Ep 472 - Not Just For Dogs - Summer Reading Essentials

Summary

Reading Glasses – Ep 472: Not Just For Dogs – Summer Reading Essentials

Aired: July 23, 2026
Hosts: Brea Grant & Mallory O’Meara

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Episode Overview

This lively episode of Reading Glasses is all about curating the ultimate summer reading experience! Brea and Mallory trade their top summer essentials for outdoor bookish adventures, discuss how to make required or research reading less of a chore, and share listener stories and recommendations. The tone is casual, funny, full of book recs, and—of course—a little chaotic (especially re: chocolate mishaps).

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What We're Reading

[00:27 – 05:55]

• Brea's Pick:

  • Teddy Bears Never Die by Cho Yeon, trans. Sung Ryu
    • “It is a really fun book. If you like a sentient fun little guy sidekick, this is definitely the book for you.” —Brea [02:28]
    • Labeled as “horror romance,” but more action-adventure. A young woman’s mother is poisoned by rice cakes; she seeks revenge, aided by a sentient teddy bear who is possibly haunted by a lying ghost. Unconventional, violent, but “really fun.” Brea even explored rice cakes in Korea as research!
    • “It’s a weird little guy book. People do like sentient sidekicks that are non-human, this is really cute.” —Brea [02:34]

• Mallory's Pick:

  • Turn Off the Light by Jackie Walters
    • Dual-timeline haunted house novel set on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
    • “It’s these two women, 400 years apart, in the same house... haunted house mystery... and it’s got HEAT as a big part of it.” —Mallory [03:59, 04:52]
    • Themes: Stifling summer heat, family trauma, and eerie supernatural happenings. “It’s been really fun to be like, yeah, girl, I feel like the main character’s hot and sweaty, and I’m like, me too.” —Mallory [05:51]

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Listener Feedback

[06:04 – 09:25]

• Interview Tip from Shelley:

  • Asking “What are you reading?” in a job interview sparked rapport and helped her land the job.
    • “When you find out someone's a reader, you're like, oh, we're friends now.” —Mallory [07:13]
    • “This is a hot interview tip” —Bria [07:15]

• TinyCat App for Book Lovers (from Helen):

  • TinyCat lets you organize, tag, and lend your personal library (free for home use).
    • “It's so fun to be able to browse your collection, build sub collections, tags, etc., and lend them to patrons, i.e., friends and family.” —Helen read by Bria [08:10]
    • “We gotta test this out for the show.” —Mallory [08:29]

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Summer Reading Essentials: The Ultimate Outdoor Bookish Bag

[10:11 – 26:36]

The Bags

[10:55 – 13:55]

• Both love the Big Bud Press Shoulder Zip Tote:
  • “The main compartment zips up, which zips! That’s the problem with a lot of totes, they’re just gaping open to the World.” —Mallory [12:44]
  • Sturdy, washable, lots of pockets, great for books/outdoor adventures.
  • Pro Tips: Don’t overstuff, switch shoulders, or use diaper bags for lots of pockets.

Essentials for Outdoor Reading:

[13:55 – 25:51]

Shared Must-Have:

• Giant Insulated Cup – Simply Modern Giant Cup
  • “We both have simply modern giant cups which we’re holding right now and we love them…” —Bria [14:22]
  • Ice water stays cold; fits in car holders. Downsides: top-heavy and prone to spillage.
  • “It is an essential for me at this point.” —Bria [15:17]
  • Bonus: Straw cleaner is a must.

Brea’s Top Picks:

• Dual-Port Charger
  • “One brick, two plugs – it is magic… you don’t have to do your Sophie's choice between your phone and your Kindle.” —Bria [16:47]
• A Blanket
  • “Having a blanket ready to go… it does really upgrade the park experience to have a blanket… it is such an important thing for the summer, just a little bit of self care…” —Bria [19:14]
• Plastic Bags (for chocolate protection!)
  • “I put the books in the tote, but I’m really protecting them from melting chocolate.” —Bria [21:33]
  • Running gag: Bria’s group chat exists just for friends to share photos of her covered in melted chocolate.
    “Every six months or so, I realize I should put my chocolate in a plastic bag, and then I do it for a while, and then I don’t, and it gets on over everything…” —Bria [21:36]

Mallory’s Top Picks:

• Outdoor Reading Pad (aka dog bed!):
  • “Last summer I bought a waterproof foldable dog pad at Petco. Best $14.99 I ever spent… go to the nearest pet store and get yourself one of these.” —Mallory [17:20]
  • “You can use it as a pillow or seat, folds up in the car,… great for the lake or park. No one will stop you if you sit on it yourself.”
• Headphones/Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphones
  • “People are loud in public… headphones make sure I don’t become a murderer,” —Mallory [19:43]
  • For audiobooks and drowning out noise at parks/lakes.
• Plastic Bags or Book Bows for Book Protection
  • “I put the book in a plastic bag or my book bows, the outdoors are just rough on books… to protect them from sand, fruit, snacks, water, whatever else.” —Mallory [23:25]

Shared Wisdom & Key Quotes:

• “The zipping up part is essential for summer because when you’re going to the lake or the beach… it flops over and then stuff comes out. So to be able to zip it up, I love it.” —Mallory [13:55]
• “Just one hour sitting on the beach and all of a sudden your book has sand in it.” —Mallory [24:56]
• “Let us know what your hot summer outdoor reading tips are… do you bring tuna outside?” —Mallory [25:51]

Complete Recommended Essential List:

