Episode 22: The BIPOC Reading Challenge

Hello, Hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads this is episode 22, “The BIPOC Alphabet Reading Challenge with guest Alesia Galati.”

In this episode, Jillian and Erin welcome their first guest host, Alesia Galati! They’re discussing Alesia’s BIPOC Alphabet Reading Challenge. 

Jillian and Erin would love it if you shared what diverse authors you’re reading! Be sure to tag them on Instagram, Jillian is @jillianfindinghappy and Erin is @medium.lady, or you can tag the show @mediumladyreads!

In This Episode:

• Jillian welcomes Alesia to the episode. Alesia is the owner and founder of Galati Media, as well as podcast host of two shows, “Successful Podcasting Unlocked” and “Listeners to Leads.” In addition to being a fellow book lover. She is the co-creator behind We Read Smut on Instagram, a bookish account dedicated to those who like their books ranging anywhere from sweet to scorching. 
• You can find Alesia on Instagram here, and you can find @WeReadSmut on Instagram here.
• Alesia introduces herself. 
• Learn how Alesia was reintroduced into the reading world.
• All three women check-in on how their reading is going.
• It’s time to talk about the BIPOC Alphabet Challenge and you can learn all about it by clicking here.
• Alesia kicks-off the recommendations in this episode - tune in to hear all 26 recommendations from diverse authors. 
• The women share what's on their holds list.

Books In This Episode:

• A: Almost Maybes by Anna P. 
• A: Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa
• B: Bad Guy by Kenya Goree-Bell
• C: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
• D: Drop Dead Gorgeous by Lauren Landish
  E: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
• F: Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
• G: Getting Schooled by Christina C. Jones
• H: Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola
• I: In Every Mirror She’s Black by Lola Akinmade Åkerström
• J: Just for the Cameras by Viano Oniomoh
• J: Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
• J: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
• K: Kwarq by Nikki Clarke
• K: Know My Name by Chanel Miller
• K: The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini
• L: Leave the World Behind by Ruman Alaam
• M: Much Ado about Nada by Uzma Jallaludin
• N: Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
• O: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
• P: Persepolis by Marjane Strajapi
• Q: Queenie & the Krakens by Aleera Anaya Ceres
• Q: Q&A by Vikas Swarup
• Q: Quicksand by Nella Larsen
• R: Role Playing by Cathy Yardley
• S: ShadowLands Omega by Elizabeth Stephens
• T: Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
• V: V - Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
• V: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• V: Venco by Cherie Dimaline
• W: We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu
• X: Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon
• X: Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• X: XOXO by Axie Oh
• Y: Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi
• Z: Prize Money by Celeste Castro
• Z: Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xóchitl González
• Z: Zora Books Her Happily Ever After by Taj McCoy

Transcript

The alphabet is a tool to get you thinking about more diverse authors.

The alphabet is not the report card that you're going to get at the end of the challenge, whether you passed or failed your diverse reading.

The method is to engage you in curiosity and stepping outside of what you're being fed by books to gram or fed by book talk or fed by big, big book daddy.

And to get you, I love it.

I kind of like that.

I might use that later.

You know, but it should be your next Instagram account.

Down with big book daddy.

Yeah.

But.

Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads.

This is episode 22.

We're talking all about diversifying our reading and the BIPOC alphabet reading challenge.

Plus, we have a very special guest joining us to talk books and reading.

Hello, everyone.

I'm Jillian and Instagram content strategist for bookish people, a mom to two based in Buffalo, New York.

And 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.

Together, we're thrilled to bring you another episode of Medium Lady Reads, a podcast about reading as self-care, passionate love for the public library, and all of our thoughts and opinions on book culture having its own.

Thanks for tuning in, everyone.

Before we dive into the meet of today's episode, we have a bit of housekeeping.

Firstly, we have a special guest joining us today.

It's my pleasure to welcome Alicia Galati.

Alicia is the owner and founder of Galati Media, as well as a podcast host of two shows.

Successful podcast unlocked and listeners to leads.

In addition to being a fellow book lover, she is the co-creator behind We Read Smot on Instagram.

A bookish account dedicated to those who like their books ranging anywhere from sweet to scorching.

Alicia, you are our first inaugural interview guest and guest host, so we're really thrilled to have you and maybe just a tiny bit intimidated to have an expert podcast producer as a guest on the show.

No big deal.

But Alicia, welcome to Medium Lady Reads.

Tell us a little more about yourself, especially your identity as a reader, so that our listeners can get to know you.

First and foremost, thank you so much for having me on.

I am so excited to talk books.

I think this is my first podcast, guesting appearance that I've actually been able to like, let's just talk books.

Usually, I try to sprinkle it in anyway.

I can just to kind of show that there's some layers to me.

But you guys are doing incredible.

I love your show.

So thank you so much for allowing me to enter this space and talk about books with you.

So my reading journey really started, I would say when I was younger, but I just really just found that as I got older, I felt like I had to read certain types of books.

And having grown up in a cult where books were really censored and trying to figure out like, what books can I read, what books can I read, trying to sneak books from the library.

I mean, I remember sneaking Mary Higgins Clark books, which are like the OG female author, thrillers, and like, who done it kind of things.

And being like, this is incredible.

Just absolutely loving it.

And then as I got older, became a mom, went to college, got a job.

I was like, oh, I have to read business books or I have to read self-development books.

And I struggled so much to get through any of those books.

To the point where I was like, is something wrong with me?

Am I the problem here?

I really used to love reading and maybe reading is just not for me.

And I stumbled across a free book somewhere on, I don't even remember how I stumbled across it.

Maybe it was in my inbox or someone just kind of threw it at me.

I don't remember, but I read it and it was a Sumoddy romance novel.

And it was like a five-part series all set in a kind of sex club kind of thing.

And I ate it up.

And I was like, what?

In the world is this world that I have never even known existed before.

This is so incredible.

I love it.

And I just devoured that.

And that was from October.

I want to say of 2020.

And by the time it was the end of the year, I had already read 15 books.

And I was like, oh yes, this is officially my new identity.

I am a book lover, a book reader, if it's smut, I am here for it.

And just kind of owning that these are the types of books that I like to read.

