0:00

You're

0:13

listening to reading glasses, show about book

0:15

culture and literary life designed to help you read

0:17

better. I'm author in book of

0:18

power, Malorie O'Mara, and I'm Bria Grant filmmaker

0:20

and e reader. This episode, we're talking

0:23

about what's the best way Just

0:25

stay cozy while you read. Wow.

0:29

You know what? We're just we're just like,

0:31

what are the questions y'all want answered. We're

0:33

here to answer them. We're here to toziness

0:35

is an important part of reading the answers about

0:37

cozy books. We're gonna do one about cozy reading.

0:39

Mhmm. The important things, first,

0:42

what are you reading? Oh, I am reading.

0:44

I listened to. I just listened to

0:47

a book written and narrated by

0:49

the author, Evan Ross Katz, it is into

0:51

every generation, a slayer is born how buffy

0:53

sticks sticks. Oh, the buffy book. A funny

0:55

book. Are you seeing that on your kitchen table?

0:57

Yeah. Yeah. I yes. I own it, but then I listen to

0:59

it for some reason instead of reading it. I mean,

1:01

I did read it via my ears. So

1:04

what's interesting about this book? So it's

1:06

it's basically everyone's cat and decided, like,

1:08

oh, I'm gonna write this book, like, this, you know, definitive

1:11

book about Buffalo, the Vampire Slayer of the TV

1:13

show and, like, why it was important

1:15

to me how it affected. There's a lot people

1:17

who who feel like it really helps them, like, young

1:20

queer people. They feel like it helped them when they didn't feel like

1:22

they fit in. And so we started writing this book

1:24

And then all these allegations came out about John

1:26

Spiedon. Mhmm. Now, he's writing the book.

1:28

So it's interesting because he's he talks about

1:30

this in the opening where he says, you know, I

1:32

thought it was gonna be one thing. Ended up

1:34

being another thing. But think what's really interesting

1:36

about it is he's talking about fandom.

1:38

And this is thing I sort of took away from it is that it's very

1:41

much about like fandome and how we

1:43

are fans of things sometimes that it

1:45

turns out the creators or certain people involved

1:47

are great people. Yeah. And

1:49

how do we reconcile that? When it

1:51

is something that, like, people say

1:53

all the time to these actors and and

1:56

people who were on buffy, like, your show

1:58

saved my life. I'm kind of one of those people. Like,

2:00

a buffy was really really important to me.

2:02

And it's hard thing to reconcile.

2:04

You know? You're like, how do I how you know, I think

2:06

a lot of Harry Potter fans feel this a lot of a lot of

2:08

various fans feel feel this. And so

2:10

it's interesting because he's kinda taking this history

2:12

of a buffy. And obviously, he talks about Joss,

2:15

but I think he's also decent during Joss Weeden

2:17

in an interesting way. And recenturing other

2:19

people who were involved, the actors, the

2:21

customer, the writers that were not

2:23

just we didn't and the fans. And and

2:25

how once you put something out there in the

2:27

world that fans are gonna

2:29

take that and it's it's kind of a comms there

2:31

isn't a certain -- Yeah. -- for sure. And, you know,

2:34

how he started all these conversations about feminism

2:36

and about gender and and sexuality

2:38

in in a time where we weren't necessarily talking about

2:40

those I will say I had never watched Buffi

2:43

when I was a kid, and I watched

2:45

it because my boyfriend writes used

2:47

to write the Buffi comics, And I have never

2:49

seen a hornier TV show in my life. I

2:51

could not believe how every single episode I would

2:53

turn to him and be like, this this was allowed on

2:55

TV. Yeah. And this is the hornier show

2:57

I ever seen in my life. Yeah. And I think,

2:59

also, it's just like I mean,

3:01

I think, look, he also talks about, like, it's big misses,

3:03

like, when it regarding to race -- Mhmm. -- regards

3:06

to, like, some of the ways, like, we obviously know how

3:08

some of the women are treated behind the scenes, and

3:10

he hasn't gloss over those, but he

3:12

also, like, how look, shows

3:14

are complicated and fanned on this complicated. And,

3:16

like, our relationship to these shows

3:18

changes over time. Anyway, I thought it was really

3:20

interesting. And if you are fan of buffy, I think it's

3:22

a really great way to, like, revisit all

3:24

of that era of television and, like, why it

3:26

was important to me, to me, or to you,

3:28

if you're reading it, to anyone. I just thought it

3:30

was really well researched book. He talked

3:33

to a lot of folks, and it kinda helped me

3:35

to sort think through a lot

3:37

of that. My buffy phantom in

3:39

some way, I was buffy for for for

3:41

Halloween this year. You were?

3:43

But not from I was buffy from the movie, but

3:45

it's still just we actually. No. I do. Yes.

3:47

Go drives you by a woman. But I

3:49

I like the original buffy movie also.

3:51

Anyway, what are you reading, Mallory? I am

3:53

reading book that I think will make a really great

3:56

gift book for the kids in your life. Oh.

3:58

It is a middle grade book that got

4:00

hand sold to me. We

4:03

were at a book store. There's a a really great

4:05

bookstore in Redlands called The Fruego

4:07

Frigate, and it is like a kids only bookstore.

4:10

Frigate. It's a ship. Yeah.

4:12

It's a It's a it's from

4:14

a poem about reading. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay.

4:17

But I heard over I'm

4:19

such a creep I overheard the booksellers talking

4:21

about over the garden wall. Oh, yeah. And I

4:23

was like, what what are you talking about?

4:26

They were talking about this book and it this book is

4:28

retailing of a classic fantasy

4:30

children's book. So it is rewritten to

4:32

be a little more modern and it's called the

4:34

marvelous land of Snurggs. By

4:37

Veronica Cost Intelli, and

4:39

it's a retelling of the book that inspired

4:41

Tolkien to write The Hobbit. Oh, wow. And

4:44

It is wonderful. It is so especially

4:47

if you listen to our special editions episode and

4:49

you were like, oh, I wanna look out for some fancy books. This

4:51

book is so beautiful and it's illustrated

4:53

and it's wonderful and it's about this

4:55

orphanage and there are these two kids that get

4:57

there and they're like very misfit kids.

5:00

And they end up getting accidentally wandering

5:02

out into the forest and falling into this magical

5:04

world as he did. And they end up in the land of

5:06

snurges, and the snurges are, like, You

5:09

would love a snurig, Brea. They're very small.

5:11

They love snacks. Uh-huh. They

5:13

love to hang out and pet animals

5:15

and eat snacks. Yeah. Are they human

5:17

like? Or what are the Yeah. There's I mean, they if you look at

5:19

the picture, you're like, that's a hobbit, but this is this

5:21

is what inspired token to create hobbits.

5:24

And they end up on this sort of, like, venture

5:26

through the land of snurghs, like trying

5:28

to trying to defeat this witch, and it's just like

5:31

so cute and would be really fun to read

5:33

aloud to a kid. I am a person with no

5:35

kids and I just read it and it's very fun

5:37

just as me as an adult, but it

5:39

it was a blast. I really enjoy it and again

5:41

make a great gift book. So that is the marvelous

5:43

land of nerves by Veronica Cosentelli.

5:46

And mine is into every generation,

5:49

a slayer is born. How buffy stacked our hearts

5:51

written and narrated by Evan Rosskas.

5:58

So we wanna take a moment to share some listener feedback.

6:00

Bria, we got so much feedback about palate cleanser

6:03

books and Oh, fantastic. I bet that's right. That makes

6:05

sense to me. So much. We asked and

6:07

we received. Yes. So Ashley wrote in to

6:09

say with physical books old books that I read

6:11

with my eyes, that I need a cleanse from,

6:13

I'll read a graphic novel or novel, I'm loving

6:15

reading the Weyward Children's series right now.

6:18

With audiobooks, I'll listen to podcast. I

6:20

have a job where I can listen to books and podcasts.

6:22

So I'll start a book on Monday, then once I'm done, I

6:24

will catch up on all the podcast episodes for

6:26

the week listen to about ten podcasts, so there's

6:28

always something playing in my ears. Graphic

6:30

novels are a great palette cleanser. Yeah. That's a

6:32

great idea. And Stephanie wrote that,

6:34

first of all, I love your podcast.

