Episode 16: Romanticize your reading with a seasonal TBR

Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads this is episode 16, “Romanticize your reading with a seasonal TBR.”

In this episode, Jillian and Erin are sharing are exploring how readers (them included) embrace the season and curate their reading lists according to that season. Be sure to tag them (@jillianfindinghappy and @medium.lady) on Instagram, and share whether you’re a seasonal reader or not.

In This Episode:

• The ladies start with a check-in to see how their reading is going.
• Erin and Jillian discuss what seasonal reading is and how they embrace it in their lives.
• Why would you make seasonal reading a habit? Jillian and Erin discuss this and more.
• By reading seasonally you can add a sense of anticipation to what you’ll be reading during each season.
• If you want to know HOW to make seasonal reading a habit, Erin and Jillian share how to do exactly that.
• The ladies share some seasonal reading options for the season of love!
• It’s time for Hot Takes! Jillian and Erin share their thoughts on this week’s Hot Take.
• Erin encourages listeners to utilize their local library. 
• Jillian and Erin discuss their holds list. 
• The Link to the Buddy Reads Episode mentioned in this episode.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

• Sincerely Yours by Tessa Bailey
• Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
• So Happy For You by Celia Laskey
• Happy Place by Emily Henry
• Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
• Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
• A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
• The Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafah
• Shut up, this is Serious by Carolina Ixta
• The Last Love Note by Emma Grey

Transcript

I think directing your reading life in this way also makes you more active participant in your own Reading journey, you know, whether it's mindfully Looking at your year and saying this is what works for me This is what didn't or mindfully saying this is what I'm gonna choose to read next This is how I want to feel this is how I want to you know cultivate an enjoyable reading experience That makes you feel like an active participant in your reading life and you could read a ton of books but sort of let those books happen to you and You know this kind of active participation seasonal reading can be one of those ways of being more mindful in a way That's kind of easy and fun Hello, hi and welcome to medium lady reads this is episode 16 how to make seasonal reading a habit Hello, everyone.

I'm Aaron a mom of three a hospital administrator in Ontario, Canada and the host and founder of the medium lady community a medium lady talks podcast and I'm Jillian an Instagram content strategist for bookish people a mom to two States and Buffalo, New York together.

We're thrilled to bring you another episode of medium lady reads a podcast about reading his self-care A passionate love for the public library and all of our thoughts and opinions on book culture having this moment Hello, everyone.

Welcome to this episode.

We are gonna talk all about seasonal reading and How why we think you should consider making it a habit for your 2024 reading But before we do that we always like to do a little bit of a reading check in so knowing that Aaron How's your reading going?

My reading is going pretty well like I had said in episode 15.

I've definitely slowed down I still have a stack of books that are just like sparkling magical jewels, but I'm not really pacing my way through them, you know, and Maybe I'll read some of them.

Maybe I'll read none of them.

I don't know Right now I'm listening to I didn't have an audiobook on deck and that was kind of that was something that I just kind of like to have an audiobook on the go so yesterday I was driving to see my sisters and I just went to the Lucky Day section of Libby You can go and it'll tell you oh, this is your Lucky Day and it's usually a book that's pretty popular But available to borrow for seven or 14 days.

I picked up secretly yours by Tessa Bailey on audio and it's really kind of like a light Romantic comedy.

I think Tessa Bailey can be pretty spicy although I'm not far enough through it yet But that's kind of what I've been enjoying lately just like a light very fluffy Not too serious read and it feels like that's kind of what my brain wants right now even though I have all of these like Literary jewels like I just recently got Family family by Lori Frankle out from the library.

I also know that come and get it from Kylie Reed is probably coming in the next day or two I have Rouge by Mona a what I have all of these like Outstanding what I know will be outstanding books, but I'm going for the Tessa Bailey right now and that's totally okay Absolutely enjoy those romantic comedies.

You know, I will Jillian, how's your reading going very well?

February January seemed to be my runway into February which has been going really really well I have finished about four books now for the month and I'm excited because we have our book club book coming up very soon Actually by the time that this publishes it might even be we might even be in the midst of reading it So my reading has been going very very well.

I'm so glad to hear that all right Let's pivot into the meat of today's episode.

So we're in February You know the New Year can often be a time of transition Both in the weather and in our reading habits.

So today we're exploring how listeners can embrace the season and Curate their reading list accordingly whether it's cozy winter reads romantic love stories refreshing spring picks Adventurous summer escapades or chilling fall thrillers seasonal reading adds an extra layer of enjoyment to our bookish journeys So Aaron what does seasonal reading mean to you and how would you approach it in 2024?

