Episode 30: Would You Try a DNF Challenge?

Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads. This is episode 30, “Would You Try a DNF Challenge?”  

We’re deep into the Autumn season and the temperatures in Erin and Jillian’s neck of the woods are beginning to reflect this. If you’re ready to curl up with a book and your favorite cup of tea, we’ve got you covered with more book recommendations!

In This Episode:

• It’s time for the check-in! Erin and Jillian check in to share how their reading is going. 
• The ladies are bringing 5 new book reviews to the episode, tune in to hear what they’re sharing!
• Mentioned in this Episode: The Goodreads Members’ Top Books of the Past Five Years
• Mentioned in this Episode: The Newbury Medal List
• Comin’ in hot with our Hot Takes - listen in to hear what we’re dishing on this week.
• Curious what Erin and Jillian are planning on reading next? Listen in as they share their holds list and “up next” reads. 

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

• NeverMoor The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend 
• The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave
• The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
• Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty 
• The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter
• Same as it Ever Was by Claire Lombardo
• Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
• Tom Lake by Ann Patchett 
• Sandwich by Catherine Newman
• Kiss Me at Christmas by Jenny Bayliss
• The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
• All Fours by Miranda July
• Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
• The Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
• Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 
• The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore
• The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter 
• How to Read a Book by Monica Wood
• The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
• The Most Wonderful Time by Jayne Allen
• I’m Starting to Worry About this Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin 
• Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid 

Transcript

The one thing that is really making my reading life super sweet is the DNF challenge that I started in September, but I feel like I've actually finally gotten good at it this October.

And I will continue that DNF challenge through the end of the year.

So for listeners who haven't heard, I started a DNF challenge where I get to 40% of the book, and then I decide if I would give it four stars at that point.

And if I give it less than four stars, then I just don't finish.

And I move on to something else.

Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Rades.

This is Episode 30.

We are so glad you're joining us for another episode full of reviews, hot takes, and library love.

Hi everyone, I'm Erin, a mom of three, a hospital administrator in Ontario, Canada, and the host and founder of the Medium Lady Community and Medium Lady Talks podcast.

And I'm Jillian, an Instagram content strategist for Bookish People.

I'm on a two based in Buffalo, New York.

Together we're thrilled to bring you another episode of Medium Lady Rades, a podcast about reading a self-care, a passionate love for the public library, and all of our thoughts and opinions on Book Culture having a small man.

Hi everyone, welcome back to Medium Lady Rades.

This is Episode 30, airing the week of October 29th.

It's going to be Halloween week.

First we'll kick off with the check in, Jillian.

How's your reading going?

I cannot believe it was only a few weeks ago that we were basking in the glory of all of our summer reading.

But here we are, it's fall.

How's it going?

Oh, not good.

Honestly, my reading is so slow and I'm not happy about it.

I don't know what's going on.

But every time I pick up a book, I don't want to be reading.

I'm like, I don't know why am I reading this book?

Part of it is probably reading books that aren't very good.

Part of it is I'm trying to do more note-taking so that I can remember books more.

I don't know, all of it is just leading to not loving reading lately.

And that's just sad.

So sad.

Oh my gosh, that is so sad.

Isn't it?

I have been loving audiobooks.

I've been listening to Nevermore.

The Trial is a Morgan Crow.

Yes, I know you love it.

That is one that I'm really, really enjoying.

It's very, very good.

Just the first one.

It's excellent.

I'm about, I would say about halfway through and I'm loving it.

And then my other read that I'm not loving is The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave.

Oh no, you were looking forward to that one.

I know, I was.

And I would probably DNF it.

But I've already invested probably about three quarters of the book.

I'm already invested three quarters of the way.

And I just may as well finish it off.

It's just very boring.

It's not like her other one, which again, cannot remember the name of.

But her other one when he left me or what he told me or something like that.

Yes, yeah.

That one was like so propulsive and sped through it.

This one is just not that.

And I was really hoping for that.

And I am not getting it sad.

Yeah, but thanks for sharing because I think for listeners, it's real life.

It's real reading life.

It's true.

Unless we talk about it, people on Instagram, you see people on book talk or books.

And you think they're just like flying through the books and they always love reading and they never hit you know a reading slump.

And I'm glad that you're being honest and sharing that.

And there's going to be people listening who say, oh, I thought it was just me.

