Episode 14: Our Reading Goals - 2024

Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads this is episode 14, “Our Reading Goals 2024.”

In this episode, Jillian and Erin are excited to share their reading goals for the new year. Be sure to tag them (@jillianfindinghappy and @medium.lady) on Instagram, and share your reading goals with them.

In This Episode:

• The ladies check-in and share how their reading is going. 
• It’s time to reflect on the past year (2023) of books and how Erin and Jillian’s reading went.
• Be sure to listen to Medium Lady Reads episode 13, where the women share their Top 3 books of 2023.
• Erin mentions the reading tracker that the Currently Reading Patreon puts out every year.
• Let’s talk goals! The women share their goals for 2024.
• Next up, the ladies discuss what challenges and book clubs they’re participating in, in 2024.
• Join us and do 12 reads in 12 months, you can find templates at @mediumladyreads. 
• BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!! It has to with our podcast and a book club - listen to find out more!! 
• The women share some of the NEW RELEASES they’re excited about. 
• Tune in for the Hot Takes segment.
• And, finally, the ladies share their library holds list.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 
• This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett 
• Pack Up the Moon by Kristan Higgins
• Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
• The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett
• Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
• Pride by Ibi Zoboi 
• A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
• Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
• Funny Story by Emily Henry
• Family Family by Laurie Frankel
• Come and Get It by Kiley Reid 
• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
• The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
• Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
• The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

Transcript

I think what you're looking for is like if you think of like your reading life in quadrants there's this under the whispering door quadrant and There's very few other books that are keeping it company or if there's a shelf.

Yeah, if there's a shelf in your reading life Under the whispering door is lonely.

It needs other books on that shelf.

Yes Hello, hi, and welcome to Meekam Lady Reads.

This is episode 14 Reading goals for 2024 I'm Erin a mom of three a hospital administrator in Ontario, Canada and the host and founder of the medium lady community and medium lady talks podcast And I'm Jillian an Instagram content strategist for bookish people a mom to two based in Buffalo, New York Together we're thrilled to bring you another episode of medium lady reads a podcast about reading as self-care A passionate love for the public library and all of our thoughts and opinions on book culture having its moment Hello, everyone welcome to episode 14 We're gonna talk all about our reading goals for 2024 which we teased a little bit in last week's episode But before we get into that, let's do a reading check-in all right, Erin.

How are you doing?

How was your reading going?

My reading's going okay.

Yeah, it's going pretty well.

I feel like I'm finishing books really quickly but I'm also just you know excited for what 2024 has to bring you know I know that in the last episode we talked a lot about how you felt like you were really pressured to read new releases And I think you're probably rubbing off on me a little bit I have put holds on a number of books that are releasing in January and February that I feel excited about But it's hard to know in the moment if you're excited because you know it'll be bright and you and shiny and it's coming Is that like anticipatory joy or am I actually excited because these are books that are really gonna suit me and are really gonna fit with my reading style So I don't know but overall I think my reading's going really well I certainly have more books available on my TBR than I could possibly make my way through so that's always not a bad way to start the year I always found that the issue I had with reading too many new releases Was that because I was just so focused on getting them back to the library on time that I would read by that deadline So as long as you don't start feeling that way, I think you're okay.

I think you're Reading new releases isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you're reading for the right reasons, I guess Right now I'm reading this time tomorrow by Emma Strabbe.

Have you read that?

I feel like that's familiar to me.

I can't believe I actually haven't read this book sooner A really good friend recommended it to me as a good like if you love tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow to read this book And I've got to say like the writing is really compelling and I'm enjoying it so far so Yeah, I have read it.

I just quickly checked I did and I remember now I loved it good five star read.

Oh really I'm just early on into that one.

So yeah, but Jillian, how's your reading going my reading is going so well.

I just about done with the whispers and Looking forward to my next book which I actually can say is going to be Pack up the moon.

I've never been someone who is given an order to books I've typically again read by the deadline and I'm trying not to do that this year.

I'm trying to just read what I feel like reading and So I'm going to finish the whispers and then I'm going to read pack up the moon.

Nice.

Who's pack up the moon?

But I don't think I've heard of that one.

Kristen Higgins.

Okay, very nice.

It's always nice to have a book that you're excited about Coming up next instead of being like I don't know what I'm going to read after this for me last year was knowing This book's got to be returned in two days.