And if I keep pushing myself to try to read the books that I don't enjoy or that I struggle to read, then it takes away from the love of reading.

Yeah.

So that has been my journey.

Now I read upwards of about 250 books a year trying to really make sure that I'm reading not just trad or traditionally published books like the ones that you would see on the bookshelves at Walmart Target, Barnes & Noble, but more independently published authors as well because those tend to not get a lot of visibility.

And there are some really good stories in there as well.

That's amazing.

I mean, I can really relate to what you said to sort of like pushing yourself through what you think you're supposed to be reading or this idea of sort of like what do good people read, like what do successful people read, what do smart people read.

And this sort of like preconceived notion about reading as like a way of demonstrating or signaling morality or some kind of specific kind of personality trait.

And you know, for Jillian and I, like the thing that we harp on every episode is like you read to take care of yourself first.

Like if you're reading for anybody else, then I hope you're getting a degree or certification after that because like in the here and the real world, nobody's handing those out.

So you would need to read what feels good to you.

And I can totally identify with this like 2020 reading journey that kind of took off.

Like I certainly think I was always a reader, but definitely at like different points of my life having highs and lows.

And then I think it was in April of 2020 for me.

I was like, no, I need to like do this every day or not feel like myself.

And then tracking my reading and diversifying my reading and honing in on my reading identity just started to become more and more and more important to me.

So thanks for sharing that because I think that that's so relatable.

It's and very relatable to our listeners as well.

There's something about entering the business world where you kind of feel like you have to start reading those personal development books or the business books or whatever.

I remember and I can look back through my good reads, challenges and up until 2020, I never completed one because it was just chock full of personal development.

Maybe there was a few fictional books in there here and there, but mostly personal development, business, whatever the case is.

And I never would meet my quota because I just was bored.

I would be like, oh, I only I someone would recommend a fictional book.

Oh, I only read personal development books and they'll be like, oh, okay.

It didn't start until I entered the business world.

And I kind of feel like it's not forced on you, of course, but like your indoctrination to it becomes all about those books.

Yeah, I can definitely test that.

All right.

Alicia, listeners will know we always open up our episode with a reading check-in.

So as the guest, you get to start.

Alicia, how's your reading going?

It's going good right now.

I can definitely second what Aaron's out about like when your reading regularly, your mood can improve and I about a month ago, that was me.

I had a ton of work to do and I was maybe getting in like five pages here, 10 pages there.

And I could see like tracking.

Oh, yeah.

So different pages, different mood.

I see it.

So I'm doing pretty good right now.

I tend to read in different mediums and different genres all at the same time.

So I am currently reading about three or four books.

One paperback, one audio, and then one on my Kindle.

And I try to make sure that they're different in some ways so that I don't get them confused because I've done that before and that was a problem.

It's easy to do that.

All right.

I'll check in next.

So I am doing really well with my reading.

I think I topped May off with 11 books.

A couple of those were graphic novels.

I had an audio book in there.

But it felt really good.

All the books I read other than our buddy read, Cersei.

I had a great reading month.

But that buddy read was torture.

And I'm not the only one who felt that way.

So Aaron, how's your reading going?

Oh, please let me jump in and talk about our buddy read and how great it was.

No.

So Alicia, Jillian, and I have two other women that we do a buddy read once a month with.

We all take turns picking a book.

And it's not just a book club because we pace ourselves through the book and we sort of huddle in our chat to talk about the book at specific milestones of the book to be -- and we stop reading until everybody's caught up to that milestone and then we chit chat about it and we dish.

So my book pick for the month of May was Cersei by Madeline Miller.

I don't know if you've read it.

If you haven't read it, it's okay.

You can move on with your life and live a great life not reading this book.

None of us liked it.

And this book has a really high rating on good reads and I think it has a million ratings which is also very high on good reads.

Usually you see quarter of a million, half a million for those New York Times bestsellers.

This book is very beloved.

So in terms of reading right now, I'm like you, Alicia.

I have usually a couple different mediums on the go and audiobook, something on my co-bo, a couple books from the library usually.

Right now, I've started two books that I think are really great.

I'm hosting an event on Saturday.

I have no business starting a new book or thinking that I have free time to spend on reading whatsoever this week.

But I just started Real Americans by Rachel Kong and I've also started The Ministry of Time by Kaleen Bradley.

Both of the ones I run the read.

I know.

I'm trying to put them head to head to try to prioritize one over the other.

The writing in both of these books is excellent.

So I'm going to have to make a decision and put one of them down.

I think it's probably going to be The Ministry of Time because I feel like this is going to be a super five-star read for me.

And so I don't want to read it well.

I'm event stressed.

But otherwise, I feel really happy with my read-aclyph right now too.

I had about 11 books in the month of May and really actually loving this audiobook that I'm reading right now, which is a young adult series by Sabah to hear.

The narration is just like 10 out of 10 narration.

So yeah, that's what I'm, that's my reading life right now.

Okay, thanks for checking in everyone.

Today with Alicia, we are going to discuss a reading challenge that Alicia shared with us, which is happening within her Instagram community called the BIPOC alphabet reading challenge.

Those of you who are caught up on our reading goals check-in, which is an episode, I think 15, will link it in the show notes.

One of my goals was to increase the percentage of authors from racialized backgrounds as part of the overall makeup of the books that I was going to read in 2024.

So when I reviewed the books that I read in 2023, I took a look at the diverse voices and I thought, you know what, with who I want to be and how I want to live in the world, that's not enough.

It's not enough of a percentage of the total overall read.

So Alicia, thanks for bringing us this challenge because I really love the chance to learn more about it and continue to use it to sort of fuel my own reading goals.

Reading from diverse authors is something we're all saying we want to do, but it really takes intention and reading challenge like this can help us make decisions for you in advance and keep the momentum going.

Alicia, can you tell us a little bit more about this reading challenge?

Yeah, so to give, we have a little bit more background about who I am.

I am a mixed heritage, black, Italian, a little bit of French Canadian in there as well as Puerto Rican and Castilian.

So looking at what is the good reads, top rated books or the New York Times bestselling authors, you don't see a lot of people that look like me.

And so it's always been really important to me to not only see people who look like me, but also be able to share stories with our audience that showcase people that might look like them as well.