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, your reading life, ebbs and flows just the way your regular life does.

It feels good to be able to admit that here and feel safe in admitting that and know that I'm not going to be judged.

Also, it feels good to share that with people so that they like you were just saying they know that they too can feel this way.

And it's okay.

Like you're not your reading status doesn't go anywhere just because you're not enjoying reading as much or you're not reading as quickly as you once were.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Well said.

So how's your reading going, Aaron?

Yeah, my reading is going really well, but it slowed down.

So I'm experiencing quality over quantity.

I did recently get over like a really nasty cold virus.

You could probably hear that in the beginning of my voice when we recorded for episode 29.

And then we had a long weekend Canadian Thanksgiving.

I love that our Thanksgiving is in October because it really kicks off the fall season before Halloween.

It kind of like helps us really like transition the seasons.

But right now I think my reading life is kind of on autopilot.

I'm not thinking about it too much.

I'm definitely not spending as much time reading a lot.

I get a lot of my reading done on the weekends.

And right now since school started our weekends are just really fast paced.

The one thing that is really making my reading life super sweet is the DNF challenge that I started in September.

I feel like I've actually finally gotten good at it this October.

And I will continue that DNF challenge through the end of the year.

So for listeners who haven't heard, I started a DNF challenge where I get to 40% of the book.

And then I decide if I would give it four stars at that point.

And if I give it less than four stars, then I just don't finish and I move on to something else.

And so I'm reading less, but I shared this with our buddy reads group chat that my average rating of books for October is 4.4 stars.

So I have really enjoyed the major reading books, if not all of the books that I've been reading this month.

So I don't know am I a convert to DNFing.

It's still not easy.

But I think when I get to the 40% mark, I feel like I gave this book a good try.

My current read is our buddy read, Truly Madly Guilty by Leanne Moriarty.

And I also am reading The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter.

I'm trying to get into that.

The writing is a little bit different than what I'm used to or I don't know maybe it's like my attention span.

I haven't given enough of my attention span over to the book to really kind of like sink into the writing style.

But that's what I'm reading currently.

Your DNF challenge is very inspiring because 40% of a book is a good chunk of a book to be able to read and say, this is it, this is I'm done with this at this point or this is fantastic.

I'm going to keep going.

And I think that I might steal that because simply based on your success with that and the fact that I've been reading books that I've been so bored with and just not really enjoying like why am I wasting my time.

There are too many books in the world, too many good books in the world to waste my time on books that are boring.

I'm going to finish the night we lost him, but I think going forward, I think I'm going to embrace the read 40% and then if it's not good or if I'm not enjoying it, I'm going to let it go.

And I'm going to feel okay with that.

This book is definitely a three star read.

So I'm thinking like, you know what?

This is a waste of time to read because I would love to read a four or five star.

So we'll get there.

The DNF challenge used to be 20%.

So when I started, I said, I'll get to 20% of the book and I'll give it a rating and then I'll move on and I actually did find that 20% I wasn't sure.

I hadn't read enough of the book to decide.

So then I bumped it to 40 and 40 for me seems to be the sweet spot.

For some people, you might only need to read 10% of a book to really know.

But I think having that threshold for me is gives me the permission that I did enough to know if I could DNF the book or not, whereas like sometimes you get so far into a book that you know you're not going to enjoy but you're far enough along that you're just going to finish it like how you're feeling with this with this book you're talking about right now.

And then other books you know really, really early on and and then you can abandon ship.

So yeah, I mean, I think if you need to steal it, you're very welcome to and I hope that it works for you.

I would say I have one suggestion which you might I think you're you're not going to like the suggestion but if you have a Spotify account if you have a Spotify account, you can get that book and listen to it on like 1.75 or 1.1 point or like 2.0 speed.

And then just kind of like zip through the end of it and then have it behind you and have it done with and you can multitask while you listen to it and then you can maybe feel a little bit like you you finish the book.

But you maybe didn't feel like you had to dedicate your like sit down enjoy book time your cozy reading time to a book that you didn't enjoy.

And then you can maybe think about it Spotify gives premium members if you have a subscription to Spotify 15 hours of audio books per month and they have a very extensive catalog so.

But you have to be the account holder and shameless is the account holder.

Oh, I didn't know that so yeah, I don't get it we we tried because we have a family account.