I got to read this one and I mean the book may have ended up being wonderful, but it still was a dread because it wasn't the book.

I wanted to read Never doing that again. 2023 was not a great year for books.

I mean it was and it wasn't Listen to the last episode to hear our opinions on that And we're going to be talking a little bit more about how to set the goals that you want to have for your reading life based on your experience last year So I'm sure we'll continue to kind of mention that through the episode Okay, before we plunge into our reading goals for 2024 Let's take a moment to reflect on our reading journeys in 2023 good segue Jillian Okay, Jillian we know that last year you were really kind of stuck in this loop of reading to deadline How would you say your reading went overall last year?

um I want to I want to take a positive spin because honestly when I think back all I can think is negative I think reading to that deadline Not really reading the books that I wanted the books that I wanted to read.

I remember sitting on my shelf because most of them were backless books um I remember Having my friends suggest books to me and that we did um I did the 12 friends and 12 books and I had Friends suggest books to me and I did two per month because I figured that would probably be doable and I think I read Maybe two of them not because I didn't want to read the other ones But simply because I just didn't make the time for them because I was reading to this deadline So my memory is telling me that the year was not so great that My reading was so focused on this deadline that I didn't read very many books that I wanted to read and while in some cases that maybe true I did read a lot of books that I enjoy When I look back over my year and review.

There are a lot of books that I did enjoy um If you want to know what my top three of the year were and errands top three of the year you should definitely listen to episode 13 if you haven't already um And I think the other issue that I had with 2023 was that I read a lot of books that were slow Mm-hmm, and I did sort of mention this in episode 13 - but I read so many books that were slow And I don't love a slow book I don't mind it if I'm going into it knowing it's slow But if I'm going into a book thinking it's gonna Grab my attention and then it turns slow or turns out to be slow.

I don't love it.

So That's that's kind of my 2023 in a review.

What would you define a slow?

Okay, so it's a couple of things the number one and this isn't in any particular order But the first thing I'd mention would be That the language is maybe a little more difficult It's not just typical conversational English so more dense.

Yeah, so it slows me down a little bit there So physically slows down And then the other thing would be the action is slow to come up and You maybe you're reading a lot of about the background or there's a lot of scene building before you actually get to the action So it feels slow Then too.

So it's not quite physically slow, but more figuratively slow.

I think those are the two ways.

I would just find it Okay, well, I like that because you can look for books that are rated highly for dialogue And books that really get to the action they get to the point of it all.

Yeah And that doesn't necessarily mean that you're reading like Something a thriller or a mystery or a fast-paced fantasy like it doesn't have to be that kind of storytelling But a book like Tom Lake for example is a book that the story really moves along like you're not left with a lot of downtime in the book and The conversations are really engaging and dynamic and then something happens and then something happens and then something happens Versus like spending a lot of time in maybe the characters in her life Or spending a lot of time on Really detailed character development and these are the things that you can sort of find when you read reviews As long as there are no spoilers and for listeners you can kind of pull apart, you know why Maybe a book doesn't work for you and it helps to kind of say okay.

Why well the book was slow?

Okay.

Well, why was it slow?

Oh, okay, well these were the things and then now you have a little bit more Information to take forward into your new year.

I was just going to say I think one of the books that describes what I mean the most when it comes to The story moves slowly is the book homecoming by Kate Morton.

Okay.

I did enjoy the book In the end, but it was very very slow So if you haven't read that book and you're curious what I mean And you want to and you enjoy slow books I would recommend it that you check it out I like that you're saying that too because just because you don't like slow books Some people might really like a book like that or be looking for a book like that absolutely For me like it's always so interesting to see how our reading evolves from year to year 2023 was all about my reading tracker Which now that the year is up has just given me a lot of data and information on what to look for in 2024 I definitely will continue using this reading tracker this year And I had talked a little bit about maybe I should make my own maybe I could like figure out how to create one and maybe I could share it with the community But honestly I used the currently reading patreon tracker last year and it's just It's as close to perfect as you're going to get the 2024 version of the tracker is amazing So I have decided not to make my own tracker.

I've decided to just you know I don't think I have any value to add and I'm going to continue to use the currently reading tracker So I pulled up some of my stats Jillian.

I hope you don't mind indulging me.

