January 3, 2023 • 59 mins
Happy 2023 y'all! 2022 was ass, but we're back with another episode. Today Brittany and Windsor discuss their 2022 in books. They discuss their top 5 reads of the year, their current book icks, and some booktwt drama.
Sit back, relax, and after you listen dive into your favorite book.
Sit back, relax, and after you listen dive into your favorite book.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi, it's Brittany and Windsor andyou're listening to Thanks I Hated, a
bi weekly social commentary podcast where twofriends shoot the shit about social issues,
thurrotiated, unsuspecting targets, and don'tdrink anything because I just got home,
like okay. In this first episodeof twenty twenty three is being brought to
(00:37):
you by a YELP review from JeffreyW about the Wallingford, Connecticut Public Library.
I cannot wait. It is aone star review. Public libraries are
supposed to be non activist and nonpartisan. This library clearly isn't a representation of
(00:57):
equality. It is a leftist brainwashingcenter that revolves around one sided activism and
present day opportunism to sway elections,today's censorship of any right leaning anything,
of anything right leaning, of whichdiscriminates against all races. There is more
diversity and conservatism than liberalism. Allyou have to do is look at the
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entire legislature of this state. Butyet this library student entirely towards the white
liberal elitists. Activism of any sideis not to be practices citizen funded organizations
or offices that are meant to fornot one side, but all sides of
society. And I'm truly disgusted bythe fact that my taxes are being subverted
by liberal zealots who pose as harbingersof equity for all harbingers. I marked
(01:51):
it as funny harbingers, but yes, we are the harbingers of I mean
the white liberal I mean that's kindof harbingers. I mean everything that's liberal
sewed in Connecticut is really for thewhite elitest liberals. But let's be honest
there. Oh yeah, like it'sfucking Connecticut. Get out of here.
(02:13):
Come on, like literally because whenyou walk in um like they have highlighted
books by like queer authors or POCauthors. But here's the thing, though,
A good library will have something thatoffends everyone because I can I can
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assure you that if I go intothat library, I can find Donald Trump's
books, all of them, becausethey are commodities to be consumed. You
will find them all. But youknow what, they're gonna have more copies
of They're gonna have more copies ofthe books that the people who are there
want to read. Obviously, ifmore people want to read a book about
(02:59):
a gay, say black m whatever, that's that's what they're gonna have because
more people want to read it.But you gotta like, libraries are supposed
to have something for everyone, andthe fact that they do have. Libraries
are generally more liberal because you knowwhy, because they're fucking libraries, because
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they're educated. The people who workthere, it's always that are so loud.
To be a librarian, you haveto have a whole degree, whole
masters to whole master's degree in library, get the sciences out of here,
which is a liberal science, bythe way, a master's degree to work
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at the library. And you knowthere's something for everyone because my bookie be
there every single weekend with his triplemask on and um with his little notebook.
You know what, go ahead,you you're being safe while you're doing
what you gotta do. That's right. Since they're on the computers on the
horse Race website. He's a bookie. That's why I said, I thought
(04:04):
you said my boogie, No,my book my local bookie. Okay,
well he gonna have to be onthem websites. Then I'm just but kind
of that being said, so whydid I introduce this episode with that stunning
review? If we are talking aboutbooks, we can't do anything heavy this
(04:26):
week, it's been a fucking week. Oh my god, it's been a
fucking having in us. No,no, and but we do always have
time to talk shit. So clearly, obviously that's why we're doing this for
two and a half years now,right, because we'd like to talk shit.
So we're talking about books. Wehave our top five books that we've
(04:46):
read this past year, we haveour book ix, and we have some
book social media drama. Listen,the girlies are messy on book talk and
book twatic. So dramatic, sodramatic. Oh do you remember before we
(05:08):
get into it, that time thatI got blocked by a book person because
I was told that telling people togo touch grass was an ablest slur.
Get the Oh yes, oh mygod. That was on book Twitter because
it was an ablest slur. Andthen she linked me in this like little
(05:31):
like really petty, um like,oh look I can google you see how
easy that is? Like link andthen it was all fucking copy pastas,
get the fuck out of here,and then she blocked me. I mean
she needed to be blocked. Yeah, it's all good, it's all good
(05:51):
in the hood. So, Brittany, do you want to start us out
with your favorite. Yes, SoI'm gonna go down on my list and
I'm going to tell you guys whythey're my favorite books from this past year.
These are books that I read orhad read to me via audio book
(06:12):
because I can't seem to have amoment to myself. And mine are not
like, released in twenty twenty two. Oh yeah, no, mine are
released in twenty twenty two either getthe fuck out of here like a dollar
freaking new release hardcover book. Butmy first one, and these are in
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no particular order, they're just Mytop five is Sunbelt Blues The Failure of
the American Housing. Oh, I'msorry, The Failure of American Housing by
Andrew Ross. I really liked this. I love a non fiction book,
but I liked this one because itspecifically talks about an area that I thought
that nobody was paying attention to,and that's the Central Florida area, where
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it is basically a housing desert.And so I think this pold This one
might have been released this year.Um Nope, October of twenty twenty one.
God damn. Close enough, closeenough. Next, I have all
three books in the Tita Rosie KitchenMystery series, all three of them.
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You can't split them up. Sheis a phenomenal writer. There's a lot
of inclusivity in the books, andthey all have social media. They all
have social media, but also likethe it's something that you could see honestly
happening in real life each book.But she's not like the random detective.
She's actually like going about it ina way that somebody would go about it.
(07:42):
Absolutely, and that's by Mia p. Mann Salam. Wonderful have not
freed or a wonderful set of books, not just and they're very well narrated
too. Oh, absolutely, absolutely, they are phenomenal. You have some
there's some extra content in the back. They have like you know, the
pronunciation that I can't even announce that, yep. And they also have some
(08:09):
recipes because it was beautiful. Hethought it was his kitchen kitchen, yes,
Um, Windsor and I know aboutall about well, actually we don't
know all about this, but I'mglad my mom died by Jeanette mccurty.
Very powerful book. We weren't theonly ones that absolutely fucking loved that book
this year, Um, quite afew folk. Yeah, I was listening
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to the podcast The Ship no onetells you about writing and um in today's
episode, so they have Bronca BiancaMurray is the like author who started it,
and then there's also h CC andCarly who are actual agents and so
they they came in as like firstit was just like a guest spot and
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now it's kind of like all threeof them. So since since Bianca's out
touring the world for her new book, they did their top wrapped and both
both of their favorite memoirs was gladMy Mom Died. Because also it is
written so spectacularly. There's not anextra word in there. It is tight.
(09:16):
It is about ninety or so chapters. Every chapter short, it's a
scene, and the interiority and theauthenticity, like when she's back being a
child like you are, you're literallyseeing it through a child's mind. It's
not her, but it was.You know what, if she even if
(09:37):
she didn't write at all, shehad help, you know what, good
on everybody. It was good asshe did it. Get her bag no
literally and she second deserves it onNew York Times bestseller list right now.
But it spent a lot of timeat number one. It literally came out
what five six months ago. Itcame out five six months ago. And
(09:58):
here's the real, like the realreal of it. We couldn't find copies.
Yeah, we couldn't find copies.We went and bought the audio about
heart could hear it? And yeah, And then we went and found the
hardcovers with the author signature page inla. Yes. We found it on
(10:20):
vacation and at that point there thereweren't copies anywhere. I remember asking a
guy at I think it was thatBarnes and Noble, and he just looked
at you. No, he basicallylaughed. Like basically when like when heart
Stopper, like the so heart Stoppercame on, everybody was like, do
you have any heart Stopper books?And they're like exactly no. Um.
(10:41):
Next, I've got Bad Flap,Bad Fat Black Girl. Notes from a
Trap Feminist by Cecially Bowen or BowenI'm not quite sure how to say that,
but and it's because it's the lastname and last names are stupid.
Anyways, It's a book about agirl. She basically breaks down all of
trap culture, trap music from theperspective of a feminist, and she is
(11:05):
that feminist. Um. I feltreally close with this book. It felt
like it spoke directly to me,and I want to read it. Fucking
loved it. I have to fornonfiction, though, I have to listen
to the audiobook. I can't justsit down and read a nonfiction. I
can't and see I go back andforth like this one. I will probably
buy a paperback of that one specificallybecause I do like to then go back
(11:28):
and read it. Yeah, becauseyou already read it. Yeah, m
m. And then my last ofthe year, And I fucking talked about
this book all the time and peoplethink I'm crazy, but it's called The
Secret Life of Groceries, The DarkMiracle of the American Supermarket. Five Benjamin's
More Secret Life of Pets. Nope, the Secret Life of pests. What
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are your roaches doing? I don'thave any roaches mice though, me neither
fucking mice. Fucking mice. Butyeah, those are my top five of
the year. I love and informativenonfiction. It is who I is and
I love that for you. Ilove for you. What are your top
five? So my top five aftermy daughter just told me to watch my
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mouth and not to cuss, seriously, So my top five books that I
read this year are The Uncle byStephen Rowley. I remember you saying that,
yes, this book, it'll it'llhurt you. So good. It's
written so well. The narration,it is narrated by the author. I
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like that. I love it becausea lot of times, especially if they're
good at narration. I mean,some authors narrate their books because they can't
afford the you know, the theactor fees, which is valid because that
you gotta pay for their time.If I'm going to sit here and talk
into a microphone for uploads of onehundred hours, you're paying me. Oh
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period. But it is so goodbecause he adds the natural inflections of how
he meant for these characters to speakand to express themselves. And it's so
good. It's a story of loveand lost and finding yourself again after a
tremendous loss. It's so good.I was listening to this book at work
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and literally sat at my desk sobbing. No, this was going, yes,
so good though, so good.Funny enough, the next book on
my list had me doing the samething. And it's Under the Whispering Door
by T. J. Clue.Yes, that book was so good.
When when Grants and the Dog,Oh my god, don't talk to me
(13:48):
about dogs. I know, I'msorry. No, when he when we
thought he was going and then andthen he got to not uh uh.
That's book book, his imagination,endless, endless, amazing. My next
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one is The Verifiers by Jane Peck. So like I wouldn't say this book
is a literary masterpiece, but Iliked it because it was original, So
it was kind of it's not likea cozy mystery. It's kind of like
just a regular adult mystery. Butlike the the main character works at a
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under Oh god, it's like investigatinglike dating, like like somebody would go
to them, and it's like aprivate detecting detective agency just for like that
specific thing. And there's also likea big thing about one of the big
name like match dot com type places, and it was and I also didn't
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realize what was going to happen untilthe like usually as when he already figured
it out like half a year.I was gagged. I was gagged.