6:37

I kind of lost enthusiasm for reading

6:39

after I got out of school, but during quarantine, I

6:41

started to pick it up again. Finding your podcast

6:43

has really helped to fan that flame and

6:45

keep my enthusiasm alive. Whenever

6:47

I read a book that immediately begins to live

6:49

in my head rent free, I have trouble trying

6:52

to read anything new after that. So if I don't

6:54

wanna take a break from reading, I'll instead

6:56

reread a book I really love. Oh,

6:58

that's good. That way I know exactly what I'm

7:00

getting to and know that I'm going to love

7:02

it. It's like eating comfort food after

7:04

going through something intense. Yeah. We got

7:06

a lot of people who said who are big palate cleansing

7:08

rereaders. So

7:10

Jen wrote in to say after a really dark, scary,

7:13

sad, or dense read, I turned to my favorite books

7:15

or series from when I was in middle and high school.

7:17

Recently, I've started rereading the Princess Diaries

7:20

series by Meg Cabot. I never read those.

7:22

I haven't even done. And Jen says

7:24

each one is like a short quick treat after my

7:26

chunk of your door stoppers. Yeah. Returning to

7:28

old favorites helps me ease out of any

7:30

tension or slump I'm in and gets me ready for

7:32

the next big read on my TV. We didn't talk

7:34

about rereading books That is a really good one. It is a

7:36

good one. Yeah. Oh, Jen says PS is someone

7:38

from Cambridge Mass. I love when Mallory gets

7:40

really excited about something and her accent

7:42

comes out. It's wicked pissed. Does

7:46

this mean good? Yes. Nice.

7:50

And a bunch of people wrote in to say they use

7:52

disc squared novels is palette cleansers. Oh my

7:54

god. So many people, like, within

7:56

an hour of each other, we're like, I I

7:58

read the Desquarie series. It's it's What?

8:01

Alright. So Sheila said, cherry Prussia's style

8:03

is so engaging. This is about the disc world series.

8:05

I'm so engaging in light with just the right mix of comedy

8:07

and genuine heart that I never have a hard time

8:10

absolutely inhaling a disc world

8:12

novel no matter how bad or reading slump

8:14

I'm in. In fact, instead of ever attempting

8:16

to read the whole series, I saved the disc world books

8:18

for situations like this since when I'm having

8:20

trouble latching onto the world

8:22

of a new book rereading doesn't work for

8:24

me. There's so many books that I essentially have a lifetime

8:27

supply and they're so popular. There are

8:29

so many of them that you can always find a good selection

8:31

at the library bookstore. Thank you so much for this

8:33

amazing show. I've listening since the

8:35

very beginning. Wow. And it's really helped

8:37

me make reading a big part of my life again.

8:39

I don't know where I'd be without your fantastic recommendations.

8:42

The wheelhouse is sci fi with a sense of

8:44

humor, fantasy where women get to do

8:46

stuff. Yeah. Or with an interesting spin

8:48

on the usual tropes, non fiction about Steven

8:50

Sondheim. Okay. Frozen is so

8:52

well constructed. You wanna cross stitch every sentence

8:55

into a throw pillow. Wow. Love it. Specific.

8:57

So you can email us at reading glasses podcast at

8:59

gmail dot com. If you want a list of all the books we talk

9:01

about delivered to your inbox every month, you can sign up

9:03

for a newsletter. There's a link in the show notes. And

9:06

just a quick bookmark, folks, if you wanna be in entered

9:08

to win a box of books from the reading glasses challenge,

9:10

now is the time you gotta send them in before the

9:12

end of the year. I guess you could if

9:14

you're if you're still up last year, we said this a

9:16

bit more like, but I'm gonna be reading on New Year's

9:19

Eve. If that's you, that's fine. Mhmm. We

9:21

I'm gonna cut it off after the first week of

9:23

Jan. January. Fair. After the first week of

9:25

Jan from now until the end of end of the first

9:27

week of January, send in your reading glasses

9:29

challenges to reading glasses podcast at gmail dot

9:31

com. Just put list of the challenge and put

9:33

all the books or activities you did to

9:36

complete each each part. And then at the

9:38

end of the first week of January, I will be writing

9:40

all those names on a piece of paper and putting

9:42

them in a hat and pulling out three

9:44

and we're gonna send you a box well, email you first

9:46

and ask you what your wheelhouse is and then we're gonna send you

9:48

a box of box We're very excited. So

9:50

before we talk about staying cozy while you read,

9:52

we're gonna take a quick break. Reading

10:00

glasses is sponsored in part this week by

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Dipsey. You know, you don't

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wanna hear about my week? Here's what I do in a

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That's dip c stories dot com slash

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glasses. I'm

11:40

Jordan Kirschiala, the host of feelings scene, where

11:42

we talk about the movie characters that make

11:44

us feel see, and I'm the show's producer, Marissa.

11:47

Jordan, you've interviewed so many direct occurs,

11:49

actors, writers, film critics, and I

11:51

like to play this little game where I take a sip

11:53

of coffee every time someone says,

11:56

that's such a great question. That's such

11:58

a fabulous question, or they tell

12:00

you how smart you are. I think that you are rather

12:02

brilliant. And, of course, the big one is

12:04

when they expect unexpected Yes.

12:07

Jordan, I don't wanna cry on your podcast.

12:09

I wasn't expecting to cry. I mean,

12:11

it makes me kind of wanna cry. A feeling

12:13

seen comes out every Thursday on maximum

12:15

fund dot org. Listen already. What

12:17

are you waiting for? Jordan, that's such a

12:19

great question. This

12:37

week, it's cold outside, and we're talking

12:39

about cozy reading. That's right, not cozy

12:41

books, We've already covered that. We're talking

12:44

about cozy reading. The ideal

12:46

setup to keep you warm and comfortable, blankets,

12:48

pillows, bathrobes, what's the best way to

12:50

do it? Alright, Briya. Walk me through.

12:53

It's chilly out. You're getting which means like

12:55

sixty degrees in LA. Yeah. You're getting on

12:57

the couch to read, what are you grabbing? Wow.

13:00

You know, hard hitting journalism. Get

13:02

to know the real breed of Mallory. Wow.

13:04

Wow. Wow. So we are really think,

13:07

you know, y'all wanted to know our deep very

13:09

intimate yeah. Okay. Alright.

13:11

I'm truly getting cozy. This

13:13

is actually is something I don't talk

13:15

about much. Wow. I have these space

13:17

heaters in my house that look like little fireplaces.

13:20

There I have two of them. I didn't know anything with

13:22

the house, some the person living there before

13:24

me left them. Are they haunted? I

13:27

don't think well, here's the thing. I

13:29

know. People don't like this about me. I don't blame it go.

13:31

So nothing's haunted. But

13:34

people who say my house is haunted, probably think these

13:36

are haunted. I don't know. Can you hunt something to be haunted. This

13:38

is only like three years old. I But anyway,

13:41

so people someone left

13:43

these. So my house here's the thing about

13:45

LA. It will get cold outside, but it

13:48

doesn't warm up very well inside the house because we have,

13:50

like, no insulation. Yeah. That's really problem. So

13:52

I kinda drag them all over the house with me when

13:54

I wanna get cozy. And, you know,

13:56

It's like all sixty degrees here, so I'm freezing.

13:59

People say people make fun of it, but in sixty degrees

14:01

in the desert is much colder than

14:03

sixty degrees. Yeah. In a humid place

14:05

on on the East Coast. I believe you.

14:08

And this sounds to be true, but I drag

14:10

these little space eaters around the house,

14:12

and it looks turn to models like there's fireplaces

14:14

sky. And

14:17

so I I grabbed this little space heater and

14:19

I sit right in front of it, my skin gets incredibly

14:22

greasy. Great. Baked, like, a little,

14:24

like, pros prosciutto. Prosciutto. Chicken.

14:27

Yeah. I'm just, like, a little dried up potato.

