Episode 44: The Reading Goals We Forgot About

Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads this is episode 44 - can you believe it? Erin and Jillian are so happy you’re here. 

Jillian and Erin have six new book recommendations to share with you today, plus all the cozy, nerdy, bookish vibes you know and love. So grab a drink, get comfy, and it’s time to dive in!

In This Episode:

• It’s time to start the episode, Erin and Jillian check-in on how their lives and reading is going.
• Mentioned in this episode: The public library in Finland the Oodi.
• The ladies jump into their reviews! Erin and Jillian share 3 books each, tune in to find out what they’re sharing.
• Mentioned in this episode: @pieladybooks.
• After the reviews, Jillian and Erin decide to share an update on their reading goals.
• If you’re curious what Erin and Jillian put on their holds list, be sure to stick around to the end of the episode.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

• Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
• Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• My Friends by Fredrik Backman
• Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
• Beartown by Fredrik Backman
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
• The Joy Reset by Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald, PhD
• One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
• Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
• Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
• Audre and Bash are Just Friends by Tia Williams
• Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
• Practice Makes Perfecty by Sarah Adams
• Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams
• Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
• The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
• Act Your Age Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
• Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
• So Far Gone by ​​Jess Walter
• The Deal by Elle Kennedy
• Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
• The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

Transcript

MLR Ep 44 The Reading Goals We Forgot About
[Music] Hello, hi, and welcome to Medium Lady Reads. This is episode 44. Can you believe it? We're so happy you're here. We've got six new book recommendations to share with you today. Let's all the cozy, nerdy, bookish vibes you know and love. So grab a drink, get comfy, and let's dive in. Hi everyone, I'm Jillian and Instagram content strategist for Bookish People. A mom of 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 moment. Hi everyone, and welcome back to Medium Lady Reads. We're so glad you're here with us. This is episode 44, landing the week of June 24th. And as always, we've got a fresh batch of book recommendations that we're excited to share with you. Whether you're updating your summer TBR, searching for that perfect poolside page turner, or just in the mood to hear some of our great stories, we hope at least one of these titles finds its way onto your nightstand or your beach bag. So grab your favorite drink, get comfy, and let's talk about what we've been reading lately. You might just find your next favorite book. Hi Erin, it's great to see you. How's your reading and life going? Hi Jillian, it's going, it's going. You know, I feel like my reading is a little bit on autopilot. In terms of life updates, it's hard to believe, but my trip to Finland that I alluded to in last episode, it's already over. It's coming on. I've been back for a few days. Helsinki was a really cool city to explore, especially. I had to bring this to the show. Their incredible central library, which is called the Udi. O-O-D-I, Udi. My hotel was very close to this amazing structure. I would highly recommend listeners Google it. It reminded me of Noah's Ark. The library itself represents a lot of finished values regarding community, taking care of the collective. Everything you can do in the Udi is free, except for the small cafe that they have, which includes the use of electric guitars, sewing machines, 3D printers, the list goes on and on. If you're ever interested in traveling the world through libraries, you can go ahead and start by googling the Udi. In terms of current reads, I said, my reading is kind of on autopilot. I'm just kind of reading whatever is due, is due soonest. I don't know. I think I got a reset my TBR, reset my hold list, because I was sharing with you, Jillian. I'm just trying to make my way through the stack, instead of following my mood and choosing what I feel called to read. It's not a bad thing. I'm reading book after book. I think I'm just feeling a little bit like reading as a thing on the to-do list, rather than reading as something to do for me. Reading is something to feed my soul and nurture me and take care of me. Currently, I'm reading Famous Last Words by Jillian McAllister. This is about Camilla, our main character. She's gearing herself up to return to work after maternity leave. She's dropping her baby off at daycare for the first time, only to realize midway through her first day back at work that her husband has been caught up in hostage scenario in another part of town. The plot twist Jillian is that her husband is the gunman. It's pretty good. I mean, it's good enough. It's what I'm reading right now. I will reserve my review for after I'm finished, but I'm around 75% through this book. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. What about you? How is your reading going? Summer is nearly upon us here in this neck of the woods, even I know for you too. We've been still in school until the last of the June. By the time this airs will probably be a few days into, I think we'll have, no, we'll have a couple of days left to school. That's what it is. My kids will be spending summers between home and Cam. So hopefully they don't get too bored, though. I'm sure there will be a lot of "I'm so bored." Coming from at least Esther. As for reading, things are going so good. I've been reading Great Book after Great Book. It's been such a joy to read lately. So I'm in the opposite end of the spectrum of you, but I just, I feel like I just came out of a funk. So I'm embracing it. As far as my current reads, I'm reading "Atmosphere" by Taylor Jenkins Read. Here's a brief synopsis for you. Joan Goodwin, an astronomy professor with her head in these stars, seizes the chance to join NASA's Space Shuttle program in 1980. Stepping into an elite world of high stakes training and unexpected camaraderie. As she bonds with fellow astronauts and discovers a deeper surprising love, Joan begins to rethink her place in both science and in life. But when I've made full mission in 1984, altars everything. Joan must confront what it truly means to reach for the stars. I am about two thirds through and loving this book, which doesn't surprise me based on the reviews that I've heard everywhere. This is really that good of a book. So I'll have to report back in a couple of weeks. I'm the same as you. I've been hearing a lot of book content creators really raving about this new release from her. So it sounds cool. It's a really different premise for her. It is. It's got some project Hail Mary vibes to it. Yeah. Happy squeal. That's really good. It's good. All right. Well, let's jump into our reviews for today. Jillian, tell us about the books you have for today's episode. What are we in for this week? I'm bringing three five star reads. The first one is a contemporary fiction. Then I have a summer romance and finally a young adult romance. What are you reviewing today, Aaron? For today's show, I'm bringing a bit of a mixed bag. We've been reading a lot of the same books, Jillian lately. So I actually had to go back a few weeks to get some fresh books for today. I'll be reviewing a hopeful personal development book, a romance author that I missed the buzz on and a tense yet riveting genre bending thriller. All right, Jillian, you have today's first book. What do you have for us? The first book I'm bringing to the show is My Friends by Frederick Bachman and Wow. What a book this was. If you want to feel something while reading, this book is a must read. As I mentioned earlier, this is a five star read for me. Here's this synopsis. Most people don't even notice them. Three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it's just a depiction of a wide expanse of sea, but Louisa, soon to be 18 years old and an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. She is determined to find out the story between those three figures. More than two decades before, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuse from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find each other a reason to get up every morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that after a chance encounter in an alleyway will unexpectedly be placed into Louisa's care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to discover how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting's birthplace, the more anxious she becomes about what she'll find. Louisa's complicated life is proof that happy endings are sometimes possible, but they don't always take the form we expect them to. This book is deeply emotional, account of friendship, and how important they are in a person's life. I absolutely love this book, but I will admit that it took me about a hundred pages to really hit my stride and get into it. I'm not taking any stars away from it, though, because it was that good. The best part of Bachman's books is that they're about regular, normal people, but he takes their stories and makes them so authentic and powerful. If you've ever read one of Bachman's other books and enjoyed them, then I'd highly recommend you read this one as well. That's my review of My Friends by Fredrick Bachman. I didn't have the sound my list, to be honest with you. I should read more Fredrick Bachman, the only one I've read is anxious people. That was good. I thought that was great. I thought