Endless TBR, Reading Challenges & Book Burnout

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katherine Suzette (00:00):
Welcome back everybody.

(00:01):
This is our episode on, wait,what is our title?

Zinzi Bree (00:09):
endless TBR, reading challenges, and book burnout.

All right, so I am looking at it.
I was just wondering if that'sthe title?

Zinzi Bree (00:16):
We are book Dragon Banter.
We're so glad you're here.
I mean, if something else comesup that's snappier or funnier,
then maybe we'll change it.
But at the moment that's what Igot.
'cause I wasn't asking chat GPT.

Hello everybody.
You're here for our episode onyour endless TBR reading
challenges and book burnout, andI can't wait to share with you
guys some of my opinions.
It is my favorite thing to do.
right, so we have with us todayour lead host.
This is Zinzi Bree.

Zinzi Bree (00:44):
Hi guys.

And you've got Sage Moreaux.

Sage (00:47):
Everyone.

And I'm Katherine Suzette.

Zinzi Bree (00:49):
This is an explicit podcast.
We don't really swear that's notwhat it's explicit for, but we
do get into some heavy topicsfrom the books that we're
reading.
Just a heads up.

Sage (00:58):
for another heads up.
Be forewarned that there may bespoilers for books that you
haven't yet read.
you'll find those titles listeddown in our show notes.

Zinzi Bree (01:06):
we had a little bit of a conversation about this not
too long ago.
And now I'm completely blankingif it was in our podcast or if
it was out of my writing group,but I made the comment that my
TBR is endless because it willnot end until I'm dead.
The day that I die, I will stillbe finding new books that I want
to read.

(01:26):
That when I'm dead I can't.
So do you guys, for you withyour endless TBR, how much of a
concentrated effort do you maketo actually knock stuff off?
Or is it just you're constantlyadding and you maybe, maybe not
ever get to the books actuallyon it?

Yeah, great question.
I am constantly adding, but I amsuch a mood reader that I'm
adding it for later whenever Iam in the right mood for it.
So I add it because it soundsreally, really cool in the
moment, but I don't wanna readit right now or I don't have
time right now.
And I assume that when I getinto the mood I will come back
to it.
But I did have a

Zinzi Bree (02:04):
friend

once upon a time who would

Zinzi Bree (02:06):
only add

two or three books to their

Zinzi Bree (02:08):
TBR

at time and she would

Zinzi Bree (02:10):
read

those actual books

Zinzi Bree (02:12):
and

add more to her actual TBR until she
completed

Zinzi Bree (02:16):
them

was the strangest thing for my brain

Zinzi Bree (02:19):
Mama.

to wrap around it.
I don't think I said that phraseright, Just somebody who
actually stayed on their

Zinzi Bree (02:25):
TBR.

And used it how we think it's

Zinzi Bree (02:29):
supposed to work.

Sage (02:30):
I am such

Zinzi Bree (02:32):
a

Sage (02:32):
like, book hoarder,

Zinzi Bree (02:33):
Like a ah dragon, book dragon right?

Sage (02:36):
So I'm such a book hoarder that the thought of only putting
a couple of

Zinzi Bree (02:40):
titles

Sage (02:40):
on my list at once make, gives me like a panic attack
because what about all thosebooks I might forget to

Zinzi Bree (02:46):
write down

Sage (02:47):
and then somehow miss, like

Zinzi Bree (02:49):
and never

Sage (02:50):
be able to read because I

Zinzi Bree (02:52):
didn't

Sage (02:52):
write them down at the time.
My list is so long and Iactually,

Zinzi Bree (02:56):
I keep

Sage (02:56):
a couple of different TBR lists.
My primary one

Zinzi Bree (03:00):
in my journal

Sage (03:00):
where I have nerded out and rewritten it

Zinzi Bree (03:03):
and

Sage (03:04):
like color coordinated and by genre, I will throw a photo
of that up on our socials if youguys wanna check it out.

Zinzi Bree (03:12):
but

Sage (03:13):
but I have,

Zinzi Bree (03:14):
also have

Sage (03:15):
have another another list on

Zinzi Bree (03:18):
my

Sage (03:18):
Good Reads account where if I find titles online, I will
add it there and at some point

Zinzi Bree (03:23):
maybe

Sage (03:23):
marry the two.
That one's probably considerablylonger, but I refer to it less.
But I did go to the library theother day and came home with a
stack of books like this muchto, and I was like, and I wish I
could read them all todaybecause maybe one of them is For
She Is Wrath, which is for ourbook

Zinzi Bree (03:38):
Yes.

Sage (03:38):
but the others were like, not on maybe one of'em was on my
TBR, but the others were not.
And they just looked good and Icouldn't help myself.

Zinzi Bree (03:46):
Hmm,

Sage (03:47):
yeah, it is a problem for me.

Zinzi Bree (03:49):
something I've started doing to grow my TBR
'cause it's a monster and needsto be fed.
And I feed it when I go to thelibrary because often I'm with
my kids and I cannot, I have tohold my daughter's hand.
I can't just have both arms fullof books.
And also I read primarilythrough listening to audiobooks.
although now I'm doing moreeBooks or trying physical books
are the rare one for me anyway.

(04:10):
So if I see a physical book thatI'm like, Ooh, I'm intrigued by
this title, I'm intrigued bythis cover.
I'm intrigued by the concept.
I take out my phone and I take apicture of it.
So I have in my phone a wholesection of it that is just books
with the cover and the authortitle.
easily seen.
So I can be like that one.
Okay.
I'm gonna go look for that as anaudio book or an ebook.

(04:30):
So I can start seeing if thelibrary has a digital copy so
that I can go read it.
There's also, I have lists onPinterest.
I have lists on good reads.
I have lists on Fable.
I think like a physicalhandwritten list is the only one
I don't have.
No, I do.
Because anytime in our writer'sgroup, someone is like, you
should read this book.

(04:50):
Then I'm writing it down fromthere so I take it back.
Even my schedule has books inthe margins to add to my TBR.

Sage (04:57):
Yeah, it is kind of like you said that it's gonna be
reading off the TBR and booksthat I randomly acquire

Zinzi Bree (05:04):
on the TBR

Sage (05:05):
till the day that I

Zinzi Bree (05:06):
die

Sage (05:06):
a, it's like, that's a sad thought then.
Then I won't be reading

Zinzi Bree (05:10):
No,

Sage (05:10):
on this plane of existence any longer.

What are you gonna miss most about Life?
Books.
and

Zinzi Bree (05:15):
the people

you love?

Sage (05:17):
Yeah.
I'm not gonna answer thatquestion.

Zinzi Bree (05:21):
yeah.

have an answer either.

Zinzi Bree (05:22):
Sorry.
I just got the mental image ofwhen Sage dies, we're gonna bury
her with the TBR pile.

are

Zinzi Bree (05:29):
we'll find a cavern, put her in there, put all the
books into and enshrine her.
That'll be

Sage (05:36):
love those book,

actually.

Sage (05:38):
made out of book pages.

Zinzi Bree (05:40):
yeah.

Sage (05:42):
That'll be

Okay.
So we've just planned Sage's andmy in my funerals.
Everybody

Zinzi Bree (05:47):
that's.

books and book pages.

