0:07

You're listening to Reading Glasses, a show

0:09

about book culture and literary life designed

0:11

to help you read better. I'm author

0:14

and book devourer Mallory O'Mara. And I'm

0:16

Bria Grant, filmmaker and e-reader. This episode

0:18

we're giving tips on reading books that

0:20

look good but have intimidating

0:22

content warnings. Plus

0:24

we're discussing book subscription boxes

0:26

and recommending sci-fi noir. But

0:29

first Bria, what are you reading? I read a

0:31

book. It's a, hey, it's

0:33

a, it's a tour. Oh,

0:36

a novella alert. Tour novella

0:38

alert. You know, I love

0:40

a tour novella. That's T-O-R. If you are

0:42

not familiar with the publishing company, I love

0:44

their books. This is a novella that came

0:46

out. It's a post-apocalyptic novella. Oh, it's made

0:49

for me. It's a quick 163

0:51

pages. I love that.

0:53

It's about a world in which the

0:55

way Bria loves to describe a book. That

0:57

really is your favorite starter. A world

1:00

in which you

1:02

can't, if you look someone in the eye

1:04

or the face, you immediately want to kill

1:06

them and they want to kill you. What?

1:09

So it's a little bird boxy. It's

1:12

a little like, there's a few other

1:14

like, you know, apocalyptic books that have

1:16

like similar weird things like that. But

1:18

it's about a girl named Riley and

1:20

she has moved into this house in

1:22

the middle of nowhere so she won't

1:24

see people. She survived this horrible

1:26

plague and they have like, some

1:29

people have these like very thick glasses that you can

1:31

like look through that you, what are the ones you

1:33

use after you get your eyes dilated or? Oh, I

1:35

know what you're talking about, but I don't know what

1:37

they're called. Yeah, like you can wear those and like

1:40

something you can't actually see people's eyes. So there are

1:42

ways around it, but then she moves into this house

1:44

and then there's a neighbor. There's a neighbor that moves

1:46

into a house nearby and the neighbor wants to talk

1:48

to her and hang out with her. But it's like

1:50

very scary because you really have

1:52

to trust someone to say like, they're

1:55

like, oh, I'm not looking at you right now. And then you

1:57

can kind of look at them. But if they are looking at

1:59

you, that's it. And also, this is like a

2:01

disease, so you may not have it. If you don't

2:03

have the disease, then you'll be fine. But you don't

2:05

know if you have the disease till you look someone

2:07

in the eye. So it's a very scary book. It's

2:10

first person, so it's a little, I think it's

2:12

first person, but it's a very, a little unreliable

2:14

narrator because you don't know exactly what's been going

2:17

on with her. It's great. And it's very scary,

2:19

very weird. I read it all in a day

2:21

because it was freaking me out. It's called Your

2:23

Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine. What are you

2:25

reading? Oh, I

2:27

am again, I am the conductor of the

2:29

2024 book, Train at this Point,

2:31

Chugging Along. But I'm reading a book that

2:33

I think is gonna be real buzzy. Comes

2:36

out this summer. Highly recommend Getting Your Library

2:38

Holds In Now because this will be a

2:40

very popular book. It's called Lady Macbeth by

2:42

Ava Reed. And I have read Ava Reed's

2:44

books before. She's a really great author, but

2:47

I think this is gonna be like her

2:49

new big one. It's a reimagining of Macbeth

2:51

from the point of view of Lady Macbeth.

2:54

Oh, cool. And

2:56

it's very, the way that it's written,

2:58

it's very dark, it's very unique. You

3:00

know, this woman, she kind of gets

3:02

sold to this Scottish lord and

3:04

she gets there and she knows that

3:06

like she's in for a ride. Like

3:10

this is not a love marriage. It's just, it's

3:12

a political marriage. She immediately, when she gets there,

3:14

like they take her handmaid in a way. She

3:16

has to be alone. The thing about her is

3:18

she's so beautiful that she stays veiled at all

3:20

times because men just like will lose their mind

3:22

if they look at her. Kind of similar to

3:24

your project. Yeah. So

3:28

immediately she has to start sort of

3:30

plotting to get

3:32

more power, to make herself safe. She's shown

3:34

pretty quickly that her husband has these three

3:36

witches that he keeps in the basement and

3:39

she realizes that nobody else in the castle

3:41

knows about these witches. So

3:43

this sort of like an occult

3:45

undercurrent and she has her own

3:47

powers and she's like, so if

3:49

you like Scotland, if you like

3:52

retellings, if you like feminist retellings,

3:54

if you like witchy books, if

3:56

you like court intrigue, this is the book

3:58

for you. It's really well-read. and I'm really

4:00

enjoying it. So that's the Lady Macbeth by

4:02

Ava Reed. And mine is Your Shadow Half

4:05

Remains by Sunny Marines. So

4:10

we want to take a moment to share some listener feedback.