And it has a strong uh it'svery queer, very like the main character
is Asian American. There's also anothercharacter he's literally African American. So like
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there's a lot went all out.Yeah, My next one is the Made
by Nita Pros Like I know,this was big on like book talk this
year, and for good reason.This was actually a really good book.
I especially enjoyed reading about a clearlyneurodivergent character in a way that's not degrading
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to them. And I loved it. I loved it. I actually really
do look forward. I think theymade a movie, You're like a Netflix
TV show or something. I reallydo look forward to that coming out because
I'll watch it. And the lastone, this is not a new book,
but I first found this author thisyear. This was the book that
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I started out with in hers likepretty much anything by her is amazing though,
and it's with the Fire on Highby Elizabeth Assvedo. So Elizabeth Asvedo
is also the author of Poet XYes I knew you know that one,
and she is a Dominican American author. And the reason why I think I
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resonate with her books so much isthat I can relate to them on a
level that I cannot relate to mostbooks, because these are like, for
example, what the Fire on Highis about a poor New York teen mom
ooh, and who's like just likeshe wants to be a chef like and
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so like her. Still it isstill a romance, but like they're in
high school, so obviously it's hyashe's poor, like she's inner city,
you know, she has all thesethings going on. So it's like they
don't. I don't see books likethat that often or and that are not
in a it's not like they're glorifyingit, but they're putting the character in
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a positive light where two people donot like to do, especially with brown
and black girls that have babies young. And obviously Elizabeth al Sabado is a
poet. Her books read like poets. You wouldn't even know it. So
good, so good. So thatis my top five of this year.
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So I'm gonna give you guys myI'm gonna they are my top five x
mostly because there's something about the bookthat I just didn't like and I wasn't
moving forward like in a positive way. So this one is surprising and I
know will be surprising too a lotof people. But Mexican Gothic by Sylvia
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Moreno Garcia not one of my andthese are in no particular order, but
that was not one of my favoritebooks this year, and I couldn't figure
out why for a long time becauseit's very along my lines. But it
was the fact that it was aperiod piece. Yeah, generally I don't
like a period piece. Don't likehistorical very much. And did you know
(18:23):
that technically anything set in the eightiesis historical fiction? Drop it is that
not the most goddamn rude thing you'veever heard in your life? You stop
your such a hormouth, Your hormouth. Next, I've got brand new,
brand new Death Mary Muffin Mystery.Um, I don't even remember this fucking
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book. And that's how bad itwas. That's how you know, not
into it. Was this a traditionallypublished book or was it an indie press
book? Nope, it was traditionalonly published. Oh that's so disappointing.
Like I'm gonna give the benefit ofthe doubt to an indie press book to
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a book. You know what,even if I hate the book just because
I think it's written like ass,but I think it's a cute story.
Even if I took it on likeAmazon, like you know, Amazon Limited,
I'll scroll through it so they stillget the they still get their coin,
and then I just market us donot finished. But like they tried,
They tried, but this was notthat um And next, and this
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one was very disappointing for me.Jamila Green Ruins Everything by Zarka Nawaz Um.
This book tried to bring um humorto terrorism and in the Middle East.
Oh and and it was um.It was very bold. I will
say that there were some jokes alongthe way um that made me go.
(20:00):
But it was very uncomfortable because Imean, come on, girl, come
on, bro girl. And soI feel like had it been almost anything
else, I would have just kindof let it ride. But I mean,
goddamn, yeah, read damn readthe road. Um. Next,
I've Got Death Overdue by Alison Brook. I just fucking hated the book.
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I thought it was dumb. Icouldn't figure out why this girl said I've
got to turn thirty soon and soI guess I'll stop having to Oh,
I'll have to stop dyeing my hairgreen and wearing Doc Martin. So I
was like, bitch, to what, clearly I will do that to the
day I die, literally like shutup, shut the fuck, like just
because I want to be in myunronic Christmas turtleneck and vest phase of my
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life, because that's just more comfortable. Yeah, I will do that with
some docs on and some colored hairexactly, like there's nothing wrong with it.
And I was like, Okay,only old ladies are in this right
now, so fuck off. Um. Next is Murder and g Major by
Alexeia Gordon. I wanted to lovethis book. I wanted to love this
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book so much because older cozies don'talways have that diversity, and when they
do, it can be very umlike, oh, it's border it's nineties
racist, racist, it's that,which means it wasn't racist in the nineties,
but it did not age well exactly. Some of these books were actually
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really progressive. For oh, likesome of these books that I had been
reading this year that are like fromthe nineties, because my books that I
want to read I'm waiting for,like they're like nowadays it because they're homophobic,
transphobic, racist, But back thenit was like literally the definition of
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inclusivity because you know why, weknow better, so we do better now
it's been thirty years exactly. Inthis book, like the premise was very
interesting. She's an African American womanand she moves to Ireland, which I
was just like, Okay, I'mdown with Ireland, and obviously I love
me some black folk, but thestory was weird, and she kept doing
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these things that just did not seemlike they aligned with her generation. They
might aligned with an older generation.So I felt like it really showed being
twenty five and not having social mediaexactly. That brings us to the those
ice cream shop stories. Oh no, ignore them, don't say anything,
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I please. I wanted to lovethem. I wanted to right exactly,
like fucking get it together my lastone and this one I actually didn't hate.
But I was disappointed in Um WhenNo One Is Watching by Alissa Cole,
just because they rushed the end partso much, and it was so
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evident that it was rushed, likeI feel like beautiful build up it was.
I loved the story, yeagged atthe story. I still gave it
a good, solid four, butlike the the fucking end was like all
of a sudden, so mind you, a whole book happens in like four
(23:18):
days, and then the climax happensin like a chapter and before you know
what, she's sitting in somebody's houseand it's like exactly, and I feel
like a fuck. I feel likethat was more editing. Oh, it
absolutely was, because they were like, something nice to go, something you
could go, for it to bewithin a certain number, and that's what's
(23:40):
gotta go. I guarantee that that'swhat it was. And they're like,
oh, we'll cut this chunk out, and she probably said, well,
that's an important chunk and they saidno, no, no, it's fine,
it's fine. And then I guaranteethe feedback that they have constantly gotten
it it was rushed, and she'sprobably like, yeah, thanks, she
fucking idiots. It would have beendifferent if the book took place over like
a year and then absolutely, becausethen that would have kept pace that we
(24:03):
literally went through every single detail ofher and the guy's daily lives and all
of a sudden up Now, mindyou, the concept of that book is
phenomenal, beautiful. The opening,the prologue, Wow, Chef's kiss.
It's just so. It wasn't bad. It was just rushed, but I
(24:26):
would see so into it until theend. I got a touch on rushing
in one of mine. Oh soyeah, gimmes, Okay, so not
all of mine, our particular books. It's kind of like also like book
general things here, So speaking ofeditors. If you are self publishing,
(24:48):
invest you in an editor, oror invest you in a fan girl,
beata reader, because they will.They've got your back every time, because
as I pick up every single littleminute thing. Also, especially being neurodivergent
myself, I love me a parenthesi, I love me a parenthesy. But
(25:12):
guess what. Parentheses aren't meant forbooks. It's not meant for books.
And I realized that as I wasreading, because it just didn't flow well.
And that's like another thing. Likereading as a reader versus like reading
through an author's mindset is like twototally different things. Before I started reading
(25:33):
books through an author mindset, Iwould have just read it and been like,
Okay, now I'm just like soeditors editors are expensive, don't get
me wrong, but listen, itmakes it unreadable sometimes. Speaking of that,
also books where the plot reads likea bad, bad fan fiction because
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everything happened so bad, everything's sorushed, there's no conflict. So I
started, you know, I loveme some paranormal. Yeah, it do.
So this book I was like,Oh, it's right up my alley.
There's which is, there's werewolves,there's this, there's that. Great
(26:18):
so this basically the longer the shortof it is the main character. He
has the most unrealistic firing ever ofhis job and like that should have been
my first red flag. It waswild. And so then he quits because
everything's very matter of fact, matterof fact, matter of fact. So
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he leaves and he goes home andhe's like, well, I gotta he's
living his parents, and he's like, I gotta get a job. And
this job opening magically, like literallymagically appears in the newspaper he's reading,
and so he goes to apply forthis job and they automatically give him the
job and then like, oh,we have a house for you to live
it and that it was just likeeverything started happening so fast, like as
(27:03):
soon as he finds out that there'ssuch things as witches and werewolves, he's
already like okay, I accepted itand took like the werewolves were fighting like
the second like literally when he firstfound out about them, he takes a
spray bottle and sprays their face.But it was just like so boom boom
boom. There was no like,oh my god, like what the fuck
(27:23):
are you? Like and then fiveseconds into the book, he's already in
love, Nosener, we need toslow down. There has to be conflict.
I couldn't keep reading it. Itried. I couldn't. The next
one. Colleen HOOVERA, oh,these books have been dominating social media,
(27:52):
dominating the best seller list, andthey're not even good books. That's hilarious.
I know, like a bunch ofbitches reading them right now. Here's
the thing. They are very theyare they highlight a very toxic relationship.
They're not They're mediocre writing at best. And one of them, oh,
(28:18):
I think it was ugly love.It was just a really inappropriate scene about
basically the baby's penis. I believe, like, what the fuck uncomfortable where
they like, they both laugh.They're rooted in like toxic, toxic masculinity,
toxic femininity. Just I don't likethat. They're not good books.
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And it's really it goes to aproblem with social media books, Graham,
all of that good stuff, becausewe highlight these books by these predominantly white
authors and we're not actually promoting booksthat are actually fucking good books. Okay,
(29:07):
another one. I think it's mylast one, because yeah, no,
I think that was it. Well, that last one was pretty fucking
bad. Yeah, so she's kindof horrible. It needs to be done
better. Books need to be better, and we need to highlight books that
good books. Yes, we needto stop highlighting white siss straight women and
(29:37):
writing and books that are about anyonewho is not white, straight and sists,
because because why do we have thesewhite women writing like queer romances that
are, you know, dominating thecharts, but not reading the queer romances
by queer authors magic, Why arereading about black characters written by right authors
(30:03):
but not reading about the black characterswritten by black authors? Exactly? Yeah,
so tiring, It is so tiring. But you got some drama because
if you don't got drama, Igot drama. No. I wanted to
actually be here to respond to allthe drama that I knew you had.