So it's something that's just really been important to me.

So last year in 2023, so depending on whenever you're listening to this episode, there was a challenge that was brought together by Nisha Sharma, Adriana Herrera and Nikki Payne.

So you might know them for the pretty prominent BIPOC authors.

And that challenge was the 23 for 23.

And it started in August and the idea was to read 23 books by BIPOC authors, which if anyone's like, wait a minute, please let me know what the acronym even means, black indigenous people of color.

So you're thinking Latinx, you're looking at African Asian, Southeast Asian as well.

That one tends to be overlooked.

So making sure that we're looking at that.

The Pacific Islands as well, places that are not predominantly like Anglo-Saxon white, right?

Is the kind of what we're looking at indigenous folks as well looking at Native Americans or indigenous elsewhere.

So that is what BIPOC means.

And so the challenge was really to be able to push more people to read BIPOC authors.

And what I loved about it is that one, I'd also had some goals of making sure that I was reading more BIPOC authors last year.

And I also was not impressed even though it was my intention with what I ended up doing.

So I believe my percentage was about 20% of the books that I was reading were BIPOC.

This year I would like it to be closer to 45.

Like that is a big goal for me and so I've been tracking it as well.

Just to ensure that, you know, I'm practicing what I talk about, that it's not just, you know, lip service or, oh, it's a pretty aesthetic or it makes us look good as a brand.

No, this is something that we want to actually do.

So I wanted to kind of continue that excitement or continue that momentum from the 23 for 23 by making an alphabet challenge.

So meaning that you can have the, either the title or the author, we typically go off of the title when we're sharing recommendations.

But honestly, the point is to get more diversity.

So if you want to go off of the author, kudos, like we've had people reach out and be like, hey, I wanted to do the author.

Is that okay?

Yes.

It is a okay, like do whatever works works for you because I feel like if, like, to the point of the beginning, if we put to me rules or restrictions or kind of borders around it, then it makes it less enjoyable for people.

And the idea is to show that there are books that are still in tropes that you love or in genres that you love or in, you know, have storylines that you absolutely love that show diverse stories.

And so that was really our kind of like push for it and the reason that I was like, talk to my co-host, I was like, hey, we need to do this.

It's really important to me.

She's like, have fun.

So that's where we create it.

And it's just really exciting.

I love the community that we're building based off of this.

I mean, we had one person where they are literally, they have one spot left in their alphabet.

And they are planning on doing it again for the next half of the year.

Wow.

That's amazing.

And I was just seeing people share their recommendations.

We track a lot of stuff on story graph.

I'm a huge story graph lover, not only that it's founded by a woman of color, but also that it's a small team they care so much about the updates, where's good reads on by Amazon attend and they're not doing updates.

They definitely don't.

So frustrating.

Although heaven forbid the day they truly do an update, I will be flattened.

I will not know where I exist in the world.

But I digress go back to story graph more on story graph.

Yes.

So story graph is incredible.

They have challenges in there.

I know you can do challenges on good reads as well, but has challenges.

So we have the challenge posted over there.

At this point, we have 132 people that have wanted to participate.

And that's just there, right?

So there could be people on other spaces that have decided to participate.

We have over 1500 books already cataloged within there.

Amazing.

There's so much range to it, right?

So even though I almost exclusively read romance, there are children's books in there.

There are fiction books.

There are nonfiction.

There are young adult books.

Like, there is such a range and I really makes me excited because even though like my scope is very like, no, we read smut.

That's what we talk about.

We talk about so many romances.

Like seeing people come in with their own spin in their own excitement gets me really, really excited.

So that is kind of an overview of it and what we're really seeing right now.

Oh my gosh, I love it.

Like I'm already fired up to talk and listeners get ready because you're going to get more recommendations than we've ever had in an episode.

And we're pretty known for packing quite a lot of books already into our episodes.

So just get ready and don't worry.

You can pause and go back at any time.

And we will do our best to connect you with all of those books in the show notes.

But I am like so excited.

I did want to go back to something you said is, you know, when it comes to diversifying your reading, we all just kind of know that it's the right thing to do.

But also because it kind of, because it is the right thing to do, it also kind of then comes with like, well, I better do it right.

If it's the right thing to do, then I better do it perfectly.

And that's the kind of thing I love what you said.

Where is it's like really the alphabet is a tool to get you thinking about more diverse authors.

The alphabet is not the report card that you're going to get at the end of the challenge, whether you passed or failed your diverse reading.

The method is to engage you in curiosity and stepping outside of what you're being fed by books to Graham or fed by book talk or fed by big, big book daddy, you know, and to get you.

I love it.

Kind of like that.

I might use that later.

You know, but it should be your next Instagram account.

Down with big book daddy.

But, but, and what we read smart, like, you know, guests, I feel like maybe that's, anyway, I digress.

But what I was going to say is like, is like when you're doing this and you'll hear us talk about these different books is again, like, you have to fight perfectionism, you know, when you look at your numbers and I was very similar.

I was around 20% Alicia last year and I thought, I really, I need to at least double that.

So I'm aiming for 40%.

And, you know, I have good months and I have months where I'm like, really surprised because I'm putting this in the forefront of my mind.

I'm actively selecting books routinely and regularly.

And yet in in May, for example, like I was doing really well.

And then in May, I had three out of 11 books.

And I'm like, how does that happen?

But a lot of the books I read were from big book daddy in the month of May.

You know, a lot of those new releases, a lot of the stuff that was coming in in the mailers and the newsletters and the other podcasts.

And I was feeling excited about spring reading.

And yet here we are.

So it doesn't make me a bad person.

I'm not a bad reader.

But I am a conscious reader and I have to fight the perfectionism myself to say, well, May was hard.

Let's just forget it.

Throw it out the window.

I could never possibly achieve my goal.

And no, we're going to fight that.

Like the goal is not to be perfect.

The goal is to like step into the identity that you want to have as a reader and the identity that you want to have as a human being, just like being out in the world.

So I love that you said that.

I'm going to check out story graph more often.

I've dabbled in it.

I, Jillian, are you on story graph?

I'm on there.

I haven't done much with it.