No, please, please last year I read 117 books 47% of those were print copies 25% of those were digital copies and 17% of those were audiobooks which was really surprising to me I read 20 books on audio last year which is way more for me anecdotally because I don't have this tracker for other years But I know for sure that this year I definitely leaned into audiobooks way more And then the reading tracker finally enough will tell me my average rating across those mediums So my rating is the highest when I listen to audiobooks Which really surprised me because I just would not have like ever figured that Followed second so my average rating for audiobooks was 4.3 My average rating for print books was 4.2 and my average rating for digital books was 3.4 So quite significantly lower my digital copies But I think that was dragged down partly by Some stuff your Kindle books that I got in the summer And we don't have to go into that but I think that's um that's a day that I will take a hard pass on next year or this year rather Sham is just quickly Tell me about it this year the one that just passed yeah And I'm like I think I'm gonna skip it because it tends to be a lot of books that I don't read like there's no I have no issue with anybody reading those books by all means read as many of the the smuddy romance novels as you want It's just not my cup of tea every once in a while I can read one.

It's just not my cup of tea but um I saw I passed on this most recently.

Yeah, and I think there's actually a wide variety I would say it's not just like smuddy romance But what I will say is it's not going to be the You have to really know your niche because the books are generally classified by very detailed niche and if you're just sort of like oh this sounds fun.

I'll grab a little bit of this I'll grab a little bit of that I'll grab a little bit of that then you might end up just it being an exercise in just abundance Which is fine too because all the books are free But um I think the highest rating I read one book that was sort of like sci-fi dystopian fiction it wasn't smuddy at all it was sort of an adventure book and I think I gave it a three But that was the highest there was another book I read I was like this could have been a blog post I think it took me like the book took me like 29 minutes to read and it was mostly because I was just like I just have to like see this through so I can rant about it Which you know is like sometimes that's like a fun experience too as a reader and listen when I say I read a 17 books those books count on that on that in terms of the tracker so I'm read I read a hundred and 17 books It wasn't necessarily that all of those were you know, you're a literary fiction In fact many of them were not so the other thing that I love from my reading tracker was that I ranked a lot of my books really highly last year Most of my books got four or higher.

I think I wrote that 79 of my hundred and 17 books were four stars or higher which just makes me happy It just makes me feel like I'm reading a lot of books that I'm really enjoying the one thing that I was You know, I opening a little bit to learn was I have been tracking how many authors I'm reading of racialized backgrounds and this is the hashtag hashtag own voices Which is a way of sort of paying attention to the diversity of your reading life And I think I really did not do a good job with that this year I read 23 books by authors of racialized backgrounds or points of view Which is just just about 20% of my reading and I'm going to talk a little bit more about how that's influencing my reading goals in 2024 But I think that this is something that I could feel bad about or I could just like take the information and move on And make different choices in the future knowing that it's really important to me that my reading life aligns with the values and how I want to kind of make my way through the world But it's also helpful because I think if I didn't have that data point I would say yeah, I read a ton of diverse authors and I read a ton of diverse books this year But in the bigger picture Of my reading life of 117 books last year.

I didn't read enough diversity at all.

I feel like 2022 I read a number of own voices, but I don't think I did very many in 23 I actually us talking about the spreadsheet from currently reading I need to download my 24 2024 copy I um, I do use good reads, but I started using the currently reading the spreadsheet towards the end of the year Last year, and I really loved it.

I felt like it was a bit much Information-wise like there were a couple of columns that I'm like, oh, do I really need this?

But I just skipped them.

Mm-hmm, so and you can hide a lot of columns That's what I do is I sort of look at the big picture and then I hide the columns that I don't want and if you if this is something that you're interested in seeing for yourself listeners you We have to be a patreon of currently reading podcasts.

So definitely head over to their Website and check it out for yourself Aaron and I both highly recommend the spreadsheet and it's worth the Money that you pay per month to have it All right now let's talk about our reading goals for 2024 Aaron Do you have any specific goals or themes that you're planning on focusing on in the new year?