So seasonal reading to me at its most straightforward is exactly that It's using the season to bring more atmosphere to your writing and Usually what's happening in the book sort of is what's happening in your own environment at that moment It's also to me seasonal reading is about being proactive about what you're putting on hold at the library So that books are coming to you as you enter the season Jillian would you add anything to that definition?

No, I think that seasonal reading for me is absolutely the same type of thing It's the looking ahead Seeing if there's a book especially I tend to do this a lot in the winter in the summer I noticed that I don't do it quite as much where what I read is just whatever I have coming up and in the winter there seems to be a lot of like specific holidays So you know that winter the cozy factor that starts in the fall and then the winter Coziness and the Christmas and then Valentine's Day and and Romance so it all kind of goes together Now let's talk a little bit about why you'd want to make seasonal reading a habit If you're in part of the world that has those long cold winters It might help you to read Cozier books where you can sink into the story and experience the coziness along with the characters in the book Perhaps you want to enhance the season and enhance the feelings you have during the season So like I was mentioning Christmas if you have If you're a big Christmas person and you love the warm fuzzies you get and you want to prolong that feeling whether it's you know beforehand or even after You can certainly pick up books that have that same feeling and continue reading that Perhaps you have a long to be are and can't get can't ever decide which books to read Reading seasonally can help you with those decisions So if you know that you're going to be reading Violent Valentine's Day or romance books at this time of year You can skip every other book on your TBR and just look at the ones that are romance and love You know based and then as you plan out the next season's books you may start to feel a delightful anticipation for the books coming up next So you know you right now we're planning we meaning me Um, I'm planning to read some romance novels for the Valentine's Day season I also though at the same time are getting very excited I'm getting very excited about all the spring books which I tend to read a lot of thrillers in the spring Because I actually I don't even know why I've never really dug into why but I tend to read a lot of um, you know, murdery thriller type books in the spring so I'm getting excited to read some of those that are coming up Aaron.

Did you have anything you want to add to that?

Yeah, I mean I did a little bit of light research just to see if there was something distinct about the definition of seasonal reading I did find a really great blog called the tea and ink society The author LC pointed out something that I hadn't thought of before and she says That she thinks authors are purposefully creating a mood and a setting when they write and seasonal reading is a way of letting you take part in the world building that the author has intended Which can make your reading more immersive I really really love that because I think it goes back to that part of being proactive about Not just picking up books and reading out of habit, but purposefully selecting your books So that you're really ringing out the most you can out of that experience of the book in our intro We always say reading as self-care and usually self-care does kind of require you to go out of your own way self-care isn't something that happens by accident You know the other day I was on Instagram stories and I'd set off the cuff go out of your way to make your life more enjoyable And that just kind of stuck with me it just kind of fell out of my mouth, but it's kind of true That's why we're encouraging you to make this habit because it's something that will make your life more enjoyable Your reading life specifically, but just your your life life in general Other ways people talk about this might be the romanticize your life trend You know, maybe this is like romanticize your reading When you begin reading seasonally you can really discover this delightful anticipation I like that you said that Jillian as you plan your books and you look forward to each change in the year as the year goes on I really liked that feature of anticipation.

I don't maximize that very often So Jillian you've got me thinking with that statement there I think directing your reading life in this way also makes you more active participant in your own Reading journey, you know, whether it's mindfully Looking at your year and saying this is what worked for me.

This is what didn't or mindfully saying this is what I'm going to choose to read next This is how I want to feel this is how I want to you know cultivate an enjoyable reading experience That makes you feel like an active participant in your reading life and you could read a ton of books But sort of let those books happen to you and you know this kind of active participation Seasonal reading can be one of those ways of being more mindful in a way that's kind of easy and fun I absolutely agree with you and I think for myself that last year I fell into the habit of just letting reading happen to me because I was so intent on reading those new releases And even when I got sick of reading the new releases I'd have them out from the library and think I got to read them So I would read them Instead of just returning them or choosing a book that I really wanted to read and I didn't quite embrace The feelings that I wanted to have during each season So I'm doing more of that this year because I used to that used to be a big thing for me when you know prior to last year so I know that 2024 is going to be more about seasonal reading at least for me And I hope you share more of that with us as we continue to record episodes through the year Absolutely Okay, if you're still with us and you're like yes, I'm in.

How do I make seasonal reading a habit?

I'll share a few thoughts with you.

So the first thing is to look ahead To what season you're in or what season you will be in Think about your TBR number two think about your TBR and the books that feel like a match for the season Honestly, this is completely arbitrary like Jillian said like she likes murdery books in the spring.