it was really funny, very clever storytelling. I've heard Fredrick Bachman speak on a couple of YouTube videos. He's also very funny. But I've never read the Bear Town series. I've never read a man called Uva. I think it's titled, but it feels like there's a lot of choices when it comes to Fredrick Bachman. This sounds really, really good, though. It was good. It was great. I would highly recommend reading any one of his books, because they're all also good. I read the first in the series of Bear Town, so I have two more to go, but they're very, very good. Okay, Erin, you're next. What's your first review? Okay. Today I'm going to start with some nonfiction. I'll be reviewing The Joy Reset by Mary Catherine McDonald. I'll be honest, I picked up the joy reset because of its gorgeous cover, and it caught my attention through a pie of all things. Shout out to Steph Hawker Smith of At PyleiD Books on Instagram, whose book cover recreations in Pie Form are just as incredible as the covers themselves. I started with the audiobook, but this is one of those reads that compelled me to actually purchase a physical copy too, so that I can revisit the text, underline dog year annotate, whenever I feel called to do so. The subtitle of this book is Six Ways, Trauma Steels Happiness, and How to Win It Back. And while the word Trauma might give some readers pause, I do want to gently urge you to not let that scare you off. This isn't a book solely for people with Capital T Trauma. It's for anyone who's ever lived through hard things, experienced burnout, felt stuck in self-protective habits, or struggled to feel joy in difficult times. And I can imagine the majority of people listening to this episode could raise their hand to any of those things. I went into this book thinking I already understood joy. Certainly with the work that I do on medium-lady talks and the work that I do on Instagram, I like to think I'm pretty plugged in. But what Mary Catherine McDonald offers here through science and story is an unpacking of how our subconscious and our nervous system will actually negotiate joy that we try to experience. And those systems can protect us from joy when things feel uncertain because joy can be really vulnerable. It can be risky and it can feel unsafe. Reading this book was an unexpected personal aha moment for me as someone who spent a lot of time thinking and talking about burnout. I was struck by how clearly the joy reset connected to something I've been coming back to over and over again in my own medium-lady message. Healing isn't just hard work. Therapy, emotional regulation, mindset shifts. Healing is also soft work. It's about touch, art, music, laughter, poetry, and nature. And so often we've been conditioned to think of the soft work as indulgent, as frivolous, as something that comes after you do your hard work, as a reward for your hard work. But not an actual part of your healing. And this book challenged that and reminded me why I advocate so fiercely for joyful practices in mental health. McDonald as an author, weaves together, neuroscience lived experience and very, very compassionate storytelling. She walks through the six patterns that keep us from joy. And I couldn't help but think of my own habits and subconscious beliefs. I wouldn't label myself as someone with a traumatic background and yet the resonance with the storytelling was real. If you're looking for a book that is affirming, accessible, and kind of a little bit radical and it's reframing of joy as survival, this is a really nice place to start. It's a really good personal development book for the summer. One of the best mental health reads I've picked up in a while, five stars all the way, and a really important reminder that joy is not a reward, it's really just an essential part of being human. That's my review of the joy reset by Mary Catherine McDonald. Wow, this sounds really good. And definitely something for me, it sounds like a book that I need to read. Definitely add it to your audible cue. Mary Catherine McDonald does the audio herself. She has a really candid kind of like millennial way of narrating that is really accessible. It honestly flew by. I think I did this audiobook during my commute and I was shocked to already realize I was at the end of it. All right, I will be adding it after the show for sure. Jillian, your next to tell us about your second book today. The next five star read I'm bringing to the show is One Golden Summer by Carly Fortune. I adored this book. I was so excited to read it and it got bumped up to my TBR and it was worth that bump. Here's a synopsis. I never anticipated Charlie Florek. Good things happen at the lake. That's what Alice's grandmother says and it's true. Alice spent just one summer at a cottage with Nan when she was 17. It's where she took that photo, the one of the three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat. The image that changed her life. Now Alice lives behind the lens. As a photographer, she's often comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she's been itching for something more and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes with the plan for them both. Another summer in that magical place, Barry's Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their pieces disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat and the man driving it. Charlie Florek was 19 when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he's all grown up, a shameless flirt who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be 17 again. When life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun slanted days and warm nights out in the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice's soul. But when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart. Because Alice sees people, that's why she's so good at what she does, but she's never met someone who looks and sees her right back. Oh my goodness, this is so good. Yeah. It makes me want to read it again. Me too. Me too. I absolutely love the dynamic that develops between Alice and Charlie and enjoyed reading their story. Every summer after is my favorite by Carly Fortune, but this is a very close second. Maybe even tied for first. It gives all the cozy summer cabin vibe. You're likely to hear me talking about this one again. Come winter time and our cozy Christmas reads. Look no further. If you're looking for a book, this is your summer read. That's my review of One Golden Summer by Carly Fortune. Yeah, it's really good. It is. It was really, really good. I don't know. How do explain why Carly Fortune is my favorite romance writer? I think it's the combination of nostalgia and chemistry. She really has this kind of sweet spot for exploring and explaining attraction and the inner world of people who are sort of like the journey between like having a crush on somebody and then kind of like falling for them harder. I just really like how she paces her novels and I loved this book. It was great. I gobbled it up. I wish I'd taken longer to read it, but I think I read it in a couple of weeks and a couple of days. Same, same. I think you're right. I think it is the nostalgia and I think it's the, well for me anyway, it's the summer vibes. Summer was always such a quintessential time for reading and I just feel like that's she gets that that that she puts that out there really well. I think Charlie is her best written mail lead ever. Yeah, yeah. I agree. Okay, Erin, you're up next. What's your second book? Oh, well, this is a bit of a pivot. Next book was honestly it was a tough one for me emotionally, thematically, even physically at times, that I'm going to review Chain Game All Stars by Nanakwame Ajay Brenya. This is probably a book you've seen before with its striking yellow cover with the lone scythe, bold and impossible to miss. Here's the premise. In a near future United States where capitalism, criminal justice system and mass entertainment have found an unholy alliance were introduced to Cape, C-A-P-E, criminal action, penal entertainment, a four-profit, gladiator style combat system where incarcerated people can enrol to fight one another to the death for the promise of freedom after three years surviving the arena. The story centers around two standout fighters, LaRetta Thurwar and Hurricane Stacks. They're undefeated, legendary, and they're also in love. Their presence grounds the narrative in something that could feel like hope, but Ajay Brenya never lets us forget the brutality of the world around them. This book is intense. It's violent. It's also a mirror to what we already tolerate, a mirror to the ways we've collectively decided who deserves humanity and who doesn't. And I found myself really wrestling with that through the book, Jillian. How close are we really to this kind of future? It is very scary to look around with the events happening in LA, the ice raids. I think sometimes it feels like that kind of violence is really not that far off. From a craft standpoint, the book is brilliant. The world building is complex and chilling. The pacing is non-linear. It kept me really alert and sort of on edge and I know that was definitely done on purpose. There are moments of clarity and commentary that are so profound. I honestly just had to kind of stop reading and switch to something else. I think I read three romance novels while I was reading "Changing All Stars" just to kind of have content to pivot to. But I will admit, and maybe this is on me as a reader, I did struggle at times to stay emotionally connected. I craved more heart, more intimacy with the characters. Some scenes, to me, felt kind of clinical. I think they were intentionally distant and I can only imagine that was by design because every part of this book is very well thought out. It did make it hard for me to fully anchor myself in the story's emotional core. Plus, this is a hard book to read if you have to pick it up and put it back down. So not only for my own reading pace, but also as a mom of three busy boys, I get a