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Speaker 1: Hi.

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Speaker 2: I'm Laura Vanderkamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist,

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Speaker 2: and speaker.

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Speaker 3: And I'm Sarah hart Hunger, a mother of three, practicing physician, writer,

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Speaker 3: and course creator. We are two working parents who love

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Speaker 3: our careers and our families.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to best of both worlds. Here we talk about

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Speaker 2: how real women manage work, family, and time for fun.

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Speaker 2: From figuring out childcare to mapping out long.

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Speaker 1: Term career goals.

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Speaker 2: We want you to get the most out of life.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to best of both worlds. This is Laura. This

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Speaker 1: episode is.

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Speaker 2: Airing in mid January of twenty twenty five. Sarah is

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Speaker 2: going to be interviewing Tracy Thomas from The Stacks Podcast.

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Speaker 2: They're going to be talking all things reading. I know

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Speaker 2: a lot of people are looking to achieve various reading

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Speaker 2: goals in the new year, or else just have a

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Speaker 2: good reading habit in their lives. We're going to be

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Speaker 2: finding out lots of ideas from her. So, Sarah, how

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Speaker 2: was your reading year last year? Like in twenty twenty four,

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Speaker 2: it was.

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Speaker 3: Great for about seven months and then it just fell

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Speaker 3: into a hole. And I think it was just a

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Speaker 3: mix of life stressors, picking the wrong novel that I

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Speaker 3: got stuck on and writing a lot, because when you're

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Speaker 3: writing a lot, it is a little bit harder for

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Speaker 3: me to consume so many words as I'm trying to

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Speaker 3: produce so many words.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say it was not a great reading

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Speaker 2: year for me either. I mean, I read some good books.

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Speaker 2: I went on a kick of reading about the ancient Earth,

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Speaker 2: so I now know the history of Earth from like

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Speaker 2: when life was first appearing six hundred maybe even seven

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Speaker 2: hundred million years ago, in the various extinctions that occurred

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Speaker 2: along the way.

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Speaker 3: It's kind of fascinating. Really.

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Speaker 2: I could go in a whole tangent about the fact

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Speaker 2: that you haven't found the fossils doesn't mean there wasn't anything.

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Speaker 2: It just means that maybe animals were of the form

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Speaker 2: that didn't fossilize. The beginning is the time moves backward.

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Speaker 2: Let's just say the time keeps moving backward. So funny

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Speaker 2: thing with that. Anyway, I read very little else. I

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Speaker 2: I read about the ancient Earth and like nothing else.

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Speaker 2: But you know, it's just it was something that had

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Speaker 2: to go. I've had a lot of other things going on.

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Speaker 3: I don't know. You're writing a lot too. You wrote

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Speaker 3: a lot.

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Speaker 2: I'm writing a lot too, like I'm writing a lot.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it might be. I wonder how many words you

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Speaker 3: wrote in twenty twenty or I bet it was like

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Speaker 3: just because of your substance, like it was a lot.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, between substocks and the book for Breakfast, the book,

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Speaker 2: everything else, blogging, other newsletters.

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Speaker 3: Maybe I should pare all this.

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Speaker 2: Down some, but you know whatever, it's fine.

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Speaker 1: I like it.

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Speaker 2: I like it, But you know, I did you do

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Speaker 2: you track what you read? I did in twenty seventeen

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Speaker 2: and twenty eighteen. Those years I kept a reading log.

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Speaker 2: I have stopped doing that.

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Speaker 3: I have tracked every year since I believe twenty twenty,

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Speaker 3: and there might even be if I mind my blog,

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Speaker 3: I think there might even be some earlier years. But

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Speaker 3: I regret this actually, Like I'm so jealous of people

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Speaker 3: who have good Reads going back fifteen years or however

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Speaker 3: long Goodreads has existed for, or who have a notebook

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Speaker 3: of like every book they've read since they were twenty

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Speaker 3: or something like that. I feel like I would have

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Speaker 3: loved to have that kind of artifact, and I absolutely don't.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, since twenty twenty, they're all twenty twenty through

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, I think are on my blog, and

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Speaker 3: then in twenty twenty four I just went on paper,

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Speaker 3: so I need to immortalize that somehow, and then we'll see.