And we tried when it first they first released that I was like this is amazing I can let go of audible and then we realize it's the account holder only and I'm not the account holder.

Don't want want don okay well yeah good luck with your final slug your suggestion is brilliant though will look forward to when you've put that book behind you and you have brighter books in your future.

That's right absolutely and there will be there will be brighter books.

All right time for book chat in the heart of the episode.

Aaron tell me about the layout of your reviews today what are we in for.

I have a stack of highly rated books today a sweeping literary fiction a magical middle grade fiction and a fun fantasy slash mystery slash new adult novel Jillian what are your books like today.

I'm so excited to bring a warm fuzzy Christmas story and not so excited to bring a contemporary literary fiction.

Okay a little bit of everything today yeah the first book I'm sharing today is same as it ever was by Claire Lombardo there was this like echo chamber of people who were praising this book on Instagram the past summer and I put it on hold and I waited a long long long time for it.

I almost didn't read it because when it came available on Libby it happened at the same time as Anna Palatano's new book and so I almost returned this book without reading it I just love Anna Palatano so much and hello beautiful is one of our favorite books that we read last year so good but I was hearing more about this book by Claire Lombardo then I had heard about the new end of Palatano and I thought well let's just start reading you got your DNF challenge let's give it a try and then I just never stop.

Reading here's the setup same as it ever was by Claire Lombardo is a masterfully written slowly unfolding exploration of midlife motherhood and the unexpected ways the past can creep back into the present Julia aims at 57 has enjoyed control over her life for the past few years after early decades of emotional turbulence.

But then her son drops a shocking announcement her teenage daughter begins pulling away and the ghosts of her past reappear in the grocery store of all places Julia finds herself returning to old Copic mechanisms just to get through the day and she becomes more detached and hazy while the novel begins to unpacked her life through flashbacks.

Lombardo skillfully examines how relationships within a family can shift and evolve across generations in this epically written beautifully complex story about our tragic hero in Julia.

I mentioned this book is slow to unfold Jillian so what you get for your investment in that slow pace is amazing writing some of the phrases made me chuckle some of them made me flinch and others of them actually made me feel very exposed.

Our main character Julia is 57 through the present day plot and I actually don't think I've ever seen my you know quote unquote future self in a novel before not in the broader strokes of Julia or her life experience I couldn't really relate to that but in the small ways she sort of.

Grieves her children getting older the little ways that she loves them and tries to show them how much she loves them the little ways that they hurt her feelings or she hurts their feelings this book in some ways reminds me of Tom Lake and even reminds me of sandwich not in plot or even emotional tone but in the way you kind of feel like you're stepping inside of an older woman's experience stepping inside the book walking around wearing the skin of Julia.

Earlier in this week I couldn't sleep I was struck with insomnia I picked up my e reader and I read the last 20% of this book in bed with my e reader on the lowest brightness and Jillian I just cried in my bed at 2 30 in the morning reading the end of this beautiful book I would say if you're looking for a book that won't rush you this is a perfect choice for the fall and that's my review of the same as it ever was by Claire Lombardo this looks so good I was this is the one that.

You back when it was first released or when it was starting to come out I can't remember what it was I saw the cover of it and I was like this is a beautiful cover for a book and now hearing about it it sounds very very good and we all know that I love crying at the end of us or during books so it'll be something I definitely have to pick up and read I think you might really like it but I will warn you it slow and I know you don't like slow books and it's actually slow for you to fall for the main character.

So there are things that she does she's not a perfect person there's like blurred morality around some of the storyline and she kind of rub me the wrong way at times and then I hit probably 30% and I was just like all in for the rest of the book well if I do the G and F challenge it won't hurt to try it and read it for 40% and see how I feel and let it go if I'm not liking it totally absolutely true.

Okay, Jillian what's your first book for the show today the first book I'm going to bring today to the show is Kiss Me a Christmas by Jenny Bayless I really like this book and gave it four stars.

Harriet and James have chemistry right from the first page and the way their relationship begins and develops is just the way something could happen in real life.

I don't want to say too much and give away spoilers but I could certainly see this happening to sing any single friend of mine.

Here's the setup Christmas can officially get stuffed because Harriet Smith is not feeling bright and Mary this year she hasn't for a while so when her college age daughter opts for Manhattan's winter wonderland instead of Christmas at home Harriet finds herself seeking solace and wine soaked one night stand.