14:29

Why don't you put a humidifier right next

14:31

to it. I well, I'm gonna talk about something

14:34

I have been doing, but Yes. --

14:36

and then blanket wise, I have a few throw blanket

14:38

that, like, just live at my house. So I find the one that

14:40

smells the least like the dog. And then I haven't thrown

14:42

on the floor for her to sleep on because that's what I do is

14:44

I throw the blanket on the floor and then she loves that and

14:46

loves to sleep on it. So right now

14:48

it's this there's this light cozy one from IKEA

14:51

that needs to be replaced so that I've had it for at least ten

14:53

years if not fifteen. But it's like this

14:55

little white light one. So it's not a heavy

14:57

blanket. don't like a super heavy blanket, especially

14:59

because the space heater is Sean's

15:01

face right now is like, why are they

15:03

talking about this? But maybe he's awesome.

15:08

The space eaters warming me up. So the

15:11

blanket is just for for the coke

15:13

garnish. Hostiness. Hostiness. And

15:15

then I like it, but I don't necessarily need it.

15:17

So it's kind of a a bit of just for the cozy

15:19

feel of it. Yeah. It's just sort of like not gonna

15:21

be heavy blink. Mhmm. What what about you? How do

15:23

you maximize extreme

15:26

coziness? Well, I've had to change my

15:28

my cozy setup because since we lived on top of

15:30

a mountain and it is actually

15:32

cold. Yeah. It's freezing very cold. Wow. We're

15:34

very lucky that we have a fireplace. Truly

15:36

freezing. Like, it gets below yeah, we already

15:38

had snow. Okay. Which I'm very unhappy about.

15:40

Jeremy, my boyfriend loves the snow.

15:43

And so he gets really happy. I do not.

15:45

We have a fireplace which which is great. But so

15:48

before I even get on the couch, warm

15:50

socks, sweater, warm sweat pants.

15:52

Mhmm. I gotta gear up. Because

15:54

it is very cold. So I I actually

15:56

don't like a throw blanket. Oh, no. Right? No.

15:58

A throw blanket? I see. Too

16:00

small. Too small. I shift

16:03

positions a lot when I'm thinking with throw blanket.

16:05

Are you using I'm not even using a throw blanket. Okay.

16:07

Like it. I'm using comforter.

16:09

Oh, comforter. I mean, I'd like a comforter. She's

16:11

just usually too much for me. No. I because

16:13

I I move around so much, and I hate when you have

16:15

a throat blanket. And you move little bit, and then you have

16:17

to, like, perfectly place each corner of the throw

16:19

blanket to all of your limbs or comforts. Are

16:22

you sure you know the throw blanket as I throw blanket

16:24

as a big a blanket, but sometimes if like, stretch

16:26

out my legs all the way -- I see. -- you know,

16:28

and then if you pull it up too far and then your feet

16:30

poke out, like, I don't wanna with Okay. Okay.

16:32

Okay. So I get I have a huge comforter in

16:34

our living room that I use to read with,

16:37

and it is a game changer because just throw that

16:39

on there. I can fit the cats on there. If

16:41

it my legs in any direction and I don't have to

16:43

worry about, like, repositioning to

16:47

to keep the my feet and all all of

16:49

my limbs underneath it. Sometimes I will use a throw

16:51

blanket put around my shoulders. But for my

16:53

legs, it's gotta be a big company. For a blanket, but it's like

16:55

a scarf. Like a giant Like a well, I would say

16:57

like a cape. Oh, I see. Yeah. Yeah.

16:59

Yeah. Yeah. Like, I am

17:01

a reading superhero. Alright.

17:05

So we got into blankets. What about pillows?

17:07

Do you have a special reading pillow? I

17:09

don't. But here's how my pillow situation

17:11

usually goes. I'm leaning on a pillow because we, like,

17:13

throw pillows, you know, and couch pillows. And

17:15

I like to, like, sit up and, like, leaning on a pillow.

17:17

And then as I get tired of kinda lay

17:19

down with the book on the pillow, and then, eventually,

17:22

I put my head on the pillow. Just a little Right.

17:24

It's very slow motion going into

17:26

a little horizontally. Yeah. It's it's a very

17:28

slow fall into sleep on the

17:30

pillow. So there's a pillow there. I'm gonna use it for

17:32

my head, which will eventually put me to sleep. Because

17:34

when I'm cozy in front of that heater and

17:36

the heater's, like, oh, and, like, making

17:38

little noise, that's, like, that is just

17:40

sleepy time for me. But it's too dry.

17:43

It is dry. It is dry. What here's what

17:45

I was gonna say. I've been doing a little bit, Mallory,

17:48

of slugging. So funny

17:50

you say that because I I've been reading about

17:52

slugging and was gonna ask you if you slugged. I've

17:54

been slugging because I don't

17:56

know. I remember who told me about They're gonna be mad.

17:59

Probably Sydney. Can I saw it on her Instagram

18:01

story? Maybe. can't remember who told me

18:03

about it, but basically it's like you put

18:05

ethylene or eucerin or

18:08

what does that other stuff there's not there's another

18:10

one that I'm using. And no, not retinal.

18:13

The opposite of retinal, it's like you put

18:15

Vaseline on your face. You're trying

18:17

to you're trying to look

18:19

like a slug basically. You're trying

18:21

to get greasy like a slug, like just a

18:23

greased up seal ready to, like,

18:25

whatever. And so you if you do that, I

18:28

mean, look, is it for all skin types?

18:30

No. But I haven't got the earrings. If you're

18:32

slugging and you're sitting in front of the heaters

18:34

and it all just gonna melt down your face.

18:36

I mean, I don't know. Actually, I don't

18:38

think so. I I mean, it's not like you're putting like

18:41

an inch layer. You're like doing you're

18:43

just doing like a layer. I've distinctly remember

18:46

getting my make makeup done because obviously

18:48

I used to be an actress and I would get my makeup done. And

18:50

I remember telling I didn't make a bar some time I was like,

18:52

you know what I would like to do? Put Vaseline on

18:54

my face at night when I go to bed and they're like, don't

18:56

you ever do that? And the fact that people are doing that

18:58

now on the Internet, I felt so very ill. Indicated.

19:01

Indicated. And I was like, I have the dry

19:03

skin in the world. I could literally put Crisco on

19:05

my skin, and it would not break out.

19:07

It would just, like, absorb it. Well,

19:10

and can I just go? Is that and then sit in

19:12

front of it, and then I really truly am. I

19:14

wrote you a chicken. Sean's gonna come home and be like,

19:16

what are you roasting? But

19:19

well, if we're gonna keep this part of the podcast, what does

19:21

slugging do? It just keeps your skin

19:23

moisturize? Yeah. It's like it's just like

19:25

an extreme. Like, you know how you pay for these,

19:27

like, overnight masks stuff. I think people

19:29

are like, you know what I don't want to pay for these overall night masks.

19:31

We could just put Vaseline on our faces. Wow.

19:33

Because I do like a lot of nighttime masks

19:36

because my skin is so dry and I live in the desert. I

19:38

love a space eater. There's a lot of problems there.

19:40

I've seen I've seen the connection. Yeah. But, hey,

19:42

listen, this is problem pre space eater.

19:44

But yeah. I mean, I'm look, this is not

19:46

a skincare podcast. But if you were curious,

19:48

there's a lot of but I will say, do I?

19:51

I am drinking myself

19:53

at night. I with any before this instill

19:55

it. But I I'm taking the thickest

19:57

lotion you can find, the shoe you use for your feet.

19:59

And I'm like, put it on my face. And

20:02

I'll do a mask couple times when we can just

20:04

leave it on, it's I have very dry skin.

20:06

My my hands literally start cracking

20:08

and my feet crack in the water. Like, I just have dry

20:10

skin. Why don't we just be a putt people are gonna

20:12

be drink more water? Y'all, I drink the water.

20:15

I'm just in your skin. This is where I'm at. My mother has

20:17

the same problem. This is where where I am.