• Zippered tote bag or backpack (Big Bud Press or diaper bag)
• Insulated water bottle
• Straw cleaner & extra straws
• Dual-port charger
• Outdoor reading pad (dog bed)
• Blanket
• Headphones
• Plastic bags or Book Bows (for books or snacks)

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Advice: Making Required/Research Reading Feel Fun

[27:22 – 32:00]

Listener Alex’s Problem: Loves research but can’t shake the “schoolwork” feeling.
Advice:

• Start Fun: “Instead of thick science books, try Mary Roach… start with a microhistory.” —Bria [28:29]
• You Don’t Have to Finish Everything: “You’re not in college… you don’t have to read the book start to finish. Pick the parts you’re interested in.” —Bria [29:06]
• If You’re Bored, Readers Will Be Too:
  • “If you are bored while you’re researching, someone’s going to be bored reading it… you should feel wicked pumped.” —Mallory [30:22]
• Let Your Excitement Guide You:
  • “Let your own excitement for things guide you!” —Mallory [32:01]

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Listener Recommendation Request: Weird Space Books

[32:00 – 36:43]

Ella’s Problem: She and her friend have a birthday book-trading tradition; friend is into queer, found-family, “fucked up spaceship” sci-fi.

Friend’s Wheelhouse:

• Sci-fi/fantasy, but not romantasy
• “So much space”
• “Fucked up spaceships”
• “Why is the sword talking?”
• Found family w/ cats
• Queer characters
• Heist stories

Recommendations:

• From Brea:

  • Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove
    “It is about a spaceship where it’s told from the point of view of the spaceship … But oh, on this first voyage, there seems to be a vampire loose and starts killing everyone…” —Bria [33:15]
  • The Sixth Nick by Daniel Krause
    “One of the most fucked up spaceships… one is built to look like a human organ, people are like walking around in the stomach…” —Bria [33:47]

• From Mallory:

  • The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sun Yudin
    “It’s historical fantasy with a gothic paranormal twist and again, the great cat side character. But the cat is a ghost and has like cool powers and is like her kind of guardian…” —Mallory [35:04]

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• “Headphones make sure I don’t become a murderer.” —Mallory [19:43]
• “Every six months… I should put my chocolate in a plastic bag, and then I do it for a while, and then I don’t, and it gets on over everything.” —Bria [21:36]
• “Just pure shame. Anyway, here’s the thing. If you have the same problem, who does – write in!” —Bria [23:01]
• “Why are you writing about it if you’re not pumped?” —Mallory [31:13]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:27 – What Bria & Mallory are reading
• 06:04 – Listener Feedback: Interview tips, TinyCat
• 10:11 – Tote bags & summer bag must-haves
• 13:55 – The (very detailed) summer essentials list
• 21:33 – Plastic bag and chocolate disaster stories
• 27:22 – Advice: How to enjoy required/research reading
• 32:00 – Book rec request: Weird/queer sci-fi space adventures

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Closing

Reading Glasses wrapped up with reminders:

• Listeners can email bookish problems and rec requests
• Join the Discord/Facebook
• Check out their newsletter and merch
• “Thanks for listening and thanks for reading!”

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Perfect for: Book lovers looking for practical ways to optimize summer reading, those who enjoy candid host banter, or anyone hunting for queer, found-family, or “fucked up spaceship” stories. This episode is a true snack bag of tips, laughs, and bookish camaraderie.

Transcript

[Nick Roy]

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 Grant]

Meara. And I'm Bria Grant, filmmaker and e reader. This episode, we're talking about summer reading essentials. Plus, we're giving tips on getting through required reading and recommending some weird space books, something I love doing. Very excited to talk about that.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But first, Bria, what are you reading?

[Bria Grant]

Well, I just went to Korea, but

[Mallory O'Meara]

you got to tell the glasses about this because you had a great time in Korea, and I'm very excited to hear what you were reading. Rhea met a meerkat.

[Bria Grant]

I met. Yeah. Yeah, I met a meerkat. I got to show my movie in a very cool festival called B Fan. And then I got to spend a few days in Seoul. It was super fun. So, of course, I picked out some translated fiction. I tried to pick some stuff out from this year or the last couple years just to do something fun to pair with my trip. So I read a book called Teddy Bears Never D by Cho Yeon, Translated by Sung Ryu. It's called a Horror Romance. In the. I would say it's more. It's more of like an action adventure sort of book. It all takes place in this coastal town. And there is. At the very beginning, there's a delivery of rice cakes to a building, and there's a poisoning in the building, which is sort of on the background. And by the way, I did go find these rice cake. The same. Not the. They weren't poisoned, but I did go to find them and ate them. And then there's, like, a young woman who. Her mother was one of these victims. And then she kind of is, like, down on her luck after this because now she gets to live on the streets, or she lives in this apartment with a bunch of other teenagers. And one thing she did, though, in her previous life, one thing she did to make money was to sew eyes on, like, teddy bears.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Whoa.

[Bria Grant]

This is. It's this. The setup for the story is actually kind of, like, confusing, but basically, she thinks this one person killed her mother, and she's trying to raise enough money to hire a hit person to, like, go after this person she thinks killed her mom. The thing I've left out that is very important is that she finds a sentient teddy bear, and the sentient teddy bear helps her on her way. But it's like, I have a ghost in me, but the whole time the teddy bear is lying about what ghost Is what the fuck inside of them. And in. Basically her and this teddy bear go on this adventure to try to get revenge on her mother's death. It is a really fun book. It's kind of written in like four or five big chunks, big parts. And if you like a sentient fun little guy sidekick, this is definitely the book for you.