Sage (05:49):
Except

just take the books

Zinzi Bree (05:50):
Well, no, no, no.
I would want the reverse at myfuneral.
I would want, okay, here's, youknow, my cas bit's over
somewhere in the corner.
I don't care.
I don't care about my body.
But mine is, I'm gonna be like,all right, you have to get all
of my favorite books.
Buy a bunch of copies of myfavorite books.
And like when you go to awedding, you have a wedding
favor.
When you go to my funeral, youget to walk away with one of my
favorite reads.

Sage (06:09):
but the

Zinzi Bree (06:10):
what I would want.

Sage (06:10):
be one of the books that you published,

Zinzi Bree (06:13):
Oh,

Sage (06:14):
published books?

Zinzi Bree (06:15):
I hope so.

Sage (06:17):
And

Zinzi Bree (06:17):
I hope I still like my own books.

Sage (06:19):
to clarify, my funeral will actually be me in a boat
out on the

Zinzi Bree (06:24):
water

Sage (06:24):
the arrow being burning

Zinzi Bree (06:26):
Yes.

Ooh.

Sage (06:27):
But I could be

Zinzi Bree (06:28):
Oh Oh, it's a little burn.

Do you want?
Books or flowers

Sage (06:33):
but

Zinzi Bree (06:33):
Oh, books

Sage (06:33):
Then that's too close to book burning, so maybe not.

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree (06:38):
I know.

you've already had people tear them up
and they do a project day andthey make these book flowers,
then maybe it's not so bad.

Sage (06:44):
Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree (06:45):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (06:45):
know how the supposedly in the publishing industry, if a
book doesn't sell, there's justlike tons of backlog copies of a

Zinzi Bree (06:52):
Hmm mm-hmm.

Sage (06:53):
could be all of those books of mine that didn't end up
selling.
Although, who knows, maybe aftermy death, then all of my books
would become so much morevaluable.

Zinzi Bree (07:02):
Your death will make headlines and everybody will be
like, I need to go over read myfavorite.
Do we need a death triggerwarning at the beginning to be
like, Hey, by the way, we dotalk a little bit about funerals
and death at the beginning ofthis one.
Or is that covered in our'causeit's not like that's an explicit
thing, that's just a trauma.

Sage (07:20):
think my family members that might listen might need to
know that in advance.

Zinzi Bree (07:24):
yeah.
Well now my,

Sage (07:26):
guys.

Zinzi Bree (07:28):
All right.
we talked a little bit about ourendless TBR and the fact that we
are not the kind of readers thatwill ever finish it.
it will be truly endless untilwe die.
And then I want to hop over to,I'm really excited about this
topic, which is readingchallenges.
To start this off though, Iwanna say as a reader, if you
read one book a year, awesome,great.

(07:51):
If you read a hundred books ayear, awesome.
Great.
If you read a thousand books ina year.
How?
I wanna know.
But awesome.
Great.
Like there's, there's nojudgment.
Read, read as much as you want,however you want.
if you're an audiobook reader,yes, that counts.
If you are a short story or anovella reader, like if you, if
that counts for you, thatcounts.

(08:12):
I like reading challenges thatyou get to set the rules.
So in any of this that we aretalking about, it only counts if
it counts for you.
You don't have to go ask theInternet's opinion.
You don't need anybody'sapproval to be like, oh yes, I
succeeded at this.
It's for you.

Sage (08:29):
Yeah, and if it's fun, not a stress,

Zinzi Bree (08:31):
Yeah.

Sage (08:32):
please don't be reading I have to read this book because
it goes on my, you know, contestor

Zinzi Bree (08:37):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (08:38):
here.

Zinzi Bree (08:39):
if you're reading our book club books because you
feel like, oh, this is achallenge, I'm joining a book
club.
If that takes the fun out foryou, don't do it.
only read if it's

Sage (08:48):
percent I.

Zinzi Bree (08:48):
do these kind of stuff, if it's fun for you.
Now, for me, reading challengesare fun for me.
I get, my little dopamine hit ofgoing on to Goodreads and doing.
I think this year my personalchallenge was just to read, 60
books maybe for the year, whichI absolutely knew I would be
able to read because that isnot, it was much lower than my
normal goal for a year.

(09:09):
And I made that choice because Iwas like, I'm gonna be really
busy this year writing my book,so I'm not gonna have time to
read as much because I try notto read other people's words and
have their voices in my headwhen I work on my own stuff.
So I knew at the beginning ofthis year, I gotta make this
goal smaller.
What's your average?

(09:30):
Most years, I have a goal of ahundred.
I think the highest I had oneyear on Good Reads that maybe
the goal was 120 And I thinkthat particular, whatever my
highest one was, I know I didn'tmeet it.
I came in under, by like lessthan 10 books.
But yeah, I do not considermyself a super reader, but I

(09:51):
don't actually know what thelike is.

Sage (09:54):
I feel like that's a lot of books because that's like two
books a week or more, threebooks a week, which I feel like
is like if it's 150, that'sbasically three books a week,
which is a lot.
It depends obviously on thelength of book that you're
reading.
And if you're listening in audioand you can speed it up, that
sometimes works.
Do you count graphic novels,that kind of thing?

Zinzi Bree (10:16):
I do count graphic novels personally.

Sage (10:19):
My goal is usually around 75 for the year.
And I, the way I do it is I havea in my journal, near my TBR
list, I draw a little bookshelfand I fill in the titles as I
go.
And I, I'll share that too.
I can usually get 50 to 75 bookspines on my little drawing of
my shelf.

Zinzi Bree (10:38):
Hmm.

Sage (10:39):
so that's my personal challenge.
And then if I, I'm gonna readmore, I'll just make a new page
and do another bookshelf.
But that's usually about, I'musually between 50 to 75
depending on how many of thoseare, like these epics that are
600 pages or whatever.
'cause that slows me down alittle bit.

I have a request.
Sage, can you make a template ofthis because I want this, for
me.
I want a coloring page to colorin like this.
And I would really love to havea template version of this.
Like I could download it into mydigital calendar.
I could print it out.
I could stick it in my journal,whatever that is, however I go

(11:15):
about this.
But I really wanna do thisbookshelf challenge with you.

Sage (11:20):
I'll

a hundred percent do that.

Sage (11:21):
I will post it on our socials for anyone who is
interested, they can grab thelink and download that.

Yes.

Sage (11:28):
And I love a drawing project to make me feel like I'm
productively being creative andnot writing when I need a break

And I requested it so it's all better.

Zinzi Bree (11:37):
Add that to our to-dos.
So that's

Sage (11:39):
'cause I only have like my personal challenge and I have
participated in, I think it wasPBS's great read

Zinzi Bree (11:48):
Ooh,

Sage (11:48):
it was books that were nominated for best books ever.
And it was like ran the gamut sohard.

Zinzi Bree (11:56):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (11:57):
was probably on there, but then also like, you

Zinzi Bree (12:00):
Moby Dick.

Sage (12:01):
and Moby Dick.

Zinzi Bree (12:02):
Oh.

Sage (12:02):
then modern classics also.

Zinzi Bree (12:04):
At least the Great Gatsby's short.

Sage (12:07):
Exactly,

We need to have an

Zinzi Bree (12:08):
episode on classics.

Sage (12:10):
A number of them.
I never completed it.
I will admit that now.
I stabbed the paper somewherelaying around.
I, it, to me it's like alifelong challenge.

Zinzi Bree (12:17):
Hmm.

Sage (12:18):
because some of the books were like, maybe I'll get there,
maybe I won't.
That was maybe even in 2020.