20:19

But this slugging is interesting and you could do that

20:21

in front of the heater. Now -- because it wasn't -- haven't done it

20:23

in front of the heater, but I feel like I could

20:25

and it's help it's helping I'm doing it at

20:27

night before I go to bed. I just put my it

20:29

all over my face. Again, don't try this at home

20:31

unless you have Unless you're a rotisserie

20:33

chicken. Unless you are, your skin is

20:35

dry like sandpaper. Like, you

20:37

have the sandiest. Your

20:40

skin is essentially like,

20:42

I like, it is a piece of paper. There's

20:44

no moisture in it. That's what I that's what

20:46

I feel like it works for me. But anyway,

20:49

so that's what I'm doing. That's my plan. I do

20:51

care to have some really problems. Face season. You know,

20:53

I'm allowed to have some bad choices in life

20:56

when it's fine. We all have our vices. So,

20:58

wait, we're talking pillows. We're talking pillows. Tell

21:00

me. You're pillows, bitch. Well,

21:03

I you know, I love the book Pyramid Pillow that

21:05

we have. Wow. I forgot about that. We covered it a long time

21:07

ago on the show, and I do like it. Because

21:10

my sometimes when you are that's the

21:12

worst is when you're all cozy and you're

21:14

on the couch and you got your blanket, everything

21:16

set up, maybe cat or your dog or your bunny

21:18

or whatever you got is, like, sitting with you and then you're,

21:20

like, trying to get comfy and your book won't

21:23

sit right. The book pillow is very

21:25

helpful for that. And the reason why is

21:27

because it has it's like a pyramid, so you

21:29

can stick it in the groove of the pyramid

21:31

and it like really stays there and I really like

21:33

that. And did you say bunny? Yeah.

21:35

How many listeners do think have bunnies? I

21:37

know people who have bunnies. But do you think it's, like,

21:39

more than it's enough to shout out?

21:41

Yes. I would say so. Alright. More

21:44

than the general population, Sean, says, of listen,

21:46

you think reading glasses, bunny owner, bin diagram

21:49

is large or I see people in in the reading glasses,

21:51

Slack talking about their bunnies. Really? Yeah. Okay.

21:53

Great. Alright. Yeah. I mean, they're very cute. And if

21:55

your bunny's curled up cozy on the

21:57

couch, you don't wanna disturb it to

21:59

find a bit different spot to book your book. Yeah.

22:02

I am very curious about the Book

22:04

bow bean pillows. There's this company

22:06

called Book bow. We've covered them on the show before

22:09

and they make those, like, reading sleeve or book sleeves.

22:11

But they also have something called the book

22:13

bean, a reading bean. And it's like a

22:15

bean shaped pillow that you're supposed to

22:17

put on your lap while you're reading, like, keep your book

22:19

up. They are, like, thirty five

22:21

dollars. So I plus shipping. So I've never

22:24

gone around to getting one. Maybe we should test one

22:26

out for the show. Mhmm. Amazon.

22:30

No. They you have to get them through book bow dot

22:32

com. But I'm curious about them.

22:34

And if my if I can't find

22:36

my book pyramid, I will use a throw pillow and

22:38

put it in my lap. Enrest my book on it. Let's see

22:40

if I'm reading a hardcover. You don't want you don't

22:42

wanna hold the book up for that long.

22:44

No. Especially if you're, like, all cozy and

22:46

you're, like, settling in for, like, hour plus of reading.

22:48

You wanna don't wanna hold a hardcover. So

22:50

I will I will rest it on on a throw pillow

22:53

for sure. Or what about extras?

22:55

Are you putting on a bathroom? Are you slugging

22:57

and then slugging your body? You just like

22:59

put on a I do sometimes do foot

23:02

masks. Because again Is it a mask if it's

23:04

on your foot? I think that's just a shoe. Yeah. But

23:07

now it's like, oh my god. They're really

23:09

funny. They're like basically Let's

23:12

describe it. It's kind of no. It's like

23:14

if it's like if you took a ziplock

23:16

bag and you filled it

23:18

with cream. No. Not cream

23:21

like for you put in a drink, but like a like

23:23

a cream for your face. Y'all now not realize

23:25

my routine is very comfy, and then you

23:27

stick your foot in it. And then you kinda

23:29

seal it at the top. And it's like a it like,

23:31

it's a foot mask. It's, like, to keep your feet

23:33

moist. It's to keep your feet moist.

23:36

Listen. I need you to just move to the swamp.

23:38

It's really true. Well, I grew up I grew up in

23:40

a very humid area, and so that my

23:42

body's been longing for that person. That was

23:44

wonderful for me. Anyway, so sometimes

23:46

I do do a foot mask. But so

23:49

I got the space eater. I got I love a

23:51

sweatshirt. I'm wearing a lot of sweatshirts. Mhmm.

23:53

I'm all about the comfort. I like go go and sweat

23:55

shirts wet pants is great. But guess my

23:57

best accessory is gonna be my dog.

23:59

You sit wherever I am sitting and her

24:01

snoring while I'm reading is really, like, the

24:03

greatest feeling. It's like the white noise that helps you

24:05

concentrate. It is, like, has wherever I am

24:07

sitting, this dog wants to be next to me. And

24:10

I go, what I'm under, what room I go to? She's, like,

24:12

put me up on whatever furniture you were on. I could

24:14

never read on a single chair. This dog would not allow

24:16

it. She's assistant, like or she would, but she'd have to

24:18

be on you pushed into the chair.

24:20

And so the dog is the other accessory that

24:22

makes it complete because I do find very calming

24:24

to, like, that she's, like, dead asleep and

24:26

I'm reading. There's something really, like,

24:29

comforting about that. In that way with Lula

24:31

because if Lula is so anxious that

24:33

I know if she's real lax, then everything's fine.

24:35

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And then I have an elderly

24:37

cat, and she also sleeps in the same room as

24:39

I'm reading sometimes. And that's really cute when they're

24:41

both sleeping, and I can kinda hear her. You're like,

24:43

wow. I mean, one of those YouTube, like,

24:46

background videos. It really is. It is, like,

24:48

two elderly pets That's that's my idea

24:50

of heaven right there. Just two elderly pet sleeping.

24:52

What about you? You got some extras? No.

24:55

Not until recently. I I do have a really

24:57

nice winter bathrobe that we just bought

24:59

these, like, LL Bean flannel

25:01

bathrooms that are lovely. I don't like my arms

25:03

being restricted. So I am very particular

25:05

about what I have on me, what I'm reading, I

25:08

actually just recently bought something that people were talking

25:10

about in the reading glasses, Slack. A

25:12

listener named Britt convinced me.

25:14

It's called the Emposia hooded reading

25:16

blanket. Oh. And it's essentially

25:20

blanket hooded blanket. Yes.

25:22

Okay. So it's not a snuggie. It's essentially

25:24

just a blanket with a hood in the key

25:26

here is that it has a clasp that keeps

25:29

the blanket around your shoulders. So you

25:31

like put it basically, it's a cape. It's a cape.

25:33

It's a it's a cape. It's a blanket. That that is, like,

25:35

blanket material. Yes. A sharp put on the inside.

25:37

Oh, wow. Yeah. They has, like, all these, like, all like,

25:39

there's so many different options, and they had, like, really

25:41

cool art on them. So stay tuned for

25:43

a review of that, but I don't normally

25:46

I don't wanna I I don't want slippers on

25:48

because I don't want anything on my feet. I don't

25:50

want a path road on because I don't want anything restricted

25:52

restricting my arms. But I'm gonna that's why

25:54

I wanna test out this blanket. I'm excited. So

25:56

we can also add a hoodie green blanket to our

25:58

Amazon wish list right now. Yeah. Yeah.

26:01

But that do you want god, these are

26:03

Listen. Listener. I'm sorry. They

26:06

are ugly. Oh, hey.

26:08

It's em it's emposia, EEMP0SIA

26:14

and these are really cute. The book lovers,

26:17

bookish hooded blankets.

26:20

Let's find them. Oh,

26:22

I see. Oh, okay. So these have, like,

26:24

designs on them. Yeah. They're cool. That

26:27

is cool. There is one that's kinda

26:29

similar that I'll add to our

26:31

Amazon, but they are

26:33

much cuter than the ones that are basically just blankets

26:35

with arm holes. Yeah. I don't like the arm holes.