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Speaker 3: I think I'm gonna go back to posting them in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty five. Okay, well that sounds good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I posted little reviews on my website for a

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Speaker 2: while and then kind of stopped doing that. Too many

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Speaker 2: things stopped after I don't know twenty eight, I just

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Speaker 2: stopped posting anything related to books. Do you have a

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Speaker 2: TVR list though, Do you like keep track of what

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Speaker 2: you want to read?

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Speaker 3: Like from time to time. I'll make one sometimes when

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Speaker 3: I'm doing my seasonal planning. It's not at all a like,

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Speaker 3: I'm not trying to read them all. I'm not trying

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Speaker 3: to only read books from that list. I need to

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Speaker 3: have more looseness and like, if I hear a review

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Speaker 3: that sounds awesome and I want to like order it

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Speaker 3: right then and there and read that, that's totally fine.

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Speaker 3: But I think it helps me strategize my library holds,

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Speaker 3: and then whether I actually read all of those can vary,

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Speaker 3: but I would say three out of five seasons of

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Speaker 3: the year quintiles, I do make a TBR list.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so I kind of just if I see a

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Speaker 2: book that I want to read, i'd like take a

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Speaker 2: picture of it, or I write it down or email

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Speaker 2: it to myself, and then when I'm looking for something

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Speaker 2: to read, if I have those, I will often download

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Speaker 2: the sample on Kindle first. And that's just because I've

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Speaker 2: been I mean, it's sort of the equivalent of like

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Speaker 2: checking it out from the library, because it's free for

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Speaker 2: that part, and then you can test it out. And

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Speaker 2: I do buy the vast majority of the books that

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Speaker 2: I've downloaded the sample from, but I've been saved from

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Speaker 2: a few purchases from things that sounded excellent and then

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Speaker 2: within the first like three pages, as like this person

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Speaker 2: is no, no, this is not going to be one

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Speaker 2: thing I'm going to want to read it. So good

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Speaker 2: to know that you would have known that maybe if

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Speaker 2: you read the first few pages in Barnes and Noble

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Speaker 2: and you just don't know that necessarily online. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I guess they do sometimes supposed to first pages. That's

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Speaker 2: my life hack I've mentioned that I'm sure many times,

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Speaker 2: is download the sample, see if you like it, and

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Speaker 2: then you can really quickly order it.

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Speaker 3: The nice thing is. I feel like that also provides

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Speaker 3: a really kind of It points out that there's a

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Speaker 3: cut point at which you are actively deciding to continue

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Speaker 3: or not, which for somebody like me who has trouble like,

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Speaker 3: it's not that I don't want to abandon books, it's

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Speaker 3: just that I'll get past a certain point and feel like, oh, well,

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Speaker 3: if I've invested this much like I should. But I mean,

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Speaker 3: if I've only had the sample, you have this limited

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Speaker 3: number and then you're like, is it yes or is

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Speaker 3: it no?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you almost every time could no ten to

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Speaker 2: fifteen percent in if you're going to want to read

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Speaker 2: this book. I mean, it's true, I would imagine usually

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Speaker 2: we're good by that point. But I'm excited to hear

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Speaker 2: what Tracy has to say. So here's Tracy Thomas from

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Speaker 2: The Stacks.

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Speaker 3: Well, I am so excited to welcome Tracy to the podcast.

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Speaker 3: She is the host of The Stacks, which she'll tell

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Speaker 3: us all about and I am so inspired by her

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Speaker 3: reading life and I'm sure you will be as well.

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Speaker 3: Welcome Tracy, Hi, thank you for having me. Well, today

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Speaker 3: we're going to talk all things books and reading, which

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Speaker 3: I know is on the top of many people's minds

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Speaker 3: as we're entering a new year, reading goals are very common.

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Speaker 3: Let's start with the fact that, well, we don't have

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Speaker 3: the total number of books you read last year, Tracy,

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Speaker 3: but it was at least one hundred and ten in

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Speaker 3: like November. So where are we?