I am so stuck on good reads just because I have something established there that I'm, it's the change.

I'm struggling with the change.

There's literally no reason other than that that I don't do story graph because they, it's so easy.

I think all of my books are on there except for maybe the last year because I uploaded everything because they do, you can take a spreadsheet from good reads and upload it right to story graph.

You don't even need to enter your own books.

Wow.

They, they make it super easy.

I just haven't done most recent ones.

You have to train your brain to get the dopamine hit from story graph instead of the dopamine hit from good reads.

Yeah.

I think you're right.

I have it on my phone.

I just don't use it.

One thing that I have found and I think that this would be a really good discussion is reasons why people tend to not.

Yes, please go towards diverse books rather than what you see from big daddy publications.

What are they showing?

The reason that a lot of people say is that, oh, I can't relate.

So I want to address that for a second.

You've watched an enjoyed avatar.

You've watched and enjoyed Star Wars.

You've watched an enjoyed Harry Potter.

You've watched and enjoyed stories that you could not ever relate to dystopian stories.

All of freaking Bridgerton.

These are not things that we can relate to.

And yet we enjoy them and we partake in them and we get that entertainment.

And so that's usually what I end up telling people is like, listen, it's really just you saying, oh, I don't have any recommendations or I can't find any.

We have so many roundups of stories, not just from like we recently did one that was BIPOC authors only.

And it was about 25 books that are available through the Spotify premium.

Nice.

And so books that with your Spotify premium account, you can literally listen to these books.

We also have roundups of, all right, you like the Friends to Lovers tropes?

There are 10 books by people of color that are in that range and making sure that we're adding in not just male, female relationships.

There's diversity in that as well and disabled people and fat representation.

There's a range of all of that.

And I think that when we read diversity, not just BIPOC, but representation that is not our own, it creates empathy, gives us a deeper understanding of what it's like to be someone else that when we experience those people in real life, we're able to see them not just as what have we have been programmed to see them as, but as actual people with feelings and emotions and stories of their own.

So yeah, I love that.

I love that.

That was great.

Thank you so much for adding that.

I was also going to say, you know, the can't relate in my mind is I think you make a really good point about the things that we don't relate to, but use can't relate as your entry way.

It's good to read things you can't relate to because you are only ever going to have one experience in your life and think about all of the other people that you are engaged with and interacting with and their experiences and how we want to be able to find connection within our human experience.

It makes me think of this quote or this way of thinking about reading by Dr.

Rudeine Simms who was a black scholar and she's considered like the mother of multicultural children's literature and she says the reason that reading diversity is important is because some books are mirrors, meaning you get that experience where you can relate to somebody or relate to that experience and other books are windows, which means you get to see through the book what somebody else might be going through, how that experience might have shaped them, what that might have felt like or sounded like or smelled like or meant to that person.

And so, you know, can't relate like thank goodness, thank goodness.

I mean, like think of some of the the true crime podcasts you're bingeing all the time.

Like thank goodness, you cannot relate.

You cannot relate, you know, cannot relate for entertainment, but also cannot relate for just like personal growth and satisfaction and you're only going to live the life that you have right now and it's nice to be able to experience things that you can't relate to.

So, let's dive into some instant recommendations for the BIPOC alphabet reading challenge.

My first thought of course was of all the books from racialized authors that I just love and I love to recommend.

These are the things that like without even like checking what letter they start with, I just want to recommend them.

So I thought the best thing about having a guest, Alicia, is hearing all of the things that you're reading and some of the immediate books that you're constantly recommending.

So on your Instagram page, you have a really great post with suggestions for every letter in the alphabet.

If listeners just want to go straight to that post, we'll link it in the show notes.

But in light of the reading challenge, needing readers to read from all 26 letters of the alphabet, Alicia, what are a few easy recommendations for you?

And by easy, I mean like five star reads that probably start with, I don't know, EAST, for example, like letters that are really common.

And I am huge on giving book rec.

So this is going to be my favorite part and I might geek out at some point.

Sorry, not sorry.

In advance, sorry.

All right.

So these are going to be primarily romances since that is the genre that I tend to read.

For D, drop dead gorgeous by Lauren Landish.

This is a book that I read back in 2021 and I just loved it.

It's light, it's fluffy, but it's got a little bit of a crime.

He's a coroner, he is a like insurance agent, whatever they call themselves.

I don't know who he does insurance for people like life insurance.

And their quote unquote meet cute is that she almost runs him over with her car.

And I just, it starts there and I just love it.

And it is just such a fun book for a almost maybe by Anna P.

This is someone that I have actually gotten to know on a personal level, like the author, I absolutely love her.

She's incredible.

She's from India.

And this book is the first in her series.

She's I want to say, they're interconnected, but they have each of them have the happily ever after at the end.

This book has fat rep, bisexual rep and diversity rep.

She's an older woman than he is.

He wants to pursue her and they like actually go on dates.

You don't see actual dates.

Oh, yes.

So true.

Which is always very interesting.

Yeah, this one has actual dates, but it really touches on things that people, especially from diverse backgrounds and interracial relationships, do struggle with.

So it's got a little bit of the fun, a little bit of the more deeper elements, but such a fantastic book for our role playing by Kathy, yardly, you've probably seen this one around.

This one is also so much fun.

It's a mature romance.

I want to say the guy is in his late 40s.

She's in her early 50s.

She's a single mom.

She recently became an antinester and she is the grumpyest grump that ever grumped.

And I just love when the female is grumpy because I am so grumpy.

Like I just love it.

Like I'll show up right here.

Like small spaces.

I feel safe.

We're having fun.

But like I'm usually pretty grumpy.

So I love that she's grumpy.

She like shows up to parties that she, her neighbors are dragging her too.

And she's like hanging out in the courtroom.

Like grumbling to herself.

I don't want to be her.

This is so dumb.

And I just love that so much, especially as an introvert.

And he is a sun shiny guy who recently sold his company and is trying to just figure out what's next for him.

And it is so fun.

Like speaking of Kant relate though, like what I can't relate to is the grumpy introvert.

Like I am golden retriever energy.

Most of like Jillian will tell you most of the time.

But I love to read people who actually are just like bringing that grumpy energy, you know, like that's probably on my TBR now for sure.