26:38

That's my whole thing. I don't want anything restricting my

26:40

arms. Okay. I

26:42

need full arm usage, what I'm reading.

26:44

Hold on. I accidentally added it to my personal

26:47

wish list and my mother will just go and buy it without

26:49

me even hold on. I have to fix that immediately.

26:51

She will straight up. She'll be I saw you added a

26:53

thing and I bought it for you immediately. And please don't do

26:56

that. Hold on. Delete. Delete. Okay. So

26:58

Bria, before we end, do you have any hot

27:00

cozy reading tips? Well,

27:03

let's say you don't have a fireplace like Miller

27:05

and you don't have a space eater like me

27:07

that was left by a ghost.

27:10

Then I would say, like,

27:13

find a Yule log, and I use them year

27:15

round. Like, I We used to do that before we

27:17

moved. Just like a, you know, on your television,

27:19

you it has a crackling noise. Really

27:21

lovely. You can find it on YouTube. Like, there's all

27:23

these there's tons of them. There's I don't I'm sure Netflix

27:25

has one. I mean, like, all of your streamers have,

27:27

like, some sort of Yule log situation. And

27:30

I find that glow is just really nice.

27:32

I wish it was really nice. Noise is wonderful.

27:34

Everything is great. If you put that on your on

27:37

and put a regular spacey under underneath it,

27:39

it would be like. Sort of like having a real fireplace.

27:41

Yeah. Yeah. I also think, look,

27:43

I like to do the multitasking. I like to do foot

27:45

masks. I like to do face masks. I'm also gonna recommend slugging

27:47

if anybody's interested I would say that we're gonna

27:49

find out in one week's time that slugging

27:52

is the worst thing ever. We're gonna find it's,

27:54

like, the Plugging. We're winter phase. We actually

27:56

it's, like, somehow related to, like, you know,

27:58

killing puppies and we're gonna, like, be like, oh,

28:00

no. Oh, no. Or the

28:02

inventor of slugging is a serial killer. Yeah.

28:04

Yeah. Yeah. It turns out he kills slugs. That is

28:07

no big. I would say that I think

28:09

reading in skincare, go hand

28:11

in hand, especially I I there's a in

28:13

Instagram influencer that I follow, and

28:15

she was talking about how she likes to do

28:17

her she watch she, like, does her face stuff

28:19

right after dinner. So not before she goes

28:21

to bed, so she, like, gets all her like, puts all her face stuff

28:24

on, and then reads for,

28:26

like, a feet like, a little bit before bed. And I have

28:28

started to do that, like, go to bed earlier because

28:30

I also have been doing special skincare

28:32

because I live in a very dry place. Mhmm.

28:35

But I I do really like when I have all my different

28:37

potions and onions and oils and stuff,

28:39

and then get in bed and read for a while. I would say those

28:42

two go things go hand in hand. Yeah. And I like to do I

28:44

like if I'm doing like a, you know, like a mud

28:46

mask or something, I'll do that. And then

28:48

you know, wait, and then read, and get all cozy,

28:50

and then go take it off. Mhmm. You know, I think I

28:52

think it's a it's it's not necessarily cozy, but

28:55

if you like multitasking, which I do,

28:57

You can't do anything with face mask on anyway, so you may

28:59

not do that. What about you? You have some some cozy

29:01

tips. Oh, I have a hot hug.

29:03

Oh. Cozy reading tip.

29:06

That the person who I live with hates.

29:08

Mhmm. But I think

29:10

it is the best thing that you can do. Get

29:13

serving tray. Serving tray.

29:15

I like that. My god. So I love

29:17

having an array of beverages at all times.

29:19

How special when I read? Like, minimum

29:22

too. Oh, minimum. Yes. I like

29:24

because I have to have my regular water bottle, and then like

29:27

some sparkling water just for taste. Maybe

29:29

some bourbon, maybe a juice, spending

29:31

on the time of day. But when you're all wrapped up on blankets,

29:33

it's very annoying to, like, stop and reach over

29:35

to the coffee table. Yeah, I agree. I

29:38

hate your drink so. I have a serving tray and

29:40

started putting it next to me on the couch when I read.

29:42

And it has completely changed my life. I

29:44

put everything I need on it. I put my drinks, my phone,

29:46

my chat stick, my hand lotion, my glass is cleaner.

29:48

It's all right next to your hand. You can put it wherever you want

29:50

it and adjust it because it's just a little serving tray.

29:53

My boyfriend hates it so much. He, like,

29:55

makes a big show of moving it somewhere

29:57

else when he gets on the couch. He he Oh,

29:59

wait. Hold on. Is it sitting where he sits?

30:01

Yes. We

30:05

have a very big couch. Root.

30:07

Yeah. But it's like it's not like when he

30:09

it's not like he comes into the room and I, like, make a big

30:11

show putting the serving drink next to me so he can't

30:13

sit down. He won't be in the room, and I'll

30:15

be It is so

30:17

great, and you can get really cute serving trays.

30:20

So so it's I was actually looking at

30:22

recently, I was like, what if I got a TV

30:24

tray, which is, you know, a what

30:26

I think of as like a tall thing Yeah.

30:28

If you look it up, it's like now they're like flash rise

30:31

ones. But what's what do you think makes

30:33

a good serving tray? I'm gonna add some to our wish list.

30:35

I mean, it's just I like it with the

30:37

one with edges, not the ones that

30:39

are just, like, totally flat. So have little

30:41

bit of an edge. Can't be too big.

30:44

But can't be too small. An edgy

30:46

serving tray. I love mine.

30:49

It is I think I just got it. I I

30:51

got it as a gift. Mhmm. But it is it's

30:53

really really changed my cozy reading life.

30:56

It is five star Bing or five

30:58

million pages out of five for me. I

31:00

I love it. It really has helped because

31:02

IIIII have all my beverages, and I

31:05

hate when I have, like, my you

31:07

got your blanket on, you're all set up, and then

31:09

you have to, like, stop reading and reach over to the common

31:11

tables. I actually about my cups

31:13

on the couch with me, which has ended this disaster.

31:15

Yes. I used to do that. I I

31:18

Jeremy just noticed the other day

31:21

that I have big there's a big stain on the

31:23

coach from where I spilled something. It took him a really long

31:25

time to notice. But ever

31:27

since then, I started using the trey.

31:30

Trey's Yeah. That's gonna Yeah. We have the

31:32

edges, then even if something if, like, the cat jumps

31:34

up and something spills, then it's not not gonna spill over

31:36

that part. Because I I am doing a lot of, like, balancing

31:39

the cup, like, on the side of the yeah.

31:41

It's It never works. Yeah. Never. You Bad

31:43

idea. Not just the cat. It's also me. I'm

31:45

I'm clumsy. Me too. Yeah.

31:47

So at some point, let's

31:50

test out serving trays -- Okay. -- as book tag.

31:52

And folks, if you have cozy reading tips, if you

31:54

have cozy reading skincare tips,

31:56

If you were also a slugger, if you use

31:58

serving trays, whatever you got,

32:00

send them to us at reading glasses podcast. Save,

32:03

like, just I don't want to hold someone. I don't want to

32:05

say, are you a slug? I don't know. I'm

32:07

not gonna say this. Sloner

32:09

so it's a little Cool. I mean, this slug that means

32:12

to this, like, three days. So, like, y'all

32:14

to take this with a grain of salt. Okay? Because maybe

32:16

next week you're gonna be I'll be, like, my face

32:18

has completely broken out. This was the worst idea

32:21

ever. So Your skin looks good. Oh, thanks.

32:23

Yeah. Listen. Send us your hot

32:25

slug tips to read a gussys

32:27

podcast at gmail dot com. Yeah. And

32:29

before we look at some book deck, we're gonna

32:32

take a quick break. I'll

32:45

walk them here with breaking news on a revolutionary

32:48

form of entertainment, professional wrestling.

32:52

For more, we go to our correspondent, Danielle

32:54

Rafford. Who professional wrestling is the

32:56

craze that sweeping the nation? Featuring

32:58

vistocals and colorful

33:01

costumes. But who can help us make

33:03

sense of this world and body slabs?