But how Harriet will spend the holidays is swiftly decided for her after she takes the fall for some students who break into the town's old winter theater to get the students off the hook the theaters elderly owner requests that Harriet direct the washed out stages final Christmas performance and Harriet will do anything to help the kids even work with the owner's lawyer James who as it turns out is her lesson in press one night stand directing the play with him won't exactly change her life but it might just reignite the Christmas spirit and remember.

That's what makes this Christmas spirit and remind her that what makes life Mary and bright again if you're someone who likes the found family trope you're definitely going to love this book.

The premise does a little to really share how large of a found family Harriet acquires throughout the book and if you're looking for your first cozy Christmas read let this be it.

Harriet's home is above a library how much cozy you can you get than that but if you're looking for more there is a lot of tea drinking cozy community meet up meals and talks of fireplaces it definitely left me with a cozy vibes that's Christmas by Jenny Bayless.

Aaron I know you read this book so what would you like to add.

Yeah I love your review of it I think you're totally spot on if you've never read a Christmas novel this is a great one to just grab and pick up and enjoy I thought it was another banger to add to the Jenny Bayless shelf I've read all of her books and I've never given anything below a four I gave this one 4.5 stars I actually don't know if I've read another author that consistently that gets high reviews from me maybe alley hazelwood but even so I haven't read all of alley hazelwood's books.

Kiss me at Christmas is another perfect holiday recipe in book form I think the thing that always keeps me coming back is the way Jenny Bayless reinvents her own successful formula each time her books are standalone they stand out on their own but as a collection they kind of feel like they all exist in the same universe and I just feel that cozy feeling every year when we get the delight of picking up her new one I feel like I'm re entering this like.

I'm not a cozy UK movie about Christmas you know it's all of her books are set in the UK they're all set in very diverse settings in the UK and it's like reading the holiday but with a different cast of characters in the different setting each time.

Absolutely I absolutely agree with that alright what's your next most recent read Aaron.

Okay my next book is possibly no spoilers but but a little spoilers it this might be my favorite book of the year and I debated bringing it now I thought no Aaron you're probably going to talk about this book later but I just just in case something comes along and bumps this book I have to talk about it now.

This is the eyes and the impossible by Dave Eggers this is another five star book specifically for writing and it really doesn't seem possible to me that the most beautiful book I'll read this year is middle grade fiction told from the point of view of a dog and narrated in audio by Ethan Hawke but listen I don't make the rules I just read the books and this is where we're at.

This book is astonishingly gorgeous it's like the kind of art that makes you stop and put your feet on the ground and take note of your surroundings take a deep breath the plot itself is five stars but the narration by Ethan Hawke it's like a performance it makes it beyond five stars.

Here's the setup we meet Johan who is a free dog he lives in a park bordered by a beach and the city Johan has friends a seagull named Bertrand a squirrel named Sophie a pelican named Yolanda and a raccoon.

Named Angus together they observed the goings on in the park and they report them to the bison the bison have been in the park for millions of years and obviously are the caretakers of all that goes on there and there is quite a lot that goes on in this park.

And around five hours this audiobook manages to efficiently capture adventure grief loneliness love and more of the human experience then should be able to fit in a short little package.

This book is the winner of the 2023 newberry medal award and somehow seems to capture via masterful writing so much more than a story about a free dog in a park.

I really am not joking when I say this is in contention for my favorite book of the year and will likely be the book that I recommend again and again and again to any grown ups listening willing to put their literary taste aside for the love of a great book.

Read this book gift this book borrow this book it is a great book I am so glad I read it and that's my review of the eyes and the impossible by Dave Eggers.

I love this book so much I almost cried while I'm saying.

It's like this book cannot fit inside my heart I want to read it so bad I was going to say I'm willing to put a reside my literary taste although I think that I'm pretty open to anything anyway.

Yeah, but I'm willing to put away put aside all of that and and we'll read this no problem I will probably do the audiobook as soon as I have a new credit on audible which will be in like five days I will beginning this book.

I can't wait to hear what you think of it I know it will live up like sometimes you recommend a book and you're like oh I hope you like it but this I'm just like this book just transcends so many of the boundaries of what an audiobook or a book or a middle grade fiction should be.

It's like charlotte's web it's an instant it should become an instant classic and this is why like honestly you could read the booker prize you could read.

