Ep 464 - The Secrets of Talking About Books Online!

Summary

Reading Glasses – Ep 464: The Secrets of Talking About Books Online!

Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara
Date: May 28, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this lively and candid episode, Brea and Mallory pull back the curtain on the realities of publicly talking about books—especially on the internet. They answer a listener’s pressing questions about transparency, honesty, and ethics in book recommendations, review their own policies on finishing books, and discuss the difference between recommending and reviewing. The hosts also field a bookish etiquette problem (what to do when a borrowed book suffers wear and tear) and share ocean-themed recs for the most adorable aquarium book club. As always, the pair showcase their trademark humor, vulnerability, and practical advice—all to help listeners read better and enjoy literary life.

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What Are You Reading?

[00:44–04:24]

Mallory:

• My Monster Boyfriend, ed. by C. Spike Trotman
  A unique erotic comic book anthology featuring monster boyfriends of all kinds (“It’s very erotica. I was not—I did not know how erotica was going to be. And it’s queer, but it’s also monsters… everything from a robot with a robot dick to a harpy.” – Mallory, 00:44)
• Mallory reads a bit each night: “I’ve just read one a day, kind of like just to relax at the end of the day. And I’m like, oh, so cute. This little robot wants to make out with his girlfriend.” [02:14]

Brea:

• It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect by Gaelynn Lea
  Memoir of a disability activist and musician who tours after winning NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, encountering major accessibility challenges in the music world.
  “She’s really funny. And like in between every chapter, there’s just like a little bit of her music, which is really nice. … It’s been a really fascinating, really well written memoir. I’m really enjoying it.” [03:44]

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Listener Feedback Highlights

[04:34–07:56]

• Meredith wrote in about a stellar (literally) two-person book club: NK Jemisin’s The Fifth Season and Obelisk Gate read together in a hot tub during vacation. “That sounds like fucking heaven.” – Mallory [05:18]
• Kat suggested middle-grade as comfort reads: “Middle grade books cover almost all genres… but the difference is you go into middle grade books not constantly worrying that the author is about to pull the rug out from under you with a horrible twist. They are at their core hopeful books…” [05:35-06:21]

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Deep Dive: The Secrets of Talking About Books Publicly

[08:51–24:21]

Why This Episode?

Prompted by Alicia, a school librarian overwhelmed (and perhaps a bit guilty) about not finishing every book she recommends during presentations:
“I decided… that I wasn’t going to finish a YA best book unless I loved it… Last year, I started telling people I don’t finish all the books I present on, and people were shocked to learn this.” [09:11]

Do Mallory & Brea Always Finish the Books They Talk About?

• No, definitely not.
  “We’re big book dumpers. We try to not finish books that we don't like, so we will not finish those books.” – Mallory [10:13]
• The "What are you currently reading?" segment is intentional—sometimes interest wanes mid-book. “These aren’t books that I dump a chapter in. These are books that, like, I get halfway through and I’m kind of bored… But the beginning probably was very exciting to me.” – Brea [10:59]

Do They Announce When They Dump a Book?

• Not really, unless someone asks. “It's not like we're doing, like, okay, and now it's time to announce all the books we dumped. That would be weird.” – Mallory [12:19]
• Brea considered keeping track of dumped books but abandoned the endeavor: “There was so many that I was like, I’m not even going to bother.” [12:27]

Are They Book Critics or Reviewers?

• Emphatically, no. “We’re not book reviewers. That is a different type of show… We are not here to give in-depth reviews on books or talk about why we didn’t like something.” – Brea [12:34]

Is It Okay to Talk About Books You Haven’t Finished?

• Yes, with caveats.
  “I think if you say this is a great book and you didn’t finish it, that's a little weird… But it’s okay to talk about how you didn’t like the book [if you dumped it].” – Mallory [13:57]
• Both agree one shouldn’t pan a book after just a chapter but also you can’t fully evaluate a book after only 10 pages. If you recommend, be honest about your level of engagement.

Do They Ever Recommend Books They Don’t Personally Like or Haven’t Read?

• Yes! “There are books that aren't for me that are squarely in someone else’s wheelhouse… Like, I’m not a big language person, but I can identify when language is a doorway for a book…” – Mallory [16:29] “It would be like, if someone came up to us and we're like, ‘I'm looking for a restaurant in LA that's famous for steak.' We could very easily point some people to restaurants we have been to without eating the steak there.” – Brea [18:07]
• When asked for very specific types of books, sometimes one or both have not read it, but will mention it if they believe it’s what the listener wants.

On Book Mail, Publishers, and Feeling Obligated

• Brea and Mallory receive hundreds of publisher pitches a year:
  “We probably get between 5 to 10 pitches or PDFs of books every single day. … I just don’t feel pressure to care. … When you are talking about a book online, you are doing them [the publisher] a favor by talking about it. They’re not doing me a favor by sending it to me.” – Mallory & Brea [20:34]

Why They’re Not Book Critics

• “We’re here to improve people’s lives. … Not necessarily just—we’re not doing cultural critiques of books for the most part.” – Mallory [22:09]
• Focus is on connecting people with books that improve or fit their reading tastes, not on literary evaluation for its own sake. “There’s a big difference between reviewing a book and recommending it and suggesting it.” – Brea [23:21]

On the Authenticity of Bookish Excitement Online

• “Most the books that Bri and I are really excited about—we're genuinely really excited about. Because what would it serve us to not be?” – Mallory [24:19]

Memorable Quotes:

• “We're not making promises in the beginning… It’s good to show that even we book professionals often think we’re gonna like something and we don’t end up being into it.” – Brea [10:59]
• “You frost my book, you buy me another one for $8.” – Brea [31:47]

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Bookish Problem: A Page Falls Out of a Borrowed Book!