33:05

Lindsay Calo has the answer. Sources

33:07

tell us of an amazing podcast called

33:09

types and fights filled with discussions

33:11

of the absurdity of professional wrestling, plus

33:13

all this seventy and hilarity that

33:16

you could take a stick at. Listen

33:19

to the title, via its podcast, every

33:21

week. Find it on maximum fun or

33:23

wherever you get your podcasts. And your

33:26

old timer right now. Time

33:43

to look at some book tech advances in bookish

33:45

technology. This week, we're testing out

33:48

the rocket book. So this is

33:50

the notebook that does not use paper. You

33:52

write on it with a special pen and then you

33:54

scan it to the app. Listener,

33:57

Christie, wrote in with some tips because we

33:59

talked about it a while ago. We put it on our wish list.

34:01

Someone sent it sent us the paper Bria

34:03

got the actual rocket book. And Christie says,

34:05

I bought a rocket book about four months ago, mostly

34:07

use it for work, and I love it. I love that I'm not using

34:10

as much paper and I love that I know where those notes I

34:12

took in that meeting from two weeks ago are.

34:14

I have also used it to save books on a TBR

34:16

when listening to podcasts at work. Here's how

34:18

it works. Use the special pen, you're

34:20

actually erasible on regular paper and they

34:22

do some magic with fabric that quilters love, but

34:24

don't know what exactly. You put the title

34:27

at the top of the page between two sets of hashtags

34:29

like hashtag, hash tag reading glasses

34:31

podcast REX hashtag hashtag

34:33

hashtag hashtag. Then you write your notes and at the bottom of the

34:35

page, you can put an x over the icon that corresponds

34:38

to where you want to save the notes. Then you

34:40

scan the page with the app on your phone and it saves

34:42

the scan of the page under the title to the

34:44

folder or email address you assigned. Once

34:47

it's saved, you can wipe the page clean with water

34:49

and a soft towel, I tend to clean my book

34:51

once a week. When you get your rocket book, you

34:53

download the app and you decide where you want the icon

34:55

to link, like OneDrive, Google

34:57

Drive, Gmail, etcetera. I use two for

34:59

work and two for personal to have some left over.

35:01

Mhmm. Bria, you tested this out. What did

35:03

you think? Okay. Well, I have the idea about

35:05

this. I will tell you, I read the instructions

35:08

and I was like, I wrote stuff down

35:10

and then I set up the to go to

35:13

my drop off. Something.

35:15

And then I was like, whoa, all I have to do is,

35:17

like, x this thing at the bottom it's gonna send because it's

35:19

just a piece of paper. And I was like, how's this gonna

35:21

send? And then I, like, went, I text

35:23

it, and then I looked. And I was, like, oh, you have to scan

35:26

it? Like, I was, like Yeah. The reason I thought it just

35:28

automatically sent. I mean, that's the next version

35:30

of rocket book. Yeah. Well, my iPad

35:32

does that with an app I use. So I was kind of just

35:34

thinking it wasn't but it's it's newspapers. You can't

35:36

that's not the way it works. But anyway, I like the idea of this

35:38

because it's good for the environment. Right? Mhmm. But

35:41

as people know, I I love a paper notebook. We don't

35:43

have paper journals all the time. And

35:45

when I'm prepping for work for a job, I weirdly

35:47

would use I use a lot of graph paper, like I

35:49

end up writing a lot of stuff on graph paper

35:51

for some reason. I don't know why and I feel bad

35:53

because I know that I'm killing trees and

35:55

I've tried switch over to an iPad, and I do use my

35:58

iPad. wouldn't feel too bad, Brea. We do run a reading

36:00

podcast. It's true. And but I

36:02

switched over to my iPad. I've also switched over to

36:04

bamboo toilet paper. Me too. Have you?

36:06

Who gives a crap? No. That

36:08

was That's weird. I've used a few brands.

36:10

I haven't used that one. We don't even know if

36:12

this is actually helping the environment, but

36:14

I If you feel better, Yeah. I listened. And

36:16

I was like, if this is one thing I can do is not

36:18

wipe my ass with, like, deforested trees

36:21

or stuff. You know what I mean? Little wrappings that when

36:23

you get Sorry. This is down turn to do a toilet paper

36:25

podcast, but we we're all set of slugging

36:27

it into toilet paper. They send

36:29

you a big box and all the it's all wrapped in, like,

36:32

recycled paper, and the wrapping's

36:34

really cute. Yeah. I know. They do they do a good job

36:36

of making you wanna buy it. Anyway, I

36:38

like this for what I just set.

36:40

Right? So, like, it could be really great for specifically

36:43

work things that I do because a person

36:45

centered in Christie is right. Like, so you can

36:47

write this stuff on on a piece of paper,

36:50

and then you've already set up in theory

36:52

like what it it's just sent to your Dropbox. It's just

36:54

sent to your Gmail or or whatever

36:56

you use. And for me, that would be helpful because

36:59

when I am prepping or when I'm working, I have to

37:01

communicate with so many people. Like, I like,

37:03

I need this like, just for example, my shot

37:05

list. Right? Like, like, every day like, for every

37:07

day, I have a shot list. And if I could just I

37:10

have a system where I, like, right under my iPad

37:12

and then I export that. And then I put in and it's

37:14

kind of like complicated, and this is like one less

37:16

step because I could just scan that photo and

37:18

it would send directly to a Dropbox if I share that Dropbox

37:20

with other people. That would be really good. So that for

37:23

that, I was like, oh, I am interested.

37:25

And I had actually looked at the rocket book before

37:27

this because I was curious if it would work for that

37:29

particular process. So

37:31

if you do wanna share it with other people, I think that's

37:33

great. I like to clean up too because

37:35

I didn't expect it. I started erasing

37:38

and I was oh, the razors not granular. But then I realized

37:40

once you wrapped it with the towel, it is completely

37:42

-- Yeah. It goes. -- piece of paper that's completely clean.

37:44

And think you do have to replace the paper every so often,

37:46

but it doesn't sound like very often. And it

37:48

does seem helpful because, like, again, I'm

37:50

using graph paper physical graph paper,

37:52

and I've lost that paper many times where I'm like, where's

37:54

my graph paper book? Yeah. Which is not

37:57

a great thing to be doing as a director. But

38:00

so, yeah, it takes once you do

38:02

the setup, which is a little bit of a process

38:05

because you have to just, like, I'll get up to your apps. It's

38:07

not that it's not that wild. Though, it's not like so

38:09

difficult. think most people could do it. I think

38:11

it was interesting. guess my question is, I

38:13

didn't understand So,

38:15

Christy is suggesting this for, like,

38:17

tracking books. Yes. If

38:20

you have, like, a folder on your computer

38:22

and you would, like, constantly upload either

38:25

recommendations you're hearing on the show or, like,

38:27

your your own, you know, I read this and

38:30

I'm writing a page about it and then putting it.

38:32

I guess if you're not like, I'm just it's so much

38:34

quicker for me to just put it in a Google Doc

38:36

around my phone -- Mhmm. -- that that

38:38

doesn't seem to me, like, a saving

38:41

thing likes to save it. But if you are person

38:43

who likes to write something in your handwriting

38:45

and then have that handwriting, what would be helpful for

38:47

me is I'm making a shot list or I'm like

38:49

drawing something 287 show to people like, this

38:51

is how we're shooting this thing. Yeah. That's

38:53

so helpful rather than like trying to, you know,

38:55

whatever on your Yeah. Yeah. I don't wanna and this

38:58

seems just so much easier. For a list,

39:00

I don't like my handwriting. So I think,

39:02

like, I don't want to read shit in my handwriting

39:05

later on. Like, I need to actually have

39:07

it I I want it to be I thought

39:09

it was also, I thought it was going to do this. I thought it was

39:11

gonna translate it into non my

39:13

handwriting too. Oh, you thought it was gonna, like,

39:15

translate describe it and I didn't getgan it and

39:17

but I couldn't quite figure out how to do it.

39:19

Anyway, so for, like, work purposes,

39:22

I was like, oh, this is 4F5 pages for me. Like,

39:24

it's pretty cool. But for the for the listmaking,

39:26

I just didn't I think if this was your

39:28

system, I could see how it totally worked.

