world of extra reading glasses stuff.

[Bria Graham]

Every year, we do a reading glasses challenge, which is five types of books. Not like a specific book, but like a type of book. And five activities, which is what we wanted. We wanted to make sure we were including activities that was important to us. It wasn't just read these books. It's like different things that we think can help you be a part of the bookish community or improve your reading. And throughout the year, we dedicate an episode for each part of that challenge. We participated in it as well. There's some things we are better at than others. I mean, the nice thing about is I think we really approach reading as like, we're also trying to improve ourselves

[Mallory O'Meara]

and trying to make we're in it with you.

[Bria Graham]

When she doesn't work for us, we're very open about it. Like, this is not working, or I hate this challenge, or this is not improving, improving my life or this is something I should do more often and I should be more aware of it. So we definitely try to be in it with you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And a few years ago, who has to be me? It's always me.

[Bria Graham]

One of us messed up and said the reading glasses glasses challenge, and then now we just say glass. That's one of our inside jokes. So if you're saying the reading glasses, glasses, glasses challenge, because then we started

[Mallory O'Meara]

for a few years, we were adding in extra glasses every year because we thought it was funny. So it was like the reading glasses, glasses, glasses, glasses challenge. And then there was just too many glasses. So we've. We've just reset to the reading glasses glasses challenge. That's how jokes work on this show. And so the magic of reading Glasses is it grew out of the fact that this is what Bria and I's friendship is really like. We Were before, years before we started the show. We are friends who like to talk about books and reading. So, Bria, tell us a little bit about yourself as an. Outside of being a book podcaster. Who are you as a person?

[Bria Graham]

Yeah, I'm a filmmaker, which is wild. But wow, what an interesting industry to be in right now. I've directed.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We're both in really thriving, healthy industries.

[Bria Graham]

I've directed three. I would say three and a half, four movies. One is an anthology, so only directed half of it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know. I think you can count that as a full feature.

[Bria Graham]

Okay. And then I've written four movies and some of that's overlapping with ones I directed, but then some are not ones like called Lucky that I did not direct you star in, but I starred in. I used to be an actress. You might recognize me from some of my acting. I was in a show called Heroes. I was in a show called Dexter. I've done a ton of horror movies as an actor. I generally write and direct in the genre space. I've also written, directed on three different series. That one is sci fi and the other one was like a two other ones like queer drama days, comedy dramas. I just did a movie called Grind. That's the anthology. It premiered at south by Southwest, which I created and co wrote and I directed the two segments of. I also write comic books. Occasionally I write prose or short stories. I used to be an actress. Sometimes I threatened to do it still, but I did.

[Mallory O'Meara]

If you're not careful, Bria Grant's gonna come in and do some acting.

[Bria Graham]

Well, I'll just start acting in front of you. So occasionally you'll see me in things. You'll be like, oh, my God, is that Bria? And Friday Night Lights. And like, that is me. That's me very young, like a different person. But I'm proud of all that work. I live in la. I have a dog. I have three cats. I like chocolate. I like movies, and I like reading. And I love sleep. I think about sleep all the time.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I will say one of our friends texted me because Bria just got back from south by Southwest, and one of me and Bria's good, good mutual friends texted me. I was like, look at this woman. And Bria got out of the movie theater.

[Bria Graham]

Oh, my God.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And she had. I don't know what happened, but you had melted chocolate.

[Bria Graham]

I can tell you, okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Over every single thing that she owns.

[Bria Graham]

I do carry a chocolate bar in my bag all the time. And I was in Texas, which, you know, that's going to be a problem. I didn't think about it. I didn't have my plastic bag.

[Mallory O'Meara]

She's not frozen.

[Bria Graham]

I am from Texas also, but the chocolate habit started in California, so I. But I should.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So you're not used to being a chocolate eater in Texas?

[Bria Graham]

That's right. And. But I was in a theater, and it was like, I was really tired because I had been due. I had done like seven hours of press the day before, and I was like, no, no, I'm gonn see this movie with you guys. And so I went with my friends to see this movie, and I was tired, and I was holding this chocolate bar in my hand, and I guess

[Mallory O'Meara]

I was, like, sleepy.

[Bria Graham]

And so I was, like, falling asleep, and it was ripping it, you know, your hands. Like a. Like a chocolate comfort bar.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And she's like, I'm not even eating this one.

[Bria Graham]

I just want to hold it. Yeah. I was trying to, like, you know, stay awake. So I was like, you know, touching my face and touching my hair and like, fixing myself, like, okay, stay awake, stay awake. And what I didn't realize is that it melted on my hands. So the lights come on and our two friends and Anthony and Matt look at me, and they start. They're like, oh, my God, Bria, you

[Mallory O'Meara]

need to go to the bathroom. And Anthony sends me this, and Bria, just.