[25:40–32:09]

Scenario: Brea borrows a friend’s precious, hard-to-find book. It already had some water damage, but while she’s reading, a page falls out! What’s the etiquette: does she owe her friend a replacement?

Discussion:

• Minor wear on older books (esp. paperbacks) is normal.
  “If it’s an older book, especially a paperback… pages are gonna fall out easily, no matter how gently you’re reading it.” – Brea [27:11]
• Damage from normal use doesn’t require replacement unless it’s extreme (she relays a tale of a book returned with “chocolate frosting”—that’s a case for replacement!).
• If truly nervous or sentimental about the book’s availability, buying a new copy is a nice gesture, but not always necessary—especially for a “slutty little book” that’s made the rounds. [29:13]

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Recommendation Request: Ocean Life / Aquarium Reads!

[33:21–36:24]

Listener Heidi asks:
“Any ocean life, sea creature, slash aquarium related recommendations… for my aquarium book club? We meet by the shark tank!”

Recs:

• Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
  “It has strong ocean elements… family's history in Hawaii… some magical realism, really great book club book.” – Mallory [34:13]
• A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall
  “Partially takes place underwater, sea exploration is a big thing, and these two main characters are just so excited about marine biology…” – Brea [34:27]
• Beasts of the Sea by Ida Terpanen (trans. David Hackston)
  “Big sprawling historical literary epic—in several time periods. A huge marine animal skeleton affects people across centuries.” – Brea [35:00]

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Notable Moments & Quotes

• [02:11] “They give him a dick.” – Brea, on Bicentennial Man, much to Mallory’s amusement.
• [16:29] “I love a good dog death in a book… If someone’s like, I really want a book with this, this book has this thing you want.” – Mallory, hilarious example of recommending books outside one’s own taste.
• [29:13] “Not to slut shame this book, but if this book's around town and this book's been around… taking a little dip!” – Mallory, on much-borrowed books losing integrity.
• [31:47] “You frost my book, you buy me another one for $8.” – Brea, on book-borrowing etiquette.

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Episode Flow & Structure

• Warm, professional but personable tone. Frequent laughter, self-deprecating humor, and affirmations of listener experience and bookish community.
• Clear division: “What are you reading”; feedback; main discussion (book talking secrets); problem solving; recommendations.
• Policy of radical transparency—honest about what they read, finish, recommend, and how they use their reading voice to help, not critique.

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers a candid, funny, and practical look at what it means to talk about books “in public” in the internet age. Brea and Mallory remind us that reading is deeply personal and that recommending books is about connection, not perfection. Their approach—partial reads, honest enthusiasm, and a hyper-focus on helping others read better—is a model for any book lover navigating the noisy world of online literary conversation.

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Contact & Community:

• Email: readingglassespodcastmail.com
• Instagram: @readingglassespodcast
• Discord and Facebook group links in show notes

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For show notes, book lists, and more, sign up for their newsletter.

Transcript

[Mallory O']

Foreign.

[Bria Graham]

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'.

[Mallory O']

Meara. And I'm Bria Graham, filmer here and e reader. This episode we're revealing the secrets behind talking about books on the Internet.

[Bria Graham]

Ooh, spicy episode.

[Mallory O']

What is the what? What should be your policy? Which what. What should you be doing? Plus we solve a problem about a page falling out while reading a borrowed book. It's from me. That's it. Do you else for me?

[Bria Graham]

Sorry folks. Bria gets a priority. Bria gets entrance to the front of the line.

[Mallory O']

And we recommend ocean related books for an aquarium book club. So cute.

[Bria Graham]

God, I love it. But first, Bria, what are you reading?

[Mallory O']

So you and I went to the rit bodice we did a couple of weeks ago and I picked up a comic book, an erotic comic book anthology unlike any other. It is called My Monster Boyfriend. The editor is C. Spike Trotman. And it is a bunch of different comics and anthology style. A bunch of different comics by a bunch of different writers all with monster boyfriends in them. And it's erotica. It's very erotica. I was not. I did not know how erotica was going to be. And it's queer, but it's also monsters. It's, it's, it's all. It's, it's queer, it's straight, it's everything. It runs the gamut. Everything from. Do you want a little robot with a robot dick? Do you want a. A harpy? That's the first one. It's a harpy. I just read, read one about this guy who's like stuck under like inside like this like mountain situation with a dragon here. Starts having sex with this.

[Bria Graham]

I'm sorry, I'm stuck on robot with a tiny robot dick. That might be the funniest thing I've ever heard in my whole life.

[Mallory O']

It's pretty wild. The robot wants a face because he wants to be able to kiss his girlfriend.

[Bria Graham]

It's like Bicentennial Man.

[Mallory O']

Is that the plot to Bicentennial Man?

[Bria Graham]

I'm pretty sure the plot, which is remember with. I don't know why this, this movie goes up on this show so much, but it's like.

[Mallory O']

What's weird is I don't think I've ever seen this movie. But we have talked about it and I never know what you're talking about

[Bria Graham]

is this movie with Robin Williams who's this robot and at some point he like Becomes more human and like, gets a girlfriend and they give him a dick.

[Mallory O']

They give him a dick.

[Bria Graham]

Wow.

[Mallory O']

Like, you know what you need? You know what women want. It is honestly so cute. I've just like read one a day, kind of like just to relax at the end of the day. And I'm like, oh, so cute. This little robot wants to make out with his girlfriend.