4:13

Emma wrote in with

4:15

a hot bookmark tip.

4:18

Hi Brian Mallory, I was listening to episode

4:20

354 and I couldn't stop

4:22

giggling about Mallory's love for a dense ass

4:24

bookmark. You know it baby. I

4:26

too am a fan of a big bookmark

4:29

that I can't lose. So I have adopted

4:31

using a thin silicone drink coaster as one.

4:33

It actually started with your

4:35

episode reviewing the little sprout bookmark. Oh I

4:38

remember the the spria, the little it's like

4:40

a little silicone sprout. I knew I wanted

4:42

something leaf themed, large, flat and preferably made

4:44

of silicone so it could grip the pages

4:47

when the book was closed and wouldn't fall

4:49

out when I was carrying my book around. I

4:51

found these cute oak leaf was on Amazon and

4:53

haven't looked back. I'll put a link in the

4:55

show notes. These are adorable and are so large

4:57

that I can't misplace them but they're also thin

5:00

enough that they don't mess up the profile of

5:02

the book too much. Also it's

5:04

perfect for its intended use. It's a great place to

5:06

put a girly drink, haha, I see what you did

5:08

there, on while you're reading. Oh my god so you

5:10

take the bookmark out and you use it as a coaster

5:14

and then when you're done you stick it

5:16

back in and walk away with your drink.

5:18

I don't know if it's designed for that.

5:20

Like looking at it looks like it's more

5:23

designed for just the coaster but

5:25

I love this idea and I already added

5:27

it to our Amazon wish list. I know.

5:29

Emma says I also want to thank you

5:31

too for helping me get back into reading.

5:33

After graduation and pandemic depression I am now

5:36

inhaling thrillers and too wild to be true

5:38

nonfiction books like The Feather Thief. Your backlog

5:40

episodes have made up approximately 70% of my

5:42

TBR list and I am loving it. Thank

5:44

you for all that you do. Wow this

5:46

is a hot tip I want to try

5:49

this. I love it. Yeah I just

5:51

added it to our list so we got to try it.

5:53

I love the idea of something that is both it's

5:55

a multi-use tool you know multi-use it does

5:58

multiple things you don't have to have. Two

6:00

things. Oh when it comes in

6:02

making multiple ways. I don't know why multiple types of

6:04

leaves Yeah, thank you.