Zinzi Bree (12:24):
War and Peace that's the, Long book.
And I don't know why in my brainthat's the book, at some point I
will audiobook it obviously.
But that's the one that makes melike a reader.

Sage (12:39):
Serious

Zinzi Bree (12:40):
Serious reader.
Thank you.
I was like, what is the, what,what am I even trying to A
serious reader and I really needto replace that with a fantasy
book.
So maybe I'll have to find likethe Brandon, uh, the Brandon,
the Brandon Sanderson, series,maybe the Mistborn series or his
Way of Kings.

(13:00):
Make that my new like ha, uh,

Sage (13:03):
if it wants to be

Zinzi Bree (13:04):
goal series.

Sage (13:05):
think if that's gonna be like a nine book series.

Zinzi Bree (13:07):
Oh, okay.

Sage (13:08):
three or four.

Zinzi Bree (13:09):
what level

Sage (13:09):
of interest you have in being a super serious fantasy
reader.
But I did find that once I gotinto

Zinzi Bree (13:17):
the

Sage (13:17):
way of

Zinzi Bree (13:17):
Kings

Sage (13:19):
it was hard to put down,

Zinzi Bree (13:20):
Yeah.

Sage (13:21):
even though it's super epic.

sage, you're like Way of Kings and I'm like,
Mistborn,

Sage (13:26):
Yeah.
Ms.
Moore is great.

it is.

Sage (13:29):
It's super good, but I feel like it's a little bit of
an easier read, so if she's,

That's true.

Sage (13:34):
read War, peace, war, and Peace.
Have you read

no, I've tried multiple times, but this
is why I think we should have aclassics oriented episode at
some point because my opinion ofclassics is really just that
they became really popular orinfluenced society for some
reason, just like Twilight.
But that doesn't necessarilymean they need to be on this
classics list because they'resomehow really amazing and
really good, and really thoughtprovoking, and they changed us

(13:56):
for the positive.
So I have opinions,

Zinzi Bree (13:59):
Oh great.
'cause I also have opinions, andit sounds like my opinions might
be different from the ones thatyou just said.
So,

woohoo.

Zinzi Bree (14:06):
it might be, it might be on a case by case basis
for those books.
A future episode to stick aroundfor.
So we talked a bit about annualgoals.
Katherine, do you have an annualgoal that you keep track of or
aim for?
Because you do like a book a dayor something ridiculous, don't
you?

Close.
It depends, right?
sometimes I wake up in the yearor the month or the week or
whatever and I'm like, I'm a seta goal.
And you know what?
Those goals never work for me.
I don't know if it's somethingin my brain or whatever, but I'm
like, I don't know.
I'm gonna surpass that 300.
There's no problem.
So why set the goal?
And that said, I read in all theformats.
So I listen to audio and Ilisten at two times speed.

(14:42):
And I reread books too.
in my brain, I count that to acertain extent.

Zinzi Bree (14:47):
You should.

listening to it again.

Sage (14:49):
Mm-hmm.

With different purposes, like I'm
rereading a book right now thatwas written by a trio of
authors, and so when I rereadit, I see all these layers and
layers of things that they builtin, and that makes it
fascinating and interesting forme.
So I count that as a new read,but it's not a new book.
so I say approximately one a daybecause that, that does work out

(15:11):
that way.
I also read a lot of graphicnovels, but it's really hard to
count those unless the series isfinished and the book is
finished.
So it's hard to know what tocount and what not to and I
think these days a lot ofreaders count audio books as a
read quote unquote, even thoughyou're listening to it and maybe
passively absorbing it at alighter level than you would if

(15:32):
you were reading the actualwords.
So there's less judgment aroundthat perhaps than there was a
decade ago.
But that is my main form ofconsuming the books.
'Cause whatever it is that I'mdoing, I've got a book.

Sage (15:44):
I almost never listen to audio books and I do sometimes
and I enjoy it, but for somereason I think I'm just really a
visual person.
So I mostly am.
Reading on paper or on my, on myKindle.
But if I listen to an audiobook, I'm always like, it's more

(16:05):
intermittent.
So I don't ever feel like I,'cause I won't sit down and
listen to an audio book.
It feels like I have to do itwhile I'm moving around, or I'm
in the car, or I'm walking thedog.
I worry about having too manydays in a row where I don't get
a chance to listen or somethinglike that.
So I don't end up jumping onthat as often.
But I actually think it's mostly'cause I like to not be

(16:27):
distracted by things visuallywhile I'm listening.

Zinzi Bree (16:30):
Hmm.

Sage (16:30):
be looking at the words and that way I see the pictures
in my head and I'm not thinkingabout anything else.

that's more of like a deeper read to me when
you're fully absorbed in all thesensory ways with the book.
And I love that too.
the reason I know I read a booka day, no matter the format, is
because even back in high schooland prior to that, I would
genuinely go to the library oncea week and walk out with, the
books up to the chin that youcan't quite keep hold of.

(16:57):
And the librarians know you'recoming and they all know your
name kind of thing.
And they're like, oh wow.
Okay.
You're one of those.
Yes, I was one of those.
And then I would have all of thebooks that I purchased.
'cause I can't walk into abookstore without purchasing
books.
I can't walk by it.
I can't do anything.
It's like I have to haveblinders on to not go into a
bookstore and buy something.

(17:19):
And I used to sleep with all ofthe books on my bed.
But like half of my bed was me,half of my bed was books.
So like, think roll over onto abig pile of books and be like,
oh, okay.
And then I just, wake up andstart reading again.
That was my life.
So I know that I have been avoracious reader of all formats

(17:41):
since I was really, reallyyoung.

Zinzi Bree (17:43):
This the, sorry.
I just wanted to say, hot tipfor when you go to the library
and you've got a bunch of booksget it's a box bag that you use
for groceries, which is isdesigned to be able to carry
cans and a lot of heavy weight,but you take out the bottom and
it collapses down.
Like just keep that in your car.
So when you go to the library,you can pull out this bag that

(18:04):
when you're walking around andpicking your stuff, it can be
flat.
And then when you're at checkouthere, you've got it.
It's meant for heavy stuffloaded in there.
And it's much easier to walk outversus I've seen this where
having grown up at a homeschoolfamily from a large family,
bringing a laundry basket andjust loading up the books in a
laundry basket and walking outtathere because there so many

(18:27):
kids, so many books.
And that's just easier to carryif they're, especially if
they're like a ton of littlepicture books.
And you've got little kids

Sage (18:35):
We were in walking distance to our library

Zinzi Bree (18:37):
Ah

Sage (18:38):
and the dog and I will walk down to the library and I
will park the dog outside.
And partially as a way to keepus from staying in the library
all day.
'cause there's other things toaccomplish and also to get the
dog to have a walk.
But I then we have to carry thebooks home.
So now my kids are a littleolder, they can carry their own
bag of books.
But when they were young, it waskind of like a way to limit, I

(18:59):
think

Zinzi Bree (18:59):
hmm.

Sage (19:00):
going and pushing the library's limit on how many
books to check out because ofthe picture book element when
the kids were littler.
But now, and they still lovelike a, they'll.
Chapter books, but they stilllove a ton of graphic novels, so
the books are heavy and I'malways like, Nope, you gotta
carry your own books.