Yes So based on my review of my beloved tracker One of my main goals is to read more from own voices or authors from racialized backgrounds this year And I think that this is just an interesting thing for us all to pay attention to because in 2020 After the murder of George Floyd I committed to spend more time learning about diverse creators and going out of my way Which really taught me a lot about what I needed to unlearn and relearn and helped me you know Take steps towards the person I want to be the parent I want to be and the kind of community that I want to live in But I do think that and a lot of people I would imagine can relate to this is that like that commitment felt like it was still important But it probably wasn't showing up in my actions as much as time went on and as the sort of like Intensity of the pandemic waned and the conversation brought in into other things So this data you know less than 20% of books from authors of diverse backgrounds that piece of information about my own reading life It makes me a little bit sad.

I am a little bit disappointed in myself But like I said before What I'm going to do is recommit and put those things in place to make sure that I read books that are aligned with how I want to live out my values So one of my goals is to increase that percentage to about 40% I want to have 40% of the books that I read be by authors of racialized backgrounds.

That's my goal.

I love that I think that is a great goal and you're definitely going to inspire me to read more from that the own voices genre as well because I definitely like I said a couple minutes ago.

I don't read enough of it and I enjoy it.

I very often enjoy it and Should add it back into what I'm reading.

Yeah, thanks for me 2024 is the year of the backlist.

I want to revisit some timeless literature that I've overlooked or didn't fully appreciate in the past This can be even as just books from 2023 that maybe I didn't Read and and wanted to even though I did read a ton of new releases in 23.

I didn't read them all um and And there are books from favorite authors like TJ Clune that I haven't yet read which is shocking to me But there are books from him that I want to catch up on and I'm sure there are other authors that I'm not thinking of that I could read as well I've said this multiple times in this episode and I've said it multiple times in episode 13 There's no more stressing about new releases if there's something that comes up like for instance Family family by Laurie Frankl which I think I mentioned Later on when that comes out I already have a hold on it because I want to read it so badly I loved her last book This is how it always is I loved that novel and I think this is going to be another one that I'm going to really love But I'm not going to put the pressure on myself that every time I see a flat lay like oh my god This one comes out in March like the one flat lay I remember from 2023 Had the date of the month That it was cut each of these books were coming out in and the second because we my library Let you put a hold on I think it's two or three months in advance Second I was within that window.

I went to my library and put a hold on that and I'm not doing that this year Another goal I have is to DNF at least two books Which feels like the biggest challenge I've ever set for myself because I Don't like not finishing books because I always tell myself what if in these last 200 pages or these last 150 pages There's something magical that happens that I miss out on right and my one friend my one book friend will say to me Well, that doesn't just because you you put it down now Doesn't mean that you can't pick it back up at another point and and get that magic then It's just not a book for you for right now So I'm trying to do that two books two books.

I'm going to DNF and I mentioned this in episode 13 But my another big goal is to find a book to rival my favorite under the whispering door by TJ Clune.

I want to It doesn't need to replace it.

In fact, I hope nothing replaces under the whispering door because I love it so much And I have an autograph copy of it.

I have a spree edges copy of it I adore this book But I want to feel that feeling that the book gave me I want to find a book that rivals it in 2024 So those are my big goals for the year now.

I have two questions And actually I would love it if you would hold me accountable to the own voices that I'm reading So that I can stay accountable to my goals of course, but I have two things.

Should I stop sending you flatlays Images on Instagram because I will if you want me to and the second thing is I would really love to help you Find the books that get you all in the fields from the under the whispering door challenge So how can I help you with that?

So you can keep sending me flatlays.

It's the control is there I've already any that you've already sent me.

I've already looked at, enjoyed, taken note of and decided that no, I think all of these I'll skip for now Or put a hold on them, but there's there's control there this year And yes, please please please help me find the replacement or no, I don't want to say replacement The book to rival under the whispering door if you have suggestions or readers or listeners rather If you have suggestions, please please please send them our way Because I am open to reading Anything that somebody says I think I think this is the book that Might rival under the whispering door.

I think what you're looking for is like if you think of like your reading life in quadrants There's this under the whispering door quadrant And there's very few other books that are keeping it company or if there's a shelf yeah if there's a shelf in your reading life Under the whispering door is lonely.

It needs other books on that shelf Books like hello beautiful books like Ali Hazelwoods and the Carly fortunes those books have other books on their shelves To keep them company, but I think under the whispering door is so lonely With multiple it's multiple copies of itself keeping it the company that we want to find more books to go on that shelf with under the whispering door What other books would be filed beside under the whispering door my number one recommendation is the grace of wild things I'm hopeful that it will give you the feels that under the whispering door does that was definitely my number one book of 2023 You've spoken about that one I can't say as much as I found under the whispering door because I don't ever stop talking about it But I trust that you that's probably a great suggestion.