Yay.

Awesome.

And one thing that I've seen people say where they're like, oh, I don't like when the female is a grump because she's unlikeable.

Putting bunny ears here.

Unlikable.

If, let's put a pin in this, if you feel that way about a male main character who is grumpy, you just don't like grumpy people.

Great.

But if you feel differently, if the male main character is grumpy and doesn't like anybody, but if the female character that's way that is that way, then she's quote unquote unlikeable, you might want to kind of address that for a second.

So just to kind of put a moment in there.

Yeah, just like it's super curious.

Just as super curious about.

Yeah, that's great.

That's great.

All right.

So for B, we're going to get a little darker here.

This is Bad Guy by Kenya Gori Bell.

This one was so fun.

I mean that in like a dark romance kind of way, but this year I am just in my dark romance era.

I'm loving my dark romances.

And I'm with the goal of having more BIPOC authors on my list have been really diving into finding BIPOC authors that write dark romance.

And so this one is a small town romance between a black chef and a rich and powerful Asian man.

And so I'm going to get a little bit more of a bit of a romance of BDSM.

Also please make sure that you check the triggers.

They're there to protect you.

They're to keep you safe.

If that's not your vibe, then there are tons of other recommendations in here that we're going to be sharing for G getting schooled by Christina C Jones.

This one is pretty short.

I want to say under 200 pages, but still really fun and exciting.

Former Army man, he's going back to school.

Reeled in by any of the students except him something about him.

So it's a bit of an opposite to track.

Very low angst, no third act break up, which we love.

Nice.

Don't need any miscommunication tropes in here.

No, thank you.

Here here.

Yeah, that one is really good.

And then for S.

Shadowlands, oh, my God, by Elizabeth students.

Now Elizabeth Stevens is one of my absolute favorite authors.

And she writes, "Vipoc sci-fi."

Nice.

She's got a whole series that we'll talk about a little bit later, where it's humans in space, thousands of years from now, a lot of diversity, faded mates, romance, just so good.

And so for this new series, it is Omegaverse, which trying to think of like the best way to explain that to people if they've never heard of Omegaverse, there is hierarchy to people and how they're built, where there's alphas, Omega's, betas.

Typically everyone, most people are betas.

I remember like your everyday people.

Then you've got the alphas who are like the alpha males, they're the big dudes, they might shift, they might not.

And then the Omega's tend to be female, though there are Omegaverses that are male, male, or female female.

That's a whole other conversation.

And then they tend to, this is where a lot of people struggle with Omegaverse, is that they are almost enslaved to their biology, where they're like, "I have to submit to the alpha, or I have to mate with the alpha because of my biology, I have no control."

And so it tends to be very non-concentual.

This book is not that way.

It is fantastic.

I think how she approaches it is so good.

There's magic, imagine a dystopian, future fantasy, so there are some things that they put in there where it's like, "Wait, this is not a completely different world.

This is future."

Or, right, like some of the phrasing.

Each book has a different couple.

And at this point, there are two books out.

And Justin note, she has some superhero books that are going to be coming out soon as well that I'm just really excited about.

So definitely check her out.

But those are the ones that I would recommend, just the ones that tend to have a lot of books, the D-A-R-B-G and S.

Amazing.

Okay.

I know I hope you've got like your pencils out, your taken notes, Jillian, your next.

What are those really clear five-star reads that you love recommending to readers that would fit in the BIPOC alphabet challenge?

So the first letter I have is letter E.

And I chose everything, everything by Nicola Yoon.

Next letter was letter F, Fire Keepers' daughter by Angeline Boulet.

Oh, I love that book.

That's like top 10 book of all time.

Yeah, it's excellent book.

If you haven't read it, definitely read that one.

Letter I, in every mirror she's black by Lola Akimade, Akirstrom, Night Crawling by Leyla Motley.

That's letter N.

And I highly recommend this one.

She was 16 when she wrote it.

And it went straight to being published traditionally and it is excellent if you haven't read it.

Next up is letter O on the come up by Angie Thomas.

Letter T, I have Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Giyasi.

And then letter Y, I have Yoke by Mary H.K.

Choi.

All very, very good books.

Okay, Erin, your last, but of course not least.

And you've been focused on this for your reading life in 20 for 24.

So what are you going to share?

Well, I kind of like went in there.

I went for the ones that either were beyond five stars for me this year or are the books that just like I will never stop thinking about these books.

So the first book I've talked often on about this book so many times it's Leave the World Behind by Ruman Alam.

Many people might know this from the Netflix series that launched, or sorry, the Netflix movie rather that launched at the end of last year.

But the book is absolutely phenomenal.

Ruman Alam is a Bangladeshi American author and really great if you like sort of dystopian pre dystopia type of fiction.

For the letter A, I wrote Against the Loveless World by Susan Abel-Hawa.

Susan is a Palestinian American author.

This book just took my breath away.

I read it earlier in the year.

It's a story that's told through flashbacks and flash forwards.

And absolutely was like beyond five stars.

And so I read it.

I read this book probably well over 15 years ago and I continued to return to it.

I just absolutely love this story about two brothers in Ethiopia who make their way to America.

If you're looking for something a little more fun and lighthearted, I have like a new adult fiction, young adult new adult called Honey and Spice by Bolu Bevelola.

This book is just so fun.

The heroine is like you just want to be around her.

One of the most charismatic characters I've ever read in a book.

And then much to do about Nada by Uzma Jalaludin.

Uzma is a Canadian author and her books are usually set in the GTA Toronto area, which I really, really love.

But these are Muslim romances.

And so you really feel the excitement and the chemistry without some of the traditional plot devices that a typical romance would have, which I just like absolutely love Uzma's books overall, but much to do about Nada is a great place to start.

And then finally I have nonfiction memoir with the letter W is We Were Dreamers by Simu Liu.

If you haven't read this memoir, I highly recommend it on audio.

Simu narrates it himself and he goes full all out.

The direction of the audio book is beautiful.

There are some parts of the story that are very hard to listen to.

But he delivers them with emotion and passion and excitement and humor.

And you'll hear the moments when his voice cracks and you'll feel a little up in your throat yourself.