[Mallory O'Meara]

A weird little guy book.

[Bria Grant]

A weird little guy. I feel like people do like, like sentient sidekicks that are non human. This is really cute. But then there's also kind of like a romance aspect that happens along the way. It's super violent. It's incredibly violent.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Whoa.

[Bria Grant]

But it was a really fun read. It was a really fun read to read while I was in Korea. What are you reading?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Reading a haunted house book. Because

[Bria Grant]

shocker of the year.

[Mallory O'Meara]

As I said in our last episode, I recently, I got got. I got in such a book slump and that I was like, fuck it. And I went to the bookstore and I got drunk at the bookstore bar and I bought a stack of haunted house books. So I'm reading Turn off the Light by Jackie Walters. I think this was on my anticipated books list a few months ago.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, it sounds like the COVID is really cool.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, it's like orange. Orange and black. This is a really perfect. If you're looking for some summer horror, this is absolutely perfect. You know what it kind of reminds me of is what kind of Mother by Clay. Because it takes place in that same area. It's like in the Eastern Shore, Virginia. And it's the dual timeline historical. Why am I. So if you missed.

[Bria Grant]

If you missed last week's episode, you will know. Mallory big on dual timeline timelines. And if there's three in there. Wow, wow, wow. Someone calls. Mallory's breaking down the door to get to it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Oh, my God. So it's two timelines. One. So it's this haunted house mystery and the. And it's these two women 400 years apart in the same house. So you have one woman to the 1600, she's in this house. And she is not in a very happy marriage. She is. She's a healer, but her husband really doesn't respect her. Like herbal healing. He's very suspicious of it. And the wife is starting to panic because weird stuff is happening in the house and she doesn't want to tell her husband because he already is suspicious of her and thinks she might be deviled because she, you know, can heal. And he. So she doesn't want to tell him that, like, weird stuff is happening because she's afraid that she's the cause of it. And then in modern day timeline, this woman has come back to her family home, the same house, because her father is dying. She is bringing her daughter. Her sister lives in the house and has been taking care of the dad. And this is the same house where her older sister, they had, they had three sisters and the oldest one disappeared when she was 18 and that's why she moved away. She's been on the other side of the country for a really long time. She has a lot of bad memories in this house and she moves in to help take care of her dad as he is transitioning out of life. And weird stuff starts happening in the house and she tries to tell her sister and her sister just thinks that she's, you know, stressed out because their dad is dying. And she's like, no, something really weird is happening in the house. And the dad starts seeing stuff and they think it's just because he has dementia. And, and so it's really, it's a really fun, interesting haunted house mechanic. And it's the reason why it's such great summer horror is because the book takes place in the summer. So heat and like the summer is a big part of it. Like there's a lot of just like hot, sweaty, balmy nights. There's scenes with them going out on the beach and sand and it just like it's very hot in LA right now. We're going through a heat wave and it's been really fun to be like, yeah, girl. I feel like the main character's like really hot and sweaty and I'm like, me too. So I'm really enjoying it. So that's Turn off the Light by Jackie Walters.

[Bria Grant]

And mine is Teddy Bears Never Die by Cho Yun. Translated by Sung Ryu.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I want to take a moment to share some listener feedback. Shelley wrote in to say, hey, team, I have to report in on something amazing that happened to me the other day. I left my job in the middle of April and ever since, I've been actively interviewing for a new role. Last week, after I spent two grueling hours answering questions and being my very best self, one interview shifted into a more casual tone as we prepared to say goodbye. A senior member of the interview panel had mentioned during the conversation that was a big reader. So as we started asking more personal questions, I turned to this person and asked simply, so, what are you reading? I wish you could have seen the way her face lit up. She went on to tell me about Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer that she had just finished it and that had been sitting on her shelf for far too long and that she was beating herself up for not getting to it sooner. We had a short little banter about it and I left there feeling pretty confident. Cut to two hours later and I get an email saying I got the job. I'm sure it was a result of a lot of different factors, but as I revisited the interview in my head, it was just so clear that from reader to reader, the question did a lot to get be over the line. Just a tiny glimpse of business in a world that feels really awful lately. I start next week. Thanks again as always. I never miss an episode. First off, Shelly, fucking congratulations. Yeah, but also, I love that. And it's true. Like when you find out someone's a reader, you're like, oh, we're friends now.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Oh, that's so good. Hey, I love that. This is a hot interview tip, I guess.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I know.

[Nick Roy]

Yeah.

[Bria Grant]

Not just a hot book tip. Hot interview tip. Helen wrote it and said, Hi, Mallory and Bria. I'm in Australia and am a new listener of reading glasses. Yay. I recently shifted my career and become a librarian and I'm deeply interested and passionate about readers advisory and working my way through your back catalog of episodes has been a godsend. I want to share a little extra tip in a past episode. Recently you mentioned the Library Thing app website, but I wanted to share that they also have this wonderful adjacent service called Tiny Cat. As in tiny catalog. So cute. It's basically a professional library software where you can build and organize your catalog, which they developed to cater to small library collections such as school, church or historical libraries. But they offer it for free for personal home use. Whoa. That's very cool. Mallory, you need this. It's set up via Library Things so people have already developed their collections there. It can be immediately uploaded and transferred into Tiny Cat. It's so fun to be able to browse your collection, build sub collections, tags, et cetera, and lend them to patrons, I. E. Friends and family. I find it useful to browse my own collection while I'm at a bookstore or library to see if I already have a copy at home. I love it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We gotta test this out for the show. This is so cool.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, we really do. That's so fun. That's really fun. Love it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And then Helen wrote him with a wheelhouse, which is anything and everything. Time travel, deep character exploration, slash development, villains with redemption arcs, queer non binary slash, sapphic romance with more emotion than smut. Neurodivergent characters. Speculative fiction rooted in hope, cozy magical realism and fantasy. Magical creatures, animals and nature. Specifically animals as complex whole charact characters, stories about librarians, booksellers, authors and writing literary fiction and writing that celebrates words and language. Gentle, quiet stories and non fiction that dives deep into really niche subjects. We love it. Thank you for this tip, Helen. 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 discuss summer reading essentials, we're going to take a quick break.