lot of reading done in between regular real life. This was a tough one to get into the world and then it just became harder to stay in it. I did give this book 3.5 stars, which feels too low and somehow, honestly, it's kind of exactly right for my experience. I wonder if the audiobook might have helped, especially given that the story shifts between multiple points of view, and I found out after reading the audio includes a full cast. And that said, this book has embedded itself in my brain. I will be thinking about it for a very, very long time. You know, not every book is meant to be cozy or comfortable. Some books are meant to confront, disrupt, and make us ask hard questions about justice, about punishment, and about our appetite for entertainment. It's one of the books that makes reading an incredible experience for me and for a lot of people listening. I'm really, really glad I read this book. And if you do pick it up, or if you've read "Chain Geng All Stars," I would love to know what you think. That's my review of "Chain Geng All Stars" by Nana Kwame at J. Brenna. I read this last year and I think I had the same experience. It was a lot. It was very difficult to read for me. And my experience was very similar to what you went through. Yeah, it was one of those I've had on my TBR for such a long time. I think it's extremely popular. I want to say I headed on hold at the library for over a year. And that makes me feel good. Like I do think people should be reading this book. I think this is a good one, this would be a good one to read with like a reading study after or with a group at a library, or with a really skilled facilitator. I think you could probably continue to find lots of things thematically within the text. And I'd love to know if any of our listeners have picked this up, or if you have it on your TBR, what has attracted to you? What attracted you to it in the first place? I also, I've seen this book get kind of misgenrered as sci-fi. I've seen it get genreed as dystopian. I've seen it get genreed as a thriller. And I just like, I don't know where you would place this. It's very historically. It makes very interesting historical connections. There's a lot of footnotes in this novel. I don't know. I think you're never going to read anything like this. And if that kind of reading experience appeals to you, then it's worth reading. For sure. Gillian, it's our final round of books. What's your last book? The last book I'm bringing to the show is Audrey and Bash or Just Friends by Tia Williams. This was an absolutely delightful novel. I loved Audrey and Bash. Five stars. No question. Here's the synopsis. Meet Audrey, junior class president, debate team captain, unofficial student therapist, desperately in need of a good time. Meet Bash, mysterious new senior, everybody's crush, tall, floppy, great taste and jewelry, king of having a good time. It's the last day of school at Chess Shire Prep, Brooklyn's elite academy, and Audrey Mercy Moore's life is a mess. Her dad canceled her annual summer visit to his malleable beach house. Now she's stuck in a claustrophobic apartment with her mom, stepdad, and one-year-old sister, aka the goblin. Under these conditions, she'll never finish writing her self-help book, i.e. The key to winning over her Stanford's admissions board. Cut to Bash Henry. Audrey hires him to be her fun consultant, his job, to help her complete the experience challenge. Her list of five wild dares designed to give her juicy book material. She'll get inspo, he'll get paid, and everybody wins. He isn't boy from material and she's not looking for one. Can they stay professional despite their obvious connection? Squarching hot summer, squarching hot chemistry, but Audrey and Bash can't forget, they're just friends. If you haven't read Seven Days in June or don't remember much of the book like me, you'll still enjoy this book. It was the fun sort of to remember snippets of seven days as I read it, but just a few here and there. Audrey and Bash are the cutest, and I genuinely hope that Tia Williams will write more novels with them in the driver's seat. I love the way Williams has the relationship developed. It feels so real, and I love the way they end up connecting at the end. They're absolute perfection. I highly recommend this YA book. If you're a fan of any of Tia Williams's work, you'll love this as well. That's my review of Audrey and Bash, or just friends, by Tia Williams. Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute. Okay, from a YA perspective, how YA is it on a scale of one to five? I feel like very YA and one being like Eleanor and Park YA. I don't know. I mean, I really liked Eleanor and Park and you didn't like it. Well, I didn't hate it. I didn't hate Eleanor. No, no, I know. I know. I would say five. There were certain parts of the book that were surprising to me that were in a YA book. It's more YA, obviously, but it's not so YA that you're not going to enjoy it. It's not fluffy and rainbows all the time. There's a little bit of grit and yeah, it's good. It's really good. Nice. I have this on my library stack, and when I finish famous less words, I will probably open it up, crack it open. Awesome. I can't wait to hear what you think. Maybe we'll hear it on another future episode. Jillian and I are TBRs are like, I feel like I'm chasing Jillian's books, Jillian's reviews. I'm the one reading all of Jillian's reviews after her episodes. All right, Erin, you have our last review of the show. What are you sharing today? I feel like I've discovered a hidden gem, even though it turns out I might be the last to know about Sarah Adams. And while she somehow flown under my radar in the wake of Abbey J, Ali Hazelwood, Emily Henry, Carly Fortune, BK Borison, you name it. I'm so glad that her book, "Begbara or Steel" caught my eye during Spring Book preview season. And that little spark of interest turned into a full-on binge because the vibes in these books are for me, Chef's Kiss. Both "Begbara or Steel" and another book I recently read, "Practice Makes Perfect" are part of the "When in Rome" series, which follows the four Walker siblings, Noah, Emily, Annie, and Madison, as they each find love in their hometown of Rome Kentucky. And I'm using the word "series" loosely here because I actually read book three before book two, and I'm still waiting on book one. Honestly, that's the beauty of a good romance. You can jump in anywhere. Just like Jillian said with Audrey and Bash, if you don't remember the plot points of "Seven Days in June," you're going to be fine. The magic is in the characters and the chemistry, not the plot sequence. "Begbara or Steel" centers around Emily, the oldest Walker sibling. She's an eldest daughter to the core. Maybe I related too hard. Holding everyone together, everything and everyone together, ever since their parents died when they were kids. During the school year, she's a grade two teacher, and in the summer she finally lets yourself breathe. Until her plans are upended by the return of Jack Bennett, fellow teacher, one-time nemesis, and current source of all kinds of confusing feelings. Jack was supposed to be gone happily engaged in living elsewhere. So why is he back? And why does Emily suddenly care so much? This one has enemies to lovers, small town charm, teacher romance, and a slow burn that was really deeply satisfying. I love the tension, the banter, the steamy but sweet moments, and the way the siblings weave into the narrative to create a sense of kind of home and connection around the romance. It gives a really full-world experience that makes the love story in my opinion even better. Practice makes perfect, which is book number two, brings the same heart, but with different characters, and a slightly different vibe. These books both have an active growth arc, which I love in romance, where both people are really working on themselves in order to make room for love. They're not just falling into it and letting love fix everything. Sarah Adams clearly excels at creating chemistry that simmers and then pays off in exactly the right way for me as a reader. If you've enjoyed Abby Jimenez or Emily Henry, but you're ready to try something new, but still making sure you're hitting those emotional and romantic notes, I really recommend giving Sarah Adams a try. I'm so glad I did, and I'm pretty happy she has a backlist that I will continue to explore for the rest of the summer. That's my review of I guess you got a double review there of "Begboro or Steel" and "Practice Makes Perfect" by Sarah Adams. I am obsessed with romance right now. It's almost all I want to read. I need to grab a Sarah Adams. I haven't read anything by her yet. I think like whatever you can get first, just pick it up and take a look. All right, so those are our six reviews for this episode. As we're about to end our second season and take a break in July, Jillian and I thought it would be fun to check in on our reading goals and see how things are coming along. All right, Jillian, you're first. Tell us about your goals update. All right, here we go. So my first goal, I said a goal I'm good-reased for 63 bucks. I'm currently at 46, so I'll probably hit my goal in about three or four months, so I'm very pleased with that. My next goal is to continue to read at least one chunker a month. I'm not doing so well on this one. I don't think I've read any intentional chunker since February. I need to decide if I want to keep this goal or if I want to let it go. It's just, I don't know, I'm having too much fun reading romance and romance. There are some chunkers when it comes to romance, but not a whole lot and even when they are chunkers, they tend to be really easy reading. Not that a chunker has to be hard reading, but that's in my mind when you read a chunker, it's going to be a little bit more difficult reading. Well, you were like protecting some of your reading budget, your reading time budget, or some of the books that you were passing over because of their size. And maybe you've run