Zinzi Bree (19:16):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (19:16):
bring a bag.
I don't actually want one ofthose giant bags because then
the walk home it's uphill wouldbe terrifying.

Zinzi Bree (19:23):
Okay.
So outside of just here's yourstandard reading goal, any book
counts?
Have you done reading challengesbefore?
The only ones that I can thinkof were specifically ones from
my library, and again, that wasthey would either be read books
off of this specific list.
You know, read a couple of booksthat are an award winner or a

(19:45):
new release.
Or it would just be, it wouldbe, you know, reach a specific
number during the summer.
Right now my library has foradults, it's like, read three
books for the summer and winyour t-shirt.

Sage (19:55):
Yeah, I've done the library challenge definitely of
reading.
It's our library.
It's like Read this many daysand enter.
A raffle once you hit like 30days

Zinzi Bree (20:06):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (20:06):
that you've read.
Then you enter the raffle andyou read 30 more days, you get
another entry, something likethat.
Sometimes they give a free book,which is like super motivating
to me.
and then I read, I did do thePBS great read

Zinzi Bree (20:19):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (20:20):
Like I mentioned, I'm pretty sure it was through PBS.
But other than that, I have not.
I am a more like Katherine, I'ma mood reader, so the idea of
signing myself up to dosomething that I don't feel in
the mood for, like, I don'twanna read a book that I don't
necessarily feel in the mood

Zinzi Bree (20:36):
Hmm.

Sage (20:36):
So I think that holds me back.
But I am very curious about thehardest book reading challenge
of your life

Zinzi Bree (20:42):
Yeah, the hardest book reading challenge you'll,
you'll ever do, we will get toit, I promise.
I have a list of some of thechallenges that I came across
besides just trying to do anannual goal and that is A to Z.
So that's reading a book.
That either something in thetitle or the author's name is
one of the letters from thealphabet.
So that's, you know, 26 lettersthere.
if you're doing it in Englishthere's the Rainbow Cover

(21:04):
Challenge.
So whether that's your sevenbooks,'cause you're trying to
Roy g biv your books and you'retrying, you know, I feel like
Katherine looking behind you atthe Outlander books, there's
enough of them that are adifferent color.
That's like part of your, youcould hit some of your roy g biv
right?
With just with that series.
yeah, there's focusing on prizewinners.

(21:24):
There's doing around the world.
So reading a book that eithertakes place in or is written by
an author that lives, I don'tknow how you would do this for
Antarctica, but like every.
continent or every country.
Or here in the us like I would,I would consider a doing a book

(21:44):
challenge that was a book fromevery state, either that was,
but I'd probably go for notnecessarily written by an author
that like, lived in Maine.
I would look for a book set inMaine,

Yeah.

Zinzi Bree (21:56):
It was briefly and then the character.
'cause fantasy, it was like aportal fantasy where they
started out in Maine and thenthey portal fantasied somewhere
else.

Sage (22:03):
a book that's based in Antarctica.
I think it's even titledAntarctica, by Kim.
Kim Stanley Robinson.
He's a science fiction

Zinzi Bree (22:11):
Ooh,

Sage (22:11):
and like climate based writer.

Zinzi Bree (22:15):
could do that.

Sage (22:15):
because you can include

Zinzi Bree (22:16):
Yeah.
I saw somebody when I wasresearching some of this,
someone in the comments wassaying there's a part of, no,
it's not, it's not.
There was a fantasy book that Iwas like, that's on my TBR and
part of it, they visitAntarctica or something for some
reason.
and so you could check it off.
Ah, I feel, so it would beeasier to do fantasy, but also
do geographical.

(22:37):
If you're doing like paranormalbooks that are contemporary
fantasy,

Sage (22:40):
Mm-hmm.

Zinzi Bree (22:41):
that would get me to read more of those.
'cause I, I tend not to readcontemporary fantasy.
I usually am reading fantasythat are a, a whole other world
setting.
One of the ones was bookspecific chapter a day.
And I heard, that this wasparticularly because Dracula is
set up as in a epistolary.

(23:02):
So you'd be reading one letter aday in the month of October,
leading up to Halloween forspooky season.
And I was like, okay, thatsounds.
That's like a, a really easy,mild book challenge that would
be fun to do.
There was, there was Dracula andthere was, I forget what the
other book was when I was seeingthat as a chapter a Day

(23:24):
Challenge.
And I'm someone who grew upreading devotional books where,
like, you do, one page a daythat's, a prayer or has quotes,
or is some theological thought.
I currently have a year with CSLewis and a year with Aslan for
the next time I start doing thatagain.
I'm gonna go through thosebecause I love CS Lewis.
I love Narnia, but I also reallylove some of his other books as

(23:46):
well.
So I didn't wanna just limit itto Narnia with Aslan.
Oh, so another one is doing anauthor backlist.
So that's like, that's pickingan author and reading their
entire collection.

Sage (24:01):
I do that not as a challenge, but when I discover
an author I really love, I willoften then go back and try and
reread all of their, depends onhow many they've written, but

Zinzi Bree (24:12):
mm-hmm.

Sage (24:13):
I might try and go back and reread all or most of their
books, but I don't do it as achallenge to myself more just
'cause I am appreciating theirwriting style.

Zinzi Bree (24:21):
Yeah.
so doing an author backlist issomething that I would really
like to do and I would make apoint of doing it not just as a
reader to do the challenge, butas a writer, I'd want to.
have my critical hat on, my lenson of how are they structuring
it?
how do they make it funny?
how do they do this?
I would love to do that withDiana Wynne Jones.

(24:44):
'Cause I've read, Howl's MovingCastle the two companion books.
And the Tough Guide to FantasyLand.
But there's several other of herbooks that I haven't gotten to
yet that I would love to.
I just, I love books that havewhimsy and she's kind of the
epitome of that for me.
So she would be someone that Iwould read her backlist and
study it, and study her andstudy her books.

(25:04):
And there's a couple otherauthors that I would also put on
the list.
If I was going easy on myself, Iwould pick an author who was
alive, who only had a couplebooks.
But if I'm, if I was gonnacommit, then I would, I would
pick a, I'm sorry, RIP, deadauthor to do their whole catalog
because I know they're notwriting anything new and I can
actually like check I did it.

(25:25):
I've read all of what they'veput out into the world that is
publicly available.

Sage (25:29):
I've really enjoyed what you were saying about reading an
author and then studying them.
I've really enjoyed finding anauthor that I love.
And then reading their veryfirst book that they ever

Zinzi Bree (25:39):
Ooh.

Oh.

Sage (25:40):
And it actually is a big ego boost for me because it's
like, okay, not that the bookswere bad, but like there's
definitely a difference betweenan author's first book.
Like even Brandon Sanderson forexample, his, I read his first
book and it's fantastic, superentertaining, but it's not as
nuanced.
The writing style isn't as fluidas his more recent novels.

(26:01):
And a number of other authorsalso I've, I've done that where
I'm like, okay, let's see whattheir first book was.
And gives me a little like, okayI, my first, my debut novel that
I'm working on now, it, like, itdoesn't need to be perfect.

Zinzi Bree (26:13):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (26:14):
to be at this level in order to finish it and move on
to the next book because willhopefully get, to be a better
writer as I, as I work,

Zinzi Bree (26:22):
Brandon Sanderson.
So his first published book isalso his like 13th actual
written book.
'cause he had a bunch in theshelf first.
so even he's like hard tocompare to.