So I'm going to put a hold on that one Speaking of challenges Aaron are you participating in any reading challenges this year?

Yes, so this is actually I have two reading challenges The first one is the fold 2024 challenge The fold is a Canadian foundation that celebrates diverse authors and storytellers at festivals and events They're based not too far from me in Brampton, Ontario, Canada Will link to the reading challenge in the show notes The fold is also known as FOLD the festival of literary diversity and The fold acknowledges that reading diversity takes more work, but it always reaps better results And so the reading challenge will encourage people month over month to grab a book in a specific genre of author or storytelling from diverse point of view to sort of take the work away from from readers who are looking to add diversity to their reading list So the challenge for January is to read a book by a Palestinian author and the challenge for February is to read a book that has been challenged in Canadian schools So I'm really really excited to do that in order to find books by Palestinian authors I was able to find a great list on good reads Which is actually I think like an underrated function of good reads There are some really wonderful user-generated lists Jillian you might want to look there for your under the whispering door adjacent like suggestions That's a really good idea I've also been able to discover some interesting Arab American book awards And that was great to just spend a bit of time looking at books and opses and authors that just aren't being sort of served to me In the mainstream media conversation My second challenge is one that I've designed for myself This is the third year running.

It's the 12 books 12 friends one year challenge When I ask friends and followers on Instagram to recommend a book to me You can see the results in our highlights And if you want to do this challenge, there's still time still January You can find a template to help you get organized on my highlights at medium.lady And every year that I do this Jillian I hear from people that I might not expect to or people that I actually might not hear from all year And every year then there are also like new friends or new followers who recommend books Molly Aladdin is an awesome new medium lady reads listener Molly recommended a book and since she recommended it actually this book stole and focus I've been seeing it everywhere and I just love that it came from one of our listeners That is very exciting.

Hi Molly.

All right wonderful choices Reading challenges and book clubs can really add a layer of excitement and accountability to our reading goals Jillian are you participating in any challenges or book clubs?

I Am I joined the Goodreads challenge for another year.

I don't know which year this is it's I've done it almost every year that I can think of that I've been a goodreads member I Said I would read 62 books this year last year I read 16 Or I said I would read 60 I read 104 so this year I did 62 I like to keep it low so I don't put any pressure on myself so at the end of the year I'm not like oh my god I gotta read all the books But this year I 62 felt good and We'll see we'll see where I get I hope to read more than that But if I don't that's okay too.

Mm-hmm.

I also have our buddy reads our monthly books that we read together with Stephanie Ali and Aaron and myself We read those and then I also have another small book called that I'm a part of where We read every other month we choose a book together that we read it's very very loose book club terminology I use for it because we just read the book We don't really talk about it or anything we just all of us read the same book together and Maybe one of us will ask a question, but it's it's just fun to read with friends and then Very excitingly Aaron and I are going to be Talking about and hosting a book club for the media lady reads community Yes, we have decided to launch our own book club We are going to do four books in the year of 2024 our first book club will launch in February It is going to be pried by ebiza boy and you can find more details about that on instagram We will be putting milestones or readers to come together and talk about the book at specific points And the conversation will be happening over on instagram And then we're hoping to come together and do a live episode book club Sometime in February or maybe early March in order to Review the book and see what everybody thought and then we'll have a new book in May.

I'm very excited about this I had not heard of the book that we chose until last night when Aaron and I were talking about it Which is exciting because I Admittedly, I'm a little nervous to read books that I'm not familiar with because I Feel like I got burned out by that last year But Aaron Aaron recommended this and Aaron has made very good recommendations to myself She mentioned that currently reading has said a lot of good things about it and currently reading has I don't think they've ever steered me wrong and I'm looking at it right now.

It has great reviews.

It's got a great synopsis So I think it is the perfect book for our first book club read Do you want to read the synopsis?

Sure.