[Bria Graham]

What's happening?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Covered in chocolate.

[Bria Graham]

And I was. And I was. I mean, it was so embarrassing. And then I went into the bathroom. Let me tell you this part. I went into the bathroom and cleaned myself up, and I couldn't get off my clothes. I actually had to go home and change clothes. And. And a woman looked at me and she was like, been there. Okay, you have.

[Mallory O'Meara]

That's you in the future, Bria.

[Bria Graham]

That is. It's actually just me comforting my past.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, my God. Wow.

[Bria Graham]

Okay. Tell people about you, Mallory. And if you have a fun anecdote, maybe you should tell that as well.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm sure we'll think of one by the time I'm done talking. I. My Bria is a full time filmmaker. I'm a full time author, and I think I have written about as many books as you've written movies, which is funny.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Because I feel like we. We went. We both kind of went full time around the same time, I think.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah, we both had kind of career changes around the same time.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I never realized it until now.

[Bria Graham]

I really. I really started changing my career from actor to writer circa 28.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, that's when I was writing lady from the Black Lagoon. Wow.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I've written four books about women's history. I've written lady from the Black Lagoon, which you might have heard of. It's funny, sometimes people write in are like, I read this book and I really liked it and I realized it's Mallory. Yes, it's me. Girl drinks. Daughter of daring. And I did a middle grade book called Girls Make Movies, illustrated by my friend Jen Vaughn. Bri and I wrote a book together called the no Pressure Book Journal, which is part book tracking journal, part book of essays about improving your reading life and part workbook to help you figure out the kind of reader you are. You can buy that now. We're very proud of it. So I guess I've technically written five books. I also live in la. I live in a tiny house filled with books and records and bourbon and fountain pen ink bottles, two cats. I'm obsessed with powerlifting. I'm obsessed with hockey. My teams are the Washington Capitals and the Boston Fleet Monster movies. I love heavy metal. I have never fallen asleep holding a bar of chocolate. Bria's the snack one. I am the drink one. I'm a big bourbon and beer person. I hate food. That's sort of a long standing joke on the show is that I really hate food. I eat like a divorced dad. One time a friend of mine looked in my fridge, my. My one of my best friends and he was like, you look like you have Shrek's fridge, Mallory. Who said that? That's such a good joke. My best. One of my best friend, Rich, because my. In my fridge was a 30 rack of PBR water, five jars of pickles and an onion. And he was like, mallory, this is what Shrek's fridge would look like. And I was like, wow, I can't even be mad because that is really, really, really accurate. And one thing that you should know about the show is that we both swear. Me especially. The show has an explicit rating for a reason. I swear a lot. I'm. Bria's from Texas. I'm from New England. New England people just swear. That's what we do.

[Bria Graham]

Mallory says swear words. I say, y'.

[Mallory O'Meara]

All. Yes, that's that. It really is the show. And if you like, if you don't like that show's not for you. There's a million other book showers. Go. Listen. Also, we're really passionate about supporting books written by marginalized authors. If you do not want to hear about queer books and books written by bipoc authors, please see your way out. If it, if you have a problem with us talking about a book by a trans author, I really think maybe you should go walk into the sea and not come back out again. This is not the place for you.

[Bria Graham]

Not the show for you, not the show for you. For us, it doesn't matter if you read 100 books a year. If you read one book a year, you are welcome here no matter what genre you read or how you read it. Mallory and I tend to fall more into like sci fi, fantasy, horror. But we have so many people like who are just or are nonfiction readers and like, and I think we kind of like, like, like I will read a lot of cozy books. Mallory's gotten really into romance and so we, we are open to all types of genres. We do not review books. We're not big. This is not gonna be a recap show except at the very beginning when we tell you what we're reading. The focus is on reading. Although we do recommend stuff.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, but there's a big difference between doing a bunch of book recommendations and reviewing a book. There is. We have. If you are looking for in depth reviews of books where go check out the stacks by friend of the show, Tracy. She's fantastic. That's. That, that's not the kind of show that we do. This is again, this is a, this is a reading show. And as far as we're concerned, all reading is reading. All books are books, ebooks, audiobooks, graphic novels. We are very anti book snoot around here. Just like, like what you like. We're just, we're really happy that you are reading. We are, we're pro books in all forms. All right. So you can send your thoughts to reading glassespodcastmail.com before we dive into the core tenets of the show that help you as a reader and our, our hall of fame. We're going to take a quick break.