Sage (26:33):
Yes.

Zinzi Bree (26:34):
but so some of the.

Sage (26:36):
the.
reasons I used him because his,his first book is quite good.
There are some other authorsthat I've read that I love their
work now, that their first bookswere slightly less, but I won't,

Zinzi Bree (26:43):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (26:43):
detail with that.

Zinzi Bree (26:45):
you even talking about that made me think of, the
difference between Twilight andthe Host by Stephanie Meyer.
Those felt worlds away to me.
As far as writing development tome that showed a lot of growth.
So there's also the TBRchallenge of getting through any
books you own.
So books that you, you havealready purchased reading all of

(27:08):
those.
And for some people they'relike, we have to read all of
those before we can buy a newbook.
And I could never do thatchallenge.
That would break my heart.
I would cry.
There's authors who are debutingthat I wanna support.
Like I can't just, I can't justnot, so I could make the caveat
of I have to read the ones thatI physically have in my house

(27:29):
that are physical, but I canstill buy new ones that are
eBooks or audiobooks orwhatever.
My husband would probably likethat because that might help
with our budget if I took thatchallenge on.
There was another one that isbirthday bestseller.
So like you, you look up yourbirthday and you read whatever
book that piques your interestor whatever's, you know, first

(27:51):
place on the, on the New YorkTimes bestselling that is from
your birthday.
Now having looked this upbefore,'cause I was like, oh,
that would be interesting.
My, the book that was number oneon the, and almost the entire
list were, we're a bunch ofpolitical thrillers, like almost
the whole list on my birthday,which I will not say what it is.
And I was just like, thischallenge is not for me.

Sage (28:17):
Now I'm gonna have to look it up.
My birthday is in October, so itmight be all horror.
And horror is not my taste,maybe, or it might be self-help
books.
Who knows?
I'll

Zinzi Bree (28:28):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (28:28):
see.

Zinzi Bree (28:29):
Yeah.

So maybe mine will be a little bit more
fantasy oriented, but honestly,who knows?

Zinzi Bree (28:36):
Another one that I came across that did appeal to
me was called Uncorked,Librarian Reading Challenge.
And this is one where you'repicking a book and it's a book
that is being paired with amovie and a beverage.
And they're mostly books thatare travel and location focused.
So to me that was okay, youwould read under the Tuscan Sun

(28:56):
and eat Italian and drink aglass of wine and maybe watch
the movie after, which is one ofmy favorite movies.
The author has written books onpoetry as well.
So her writing is lovely.
So I do recommend that.

Sage (29:10):
I've done a similar thing with my kids.
They are big Percy Jackson fansand they've read most of Rick
Riordan's books

Zinzi Bree (29:16):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (29:17):
when the Percy Jackson TV show came out, they had read the
books.
I had read the books.
And so we sat down to watch theTV show and we did all blue
food.
We like made a plate of blue,which is mostly candy, I hate to
say.
But we did a plate of blue andthere was blueberries.
I forced the blueberries on theplate because Percy Jackson's
mom would always give him bluefood as like a comfort

Zinzi Bree (29:36):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (29:36):
and then I think they dressed thematically, we've done
it for TV or movies before, butI've never done it with a book.
So I love the idea of the mealthat goes along with the story.
That

Zinzi Bree (29:46):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (29:47):
fun to me.

Zinzi Bree (29:48):
I would fully reread the Hobbit with a plan of here's
a whole hobbit feast to just,you know, at different points in
the book, I get to eat this nowbecause this happened and I get
to eat this here.
Maybe that would be a funsupplement project of a couple
fantasy books be like, Hey,here's the meals to go with it
as you're working your waythrough.

Or at a retreat or something like that.
Like you could do

Zinzi Bree (30:09):
Ooh.
Yes.

event.
My mom

Zinzi Bree (30:11):
Yep.

you did Sage with?
A Christmas Carol and a fewother things.
Some Narnia themed and thingslike that.
I was also homeschooled, butonly through high school.
I was not a fan of all of thevarious different Christmas
Carol movies, but that was oneof the ones that we really
studied, Charles Dickens theGreat Gatsby, movies like that.
And then we'd read the books andthen discuss and do an event
themed day

Zinzi Bree (30:31):
Hmm.

Sage (30:32):
Oh,

But I like yours a lot too.
The blue food or the gettingdressed up.
I'm here for it.

Sage (30:37):
The kids had read the book, so then we did analyze the
show.
I love to do that kind of thing.
Let's read the book and thenwatch the show or movie and talk
about how much better the bookis.

Zinzi Bree (30:47):
you, do you have a rule of you have to read the
book first before you go see themovie or show if it's an
adaptation

Sage (30:53):
I like a 90% rule.

Zinzi Bree (30:55):
Hmm.

Sage (30:56):
I think 99% rule.
I have two kids, so for example,my daughter had read the Hunger
Games before we watched themovies, but my son had not read
them.
But he

Zinzi Bree (31:04):
Hmm,

Sage (31:04):
since So he's just younger.
So yeah, maybe for him it's 90%and my daughter it's higher.
there was something recentlywhere we saw the movie and I had
not read the book and I don'tremember, oh, it was the
Notebook.
My daughter and I watched TheNotebook and I've never read it
and she hadn't read it either,so I was like, we probably
should have read the book first,but we didn't.

Zinzi Bree (31:26):
hmm.
I enjoyed the Notebook movie.
I can't remember if I read theNotebook, but I did read, Dear
John, I think, and a few of theother Nicholas Sparks books
before seeing the movieversions.
So another one that I thoughtwas fun was vintage scavenger
hunt which is,

Sage (31:46):
Ooh,

Zinzi Bree (31:46):
cover focus.
So you're looking for specificvintage items on covers.

Sage (31:51):
wow.

Zinzi Bree (31:53):
or

Sage (31:53):
Like a spy glass or what?

Zinzi Bree (31:55):
like a spy glass or, okay.
So if you're into historicalfiction, you're looking for,
who's got a fan, who's got likea little clutch purse?
Who's got or you're looking forthings that are red that are so,
like a red balloon or a littlered wagon, you can pick your
poison.
So that's gonna bring me over toHRCYED I think i'm pronouncing

(32:18):
this correctly, which is thehardest reading challenge you
will ever do, which was createdby Q on the YouTube channel,
QTY, which is Q-U-O-R-D-Y.
So q wordy they created thischallenge last year and it is a
bingo board that each of thespots on the bingo board is its

(32:42):
own like sub challenge.
And this is a bingo board thatis five by five.
So 25 spaces on the bingo boardand to complete it you have a
year.
It's usually starts in July.
So from July to July it startson Q's birthday.
And you have to black out theentire bingo board to succeed.
this is a few people havesuccessfully done it.

(33:05):
It is a challenge to try to do,to get you to read more, to get
you to have a variety.
But success is not actually thepoint.
The, the different prompts thatshe had were lovely.
And there's also a, with thebingo board, there is a point
system associated with it sothat at a certain point, if
you've done enough books thatfulfill points requirements, you

(33:27):
can redeem your points to.
Skip a book or to, to, to giveyourself some grace.
So that was like a nice additionto how the board is built.
So there's two colors on theboard.
There's purple and white and Iam spacing right now.
But one of them is a color.
Where to successfully do thechallenge.
You absolutely have to do all ofthe ones that are in purple, but

(33:48):
the ones or the ones that are inwhite, but then the other, the
opposite color is flexible.
You get to decide what challengethings you want on that spot in
the board.
You don't have to do her createdversion.
So one of the bingo spaces inthe challenge is called the
Hundreds.
you have to read a book that isa hundred to 199 pages.