[Bria Grant]

Hi, my name is Bria Grant, and I host Reading Glasses and Reading Smut. And I'm here with Max fund member of the month, Nick Roy.

[Nick Roy]

Thank you so much.

[Bria Grant]

What episode would you recommend to a new listener who's just jumping in for the first time?

[Nick Roy]

Definitely the one where it's like, let's talk about reading lessons. Because as someone who started listening, what, seven years in, I even. I was like, oh, that's why we say that.

[Bria Grant]

Oh, my God, Mallory's gonna love that you said that. Because she really was like, we gotta. We gotta tell people more about ourselves. I'm like, we just talk about ourselves every week. What would you say to other people who are considering supporting maximum fun shows?

[Nick Roy]

I would say if you want to keep listening to content that you enjoy and you want to support the creators. Oh, no, I just won't get a Starbucks once a week and I give you guys 10 bucks a month. Sounds good to me.

[Bria Grant]

I love that. And listen to Nick. Nick's a librarian. He knows what he's talking about.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So support the shows you love, including this one. Check the show notes for a link or go to maximumfun.org/join. This week, we're diving into our tote bags and talking about summer reading essentials. What are some tried and tested items that we think improve your hot weather reading experience? What do we always bring with us to read at the beach or the pool? We are getting into it. Okay, so before we even get into what's in the bags, Bria, you and I, we're women with bags. Women of bags. We got bags. We are prepared when we go places.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, that's true.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We don't travel light. So maybe let's start with telling everyone the type of bag we are carrying around the summer. Which is funny because we have the same purse.

[Brenda]

We.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, we Do. But I gotta. I gotta say that I'm Okay. I have a lot of thoughts on this purse. So we have the same bag, which is the Big Bud Press Shoulder Zip tote. Yeah, shoulder zip tote. But this is not the problem of the tote. I have been putting the user error. User error. I've been putting too much into it, and it's been hurting my back.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It does. You can fit a lot of stuff.

[Bria Grant]

You can fit. You can fit a book. You can fit a mess. I bring a lot of little, like, little bags within my bag. So, like, I have a bag full of bags, and within those bags, there's things that are heavy. And I've decided that I can no longer carry that bag, especially if I'm on, like, a trip, because I put it on the same shoulder. I should be switching shoulders. Sometimes I put it on both shoulders. You can kind of use that bag as, like, almost like a little backpack, though, because it stretches. Not stretches, but it has long handles. But I've switched over to a small crossbody bag, which is what we call fanny packs now, apparently. And it can neatly fit my wallet, my phone, and my Kindle, which are my go tos. And you have a great backpack. I will say shout out to my backpack. My friend was getting rid of. She never used it. A diaper bag. Diaper bags are fantastic.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Hot book backpacks.

[Bria Grant]

Hot book tips because they have friends. So many pockets. I don't have kids. The moms already knew this information. I didn't know this, but one of my friends as a mom, she did not need this diaper bag. And she was like, oh, I don't want this back. This bag is a diaper bag. And I was like, but it just looks like a cool, white, pretty backpack. It looks like a fancy backpack. It's great for planes because there's a million little pockets in there for lotions and books and cords or whatever you need. So I'm kind of rotating between these three bags right now and trying not to overfill my big Bud press bag, because it is.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You can fill that sucker up.

[Bria Grant]

You can fill it up, but you're still using that one.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I love it. I have it in two colors. As far as I'm concerned, it is the perfect, like, reader tote. And because. Okay, so the. The big thing about the. The Big Bud Press Shoulder Zip tote is that the top, the main compartment zips up, which zips. That's the problem with a lot of totes is that they're just gaping open to the World.

[Bria Grant]

And yes, we've all lose things. I put them on the floor, scatters, it is gone.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And this. So this is so great that you could zip it up. It's got two big pockets on the outside, two big pockets on the inside. The material is very durable. I have it in black and in mustard yellow, and I've had them both for years. And they are like, I've you. Every few months I dump everything out and I throw it in the washing machine. It is so like, it's like a really thick cotton. I'm gonna have these purses for. For years and years. As far as I'm concerned. It is pricey. I will say I think that they're like $70 for this tote, but it is worth it as far as I'm concerned.

[Bria Grant]

And the pockets are great. And again, it's washable, which is like. Yeah, it's great. It is great. And it's just more dirt. It's just more durable than a tote. A tote. I feel like thin. When you think toe, you think of a thin material. This is a thick. This is a thick boy. And like, you're not gonna. You can put stuff in it. It's gonna be able. It's gonna be fine. And it can carry all your.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes. And the, the zipping up part is essential for summer because you know, when you. You're going to the lake, you go to the beach or go to the pool and then you like put your tote down on the edge of the blanket and then it flops over and then stuff comes out. So to be able to. To zip it up, I love it. All right, all right. Let's look inside these tote bags. Bria, what are our summer reading essentials? Cuz the first one is a shared one.