Who knows why but that's who Jillian is That's the season she's gonna embrace Jillian's murder season But it is It's truly arbitrary It's based on what you want to read what you like to read and who you are as a person which goes back to that Identity and self-care stuff that Jillian you know that's always my jam and the third step is to get reading to do what you said You were going to do read the books you planned to read that might sound funny But this part actually can be hard for me sometimes Jillian I find things coming up on my hold list that aren't part of the seasonal reading plan and then I default to those things But you know remember this is going out of your way and the results are again to make your life more enjoyable Go out of your way to make your life more enjoyable How about you Jillian anything you'd add for instructions on how to make seasonal reading a habit?

Yeah, so the one important thing I wanted to add is that you can do seasonal reading any way you want to As we've mentioned a couple times my murder reading in the spring Aaron and I have described one way of doing it But that doesn't mean that you have to do it the same way Seasonal reading just gives you a fun way to read and a way to make decisions on what to read next when you have an unending TBR so if seasonal reading to you is If you're somebody who's only into thrillers and Scaring books and doesn't read any romance Then you read maybe you have different types of those it maybe psychological thrillers are what you read at valentines or at Christmas time You're reading the books that you know it might have Christmas in them But where people are getting murdered at Christmas versus you know celebrating with gifts and presents You know, I just I want to stress that we're giving you a you know a parameters on what can be seasonal reading But it can actually be anything that you want it to be it's just a way of managing your reading list in a way that Maybe makes it less cumbersome or less stressful on knowing what to read next mm-hmm Yeah, I love that I love that you're reminding us of that like seasonal reading is for you So you get to set the stage for what feels best But since it's valentine season the season of live or we're going to share some seasonal reading recommendations that kind of fall into that trope of February being the month of love Jillian would you like to kick us off?

Sure One book I highly recommend for Love is love theoretically which we just discussed in our last episode episode 15 by Ali Hazelwood But here's the synopsis for you the many lives of theoretical physicists LC Hannaway have finally caught up with her By day, she's an adjunct professor toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure By the other day, LC makes up her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs Honestly, it's a pretty sweet gig until her carefully constructed LC verse comes crashing down Because Jack Smith the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client Turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor's career And undermine the reputation of theorists everywhere and that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT right between LC and her dream job LC is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage But those long penetrating looks not having to be anything other than her true self when she's with him Will falling into an experimentalist orbit finally tempted to put her most guarded theories our in love into practice You got to read to find out If you have not read that book, I think you know Also, I think any alley hazelwood probably fits the Valentine's rom com mood reader The fact to the alley hazelwoods books are set in the sort of stem academia environment I like are they more winchery because they're sort of like steeped in like school Yeah, I hadn't thought of that but you're right different from maybe your beach read your beach read rom com I don't know Okay, that's our first recommendation and I'm gonna recommend something slightly off the beaten path more of a gallon tines book than a valentines book This is for people who hate to love rom coms and are sort of rebels against that valentines trope My pick is called so happy for you by Celia Lasky This is a contemporary thriller published in 2022 and here's the setup Robin and Ellie have been best friends since childhood when robin came out Ellie was there for her when Ellie's father died Robin had her back But when Eli asked robin to be her maid of honor.

She's reluctant a queer academic Robin is dubious of the elaborate wedding rituals now sweeping the nation which go far beyond champagne toast and bouquet toss But loyalty wins out and robin accepts yet as the wedding weekend approaches A series of ominous occurrences lead robin to second guess her decision It seems that everyone in the bridal party is out to get her Perhaps even Ellie herself Moniically entertaining viciously funny and eerily can't be so happy for you is the ultimate send up to our culture's collective obsession with the wedding industry complex And a riveting unexpectedly poignant depiction of friendship in all of its messy glory Now Jillian, I do love a rom com and I just gushed about love theoretically But this is another kind of book that hits a sweet spot.

It's not for everyone But if you've ever wanted a palette cleanser from those sweet rom coms with the illustrated cover Something to channel your feminist rage.

This is a great book for you The book pokes a lot of fun at the wedding industry and in the end it gives a really chilling summary of why the villain was so motivated That will have you take pause and think about how relatable their plight is and that is so happy for you by Celia Lasky I have never heard of this book and immediately want to read it Sounds so good.

You can save it for your murder or season Yes, I will all right.

So here's another book that you can read for Valentine's Day Happy place by Emily Henry.