(30:25):
Okay, I'd barely be anywhere lately. Yes, all right, firstly,
before I start with drama, thisis actually one of my ix. I
just realized it wasn't there. Itis twenty twenty two, y'all. Stop
with the fucking Harry Potter references already. Any book that's published right now that
has them in it, I amokay with that, because it takes years
(30:48):
from the time it's actually signed tothe time it gets released. And this
all happened like the last two years. But anything that is published in twenty
twenty three and you're still like,oh, I'm a Slytherin. I need
you to fuck off, I needyou to flee, because all you're doing
(31:10):
is putting her, still putting herinto this atmosphere, into the universe.
And listen, it's over, it'sdone. It was fun while it lasted,
y'all, but stop. And evenRed White and Blue, So have
you ever read Red, White andBlue? No, it's on my list.
It's actually I love it. I'veread it twice so far. Yeah,
(31:33):
it's very cute, very cute.But they have a collector's edition that
has come out recently, so theyalready have a collector's edition. And they
also just wrapped the movie. Thatbeing said, they actually, in the
collector's edition went back and changed allHarry Potter references. And that is like
just being conscious the fucking world,Like god damn. And if you came
(32:00):
and do it, do it?Yeah, like I understands. Listen,
if you're an indie press, yeah, that's it's expensive. It's expensive when
you're getting your your second third editions. When you're getting your they're ordering more.
It is expensive to make changes atthat point, and we understand that,
(32:22):
but now we know better, weneed to do better. Exactly,
fuck Joanne and fuck you honestly,if you keep using those references, I
think it just shows lazy writing ifyou can't think of anything else than a
Harry Potter house reference or quidditch reference, Like they could just be playing double
(32:45):
dutch, they could just play soccer, playing basket Get the fuck out of
here, Seriously, they don't.You don't need to talk about how they're
playing quidditch to make them cool andquirky, Like, we don't have to
do any of that. Nerve quirkyfolk play sports too, and they do.
They don't just watch Harry Potter,like, get the fuck out of
(33:07):
here, seriously, Like, comethe fuck on, all right. So
the most recent I saw was Iposted on our Bookstagram page. So this
is a why a quote unquote issue, And this when I tell you,
this author, the actors author ofthis person doubled down. Let me pull
(33:30):
it up. Basically, the gistof it is that they put up the
best seller's wall, but they didn'tchange the plan agram properly, so it
still said young adult above it.Now, mind you, this is target.
They're just throwing it up there.It was time, listen, they
(33:51):
were busy. They just forgot tochange young adult to bestsellers when they moved
it around for Christmas. Because whatthey did was the young adult was like
first, and you walked into theaisle so the kids would see it.
But obviously coming close to Christmas,they put the bestsellers there so you could
just go up and be like,oh, look at this stupid Colleen Hoover
book. I'm gonna buy it.So they left it up. But under
(34:15):
those were very adult content books,including Colleen Hoover. Now Colle Hoover has
very very very explicit sex scenes.There is abuse, there is just toxic
relationships abound. These are not HYAbooks. HYA is written specifically to meet
(34:39):
it. To be considered a youngadult book, it has to meet a
certain criteria. If that criteria ismet, it is not a YA book,
even if it does have younger peoplein it. If it has more
adult themes, it is considered anadult book like it because it has to
like, so you can have sexin a young adult, but it has
(35:01):
to be abstract. So like onewas that really um it jumps out at
me is by Juno. Oh god, I forgot their last name. But
basically, you know, the boylost his virginity and it was like,
oh when he entered me, likethings like that, like not your explicit,
(35:22):
it's just a matter of fact,and you know, it was like
boom and then it's over. Likeit was more more focused on the emotionality,
like what was going through his headat the time. You can have
adult themes in these books, butthey can't be met for arousal. Yeah,
that makes that that's the thing.And so the biggest part of that
(35:45):
is I'm gonna I'm gonna pull upwith this, lady had to say.
They said, But my hot takeis almost every book here is or should
be considered y A, I'm sorry, but this is what teens read.
They have shipped to figure out andbooks are a safe space to do that.
The entire for Top the Top Shelfis all calling Hoover books. There
(36:13):
are the second one half of themare calling Hoover books like they Yeah,
they have some romances that are kindof like fade to Blackie type stuff,
but The thing is, these arenot young adult books. And this is
where they doubled down. And thisis honestly where they went left or right.
(36:35):
Oop, I've riled the book sensors. No, not the right wing
bigots, but the soft hearted leftieswho think their children will die if exposed
to anything outside their candy colored safespace, pure rated in completely false world.
Funny how they become the biggest theypurport to fight. As a queer
kid in the eighties, I wouldhave killed myself without access to adult books.
Books, including some of the badones, saved my lives. Let
(36:59):
kids read no one. No oneis saying. No one is saying that
they can't read those books. Right. But here's the thing, though,
they have agency to choose whether ornot they want to consume that product.
Right, it is you cannot marketsomething or advertise something as young adult when
(37:20):
it is not young adult. Youcan, And that's the thing. Nobody's
saying, don't let them read that. The problem is that these are not
books that are written or marketed tobe young adult books. Right. If
a young adult happens to get them, that's all well and good, but
we can't advertise them as such.It was really the when they were like,
(37:42):
oh, these liberals are like,grow the funk up, because here's
the tea. It was clearly anaccident. Yeah, like and nobody said,
not one single person was like,oh no, no, teenagers should
ever read that. Yeah, thatis what teenagers read, and adults read,
y A adults read. Middle gradeadults can't read whatever the fuck books
(38:05):
they want to read because they're adults. And people who are minors should be
able to just go to a spacethat they know, should all have books
that they, regardless are should becomfortable reading. Correct. And like there
was like one or two books inthere that were actually ya, like Red,
(38:25):
White, and Blue, Like mostof them were not because it was
the best seller list. But yeah, so that that was my hot tick
on that one. And that wasa whole TikTok drama which like inspired this
(38:45):
segment of this episode. It literallydid, y'all. So this is pretty
much my only other drama because Ijust really found out about this recently and
I started to deep dive into it. So the Bookish Box, it is
a curated yes yes, yes,yes, yes yeah, so expensive like
(39:12):
one hundred and fifty to two hundredand fifty dollars a box. God damn,
they told me it was only five. Well I think you're thinking of
something. No, that's a differentthing. Okay, Yeah, that's like
Books Monthly, which is just thebook. This is like a themed box.
Like for example, um, i'lltalk about it, the special edition
(39:37):
Jopp the Ripper retelling by Carrie meniscalsgo. It's stalking Jack the Ripper.
So they had a themed box whichis one hundred and fifty dollars and it
came with a special edition of thebook that's signed by the author and all
these other little knickknacks and a fishquote unquote officially licensed and exclusively designed that
(40:02):
they put in the box quote unquote. Here's the gag. When every single
copy of that book that went outhad major errors in it, What the
fuck? You know what the biggesterror was the author's name was misspelled in
(40:23):
every single copy. What the fuck? And like, you know, when
either you're on word or something andyou write and if you use a different
different word processing or different word ona different computer that doesn't have the exact
font, sometimes it does things likethe scent sign and like random symbols.
(40:45):
So you know the part where itsays like all rights reserved. Dada.
First line is full of those symbols, every single copy, not all of
them, do, just some ofthem, but every single one of them
said all rights first. That's allright, all right, it's reversed.
(41:06):
Bitch yep yep, yep yep.So that's an issue, so apparently,
and fucking an issue. And apparently, like employees have come out to talk
about their work conditions, like,um, it's owned by like this husband
and wife duo or whatever. Likeone of the things is the book that
the packages are always late, andthey're usually always late because the bosses don't
(41:32):
come to fucking work. So now, mind you they spend all their money
on designer cars, fancy houses.It isn't that. But so example,
the husband is the only one whodoes the screen printing for the T shirts
and stuff, won't teach anyone elsehow to do it, including like their
niece or something who works there.It's so fucking dumb. But here's yourself
(41:57):
up for failure. But here's thething. It would be fine if he
actually came to work. He doesn'tcome to work to do it, if
he actually yeah, if he actuallycame to work, it really wouldn't be
that hard for him to keep itup. Setting yourself up for failure.
Yes, And there they make outtheir factory or their warehouse is in Arizona.
(42:17):
They make their employees stand up allday long and it's yeah. And
they said that there their warehouse isincredibly disorganized, like shit this stone like
everywhere, which also makes everything late. So I do want to say I
forgot to mention that that whole,like the stocking jack the ripper thing was
(42:42):
addressed and was handled. We'll seehow it goes going forward. But this
other thing. So they had mtalking about like the themes. So they
had a Sarah J. Mass themedbox that went for two hundred and fifty
dollars. Oh, we want totalk about writers. Sarah J. Mass
(43:04):
just like Colleen HOOVERA. I saidwhat I said, I'm not sorry.
It ain't got hurt because that thatgirl got money. She ain't worry about
me. So they said, damnyeah. The box retails for four hundred
dollars and it was said to havelicensed and exclusively designed everything in it.
They had a crown in there onAli expressed for ten dollars to sixty four
(43:27):
cents. They had a ring inthis custom box quote unquote on Ali expressed
for seven dollars in change, andlike, so one they're not adding me,
Yeah, they're if they just ifyou just didn't say that it was
like it was what it was like, Oh, it's just the theme box.