You know in canada we have the giller prize you know the international fiction lists women's fiction the Pulitzer lists you can read all of those lists but I cannot tell you the new berry metal brings me the most beautiful books that sit in my heart that just change me as a person that make me love reading so much and it's children's fiction.

I'll have to check that out I don't think I've ever picked anything from that book from from that list rather.

Okay Jillian what's your next book the next book I'm bringing to the show is called all fours by Miranda July sadly this was not the book I was hoping it would turn out to be.

I did not love the book first the basis of the whole thing is that the female man character we never really learn her the character's name.

She lies throughout and I can't stand lying in books so that already puts the book in the negative space for me.

I know this was a pretty busy book and I had high hopes for it but it did not meet those expectations.

Here's the setup a semi famous artist announces her plan to drive cross country from LA to New York 20 minutes after leaving her husband and child at home she spontaneously exits the freeway.

Beds down in a non-descript motel and immerses herself in the temporary in a temporary invention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.

All fours tells the story of one women's quest for a new kind of freedom part absurd entertainment part tender reinvention of the sexual romantic and domestic life of a 45 year old female artist.

It was an okay book but I wanted more I wanted the female main character to tell the truth to her husband to have the have him know the truth about her going on this trip to have her having an emotional affair with Davy to having sex with other people.

I didn't expect to have these warm fuzzies or anything while I was reading the book but I had been expecting to feel some female empowerment.

I suppose some women may get that from this book but I didn't so it was a disappointing read for me I gave it three stars and personally I am not recommending it to people this is all fours by Miranda July.

I'm really glad you brought this review to the show I have had this on my TBR for a while I probably am not in any rush to get to it but the one thing that kind of like pulls me in is this like the absurdist style of it.

I have also had two people distinctly recommend this book to me so I feel super torn between your review and then the review of some other readers in my life.

I probably will check it out but I'm not in any rush to do so.

And you know you may really like it it it isn't the same as our wives under the sea but I know you really loved that book and I really didn't.

And I feel like there are pieces of and it's nothing like our wives under the sea but in my mind somehow they compare to each other for me when I'm talking about them to you so you may really love it I just I couldn't get past all the line and just I didn't I wasn't I didn't love the female main character very much and it's hard for me to really love a book if I don't love the characters or at least.

Like the characters.

At the last chapter of the epilogue I guess you would call it I don't think it was actually called an epilogue in the book but I liked her then which was like the last three pages.

Wow interesting I wonder why the writer made that choice.

All right listeners has anybody read all four is by Miranda July do you have it on your TBR you should let us know you can message us on Instagram at medium lady reads let us know what you thought of Jillian's review and if you're inclined to pass on this book or if you read it and you agree or disagree.

All right Aaron what is your next book today.

Okay my last book for today is the voyage of the damned by Francis White.

Here's the setup so often books don't live up to their descriptions.

So when I picked up the voyage of the damned based on the description.

Agatha Christie meets gay fantasy hunger games.

So niche.

I kept my expectations low.

But surprisingly this is exactly what you get from the voyage of the damned and it delivers on intrigue and inclusion with a healthy mix of new adult banter and self deprecating inner monologue.

Here's the plot setup.

Ganamedis is the blessed for the fish province on a seaword pilgrimage to the sacred goddesses mountain joining him are the other blessed from the 11 other provinces each with its own political pressures and intrigue.

There's the non-binary representative of spider province the hot tempered teen representing the ox province not to mention Ganamedis former boyfriend now the representative of the Crow province.

All of the blessed are led by the heir to the emperor Udora the leader of the dragon province.

But when Udora is found hanging from the ballroom of the ship.

Kasi Rups as all that might wield power try to do so while others like Ganamedis are just trying to not find themselves next on the murderer's list.

Mystery tropes abound in this book yet the thing that holds it all together is Ganamedis or D as he's otherwise known.

Observant self deprecating carrying his own personal struggles I couldn't help but love this messy queer protagonist and his dog attempts to survive and hide while collecting his own rag tag group of friends.

You do have to be willing to commit a bit of energy to the world building in this book which doesn't take too long but it does exist and it's aided by a map that's actually useful and a cast of characters.

There isn't any part of this book that I found dragging it's pretty propulsive while I did see some of the plot twists coming I was still super entertained by this book it exceeded my expectations which is why I gave it four stars.