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Speaker 4: So it's December as we're recording this, and I am

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Speaker 4: at Let me pull up my spreadsheet.

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Speaker 1: I am at one thirty one thirty.

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Speaker 3: That is amazing thirty four one. Before you assume that

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Speaker 3: Tracy like must have lots of free time, we will

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Speaker 3: also note that she has five year old twins.

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Speaker 1: Ay sure Dale, Ay sure Dale.

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Speaker 3: All right, so I obviously part of it probably has

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Speaker 3: to do with your career choice that you are a

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Speaker 3: book podcaster, but I'm super interested in your reading journey,

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Speaker 3: like did you always read that much? And did your

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Speaker 3: reading change when you entered the parenting phase?

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Speaker 4: Okay, so no, I did not always read one hundred

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Speaker 4: plus books in my life a year.

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Speaker 1: No no, no, no, that's because this is my job.

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Speaker 4: I did always love to read, and sort of the

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Speaker 4: origin story of the podcast and also just like reading

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Speaker 4: background is that I used to live in New York.

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Speaker 4: I used to read a ton in New York. I

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Speaker 4: read a ton as a kid. After I graduated college

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Speaker 4: and was living in New York, I was like, I

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Speaker 4: want to read more. So I started reading more for fun.

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Speaker 4: And then when I moved to LA in twenty twelve,

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Speaker 4: I like stopped reading completely because there was no subway

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Speaker 4: to read on. Life is just very different in LA

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Speaker 4: than in New York. And so in twenty sixteen, I

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Speaker 4: was like, I'm going to read a book a month.

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Speaker 4: That's my goal. I'm going to like knock it out.

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Speaker 4: I finished that, I thought I was the new like

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Speaker 4: champion of the world. I was like, send me my

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Speaker 4: Pulitzer Prize.

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Speaker 1: I am a winner. And then in.

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Speaker 4: Twenty seven I was like, I'm going to read thirteen books.

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Speaker 4: I ended up reading twenty four books because I sort

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Speaker 4: of like hit my stride. And then in twenty eighteen

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Speaker 4: I started the show, and that year I ended up

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Speaker 4: reading eighty nine books. So obviously you can see there

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Speaker 4: was a large jump in my reading from when I

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Speaker 4: was just reading sort of for pleasure to get back

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Speaker 4: in reading, and then when reading sort of became my life.

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Speaker 3: But then I'm doing the math, So then you got pregnant.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I got pregnant. My kids were born in December

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Speaker 4: twenty nineteen. Yeah, so twenty nineteen I read like one

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Speaker 4: hundred books, and then in twenty twenty, I think I

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Speaker 4: read ninety five, so.

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Speaker 1: Not too much less.

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Speaker 4: But I was still working and doing the show, so

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Speaker 4: I didn't have a lot of room to like cut

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Speaker 4: back on reading. Also, like a pandemic happened in twenty twenty,

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Speaker 4: which really shook things up. It was like a very

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Speaker 4: People always ask me, They're like, oh, what was it

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Speaker 4: like having like baby newborn twins, And I'm like, I

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Speaker 4: cannot separate that from a major global pandemic because they

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Speaker 4: were premature. They were three months not even when COVID started,

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Speaker 4: So like the whole thing is just all tied up

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Speaker 4: in and I haven't really unpacked that yet.

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Speaker 3: Super interesting, Well, from a pure logistics standpoint, it's twenty twenty.

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Speaker 3: You have twin babies, which still blows my mind. I

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Speaker 3: have three children, but like they're spaced out. I've never

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Speaker 3: had two babies at once, and my mind, I'm always

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Speaker 3: just so in awe of twin moms. But you had

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Speaker 3: your two babies, and how did you fit in your reading?