Okay, Like I'm not expecting toget anything. But they're like,
(43:51):
yeah, it's this custom design thing. That's the deception a mess. So
do you were you did you seethe drama a couple weeks ago about signatures
and like, is it acceptable forlike an author to like hand sign or
stamp autograph books. No, buthere's the t None of my autograph books
(44:14):
have cost more than the other copy, so I never cared. So here's
the thing. This author, hername is Katie Robert. She sounds like
a dick. No, she wascool. She was cool, Oh cool,
Yeah, no, she was cool. So basically she said, do
not use this company because she does. Do not buy her books through this
(44:37):
company because she doesn't want to beassociated with such an ablest company. So
she is carpal Tunnel. This hasbeen something that is not new and so
when they advertised it as everything wouldbe hand side, this is three thousand
(44:58):
books Jesus, So now, mindyou, I can't sign three thousand things,
no, not all at once,maybe over a week. So she's
having a lot of problems. Andthey turned it around on her and was
like after some of them were regularand some of them were handstamped, and
(45:21):
like, oh, we want toapologize. And then they went and turned
it around on her saying that wegave her the time requested and we just
were made aware of her condition thispast week into the no you weren't you
knew right, and then it turnedto this huge ablest debate in Twitter because
it's like, well, if I'vegained a signature in my book, it
(45:45):
should be a real signature. AndI'm like, long as there's ain't gonna
get the funk out of here.Yeah, seriously, like did they do
it? Yeah? It's like it'sone like obviously personalized books, there's something
different exactly books. There's something youget that you pay extra four or that
(46:06):
you pre order for, or thatit comes with some sort of bonus yea,
And those are the ones that Iwould expect to be a regular signature
because obviously that's personalized exactly I paidfor that. I am okay, with
the book not being signed, andit's incredibly ableist to be like, oh,
well, you know what, likewhat is somebody a rhumatoid athritis or
(46:29):
had literally anything that prevents them fromlike holding a pen. You don't have
to hold a pen to write abook exactly. And it turned in this
whole fucking thing like listen, booktalk is a bunch of racists as folks.
They need to grow the fuck up. But oh, last thing,
there was one more thing. Soyou you know who Kaylin Byron is,
(46:53):
right, No, so I'll readyou someone of the books she's written.
She's a black author, and Iactually really enjoy her. Um bablon bai
baylon be fucking fucker fuck I misspelled. It was the fucking fucker fuck for
(47:22):
me, all right, h yeah, Kaylin bay Roun, she's she wrote
Cinderella is Dead, the Poisoned Heart, the Wicked Fate. Uh my dear
Henry, the Vanquishers, Uh mydear son familiar. Yeah, my dear
Henry hasn't come out yet. Um, So Cinderella was Dead was cute.
(47:45):
Basically that was a Cinderella retelling whereuh she died? Now where the well
she did end up she didn't havedying, but the the stepmother and the
step sisters weren't we kid So it'sactually it's I really did enjoy it.
(48:06):
Um. I mean again, it'snot like literary masterpiece, but it was
really good. It's original queer.It's not a literary masterpiece. Well,
I mean it's not. Don't feelgreat about this, listen, but I
mean I really enjoyed it. Ireally did enjoy it. Like, the
main character is black. She isa descendant of Cinderella. And because this
(48:30):
is like many years after Cinderella haslong long gone and she's she's gay,
so it's like this. Yeah,so it's really it's really I really did
enjoy it. And like, somy dear Henry is a jucklin Hyde retelling
this coming out. Oh yeah,so but they when I tell you,
(48:51):
these people shit on her on Twitter, like they stay because you know why,
she replies to them. Ah.But here's the thing though, Like
if you're going to be an asshole, she's going to come for you,
and as she should. Let mesee if I can get to I have
five million tabs open, y'all.I have sixteen different word documents. So
(49:14):
this person replied to something she said, I know exactly what you're talking about.
I'm not confused at all. Letme summarize. You are upset because
some people may be interpreting what youwrote in a way that you did not
intend it, specifically character race ra se. This makes you a racist.
(49:34):
I hope that helps. So whywould you read that r se?
Bitch? So Kaitlin replies, Oh, okay, you're a troll, got
it? Girl? Fuck you,And then she quoted that again and was
like, if you spell race likethat, I can't help you. Sorry,
So you can't help you. Sothat whole thing was she was writing
(49:57):
black characters as a black woman.She was writing black characters, and white
people were misinterpreting like they are somad, like seriously, like like she's
writing an authentic black experience, butsince it's not what you think the authentic
black experiences, like you know thatthere's also people on Beyonce's Internet that will
(50:22):
out here and be like, oh, I really can't read this book.
It's by um, I just Ican't relate to it because they're black,
Like what girl? By the fuck? Let me see it was this?
Yeah, it was let me see. I think I saved the screenshot on
(50:44):
here because I was gagged. Imy flowers were ghasted. Yeah, flowers
were ghasted. They were ghasted.Yeah, but I didn't save it.
But yeah, it's like I Andthen the person was like in that the
Twitter where they were just like,I can't I don't want to read that
book it was by Mia Soto,because you know, I just can't relate
(51:06):
to them because they're black, andif I can't picture myself in them,
I lose interest in the book.And so the person who recommended the book
was just like, Okay, I'msorry. What And it's like I don't
want to argue with you, likeit just is what is Can we agree
to disagree? And the person waslike, well, I want to argue
with you full like can we agreeto disagree? Girl? It's giving racially
(51:30):
charged, it's giving racism? Becausewhat the fuck? But yeah, that's
a summary of just some of thedrama that's in these TikTok and these book
talk and these books agram and booktwitter streets. Because listen, the qull
do be coming from inside the house. The call is coming from inside the
(51:51):
house. M But I can't waitto see what kind of drama twenty twenty
three brings Oh, you know it'sgoing to be insane because nobody knows how
to act right period. So doyou have any books coming up that is
on your to be read that you'reyou're looking to read for the first month
of this god given year twenty twentythree. Now, they wouldn't let me
(52:15):
order this because I didn't meet theminimum order requirements. Not yes, okay,
target the fuck. Um So,I do have some books that I
am very excited to move into intwenty trenchy Shree. Um. I saw
that you're actually reading one of theseries that I'm definitely trying to get into.
(52:36):
Um So, I already read FreshBrewed Murder. I want to read
Double Shot of Death and Flat WhiteFatality, which with the Coffeehouse. Yeah,
we literally put one up. Iwant to put like I want to
read because if I yeah, yeah, I go on good Reads and I
(52:59):
see something you're reading and I putI want to read. Yeah, I
want to read that book. Umjust because I love a cozy and cozys
are comfy, you know, mThey're very comfy. And I'm gonna read
Made because that's been on my listfor years and so I definitely want to
(53:20):
finally get it off the list andget it into my brain. I think
those are my top like little chunks, because here's the thing. If I
see it, I'm gonna read it, honestly, and if I can get
it on audiobook, that's even moreof a chance. And I'm gonna read
that ship. So I have atsome point I'm gonna be able to get
(53:45):
these books there rediculously long. We'llsee, maybe i'll get it another app
Firstly, I want to read uhBabel, Babel Babel book. So this
book is never me. I don'tfucking know. So this book is on
(54:06):
hold for several months. I'm twentyeighth in line, three copies in use,
twenty nine people waiting. Now youthis book is not even on It
was not even on my radar becauseit's really not my jam until the white
people were complaining about how white peoplewere depicted in this book, and then
(54:28):
I was like, yes, Ihave to read this. There's also I'm
looking forward to being able to readRobert Thoroughgood's The Marlowe Murderer Club. I
started fortieth in line waiting for thisand now I'm fifteenth in line. I'm
so proud of you. You reallystuck it out. I really did.
(54:50):
I didn't even realize how how longI've been waiting for that. I put
that book on hold on November third. He really, but but yeah,
so those are two books that Iwant to start. Wow. If obviously
TJ's book is new book is comingout in like July or something. Yeah,
July, and then that'll be agreat that'll be a great books out,
(55:14):
Yes, and pretty much whatever Ican get my hands on for free,
all read. And also I alreadydiscussed with my husband what he's getting
me for my birthday slash Mother's Day. I am getting a Barnes and Noble
ninety second shopping spray. Oh yes, because I saw this TikTok where this
(55:36):
lady gave her husband. He wasso cute, he was so excited a
ninety second shopping spray. Here's whatthe terms and conditions. Firstly, he
had five minutes to scope out.Second, they could only be like the
half off books, like you knowthey have those like sales like, they
can only be sale books basically yeah, because books be expensive. Yeah.
And then he had ninety seconds too, and she had to be able to
(56:00):
pick it up off the floor andlike hold it out in front of her
again because books are expensive, andhe was just so excited. And when
he was like picking, I waslike, give me ninety seconds in the
bookstore. He's like, well,you're probably just gonna like order ahead and
do curbside pick up. I'm like, no, defeats the purpose that really
(56:21):
does. I'm gonna be like Andone of his terms was if he bumped
into anyone, they had to takea book out. Um, is EASA
recording this? Huh? Is ISSAgoing to be recording this event? I
hope so because I will need umto watch. Yes, yes, yes,
(56:44):
so that'll be fun. And obviously, like I'm just gonna get like
paperbacks. I'm not really I'm notreally big hardcover right because who the fuck
cares? My card covers are onlyif I really really like an author and
I want like their book as soonas it comes out. That doesn't mean
necessarily going to read it immediately exactly, but it'll be there. But yeah,
(57:07):
so that is our book. Umrap of twenty twenty two, going
into twenty twenty three, we didour X We did our tops and we
had some and our bottoms and youknow what, summer verses and that's okay
(57:27):
because you know what, it doesn'tmatter m AO three. We don't need
to know who's top and bottom andit doesn't matter. But uh yeah,
so welcome to twenty twenty three.God willing or Satan willing or whatever.
That'll be a better year and ayear this slows down just a little bit,
(57:51):
because where the fuck did this yeargo? It was so much bullshit
cramped into like one day exactly.It was like a giant trauma response.
Yeah, and I hope that aswe both have some shitty weeks and it's
only going to go up from here. It's only it can only go up
from here. Yes, So asalways, thank you for listening. Remember
(58:13):
to drink your water. Remember thatyear that bitch old friend for being that
bitch buck you torlades No for real, for real, for real, and
keep reading and breathing, which isbreathing that too. But you know what,
just I hope that at minimum fourtimes this year you get out an
(58:40):
afternoon where you can just go hidein a library your heart, hide in
a bookstore and sit in a littlecorner and just ready and say, fuck
the world. Did you know thatmy library the one who we talked about
at the top of the hour.They have little nooks in the kids section
in like with like sitting pillows,you could actually like sit in the little
(59:04):
like in the wall in the knooks. I like that. I'd be going
in there and read it. Weshould have that in the adult section.