6:06

Oh, I love this Eric wrote in

6:09

with a bookish vacation tip free

6:11

and Mallory I am also a Mallory vacationer when

6:13

I plan a vacation I always have a list

6:15

of local bookstores to visit my go-to tip is

6:17

to buy a book about local folklore or myths

6:19

This is especially helpful if I'm visiting another country

6:21

It also works if I can't make it to

6:24

a bookstore But I visit a museum because I

6:26

have to stop at the gift shop. This

6:28

tip isn't people love gift shops Can I just

6:30

say oh, yeah I mean who doesn't you look

6:33

at so everyone loves looking a little trinket You

6:35

know if you're not buying anything it is I do like

6:37

looking at little things Yeah, I don't always

6:40

go in the gift shop, which is weird, which

6:42

I thought I guess is weird you should this

6:45

tip is it Isn't a sure

6:47

thing when traveling the US and my plan B is

6:49

to ask if they have a book about local ghost

6:51

stories or hauntings I like that if book weight or

6:53

size is a concern look for a book aimed at

6:55

a younger reader Those options are usually slimmer and therefore

6:57

smaller and lighter I just came back from a trip

7:00

to New Zealand and a book about Mallory legends and

7:02

a history of poisoners Not New Zealand

7:04

specific, but I couldn't resist the subject keep

7:06

up the good work And I've been listening from the

7:08

beginning and look forward to new episodes every Thursday. I

7:10

love this tip. I love this This is such a

7:13

smart thing to do Yeah, you

7:15

go into the place and you're like I

7:17

want a local like local folklore local ghosts

7:19

local Whatever and then you kind of feel

7:21

like you're actually you're contributing to the local

7:23

economy and learning about the local area And

7:25

you get to go to that bookstore and you get a book

7:28

that you probably won't get in a bookstore anywhere else Then

7:31

Robin wrote in with a wheelhouse that

7:33

is strong female protagonist unusual magic systems

7:35

fairy tale retellings Enemies to

7:38

lovers character focus space stories, which

7:40

is a girl with hidden powers

7:42

shadow daddies What's

7:45

it mean? What does it mean? I

7:47

think it's uh like a like a

7:50

villainous hot guy shadow

7:52

daddy Oh,

7:54

yeah, it's a shadow daddy is old

7:56

like 500 years plus, but looks young

7:59

has scars and tattoos This is for

8:01

Reddit. Usually darker skin, dark

8:03

hair has shadow powers, aka the name,

8:05

like can control darkness or shadows, is

8:07

hot, male, and more

8:10

like horny fairies, which explains this. And

8:13

also falls in love with the main female character. So

8:16

horny fairies, sex out. Robin also loves

8:18

sentient spaceships, morally gray demons, and haunted

8:20

castles and manners. Love

8:23

it. Sounds like a glass. You can email

8:25

us at readingglassespodcast.com if you want a

8:27

list of all the books we talk about on the show delivered to

8:29

your inbox every month. You can sign up for

8:31

our newsletter. There's a link in the show

8:34

notes. A couple of bookmarks. First one is,

8:36

folks, we're having our first members-only Zoom party

8:38

next month, June 14th. It's

8:40

a Friday. It's gonna start at 6 p.m.

8:43

Pacific. We will be dropping a link to

8:45

the invitation in the Slack channel, but if

8:47

you are a member and are not part

8:49

of the Slack channel, all you gotta do

8:51

is email us with your proof of maximum

8:53

fund membership. I will send you the link.

8:55

This is gonna be a recommendation party. It's

8:58

gonna be super fun. Bring a

9:00

book you really wanna recommend to someone. Bring

9:02

your recommendation request. If there's something you've always

9:04

been looking for, maybe you wrote in to

9:06

us and we haven't gotten to your recommendation

9:08

request yet because we have a thousand

9:10

of them. This is the place to bring it.

9:13

It's gonna be super fun. Recommend books to each

9:15

other, to us. We'll recommend books to you. It's

9:17

gonna be a blast. Again, that's

9:19

June 14th, Friday. And

9:22

if you want to, if you're not a

9:24

member and you wanna join, go to maximumfund.org/join

9:26

to sign up and you can

9:28

participate. And also a little request from Brea

9:30

and I, being of traveling in bookish places,

9:32

Brea and I are going to Edinburgh. We're

9:35

really excited about it. And we're

9:37

making our list of stuff we wanna do.

9:39

So if you have a bookstore that you

9:41

love, a bookish place that you think we

9:43

should go to or a vegan restaurant, write

9:45

in, let us know. And we're

9:47

excited. We're finally, I mean, we've both been

9:49

there before. But it's fun. I've never

9:52

been there. Oh, okay. Well, we're finally getting to

9:54

go to- I've never been to any Scotland.

9:57

I've been to London and Brighton, but I haven't been to

9:59

anywhere else. Well The Hunter you get

10:01

to see the place where all the books

10:03

are set to set of. I'm stoked am

10:05

so excited We're very excited to be going.

10:07

I have a good bookmark also which is

10:09

that my short film if you have in

10:11

Portland, Oregon we're playing at the Portland Horror

10:14

Film Festival. It's between June fifth and night.

10:16

I don't have a lot of other details

10:18

that he go to my Instagram. I'm sure

10:20

I will put more up there are they'll

10:22

be. Stuff. On a website Portland Worth testable.com

10:24

out my shorts whole email and miss your column. Lm

10:26

feel at work which is easy to remember cause we

10:28

talk about on the show all the time but this

10:30

is Emily I'm we. Don't talk about. This.

10:33

Is the one we don't talk about the multi level

10:35

marketing guess. The where we talk about

10:37

overcoming content warnings. To Quit. worrying.

10:45

About this is broadly impart this league

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by micro dose dummies. Hey. Let's.

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that about make written thing. You.

10:52

Know that just like the when you get when

10:54

you have finished. Just really did. But. You.

10:57

Know the book was perfect. You're in a relaxed

10:59

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could be after a really nice shower some as

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I take a really energizing walk. And.

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every tuesday on maximumfund.org or

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your favorite podspots. this

13:06

week we're talking about what to do when

13:09

a book looks great except for

13:11

the intimidating content warnings. should you skip

13:13

it? should you soldier through? should

13:16

you read the synopsis online? we've got

13:18

you covered. so this

13:20

week's episode was inspired by a lot of emails. we

13:22

actually got a lot of emails about this and i

13:25

just picked one to read. this one's

13:27

from kathy and kathy says my question is

13:29

about horror books. when i was a teenager

13:31

i loved horror and at some point in

13:33

my late 20s i got terrified reading the

13:35

homing by john saul and around the same

13:37

time equally terrified watching the mothman prophecies. i've

13:39

steered clear of horror since then in all

13:41

forms. and now many of the horror books

13:44

you talk about sound awesome to me and

13:46

i want to read them. but

13:48

i'm too scared. at the same time some

13:50

books you describe as horror i have read

13:52

and loved and didn't realize they were horror.