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Speaker 3: Even though it's your job I mean, when did you

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Speaker 3: do it? Was it like you would nurse and read

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Speaker 3: and like tell me a little bit about like how

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Speaker 3: cause I'm sure your amount of quote free time probably

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Speaker 3: did change.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean so I read still now and back

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Speaker 4: then in a lot of different ways and at a

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Speaker 4: lot of different times. So I read physical books, I

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Speaker 4: read audiobooks, and I read off a kindle. When I

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Speaker 4: was nursing my boys, I had on each breast and

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Speaker 4: I would sit so that my legs were sort of crossed,

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Speaker 4: and then I would put my kindle on my knee,

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Speaker 4: and then I would bend over with my nose and

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Speaker 4: touch my nose to the kindle to turn the bag,

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Speaker 4: which is like so so silly, but that's how I

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Speaker 4: could do it, Like it made the most sense. It

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Speaker 4: was like also one of the most calm times in

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Speaker 4: my day, right, like besides naptime, which is when I

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Speaker 4: got a lot of work done, but also during nap

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Speaker 4: time I was recording episodes of the show. I would

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Speaker 4: have these like two hour chunks of time where I

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Speaker 4: could like record something or write something or get reading

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Speaker 4: done or whatever. So I was in the beginning when

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Speaker 4: they were still taking like three naps in the daytime hours.

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Speaker 4: I was like, this is great, I have these like

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Speaker 4: like six hours to work. But yeah, I also used

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Speaker 4: to go on these really long walks and I would

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Speaker 4: listen to my audio books on these really long walks.

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Speaker 4: So you know, I always tell parents, you can read.

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Speaker 4: There is enough time for you to read. It's just

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Speaker 4: a matter if that's your priority, Like it does it

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Speaker 4: have to be right, Like it could be you want

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Speaker 4: to exercise, it could be you want to cook. It

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Speaker 4: could be you want to watch TV. It could be

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Speaker 4: you want to scroll on Instagram. But if it's something

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Speaker 4: that you want to do, there's definitely time in the

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Speaker 4: day to do it. It might not be while you're

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Speaker 4: nursing twins like that might not be the number one

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Speaker 4: priority in that moment, but for me it worked. I

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Speaker 4: nursed and then I bottle fed, so then I would

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Speaker 4: like put them on their little boppy pillows and then

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Speaker 4: I could still hold the bottles and still do the

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Speaker 4: nose thing as I was like feeding that.

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Speaker 3: The image I'm never gonna I'm like, this is like

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Speaker 3: seared into my brain forever, is like twin on each

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Speaker 3: side and nose touching the kindle. I mean, I do

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Speaker 3: feel like that does illustrate a passion for reading that

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Speaker 3: is beyond average, That is amazing.

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Speaker 4: So I guess they have these like clickers, Like, yes,

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Speaker 4: there's at that you can turn the page. I'm sure

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Speaker 4: there was then too, but I didn't have a hand

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Speaker 4: to close and still it with your nose exactly, so

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Speaker 4: like it's still.

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Speaker 1: When someone was like, oh, you could have used a clicker,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, I.

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Speaker 4: Mean with one hand, I'm still down your foot your foot,

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Speaker 4: I guess, but like I I think you have to.

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Speaker 4: I don't know if my toes are that strong. I

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Speaker 4: could have also just done audiobooks in that time. I

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Speaker 4: don't know why I didn't think of that, but a

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Speaker 4: lot going on.

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Speaker 3: No, but maybe you wanted the process of like because

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Speaker 3: it is like a different I don't know, ye like

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Speaker 3: puts you in a different kind of headspace. Maybe it

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Speaker 3: was especially relaxing to be able.

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Speaker 1: To Yeah, I don't know. I can't really quite get

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Speaker 1: back there mentally.

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Speaker 3: I'm so impressed. Well, let's fast forward to today and

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Speaker 3: I know you have a show, but like, let's pretend

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Speaker 3: you sort of didn't have a show. How do you

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Speaker 3: curate your reading or how do you recommend that others

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Speaker 3: curate your reading or don't. Like, should people just be

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Speaker 3: like pure whatever strikes them at that moment, Like, what

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Speaker 3: are your thoughts?