(34:13):
You have to read a book that is200 to 299 pages.
You have to, uh, going up thehundreds up to a book that is
700 plus.
Is the last book to complete.
So from 100 to 200 all the wayup to 701 book in each of those
hundreds.
Seven books, so just that bingospot is seven books of varying

(34:38):
lengths.

Sage (34:39):
Yeah.
And one of them is like over 700

Zinzi Bree (34:42):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Audio books count, so if that's,you know, that's your speed.
Another one on the board is theseries staircase, which I really
like the idea of this one.
So the bottom of the staircaseis a standalone.
The second of the staircase is aduology.
The third is, you know, trilogyand then a quartet.
Or I think on this one it's justread a, series that is four or

(35:04):
more.
And that counts as your laststep.
But again, that's Duologystandalone trilogy.
And then at least four or more.
So that's 10 books right there.
another one is the RainbowChallenge.
Some of the ones that I reallylove is she has a and these are
in the required list is adiversity challenge where
there's, there's different partsof diversity to hit.

(35:28):
And there's also one, I thinkthat's a disability.
So you're purposely reading abook that either features a
disabled main character or iswritten by someone who has a
disability.
Those are worth more points inyour point system.
To give you, so it incentivizeyou more to branch out and read
books that are, that are diverseto read books that are by queer

(35:51):
writers to read books that aredisability rep.
And I love that.
I want to expand into all ofthose and be reading more of
those.
So I'm excited about thosesections of the challenge.

Sage (36:05):
That too.
I'm thinking that it sounds likea lifelong challenge more than
just one year, but also, it alsofeels like a great way, first of
all, I love that it's like,here's a great way to read more
if you feel a little stalled inyour reading, but also to read
outside of your, like, if youonly read fantasy or only read

(36:25):
romance, or only read historicalfiction,

Zinzi Bree (36:27):
hmm.

Sage (36:28):
nonfiction, like pushes you outside of your comfort zone
to find some of those titles.
That sounds super fantastic.

Zinzi Bree (36:34):
Yep.
I will have in our show notes,links to Qwordy's stuff.
So you can go find this foryourself.

Sage (36:41):
do you know how many books total, like to complete the
challenge roughly?

Zinzi Bree (36:45):
No, because I don't know what the minimum is on the
books questions that you have todo.
And also because everybody's ifyou have spots that you can
change your challenge then theirending list is gonna be
different.
Now, if I was gonna pick achallenge to do, if I was gonna
make my own I love the FourSeasons Summer.

(37:07):
Oh, so this was one of the otherones that was, become the avatar
in this year's challenge, whichis read a book that has.
Fire, water, wind and earth,like either on the cover or in
the title.
Which I thought was super fun.
My version of that would be, theseason.
So reading a book that hasspring, summer, fall, or autumn

(37:27):
or winter, either in the titleor obviously on the cover.
'cause it's set in that time ofyear.

Ooh.

Zinzi Bree (37:33):
one that I would consider doing, and I love four,
four is my favorite number.
So like, anything that's like,here's a four, here's a quartet,
this is, that's my jam.
the other one would be thecardinal directions.
So a book that has north, south,east, and west in the title
would probably be like, thatwould be a challenge I would go
for.
I have my recommended book herealready hits multiple levels of

(37:57):
those particular challenges.
And oh, so with the, Hardestreading challenge you'll ever do
is each book that you read cancount for two spaces on your, on
two slots in your bingo board.
So you could pick East is partof a Duology, East and West.
And so if I read this, it couldbe, okay, it counts for the

(38:18):
duology because there's twobooks, but it also counts for my
alphabet where, E is for E andWest is then for my w.
each book could count for thosethings.
So that helps make it moredoable, and it all makes your
brain work hard and think aboutchoosing your books to hit some

(38:39):
of these extra beats and givesyou that extra incentive to pick
up a book that maybe youwouldn't have otherwise because
it fits more of the categoriesyou're trying to finish.

Sage (38:50):
If I was going to develop a reading challenge, which maybe
I will now'cause I'm kind ofinspired I think I would do it
around magic systems.

Zinzi Bree (38:58):
Hmm.

Sage (38:59):
but it's tricky to know how much you would know just
based off reading the spine orthe back cover of the book,

Zinzi Bree (39:08):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (39:08):
So that's tricky.
But if it's the magic is grantedby the gods or the magic is
something that you're inbornwith or magic happens because
somebody curses you or that kindof thing, or, and also probably
some level of magical creaturesor types of magical scenarios.
I would probably base mychallenge around that.
So stay tuned.

(39:28):
Maybe I'll develop it.

Zinzi Bree (39:29):
Yeah.
Listeners, do these conceptswe're coming up with are
seasonal, directional and magicsystems reading challenges?
Would that be something you'reinterested in?
Let us know.
Maybe we can build them out andrelease them for you guys.
Katherine, can you think of ifyou were gonna do a reading
challenge, what you might, or asyou're just like the ultimate
read, no time limit, but read3000 books

yeah, maybe.
I don't know.
I confess, I was looking at thebooks behind me just to see how
long they were, because if youhave books that were, like, I
was thinking about the stairstacking page number thing.

Zinzi Bree (40:03):
hmm.

it's not a way that I make my decisions
with books and, what's on thefront cover.
Oh.
okay.
I guess I do make my decisionbased on that a lot.
when I'm mood reading, if I seethe front cover, that might
influence my decision reallystrongly.
But I will not necessarily go,oh, this has a fan on it, or,
oh, this has a loot or somethinglike that.
Or the page number is reallyshort or it's really long.

(40:26):
But I was looking at theOutlander series and for some
strange reason this particularversion of the series did not
print page numbers, which isinteresting.
I do have the Jonathan Norellbook back here, and it's 900
pages.
You know, it's not impossible tofind good books that are out

(40:46):
there, that are this longwithout

Zinzi Bree (40:48):
chunky.

like, yeah, you don't have to read, for
example, war and Peace in orderto get a super chunky book.
You can read something that youmight've already wanted to read.
I think Harry Potter's reallylong game of Thrones is really
long.

Zinzi Bree (41:00):
I think I have the what would Katherine's book
challenge be?
And it doesn't have to do withwhat the books are, it has to be
moods.
So

oh,

Zinzi Bree (41:08):
you would go, okay, here's, I'm happy, this is the
book I picked when I was happy,or This is a book.
I was sad, I wanted to cry.
This is the book that I pickedto fill that, or I was super mad
or frustrated or I want Revenge.
Here's my revenge book that Iread when I was super mad about
something.
So maybe that's what we'll makefor Katherine, it has to do with

(41:28):
your mood and you add inwhatever book you found to fill
that mood.
Mm-hmm.

And maybe we could get sage to design it
where you get to color the emojiface instead of like a
bookshelf.

Zinzi Bree (41:39):
Yep.

it.

Zinzi Bree (41:40):
Let's do it.

Sage (41:41):
So now we have three new book challenges in the works to
add.
So once you finish the hardestbook challenge of all times, or
you'll ever do,

Zinzi Bree (41:50):
Yep.

Sage (41:50):
you could jump in and maybe one of ours will be ready
for you.