So that's always like a top five book for me in terms of the letter W.

Now those are some easy wins for the alphabet, but we all know there are letters that can be very challenging.

So we thought we would do some research for our listeners and make some recommendations for the trickier letters in the alphabet.

So you don't get tripped up during the challenge and then put it off and not finish.

So according to chat, GPT, the hardest letters for this challenge would be X, Z, Q, J, V, and K.

Alicia, have you already conquered these letters in the BIPOC alphabet challenge?

Some, yes, but there's definitely been some that are on my TBR and I'm like, I'm going to get to these.

These ones are like this year TBR.

They're going to happen.

So, and also note that for all of these letters that you've mentioned, with the exception of K, we do tell people that these letters can show up anywhere in the title.

This is another way of just kind of expanding those rules, quote unquote, to give people space to say, look, there's a V halfway through this title.

Cool.

Please use it.

We want you to just be reading diversely.

Can I ask a question?

Why is K the exception?

Yeah, so we actually found that there were quite a few K books that it wasn't as limited as people might think.

So okay, chat, GPT might have been wrong here, especially from BIPOC author.

Yeah, I think so.

I think so.

Okay, well, that's great to know too.

I want to say about 50 books that are in story graph that are for the letter K.

Whereas some other ones like V or Q might have like 15 or 16, you know, that kind of thing.

So we just found that it works.

So yeah, exciting.

All right, so for X, I've got Zenny by Rebecca Weatherspoon.

I did read the first one in the series, Raffa, so good.

Absolutely loved it.

And it's set in the same world.

That is on my TBR.

It's an arranged marriage between a black woman and a want to say Scottish man with some fat rep, bisexual rep on both sides.

It's just so good.

And I've heard great things and it's on my list.

For Z, I've got prize money by Celeste Castro.

It's on my TBR.

It is a sapphic romance between a bullfighter and an equestrian stunt woman, which sounds very fascinating and fun for those sports romance people.

Q, we've got Queenie and the Crackens by Alira Anaya Sarrez.

And that's on my TBR as well.

It's a wide-choose meaning that the main character has multiple partners throughout the book.

There's no like love triangle or fighting about it.

It's just I'm with all of you.

Get over it.

Kind of thing.

And that is a motorcycle club filled with merman shifters.

I'm pretty sure, but it sounds wild and I'm totally into it.

So that is on my list.

Jay, just for the cameras by Viano Onioma.

And she is an African author.

And her books are just so good.

There's just something about them.

I could literally read all of them in one week.

And they are ones that just stay with you.

So just for the cameras is a sex worker cam couple.

And they have feelings for their best friend roommate and invite him to record one video with them.

Might turn into more.

I'm not going to spoil anything, but it is so good and it is a polyamorous black romance.

The vampires of El Norte by Isabel Canyas.

That is also on my TBR.

It's set in 1840s, Mexico, it's a blend of historical fiction, horror and romance.

Quark by, that's for K, KW ARQ.

So Quark by Nikki Clark.

That is an alien faded romance.

He takes her to his planet.

Their customs are very interesting.

Like his ex comes in and he kisses her on the lips.

And she's like, oh heck, no.

Look, absolutely not.

What is happening?

Him not realizing like, no, we're just a friendly people.

No, you don't kiss your ex.

That's not okay.

So it is very, it's just a fun and light little weird because it's aliens, but it is so good.

I mean, Alicia, this is like proof in the pudding right here, I think as to why having a guest is so nice to have on the show because you are reading from a pool of authors and books and stories that I'm not.

I don't know that Jillian is.

Nope, definitely not.

I feel like I'm in a video game where I unlock something and there's this whole other map.

And I'm like, but look at over here.

What are you talking about?

So this is fantastic.

That's awesome.

I'm so glad that we have you on the show today and we're getting these wonderful recommendations that Jillian and I probably wouldn't typically bring to our listeners.

So that's great.

All right, Jillian.

What books would you recommend or what books would you read if you were doing the BIPOC alphabet reading challenge for the letter X?

I have Mexican Gothic and that one obviously has the X in Mexican by Sylvia Moreno Garcia.

This is a Gothic historical fiction thriller about Noemi Tabota who receives a letter from her cousin asking her to come and save her.

What ensues is chilling and terrifying, but oh, so good.

Oh my gosh.

I don't read this book.

I highly recommend that you do.

It is so chilling.

I just, I remember reading it and thinking like what the hell is going on here, but it was in a good way.

For letters Z, I had a bit of a stretch.

I went with the author's name having the Z in it and it's Anita Demante, "Lafs Last" by Zochille Gonzales.

This is a contemporary fiction novel.

It is on my TBR, but I'm excited to read it.

It is a medmerizing book about a first generation Ivy League student who encovers the genius work of a female artist decades after her suspicious death.

All right.

Next up is for the letter Q.

I have Q&A by Vikus Swara.

This is also on my TBR.

This is contemporary fiction.

Stunning television audiences of millions, Ramohamid Thomas draws on a store of street wisdom and accidental encounters that provides him with essential keys not only to win a quiz show, but also life itself.

This is the book that Slumdog Millionaire is loosely based on.

So I'm, I've never seen the movie to be perfectly honest, but I am very intrigued by the book.

Classic Gillian.

Yeah, I don't watch much TV.

I've read Q&A.

It's brilliant and it will have you crying at the end.

Is it?

Okay.

I don't read it then because you know I love my crying books.

Letter J.

This one was also a bit of a stretch.

I went with one that had the J in the author's name.

Let us descend by Jess Min Ward.

This is a historical literary fiction.

It is a reimagining of American slavery as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching.

Searching harrowing, replete with transcendent love.

The novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.

For the letter V, I have the vanishing half by Brit Bennett.

This is also contemporary fiction about twin sisters who run away and who later in life are completely different than one another.

But even though they're separated by miles and lies, their fates remain intertwined.

And finally, for letter K, I have the nonfiction book, Know My Name by Chanel Miller.

He was known to the world as Emily Doe when she stunned millions with a letter.

Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting her on Stanford's campus.

Now she reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words.

So that last one is heavy, but it is an excellent, excellent book.

All right, Erin, what do you have on your list for these difficult letters?