[Bria Grant]

Yes. This is another thing we have in common. We both have.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Is it just us though, or is it every woman right now?

[Bria Grant]

I've been mocked endlessly for having this, because I have. You and I both have simply modern giant cups which we're holding right now. And we love them, and we love them on the show. Someone sent us one on the show and we tested and we're like, this is pretty great. And now I keep buying them. I have two of them in my rotation. I love mine. I fill it. I fill it to the brim with ice. I put a bunch of water in it. I love it. It stays so cold. Ice, ice cold, which I love. And it keeps you hydrated in the summer when it's hot.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I really do this is an essential. Like I. You gotta. You gotta stay hydrated. But you're right, these are not super expensive. I think especially compared to like a Stan cup, which are the big fancy ones. These are like, a little less expensive. They fit into a cup holder in your car, which is really great. They actually stay cold.

[Bria Grant]

They are top heavy. I will say I do spill mine quite a bit because once it turns over, water is coming out of this fucker like this. This thing is. So I do. When it falls over, it is a problem, but I do find it to be. It is an essential for me at this point.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, I bring mine. I used to have a really. What I used. I called my water lantern. I used to have a huge water bottle. But. But you can't drink out of it when you drive. And this is just so easy. I really think that the glasser's got it. You got to have some kind of water with you. When you're summer, even if you're bringing fun little sodas and drinks to wherever you're going, you gotta have some water. And so this is our first summer essential. What is your first solo summer essential?

[Bria Grant]

I'm going to do an addendum on the bottle. Because the one thing you do need with this bottle is you need a straw cleaner. Because a friend of ours did look at it at one point, look into my straw and say, when was the last time you cleaned? That was kind of grossed out by me. So I have decided the straw cleaner is also essential for the. For your summer. Get a straw.

[Brenda]

I have.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I have a straw. I do. I'm really. Because I, you know how much water I drink. So I am. I'm cleaning. I'm cleaning this thing out, and I am scrubbing it out with a straw cleaner.

[Bria Grant]

I also have.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And I'm putting straws for it.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, I have multiple straws too, but I'm putting iced tea in it so it starts to look a little bit, like, brown within. And so I got to clean that straw or else it looks like I'm drinking dirt. Looks dirty.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, Bria's drinking her mud smoothie.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah. All right. My first real one is a charger. Okay. I have a charger that has dual. Two different ports, which is a game changer for travel.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Is a game changer.

[Bria Grant]

I can plug in my phone and my Kindle at the same time. It's one brick, two plugs. Ooh. I can also plug in. I, you know, I usually wear, like, my Garmin watch. You can plug that in or I Can plug in my ring, my Oura ring. It's just great. And then you don't have to do your Sophie's choice between your phone and your Kindle.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Cause you know, you're the worst. Truly the worst.

[Bria Grant]

It's really great for travel to have two things you just one brick, two little plugs in it. It is magic because otherwise I'm just bringing one with me. It's kind of a, it's been a big game changer for my travel. What's your first one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

So my first one is an outdoor reading pad. This might be a hot book tip even. So last summer I bought a waterproof foldable dog pad at Petco. On sale for 14.99. I gotta tell you, best 14.99 I ever spent. Go to hit folks, head out, walk or run, do not walk to the nearest pet store and get yourself one of these. It's basically just a thick foam pad that's like, it's probably like 2ft by 4ft. It folds in the middle and has this like water resistant cover. It's for dogs, but you can, no one's gonna stop you if you sit on it yourself. And I keep it in the back of my car. It's just the best ever at the lake or the beach or at the park. So on my road trip recently when, when I was in Idaho, one of the days that was not the wedding, me and all of my friends that we stayed in this Airbnb together, we went to the lake and me and my friend Tony, we, we set up by on the beach, we spread a blanket down. We used this pad as a bow. Just a couple of gals reading smut in the shade by the lake. I was like, is this, am I in heaven? Am I dead? Is this the best moment of my life? It was so. Because you know, having a blanket is fine but like after a few minutes of sitting on the blanket you're like, I want to put my head on something that is not dirt. It's just so, it's so nice to sit on. It's so nice to use as a pillow. Like. And if because it folds up, it's just so I just always keep it in the back of my car. I really think it is like, it's a, it's a summer reading outside essential to me. And it's really. And if you get it for dogs, it's pretty cheap. I'm sure if you get like, like if you like look up, I don't know, like outdoor picnic pad or whatever is probably going to be, you know, $80, but if you look in the dog aisle at Petco, Hot tip. All right, what's your next one?

[Bria Grant]

Well, I'll go alongside that and say, just a blanket in the back of your car is the greatest gift you

[Brenda]

can give your future self.

[Bria Grant]

Like having a blanket ready to go at any time and you're like, oh, I could hang at the park for a bit today, but you have nothing to sit on. It does really upgrade the park experience to have a blanket, like, just like your future self. I sit on the ground most days at the park, but when I remember to bring that blanket, when I'm like, oh, there's a blanket in the back of my car, I'm like, past Bria. Really cared about future Bria. And that is such an important thing for the summer is just a little bit of self care by bringing a blanket along. What's your next one?