Can I have a nook for real? I just need to charge it from
my house, right But yeah,So that is it and we will see
y'all light though, see you later. Alligators Pace
Hi, it's Brittany and Windsor andyou're listening to Thanks I Hated, a
bi weekly social commentary podcast where twofriends shoot the shit about social issues,
thurrotiated, unsuspecting targets, and don'tdrink anything because I just got home,
like okay. In this first episodeof twenty twenty three is being brought to
(00:37):
you by a YELP review from JeffreyW about the Wallingford, Connecticut Public Library.
I cannot wait. It is aone star review. Public libraries are
supposed to be non activist and nonpartisan. This library clearly isn't a representation of
(00:57):
equality. It is a leftist brainwashingcenter that revolves around one sided activism and
present day opportunism to sway elections,today's censorship of any right leaning anything,
of anything right leaning, of whichdiscriminates against all races. There is more
diversity and conservatism than liberalism. Allyou have to do is look at the
(01:23):
entire legislature of this state. Butyet this library student entirely towards the white
liberal elitists. Activism of any sideis not to be practices citizen funded organizations
or offices that are meant to fornot one side, but all sides of
society. And I'm truly disgusted bythe fact that my taxes are being subverted
by liberal zealots who pose as harbingersof equity for all harbingers. I marked
(01:51):
it as funny harbingers, but yes, we are the harbingers of I mean
the white liberal I mean that's kindof harbingers. I mean everything that's liberal
sewed in Connecticut is really for thewhite elitest liberals. But let's be honest
there. Oh yeah, like it'sfucking Connecticut. Get out of here.
(02:13):
Come on, like literally because whenyou walk in um like they have highlighted
books by like queer authors or POCauthors. But here's the thing, though,
A good library will have something thatoffends everyone because I can I can
(02:35):
assure you that if I go intothat library, I can find Donald Trump's
books, all of them, becausethey are commodities to be consumed. You
will find them all. But youknow what, they're gonna have more copies
of They're gonna have more copies ofthe books that the people who are there
want to read. Obviously, ifmore people want to read a book about
(02:59):
a gay, say black m whatever, that's that's what they're gonna have because
more people want to read it.But you gotta like, libraries are supposed
to have something for everyone, andthe fact that they do have. Libraries
are generally more liberal because you knowwhy, because they're fucking libraries, because
(03:22):
they're educated. The people who workthere, it's always that are so loud.
To be a librarian, you haveto have a whole degree, whole
masters to whole master's degree in library, get the sciences out of here,
which is a liberal science, bythe way, a master's degree to work
(03:42):
at the library. And you knowthere's something for everyone because my bookie be
there every single weekend with his triplemask on and um with his little notebook.
You know what, go ahead,you you're being safe while you're doing
what you gotta do. That's right. Since they're on the computers on the
horse Race website. He's a bookie. That's why I said, I thought
(04:04):
you said my boogie, No,my book my local bookie. Okay,
well he gonna have to be onthem websites. Then I'm just but kind
of that being said, so whydid I introduce this episode with that stunning
review? If we are talking aboutbooks, we can't do anything heavy this
(04:26):
week, it's been a fucking week. Oh my god, it's been a
fucking having in us. No,no, and but we do always have
time to talk shit. So clearly, obviously that's why we're doing this for
two and a half years now,right, because we'd like to talk shit.
So we're talking about books. Wehave our top five books that we've
(04:46):
read this past year, we haveour book ix, and we have some
book social media drama. Listen,the girlies are messy on book talk and
book twatic. So dramatic, sodramatic. Oh do you remember before we
(05:08):
get into it, that time thatI got blocked by a book person because
I was told that telling people togo touch grass was an ablest slur.
Get the Oh yes, oh mygod. That was on book Twitter because
it was an ablest slur. Andthen she linked me in this like little
(05:31):
like really petty, um like,oh look I can google you see how
easy that is? Like link andthen it was all fucking copy pastas,
get the fuck out of here,and then she blocked me. I mean
she needed to be blocked. Yeah, it's all good, it's all good
(05:51):
in the hood. So, Brittany, do you want to start us out
with your favorite. Yes, SoI'm gonna go down on my list and
I'm going to tell you guys whythey're my favorite books from this past year.
These are books that I read orhad read to me via audio book
(06:12):
because I can't seem to have amoment to myself. And mine are not
like, released in twenty twenty two. Oh yeah, no, mine are
released in twenty twenty two either getthe fuck out of here like a dollar
freaking new release hardcover book. Butmy first one, and these are in
(06:33):
no particular order, they're just Mytop five is Sunbelt Blues The Failure of
the American Housing. Oh, I'msorry, The Failure of American Housing by
Andrew Ross. I really liked this. I love a non fiction book,
but I liked this one because itspecifically talks about an area that I thought
that nobody was paying attention to,and that's the Central Florida area, where
(06:55):
it is basically a housing desert.And so I think this pold This one
might have been released this year.Um Nope, October of twenty twenty one.
God damn. Close enough, closeenough. Next, I have all
three books in the Tita Rosie KitchenMystery series, all three of them.
(07:15):
You can't split them up. Sheis a phenomenal writer. There's a lot
of inclusivity in the books, andthey all have social media. They all
have social media, but also likethe it's something that you could see honestly
happening in real life each book.But she's not like the random detective.
She's actually like going about it ina way that somebody would go about it.
(07:42):
Absolutely, and that's by Mia p. Mann Salam. Wonderful have not
freed or a wonderful set of books, not just and they're very well narrated
too. Oh, absolutely, absolutely, they are phenomenal. You have some
there's some extra content in the back. They have like you know, the
pronunciation that I can't even announce that, yep. And they also have some
(08:09):
recipes because it was beautiful. Hethought it was his kitchen kitchen, yes,
Um, Windsor and I know aboutall about well, actually we don't
know all about this, but I'mglad my mom died by Jeanette mccurty.
Very powerful book. We weren't theonly ones that absolutely fucking loved that book
this year, Um, quite afew folk. Yeah, I was listening
(08:30):
to the podcast The Ship no onetells you about writing and um in today's
episode, so they have Bronca BiancaMurray is the like author who started it,
and then there's also h CC andCarly who are actual agents and so
they they came in as like firstit was just like a guest spot and
(08:52):
now it's kind of like all threeof them. So since since Bianca's out
touring the world for her new book, they did their top wrapped and both
both of their favorite memoirs was gladMy Mom Died. Because also it is
written so spectacularly. There's not anextra word in there. It is tight.
(09:16):
It is about ninety or so chapters. Every chapter short, it's a
scene, and the interiority and theauthenticity, like when she's back being a
child like you are, you're literallyseeing it through a child's mind. It's
not her, but it was.You know what, if she even if
(09:37):
she didn't write at all, shehad help, you know what, good
on everybody. It was good asshe did it. Get her bag no
literally and she second deserves it onNew York Times bestseller list right now.
But it spent a lot of timeat number one. It literally came out
what five six months ago. Itcame out five six months ago. And
(09:58):
here's the real, like the realreal of it. We couldn't find copies.
Yeah, we couldn't find copies.We went and bought the audio about
heart could hear it? And yeah, And then we went and found the
hardcovers with the author signature page inla. Yes. We found it on
(10:20):
vacation and at that point there thereweren't copies anywhere. I remember asking a
guy at I think it was thatBarnes and Noble, and he just looked
at you. No, he basicallylaughed. Like basically when like when heart
Stopper, like the so heart Stoppercame on, everybody was like, do
you have any heart Stopper books?And they're like exactly no. Um.
(10:41):
Next, I've got Bad Flap,Bad Fat Black Girl. Notes from a
Trap Feminist by Cecially Bowen or BowenI'm not quite sure how to say that,
but and it's because it's the lastname and last names are stupid.
Anyways, It's a book about agirl. She basically breaks down all of
trap culture, trap music from theperspective of a feminist, and she is
(11:05):
that feminist. Um. I feltreally close with this book. It felt
like it spoke directly to me,and I want to read it. Fucking
loved it. I have to fornonfiction, though, I have to listen
to the audiobook. I can't justsit down and read a nonfiction. I
can't and see I go back andforth like this one. I will probably
buy a paperback of that one specificallybecause I do like to then go back
(11:28):
and read it. Yeah, becauseyou already read it. Yeah, m
m. And then my last ofthe year, And I fucking talked about
this book all the time and peoplethink I'm crazy, but it's called The
Secret Life of Groceries, The DarkMiracle of the American Supermarket. Five Benjamin's
More Secret Life of Pets. Nope, the Secret Life of pests. What
(11:50):
are your roaches doing? I don'thave any roaches mice though, me neither
fucking mice. Fucking mice. Butyeah, those are my top five of
the year. I love and informativenonfiction. It is who I is and
I love that for you. Ilove for you. What are your top
five? So my top five aftermy daughter just told me to watch my
(12:11):
mouth and not to cuss, seriously, So my top five books that I
read this year are The Uncle byStephen Rowley. I remember you saying that,
yes, this book, it'll it'llhurt you. So good. It's
written so well. The narration,it is narrated by the author. I
(12:35):
like that. I love it becausea lot of times, especially if they're
good at narration. I mean,some authors narrate their books because they can't
afford the you know, the theactor fees, which is valid because that
you gotta pay for their time.If I'm going to sit here and talk
into a microphone for uploads of onehundred hours, you're paying me. Oh
(12:58):
period. But it is so goodbecause he adds the natural inflections of how
he meant for these characters to speakand to express themselves. And it's so
good. It's a story of loveand lost and finding yourself again after a
tremendous loss. It's so good.I was listening to this book at work
(13:22):
and literally sat at my desk sobbing. No, this was going, yes,
so good though, so good.Funny enough, the next book on
my list had me doing the samething. And it's Under the Whispering Door
by T. J. Clue.Yes, that book was so good.
When when Grants and the Dog,Oh my god, don't talk to me
(13:48):
about dogs. I know, I'msorry. No, when he when we
thought he was going and then andthen he got to not uh uh.
That's book book, his imagination,endless, endless, amazing. My next
(14:09):
one is The Verifiers by Jane Peck. So like I wouldn't say this book
is a literary masterpiece, but Iliked it because it was original, So
it was kind of it's not likea cozy mystery. It's kind of like
just a regular adult mystery. Butlike the the main character works at a
(14:33):
under Oh god, it's like investigatinglike dating, like like somebody would go
to them, and it's like aprivate detecting detective agency just for like that
specific thing. And there's also likea big thing about one of the big
name like match dot com type places, and it was and I also didn't
(14:58):
realize what was going to happen untilthe like usually as when he already figured
it out like half a year.I was gagged. I was gagged.