39:30

Like, I see, like, if this is what he's doing

39:32

all the time. And if you're someone who, like, who uses

39:35

a lot of paper, you're very concerned about using

39:37

paper. This is definitely great. And also

39:39

if you, like, if you have, like, two

39:41

or three of these going and you have the notebook

39:44

and whatever, I can see if you're using it all the time

39:46

for work or something like that. That totally makes sense. And,

39:48

like, how you should just use it for everything. That that

39:50

that makes sense. But, like, for the tracking of books,

39:52

I didn't feel as helpful to me. Yeah.

39:55

What did you think? Gonna say, I

39:57

didn't love the rocket book. Mhmm. I

40:00

love the premise of it, but I

40:02

I it wasn't solving any problems

40:04

for me. I think that's the thing. On

40:06

one hand, because I have two ways

40:08

of tracking my reading. I have my book buddy,

40:10

my platonic life partner and

40:13

then I have my I

40:15

have an actual print like physical notebook

40:17

and I'm very into fancy paper and

40:19

I'm very into my fountain pens or

40:21

hits trees and hits -- Oh. -- fuck those

40:23

trees. Nice. No. From

40:25

just that, were you getting your ink directly from Octopus?

40:28

I actually just have a I just squeeze him over

40:30

the over the baby. No.

40:33

I mean, and it's I a lot of the notebooks

40:35

I have are, like, you know, like I love the

40:37

decomposition notebooks that are all recycled stuff,

40:39

you know. I'm not not a monster. But

40:41

I do you know, I love fancy paper. I love fountain

40:43

pens. I love my fountain pen ink. I only

40:46

add to my reading journal once every couple weeks, so

40:48

I'm sitting down for like a half an hour and writing

40:50

out everything. I love that process.

40:52

And when I

40:55

am tracking it just on the go, I

40:57

have my book buddy on my phone. So I don't

40:59

really need anything in between that.

41:01

I can see where it would be really helpful and cool to

41:03

have one rocket book for, like, all your

41:05

notebook needs. And, you know, this is, like, this is

41:07

my notebook, whether it's for work or personal stuff,

41:09

and I can send it to just different folders, and

41:11

that would be great. But for me, there

41:13

were too many steps, and I don't wanna have to organize

41:16

the different scans. I think

41:18

I just love having a print notebook. So

41:20

for me, personally, it's three out of

41:22

five pages, but I I really think I'm just

41:24

not the target audience for this. If you're trying to

41:26

cut down on paper, you're a person who like loves

41:29

tech Like, we should check-in with our friend,

41:31

Tom Merritt, and see if he likes to, like, using

41:33

the the rocket boat. Yeah. you're trying to have stuff

41:35

that's very if you don't like a cluttered desk.

41:37

Mhmm. And because my desk is, like, constant it's

41:39

just, like, mountains of notebooks constantly. If you

41:41

were the person who wants to cut down on that, if

41:43

you were, like, I can see we're aestheticly, you'd

41:46

be like, this is just my notebook, and this is so nice,

41:48

and I don't have any piles of paper, piles

41:50

of whatever on my desk. I can really see where

41:52

that would be nice. But it's not solving

41:54

any problems for me and it would take away my beloved

41:56

fancy. Like, I have a wall of fountain

41:59

pen ink. Oh, wow. Like a psycho. Wow.

42:02

I love I love so many. I love fountain pen.

42:04

Like, they're on display on them. Yeah. Oh, really?

42:06

Yeah. Wow. I love it. And

42:09

do you're filling up the Thalton's over and

42:11

over again with Everyday. Every day

42:13

you wake up and fill up Thalton's. I I Are

42:15

you are you a character and, like, sort

42:17

of, like, gothic novel. What

42:19

is it happening? Right? I put on my

42:21

wake up and I put on my wake up wake

42:24

night down and then I pick up a Candelabra,

42:26

with three lit candles, and then I walk through

42:28

down the hallway and start feeling I because

42:30

III write all my books long hand first.

42:33

Oh, yeah. I have three fountain fountain pens in my

42:35

bag that I'm gonna use this meeting that we're having after this

42:37

podcast. I just I love them. I love

42:39

fountain pens because they are much easier on my hand

42:41

than a regular pen. Mhmm. And I

42:43

write with them so much that I'm constantly having

42:45

to fill up the ink reservoir. I see.

42:47

So but I also, you know, love

42:49

just I'm I'm just a dickensian protagonist.

42:52

Yeah. Yeah. You really are. Yeah. Pinching out

42:54

a candle on my desk. But, yeah,

42:56

I I'm very interested to see what other glasses think of

42:58

the rocket book. It didn't solve problems for me.

43:00

But I can see if some there are people who are

43:02

the target audience for this. It would be Your system

43:04

is a good system. Yeah. I can see it working. It's

43:06

not com it's not that confusing. No.

43:08

It's not I mean, I am garbage

43:11

with tech, and I figured it out. think I took

43:13

a tech scan and sent it to the reading glass

43:15

podcast email that was, like, This

43:17

is a test of the rocket book for

43:19

reading glasses that is worked on by

43:21

Mallory and Brie and Sean. Mhmm. Like, it

43:23

was and it was very easy to do. The the app

43:25

is very easy yeah,

43:28

I'd be interested to see what other glasses think of this.

43:30

And if so, if you wanna tell us about

43:32

your rocket book or if you have other ideas for us to try

43:35

book tech wise, you can send them the reading glasses podcast

43:38

at gmail dot com, or you can check on our wish

43:40

list and the show notes. A lot of fun

43:42

stuff on there. Now,

43:47

let's answer a recommendation request from

43:49

Jessica. Hi, Brandt Mallory. I recently

43:52

discovered the pod and I'm obsessed. I've

43:54

been binging past episodes like crazy. You too

43:56

absolutely make my day. I do have a reader

43:58

problem though. My main reading goal for twenty twenty

44:01

two has been to diversify the genres I

44:03

read. I used to read only high fantasy, sci

44:05

fi, and science based non fiction. With

44:07

the occasional Victorian romance or Steven

44:09

King thrown in. So far, this year,

44:11

I've read so many more genres and I'm loving it.

44:13

However, there are two genres I can't break into.

44:15

Literary, contemporary fiction, and westerns.

44:18

As part of my goal, I wanna try them even

44:20

if they end up not being for me. My wheelhouse

44:22

is women with attitude and agency adventures

44:25

of really any kind grumpy slash

44:27

suns grumpy slash sunshine romance

44:29

dynamic, paranormal, including paranormal

44:31

romance beautiful writing, characters that are

44:33

flawed but likable in diversity or good representation

44:36

of any kind. I will say I have read,

44:38

upright women wanted by Sara Gailey and enjoyed

44:40

it. I think it's maybe the only western I've ever read.

44:42

Bria, what do you think Jessica should read?

44:44

Well, also Jessica included their dollhouse.

44:47

Which I wanna read because -- Oh, yeah. -- has affected how

44:49

I chose. So the dog house was on page

44:51

sexual assault slash domestic violence or abuse,

44:53

animal cruelty, or pointless animal death,

44:55

Stories that prioritize making the reader sad,

44:58

books where all characters are unlabeled words generally

45:00

shitty people and love triangles, Mallory.

45:03

A person of your own heart. So Oh, love triangles.

45:05

Or do you have arrows? I have

45:07

to admit, I kept thinking of literary

45:09

fiction books, and a lot of them have and they

45:11

had a lot of sexual assault or domestic

45:13

assault. Mhmm. It is a theme

45:16

of these type of books. I don't

45:18

know why that they

45:20

get put into do you think about this? Seems

45:22

like I think it's just my theory about and

45:24

it it's funny because I started reading the

45:26

rabbit hutch by Tesla -- Yeah. -- Kentucky -- Kentucky.

45:29

Because, you know, she got won the national book award.