[Mallory O'Meara]

Headphones. I think this is such an essential because it serves two purposes. One, you never know when you might want to, like, walk around, lie back on the blanket, listen to an audiobook. That's such a nice thing. Like if you're lying in the shade, just got headphones on, listening to a fun audiobook. Also, other important thing, people are loud in public. There's always someone with a speaker. Or when recently when Tony and I were at the lake, somebody hadn't brought an electric pump and they were like inflating their giant paddle board with an electric thing. It just left it running like 10ft from where our blanket was. And I was like, I'm going to kill this man. I'm going to go to jail. Somebody. There's always someone with some annoying ass thing at a park or at the lake or whatever the fuck. And headphones make sure I don't become a murderer. I keep a pair of Bluetooth over the ear headphones in my car at all times. It's mostly for the gym, but it's for my walks, it's for reading in public. It's just like, there's just always, always a loud person. And if you have had, like we have both been in scenarios where you're reading in the park and someone is like playing something. It's never music you like either. It's always just like something, something terrible. And it, it can. That. It can literally save your reading. Because if, if you don't have. If you have nothing to drown out that noise, you might as well just go home. Like, it's hard to remember when we had that out reading party. Last year, and there was, like, someone doing, like, an outdoor yoga class, and they were, like, playing a bunch of music. Very annoying. But if you have headphones, it can save your. Your reading experience. All right, Bria, what is our last? What is our last?

[Bria Grant]

I get to. The same one. Yes, the same one, which.

[Mallory O'Meara]

For different reasons.

[Bria Grant]

Yes, different reasons, but. Okay, I'm gonna say it's plastic bags or those things that are like plastic bags that are reusable, which we also have some of those, and people have sent us those, and we very much appreciate them. Mine is not for books, though. It's that I have the tote. I put the books in the tote, but I'm really protecting them from melting chocolate.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And Bria, could you tell us many times?

[Bria Grant]

Every six months. Okay, yes, about every six months or so, I realize I should put my chocolate in a plastic bag, and then I do it for a little while, and then I don't. And it gets on over everything. There is a chain.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So I got a. So we're. We're at a group chat with a bunch of our friends, and we received a photo from. From Korea of a friend of ours that was traveling with Bria.

[Bria Grant]

And it was chocolate all over my pants, all over a white comforter that I guess it was so embarrassing.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Pretty horrible. Okay.

[Bria Grant]

Also, I just have to say that

[Mallory O'Meara]

this specific group chat is specifically for photos of Bria in Covered in chocolate. That's all.

[Bria Grant]

That's the entire group chat.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Because it's people who.

[Bria Grant]

It's people. I sent it once because it was people who had all experienced me in this scenario because during. In March, I had multiple chocolate issues.

[Mallory O'Meara]

You had a run of chocolate issues?

[Brenda]

Yes.

[Bria Grant]

And so everyone thought that was very funny. And so anyone who had been on. So now it's a chain of about six people who just love to mock me.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Specifically dedicated to funny photos of Bria covered in chocolate.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, it was all over my legs for some reason. Anyway, that's really what.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I'm crying gladly just thinking about the. Look up Bria's face. It's just all over her legs and this bed.

[Bria Grant]

Just shame. Just pure shame. Anyway, here's the thing. If you have the same problem, who does write in if you have the

[Mallory O'Meara]

same problems, I don't want to feel there's somebody. There's somebody out there who does.

[Bria Grant]

Is, you know, just a plastic bag for the chocolate bar. That's what it is. Plastic bag. Put the chocolate bar in it. Protect your books, protect your stuff. It is summer. It's hot out There and stuff melts. And you also think plastic bags.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yes, but I put the book in the pla. I. It's for me. I put the book in a plastic bag or my book bows. The outdoors are just rough on books. I almost always keep an xl. That's the size book bow in my tote bag to protect my book. Thanks to Glasser, Roxanne, who sent us all of those. Or you can use a big plastic bag, just something in your tote to protect your book from sand and fruit and snacks and water and whatever else else. Because truly, just one hour sitting on the beach, all of a sudden, your book has sand in it. You got sand in your book. But the tuna salad, whatever you're eating on the. On the beach, it's like.

[Bria Grant]

So. Hold on. Wait. Are you bringing tuna salad to the beach?

[Mallory O'Meara]

I don't know why I. That's the first thing.

[Bria Grant]

Don't bring that to the beach.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I was just trying to think of, like, sandwiches, but I. Neither of us eat cold cuts, so I'm, like, trying to think of, like, a sandwich that you would bring to the beach.

[Bria Grant]

Salad at the beach, I think is a bad idea. I think that it's gonna get sand in it. It's gonna get. What's a good.

[Mallory O'Meara]

What's a good sandwich that we. We could eat at the beach? Pesto.

[Bria Grant]

I don't know if I eat sandwiches at the beach. I eat. I don't. I eat fruit, chips. Fruit.

[Mallory O'Meara]

We can't have vegetables because we're all gonna get murder. Diarrhea. So I don't know. I'm so upset about this. This is, like, all we eat is fresh vegetables. Like, I know.

[Bria Grant]

It's a problem.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's a problem. This is a plague specifically designed to take Bria and I out.

[Bria Grant]

To take. To take out the vegetarians, to take

[Mallory O'Meara]

out California, all of Los Angeles. But, yeah, I don't know. A pesto sandwich. I do eat a lot of fruit at the beach. But, like, fruit gets fruit, sweat gets on your book. Like, there's just so much heat.