[Bria Graham]

That's cute.

[Mallory O']

Highly. I can recommend it if you enjoy a nice, like, erotic comic, which is a very specific group of people. But I feel like reading glasses can relate. Reading glasses, sure. What are you reading?

[Bria Graham]

I'm listening to It Wasn't Meant To Be Perfect by Galen Lee. So this is a memoir. Galen Lee won the 2016 Tiny Desk Concert. Like, she was like a musician that she submitted her tape and like out of 6,000 musicians got to perform at the. I don't know, I guess it must be at the office of NPR where the Tiny Desk itself is.

[Mallory O']

Yeah, isn't it? I don't know where it is actually.

[Bria Graham]

But she, she won this contest and got so successful that she became like a full time touring musician. But the problem is. So she has brittle bone disease and she uses a wheelchair. And she. When it's like a memoir of her life and growing up and like wanting to play the cello, but she was not able to play the cello cause of the size. So she started to play a violin upright. And like there was a luthier that designed a special bow specifically for the way that she plays. And she grows up in Duluth, that Minnesota. There was like an accessible theater company there. So she just like grew up with a lot of accessibility in performance spaces. And. But the problem was when she started touring across the country, like, she's open for the Decemberists. She's done all kinds of stuff. She realized how inaccessible a lot of the music world is. So she became like a disability activist out of necessity because she had to. And it's like, it's about her, her music and touring, which is really interesting to me because I am not a musician, but I am someone who loves music. And just like hearing how that world works is fascinating. She's really funny. And like in between every chapter, there's just like a little bit of her music, which is really nice. And she reads it and she's a really good narrator. And it's just a really. The music world is not a place that I ever am in. So it's been a really fascinating, really well written memoir. I'm really enjoying it. So that's. It wasn't Meant to Be Perfect by

[Mallory O']

Galen Lee and mine is My Monster Boyfriend. Edited by C. Spike Trotman.

[Bria Graham]

We want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Meredith wrote in to say, dear Glasser Gurus, wow. Bri and I are floating on a cloud. We are. I think you're more Zen than I am. I'm the least Zen person of all time. But you're pretty Zen.

[Mallory O']

I'm pretty Zen.

[Bria Graham]

Together we make one normal person emeritus. Says the two person book club Part of the challenge from last year was great for me and my sisters. We decided to read the fifth season. Good choice and use the storygrapher read along to chat about it. After we finished that, we had a vacation coming up and decided to read Obelisk Gate while on vacation. So the three of us got physical copies of the book and read it together in our cabin in North Carolina in between hiking, just three of us sitting in the hot tub with our books.

[Mallory O']

Ugh. Ugh. That sounds great.

[Bria Graham]

It was great.

[Mallory O']

Wow. With an NK Jemisin book. That sounds incredible.

[Bria Graham]

Oh my Lord. It was great. When the fastest reader would gasp out loud and look up and say what page are you on? Thanks for that challenge. We had a great time. That sounds like fucking heaven.

[Mallory O']

That sounds amazing.

[Bria Graham]

Going on a fun hike and then sitting in the hot tub with your friends from reading. That literally sounds like the best vacation I can think of.

[Mallory O']

Kat wrote in and said hi Bria Mallory, I recently listened to the episode on Comfort reads and you mentioned that there aren't really any hard and fast rules for what counts as a comfort read across all readers since people take comfort in so many different things across different genres. While that's true, as I do think I have a piece of advice that can work for many readers across most genres. Whatever your preferred type of book, pick up a middle grade version of that particular type of book. Okay, Interesting. Middle grade books cover almost all genres and they tackle just as many hard hitting topics as adult books. Fear, injustice, loss, relationships, politics and more. But the difference is you go into middle grade books not constantly worrying that the author is about to pull the rug out from under you with a horrible twist. They are at their core hopeful books no matter what awful things the main characters go through. You know that with their kid smarts and big hearts the find a way to save the day.

[Bria Graham]

His smarts and big hearts is really cute.

[Mallory O']

Yeah, there's fantastically written middle grade sci fi, historical fantasy, horror, non fiction, even poetry. I hope this helps someone find a comfort read in a dark time. Thanks for the podcast, it makes me feel connected with the wider community of readers, and that's a comfort on its own. That is such good advice, actually, and I think it's something you're better about than I am.

[Bria Graham]

Is a middle grade book. A middle grade book? Oh, yeah.

[Mallory O']

Especially like a middle grade horror book you love, which maybe is more comforting than an adult horror book.

[Bria Graham]

Well, that's the weird thing is like, is this glass really hit the nail on the head? Because horror is not comforting for most people. It's very comforting for me. I'm like, oh, I'm so scared. I can't think about everything I've. Everything embarrassing I've ever said. Beautiful. I feel so calm right now. And then cat included. A wheelhouse, which is beings, robots, aliens, clones, animals. Finding ways of becoming people without having to become human to do it. Like bicentennial weird narrative structures. Science memoirs. The power of poetry. Metaphorical, emotional. The power of poetry, literal and magical.

[Mallory O']

Oh, like power and capitalized too.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah, like magic power of poetry. That's fun. Non human POVs, especially non humanoid POVs. And books where the setting function as a character.

[Mallory O']

Oh, I love that too.

[Bria Graham]

You can email [e-mail] 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 reveal online book talking secrets, we're going to take a quick break.

[My Brother My Brother Me Host]

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

[Bria Graham]

funny things, which is what we talk about on My Brother.

[My Brother My Brother Me Host]

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

[Bria Graham]

This week, we're revealing the secrets of talking about books publicly. Do we finish all the books we mention on the show? Do we recommend books we actually hate? Do we really love all the books we say we do? All shall be revealed. Wow. What a vulnerable. We've been so vulnerable lately, Bria.