So some of these books I've read and some of these books I did a little bit of goodreads research.

I wanted to make sure that I was recommending a variety of things to readers.

And also like reminding myself of books that I've read a long time ago that would help anybody who wanted to do this challenge today in 2024.

A lot of the books that I've read in the last two or three years already started with those like common or easy letters, the beauty of being a nerdy data tracker.

So Alicia, I am a negligent goodread user, but I have my own Google sheet of the books that I've read and the various data points.

And so I loved actually thinking about this challenge and sorting my books by title to make sure that I could really give some good recommendations and balance with books that I want to read and books that I've read.

So for the letter Z because I'm Canadian and you're both saying Z and it's got me like going blank blank blank.

We're having a session sheet moment here.

So the letter Z, Zora, books her happily ever after and Alicia, I saw this was posted on your pinned post regarding the challenge.

This is a romance novel by Taj McCoy.

A love triangle romance about Zora who is running an amazing bookstore.

She books an event with like her most beloved author turns up.

He shows up.

He's like kind of into her.

Things get steamy when he and his best friends start to make flirtatious advances towards her.

So a little bit of love triangle there.

For the letter V, I recommend the book Venco by Sherry Dimeline.

This is a great book by an indigenous author that I love.

Sherry Dimeline is most known for her very famous YA classic called the Marrow Thieves.

But Venco features a character named Lucky and her grandmother Stella as they make a perilous trip to understand a magic spoon that Lucky discovers very different from dystopian YA fiction.

But this book is really, really great.

It's a lot of fun.

And I love me a sassy elder trope.

So the character of the grandmother Stella will keep you laughing and smiling through this whole book.

For the letter K, I went to this contemporary classic The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni.

The Kite Runner is a book that I read during my like 2006, 2008 book club days.

I don't know if you were trapped in a book club in those times.

I think it is really worth a reread, especially now that I'm a mom.

You know, I read so many of those books.

It was like the height of Oprah's book club days.

But now that I'm a mother, I think some of those contemporary books will really just hit differently.

Kite Runner is a contemporary classic and reminds me of two other recommendations that I've made on this list, which is cutting for stone and against the Loveless world are both in that sort of contemporary literary classic genre.

For the letter J, also kind of similar is the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.

This book I think is totally due for a refresh and a remake.

Some contemporary books to gram love for the Joy Luck Club.

Come on.

Remember reading this when I was probably like a little bit too young to appreciate it.

But like the Kite Runner, I think the Joy Luck Club is worth a reread now that I'm in a completely different phase of life.

Books that start with X and Q, I got to tell you I was so happy to have the internet.

I found a few books to get myself unstuck.

I haven't read these books.

But if I ever do the BIPOC alphabet challenge and after this episode, I think we have no excuses.

We're all doing the challenge now.

I will be coming back to this book.

The first book for the letter X is a book called XOXO by an author named Axi OOH.

This looks like a really sweet YA romance about a Korean cello prodigy and features the sort of the one day only trope.

She spends one day only with like an amazing stranger and hilarity and soos.

And then for the letter Q, I found the novel Quick Sand by Nella Larson.

And I think this is for me why doing things like a BIPOC alphabet challenge can be really enriching because I learned about Nella Larson who I only discovered because of the researching for this episode.

Nella Larson is an American novelist from the Harlem Renaissance.

She wrote two novels and a few short stories.

Nella Larson was a nurse and a librarian.

And while working those two jobs, she wrote these two books, Quick Sand in 1928, which is about a biracial woman and her journey of self-discovery, followed by Nella Larson's more famous work, which is called Passing, which she published in 1929.

So these really old contemporary classics that don't get the same love that books published in the 20s, you know, that we know really commonly taught in school.

You know, why aren't we all reading Quick Sand by Nella Larson?

So that's just one of the delightful things that you can have when you dedicate yourself to put your focus somewhere new.

So yeah, those are my books.

Love it.

I have a question for both of you.

And I want to say that I know Aaron's mentioned it.

Jillian, I don't know if you have rereads.

Okay.

So this is something that I personally just as a reader, I'm so fascinated by people who reread because if I were like when I go back to my books that I read in like 2020, 2021, like, oh my god.

2021 Alicia thought that was a five-star.

This definitely would not live up to like the hype or the feelings today.

Pass Alicia didn't know what she was talking about.

So how do you decide like what is that reread for you?

Because there are like maybe three books that I'm considering rereading this year.

And I'm so nervous that it's going to ruin how I feel about them by rereading them.

Jillian, do you want to go first?

For me, it's all about a book that I absolutely love.

If I loved it the first time I read it, I will reread it.

And it can't just be a basic five star for me.

It can't just be a basic five star read because I am terrible at giving books that don't necessarily deserve it a five star rating.

But books that I absolutely am in love with like Project Hail Mary will be a book that I will absolutely 100% reread at some point in my life under the whispering door.

The books like that I will reread over and over again.

But I don't reread a ton because there's just too many books in the world to reread.

So that's my take, Erin, what's yours?

Yeah, I also like rereading is something I've kind of had on the periphery of my like reading life.

I really only reread for really specific purposes, usually the podcast.

So I reread a few books to make sure that I'm up on the up and up if I'm going to be talking about them with somebody else.

And I like really love them, but I didn't necessarily do like an analysis for themes or anything when I read it.

I just kind of consumed the book and moved on.

But I think actually that you make a really good point about either not doing the reread because you're not sure that it will stand the test of time.

I think we see that a lot as millennials, I'm going to make an assumption Alicia that you're a millennial.

But like as millennials that we have these memories of things that that were really comfy for us.

And on replay, we're like cringing a little bit that we're like, how did they make that?

That's not okay.

Or like, I can't show this to my kids types of feelings.

And so I think we've learned how to preserve ourselves a little bit from shattering the glass on some of those things.

But in also, I think we're one of the best generations at leaning in and being like, I can appreciate that I love this thing.

And I can also appreciate and discuss and describe why it's problematic now and hold those two things in my hands.

So yeah, I don't do a lot of rereading, but it is something that I've kind of been thinking as I learn more about myself as a reader to go back to some of those books that I remember thinking like, wow, that was a book and I read it.

And that was a great experience.

