You're listening to Reading Glasses, a show about book culture and literary life designed to help you read better.

I'm author and book devour, Mallory O'Mara.

And I'm Brea Grant, filmmaker, and e-reader.

This episode, we're talking about whether or not you can be too critical with books.

We're going to get into it. Plus, we talk about what to do with dust jackets and recommend books that are out in

mass market paperback. First, Brea, what are you reading? I am reading a book that's been on my list

for a minute. It came out in 2023. Okay, so not that long. It's ripe by Sarah Rose-etter.

Oh. Which feels like a book you would have read or were interested in. I got an arc for this and I don't remember. I think the arc expired before I could get to it. Cover is really beautiful. It has like pomegranate seeds on it. And she also wrote the book of X, which is a book I liked a few years back. This one is about a woman who's living in Silicon Valley. I was in San Francisco, and so I started reading it because I was in San Francisco. It's set in San Francisco. And she is working in this, like, horrible corporate job with, like, long hours. Everyone's mean to her. They're wanting her to do things that are, like, unethical. And also, since she was little, she's always had what seems to be a black hole following her around. Oh. And it changes, sizes it in shape, depending on her mood, but she's the only person who can see it. And it kind of just follows her around everywhere she goes as like her companion. And it's just sort of a, it's a bit of a, I would call it a meditation on her life and like what's going on and like

how horrible all these people are. And she calls these people who like go in and they believe in the,

she calls them the believers. They go in and they're like into the company and they're like part of the corporate culture. But she's like, I know I'm faking. And every time I have to put on a smile, I'm faking. And every time I have to listen, I'm faking, but I don't know what else to do. So it's very like anti-capitalist, fun, dark literary fiction. It's very moody, super moody, basically just like what it is like to be a young person trying to have a job in like one of these like fast-paced startups where everyone is kind of a piece of shit. And it's fascinating. And I really love it. It's exactly what I wanted for something that's like, it's not cozy, but there's like, there's not a lot that happens. It's just like, you know, she's at this job. She has to like write this thing and her boss is mean to her about it. And it's just kind of been like a really easy but like tense book to read. Easy but tense. Yes, that's's what I said and I am going to stand by it

what are you reading so I am reading a book that came out last year again I'm getting all of my

holds that I tried to put in last year that are finally coming in it's called if the dead belong here

by cars and faust and this is this very mallory book uh this is about the six year old girl

she vanishes completely without a trace uh And her family is, you know, kind of struggling to navigate the situation. There's a lot of uninsured questions. From Go, the first chapter, I will tell you, you're immediately like, is this supernatural? What? There's something weird happening. And one of the sisters of the girl who disappeared, she starts experiencing these

nightmares that are kind of, she can't tell if they're real or not.

And she becomes convinced that this little girl's disappearance is actually connected

to other disappearances in the family.

And her and some of the other family members kind of set out to uncover whether these family

secrets are the key to finding, finding this little sister.

And, you know, I love ghosts.

And, oh, I should say, so this is, it's not just Southern Gothic.

This is Native American Southern Gothic.

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