[Bria Graham]

Reading Glasses is brought to you in part this week by Ingram Spark. IngramSpark is an award winning publishing platform providing you everything you need to successfully self publish a book. So why don't you focus on what you know how to do best, which is writing your story, writing your book so they can make it possible to share it with the world. Listen, we know there's a lot of cool people out there. You're all writing your books. You're listening to a show about books. Maybe you want to write a book. IngramSpark is free to publish. Free to edit your book as needed. And when you self publish with IngramSpark, you are plugged into One of the publishing industry's largest global book distribution networks, including access to over 45,000 retailers, including independent bookstores, which, you know, we love that. And libraries. That's right. Because the hardest part about writing a book. Okay, wait. The hardest part about writing a book may be writing it, but once you've done that, which I have faith that you can do, I feel you can write that book. You don't want to be like, calling 45,000 different retailers. How are you going to do that? That seems impossible. There's someone who can do it for you. That's IngramSpark. So get 15% of your first order of 15 more books using code glasses 15. The offer expires at the end of the year, so get to it. Glasses 15.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Let's get ready to record Maximum fun, bringing you the finest of podcasts from

[Bria Graham]

the worlds of comedy and culture.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Almost a perfect episode made by real people. Oh, no, Then my kid's gonna cost em. Ya hate to see it supported by

[Bria Graham]

people just like you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

They're only five seconds away from the longest stretch without saying 2, 1. And he's done it, folks.

[Bria Graham]

A new world record.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Amazing Max Fun drive is coming soon. And they hit the cute interruption trifecta. Cat dog and sleepy toddler. The best two weeks in podcasting starts Monday, April 20th. Bonus content, gifts, games and great episodes and so much more. Follow Max, funHQ and all your shows on social media so you don't miss a thing. Okay, we are back. Let's break down some of our key methods to improve your reading life. This is all stuff that we reference and talk about a lot on the show. And here's a quick breakdown of everything. Bri, you want to name the first one?

[Bria Graham]

Yeah, that's reader wheelhouse. Really important we got from book riot, but we talk about it all the time. We define it as is subjects and tropes that make you always want to pick up a book. So you see that and you're like, I am going to read that book. So for me, I love science books about the brain. I love sci fi about weird technology. I like apocalyptic books with long journeys, usually a road. We often call that woman on a journey.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, you love a food book, which

[Bria Graham]

is a go to joke. Yeah. Stuff about memory. And Mallory loves haunted houses and werewolves and memoirs about grief and weird fiction. So we do. We do get outside of our normal genres because our wheelhouses kind of dictate that. And it's something we talk about a lot to help you figure out what you want to read.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And so on the flip side of that is your doghouse. Your doghouse is a term that came from the Glasser community. It meant that, like, I'm putting this thing out in the doghouse because I don't want to read about it anymore. It's the opposite of your wheelhouse. It's subjects and tropes that make you avoid a book. Like, for me, I hate a love triangle.

[Bria Graham]

Love.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. I do not want to see a love triangle. If there's a second love interest, I'm gonna run them over with my car. Just pick one. It really drives me nuts.

[Bria Graham]

Don't do that. He just likes the same girl. Don't be so mean to him.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Just pick one. It's just like, I find love triangles extremely stressful. I like. And so love triangles are in my doghouse. The reason why we like the term doghouse, though, is it means that something can come back. Like, sometimes. Yeah. Like, I have. I've had kind of. I've had stories about stressed out moms in my doghouse for a few years. I'm sure it'll come back. I just read a lot of them in a row, and I just feel so bad for those moms. I don't want to. I just want to help them out. It's bad being stressed out sometimes things. Your wheelhouse is fluid and you're dark.

[Bria Graham]

Love triangle. What's the love triangle origin story? Mallory?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I just never liked that.

[Bria Graham]

Is there an origin story?

[Mallory O'Meara]

No.

[Bria Graham]

Okay. There's no. There's no. Like, you don't have love triangle trauma.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You know, what I think it is dealing with is that I'm just the kind of person, my opinions are so strong and so. So immediate that I cannot imagine being in a love triangle. And it stresses me out because I'm like, make a decision. You have other things to do. Like, when I like something, I like it. So you.

[Bria Graham]

It's the person who's. Who's. Who's. Because really, it's a love arrow. Yeah, We've talked about this. That it's like one person and there's two people. Right. That they like. And you're concerned about this person, not the other two people. That's the person.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, you know me, like, when I like something, I just know. I'm like, I know that I'm into it immediately. I cannot.