And it has a strong uh it'svery queer, very like the main character
is Asian American. There's also anothercharacter he's literally African American. So like
(15:24):
there's a lot went all out.Yeah, My next one is the Made
by Nita Pros Like I know,this was big on like book talk this
year, and for good reason.This was actually a really good book.
I especially enjoyed reading about a clearlyneurodivergent character in a way that's not degrading
(15:50):
to them. And I loved it. I loved it. I actually really
do look forward. I think theymade a movie, You're like a Netflix
TV show or something. I reallydo look forward to that coming out because
I'll watch it. And the lastone, this is not a new book,
but I first found this author thisyear. This was the book that
(16:11):
I started out with in hers likepretty much anything by her is amazing though,
and it's with the Fire on Highby Elizabeth Assvedo. So Elizabeth Asvedo
is also the author of Poet XYes I knew you know that one,
and she is a Dominican American author. And the reason why I think I
(16:33):
resonate with her books so much isthat I can relate to them on a
level that I cannot relate to mostbooks, because these are like, for
example, what the Fire on Highis about a poor New York teen mom
ooh, and who's like just likeshe wants to be a chef like and
(16:56):
so like her. Still it isstill a romance, but like they're in
high school, so obviously it's hyashe's poor, like she's inner city,
you know, she has all thesethings going on. So it's like they
don't. I don't see books likethat that often or and that are not
in a it's not like they're glorifyingit, but they're putting the character in
(17:18):
a positive light where two people donot like to do, especially with brown
and black girls that have babies young. And obviously Elizabeth al Sabado is a
poet. Her books read like poets. You wouldn't even know it. So
good, so good. So thatis my top five of this year.
(17:41):
So I'm gonna give you guys myI'm gonna they are my top five x
mostly because there's something about the bookthat I just didn't like and I wasn't
moving forward like in a positive way. So this one is surprising and I
know will be surprising too a lotof people. But Mexican Gothic by Sylvia
(18:03):
Moreno Garcia not one of my andthese are in no particular order, but
that was not one of my favoritebooks this year, and I couldn't figure
out why for a long time becauseit's very along my lines. But it
was the fact that it was aperiod piece. Yeah, generally I don't
like a period piece. Don't likehistorical very much. And did you know
(18:23):
that technically anything set in the eightiesis historical fiction? Drop it is that
not the most goddamn rude thing you'veever heard in your life? You stop
your such a hormouth, Your hormouth. Next, I've got brand new,
brand new Death Mary Muffin Mystery.Um, I don't even remember this fucking
(18:45):
book. And that's how bad itwas. That's how you know, not
into it. Was this a traditionallypublished book or was it an indie press
book? Nope, it was traditionalonly published. Oh that's so disappointing.
Like I'm gonna give the benefit ofthe doubt to an indie press book to
(19:07):
a book. You know what,even if I hate the book just because
I think it's written like ass,but I think it's a cute story.
Even if I took it on likeAmazon, like you know, Amazon Limited,
I'll scroll through it so they stillget the they still get their coin,
and then I just market us donot finished. But like they tried,
They tried, but this was notthat um And next, and this
(19:33):
one was very disappointing for me.Jamila Green Ruins Everything by Zarka Nawaz Um.
This book tried to bring um humorto terrorism and in the Middle East.
Oh and and it was um.It was very bold. I will
say that there were some jokes alongthe way um that made me go.
(20:00):
But it was very uncomfortable because Imean, come on, girl, come
on, bro girl. And soI feel like had it been almost anything
else, I would have just kindof let it ride. But I mean,
goddamn, yeah, read damn readthe road. Um. Next,
I've Got Death Overdue by Alison Brook. I just fucking hated the book.
(20:22):
I thought it was dumb. Icouldn't figure out why this girl said I've
got to turn thirty soon and soI guess I'll stop having to Oh,
I'll have to stop dyeing my hairgreen and wearing Doc Martin. So I
was like, bitch, to what, clearly I will do that to the
day I die, literally like shutup, shut the fuck, like just
because I want to be in myunronic Christmas turtleneck and vest phase of my
(20:48):
life, because that's just more comfortable. Yeah, I will do that with
some docs on and some colored hairexactly, like there's nothing wrong with it.
And I was like, Okay,only old ladies are in this right
now, so fuck off. Um. Next is Murder and g Major by
Alexeia Gordon. I wanted to lovethis book. I wanted to love this
(21:08):
book so much because older cozies don'talways have that diversity, and when they
do, it can be very umlike, oh, it's border it's nineties
racist, racist, it's that,which means it wasn't racist in the nineties,
but it did not age well exactly. Some of these books were actually
(21:29):
really progressive. For oh, likesome of these books that I had been
reading this year that are like fromthe nineties, because my books that I
want to read I'm waiting for,like they're like nowadays it because they're homophobic,
transphobic, racist, But back thenit was like literally the definition of
(21:51):
inclusivity because you know why, weknow better, so we do better now
it's been thirty years exactly. Inthis book, like the premise was very
interesting. She's an African American womanand she moves to Ireland, which I
was just like, Okay, I'mdown with Ireland, and obviously I love
me some black folk, but thestory was weird, and she kept doing
(22:12):
these things that just did not seemlike they aligned with her generation. They
might aligned with an older generation.So I felt like it really showed being
twenty five and not having social mediaexactly. That brings us to the those
ice cream shop stories. Oh no, ignore them, don't say anything,
(22:33):
I please. I wanted to lovethem. I wanted to right exactly,
like fucking get it together my lastone and this one I actually didn't hate.
But I was disappointed in Um WhenNo One Is Watching by Alissa Cole,
just because they rushed the end partso much, and it was so
(22:57):
evident that it was rushed, likeI feel like beautiful build up it was.
I loved the story, yeagged atthe story. I still gave it
a good, solid four, butlike the the fucking end was like all
of a sudden, so mind you, a whole book happens in like four
(23:18):
days, and then the climax happensin like a chapter and before you know
what, she's sitting in somebody's houseand it's like exactly, and I feel
like a fuck. I feel likethat was more editing. Oh, it
absolutely was, because they were like, something nice to go, something you
could go, for it to bewithin a certain number, and that's what's
(23:40):
gotta go. I guarantee that that'swhat it was. And they're like,
oh, we'll cut this chunk out, and she probably said, well,
that's an important chunk and they saidno, no, no, it's fine,
it's fine. And then I guaranteethe feedback that they have constantly gotten
it it was rushed, and she'sprobably like, yeah, thanks, she
fucking idiots. It would have beendifferent if the book took place over like
a year and then absolutely, becausethen that would have kept pace that we
(24:03):
literally went through every single detail ofher and the guy's daily lives and all
of a sudden up Now, mindyou, the concept of that book is
phenomenal, beautiful. The opening,the prologue, Wow, Chef's kiss.
It's just so. It wasn't bad. It was just rushed, but I
(24:26):
would see so into it until theend. I got a touch on rushing
in one of mine. Oh soyeah, gimmes, Okay, so not
all of mine, our particular books. It's kind of like also like book
general things here, So speaking ofeditors. If you are self publishing,
(24:48):
invest you in an editor, oror invest you in a fan girl,
beata reader, because they will.They've got your back every time, because
as I pick up every single littleminute thing. Also, especially being neurodivergent
myself, I love me a parenthesi, I love me a parenthesy. But
(25:12):
guess what. Parentheses aren't meant forbooks. It's not meant for books.
And I realized that as I wasreading, because it just didn't flow well.
And that's like another thing. Likereading as a reader versus like reading
through an author's mindset is like twototally different things. Before I started reading
(25:33):
books through an author mindset, Iwould have just read it and been like,
Okay, now I'm just like soeditors editors are expensive, don't get
me wrong, but listen, itmakes it unreadable sometimes. Speaking of that,
also books where the plot reads likea bad, bad fan fiction because
(25:56):
everything happened so bad, everything's sorushed, there's no conflict. So I
started, you know, I loveme some paranormal. Yeah, it do.
So this book I was like,Oh, it's right up my alley.
There's which is, there's werewolves,there's this, there's that. Great
(26:18):
so this basically the longer the shortof it is the main character. He
has the most unrealistic firing ever ofhis job and like that should have been
my first red flag. It waswild. And so then he quits because
everything's very matter of fact, matterof fact, matter of fact. So
(26:40):
he leaves and he goes home andhe's like, well, I gotta he's
living his parents, and he's like, I gotta get a job. And
this job opening magically, like literallymagically appears in the newspaper he's reading,
and so he goes to apply forthis job and they automatically give him the
job and then like, oh,we have a house for you to live
it and that it was just likeeverything started happening so fast, like as
(27:03):
soon as he finds out that there'ssuch things as witches and werewolves, he's
already like okay, I accepted itand took like the werewolves were fighting like
the second like literally when he firstfound out about them, he takes a
spray bottle and sprays their face.But it was just like so boom boom
boom. There was no like,oh my god, like what the fuck
(27:23):
are you? Like and then fiveseconds into the book, he's already in
love, Nosener, we need toslow down. There has to be conflict.
I couldn't keep reading it. Itried. I couldn't. The next
one. Colleen HOOVERA, oh,these books have been dominating social media,
(27:52):
dominating the best seller list, andthey're not even good books. That's hilarious.
I know, like a bunch ofbitches reading them right now. Here's
the thing. They are very theyare they highlight a very toxic relationship.
They're not They're mediocre writing at best. And one of them, oh,
(28:18):
I think it was ugly love.It was just a really inappropriate scene about
basically the baby's penis. I believe, like, what the fuck uncomfortable where
they like, they both laugh.They're rooted in like toxic, toxic masculinity,
toxic femininity. Just I don't likethat. They're not good books.
(28:44):
And it's really it goes to aproblem with social media books, Graham,
all of that good stuff, becausewe highlight these books by these predominantly white
authors and we're not actually promoting booksthat are actually fucking good books. Okay,
(29:07):
another one. I think it's mylast one, because yeah, no,
I think that was it. Well, that last one was pretty fucking
bad. Yeah, so she's kindof horrible. It needs to be done
better. Books need to be better, and we need to highlight books that
good books. Yes, we needto stop highlighting white siss straight women and
(29:37):
writing and books that are about anyonewho is not white, straight and sists,
because because why do we have thesewhite women writing like queer romances that
are, you know, dominating thecharts, but not reading the queer romances
by queer authors magic, Why arereading about black characters written by right authors
(30:03):
but not reading about the black characterswritten by black authors? Exactly? Yeah,
so tiring, It is so tiring. But you got some drama because
if you don't got drama, Igot drama. No. I wanted to
actually be here to respond to allthe drama that I knew you had.