13:55

is there any way to tell if a book will be

13:57

too scary for me in advance? Am I

13:59

doomed to miss the out on great books because

14:01

they might be too scary? I know, different thing

14:03

scare different people. So it's not like there can

14:05

be a horror rating that would tell me if

14:07

it would work for me. I thought about just

14:09

starting some of these books and stopping if they

14:11

get too scary, but by then it may be

14:13

too late and I'll be doomed to sleep only

14:15

during daylight hours for weeks or months. Is there

14:17

any hope for me to enjoy horror? Books. Okay,

14:21

This. Is going to be sort of a reader flowchart.

14:23

Situation here. Oh okay. So.

14:26

If you see a book. No matter the

14:29

genre, even the horror is the example here. but

14:31

we got a lot of other emails about just

14:33

regular content. morning and non genre bucks in this

14:35

book. Sell books on the you wanna read but

14:38

you're worried about the content. Mornings are better, will

14:40

be too intense are too scary. The first question

14:42

you need to ask yourself is how you feel

14:44

about spoilers. That is the that is the foundation

14:47

of everything we're going to talk about on this

14:49

episode. Because of your Bria and you don't care.

14:51

can be lot easier to just look up the

14:53

plot and read about what happens and judge from

14:56

there you can read some spoiler he reviews on

14:58

story. Graph A good reads in get a

15:00

sense from other readers it'll it'll be too

15:02

much for you but Bria one of the

15:04

what are they do if they me you

15:06

can go to does the da di.com and

15:08

figured out that like you'll find out more

15:10

there but if you're Mallory and you don't

15:12

like spoilers. You. Have to trade use and

15:14

non. Spoiler He research

15:16

in reviews. right? So it's

15:18

a book teacher something that in your

15:20

dog house. Try. Find out is it

15:23

on the page? is it just mentioned there

15:25

is a difference between i enjoyed like losing

15:27

their and such. We have been off off

15:29

page you know and it's Portland know that

15:31

some content morning don't. Count things

15:33

that are just mentioned with them. Then they

15:36

do you not really know? Like you don't

15:38

know if it's like oh they mentioned that

15:40

someone's you know brother died or something but

15:42

then or they show it on. The page:

15:44

There's two different. Things. And

15:46

just you know, A lot of

15:48

reviews will say this contain spoilers or a

15:51

dozen. it's three graphic good reason they like

15:53

blackout Ones that are like they like they're

15:55

like oh, click here if you wanna read

15:57

a spoiler so there you can skim through.

15:59

and sure you're not seeing the spoilers but you

16:01

are reading those reviews. And review

16:04

from professional sites as well. We also think

16:06

it's important to assess how intensely you're affected

16:08

by something. You just you got to know

16:10

yourself as a reader. You got to know your limits. For

16:12

example, everyone knows I fucking hate snakes. The

16:15

whole book about snakes? I'm gonna skip it.

16:17

I know myself. If this if it's just

16:19

too much I have like a snake-o-meter. You

16:21

know I can handle a little

16:23

like there's been books where Bria's like hey Mal you're

16:26

gonna love this book there is a snake theme but

16:28

you can skip it. I know that

16:30

I can do that but if it's like that snake

16:32

handler book that you were talking about like I just

16:34

know that I can't read that I have to skip

16:37

it. What happens if you hit hit top of the

16:39

snake-o-meter? Did a hiss come out? No my eyes bug

16:41

and go and

16:43

I start playing. It should be a snake related

16:45

noise I feel like. No I start freaking I

16:47

just I really don't like them I know myself

16:50

but I know I know how much of it

16:52

I can take. Like I

16:54

know that I can skip past it. I know that

16:56

if it's quickly mentioned like again if it's if it's

16:58

if it's mentioned I'm fine with it on page stuff

17:01

I have a hard time with it. What else Bria?