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Speaker 4: I mean, I think it really depends on why you

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Speaker 4: want to read. What I do want to say is like,

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Speaker 4: I think folks should be intentional with their reading. They

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Speaker 4: should be thinking about who the authors are, Like what

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Speaker 4: if they're you know, from marginalized backgrounds, maybe they have

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Speaker 4: a disability, maybe it's queer authors. There are books that

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Speaker 4: are fantastic by all sorts of people from all over

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Speaker 4: the world, written in all sorts of languages, many of

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Speaker 4: which have been translated into English. So if you don't

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Speaker 4: speak I don't know Russian, you could probably still read

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Speaker 4: a great Russian novel in English, you know. But with

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Speaker 4: that being said, I think you should go with what

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Speaker 4: excites you. I think that if you see a book

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Speaker 4: in the bookstore and you're like, that cover is calling my.

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Speaker 1: Name, I think you should probably just read that book.

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Speaker 4: And if you hate it, what I really think more

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Speaker 4: than anything is you should put it down. I do

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Speaker 4: not subscribe to the idea that you should force yourself

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Speaker 4: to finish a book.

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Speaker 1: I have to because it's my job.

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Speaker 4: But like you do not have to unless it's your job, right,

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Speaker 4: Like even if for your book club, you don't have

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Speaker 4: to finish it, like your friends might be like, uh,

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Speaker 4: you didn't finish the book again, and then you can say, well,

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Speaker 4: I thought it was bad, and then you can have

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Speaker 4: a conversation about it. And that's a great thing for

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Speaker 4: a book club. Like there's no homework assignment, there's no

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Speaker 4: book report. And also just because you put a book

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Speaker 4: down doesn't mean you might not go back to it

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Speaker 4: at another time. I think people feel like, oh, I

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Speaker 4: bought this and it was expensive, and books are expensive,

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Speaker 4: and so I understand that, but that will not help

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Speaker 4: you read more feeling stuck with the book. That won't

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Speaker 4: help as far as like curating it. I like to

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Speaker 4: read what I like to read. Even now for my show,

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Speaker 4: I still read a lot of books just because I

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Speaker 4: want to read them that never appear on the show

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Speaker 4: because I'm excited about them or I'm interested, or I'm

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Speaker 4: curious or for whatever reason. And I think if you're reading,

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Speaker 4: as long as you take sort of the should out

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Speaker 4: of your reading life, I think for the most part,

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Speaker 4: you'll be successful.

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Speaker 3: No that makes sense. Do you have like a certain

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Speaker 3: number of pages that you recommend, like you know you

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Speaker 3: said if you hate a book. But I personally do

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Speaker 3: struggle with abandoning books, not because I have some moral

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Speaker 3: obligation to finish, but because like I'll get to some

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Speaker 3: point and be like, oh, well, I'm so close, like

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Speaker 3: maybe it'll get better, like I've invested this much, Like

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Speaker 3: I don't know, so tell me, like, yeah, is a

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Speaker 3: rule of thumb for you.

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Speaker 4: I don't have a specific number of pages, but generally

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Speaker 4: I can tell there very early if I like something

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Speaker 4: or I don't like something. I read a lot of

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Speaker 4: nonfiction that's what I personally really love, and with a

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Speaker 4: lot of nonfiction books, after the introduction, I can kind.

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Speaker 1: Of be like, oh, I don't care.

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Speaker 4: Because sometimes you know, like they lay out what the

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Speaker 4: book's going to be in the introduction, so a lot

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Speaker 4: of times I'm like, Okay, I think I got everything

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Speaker 4: I needed to get from this. With fiction, sort of,

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Speaker 4: if it doesn't grab me in the first like ten pages,

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Speaker 4: I usually will put it down. Sometimes if it's come

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Speaker 4: highly recommended from someone and they say, like the beginning's

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Speaker 4: very slow, I'll give it more. And sometimes they're right

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Speaker 4: and it picks up and I love it, and sometimes

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Speaker 4: I'm like, no, this whole book is slow. I'm done,

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Speaker 4: And you know, sometimes like I'll start a book and

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Speaker 4: I'll like it, and then I'll put it down because

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Speaker 4: I'm just like, oh, I have something else to like.