(30:25):
Okay, I'd barely be anywhere lately. Yes, all right, firstly,
before I start with drama, thisis actually one of my ix. I
just realized it wasn't there. Itis twenty twenty two, y'all. Stop
with the fucking Harry Potter references already. Any book that's published right now that
has them in it, I amokay with that, because it takes years
(30:48):
from the time it's actually signed tothe time it gets released. And this
all happened like the last two years. But anything that is published in twenty
twenty three and you're still like,oh, I'm a Slytherin. I need
you to fuck off, I needyou to flee, because all you're doing
(31:10):
is putting her, still putting herinto this atmosphere, into the universe.
And listen, it's over, it'sdone. It was fun while it lasted,
y'all, but stop. And evenRed White and Blue, So have
you ever read Red, White andBlue? No, it's on my list.
It's actually I love it. I'veread it twice so far. Yeah,
(31:33):
it's very cute, very cute.But they have a collector's edition that
has come out recently, so theyalready have a collector's edition. And they
also just wrapped the movie. Thatbeing said, they actually, in the
collector's edition went back and changed allHarry Potter references. And that is like
just being conscious the fucking world,Like god damn. And if you came
(32:00):
and do it, do it?Yeah, like I understands. Listen,
if you're an indie press, yeah, that's it's expensive. It's expensive when
you're getting your your second third editions. When you're getting your they're ordering more.
It is expensive to make changes atthat point, and we understand that,
(32:22):
but now we know better, weneed to do better. Exactly,
fuck Joanne and fuck you honestly,if you keep using those references, I
think it just shows lazy writing ifyou can't think of anything else than a
Harry Potter house reference or quidditch reference, Like they could just be playing double
(32:45):
dutch, they could just play soccer, playing basket Get the fuck out of
here, Seriously, they don't.You don't need to talk about how they're
playing quidditch to make them cool andquirky, Like, we don't have to
do any of that. Nerve quirkyfolk play sports too, and they do.
They don't just watch Harry Potter,like, get the fuck out of
(33:07):
here, seriously, Like, comethe fuck on, all right. So
the most recent I saw was Iposted on our Bookstagram page. So this
is a why a quote unquote issue, And this when I tell you,
this author, the actors author ofthis person doubled down. Let me pull
(33:30):
it up. Basically, the gistof it is that they put up the
best seller's wall, but they didn'tchange the plan agram properly, so it
still said young adult above it.Now, mind you, this is target.
They're just throwing it up there.It was time, listen, they
(33:51):
were busy. They just forgot tochange young adult to bestsellers when they moved
it around for Christmas. Because whatthey did was the young adult was like
first, and you walked into theaisle so the kids would see it.
But obviously coming close to Christmas,they put the bestsellers there so you could
just go up and be like,oh, look at this stupid Colleen Hoover
book. I'm gonna buy it.So they left it up. But under
(34:15):
those were very adult content books,including Colleen Hoover. Now Colle Hoover has
very very very explicit sex scenes.There is abuse, there is just toxic
relationships abound. These are not HYAbooks. HYA is written specifically to meet
(34:39):
it. To be considered a youngadult book, it has to meet a
certain criteria. If that criteria ismet, it is not a YA book,
even if it does have younger peoplein it. If it has more
adult themes, it is considered anadult book like it because it has to
like, so you can have sexin a young adult, but it has
(35:01):
to be abstract. So like onewas that really um it jumps out at
me is by Juno. Oh god, I forgot their last name. But
basically, you know, the boylost his virginity and it was like,
oh when he entered me, likethings like that, like not your explicit,
(35:22):
it's just a matter of fact,and you know, it was like
boom and then it's over. Likeit was more more focused on the emotionality,
like what was going through his headat the time. You can have
adult themes in these books, butthey can't be met for arousal. Yeah,
that makes that that's the thing.And so the biggest part of that
(35:45):
is I'm gonna I'm gonna pull upwith this, lady had to say.
They said, But my hot takeis almost every book here is or should
be considered y A, I'm sorry, but this is what teens read.
They have shipped to figure out andbooks are a safe space to do that.
The entire for Top the Top Shelfis all calling Hoover books. There
(36:13):
are the second one half of themare calling Hoover books like they Yeah,
they have some romances that are kindof like fade to Blackie type stuff,
but The thing is, these arenot young adult books. And this is
where they doubled down. And thisis honestly where they went left or right.
(36:35):
Oop, I've riled the book sensors. No, not the right wing
bigots, but the soft hearted leftieswho think their children will die if exposed
to anything outside their candy colored safespace, pure rated in completely false world.
Funny how they become the biggest theypurport to fight. As a queer
kid in the eighties, I wouldhave killed myself without access to adult books.
Books, including some of the badones, saved my lives. Let
(36:59):
kids read no one. No oneis saying. No one is saying that
they can't read those books. Right. But here's the thing, though,
they have agency to choose whether ornot they want to consume that product.
Right, it is you cannot marketsomething or advertise something as young adult when
(37:20):
it is not young adult. Youcan, And that's the thing. Nobody's
saying, don't let them read that. The problem is that these are not
books that are written or marketed tobe young adult books. Right. If
a young adult happens to get them, that's all well and good, but
we can't advertise them as such.It was really the when they were like,
(37:42):
oh, these liberals are like,grow the funk up, because here's
the tea. It was clearly anaccident. Yeah, like and nobody said,
not one single person was like,oh no, no, teenagers should
ever read that. Yeah, thatis what teenagers read, and adults read,
y A adults read. Middle gradeadults can't read whatever the fuck books
(38:05):
they want to read because they're adults. And people who are minors should be
able to just go to a spacethat they know, should all have books
that they, regardless are should becomfortable reading. Correct. And like there
was like one or two books inthere that were actually ya, like Red,
(38:25):
White, and Blue, Like mostof them were not because it was
the best seller list. But yeah, so that that was my hot tick
on that one. And that wasa whole TikTok drama which like inspired this
(38:45):
segment of this episode. It literallydid, y'all. So this is pretty
much my only other drama because Ijust really found out about this recently and
I started to deep dive into it. So the Bookish Box, it is
a curated yes yes, yes,yes, yes yeah, so expensive like
(39:12):
one hundred and fifty to two hundredand fifty dollars a box. God damn,
they told me it was only five. Well I think you're thinking of
something. No, that's a differentthing. Okay, Yeah, that's like
Books Monthly, which is just thebook. This is like a themed box.
Like for example, um, i'lltalk about it, the special edition
(39:37):
Jopp the Ripper retelling by Carrie meniscalsgo. It's stalking Jack the Ripper.
So they had a themed box whichis one hundred and fifty dollars and it
came with a special edition of thebook that's signed by the author and all
these other little knickknacks and a fishquote unquote officially licensed and exclusively designed that
(40:02):
they put in the box quote unquote. Here's the gag. When every single
copy of that book that went outhad major errors in it, What the
fuck? You know what the biggesterror was the author's name was misspelled in
(40:23):
every single copy. What the fuck? And like, you know, when
either you're on word or something andyou write and if you use a different
different word processing or different word ona different computer that doesn't have the exact
font, sometimes it does things likethe scent sign and like random symbols.
(40:45):
So you know the part where itsays like all rights reserved. Dada.
First line is full of those symbols, every single copy, not all of
them, do, just some ofthem, but every single one of them
said all rights first. That's allright, all right, it's reversed.
(41:06):
Bitch yep yep, yep yep.So that's an issue, so apparently,
and fucking an issue. And apparently, like employees have come out to talk
about their work conditions, like,um, it's owned by like this husband
and wife duo or whatever. Likeone of the things is the book that
the packages are always late, andthey're usually always late because the bosses don't
(41:32):
come to fucking work. So now, mind you they spend all their money
on designer cars, fancy houses.It isn't that. But so example,
the husband is the only one whodoes the screen printing for the T shirts
and stuff, won't teach anyone elsehow to do it, including like their
niece or something who works there.It's so fucking dumb. But here's yourself
(41:57):
up for failure. But here's thething. It would be fine if he
actually came to work. He doesn'tcome to work to do it, if
he actually yeah, if he actuallycame to work, it really wouldn't be
that hard for him to keep itup. Setting yourself up for failure.
Yes, And there they make outtheir factory or their warehouse is in Arizona.
(42:17):
They make their employees stand up allday long and it's yeah. And
they said that there their warehouse isincredibly disorganized, like shit this stone like
everywhere, which also makes everything late. So I do want to say I
forgot to mention that that whole,like the stocking jack the ripper thing was
(42:42):
addressed and was handled. We'll seehow it goes going forward. But this
other thing. So they had mtalking about like the themes. So they
had a Sarah J. Mass themedbox that went for two hundred and fifty
dollars. Oh, we want totalk about writers. Sarah J. Mass
(43:04):
just like Colleen HOOVERA. I saidwhat I said, I'm not sorry.
It ain't got hurt because that thatgirl got money. She ain't worry about
me. So they said, damnyeah. The box retails for four hundred
dollars and it was said to havelicensed and exclusively designed everything in it.
They had a crown in there onAli expressed for ten dollars to sixty four
(43:27):
cents. They had a ring inthis custom box quote unquote on Ali expressed
for seven dollars in change, andlike, so one they're not adding me,
Yeah, they're if they just ifyou just didn't say that it was
like it was what it was like, Oh, it's just the theme box.