[Mallory O']

We really have. Look at us.

[Bria Graham]

Look at us.

[Mallory O']

Opening up.

[Bria Graham]

Opening up. So today's episode was inspired by Alicia, who wrote in I'm a school librarian who does a YA Best books presentation every year. I usually review and present on 75ish books each year. TBH. I don't actually love YA, but it is my job to know what's out there because I prefer to spend my reading time on books I want to read. I decided a long time ago that I wasn't going to finish a YA Best book unless I loved it. Let's face it, I only need to listen to a couple hours of a book to be able to book talk it. And as an added bonus, I. I can't spoil a book if I don't know how it ends. Last year, I started telling people I don't finish all the books I present on, and people were shocked to learn this. So my question's for you. Every week you talk about books that you are currently reading. Do you always finish them? If you don't finish them, do you tell anyone? Do you have to read an entire book to be able to book talk about it? Do you ever recommend books you don't like? All right, wow. Let's go through this list, Bray. Let's get into our the secrets of talking about books on the Internet. Bria, do we always finish the books we talk about on the show?

[Mallory O']

No.

[Bria Graham]

No, we do not need.

[Mallory O']

Both of us.

[Bria Graham]

I think we're pretty open about that, though.

[Mallory O']

Yeah. I mean, okay, do we like. No. Like, that's why we always say, what are you reading? I'm currently reading this because sometimes we don't finish that book. Sometimes we get to the point where we're like, oh, I didn't. I don't like this book. And we. And we're big book dumpers. We try to not finish books that we don't like, so we will not finish those books. Like, we don't make promises in the beginning. We often tell each other, oh, yeah, like, oh, you know that book I was just talking about? I dumped it. It's so boring. Or I didn't love it. It doesn't happen terribly often. Like, I don't think it happens more than a few times a year for both of us. But we do talk about books that we do not finish reading, right?

[Bria Graham]

Oh, yeah. I mean, I think my number is probably higher. I think like a third of the books I talk about.

[Mallory O']

Wow. Yeah, That's a lot.

[Bria Graham]

Okay.

[Mallory O']

I think I do. Like, mine is definitely only like three or four years.

[Bria Graham]

Oh, I pick. Well, I read a lot and I pick up a lot of books. The thing is, it's not like there's never been a time where I've been talking about, like, at the top of a show and, like, I'm reading this where I'm not. I'm lying about my excitement about it. Normally, what happens is these are the books. These aren't books that I. I dump a chapter in. These are books that, like, I get, like, halfway through and I'm like, I'm kind of bored with this and I'll put it down. But the. The beginning probably was very exciting to me. Yeah. Again, we're not making promises, and I think it's good to show that even we book professionals often think we're gonna like something and we don't end up being into it. You know, we gotta keep those book dumping muscles very strong. But yeah, that's like you said, that's why we say we are currently reading it. We're not. And every once in a while, I will. We'll say, like, hey, I just finished this. Like, last week I talked about Accumulation by Amy Pakwatka, and I finished that and I fucking loved it. So great. But sometimes we don't. So, Bria, do we ever reveal when we don't finish them?

[Mallory O']

Well, like I said, we. We tell each other. I think we allude to it. Sometimes we'll like, oh, we'll talk about books we've dumped. That's sometimes a book we've talked about in the show. But it's not like we do a bookmark where we're like, just so everyone knows, I was reading this last week and I did not finish it. I don't feel like the need to do that.

[Bria Graham]

Yes.

[Mallory O']

Unless someone's asking me about it specifically. And then I'll be like, oh, you know what? I didn't finish it.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O']

But no, it's not like we're doing, like, okay. And now it's time to announce all the books we dumped. That would be weird.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O']

Don't you think? Yeah. Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

Honestly, I. I almost started keeping track of all the books that I dumped on my cawpile, but there was so many that I was like, I'm not even going to bother.

[Mallory O']

Wow.

[Bria Graham]

And also something that we. We talk about on the show, but we want to reiterate it here. We're not book reviewers. That is a different type of show. People who are like, our book critics. I don't Consider us book critics. We never have been and we never will be. We are here to help you read better. We're here to recommend some books. We are not here to give in depth reviews on books or, like, talk about why we didn't like something. It just doesn't fit into what the mission of this show is, because it wouldn't help you read better. Wouldn't help you find a book that you like more. Like, it's just. It just doesn't fit into what this whole. The whole fucking point of the show is. So. And also, like you said, there's no. It's not like there's a space on this show to be like, here's an update on a book I was reading a week ago.

[Mallory O']

Here's an update. Fuck this book.

[Bria Graham]

But also, that's a good incentive to come see Bria and I in person, because if you ask us, we will talk about stuff we liked and stuff we dumped into stuff we didn't. Also, I just want to shout out, I got to meet a few glassers. I just did my dream event at Buffalo Trace, my favorite place on earth. Buffalo Trace, my favorite, favorite bourbon flew me out to do some talks at their distillery for Mother's Day weekend. And it was the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. But I did get to see some glassers, but nobody asked me for the hot, hot book review gossip. But you can if you want.

[Mallory O']

You can definitely can.

[Bria Graham]

Bria, do you think you have to read the entire book to be able to talk about it in public?