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Speaker 4: It just didn't quite capture me. But I definitely don't

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Speaker 4: have any really strict like numbers because it also depends

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Speaker 4: on a book. Fifty pages and a two hundred and

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Speaker 4: fifty page book is pretty deep into the book. Fifty

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Speaker 4: pages into a five hundred page boo book is still

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Speaker 4: pretty early, you know, So it just depends on what

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Speaker 4: the book is and how it feels. I would say,

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Speaker 4: just trust yourself. If you're in it and you're like

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Speaker 4: I don't want to do this anymore, I think you

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Speaker 4: could not do it anymore, and again you.

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Speaker 1: Could go back.

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Speaker 4: I went back to a book that I didn't finish

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Speaker 4: last year and I finished it this year, and I

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Speaker 4: was like, oh my god, this is one of the

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Speaker 4: best things I read, Like it was so good.

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Speaker 1: It just wasn't.

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Speaker 4: It was just trying to read it in October last year,

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Speaker 4: which is a really busy time for me. And I

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Speaker 4: picked it up in January and I finished it so quickly,

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Speaker 4: and I loved it. And sometimes that could be like

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Speaker 4: a year's long process, Like I go back to a

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Speaker 4: book four or five years later. Actually, the book that

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Speaker 4: I was reading when I got induced with my boys,

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Speaker 4: I put down to read like a book about sleep training.

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Speaker 4: And I just finished it this year and I loved it,

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Speaker 4: and it was one of my favorite books, and it's

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Speaker 4: by one of my favorite authors.

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Speaker 3: But I just like, I need to.

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Speaker 4: Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keys. They just made it

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Speaker 4: into a TV show.

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Speaker 1: It's so good.

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Speaker 4: And I had read like the first one hundred and

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Speaker 4: fifty pages and then I had to go get induced,

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Speaker 4: you know, like I was just like this is and

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Speaker 4: it's a book about the troubles in Ireland.

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Speaker 1: It just like was not exactly when I needed.

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Speaker 2: In the moment.

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Speaker 4: And then I got so busy and so many things

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Speaker 4: happened and I just never felt called to it. And

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Speaker 4: then I went to Ireland this summer and so I

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Speaker 4: brought it with me and I went back and I

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Speaker 4: started it over and I finished it and so quickly,

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Speaker 4: and I just loved it. It's like one of my

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Speaker 4: favorite books. It's so good.

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Speaker 1: So just because you.

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Speaker 4: Put something down doesn't mean that you can't go back

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Speaker 4: to it when it feels right.

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Speaker 3: I feel like that also takes the pressure off of

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Speaker 3: abandoning it, like yeah, like it doesn't have to be forever,

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Speaker 3: it's just like right now. And I'm hearing that you

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Speaker 3: probably err on the side of leaving earlier than maybe

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Speaker 3: some people do. Yes, And I need to take your

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Speaker 3: advice because for me, I can't even admit to myself

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Speaker 3: that I don't like something. I'll just know because I'm stuck. Like,

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Speaker 3: if I like it, I'll be reading it. If I'm

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Speaker 3: not reading it, I probably don't like it.

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Speaker 1: That's exactly right. That's I'm always telling people.

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Speaker 4: I'm just like, just if you're not liking it, if

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Speaker 4: you're not reading it, if it feels like homework, just

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Speaker 4: put it down.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, then it's not for now.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Oh my gosh. A right, we're gonna take a quick break.

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Speaker 3: We're gonna be back talking about lots more reading stuff.

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Speaker 3: All right, We are back, And I love planning and

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Speaker 3: tracking things. And I always make testated, okay, good about

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Speaker 3: how different people who read a lot and I don't

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Speaker 3: read as much as you. I'm more in like the

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Speaker 3: forty to fifty So that's a lot less onerous. But

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Speaker 3: how do you track your reading?

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Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, I track my reading in so many

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00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:36,760
Speaker 4: different ways it's actually getting to be like obscene. So

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Speaker 4: first and foremost, I have a reading track or spreadsheet

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Speaker 4: that I have built over the last I mean, I

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Speaker 4: keep changing it every year. I update and change it.