Okay, Like I'm not expecting toget anything. But they're like,
(43:51):
yeah, it's this custom design thing. That's the deception a mess. So
do you were you did you seethe drama a couple weeks ago about signatures
and like, is it acceptable forlike an author to like hand sign or
stamp autograph books. No, buthere's the t None of my autograph books
(44:14):
have cost more than the other copy, so I never cared. So here's
the thing. This author, hername is Katie Robert. She sounds like
a dick. No, she wascool. She was cool, Oh cool,
Yeah, no, she was cool. So basically she said, do
not use this company because she does. Do not buy her books through this
(44:37):
company because she doesn't want to beassociated with such an ablest company. So
she is carpal Tunnel. This hasbeen something that is not new and so
when they advertised it as everything wouldbe hand side, this is three thousand
(44:58):
books Jesus, So now, mindyou, I can't sign three thousand things,
no, not all at once,maybe over a week. So she's
having a lot of problems. Andthey turned it around on her and was
like after some of them were regularand some of them were handstamped, and
(45:21):
like, oh, we want toapologize. And then they went and turned
it around on her saying that wegave her the time requested and we just
were made aware of her condition thispast week into the no you weren't you
knew right, and then it turnedto this huge ablest debate in Twitter because
it's like, well, if I'vegained a signature in my book, it
(45:45):
should be a real signature. AndI'm like, long as there's ain't gonna
get the funk out of here.Yeah, seriously, like did they do
it? Yeah? It's like it'sone like obviously personalized books, there's something
different exactly books. There's something youget that you pay extra four or that
(46:06):
you pre order for, or thatit comes with some sort of bonus yea,
And those are the ones that Iwould expect to be a regular signature
because obviously that's personalized exactly I paidfor that. I am okay, with
the book not being signed, andit's incredibly ableist to be like, oh,
well, you know what, likewhat is somebody a rhumatoid athritis or
(46:29):
had literally anything that prevents them fromlike holding a pen. You don't have
to hold a pen to write abook exactly. And it turned in this
whole fucking thing like listen, booktalk is a bunch of racists as folks.
They need to grow the fuck up. But oh, last thing,
there was one more thing. Soyou you know who Kaylin Byron is,
(46:53):
right, No, so I'll readyou someone of the books she's written.
She's a black author, and Iactually really enjoy her. Um bablon bai
baylon be fucking fucker fuck I misspelled. It was the fucking fucker fuck for
(47:22):
me, all right, h yeah, Kaylin bay Roun, she's she wrote
Cinderella is Dead, the Poisoned Heart, the Wicked Fate. Uh my dear
Henry, the Vanquishers, Uh mydear son familiar. Yeah, my dear
Henry hasn't come out yet. Um, So Cinderella was Dead was cute.
(47:45):
Basically that was a Cinderella retelling whereuh she died? Now where the well
she did end up she didn't havedying, but the the stepmother and the
step sisters weren't we kid So it'sactually it's I really did enjoy it.
(48:06):
Um. I mean again, it'snot like literary masterpiece, but it was
really good. It's original queer.It's not a literary masterpiece. Well,
I mean it's not. Don't feelgreat about this, listen, but I
mean I really enjoyed it. Ireally did enjoy it. Like, the
main character is black. She isa descendant of Cinderella. And because this
(48:30):
is like many years after Cinderella haslong long gone and she's she's gay,
so it's like this. Yeah,so it's really it's really I really did
enjoy it. And like, somy dear Henry is a jucklin Hyde retelling
this coming out. Oh yeah,so but they when I tell you,
(48:51):
these people shit on her on Twitter, like they stay because you know why,
she replies to them. Ah.But here's the thing though, Like
if you're going to be an asshole, she's going to come for you,
and as she should. Let mesee if I can get to I have
five million tabs open, y'all.I have sixteen different word documents. So
(49:14):
this person replied to something she said, I know exactly what you're talking about.
I'm not confused at all. Letme summarize. You are upset because
some people may be interpreting what youwrote in a way that you did not
intend it, specifically character race ra se. This makes you a racist.
(49:34):
I hope that helps. So whywould you read that r se?
Bitch? So Kaitlin replies, Oh, okay, you're a troll, got
it? Girl? Fuck you,And then she quoted that again and was
like, if you spell race likethat, I can't help you. Sorry,
So you can't help you. Sothat whole thing was she was writing
(49:57):
black characters as a black woman.She was writing black characters, and white
people were misinterpreting like they are somad, like seriously, like like she's
writing an authentic black experience, butsince it's not what you think the authentic
black experiences, like you know thatthere's also people on Beyonce's Internet that will
(50:22):
out here and be like, oh, I really can't read this book.
It's by um, I just Ican't relate to it because they're black,
Like what girl? By the fuck? Let me see it was this?
Yeah, it was let me see. I think I saved the screenshot on
(50:44):
here because I was gagged. Imy flowers were ghasted. Yeah, flowers
were ghasted. They were ghasted.Yeah, but I didn't save it.
But yeah, it's like I Andthen the person was like in that the
Twitter where they were just like,I can't I don't want to read that
book it was by Mia Soto,because you know, I just can't relate
(51:06):
to them because they're black, andif I can't picture myself in them,
I lose interest in the book.And so the person who recommended the book
was just like, Okay, I'msorry. What And it's like I don't
want to argue with you, likeit just is what is Can we agree
to disagree? And the person waslike, well, I want to argue
with you full like can we agreeto disagree? Girl? It's giving racially
(51:30):
charged, it's giving racism? Becausewhat the fuck? But yeah, that's
a summary of just some of thedrama that's in these TikTok and these book
talk and these books agram and booktwitter streets. Because listen, the qull
do be coming from inside the house. The call is coming from inside the
(51:51):
house. M But I can't waitto see what kind of drama twenty twenty
three brings Oh, you know it'sgoing to be insane because nobody knows how
to act right period. So doyou have any books coming up that is
on your to be read that you'reyou're looking to read for the first month
of this god given year twenty twentythree. Now, they wouldn't let me
(52:15):
order this because I didn't meet theminimum order requirements. Not yes, okay,
target the fuck. Um So,I do have some books that I
am very excited to move into intwenty trenchy Shree. Um. I saw
that you're actually reading one of theseries that I'm definitely trying to get into.
(52:36):
Um So, I already read FreshBrewed Murder. I want to read
Double Shot of Death and Flat WhiteFatality, which with the Coffeehouse. Yeah,
we literally put one up. Iwant to put like I want to
read because if I yeah, yeah, I go on good Reads and I
(52:59):
see something you're reading and I putI want to read. Yeah, I
want to read that book. Umjust because I love a cozy and cozys
are comfy, you know, mThey're very comfy. And I'm gonna read
Made because that's been on my listfor years and so I definitely want to
(53:20):
finally get it off the list andget it into my brain. I think
those are my top like little chunks, because here's the thing. If I
see it, I'm gonna read it, honestly, and if I can get
it on audiobook, that's even moreof a chance. And I'm gonna read
that ship. So I have atsome point I'm gonna be able to get
(53:45):
these books there rediculously long. We'llsee, maybe i'll get it another app
Firstly, I want to read uhBabel, Babel Babel book. So this
book is never me. I don'tfucking know. So this book is on
(54:06):
hold for several months. I'm twentyeighth in line, three copies in use,
twenty nine people waiting. Now youthis book is not even on It
was not even on my radar becauseit's really not my jam until the white
people were complaining about how white peoplewere depicted in this book, and then
(54:28):
I was like, yes, Ihave to read this. There's also I'm
looking forward to being able to readRobert Thoroughgood's The Marlowe Murderer Club. I
started fortieth in line waiting for thisand now I'm fifteenth in line. I'm
so proud of you. You reallystuck it out. I really did.
(54:50):
I didn't even realize how how longI've been waiting for that. I put
that book on hold on November third. He really, but but yeah,
so those are two books that Iwant to start. Wow. If obviously
TJ's book is new book is comingout in like July or something. Yeah,
July, and then that'll be agreat that'll be a great books out,
(55:14):
Yes, and pretty much whatever Ican get my hands on for free,
all read. And also I alreadydiscussed with my husband what he's getting
me for my birthday slash Mother's Day. I am getting a Barnes and Noble
ninety second shopping spray. Oh yes, because I saw this TikTok where this
(55:36):
lady gave her husband. He wasso cute, he was so excited a
ninety second shopping spray. Here's whatthe terms and conditions. Firstly, he
had five minutes to scope out.Second, they could only be like the
half off books, like you knowthey have those like sales like, they
can only be sale books basically yeah, because books be expensive. Yeah.
And then he had ninety seconds too, and she had to be able to
(56:00):
pick it up off the floor andlike hold it out in front of her
again because books are expensive, andhe was just so excited. And when
he was like picking, I waslike, give me ninety seconds in the
bookstore. He's like, well,you're probably just gonna like order ahead and
do curbside pick up. I'm like, no, defeats the purpose that really
(56:21):
does. I'm gonna be like Andone of his terms was if he bumped
into anyone, they had to takea book out. Um, is EASA
recording this? Huh? Is ISSAgoing to be recording this event? I
hope so because I will need umto watch. Yes, yes, yes,
(56:44):
so that'll be fun. And obviously, like I'm just gonna get like
paperbacks. I'm not really I'm notreally big hardcover right because who the fuck
cares? My card covers are onlyif I really really like an author and
I want like their book as soonas it comes out. That doesn't mean
necessarily going to read it immediately exactly, but it'll be there. But yeah,
(57:07):
so that is our book. Umrap of twenty twenty two, going
into twenty twenty three, we didour X We did our tops and we
had some and our bottoms and youknow what, summer verses and that's okay
(57:27):
because you know what, it doesn'tmatter m AO three. We don't need
to know who's top and bottom andit doesn't matter. But uh yeah,
so welcome to twenty twenty three.God willing or Satan willing or whatever.
That'll be a better year and ayear this slows down just a little bit,
(57:51):
because where the fuck did this yeargo? It was so much bullshit
cramped into like one day exactly.It was like a giant trauma response.
Yeah, and I hope that aswe both have some shitty weeks and it's
only going to go up from here. It's only it can only go up
from here. Yes, So asalways, thank you for listening. Remember
(58:13):
to drink your water. Remember thatyear that bitch old friend for being that
bitch buck you torlades No for real, for real, for real, and
keep reading and breathing, which isbreathing that too. But you know what,
just I hope that at minimum fourtimes this year you get out an
(58:40):
afternoon where you can just go hidein a library your heart, hide in
a bookstore and sit in a littlecorner and just ready and say, fuck
the world. Did you know thatmy library the one who we talked about
at the top of the hour.They have little nooks in the kids section
in like with like sitting pillows,you could actually like sit in the little
(59:04):
like in the wall in the knooks. I like that. I'd be going
in there and read it. Weshould have that in the adult section.
Can I have a nook for real? I just need to charge it from
my house, right But yeah,So that is it and we will see
y'all light though, see you later. Alligators Pace
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