[Bria Graham]

Yes, I know. I've met your new boyfriend.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Although I will say, with my. My boyfriend, this is the first time in my life where I'm like, oh, yeah, this is my person forever. But when I'm into something. I just get like. I get into it. One of my friends tells me, mallory, when you like something, you like it more than anybody else likes it. And I like it immediately. And I like. I am. There's nothing that I am wishy washy on. And I cannot imagine having to have a. Having two people like you and not being able to decide between the two. Like, that is just. It is a. Such a. An alien way of thinking to my brain that it stresses me out. I'm like, what are you doing? There's other things. You have to pick one. That's why it stresses me out. That's my love triangle origin story.

[Bria Graham]

I see. I see. Okay, okay. Up next, read you'd Doorways, which is a concept invented by librarian Nancy Pearl. It's your way into a book. It's not tropes or subjects. It's the things you fall in love with with the book. And there's four. It's either plot, character, setting, or language. And every book has all these things. Obviously, they all have plots, they all have language. But some books have, like, if you are drawn to really beautiful language, if some are really plot driven. I personally love cool settings also when it comes to language. I like language books, but I kind of like ones that are a little bit more like staccato, a little bit more a different, not necessarily like a flowery language. Mallory loves books with compelling plots, but it's coming over to the setting world, Entering the setting world. Dip in your toe.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I love. I love. I just love opening a book and immediately wanting to know what's next. And so I saw a few people in the Discord talking about there. There's a little bit of confusion between a doorway and a wheelhous. Like, a book about vampires will be like, I'm trying to. I'm pulling out. I'm looking right now. Like, so Thirsty and Buffalo Hunter Hunter. So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison and Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham shows they're both werewolf books. They're both in the same wheelhouse, but they have different doorways. Buffalo Hunter.

[Bria Graham]

Vampire. Vampire books.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Vampire books. God, I just love werewolves so much. I'm just putting the word werewolf in things. It's funny because they actually also both have werewolf books. You could do Sharp teeth and Mongrels. But anyway, like, Buffalo Hunter X Hunter is, I would say, like a language first book, whereas so Thirsty is more of a character book. So it's the same wheelhouse, different doorways.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So that's the way to think about it. And also really big important concept on the show. We're big old book dumpers on this show. We love to yell like a daytime talk show. Dump that book.

[Bria Graham]

That book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

If you are not liking a book, it doesn't matter if you're one chapter in. If you're in 30 chapters in, stop reading. Reading it. Dump it. We release you from all your book guilt and what we like to call the sunken page fallacy. It is the sunken cause fallacy for books. The feeling that you have already invested a lot of time into this book so you should finish it. Nope, you're gonna die someday. Dump it and find something that you want to read. It really will improve your reading life and it's something that really feels strongly about on this show.

[Bria Graham]

Sometimes you also refer to being a Bria or Mallory. That's something we've, we've established over the years. I'm an E reader, so that's Brias are e readers. They don't mind spoilers because you can tell me the spoiler and I might still read the book. I'll probably still read the book. Bria's get books from the library. Bria's fall asleep reading in bed and they organize their books by color, which is wild, I know, but that is what I do. Mallory love reading print books and they love to collect them. They avoid spoilers at all costs. Mallory's organized books by genre and they inhale books in one sitting. That's, that's the Mallory. So if you hear us talking about Bria's and Mallory's, that's the difference.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. Bria's can fall asleep reading. Mallory's have insomnia and will just stay up until 5am reading that book. And then we have a bunch of long running jokes. The first, the first, I think maybe the first ever joke on reading glasses, we call our listeners Sarah. Not always, but sometimes we call listeners Sarah's because early on in the show I was looking at our email account and I texted Bria and I was like. And I sent her a screenshot and I was like, Bria, every email we've gotten over the past month has been from someone named Sarah. It was just like 20 emails from Sarah's. And we just noticed as we have a lot of Sarahs, for some reason, people named Sarah are very bookish. And it's kind of a joke that every single year for the reading glasses challenge, when we pick winners, just by virtue of num. Of statistics, one of them is going to be named Sarah. So that's where that came from.

[Bria Graham]

It's very funny. Sometimes we also do this like hot book tip thing because a long time ago we started doing like morning talk show car voices. We're like hot booktubes in the morning. And someone mailed us a slide whistle and now we have slide whistles that we use and we just, just. Yeah, yeah. And that stuck. So thank you for that. Slide whistle listener.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Also, if there's a book that's really long, we call it a honker. I think. What do we say? Anything over 500 pages is a honker. And I don't remember why we started calling them honkers.

[Bria Graham]

I don't know. Someone's gonna have to do that research. I don't know.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know why. It just sounds right, like, oh, that's a real honker. Like.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know. Why?