This might be my favorite Emily Henry book It has loads different types of relationships in it friendship significant others plus they're dealing with a secret breakup so good Here's the setup Harriet and wind have been the perfect couple since they met in college They go together like salt and pepper honey and tea lobster and rolls Except now for reasons.

They're still not discussing.

They don't They broke up about six months ago and still haven't told their best friends Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the main cottage that has been their friend groups yearly get away for the last decade Their annual respite from the world where one for one vibrant blue week they leave behind their daily lives Have copious amounts of cheese, wine and seafood and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them the most Only this year Harriet and wind are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately They still want each other Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week.

They'll all have together in this place They can't stand to break their friends hearts and so they'll play their parts Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight And when will be the laid-back charmer who will never let the crack show It's a flawless plan if you look at that from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen smeared sunglasses After years of being in love how hard can it be to fake it for one week in front of those who know you best This is just the perfect novel for Valentine's Day If you feel like curling up and reading instead of going out and You know, maybe Valentine's Day or whatever staying home on the couch This is the book for you to read great pick Okay, here's my last book my last book is about platonic love And it's one of the most beautiful love stories about friendship that I think I've ever read in the last three years This is tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle's Evan now many of our listeners may have read this book It is extremely popular But even if you haven't I know you've heard of it It's been on the top of the best-seller list for well over a year now and with good reason This is an incredible story about love and friendship as well as the idea of how we're reborn through the many seasons of our own lives So here's the summary in tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow childhood friend Sam Maser and Sadie Green Transcend romantic entanglements in their journey through the world of video game design Beginning with a chance encounter on a December day at Harvard their collaboration leads to the creation of a blockbuster game Ichigo catapulting them to fame before the age of 25 Despite their brilliance and success Sam and Sadie grapple with the challenges of their creative ambitions and the betrayals of their hearts Spending 30 years and diverse locations Gabrielle's Evan's novel explores identity, disability, failure and the redemptive power of play Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow is a love story like no other offering a fresh perspective on human connections The intricacies of relationships and beyond This well-imagined narrative condensed yet powerful examines the profound need for love and connection in our lives I read this book in 2022, Jillian and it still sticks with me It is classified with a few others in the category.

I'm calling beyond five stars This book is also kind of what we talked about in episode 14 It's kind of a slow read at least it was for me It will also make you cry and the last few chapters had me with a lump in my throat not so much for the sadness though there is that But for the bittersweet realization that the story was coming to an end Sam and Sadie grow up through the book but by the end they're about our age And you finally got to know them and it's a really beautiful ending to a super moving book Yeah, I love that book.

It was it was just so good the end of it got me and I know I I don't remember it exactly But I do remember I cried profusely which you know if you've listened to any of our previous episodes that that typically means that it's a five star read for me Mm-hmm totally I like your categorization of beyond five stars.

I might steal that Yeah, please by all means do so I just want to encourage people who probably have heard of this book But maybe haven't read it yet to really consider it because it's the hype is real Yeah, and you know, I never even thought of that as a book perfect book for Valentine's Day But it really really is that is such a good choice Mm-hmm.

All right, it's time for hot takes and our current thoughts on book culture A hot take is an opinion usually formed off the cuff and with little research sometimes provocative today's question Do you write or draw in your books?

Aaron you're up first.

Oh So I My first instinct is no 90% of the books I read are from the library and that would be vandalism and inappropriate I do have a couple of professional development books that I have highlighted and put pencil markings in But it's really rare for me to do that The other thing is I'm not a book collector even though I do own a handful of books and I have Certainly many bookcases in my home that are probably filled with books But I do love the idea of just like passing books on after I've read them and enjoyed them or putting them in a little free little library So I would say like no, I really don't write or draw in my books for the most part It's the rare professional development book, but like a fiction.

I would never I would never It wouldn't be useful to me to do that because I'm probably not going to reread it And I can see that's the only reason you would draw or or annotate or mark up a book is because you're going to go back and you want to know what you thought Yeah, and you know it's so big right now On tiktok and probably in books to grand world to have the little flags that match the book cover And then the pens that match the flags and to to mark it all up and while I'm not opposed to that like I'm not going to yuck your yum but I Don't often mark up a fictional novel.

I just I tried doing it a couple of times in 2023 And it took me forever to read the book and I didn't really see a real purpose of it The only thing was that I was able to kind of write a better review Because I could go back and see what I was thinking in each part where I marked it But where I do mark a lot if it's a book that I own is personal development books Those I will mark up with flags and little highlights and Notes but a good majority of the books that I read are from the library as well Which means that I'm not marking them either so The answer is yes to personal development if I own the book All right, that's our hot take we'd love to know listeners.