If you're looking for more queer rep in your fantasy reading this is a really fun place to start and if you're looking for a mystery but just a little off kilter this is also a great one to pick up.

And that's my review of the voyage of the damned by Francis White.

This sounds really fun it sounds like something that I would enjoy.

I mean fun is like the perfect word for it I had fun reading it.

It's a total opposite of like reading a book like all fours where you feel like you're like working the whole time.

Yeah yeah and I do struggle sometimes with world building just because I get bored but this like you said it's just like it's only a small amount so maybe I'll give it a try.

Yeah it's like the same ish amount of world building that happens in the Hunger Games where you have these like 12 provinces and they're all kind of bringing something unique to the table.

There's 12 characters they're also bringing something unique to the table so you have to kind of like create little 12 little slots in your mind and 12 is a lot.

But it's really it's written really really well.

Awesome I'll definitely have to give it a try.

Yeah I would recommend it for sure.

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 hot take is it cheating to read more than one book at a time.

And I want to say I want to give credit to Ali she our book bookish bossy big sister friend suggested this to us and we're taking it into the podcast.

Aaron what do you think so I mean I hope not but I feel like what happens I think Jillian you and I both read more than one book at a time.

Yes and I try to keep that super tidy mostly because I have other things that I need to preserve brain space for so I usually have an audio book on the go a print book on the go and then a digital e reader book on the go and those three books.

Now the only time I feel like I'm cheating is when I let one of the three or two of the three language so that I can gobble up one of the three.

And I do sometimes feel guilty that I'm like not distributing my reading time equally among my children.

And I feel like if I have like a really good e reader book then I'm just like leaving those other two books for later so that I can really really race through the pages of my print book or my e reader that doesn't usually happen as much with the audio book because I can my reading time when I'm like sitting and actively reading is different than when I'm audio booking I'm usually multitasking and cleaning or driving or doing something else.

But I do sometimes feel like I'm like being bad when I'm not reading those three books evenly and pacing my way through but it really doesn't make sense that I would be reading three books at a time and then finish them all at the same time.

I don't know.

These are like rules that don't really exist but they are like feelings that get in the way of your reading life.

And it makes sense.

It does make sense.

And if it makes sense, even if it didn't make sense to me, if it makes sense to you, that's all that matters.

Oh, I love that.

Yeah, that's fair.

That's fair.

What about you, Jillian?

Is it cheating to read more than one book at a time?

I don't believe that it is.

I like you read multiple books at the same time.

And I don't think I've ever felt like I'm cheating on a book because I'm reading one more than the other.

I tend to feel like I spend a lot more time when we're doing our buddy reads and I need to get to the next milestone.

I feel like I spend a lot more time with that book than I would, you know, a book that I'm reading on my own.

And I don't feel like I'm cheating.

I just feel like I'm reading that other book.

Yeah, that's true.

I do feel like I'm maybe letting the the buddy read down if I'm really not creating enough time for the buddy read.

But that's different than the feeling of like cheating where you're like, yeah, oh, those other books are sad that I'm not reading them and they're sad that I'm reading this.

They're so.

Yeah, that I that I feel the same.

I feel the same there.

Books don't have feelings.

No, they don't, but they create such amazing feelings in us.

How could they know?

How could you say the books don't have.

They do.

It doesn't seem possible that books don't have feelings, but of course they don't.

Yeah.

Okay, we're going to wrap up with the holds list.

Jillian and I are very passionate about the library.

And because we're both avid users, we both have very active holds list.

And we feel that's something we don't hear a lot of people on book podcasts or book talk or IG talk about, you know, being regular library user.

And we're excited to be able to offer that to the bookish community.

And plus for season two, we're going to add what's up next to let you know what we'll be reaching for on our TBR and what you might hear us review on future episodes of the podcast.

Okay, Jillian, what's on your holds list?

So right now I have three books on my holds list.

I have the pumpkin spice cafe, which I have been waiting for for a long time, but I don't know if I'm going to read.

I've heard some reviews that it's kind of lame.

So I might skip it, but you know, I put it there anyway, just in case.

Then I have the most wonderful crime of the year by Ali Carter.

And then I have how to read a book by Monica Wood, which is a one I'm very excited about because of our buddy read one and a million boy, which we all loved.

So I'm excited about reading that one as well.

And then for up next for me, I have the silent patient by Alex Michael, ladies.

Here's a brief synopsis for you.