[Mallory O']

Okay. I'm gonna say, like, you. It would be weird if you were like, I like the ending, but you didn't finish the book. That's like. That's. That would be weird, you know? But I feel like a lot of times when people are saying, I didn't like this book, it means they didn't actually like it enough to finish it. Right? I mean, I think that is what you are implying. I think if you say this is a great book and you didn't finish it, that's a little weird. Like, there's things that are a little weird, but I think. I think if you, like, have to talk about the content or something specific, you know, like, and you're just, like, trying to get an idea of it, you haven't finished the book. Like, maybe that's fine. Like, this librarian. It's a very specific thing this librarian has to do.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O']

It's hard to imagine that situation coming up a lot where it's like, I need to talk about the content of this book, but I don't need to have read the whole book. I think, like, if you. You can say you didn't like a book or a book wasn't for you and not finished it, that you don't have to finish the book and be like, oh, you know what the last two pages got me, it probably ain't gonna get you. So, like, it's okay to talk about how you didn't like the book.

[Bria Graham]

Yes.

[Mallory O']

But I don't. I think it would be weird to be like, I loved this book and you never finished it. That feels, like, strange, I think, like, pick and choose, you know? Yeah. So you agree?

[Bria Graham]

Yes, I. And also, again, I, like you said, I think it depends on what you mean by talk about it. I think Alicia has a very specific instance that's probably not applicable to most people listening to the show. When it comes to, again, reviewing a book, I think it is very weird to be like, I didn't finish it, but I think it's great. What?

[Mallory O']

That's weird. Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

On the flip side, though, I will say I also think it's weird to read one chapter of a book and be like, this book sucks.

[Mallory O']

Like, yeah, you're right. You're right, you're right. You need to give it more of a shot. Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

Unless it's completely filled with grammatical errors or, like, very. Or like, a book by a horrible racist person. Like, if we're talking about just, like, a regular old novel, my hot take is that you can't assess if it's a bad book without reading at least a hefty chunk of it. Because there's been a lot of times where you're like, hey, this character's not. I don't. I don't like this character. I wish this character would learn this thing. And the whole point of the book is this character to learn this thing and that character to change.

[Mallory O']

Change. Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

It's it's also fine to be like, hey, this isn't for me. But it's, again, it's wild to read 10 pages of a book and then hop on the Internet and talking about how much it sucks. Yeah. When you're recommending a book, I think it's fine to be like, hey, I read a little of that, and I think you'd like it.

[Mallory O']

Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

And for us, for books we talk about liking and loving, as in, like, books we include on our best of the Year episodes. We got our best of the Year halftime show coming up. Books we include in, like, recommendations, episode we finish those. We love those. Those books have the reading glasses. Seal of authenticity.

[Mallory O']

Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

Now, Bria, do we ever recommend books that we don't like?

[Mallory O']

We do.

[Bria Graham]

We do.

[Mallory O']

Shocking, shocking news.

[Bria Graham]

Hot take.

[Mallory O']

Like, because there are books that aren't for me that are squarely in someone else's wheelhouse. Like, just an example. Like, I'm not a big language person, but I can identify when language is a doorway for a book. Like, when you're reading it, you're like, wow, the language is so beautiful. Book's not really for me. I don't really like it, but I can see why the language is so beautiful. And someone's like, I just like this kind of language, like, when things are written in this kind of way. And I'm like, I do have a book recommendation for you. It wasn't for me. Or if someone's like, you know what I love? I love a good dog death in a book. Give me a book with a nice, solid dog dying, and I can be like, you know what? I do have a book for you, because I didn't like this book, but I have a book for you because it had something I didn't like about it. Sometimes I don't even finish it. But I know that this is a book that you might like, so I do feel like you can get a sense of that. And this actually, like, weirdly happens when we're doing live streams, I think, where people will be like, we're looking for something like this. I'm leaving something like this. And then people will kind of chime in, in the chat, and they'll be like, I haven't read it. But what about this? Doesn't this have that? And I do think that is helpful for people, you know, to be like, oh, I am looking. I'm just gonna keep talking about the dog death book.

[Bria Graham]

It's horrible.

[Mallory O']

Like, I'm looking for a dog death. When people were like, I didn't like this book, or, I didn't read this book, but this has that in there. I think that that is a. It's. It is helpful. And it's okay if you didn't like the book because it might be for somebody else. That art is. Is subjective. You know, it's the book that's not for you may not be. I would never recommend an offensively bad book.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O']

Where I'm like, this was so poorly written. I cannot recommend it, and I couldn't get through any parts of it. But I can recommend books that I didn't really like.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah.

[Mallory O']

Are you doing that?

[Bria Graham]

I was like, it would be like, if someone came up to us and we're like, I'm looking for a restaurant in LA that's famous for steak. We could very easily point some people to restaurants we have been to without eating the steak there. Like, and, like, there's several famous steakhouses in la. Will Brie and I ever eat their beef? We will not, but we can recommend those places. So there's definitely been tons and tons of instances and recommendation request segments or live streams where someone's like, I really want a book with this. And I'm like, well, I don't say this in the stream, but I'm like, well, this wasn't for me. But you love. If you're really looking for this thing, this book has this thing that you want. Like, you're never gonna find us on the show talking on our own about a book that we don't like is the thing. Like, if someone's asking for a type of book, we have truly countless books that we can. I am just a stack of book recommendations in a trench coat, really. But if we're just on our own without someone requesting something specific, we do not talk about books that we don't like, even for books by our friends. Like, the thing is, we're friends with a lot of authors and we don't talk about everybody's books. Sometimes, like, I will say, sometimes people, like, don't send us a book. And then I'm like, well, I haven't read it.

[Mallory O']

I don't know.