Zuri Benetez has pride Brooklyn pride family pride and pride in her afro Latino roots But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons Even as her older sister Janay starts to fall for the charming ainsley She especially can't stand the judgmental and arrogant Darious Yet as Zuri and Darious are forced to find common ground their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions cute boy Warren vying for her attention and college applications hovering on the horizon Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick's changing landscape or lose it all In a timely update of Jane Austen's pride and prejudice critically acclaimed author Eby Zaboy skillfully balances cultural identity class and gentrification Against the heading magic of first love and her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic Ooh, especially excited now.

I didn't realize it was young adult.

Yeah So very cool that will be our inaugural medium lady reads book club pick is Pride by eby Zaboy.

We're hope you're excited.

We hope you're ready to join in.

There'll be a lot more details coming soon after this episode and Yeah, Jillian and I are open to like your feedback and your thoughts.

This is the first time we're doing this We want it to be a good experience for you.

There is no cost to join This is a community-based event that we will be hosting for anyone who's a listener or follower and yeah, stay tuned for more Okay So those are our reading goals our reading challenges and the ways that we're going to kind of like keep ourselves moving with momentum through 2024 To our listeners we encourage you to set your own reading goals for the year It could be about reading more diversity.

It could be about exploring a new genre It could simply be about finding more time for reading in your busy schedule and whatever your reading goals are Jillian and I are both here to help you so let us know what they are and let us know how the medium lady reads podcasts can Serve you and can get you moving through those goals this year Yes, please find us on social media and tag us.

We'd love to hear what you're planning I am at Jillian finding happy Aaron is at medium.lady and of course you can tag the podcast at medium lady reads Before we wrap up this section of the pod Jillian are there any upcoming releases in 2024 that you want to talk about I know we're sort of like no hashtag no new releases, but um Maybe there are a few we should we should share with listeners.

Yes.

There are and I I can't say no new releases.

It's it's limited new releases We're particular this year I think the first one that I want to mention is a love song for Ricky Wilde by Tia Williams She's the author of seven days in June which I absolutely adored and loved so I'm very excited about that one I already have my hold placed and I am anxiously awaiting that Then there's Emily Henry's funny story Which will come out in April I believe and then Lori Frankl's family family which I've already mentioned I think the reason there's two reasons why I'm very anxious for family family and that's Because one a good friend recommended it that I trust very highly with my book recommendations and two It's about adoption and apparently it is written in a way that is very positive in the adoption world It is not we're giving our child up for adoption.

It's it's welcoming and and Inclusive and it's it's supposed to be really really good.

So I'm excited not that I've given a child up for adoption I shouldn't even be saying it that way, but I I'm always for the inclusive language and and things changing so I'm excited for it Yeah, and it's like another story about blended families and like what makes a family and the more diverse conversations We can have about family.

I think the better those are great choices.

I think it's you know, it's just like an infectious pleasure To look ahead at what the literary world has in store for us So I am also really looking forward to that Lori Frankl book awesome Aaron are there any books that are coming out that you're really looking forward to?

Yes I honestly I cannot wait to read Kylie reads new book come and get it which will be out at the end of January Kylie read wrote such a fun age which published in 2019 so it's been quite a long time since her follow-up book I'm crossing my fingers that her second book maintains the stellar writing for that her debut novel had Because this such a fun age.

I think was like one of my favorite books of I want to say 2020 or 2021 So I'm really really excited to read that at the end of the month.

That's a good book All right, it's time for our hot takes and our current thoughts on book culture A hot take is a pinion usually formed off the cuff and with little research sometimes provocative Today's topic do you judge a book by its cover Aaron?

What are your thoughts?

Oh, I mean, I don't know any I used to I used to but I don't know if I do anymore like I feel like there's so many more things Then the cover influencing my choice of books.

I think also booksellers have really understood the appeal of a beautiful cover I feel like there's a lot more attention to color and illustration and photography and positioning The one thing I think that book culture is really having this resurgence since the pandemic And we're going to see a lot more book to screen adaptations certainly more than we've ever seen before And I hate when that adaptation releases and all of a sudden you can't find a normal copy of the book anywhere You only can get the film adaptation version of it.

I don't know why that happens.

It's infuriating We've had that as another hot take because that I think is the only time when the cover matters to me But also, you know, I consume books in so many different ways like the digital copy the audiobook copy And those are instances where the cover is Lower on my priority list.

Jillian, what are your thoughts on judging a book by its cover?