Alice Berencine, a renowned painter, shoots her husband and falls into complete silence, turning her crime into a public obsession.

As her fame grows, she is confined to a secure psychiatric unit while her art sores in value psychotherapists, the O Faber becomes fixated on unlocking out Alicia silence, but his pursuit of the truth forces him to confront unsettling aspects of his own life.

This is an older one, but I've heard so many good reviews about it.

And I'm very excited to read it.

It's perfect for this time of year.

I just have to finish the night we lost him first.

Did you see Goodreads posted recently this week?

Maybe we can link to it in the in the show notes.

And I'm actually trying to find the post.

Maybe they took it down.

Oh, no, there it is.

So Goodreads posted this past week, members top books of the past five years, and it's a list of 60.

Now Goodreads actually took a bit of flack for this because it is a very white list.

There is not a lot of diversity on this list at all, which is a crying shame given that it covers 60 books.

And certainly the readers on Goodreads are extremely diverse as well.

The number one book, the number one rated book by Goodreads users, Jillian is the silent patient.

I did see that and I was blown away because I you don't usually often see thrillers rated that highly.

That's right.

That's what I thought.

I thought I've been passing over that.

I mean, I actually been passing over that book because I find the cover very boring, but I've been passing over that book for a long time.

But will I'll be able to bring it to the show and let everybody know what I thought of it.

And you know, those of you who haven't read it will, you know, you can take the time and pick it up too.

Love that.

All right, Aaron.

Let's hear what you've got on the whole list.

Okay.

So because it's an evens episode, it's going to be my digital holds list.

And I don't know.

I feel like this is kind of like a rag tag group of books that don't feel like super purposeful.

I don't know if it's just because they've been sitting on my holds for a long time and sometimes with Libby listeners, when you put a hold, you do generally have a much longer weight than you have for print copies.

That's how I feel.

But yeah.

So I do find with Libby I put things on my holds list and then I just like set it and forget it.

It's like the slow cooker of books for reading.

It's not going to be like instant gratification.

I think I'm still waiting for some books that I've mentioned, maybe in past episodes.

The one I'm looking forward to is the most wonderful time by Jane Allen, which is funny because you're going to be reading the most wonderful crime of the year.

This is the most wonderful time.

Just period full stop.

Jane Allen is the author of that Black Girls Must I Exhausted series.

I'm certain I've actually mentioned this on my holds list before.

But another book that I have coming up is a book called I'm Starting to worry about this black box of doom by Jason Pargin.

And this I think is sort of like a funny thriller.

And I've never read Jason Pargin before.

I know that he gets like really rave reviews for doing a really specific kind of thing.

So we'll see when that comes up.

It says four weeks, but I'm not too sure.

And then what I have up next to read is actually a book called Lady McBeth by Ava Reed.

I had this book in print and I did all my stories a long time ago.

A really quick blitz because I had too many books out from the library.

I did a quick blitz.

I read for like 15 minutes of each book.

And then it was like a book showdown.

And I returned half of the books in my stack.

Lady McBeth by Ava Reed was a book that I read.

And I was like, no, I'm returning this.

But after I returned it, I had like buyers remorse or returners remorse.

And so what I ended up doing was putting a hold on Libby saying, listen, I'll send the print copy back into the universe.

But I think this will be a book that's easier to read on my e-reader.

And so I have that book.

And I probably really need to dive into it.

This is a retelling of McBeth from the point of view of Lady McBeth.

And it's a little bit challenging.

It uses a lot of different vernacular for the setting of McBeth for this like medieval language.

And I've read one of Ava Reed's books before.

And I think I gave it mixed reviews.

But I just couldn't stop thinking about this book after I did that blitz.

So I thought, well, that's what the library's for.

I just placed a new hold on it.

And that one is waiting for me.

Awesome.

I saw that one at Barnes and Noble when I was there the other day.

I was curious what it was about.

So I remembered you bringing it to the show.

Or no, you didn't bring it to the show.

I remember seeing it in your stories.

But I didn't really know what it was about.

So now I do.

Yeah.

All right.

That wraps up episode 30 of Medium Lady Reads 30, Jillian. 30 episodes.

I know.

Yay.

Look at us go.

All right.

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 like 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 arrived quickly.

And your next book finds you right when you need it most.

We'll talk to you soon.

Bye.

Bye.

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