Zinzi Bree (41:53):
Or you can just, if you decide to do the hardest
book challenge that you've everread, and you wanna take one of
your squares that you get todecide what challenge it is, you
could stick one of ours inthere, or all of ours in there.
Your choice.

Sage (42:05):
Check that off the list and feel really accomplished.

Zinzi Bree (42:08):
Yeah, I had the thought maybe I will just look
back at the beginning.
'cause I have all of the booksthat I've read so far this year
I've written down.
If I look back and just startgoing, okay, I read this and
just plunk it into the board andlike see how far along that I've
already technically gotten andsee, then see what I would have
left if I was trying to completeit by January.

(42:29):
I'm a little bit tempted, alittle bit tempted to do that.
I did also wanna mention, thecandid cover website has loads
of reading challenges and isupdated throughout the year it
seems.
I was scrolling, scrolling ontheir page for their list of
challenges they have.
And there's another one, it'sthe 52.
Book challenge, but it's notspecifically like, read a book a

(42:50):
week.
There are some other parameter.
this year 52 is doing bookconnections.
So if you read, I'm gonna pullthis out, for example.
So if I read East and I decidemy connection is gonna be the
letter T, because T is theletter that the book thing ends
with, the next book that I readhas to start with the letter T.

(43:10):
And okay, that book is the lastDragon of the East, which is
part of our book club.
that ends in t so I can't dothat, but maybe I go to, it has
a dragon on the cover.
So my connection is a dragon onthe cover.
My next book, the nextconnection is that there's a
dragon on the cover and it'sjust, it's 52 books that have a
connection to each other.

Sage (43:29):
I

Zinzi Bree (43:29):
Yes, I thought that just sounded like such a, fun
little way to help.
And so this is something, partof the reason I like reading
challenges is because as aperson with an endless TBR, that
also gets decision fatigue andgets overwhelmed with all of the
options.
I like having a readingchallenge to help me narrow my
options.

(43:50):
That makes making the decisioneasier for me, not harder.
So that's, that's an additionalplug for why reading challenges
sometimes are, are fun andhelpful.
Um

Sage (44:00):
That 52 book connections could be really great for kids

Zinzi Bree (44:03):
hmm.

Sage (44:04):
Oh, this is a nice way for any parents who are listening,
getting your kids to read moreis sometimes a struggle for
parents.
And giving them a fun challengethat is flexible.
Because I was thinking what isthe fun reading challenge for,
you know, grade school kids ormiddle, middle school or high
school?
High school kids I think coulddo a lot of the challenges that
we've been talking about, butfor younger kids, like how to

(44:26):
make it fun and rainbow coverscould be super fun.
Seasonal, it could be super fun,but doing the connections is a
great way to like bump up thenumber of books that

Zinzi Bree (44:35):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (44:36):
reading and still give them agency over what the
choices are, which kids love,love agency.

Zinzi Bree (44:42):
Awesome.
So for you guys, when does, wetalked a bunch about big book
challenges, and we did say wewere gonna talk about book
burnout after you've done yourchallenge, after you've binged
your big series or your 700 pagebook.
What causes book burnout for youguys?

honestly, it's often the rest of my life
that kind of gets in the waywhen my energy is feeling
depleted and I'm feelingoverwhelmed, and I've already
got so many decisions I'mmaking, I

Zinzi Bree (45:11):
I.

pull away from reading books that are
super in depth.
Like the, the world builds thatSage loves, and the political
intrigue in fantasy worlds.
I would pull away from thingslike that and go straight over
to Zinzi's corner of the world,which is all the cozies

Zinzi Bree (45:27):
Mm-hmm.

fantasy and things like that.
I love cozy mysteries.
Give me a, the baker who bakedthe muffin that killed the
muffin man, whatever.
I'll go read that cuteness andI'll do that instead.
So I don't have book burnoutnecessarily that keeps me from
reading a whole book for morethan a week or two, but I do
have overwhelm in life thatburns me out.

(45:48):
Then I have to simplify whateverit is that I'm reading which is
part of my mood readercompulsion.
So pull away from in-depththings for sure.

Sage (45:59):
I get genre burnout more than book burnout.
Definitely, one of the things Ilove is to read a very lengthy
fantasy series with many, many,many, many, like more than a
trilogy.
Like there's so many books inthe series.
And of that is because then I'min the world and all of the
world building stuff andcharacter development and magic

(46:19):
system and political intrigue, Idon't have to learn it.
So I've already done the mentalhurdle when I in the

Hmm.

Sage (46:25):
book and then I can just keep reading the series and I
It's also, I love the immersionof it, but after that, like the
thought of starting a new one istoo much.
So then that's when I will jumpinto reading like a mystery or a
romance or historical fiction orsomething less fantasy oriented
altogether.
I might do like a contemporaryfantasy if I've been deep into

(46:46):
an epic fantasy world.
Outside of that, I might do likea graphic novel if I'm really
feeling like I've read a lot.
The one time I did get bookburnout where I just didn't
wanna read at all which is afeeling I don't usually have.
Was that for my reviewing jobfor Common Sense Media.

(47:07):
I agreed to read HauntingAdeline, which

Oh.

Sage (47:13):
book I would've never picked up.
I had heard about it and I waslike, oh, maybe I'll check that
out at some point out ofcuriosity because of book
marketing, like we talked aboutbefore.
But agreed to read it as areviewer and I honestly, if I
had picked this up, I would'vegotten a few pages in and just
dropped it because I didn't findthe writing style to be
particularly interesting.
But it is a 600 page book.

(47:35):
It is part one of, I think two,maybe more.
And on a cliffhanger, whichdrives me crazy.
But that's a whole other topicand 600 pages and a cliffhanger.
No, thank you.
But it's got like, it'sbasically, stalker rape,
excessive violence.
There's

Zinzi Bree (47:50):
Hmm.

Sage (47:51):
That's a big turnoff to me.
The way that the relationshipsare shown is so unhealthy.
It's awful.
It was so awful for me to haveto read it, and it was poorly
written, so it wasn't even thatinteresting.
It was like a slog to getthrough, and it was a slog full
of all of these super erotic sexscenes.

Zinzi Bree (48:10):
Hmm.

Sage (48:11):
and I don't mind the erotic sex scenes, but when it's
somebody being graphicallyraped, like that's just not, and
then she's like StockholmSyndrome and in love with her
rapist, like that's, to me issuper gross.
I don't believe that it shouldexist in the world.
I was happy to review it so thatI could at least like, let
people know what the content wasbefore they dove into it.

(48:31):
After I read that, like Icouldn't even read.
I think I binge watch a bunch oflike, happy television sitcoms.
I couldn't even bring myself toread for like two weeks, which
was a lot I Did pick up like agraphic novel here or there, or
maybe I did a reread of a oldfavorite to get myself back into
it.

Zinzi Bree (48:46):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (48:47):
experienced anything like that, and I think part of it was
pushing myself through somethingI would normally would just put
away, and not

Zinzi Bree (48:54):
Yeah.

Sage (48:55):
but.

Zinzi Bree (48:57):
did you, I don't know that I've experienced book
burnout.
I've, experienced series burnoutwith dungeon Crawler Carl
listening to that as an audiobook and bingeing through those
because that got dark for me andI just, I couldn't live in that
head space.
That would be the closest Ihave.
I am far more likely toexperience a reading slump after
having read a book that I loved.