[Bria Grant]

And a tuna salad. The heat and sand with it.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Well, my first thought was egg salad. That also seems like the same problem. Yeah. So I don't know. Yeah, I guess a pesto. I'm trying to think of stuff I've eaten at a lake recently. Yeah, it's mostly fruit, but I feel like you just put your book down once, and all of a sudden it's got dirt and sand. It's just, like, got stuff on it. So it's just so Nice to like have some kind of. And the book bows are really great because they're water resistant and they zip up. So I just, at this point, I just always keep one either a Kobo size, I think it's the indie or XL for a hardcover. And I just always keep it in my purse even though my toe already zips up. It's just nice because if you have a spill. I had a water bottle spill recently, so it's just. It sounds really simple, but it's one of those things that you're just always gonna be glad you have, which is the opposite of a tuna sandwich, apparently, which you're not glad you have it and you don't want it around

[Bria Grant]

me too. I don't know. I don't know.

[Mallory O'Meara]

I think you have to do a cooler. You can't just bring a tuna sandwich. You have to have a cooler for it. But yeah, okay, so we were going plastic bags or book bows, headphones, blanket, waterproof foam pad for dogs, dual chargers, dual charger, and a water bottle. These are the essentials you need for reading outside in the summer. Let us know what your hot summer outdoor reading tips are and what what you pack in your tote, because we'd love to know, do you bring tuna outside? Let us know what your preferred outdoor sandwich is before we give advice on getting through required reading. We're going to take a quick break.

[Brenda]

Hi there. Sorry to interrupt your podcast listening time. I know you're doing the dishes right now. That's okay, don't worry about it. You might not know me, but I'm Brenda and I'm here to tell you about the podcast I host with my good friend Austin. It's called Secret Histories of Nerd Mysteries and we cover all kinds of pop culture topics. Like, did you know that there was a real life replica of the Simpsons house in Las Vegas, Nevada? Or that Flint, Michigan was once home to an indoor amusement park themed around the automobile? If those things sound interesting, you should definitely check us out every Tuesday on Maximum Fun or wherever you get podcasts. Goodbye. You can get back to your dishes now.

[Bria Grant]

It's fine.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Time to solve a bookish problem. From one of our listeners, Alex wrote in to say, hey, Mallory and Bria, I've been listening to your show for 4ish years now and I'm a huge fan. I've read all of Mallory's books so far. Wow, thank you. Really excited about the new one coming out. Also, Bria's movies, 12 Hour Shift and Torn Hearts got me into watching horror movies. With my little brother. Wow, that's awesome. On to my question. I've been struggling lately with doing research for fun. Like, I really am looking forward to the research and taking notes on these topics that interest me for a book or otherwise, but I can't get past the school feeling of it. I know Mallory does a ton of research for her books. I was hoping you can give me some advice on how to make the stack of research books feel less mandatory and bring the excitement I feel about the subject into the actual research aspect. Thank you so much for helping me keep my reading life alive as an undergrad in writing. Thank you for listening and thank you for reading. Wow. Bria, what do you think?

[Bria Grant]

Okay, Alex. So bookish, I think. Okay, I don't totally understand. So. So. So Alex wants to do research on a subject and really is interested in it, but is having trouble doing the research. So it's not that fun.

[Mallory O'Meara]

But yeah, the research itself feels too much like work, I guess.

[Bria Grant]

Okay, okay, Okay. I say start with more fun books. That's my advice. Like, instead of thick science books, try Mary Roach. Like inst. History. Start with a micro history. Like. Yeah, the thing is, you are saying you want to do this for fun, so you should be enjoying it so it feels like work. That's not exactly fun, right? So, like, think about why you're doing it and what is the purpose. And if the purpose is just fun, but you're not having fun, you don't have to do it. But I think, like, doing it for fun and finding things that are fun and interesting. Like, it seems like maybe these books you have stacked up are not actually the books you want to be reading.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Why?

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, if you're doing dry research books, maybe that's not. Maybe finding books that are just a little bit more fun than maybe they're, like, adjacent to the category you're looking at. So, like, and I find that, like, once I read like, a. A more a lighter book about something that you can get into some of the deeper stuff, right? So if, like, you start with, like, dipping your toes in, like, this is not a great example, but like, about space, and you're wanting to do stuff about space, and you read that Mary Roach book about space, it start there and then you're able to get into stuff because then you have at least like, a shared knowledge, like a background background about it. So you're not just diving into, like, a dry history book or a dry science book, and instead you're starting with something a little bit more interesting. And then with that foundational background, you can kind of go in and find, pick the things you want to read. I think also knowing that you don't need to read them straight through. Like going through and picking out what you actually are interested in. It's not a, you're not in college, you're not going to high school, you're not in grad school. So you can, you don't have to read the book start to finish. You can go through and pick and choose, choose the parts that you actually are interested in instead of trying to be like, okay, now start page one, this 500 page thick tome about, you know, the history of Rome or whatever.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah, go through that index.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah, go through that index. What about you? You read. You do way more research than I do.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Yeah. It's funny when people ask me this because I'm like, well, my main motivation is paying my bills. I think people forget that, like you are a full time director. I'm a full time author. Like, being an author is my job.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Like, that's what I have to do to keep a rope over my head is very strong motivation. But I will say I'll echo what Bria says. My professional advice as a non fiction author, if you are bored while you're researching, someone's going to be bored while they're reading it. Like, if it's not exciting to you, it's not going to be exciting to the reader. Like, you should feel wicked pumped. Like sometimes when it sounds so cheesy, but sometimes when I'm researching, I'm like so excited when I find something and I'm like texting people about it. I'm so pissed pumped. It sounds like, Alex, you've run aground in your research. You've gotten into the weeds of something boring. Find a way to pull the essentials from it and move on to something that's interesting. Because that, you know, we always make jokes when sometimes we're doing, we're like reading historical fiction and, and there's that joke. Like the author had to go through this and now you do too. That's not true. Like, you don't have to, like, especially if you're not. If you are doing a nonfiction, that's one thing, but you're still in control of the information that you're giving to someone. And if it's boring to you, so it's gonna bore other people. Like, it's okay to follow what's exciting to you and just take the bones of what you need to set up whatever it is. Like you should feel pumped. And if you're not pumped, why the are you doing it? Like, why are you writing about it? That is my professional advice. And also maybe maybe make it your job and like have to pay your rent by. With your, with your. Your book advances and your royalties. That, that is a great motivator. But yeah, I think we're both saying you. I think you are maybe suffering for no reason on this.