17:03

What do you think? You can also

17:05

do things that mitigate the effects. Like

17:07

can you read a horror book during the day? I

17:10

often do this. Can you read an intense book with

17:12

friends or a book club? And you can always call

17:14

them up and be like hey is

17:16

this gonna get better? Or does this get worse? Because I've done

17:18

that I'm like does this get worse for this person? And they'll

17:20

be like yes I'm like I'm done with this book. Or can

17:22

you read it in small chunks? Like you aren't reading it all

17:24

at once maybe you read a little bit here a little bit

17:26

there and so that way you don't it's not like overtaking

17:29

your life. Yeah I read

17:31

sexual assault is definitely something that's in my doghouse

17:33

it has been for a while and

17:35

I love Roxane Gay I'm a huge Roxane Gay fan

17:37

and she came out she edited that collection not

17:39

that bad about sexual assault and

17:42

took me like a year to read it because I had I

17:44

really wanted to read it but I had to read in small

17:46

chunks and you know that's the way I dealt with it. So

17:48

Brea what do you do in this situation there's a book you really

17:50

want to read that looks good but it has something in

17:52

there that you really just don't want to read about. If

17:55

there are content warnings I don't often check

17:57

the content warnings, but sometimes I'll get to a point in the

17:59

book. and I'm like. Oh, you're going to

18:01

go somewhere I don't like. I. Probably in

18:03

a dump, the bug or if someone tells me they like

18:05

hey it's all about this time dying. I'll be like and

18:07

I read a book like I just won't read and I'm

18:09

I'm going to try to. but. If. I'm loving

18:12

the book and I get so part is particularly

18:14

horrific to me. I will soldiers rogue if I

18:16

love the books because it's so rare to love

18:18

a book like so much that you're like, okay,

18:20

this always say I'm good outweighs the bad here.

18:23

Daytime. Reading works for me for things that

18:25

are scary. Mickey's your someone else is around just

18:27

like in the house you know know knowing someone

18:29

here I'm on a plane I'm like okay is

18:31

that a lot of people here like enough damage

18:34

that way less scary and keeping a book around

18:36

that isn't as top of the read so like

18:38

if I'm like this is you much and rings

18:40

at nights freaking me out I will go to

18:42

a book and like this is just a book

18:44

about know. Rather, Than hobbies and like

18:46

that in the book that I can actually just switch

18:48

to at any time. And knowing I have that outlet

18:51

I don't have to soldier through. Dad's.

18:53

Really helped me a lot. Just. Knowing

18:55

if there and being able to switch I think it's

18:57

helpful. What are you doing when there's. You.

18:59

Want to read it but you know it's gonna be have

19:01

stuff you know like. Me on the

19:03

same way. I feel like I'm lucky enough that I

19:05

can compare. Book of its hitting a big dog house

19:08

item for me and I'd have just like you I

19:10

do often. I know I followed a character

19:12

from one of those nineties reading shows, but

19:14

that's the magic and the danger of reading

19:16

books as is, never know what's gonna happen

19:19

like. Honestly, there are disturbing

19:21

things and books that have really stuck

19:23

with me. Ah, there's a scene in

19:25

the last house on needless. Street that is

19:27

branded onto my brain for the rest of my life. And

19:30

it involves a sound. And it is.

19:34

Really really stuck there. But personally I found

19:36

that the experiencing that book was worth it.

19:38

I was that it was the same things

19:40

that you just said is A I wanted

19:43

to know what happened, I wanted experience the

19:45

rest of the book and I waited My

19:47

brain and I realized that I I find

19:49

getting through it up being said. That.

19:52

Particular disturbing seen that I just talked about wasn't

19:54

something that's in my dog house. it wasn't something

19:56

that like. Overtly. Or.

19:59

Like. It hits me harder

20:01

than other things. I do avoid bad reading

20:03

experiences by skipping things that I know will

20:05

be too hard for me. I've

20:08

definitely dumped a lot of books. There was a really

20:10

popular book last year that I

20:12

didn't realize was all about sexual assault, and it starts happening

20:15

on page one, and I read about three pages, and I

20:17

was like, no, I'm good, I don't need this. I

20:19

do think if there is something that is so upsetting

20:21

to you that it'll ruin your day, you need to

20:23

be doing your research, even beyond the content

20:26

warnings listed on the book. Because again, content

20:28

warnings are usually about things happening on the

20:30

page. And if there's something that is so,

20:32

that will derail your day, you've

20:35

gotta take the responsibility and do

20:37

your research and read reviews

20:39

beforehand. Because again, all

20:42

of this stuff is so subjective

20:44

that you

20:46

really never know. So the short

20:48

answer is there is no definitive way to

20:50

say the book is gonna be too much

20:52

for you, right? It's just subjective, that's the

20:54

great and awful thing about reading.