[Bria Graham]

The ones we get behind, we really genuinely love. Like, we. There's a lot of. Honestly, there's some books that we read a book by someone and then become friends with them. That's what happened with my Chen. Yeah, it was Here and Now and then came out. Mike came on the show, we read the book, liked it. Mike came on the show and we became friends. Like, there's, there's. I have some really wonderful friends that I've made that were just mutual fans of each other. Also to speak to that, I want to touch on talking about books that are sent to you by publishers. I think I can't speak to everybody on the Internet. Of course, there's a lot of book talkers and book Instagrammers. And I think that especially when you first start out, there's definitely a pressure when a publisher sends you a package. And I think maybe people do feel like that. And a publisher, especially if they send you like, oh, like a big fancy package full of stuff and you Feel like you're like, wow, I want this publisher to keep sending me things. But for Bria and I, we are sent literally hundreds of books every single year. In the reading glasses inbox, we probably get between 5 to 10 pitches or PDFs of books every single day. It is so many.

[Mallory O']

Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

I just don't.

[Mallory O']

And y' all are sitting here. You're like, have you. You should have this author on your show. Here's the book. And I'm like, we don't. We're not. It's. There's a lot.

[Bria Graham]

There's too much. It's truly a mountain of them. And I just don't feel pressure to. To care. Even from publishers we love. Like, as someone who has been doing this for almost a decade, and I've been an author for seven years now, I know that when you were talking about a book online, you were doing them a favor by talking about that book. They're not doing me a favor by sending it to me, even if I really, really, really want it. And I specifically asked them to send it. So you never have to doubt our love for a book, even if it's from, like, Tor.com.

[Mallory O']

yeah.

[Bria Graham]

Someone who we love and we've had a long standing relationship with. Like, there's. There's a lot of fucking books that come out every year.

[Mallory O']

Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

So this. Is this a little peek behind the reading glasses curtain.

[Mallory O']

Yeah.

[Bria Graham]

When it especially.

[Mallory O']

I was actually just having this conversation with another book podcaster who was saying it is quite hard to. When there are books that are coming out by friends, involving people, you know, it is hard, especially, like, people pay attention to what's happening. I think, like, you know, right now, I won't. I won't, like, name any names, but right now there's, like, a popular book that's out by someone that a lot of people know and, like how it's hard to review that book or talk about that book, which just makes me so grateful. We're not fucking book reviewers.

[Bria Graham]

Yes.

[Mallory O']

And, like, there are people I have, like, a lot of respect from, like, Tracy from the Stacks, who, like, is just reviewing books, saying what she thinks, like, great. And I do like that. I, like. I listen to that show. I listen to what she has to say. It's not what we want to do, and it's never been what we've set out to do. And I just don't. I don't have time to critique something that much, first of all. But also, like, I'm.

[Bria Graham]

We're here to Critics improve.

[Mallory O']

Yeah. We're here to improve people's lives. Not necessarily just. We're not doing cultural critiques of books for the most part.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah. For me, the recommendation segments are about connecting someone to a book that has a specific thing that they're looking for. It's not about reviewing a book. I mean, every once in a while, there's been times where I'm like, hey, I like when someone was looking for books with romance, books with wheelchair users. Like, I haven't even read some of the. One of the books on that list I put on my library holes, and I'm waiting for it to come in. Not my type, but it's. I was like, I haven't read any of these, but here are some. Yeah. So that's when we're recommending books. There are definitely times where we have never read them, but again, it's more about connecting to that person, improving their reading life by connecting them to a type of book that they like. Sometimes we've read them. There's. I would say. I would say probably 80% of the books we talk about in the recommendation request segments we've read, and then there's like 20%. When someone's looking for something very, very specific that is not a super popular wheelhouse item that I will go farther afield, and it's more important to find that book for them than it is to have read it.

[Mallory O']

Yeah, I think it looks even less than that. I feel it's like less than 5% of the time we're pulling from other places.

[Bria Graham]

But. Yeah, you're probably right. But that's. I mean, we're. There's. There's a big difference between reviewing a book and recommending it and suggesting it. And I think it all depends on how you're talking about a book online. We actually. We had somebody write in recently that kind of goes in with this episode that was like, I see all these book talkers and they're all excited about books all the time. They can't. Are they lying? Are like. And I. The truth is, I don't know. But I can tell you as someone who is. Who has been a book podcaster for almost a decade, who reads a lot and gets sent a lot of books, most of the books. There's. There's a book that almost. I would say pretty regularly, I'm very excited about every once in a while. There was a beginning. Beginning of the year, I was in kind of a slump. I kept. Not the books that I. A lot of the books I read at the start of the year were like three star reads for me. But I had a. I had a streak lately. And most the books that Bri and I are really excited about, we're genuinely really excited about. Because what would it serve us to not be? You know what I mean?

[Mallory O']

Yeah, yeah, totally.

[Bria Graham]

So you can send your thoughts about talking about books in public to readingglassespodcastmail.com before we solve a bookish problem about a page falling out of a book you borrow. We're gonna take a quick break.

[My Brother My Brother Me Host]

What's more action packed than prestige television?

[Bria Graham]

With more continuity than comic books and more reality than reality television?

[My Brother My Brother Me Host]

It's professional wrestling. And to better understand wrestling is the ultimate form of entertainment, you need the Tights and fights podcast.

[Bria Graham]

This is the perfect wrestling show with a lot of love, a lack of

[Mallory O']

toxic masculinity, and just the right amount of butts. Cats and spandex listen to tights and

[Bria Graham]

fights every Saturday on maximum fun. Time to solve a bookish problem from one of our hosts, Bria Grant, wrote into the show. And. And unfortunately, folks, when you host the podcast, your bookish problem gets bumped to the front of the line. Yeah, Bri, you wanna read out this your own question?