the school, the school has run its course, maybe it's served its purpose. Yeah, maybe. Well, I have to think about it. I also want to ensure I'm DNFing books that don't serve me. If they're not bringing me joy to read, I want to stop reading them. So I'd like to DNF at least four books. So far, I've only DNFed to this year, but I'm okay with this because I've been reading books that I really want to read. I've had a lot of four and five star books, so if I don't hit this goal, I'm okay with that. All right. Next up, I want to continue to reflect on my reading. I'm not sure what I was aiming for with this one because I already review each book. I read on the show so I can talk about it here. So I guess I'm succeeding with this one. Check. I knew goal I added for 2025 was that I wanted to use currently readings reading log. I have not done so well with this one. I was doing so well until March. And then I just stopped using it. I could restart, restart, but I don't think I want to go back and enter all the books that I've read and put them on there. Maybe I do. I don't know. I guess I got to think about this one too. Finally, I'm on the hunt for another book that makes me feel as deeply as under the whispering door does. Last year, I read Project Hail Mary and it was spectacular. I haven't found the book yet for this year, but I have high hopes for the Mars house by Natasha Pulley. So I'll keep you posted on that. Maybe. All right, Erin. It's your turn for the goal update. Let's have it. Okay. And I will admit, and Jillian, I think you had this too, that I was kind of like, what did I say were my goals? Yes. Yes, I had to go back and look. Let's check and see how that's going. My first goal was to have 45% inclusive reading. I am at 44.8% inclusive voices on my tracker. And that gives me room, I think, to grow, but I'm going to obviously have to keep paying attention to my reading choices over the summer, especially because I get a ton of reading done in the summer months. The second goal I have is to complete the full reading challenge for 2025. I completed the 2024 challenge. It was really, really rewarding. But Jillian, I'm kind of struggling with this year's challenge. Sometimes the prompts this year feel so obscure, like so niche, but I have to remind myself, the reason I'm doing this is to push myself, continue to try books outside of what I'm seeing in popular media or on the good reads lists. I'm not caught up on the May or June prompts, but I am committed. And I'll keep going, especially this overlaps with my inclusive voices goal. So they serve a mutual purpose. I had another goal that I had completely forgotten about, which is to read more audiobooks by my favorite narrators. This is a great goal. It just completely forgot about it. So even though I've forgotten, that's easy enough to fix. I'm going to read "Act your age, Eve Brown," which is by Talia Hibbert, and narrated by Ioni Butler. And if you want a really good romance narrator, you should check out Ioni's work. So there's that, you know, getting just getting back on the goals train and realizing that I think it's because a lot of my audiobooks are nonfiction. And so not that the narrator doesn't matter, but often they're read by the subject matter, they're read by the author themselves. So it's not like you're going to find more by the audiobook narrator because the narrator is the author. But I do like audiobook fiction. And so I think I'm going to be excited to get into this. And I'm feeling like you like every other book I want to read is romance. The books I say, I want to read are not the books that I'm like actually reaching for or whatever I want to be reaching for. Maybe this is going to be my romance audiobook summer. We'll see. My next goal was to read more graphic novels and poetry. I'm kind of doing this pretty organically. I'm not very focused on it. I'm very good at starting poetry, but I'm not very good at finishing poetry books, which makes no sense because like you could read a poetry book in one sitting pretty much. I just started a new graphic novel, which was recommended by Henry. Henry's my nine-year-old, the series is called Lightfall. Sometimes graphic novels and poetry books make me feel like I'm not reading real books and I should be reaching for something else. So I guess I still have some work to do fighting that real books mentality because you know, I've never like been unsatisfied by poetry or graphic novels. I'm always like I feel pretty good after after reading those books. And then my last goal, which was kind of obscure, is the year of Elizabeth Strout. And I have read one Elizabeth Strout as an author. I have read one book by Elizabeth Strout. I started with all of Kitteridge. I can't believe I didn't bring it to the show, to be honest. It was just not what I expected. I do have in my TBR. My name is Lucy Barton, and I've been sort of co-reading these with Amanda from Australia. And so that's been a fun way to stay connected with my friend through reading. And