Like the kite runner, for example, I remember being a really amazing experience.

What could I tell you about the general plot points of that book?

No, I don't think so.

But I would say for me, it'll be likely in 2024 that I reread one book or two.

If I reread more than two books, I would be floored.

Yeah.

Interesting.

But I'm with you.

I think we're I'm with you.

But I know a lot of people reread routinely.

Like, it's a routine part of their reading life.

That's fascinating.

Yeah.

I think it's the comfort.

Yeah.

It's the comfort, like you were saying, kind of how people watch and rewatch will use friends, for example, because that seems to be one of the biggest shows that people watch and rewatch.

It's just a comfort to them.

You know what's coming.

You know what to expect.

There's no surprises.

There's no nerve wrecking storyline coming up.

So when you're in need of that piece, that might be why more people reread.

Yeah.

It's something to actually like think about a little bit more.

I don't know.

Any question, Alicia?

Okay.

Here at Medium Lady Reads, we're all about the library and the BIPOC alphabet challenge is perfect for the library.

You're going to find a multitude of authors of a variety of diverse backgrounds and your choice will range from the stacks to Libby, to Hoopla and everything in between.

Alicia, are you a fan of the library?

Anything you have on hold that you're waiting for?

Yes.

I am a huge fan of the library.

I actually had a conversation with my husband yesterday because he homeschools our kids.

And I was like, when is the library summer bash happening?

Happened last year in June?

Is it happening again?

We need to make sure that we make time for that.

And then he's talking about all the summer activities that they have.

So we've been adding those to our calendar and our kids absolutely love going to the library.

So I don't take out a lot of books from the library for myself because even though I have quite a paperback selection, I don't like reading paperback so much as I like audio books or digital.

So I am in love with the Libby app.

Right now on hold, I have two books.

Both are good for the BIPOC challenge.

Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Conias is one that I mentioned.

And then by the book by Jasmine Gillery, both of those are on my holds.

Nice.

All right.

My holds list this week, I have Go is a river, which I had out, but I had to return because somebody else was waiting for it.

And I didn't want to hoard it from them, which is not something I always am good about, but I was with this one mainly because I had so many other books to read.

Then I also have The Mutual Friend by Carter Bayes.

I have Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon, which is one of the books that I mentioned in our My List of BIPOC authors.

And then I have There There, which is by Tommy Orange and is our June Buddy Readbook for Aaron and Stephanie and Ellie and I.

Aaron, what do you have on your holds list?

So because this is episode 22, I'll share my digital holds on Libby.

I don't have a lot coming up soon.

I do have Soundtracks by John A.

Cuff, which would not fit in the BIPOC challenge.

So just forget I said that.

But I listen to another John A.

Cuff book in May and I really enjoyed it.

So he's a really good narrator of his own books.

I have on Hold an audiobook by Olivy Blake, which is the Atlas Six, which I've never read.

And this is, I think it's like sci-fi YA fantasy.

And I think I'm really heading into like a sci-fi summer vibe.

I started Ministry of Time and there's a sci-fi bent to that and I was like, oh, this feels like summer to me.

So I'm looking forward to getting that on audio while I drive my kids to hours of baseball practice and commute on the train and I'll be enjoying that.

Definitely add Beauty Land into that then.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That would be a good fit.

Thank you.

Like I need more books.

Yeah, of course.

I mean, after just listing 26 plus more because we each did the harder letters.

I know.

We went through the alphabet multiple times for sure.

Alicia, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Is there anything else we didn't get to talk about that you want to share with our listeners before we sign off?

I mean, I could literally talk to you guys about books for hours and hours and hours, but obviously there's some book ends here for people's time.

Thank you so much for allowing me into this space and would love to have anyone come and participate.

We have templates for Instagram stories and we have tons and tons of recommendations on our profile.

We are very adamant about reading these types of books year round, not just during the history months.

So if you're interested in any of that, definitely would love a connection.

And let me know that you came from this podcast that you listened and that you came follow us over at We Read Smuts.

We do what we say.

Alicia, we are so glad to have you on as our first guest host.

So thank you.

Thank you so much for all of your book recommendations for introducing us to the BIPOC alphabet challenge.

I mean, I definitely feel like I have a growing TBR of diverse authors, which is exactly how I like it.

Chef's kiss.

And if Lister's want to connect with you, you've mentioned Instagram at We Read Smut.

So go ahead, give them a follow, drop in Alicia's DMs.

Alicia, can you tell us a little bit about your co-creator?

Yes.

So my co-creator is Nicole.

And Nicole and I, when I started reading, I reached out to her and was like, girl, you need to read this.

So she started reading very shortly after.

We've been to a reading event.

We're both in North Carolina.

So try to see each other when we can.

They were hours away.

We went to the Litton Low Country event that was last year trying to drag her to the next one that's going to be in March of 2025.

They're going to have a tattoo artist there.

I'm like, girl, we need matching tattoos.

Let's go.

Let's do this.

Yeah.

So just kind of virtually have been talking about books and sharing book recommendations and our love of books.

And then we're like, let's do a bookstagram.

Both of us have been considering doing it alone.

But also we're like, I don't want to do it by myself.

And so we created it together.

And I just love it.

Having someone to be able to bounce ideas off of or do buddy reads with is always so fun.

Or to also harp on like, oh my god, did you see the latest books to get in drama?

But there's always some drama happening.

So having someone to like have the hot gossip is just fun.

So that is Nicole and myself love that.

Thank you, Alicia.

Before we wrap up, we want to remind you about our second book, Club Pick, which is Selene by Peter Heller.

Reading will be kicking off this week on June 4th.

If you haven't gotten the book, you still have time.

You can request it from your library.

We'll be posting reading milestones to keep you going.

And we'll have our IG check-in on June 22nd and our Zoom book club meeting on July 8th.

All the details are in our feed on Instagram at Medium Lady Reads.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but that wraps up episode 22 of Medium Lady Reads, this hour flew by.

Medium Lady Reads is a spin-off of the Medium Lady Talks podcast and Instagram community.

You can find me, Aaron 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 at Medium Lady Reads.

If you liked this episode, please share it with another bookish friend or post on IG and be sure to tag us.

We 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]