20:56

That's the great thing about reading. I don't know if

20:58

it's awful. It is what reading is. So even if

21:01

your friend reads something and they're like, no, no, no,

21:03

it's fine, it's fine. It could be totally different for

21:05

you. And something maybe too intense for them, maybe not

21:07

as bad for you. So you don't, you aren't going

21:09

to really know. And the best way you can do

21:11

is take an educated guess from hearing what other readers

21:13

have to say, do some research,

21:16

you really, really wanna read this book. Just know you can

21:18

dump it if it gets too intense and get some library,

21:20

get a bit of a shot. But if you're like Kathy

21:22

and you're gonna be affected months from now, which I do

21:24

wanna pause and say like, that is a

21:26

little concerning to me that you read something that, affected

21:29

you so badly that you couldn't sleep for

21:31

months. I do think, again, we

21:33

always sign the show, we're not therapists, we're

21:35

not mental health professionals. If you're experiencing something

21:37

that intensely, something else is going on, like

21:40

you've got a, you probably should talk to someone, figure something

21:42

out like that is, I would say

21:44

an unusually intense reaction to something in a

21:47

book. Yeah. But I do wanna say,

21:49

it's not fucking worth it. Yeah, that's

21:51

right. I feel like like that

21:53

too. It's not fucking worth it. Months of

21:55

not sleeping? It's not, it's not gonna

21:57

be worth it. Go to sleep. that

22:01

you need to read a horror book. I think

22:04

if you see a book that sounds good

22:06

to you but it has something in there that

22:08

is concerning to you, find a book that

22:10

is on a similar subject or has the

22:12

same trope that is not as intense,

22:14

doesn't have the same content warnings, you know almost

22:16

every book we talk about has a book that

22:19

we can recommend that's kind of like it. That's

22:21

what art is like and I guarantee

22:23

you that you will be if there's a horror book

22:26

or I'll just say it because this book I

22:28

think won the national book award or a Pulitzer

22:30

prize or something so it doesn't if

22:32

I say that I didn't like it it's not going to affect it but

22:34

The Rabbit Hutch was a book

22:36

that came out I think it was last year

22:38

the year before it's all about sexual assault but

22:41

I wanted to read it because I like stories

22:43

that are about like one apartment building and it's

22:45

basically about how this one assault affects all these

22:47

people and like all these people in this apartment

22:49

building the bar they call it The Rabbit Hutch

22:51

but the opening chapter is about what all these

22:54

other people in the room in the building were

22:56

doing while this woman was getting assaulted and I

22:58

was like you know what there's a bunch of

23:00

other books that that are about a bunch

23:02

of people living in an apartment building and

23:04

don't involve this so I'll just read

23:06

that you know there's just so many books out

23:09

there you know don't let the buzz from a

23:11

book pressure you into a bad reading experience just

23:13

because it sounds really good just

23:15

because it's a bunch of people are reading it

23:17

just because it's buzzy but you're like this thing

23:19

really bothers me like folks you there

23:22

are other books out there like that like

23:24

you don't have to read it but like there's

23:26

very simple solutions like you aren't stuck it's not

23:28

like all right well this is the only this

23:30

book is really buzzy and it looks good this

23:32

is the only book I can read now there's

23:35

so many other books like just find something else

23:37

that's similar you know don't put yourself through

23:40

something just to participate

23:42

in some buzz don't do it

23:44

yeah so you can send your

23:46

thoughts to reading glasses podcast@gmail.com before we talk

23:48

about book subscription boxes we're going to take a

23:50

quick break reading

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you. In

25:33

1979, singer Miki Matsubara cut Stay

25:35

With Me, a love song that hit big

25:37

in her home country of Japan. Stay

25:40

with me. The

25:43

song has almost half a billion plays on

25:45

streaming apps. But Miki Matsubara didn't get to

25:47

enjoy all that renewed interest. She died in

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2004. In fact, she

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had burned all of her music, and she

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literally asked everyone she knew to forget her.

25:57

I'm Christian Duenas. I'm Yosuke Kitazawa.

26:00

podcast primer we celebrate unforgettable music

26:02

from outside the English-speaking world starting

26:04

with Japanese city pop we'll cover

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Mickey's work and others in conversation

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with Devendra van Hart, Umi, Dame

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Funk and more get primer on

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maximumfun.org or wherever you get your