What do you think about writing or drawing in your books?

When do you make notes when do you doodle when do you use your flags or your highlighters and tell us what you think of it This is becoming a real like Popular niche area of content in books to gram and book talk for sure the annotation.

Yes, it is It's very similar or it's giving me like early-aut scrapbooking vibes Yes, you know what that is very true because the way they're trying to match everything I never even thought of that pens and the flags and the stickers and the Which is great.

I mean again, I think it's similar to seasonal reading you're just Making yourself a more active participant in your reading life.

Yeah, absolutely And and some people will go back and read those books that they annotated and and maybe if they don't go back and read the whole book again They'll just read their notes and it's probably really useful in Books that are a huge series like the Sarah J.

Ma's universe, you know Those are probably it's probably really useful because they're huge and long and there are so many of them Mm-hmm that it probably works out well for people who have marked those instead of having to reread the whole book actually Gillian I I lied I do annotate another category of book and that is my cookbooks.

Mm-hmm So and this is a whole other thing but when I was early married I've been married for 17 years when I was early married We had a cookbook collection that some of which was gifted to us for our wedding But I also really kind of went on this journey to teach myself how to cook and I would annotate in our cookbooks and sometimes Nick would like give the meal a rating or give the recipe a rating And I would put that rating in the cookbook And then that has been kind of like a really lovely time capsule when I go back and I look at those cookbooks Or I decide to make a recipe again I can see the notes from like 2008 what Nick and Aaron who were like oh my god I thought of the recipe so So that is actually a habit now I'm not cooking from recipes very often anymore But it is really kind of has been like a sweet was a sweet thing that past Aaron did that current Aaron really enjoys That annotation part and I would imagine people who annotate their fiction get the same feeling when they look back on their notes Absolutely, you're probably right because not everybody is just annotating it for Knowledge and remembering purposes, but they're putting their feelings in there and the little side notes and Yeah, I forget about that you're right great hot take that was a lot of food for thought Jillian Let us talk about what's on our hold list.

We're gonna wrap up the episode You know we love to talk about what's on hold We want to remind you to use your public library to get your library card And get some of those books on hold some of the books that we've talked about if there's anything you wanted to read today You don't have to buy it you could just put it on your hold list.

Okay, Jillian.

What's on your hold list?

Right now I have six books on hold and one of them is ready for me and that is before the fall by Noah Hawley Which is our February buddy reads book I need to get that soon because I am the one in charge if you remember Back to our buddy reads episode We decided in that episode that whoever's book it was they would write the matrix for the reading where we read to And then stop to discuss so I need to get that soon so that I can make that matrix I have Tia Williams book on there still waiting for me I think that Tia Williams book doesn't come out until February 6th maybe yeah I think you're right so in my library takes a little bit of time to get it into the catalog.

Yeah, my two about a week or so Um still waiting, but that's okay If you listen to the last episode you know I have a bunch of books that I need to read through first This is true Aaron.

What do you have on your hold list?

Okay, so because it's an events episode.

I'll share my digital holds list I have three books on hold that are coming available soon The first is called the Beauty of Your Face by Sahar Mustafa.

She's a Palestinian author I'm really looking forward to reading this book.

It's about a Palestinian-American teacher In the middle of a school shooting so be aware there's content warning for that But it's getting really good reviews and I'm looking forward to reading it The second book is an audiobook.

I have on hold.

It's a new young adult fiction called Shut Up.

This is serious by Caroline Eeksta And for my seasonal reading I have the last love note by Emma Gray This is a book that came out at the very end of last year and got a lot of really good reviews from people who love Romance novels.

So those are my three books.

I am going to be adding the Beauty of Your Face that one sounds really really good It can't wait you have to tell me because I'm sure you'll probably get it before me.

You'll have to tell me what you think of it Yeah, I will I really will All right that wraps up episode 16 of medium-lady reads medium-lady reads is a spin-off of the medium-lady talks podcast and Instagram community You can find me Jillian at Jillian finding happy and you can find Aaron at medium.lady For more of our current reads and other shenanigans and of course you can also follow the podcast itself on Instagram at medium-lady reads If you like this episode, please share it with another bookish friend or post on Instagram and be sure to tag us We would be tickled to hear from you.

Thanks for listening.

I'm your host Aaron and I'm your other host Jillian Until next time we hope that you're holding the rides quickly And your next book finds you right where you need it most.

We'll talk to you soon.

Bye.

Bye [Music]