[Mallory O']

Oh, yeah, I'll read it. I emailed it. Two reading glasses.

[Bria Graham]

I thought you were. Here's a question.

[Mallory O']

I recently borrowed a book from a friend. It's a mutual friend of Mallory of mine. I never borrow physical books. Cause I am an e reader. But this book is not available on Kindle or audio. It's my friend's favorite book and I also happen to be reading it for my book club. Okay, two in one. Here's the issue. I noticed it had a bit of water damage when I got it, and I immediately got worried because I often spill water from my nightstand. And I was like, oh, my God, is this me? But like, it happens, like, not every night, but more often than I'd like to admit. And I'm not even reading. I'm just telling Mallory the story now I'm not even reading the email. So, like, I was like, oh, no, did I do this? And I texted him and I was like, did I? I'm so sorry. I think I, like, spilled water on your book. And he's like, no, another friend borrowed the book and then. And she read it in the tub. His book in the tub. Which of course Mallory is gonna hate. And then I was reading and a page fell out while I was reading. Fully fell out, like, of the book. And I was like, oh, no, am I gonna return this book with a page gone, like, missing from the book. And, like, what do I do here? Do I buy him another book? It was not missing a page when I got it, but now it is missing a page and I just, like, shoved it back in there. Remember the mill?

[Bria Graham]

The page is missing. It's just not connected well.

[Mallory O']

It's not, but it's shoved back in and it could fall out at any time. And you have to remember, Mallory, this book is. It's, it's, it's. You cannot get it on Kindle, can't get it on audio. It's actually, like, kind of hard to find. There is a special edition, though, which I'll get to. That's out. Okay, so that's the story. Mallory, what would you do in this scenario?

[Bria Graham]

Okay, here's the thing.

[Mallory O']

Because you are big on. Because I don't often borrow physical books, and now I have, like, a fear about it because I feel like you as a person, you've got like. Like, people don't like you to turn their books waterlogged, which is, you know, totally makes sense. I'm less weird about it. But, like, it. It is, it is fucked up the problem.

[Bria Graham]

See, the thing is, I. I just circumvent this problem. I don't let people borrow. Okay. Okay. The thing that I would do is I would immediately text the person and be like, hey, this page fell out. Because the thing is, if it's an older book, especially a paperback, especially, especially if it's like an old mass market, pages are gonna fall out easily, no matter how gently you're reading it. Like, I. This has happened to me so many times with my own books. My original copy of the Exorcist literally has an elastic band around it. Because of this. I think the person. I think you're. If it was like a brand new book that they had just gotten and a page fell out, it would be weird, but I'd just say, hey, a page fell out. Like, I don't think this person thinks you're reading it while bungee jumping. Like, I. I know.

[Mallory O']

I think it's that I can be a mess and I, like, will mess up stuff. Like, I do spill water on my nightstand, like, so often that I was like, oh, no, is this me? It wasn't me. It was a weird thing where I was like, whatever. And. But I just did feel bad that I was returning it with, like, a page. Of course.

[Bria Graham]

But it's. I mean, again, it's not like you were reading like a dog out the window of A car.

[Mallory O']

Car.

[Bria Graham]

Like, on the highway. I know you. You were just regularly reading it in older books. It just happens. Like, the glue just dries up.

[Mallory O']

And it's not that old, though. It's from, like, the 90s, but I don't think. I think this copy's from.

[Bria Graham]

Horrible news for you. Oh, no.

[Mallory O']

The copies were more recently than that. The copy's not from the 90s.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah, but still, like, that's the. That's the trade. That's why hardcovers are more expensive, is they are heartier, they are sturdier. They. The hardcover is there. Like, it protects the book. Trade paperbacks, mass market paperbacks. Like, especially if. Especially if this book's not to sluts shame this book. But if this book's around town and

[Mallory O']

this book's been around, but in tubs in other people's homes taking a little dip.

[Bria Graham]

What if this book is, like, getting read a lot? Like, the. More every time you open that, the slutty little book, you crack the spine and like that you are loosening that. I don't know what the terms are for bookbinding. Actually, your mom could probably tell us, but, like, you are compromising the integrity of that spine and that glue. Like, Bria, just. Our wonderful editor who deals with so much, has cut out the name of the book and the friend. But Bria, I have a copy of this book. You can give it to him.

[Mallory O']

I. Okay, well, here's my update. You know my update.

[Bria Graham]

Yes, I do.

[Mallory O']

I sent this a while ago, is that I was looking online because I was like, maybe I can buy him, like, a used copy of this. And then, like, I don't feel so bad. But then there was a really nice.

[Bria Graham]

With French flaps with.

[Mallory O']

Oh, no, this one wasn't. I got, like, the cheaper version of that, of the new edition at Barnes and Noble. And then I was like, I'm just gonna buy this because it wasn't that expensive. And I felt bad and also, honestly, saved. I would have had to buy this book regardless because I couldn't get it from the library. So, you know, whatever. It's fine. Like, the money was gonna be spent one way or another. Another. I did. I. And also I just felt bad. Also I feel bad that, like, someone returned the book to him with a. A page missing. I mean, that was like, the other thing. It wasn't necessarily my fault, but I felt in general bad.

[Bria Graham]

I know that this friend is also a friend of. This is our very dear mutual friend. This. This friend giving out these books a lot. These. These Books are okay. Our friend's books are getting around. Okay.

[Mallory O']

And again, slutty, slutty little books.

[Bria Graham]

And if a lot of people are reading it, it's, you know, those pages are okay.