Yeah, I do Maybe not negatively I won't say negatively because I look at legends and lattes and that cover Is typically not a book that I would ever pick up and read it.

It's pretty campy It is but I do read them or do judge them positively So if I go to Barnes and Noble and they have their books all laid out beautifully and I just want to pick them all up I tend to veer towards those and less I know the book I tend to veer towards those that have a really pretty cover Um, I don't always I don't usually buy those ones unless I read it the synopsis and I'm like, oh my gosh, that sounds amazing But I definitely I was I the years such a fun age when that book came out like 2019 and 2020 The the aesthetic of books right then of like the scrambled backgrounds and different colors I was into that.

I was very into that And so many books have that cover if you look back at the books that came out during the time frame It you'll you'll see that it was very much like that a lot of books now have changed to this sort of like artistic watercolor rendering with like a blocks on serif all caps sort of Thing the romance genre.

I feel like it's completely Everything is kind of aiming for the Emily Henry kind of vibe.

Yes, agreed Definitely taking that you know like an illustrated couple on the cover with like block titles Authors who publish more than one book in succession are really kind of looking for that like brand Recognizability You've seen people like Catherine center sort of pivot from how her covers used to be designed to this new sort of aesthetic It's hard to know like what is you know like I think about like the fashion world or the color of the year like the color of the year is this hilarious like color peach fuzz and it's like will we will we start to see that in book covers like in a year or two Like what's the trickle-down effect of that on the trend?

I just I like I find that or like what's the real what's the what's the relationship between home design and book covers for example Or maybe they don't influence one another at all.

I have no idea.

Yeah, I don't either but that's a fun I mean my house we could totally be Not in my current home, but if I ever have a different home could totally be influenced by a book cover I mean actually that's funny because our friend Bridget Baker said I'd love to see an eyeshadow palette inspired by the cover of a book And I thought well I own hundreds of eyeshadows and I did I just like made up this palette based on the cover of a merry little meet cute And that was like a really really fun experience, but it's this idea of color and trend and influence all kind of being wrapped up You know jillian you tell that story about how you went through the library only looking for pink book covers You know that's like a version of the same thing right is that's the color that was making you happy and those books one And we're gonna make you happy too.

That's true.

I forget about that Well our hot our hot takes always devolves into slightly slightly more than than just the hot take And they wouldn't it wouldn't be medium-lady reads if it we didn't that's right.

That's exactly right Now let's talk about what's on our holds list at the library Aaron what's on yours?

Okay, so I'm gonna talk about my digital holds because it's an evens episode And I would say that right now I have 30 Books is that true on hold?

Oh my gosh One book I have is from that time in the bookstore with my friend It's a book called Aristotle in Dante discovered the secrets of the universe.

This is an audio book It's coming up in a couple of weeks and the next book I have is actually Catherine center I haven't read Catherine center for years But I find I really like her books in the wintertime so I have the bodyguard on hold and that's coming up next nice And then the third book I have is Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood because when I was looking over my reads for 2023 and the new releases I didn't get to I was actually pretty shocked that I never made it to that Ali Hazelwood book because I love her writing So that's that's uh what I've got on my holds.

Jillian, how about you?

What's on your holds list?

I have six books on hold and one waiting for me The one waiting for me is the lost bookshop by Evie Woods And that one is a book I'm reading with my small book club that I told you about that we read every other month of book that's the one we're reading for January and February And then I am anxiously awaiting the new book from Tio Williams, which I mentioned earlier a love song for Ricky Wilde It publishes on February 6 so Ah, it'll take a couple of weeks for my library to get it into circulation but I cannot wait for that one Hopefully you have it in your hands the next time we record.

I hope so Well sadly that wraps up episode 14 of Medium Lady reads Medium Lady reads is a spin-off of the Medium Lady Talks podcast and Instagram community You can find me, Aaron, on Instagram at medium.lady And you can find Jillian at Jillian finding happy for more of our current reads and other shenanigans And of course you can follow the podcast itself on Instagram at Medium Lady reads If you liked this episode please share it with another bookish friend or post on Instagram and be sure to tag us You would be tickled pink to hear from you.

Thank you for listening.

I'm your host Jillian And I'm your other host Aaron.

Until next time we hope that your holds arrive quickly And your next book finds you right when you need it most.

We'll talk to you soon.

Bye [Music]