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podcasts time

26:28

to solve a bookish problem from one of our

26:30

listeners Heidi wrote in I'm curious

26:32

about bookish subscription boxes I work at a

26:34

bookstore and I have a hard time paying

26:36

full price for books that I can get

26:38

with my hefty discount our bookish

26:40

subscription boxes with all the extras really worth

26:43

the expense is this a good way to

26:45

get signed or special editions am

26:47

I going to end up with a bunch of

26:49

crappy stickers and tchotchkes that I don't really want

26:51

or use how do you find the right subscription

26:53

box for you as a reader Rhea

26:56

what do you think well

26:58

I don't have a subscription box because a I'm an

27:00

e-reader and that would doesn't really

27:02

make sense and be I like to pick my own books

27:04

I really like it I really look forward

27:07

to picking my books every week I

27:09

think these are great if you don't like picking your books or

27:11

want a limited selection of books to pick from like book of

27:13

the month or something like that I looked

27:15

at Nightworms which you had talked about and

27:17

I think it's cool they promote horror

27:20

books I couldn't find on their site if you could

27:22

cancel at any time or worry

27:24

me nothing's worse than a website that makes it

27:26

hard for you to cancel something you know or

27:28

tell me what the cost is like you have

27:30

to like sign up for and

27:32

remember yeah I didn't like that so if

27:34

you can cancel at any time I think

27:36

it's worth trying out if you are this

27:39

interested that you wrote into a podcast about

27:41

it I think that's cool but and the

27:43

one like Nightworms specifically they don't send a

27:45

bunch of crappy stickers which you know

27:47

if that's your concern but I gotta tell you something if

27:49

you're most book boxes you're gonna get a bunch of stickers

27:51

I'm gonna get a bunch of stuff that you're gonna eventually

27:53

put right in the trash can or maybe you love it

27:55

and your whole house will be filled with stuff but it

27:58

doesn't sound like it so I don't know I maybe Maybe

28:00

that one's right for you, but maybe you could also email

28:02

them and say, hey, can I cancel in the meantime and

28:04

just try it for a few months? Like, I think that's

28:06

totally worth trying if you're curious about it. But I think

28:08

there's also ones that you can get a more direct answer,

28:10

it seems like, on that question. What do you say for

28:12

Heidi? I think just by

28:15

Heidi saying a bunch of crappy stickers, that

28:17

they're not the intended customer for the kinds

28:19

of stick-up-to-poxes, especially if you've already worked with

28:21

a brand new sticker and shoshkis. Yeah, you

28:24

know, that's right. That's true. These boxes are

28:26

great for people who aren't super familiar with

28:28

the book world and also like getting those

28:30

things. Like, personally, as someone who is

28:32

very intimately familiar with the book world,

28:35

I don't subscribe to those because there's a good chance

28:37

I'm already going to have the book, you know? The

28:39

thing is, I do love stickers. Give me, Heidi, I'll

28:41

take your crappy stickers. I love a sticker. I

28:45

think places like Book of the Month are worth it

28:47

for readers who aren't

28:49

as familiar with the book world. They do love new

28:51

releases. They just want to

28:54

read whatever's buzzy right now, but they don't want

28:56

to pay extra for stickers and tea bags and

28:58

whatever. Like, there are places that are just books,

29:00

which Book of the Month is. I

29:03

canceled my Book of the Month subscription way back in 2017 because

29:06

I found that I wasn't reading the books that I was

29:09

getting. Because, I mean, it comes once a month, but if

29:11

you're already reading a lot of other books, it does pile

29:13

up quickly. And I remember I looked at my shelf and

29:15

I was like, I haven't read the last four of these.

29:18

And like, I'm happy I have them, but I just I don't

29:20

think I need them right now. For

29:23

Heidi, I think the only type of box that

29:25

would be worth it for them would be like

29:27

a Luma Crate or something, which there are these

29:29

subscription boxes that have or basically only special editions

29:32

that you can't get anywhere else. You can't get

29:34

it in a bookstore. You know, you get a

29:36

different cover. You get you get little extras in

29:38

the back of the book. Like if you are

29:41

someone who likes special editions, I think those are

29:43

worth it. That is, again, if you're someone who

29:45

wants to collect those, you want something special. Overall,

29:48

I think book boxes and book subscriptions are

29:50

great. It just depends on the type of reader that you

29:52

are. If you don't buy a lot of

29:54

books and you find yourself, you know, you're

29:57

always looking for new recommendations. Recommendations

29:59

aren't. naturally coming into your life all

30:01

the time. You know, you don't know a lot

30:04

of bookish people, you don't follow a lot of

30:06

bookish stuff on Instagram, you're not like me and

30:08

Bria and are getting sent books constantly. They're amazing

30:10

because then you get the, a

30:12

bunch of, you get to choose from or sent

30:15

a buzzy new book every month. That's

30:17

perfect. But if you're like me and you are,

30:20

you do have a constant stream of books flowing

30:22

into your home and into your phone and into

30:24

your social media, I

30:26

personally think they tend to pile up. So

30:28

I think you need to assess your reader

30:30

situation and what you want or not want

30:32

out of a subscription. For Heidi, again,

30:35

I think the only ones that are gonna be worth it are

30:37

the special edition ones, like Illumicrate. I don't think any of

30:39

the other ones. Again, you work at a bookstore.

30:42

So you'd be paying full price for

30:44

a book that you could get for cheap. Mallory

30:47

doesn't understand this bookstore, why

30:49

you would do something when you can get it

30:51

for cheaper. This Illumicrate thing is pretty cool. I'm

30:53

looking at it right now. There's a few, the

30:55

Owlcrate I think is one, Fairy Loot. But

30:59

I think, again, you just have to assess

31:01

your own reader situation, what you're looking for out

31:03

of new books and out of books coming into

31:05

your life and go from there. So

31:07

if you want us to solve your reader problem, you

31:10

can send it to readingglassespodcasts@gmail.com. Now

31:16

let's answer a recommendation request from Dan. Dan says,

31:18

dear Bree and Mallory, I just wanted to take

31:20

a moment to say thank you for your wonderful

31:23

podcast. It's definitely a high point for me every

31:25

Thursday and it's helped me recommit to my reading

31:27

goals and to find new books. I

31:29

first discovered it back in October last year doing a

31:32

long drive for work and I think I listened to

31:34

10 episodes on just that one day. Wow, that's awesome.