(49:17):
I will purposely not pick upsomething else for a while so I
can just stay there with thosecharacters in the world and the
happy ending or whatever it is.
and the magic, the dragon, likeI would rather.
Mentally live there for longerbefore picking anything else
that I'm like, well, I could trythis, but it's not gonna be as
good and I could try this, butit's not gonna be as good.

(49:38):
My brain gets stuck on that fora little while until I find some
other entertainment to thatengages my brain and triggers a,
oh wait, but here's this, here'sthis fun Korean drama with this
this trope or this fun setup.
I'm gonna go find a book thathas something similar and, okay,
now I can reengage.
But yeah, for me, it's a reallygood book, will put me in a

(50:00):
slump in the best way.

Sage (50:02):
Mm-hmm.

I have that too.
I call it book hangover.

Zinzi Bree (50:06):
Ooh.

rereading or re-listening, I find, again,
something light and cozy that Idon't have to get super involved
with mentally or emotionally,and I don't have to track a lot
of arcs and things like that.
I think the most recent, youSage, I kind of like a series.
So if I go into the cozy realmbecause I'm in a slump or a
burnout, then I'll readsomething like The Ghost Who is

(50:30):
a recent series that I did.
It was like back in January, andthey're like 30 plus books in
this series.
And they're all predictable, butthey're cute and okay written.
I do recommend it for people wholike cozies and predictable and
ghosts like some paranormalmysteries and things like that.
It, it's definitely not one thatI'm gonna be like, oh my gosh.
It was a, I'm gonna reread itbecause it, it had amazing

(50:52):
characters that I'm in lovewith.
I love the development, I lovethe relationships, I love all
these different things.
It was more like, it's sweet andit's cute and it gives me enough
to feel engaged, but not enoughthat I'm obsessed.
And that, that got me offthrough a recent like hangover
or slump.
I don't even remember what gotme into that one.

(51:14):
But essentially I get bookhangovers with really good ones
all the time, and I'll juststart rereading them.
Or I have to take a break and Ido the same thing with Korean
dramas too.
Like Korean dramas and graphicnovels might be the way that I
recover from hangovers.

Zinzi Bree (51:30):
Yeah.

Sage (51:31):
I notice a lot of times

I.

Sage (51:32):
I'm feeling like.
In a slump.
Either I'm sick or when thepandemic started and I was
stressed, or

Zinzi Bree (51:39):
Hmm.

Sage (51:40):
at other

Mm.

Sage (51:41):
life where I've had stressful things going on, I
will go back and do a reread ofsome of my favorite books.
Like there's certain books

Yeah.

Sage (51:47):
over and over again because they're comforting.
I know what happens at the end,so there's no surprises.
And I love them enough that Idon't mind being back in that
world with those characters.
And that's a good way for me toget over any kind of like
reading slump also.

Zinzi Bree (52:02):
We're gonna run through our book recs, so my
recommended book for thisepisode is East by Edith Pattou,
or Pattou, I'm not sure how topronounce her last name.
Its, uh, YA fantasy.
It is a retelling of thefairytale, East of the Sun, West
of the Moon, which is myfavorite fairytale because your
main girl is the hero.
She saves the prince.

(52:22):
The prince doesn't save her.
It also has elements of is aGreek mythology, Eros and
psyche, like that setup of shesleeps next to him but can't
look at him at night.
But it's told from multiplePOVs.
And it's setting this is anadventure story, so there's,
there's a good amount of travelDenmark, Finland, France,

(52:44):
Greenland, Iceland, Norway andGermany.
So if you've got some travel,but you want fantasy and this,
this can tick a lot of boxes inyour book challenges.
So highly recommend East byEdith Pattou.
All right, that's my bookrecommendation.

It's not fantasy, but it was by Nora
Sacavic and, I guess it'salternate universe, but sports
oriented.
It's an MM love story and it'sdefinitely, it's a slow burn.
It's really well built.
It was very deeply orientedtowards character build and
character development.

Sage (53:17):
so the series that I'm gonna recommend it is a series,
but you can read the first oneas a standalone is Murderbot.
It is also

Zinzi Bree (53:24):
Yes.

Sage (53:25):
a fantasy, but so good.
And the first is, I think mostof them are novellas, so they
would count as a short book.
They're very fun, quick reads,and there's so much to unpack in
the books.
You can just enjoy them for whatthey are, but you can, there's
also a lot around like mentalhealth and social anxiety and

(53:46):
what it means to be human, whichis one of the things I love the
most about a good sciencefiction story.
And now there's a TV show, soread the book.
If you haven't watched the showyet, please read the book I
think you'll enjoy it that muchmore.

Zinzi Bree (53:57):
Hmm.

Now that I know there's a TV show, I may or
may not.

Sage (54:01):
They're very short and hilarious.
I think it's one of

Zinzi Bree (54:03):
The.

Sage (54:04):
in the last couple years that I've laughed out loud like
numerous times while reading

Zinzi Bree (54:07):
Yeah, I just had the first one from the library and I
agree with Sage.
It's delightful and well, I havenot read past the first one as
an audio book, but it's, it'sgreat.
I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
All right, you can find us onsocial media.
Our links are down in with theshow notes.
our book club read is For She isWrath by Emily Varga.

(54:29):
that will be our next episode isdiscussing that.
And if you haven't already, giveus a rating.
we would love to see what youguys are thinking of how we're
doing.
And the next episode after our.
book club episode, will be allabout FMCs Mary Sue's, chosen
ones, and self inserts.

(54:49):
Talking about our leadingladies.
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
This is so much fun and I'm soglad I get to do this with you
guys.
See you next time.
Also, bloopers bloopers.

(55:10):
Oh, which is me.
Do, do, do, do, do.
I am a bot.
Yep.
Okay.
Hold on.
Bloopers.
'Cause I realized I needed tostart just having a, here's the
blooper section.
Warning content warning.
Hey guys, this is an explicitpodcast.
There's also, I have lists onPinterest.
I have lists on good reads.

(55:32):
I have wrists lists, wrists.
I have Wrists, guys um, I havelists the business person in me
was like, Ooh, we should makethat sign up for our email list,
and you'll get sage's little,but then, then the reader in me
is just like, no, you don't haveto give us your email.
You just, if you liked us, thatmeans you listened to us.
You're already in.

(55:52):
You can just go get it.
It's on our stuff.

Sage (55:55):
Maybe I'll do the 50 book version for the,

Zinzi Bree (56:00):
Mm-hmm.

Sage (56:02):
and the double page version if you wanna subscribe.
I would like people to subscribejust out of the goodness of
their heart, but I

yeah,

Sage (56:08):
always how it works.

Zinzi Bree (56:10):
Yeah.
sometimes you need that freebieif we had our for this season,
our full book, club bookschosen, or maybe we should get
on that so that we can releaseit and be like, Hey, here's our
book club list.
You can just color in as youread them.

Sage (56:21):
a hundred

Ooh,

Sage (56:22):
That's, fun.

2026.

Zinzi Bree (56:25):
Add that to our to-dos.
Can you guys still hear?
My daughter has my mic.

Sage (56:29):
hear

Zinzi Bree (56:30):
dammit.
Do, do, do, do.
Why is that my processing noise?
I dunno.
ooh, another dragon cover, giveme all the dragon books, all of
the dragon books, bye guys.
Oh, I gotta stop the recording.
Ah,

Oh,

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