[Bria Graham]

Don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. Like, I feel like it's like a bookstop. Like a book. Like a doorstop or some people call them doorstop.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We just call them honkers. And I think maybe it's because we call other things that are really big honkers.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know. Someone will be able to tell us.

[Bria Graham]

And we also tend to call people who are being jerks or immature trash babies. Because there's a lot of trash babies in the bookish world and we don't like them.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. So we don't like them.

[Bria Graham]

We call them trash babies.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. People who are trying to ban books for queer kids. That's a trash baby right there.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah. Fuck them.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's not a baby that was born in the trash. It is a. It is someone who's acting like a baby that belongs in a trash can.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah, for sure.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So if you have other core tenets of reading glasses or long standing jokes that you think we should include, send them to readingglassespodcastmail.com. Okay. Drumroll, please. All right. We have a hall of fame on this show. It is filled with books that we have recommended so much, we've had to retire them. About a year or two into the show, we realized that there were certain books that we love so much and that fit so many people's wheelhouses that we were recommending them so often that we were like, what are we doing? We have to stop recommending this book because we'll just name this one book over and over again. And so I checked. We did this a few. We named our hall of fame our retired books a few years ago. Here was the previous list, Priest Daddy, Wayward Children Series, Head Fullest.

[Bria Graham]

I still recommend that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, well, but there's so many in that series that you can kind of keep going. But the first book, Every Heart, A Doorway, definitely is in the hall of fame.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

A Head Full of Ghosts, Magic for Liars, Basically anything by Samantha Irby. Although she's due for a new book and we get a little period of time where we can recommend.

[Bria Graham]

We can recommend it enough.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Cersei, Exit west, the Girl with the Louding Voice, We Ride Upon Styx, My Best Friend's Exorcism, the Hunger Library of the Dead, Here and Now, and then 10,000 doors of January Camp and Dread Nation.

[Bria Graham]

I think we should bring some of these back. Some of these we haven't talked about in a long time. We haven't got to talk about Dread Nation in so long. We should talk about that one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

How long do you think a book needs to be in the, in retirement before we can break it? Yeah, it has been a while.

[Bria Graham]

I feel like after like three years, we can bring it back.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Wow. Hot takes here.

[Bria Graham]

Wow. Okay. Okay.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And. But we do have a new list that we have to rise up to. The Raptors books that were really popular and we recommended quite a bit that I. We're just not allowed to recommend anymore. You want to read this new one?

[Bria Graham]

Uh huh. Shady Hollow. Sorry, Mallory. Yeah, sorry. Say Goodbye, Mallory. The Adventures of Mina Al Sarafi.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yep.

[Bria Graham]

Mexican Gothic. I'm surprised that one wasn't on the 1st.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I actually am surprised too, but it's definitely going to go on there because we recommended that a lot.

[Bria Graham]

Psalm for the Wild Built Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia. Fairies Light From Uncommon Stars, A Letter to the Luminous Deep and Legends and Lattes in the last group. Also, if you're, if you're looking, if you're like, hey, am I will I like the show? Maybe go look at this retired list

[Mallory O'Meara]

and there's a lot of books.

[Bria Graham]

If you like that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You might, you might be a glasser for sure. Yeah. All right. Boom. You're ready to be a glasser. You're on board for all this. You might, you might be be someone who wants to join our community. And if you are already part of it, thank you so much. We really feel like we have the best bookish community on the Internet. We're so happy that you're here.

[Bria Graham]

We really do.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Remember, if you want to join our discord, you go to maximumfun.org join to sign up to support the show. Maxwomfun.org join there's a link in the show notes. You sign up any level and then you email us a screenshot of your membership. You can't just sign up because all the, all the extra Reading Glasses stuff, the Discord, that's not through Maxfun, that's through us. So you have to email us separately. Screenshot of your membership, send it to reading glasses podcastmail.com say you want to be in the Discord. Then we will get an invite and join our wonderful group of glassers. And we want to say thank you to the wonderful mods. We have really great mods in our community. Bria and I have not been on Facebook in a really, really, really long time, but we know we have awesome Reading Glasses group over there that is moderated by lovely folks and we have an awesome Discord server. I love our Discord mods. They make my life so much easier. Thank you so much for all the work that you do. And if you're looking for some cool merch for this new show that you like, we have a Void merch store. There's a link in the show notes for that. And you want to do something nice for us that's totally free, warms our hearts and helps the show. Please rate and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It's so nice for the show, but really it's also nice for our hearts. You can email us at reading glasses podcastmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading.

[Bria Graham]

Thanks for reading.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Maximum Fun. A worker owned network of artist owned shows supported directly by you.