45:31

I had it on my library houses forever, but, like, it's

45:33

blunderly about a woman getting assaulted in. I was, like,

45:35

you know, can't read this right now. Yeah. But I think

45:38

what's happening is just these types of stories

45:40

haven't been told for so long and that

45:42

there's been more and more women who have been

45:44

welcomed into the literary fold

45:46

in the past, like, decade or so. So we're just seeing

45:49

more of them. Yeah. And And

45:51

it's a truth about, like, like,

45:53

some vast I don't know the percentage,

45:55

but it is -- Yes. -- know, women

45:58

experience a lot of abuse. Yes.

46:01

I was we should do an episode on different kinds

46:03

of literary fiction. Because I went

46:05

down literary fiction rabbit hole on

46:07

this where I was like, I found all sorts of

46:09

different kinds of literary fiction that I didn't know.

46:11

I I think I'm a slip stream genre fiction

46:14

person, which I don't even know. You are. I like,

46:16

I hadn't even thought of that, but I think this could be

46:18

a good subject. I know we've done a literary

46:21

fiction but doing, like, a different

46:23

kinds of Yeah. I didn't know about all the movies. Fiction

46:25

just sometimes just means

46:28

it's any genre, but it's, like, prestigious

46:31

quote unquote. And then I

46:33

started thinking about contemporary literary fiction,

46:35

and I was like, oh, does that mean it needs to be set?

46:37

Currently? Yes. Or does it mean

46:40

well, when I looked up, it was like, oh, this should it actually,

46:42

she just needs to be dealing with timely issues.

46:45

That was, like, sort of, like, what people were

46:47

the the conclusion. Basically, it means it's not historical

46:49

literary fiction. Right. So

46:52

I was, like, oh, would the sevens husbands of Ellen

46:54

Hugo work because that is set

46:56

currently, but also in the past, but doesn't also

46:58

matter because there's a salt, sea of tranquility, that's

47:00

set in the future and the present. So anyway, there's

47:02

a lot of that I was like, does this, like, does

47:05

this count? So, Jessica, contemporary

47:08

book set in a current era.

47:10

That is literary fiction. I went with nothing

47:13

to see here by Kevin Wilson. I think there's

47:15

no I I haven't read it, but that I

47:17

think it counts for all the other stuff. I don't know if

47:19

it's got a fault. I don't think it does.

47:21

I did Google it. It's been couple years

47:23

since I've read it. I Googled it, but it

47:25

has given also has a new book out, by the way, which

47:27

I'm dying to read. But this one as a woman

47:30

on a sort of adventure for Jessica, she's just

47:32

kinda shit out of luck and she gets a job taken care

47:34

of her friend's children's woman that

47:36

she knew from I think boarding

47:38

school or something. And these children just

47:40

happen to burst into flames every so often when they

47:42

get upset or start feeling emotions.

47:44

So it has this paranormal ish type thing

47:47

happening if you consider privacy. No.

47:49

Literally there's there's a lot of literary books

47:51

that have genre stuff in Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

47:54

Because I was thinking of, like, black cake. Could

47:56

have been a really good one. I actually thought

47:58

that you might suggest it, but is there a salt in it?

48:01

There's there's implied salt, I think.

48:03

I don't know if it's actually on the page, but couldn't

48:06

quite remember. But there's yeah. I mean,

48:08

there's and there's domestic violence stuff. So there

48:10

yeah. There's a lot of stuff happening in that book. But

48:12

I think this one, it has paranormal aspect

48:15

to it, but it doesn't have a lot of

48:17

the DogHouse stuff. And, God, I hope there's

48:19

not a love triangle. I don't think there

48:21

is. But anyway, this is a great

48:23

book. I just love this book, and I don't get recommended very

48:25

often because it's kind of like weird one that, like,

48:27

falls into, like, between categories, which definitely

48:30

contemporary literary fiction. So you

48:32

go. What do you have, Jessica? I'm gonna

48:34

recommend a book that was in my best books of the year

48:36

halftime roster. Oh. And it's it's called when

48:38

we were birds by Iyana Lloyd Bonwell,

48:40

and it's So it's categorized by the

48:43

by the publisher as contemporary literary fiction.

48:45

But it also has it's got little romance. It's got

48:47

a little magical realism. Got a little paranormal

48:49

shit going on. Got beautiful writing.

48:51

The characters are definitely likable, but flawed. It's

48:53

got female characters, and it has a bipoc

48:55

author and bipoc characters. Oh, cool. It's hitting

48:57

a lot of the stuff in the wheelhouse, and I'm almost certain

49:00

that it doesn't have anything in the dog house. Takes

49:02

place in Trinidad, and it's about this

49:04

young woman, and her mother is dying. And

49:06

her mom has the power to help ferry the dead

49:08

to the other side. And as soon as the

49:10

mom die, she the main character knows that soon

49:12

as her mom dies, she's going to inherit this power

49:15

and she doesn't want it. She doesn't wanna

49:17

deal with it. And it's also about this

49:19

young man who has recently become a gravedigger

49:21

because it was the only job that he could get Like,

49:23

he literally has been waiting in four days

49:25

in this line at, like, the job office.

49:27

And he gets there and they're like, alright. Well, here's your job,

49:29

and he's like, well, I can't be a gravedigger because

49:31

of my religion. Allows me to not touch the

49:33

dead and they're like, cool, bye. guess you're leaving

49:35

now. And he's like, well, wait, wait, wait, I

49:38

need a job. So he has to shave

49:40

his head and he has to tell his mother and she's like,

49:42

I wanna speak to him anymore. And

49:44

so it's you have this gravedigger and then this young

49:46

woman who's about to become like I don't wanna

49:49

say maitre d. But, like, you

49:51

know, like, the like, someone who's

49:53

helping to ferry the dead over and they end

49:55

up kind of, think maturity, ferry

49:57

people. There there seems like, well, hello, welcome

50:00

to the know you to your seat.

50:04

Yeah. So I guess is a little bit like a maturity.

50:06

Yeah. Well, she's not going with them. So it's not

50:08

like she was embarrassed on the way. That's what I

50:10

mean. So she's like, I see her. A

50:12

a concert. Yeah. Like an usher's

50:14

like, it's down the hall. It's down the hall. It's down the hall, like, right over

50:16

here. But sometimes usher shows in your seat, so I don't

50:18

know. I don't know. Maybe, like, a concierge of

50:21

the day. Okay. Concierge. But and then they end

50:23

up falling in love. These two people end up finding each

50:25

other in weird a weird way and falling in love with

50:27

each other and there's a mystery. There's a lot going on,

50:29

but it's really beautifully written. It's great for language

50:31

people. And they're trying basically getting

50:33

together and trying to escape both of their fates.

50:36

And it's not boring, it's not stuffy, and I think

50:38

this kind of book could show Jessica,

50:40

what literary fiction can be? And I because I think

50:43

a lot of people, like, go through grad school

50:45

or just growing up, and they think that, like Jessica said,

50:47

a lot of literary fiction is very stuffy. It's

50:49

very boring. But there's a lot of literary fiction

50:51

that has genre elements, that has all kinds of

50:53

other elements, and can be really, really

50:55

fun, and exciting. And it's just you know,

50:58

readers like us know that the the

51:00

the lines between the stuff is really --

51:02

Yeah. -- really thin. And often sometimes something

51:04

gets classified or and, like, put

51:07

on a literary fiction shelf in a bookstore

51:09

just because it's not really popular. Yeah.

51:11

Like, sometimes like, Nora Kay Jamison, great

51:13

example. She is a very genre right

51:15

later. Mhmm. She is a bazillion she's one of a

51:17

bazillion HUGO. She's definitely like a

51:19

a genre writer, but she's so popular and

51:22

has been like so critically acclaimed that sometimes

51:24

you'll go to a bookstore in in the literary fiction section,

51:26

you'll find Orkay Jamison. Yeah. So

51:28

it's really the the board or the

51:30

boundaries of this stuff is very permeable.

51:33

And I think that literary fiction

51:35

can offer a lot of really cool stuff.

51:37

So, Jessica, let us know if if these help or if

51:39

you want us to recommend something else. And if you want

51:41

us answer your recommendation request or solve

51:43

your reader problem, you can send it to reading glasses podcast

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at gmail dot com. As always, we wanna thank

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52:41

Thanks for listening, and thanks for reading.