[Bria Grant]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mallory O'Meara]

And it's okay to skip over something that is boring and let your own excitement for things guide you so you can send your bookish problem to reading glasses podcast gmail.com. Now let's answer our recommendation request from Ella, who says hi, Brianne Mallory, your podcast truly helps me get through long shifts at work after school. So first, thank you for that. Second, here's my problem. One of my best friends got me hooked on you guys. Wow. Thanks Ella's friend. And thanks Ella. This same friend and I have birthdays one day apart. And we have a tradition. We get each other a book the other hasn't read before. We have two completely different wheelhouses and unfortunately I don't read as much as her. So the challenge gets harder every year. This year I got her Salt Crop by Yume Katase. Yeah, that sounds right. Keep this in Brit. We're doing our best out here. But I'm looking for recommendations on what to get her. And her wheelhouse is as follows. Bria, you want to read Ella's friend's wheelhouse.

[Bria Grant]

Sci fi fantasy, but not romantasy. So much space. Fucked up spaceships. Why is the sword talking? The found family includes cats. Everyone on the ship is queer. Get in, loser. We're heisting.

[Mallory O'Meara]

Okay, so obviously this is a Bria wheelhouse, so I am Bria first. What do you think?

[Bria Grant]

I got a shout out of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove. It was one of my favorite books from last year. Maybe your friend has actually read this, but it is very weird. Fucked up space. It is a little bit more cozy maybe than fucked up spaceship that involves heist and found family and space. But it is about a spaceship where it's told from the point of view of the spaceship. A sentient spaceship who just wants to protect the passengers. But oh, on this first voyage, there seems to be a vampire loose and starts killing everyone on the spaceship. It's great. If she hasn't read that one, I would say there's a brand new book out called the Sixth Nick by Daniel Krause that is the most fucking up spaceship book I've ever read. Check the content warnings. There's a lot of stuff on here. It's very, it's sci fi. It is pretty intense. So if there's things that your friend does not like in their doghouse, like make sure to check these content warnings. But it is one of the most fucked up spaceships. It is one of the spaceships in there is like built essentially to look like a human organ where these people are like walking around. They're like, oh no, I'm in the like stomach part of it. And like the walls are squishy and like it is a really interesting spaceship. So if you are into that kind of thing, I, I think the sixth nick would really like scratch a niche for your friend. What do you have for first off,

[Mallory O'Meara]

I want to say this is so fucking. I love, this is such a cute tradition. I love when people do stuff like this. Before he very rudely dropped dead on me, me and one of my best friends, Scott Wambler, used to read books together and get each other books like this. And it's just so, it's so fun. It's so like texting each other about the books and it's just like I love, love bookish friendship traditions like this. So obviously Bria trust Bria's recommendations more than me on this. I didn' bother trying for a spaceship one. I'm going to recommend a queer fantasy that I just read that has a great cat character.

[Bria Grant]

I'm so excited for this book.

[Mallory O'Meara]

It's so fun. It's the Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunya Dean. And so this is historical fantasy and has like a gothic paranormal twist and again the great cat side character. But the cat is a ghost and has like cool powers and is like her kind of her guardian and does cool like, it's just so great. Very quick synopsis is about this woman who many, many years before woke up one day, washed up on a beach, has no memory of her, her former life and has kind of like grew up as like a little street kid in, in Kowloon, this walled city in Hong Kong. And she has this ability to talk to and negotiate with ghosts. And the city is full of ghosts. It's like a big problem for the city. And she works for this female run gang, this triad, because she's so good at negotiating with ghosts. And the main city of Hong Kong is trying to demolish Kowloon, demolish the walled city because it's so overrun with ghosts and it's her responsibility. She has taken on like all right. I have to figure out what's going on here, especially because there's a new ghost that is really powerful and it's causing a lot of problems and it seems to know stuff about her past and there's a little bit of found family element because the triad she works with has a is queer has like a found family element. So not a space book, but I think it has a lot of the same flavors that your friend likes and it's just fun, unique book, really fun setting and again, we love, we love a cat side character. I think your friend is going to like it. So I'm recommending A Girl With a Thousand Faces by Sun Yudin and I'm

[Bria Grant]

recommending Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara TrueLove and the Six Nick by Daniel Cross.

[Mallory O'Meara]

So if you want a recommendation request for yourself or for a bookish friend of yours, you can send it to reading glassespodcastmail.com as always, I want to thank the wonderful mods who run our Discord server and our Facebook group. And remember, if you want to get totes and shirts and stickers that show off your bookishness and support the show, you can check out our Void Merch store. There's a link in the show notes and if you like the show, please write and review us on the podcast listening app of your choice. It's so nice for us, we appreciate it so much. But it's also really good for the show and totally free. Take you about 30 seconds on the mobile app on whatever app you use truly makes a difference for us. You can email us at reading glasses podcast gmail.com find us on Instagram at Reading Glasses Podcast. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading.

[Bria Grant]

Thanks for reading.

[Mallory O'Meara]

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