31:36

Reading has meant the world to me, especially recently as

31:38

I've been going through a painful divorce. I

31:41

read a wide range of genres, but I'm

31:43

currently looking for a noir with a strong

31:45

sci-fi element. Any recommendations you have in that

31:47

regard would be really appreciated. Bree,

31:49

what do you think Dan should read? This may

31:52

be the most obvious recommendation in the world, Dan,

31:54

and if you've already read it, I'm sorry, but

31:56

it's Titanium Noir by Nick Harkaway. It's

31:58

literally a sci-fi noir. the word noir in

32:00

the title. It's about a detective working a case

32:03

I've talked about on the show. Maybe

32:05

it was on my best of what's it? I can't

32:07

remember. Maybe. It's about a detective

32:09

working a case that might take him

32:11

down, you know, because it's a noir. He's

32:13

looking to the death of a titan, which are

32:15

these people who have genetically altered themselves that

32:17

they live extra long lives. But in doing so,

32:20

they keep growing really tall. I don't know.

32:22

Every time they extend their lives, they have a

32:24

growth spurt. And so they end up being

32:26

like seven feet tall, eight feet tall, and they

32:28

become these people called Titans. And it's only

32:31

for the super rich. So they investigate this world

32:33

of this rich, elite people who also have like

32:35

strange genetic choices where they've chosen to be these

32:37

very old, very tall people who live like multiple

32:40

lives. It's really great. It's interesting. And it definitely

32:42

follows that noir kind of detective world with a

32:44

great sci fi element. What do you got? I'm

32:46

really pumped because I haven't got to talk about

32:48

this book on the show for a while. I

32:50

did recommend it a bunch during the drive. But

32:53

this is a book by an author that we

32:55

both love. It's called This Body Isn't Big Enough

32:57

for the Both of Us by Edgar Contaro. Edgar

32:59

Contaro is just such an awesome author. This

33:01

book is so buck wild. It is

33:03

about these twin detectives, their brother and

33:05

a sister, they run their own detective

33:07

agency and their polar opposites. He is

33:09

meticulous and organized. He's all logic. And

33:11

she is an alcoholic addict, who is

33:13

a creative genius. And the two of

33:15

them together, when they can get along

33:17

are incredible at solving crimes. But the

33:19

big problem is they share one body.

33:22

They and they kind of wrestle for control over

33:24

the body at all times. And so that's like

33:26

the sci fi element of it. And they get

33:28

hired to solve this murder and they end up

33:30

getting sucked into this gang war in Southern California.

33:32

And there's all this stuff like

33:34

it's them getting sucked into this sort of

33:37

like triggers all this other stuff happening. The

33:39

new war part is super fun. You got

33:41

Edgar Contaro loves to play with tropes. So

33:43

you've got like the sexy dames and like

33:45

the tough guys that they've got to beat

33:47

up. But you know, it's super funny. It's

33:49

action packed. And then there's like, again, this

33:51

fun sci fi element of them sharing one

33:53

body fighting over control of the body like he

33:55

loves when she gets drunk enough to the point

33:57

where she passes out because then he gets to run the

33:59

body. while she's asleep. It's

34:02

so fun. It's a blast. So that's called

34:04

This Body Isn't Big Enough for the Both

34:06

of Us by Edgar Cantero. And My Titanium

34:08

Noir by Nick Harkaway. If

34:14

you want us to answer your recommendation request you

34:16

can send it to Reading Glasses Podcast@gmail.com. As always,

34:19

we want to thank the wonderful mods who run

34:21

our Facebook group. And remember, you can buy Reading

34:23

Glasses totes and shirts and stickers

34:25

over at our Void merch store. Maybe you're

34:27

gonna go out reading the park, you're gonna

34:29

go to the beach, starting to get

34:32

warm out, you need a new tote bag to stick all

34:34

your stuff in, boom, we got you covered. Check

34:36

out the show notes for that link. And if

34:38

you like the show, you're like, wow, Mallory and

34:40

Bria have given me a book

34:42

recommendation that I really liked, have given me a

34:45

tip that really helped. You can say

34:47

thank you for free by going to the

34:49

podcast listening app that you use and giving

34:51

us a five-star rating, a nice

34:53

little review. It really makes a

34:55

difference for us and helps us reach

34:58

more listeners. You can email us at

35:00

readingglassespodcasts@gmail.com. You can find us on Instagram

35:02

at readingglassespodcasts. Thanks for listening and thanks

35:04

for reading. Maximum

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