those are my goals. Like honestly, I feel like I'm pretty much on track. That's great. I think you're doing really great. I think we both are. Go us. Good job with the goals that we forgot about. All right. We're going to wrap up with the holds list. Aaron and I are very passionate about the library. And because we're both avid users, we both have a very active holds list. And we feel like it's something we don't hear a lot about on book podcasts, book talk, or IG. So we know it's something we can offer the bookish community. Plus we'll also be sharing what's up next to let listener know what we'll be reaching for on our TBR. All right, Aaron. What's on your holds list? Okay. Right now, not too much ready from the library. I'm waiting for the third book in that graphic novel series Lightfall to come in for Henry. And I don't know, I guess me after I make my way through the first two books. And that's kind of fun. Like I love when my kids are excited to see their books come available or they come to me for help to get the books they want from the library. So yeah, that's pretty much the only thing that I'm waiting for right now. But I honestly have quite enough checked out right now. And I do feel like in terms of what's next, I need to choose carefully. I'm very compelled to pick up Audrey and Bash. And I really want to speed through some of the backlog I have going on in terms of the fold reading challenge that I mentioned from my goals. The prompt for June was a dystopian novel written by an indigenous author. That's what I mean by like layers of niche. But regardless of that, I will be reading Moon on Crusted Snow by Wabgeshig Rice. Here's a short premise with winter looming, a small northern and a schnaube community goes dark, cut off, people become passive and confused, panic builds as the food supply dwindles. And while the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order and unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. And soon after, others follow. That's pretty much probably what's up next. I hope I think. Jillian, what are you waiting for from the library? And what do you have coming up next on your TBR? All right. So from the library, I'm waiting on so far gone by Jess Walter and the deal by El Kennedy. I saw the deal at Barnes and Noble and I was almost going to grab it and buy it. But then I'm like, you know what? No, I'm going to ask for this one from the library. And I got it through once and I wasn't able to get to it. So I returned it and now I'm getting it back again. But the copy that I got from the library, it was a completely different cover than as at Barnes and Noble. So I was like, this is not the same book, but it is. If you go into good reads and you look at the different editions that you can do, the cover of the book was there. So it is the same book, just a very different cover. Unexpected. All right. As for what's up next, I'm going to be reading Tokyo Ever After by Amiko Jean. Amiko Jean is the author of one of my favorite books from 2024, The Return of Ellie Black. So when I found out that this was written by her as well, I was excited to read it. Here's the synopsis. Izumi Tanaka's world flips upside down when she learns her long lost father is the crown prince of Japan, making her a real life princess overnight. Wist away to Tokyo, Izumi must navigate royal life, cultural clashes and palace politics, all while falling for her brooding bodyguard. Torrent between two identities and two worlds is Izumi must decide who she really is. And if there's room for both duty and dreams and her happily ever after, I was very excited about this. So I cannot wait to read it. Add to cart. Ellie Black is one of the best books I also read last year. That was a great book. It was so good. But not what this sounds like. No, it's not. I think we talked about that when you reviewed the Return of Ellie Black, you talked about how Amiko Jean is a bit of a genre hopper. Yeah, I don't remember talking about it, but I believe that I did. I just don't recall. Yeah, I remember that because The Return of Ellie Black is a dark thriller. Yeah, it is. No princesses in that book. No, definitely not. All right, well, everyone. We hope you found some kind of book to read for your next pick. That wraps up episode 44 of Medium Lady Reads. Medium Lady Reads is a spin-off of the Medium Lady Talks podcast and Instagram community. On Instagram, you can find me, Erin@medium.lady, and you can find Jillian at Jillian Finding Happy for more of our current reads and other shenanigans. And of course, you can follow the podcast itself on Instagram @mediumladyreads. If you like this episode, please share with another bookish friend. It really helps us continue to grow the show to reach more readers. Thank you for listening. I'm your host Jillian. And I'm your other host, Erin. Until next time, we hope that you're hold to arrive quickly. And that your next book finds you right when you meet it most. We'll talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.