[Mallory O']

So you don't think I should have bought the new. The other. You don't think I should have bought one?

[Bria Graham]

I don't think you have. I don't think you have to because I think that I would. The damages that this book sustained were consistent with just normal use.

[Mallory O']

Okay.

[Bria Graham]

This was not a unusual occasion.

[Mallory O']

No, it was specifically tub use.

[Bria Graham]

Wait, you were in the tub too?

[Mallory O']

No.

[Bria Graham]

Oh, yeah. The thing is, if I was this other friend and I had dropped a book in the tub, that is to me, unusual damage, and I would buy them a copy. But like an older book that has been read by a bunch of people having a page just sort of fall out while you're reading that. That's normal to me. But I remember once when I was in. God, I was in my early 20s, and a friend of mine returned a book, a mass market paperback with a bunch of chocolate frosting on it, and I was really mad.

[Mallory O']

Wow.

[Bria Graham]

Like, that is.

[Mallory O']

They need to replace that book.

[Bria Graham]

Yeah, sorry. You frost my book, you buy me another one for $8. But if it's. Yeah, you were just normal aging damages, then I'm assuming this. This friend understood and didn't care.

[Mallory O']

No, didn't care. But I felt bad at the time.

[Bria Graham]

I wouldn't feel bad.

[Mallory O']

Okay, Good to know.

[Bria Graham]

I hope I've. I've absolved any other. Other glasses of. Of their book guild. So if you want us to solve your reader problem, you can send it to readingclassespodcastmail.com. Time to answer a recommendation request from Heidi, who says. Hi, Brian, Mallory. I've recently discovered that an aquarium about 30 minutes away from me just started doing a quarterly book. We meet in a small open room that has a huge window to view the shark tank. How cool is that? I just attended my first one tonight and I loved it. Our book club pick for this quarter was Remarkably Bright Creatures, which is perfect timing with the Netflix movie coming out in a few weeks. This book club has renewed my love of ocean life and sea creatures. Any ocean life, sea creature, slash aquarium related recommendations that I can read while I wait for our next meeting or that I can suggest we read as a group for one of the future meetings. Thank you both so much for this lovely podcast that I look forward to every Thursday. So sometimes we get a book recommendation request that is so either ridiculous and silly or wonderful that I bump it up the queue in this one. I texted Bria immediately about this. I was like, how wholesome is this that you do a fish or ocean themed book club in front of the shark tank at the aquarium? I just fucking love this so much.

[Mallory O']

It's so cute.

[Bria Graham]

What do you think this glasser should read?

[Mallory O']

Well, first of all, Remarkably Bright Creatures is the perfect book for this scenario. It is hard to out recommend that book, but I'm gonna go with Sharks in the Time of Saviors. But Kawaii Strong Washburn. It's not fully set in an ocean or an aquarium, but it has like strong ocean elements, I think that goes which is sharks. And so the book at the beginning, a child falls overboard and there's sharks like circling and they're like, oh my God, what's gonna happen? The child and the sharks kind of like lift the child up out of the water and like save this child. And the rest of the book is sort of about this family in Hawaii. And it has like a magical realism element to it, but it's also like I could just see it being a great book club book. Like it just feels like a really great book for discussion. Really beautiful liter literary fiction. And I. And it has like a shark oceany element that I think will be really nice for this, for this aquarium book club. What do you have?

[Bria Graham]

So my recommendation for this is dependent because some book clubs are like very literary fiction focused. But if your book club is open to fantasy, you gotta read A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathral. Even though I have retired this book. But it's like the. It's.

[Mallory O']

No, I think that's good.

[Bria Graham]

It's a romance, it's cozy, romantic sci fi. But in one of the timelines, two of the main characters are falling in love with each other by writing each other letters about marine biology. And like, yes, it's fantasy. So some of the fish that they're talking about are fantasy sci fi fish. But it's just like it's a book that partially takes place underwater. A sea exploration is a big thing. And like these two main characters are just so excited about marine biology that like that's these like two nerds writing to each other about it. It would be perfect for this. But if they're not interested in anything fantasy, I think it came out last year. It's Beasts of the Sea by Ida Terpanen. It is a translated book. The translator is David Haxton. And it's. This is like a one of those like big sprawling historical literary epics. It's like three time periods. The mid-1700s, mid-1800s, mid-1950s and in the 1700s it follows this like this naturalist who's on the sea journey and they discover this. I had never heard of the Steller's sea cow, but it's like a type of sea cow and they're like on the sea journey they discovered this animal. And then 100 years after that in Alaska, the governor has sent like, has sent his men out to seek out this skeleton of this massive marine animal and they send this woman out to make drawings of it and the public is very like skeptical of it. They think it's a monster. And then in the 1950s storyline, there's a museum of zoology that has assigned this like restorer to refurbishing this skeleton. And it's like literally how this like one animal and its skeleton have affected people and marine biology throughout all these different time periods. And it's got a lot of sea in it. And I think it was one of my most anticipated picks for last year, whatever month it came out. But so that's a letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvia if they're cool with Sci Fi or Fantasy and Beasts of the Sea by Ida Terpanen if

[Mallory O']

they are not and Minus Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawhi Strong,

[Bria Graham]

Washburn as always, want to thank the wonderful mods who run our Discord server and our Facebook group. Remember, you can buy reading glasses, totes and shirts and stickers over at our Void Merch 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's so nice for us, so nice for the show, so nice for our hearts and helps us reach more readers. You can email us@reading glassespodcastmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast thanks for listening and thanks for reading.

[Mallory O']

Thanks for reading.

[Bria Graham]

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