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Speaker 4: But it's just like a Google sheet. It's actually something

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Speaker 4: that I offer. I have a Patreon and it's a

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Speaker 4: perk that I offer to my patrons in December and

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Speaker 4: January of every year, and it's like you can only

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Speaker 4: get it then and then it goes away for the

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Speaker 4: next year. But it has title, it has author, it

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00:19:01,600 --> 00:19:04,280
Speaker 4: has like the imprint and the publisher. It has how

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Speaker 4: many pages, it has how I read it. It has

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Speaker 4: my Scott Star reading. It has what country they're from,

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Speaker 4: if it's in translation, who the editor.

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00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:11,000
Speaker 1: It has like.

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Speaker 4: Every possible little detail you could need for a book.

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00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 4: I think for like a general reader it's probably too much,

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Speaker 4: but for me it's really helpful to go back and see,

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00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:23,600
Speaker 4: like what I was reading. There's also a page, so

440
00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:25,320
Speaker 4: that's like the first page is just raw data. Then

441
00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:28,479
Speaker 4: the second page it's like a little chart and it

442
00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:31,240
Speaker 4: fills in the percentages, like what percent, and then there's

443
00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:33,959
Speaker 4: a page for each year, so the twenty twenty four

444
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:35,840
Speaker 4: stats doing twenty three stets goes all the way back.

445
00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,440
Speaker 4: Then there's a page for what we call TBR, which

446
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:40,199
Speaker 4: is a to b read list, and that's where I

447
00:19:40,359 --> 00:19:44,000
Speaker 4: enter every single book that comes into my home, so

448
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:45,919
Speaker 4: I know, because I get sent a lot of books

449
00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:48,199
Speaker 4: for my job, so I know, and by a lot,

450
00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:50,400
Speaker 4: I mean like four hundred to seven hundred a year,

451
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:52,199
Speaker 4: just depending on the year. Like it's a lot of

452
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,240
Speaker 4: too many to read, but also too many to even

453
00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:57,600
Speaker 4: know what I have, And so it's helpful for me

454
00:19:57,640 --> 00:19:59,680
Speaker 4: to put it in a spreadsheet because sometimes I'll get

455
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:01,879
Speaker 4: pitched a book and then I will forget about it,

456
00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:02,800
Speaker 4: and then six months.

457
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:04,800
Speaker 1: Later it'll be up for like a literary award, and I'm.

458
00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:05,800
Speaker 4: Like, oh, let me see if I have that, and

459
00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:07,240
Speaker 4: I can go back to the spreadsheet and find it,

460
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:11,080
Speaker 4: because otherwise it's like my brain cannot obviously handle. So

461
00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:13,639
Speaker 4: there's all these different tabs. We do a reading challenge

462
00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,040
Speaker 4: in the stack, so there's a tab for the reading

463
00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:17,679
Speaker 4: challenge for your anyways, it's it's great fun. I also

464
00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,600
Speaker 4: use story graph, which is an alternative to Goodreads, which

465
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:25,240
Speaker 4: I love. It's less social media e it's much more

466
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:27,479
Speaker 4: reading tracking. But also there's tabs where you can do

467
00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:30,200
Speaker 4: reading challenges, so you can set up a challenge, maybe

468
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:32,520
Speaker 4: like if your book club wants to set up a challenge,

469
00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:34,280
Speaker 4: and you can put all twelve of the books in,

470
00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,040
Speaker 4: and then you can say, like which ones you've read,

471
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:39,199
Speaker 4: and you can see what other people are doing, and

472
00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,479
Speaker 4: that's really fun. I also use Goodreads still too, mainly

473
00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:48,440
Speaker 4: because I know that bookstores use the ratings on Goodreads

474
00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,160
Speaker 4: to help kind of know what's exciting and what they

475
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:52,880
Speaker 4: should be stocking, and so I want to make sure

476
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:56,280
Speaker 4: that I'm like part of that process as someone who

477
00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:59,040
Speaker 4: cares deeply about making sure books are getting into people's hands.

478
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:01,359
Speaker 4: And then I also have a little notes app where

479
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,359
Speaker 4: I have all the books i've just finished, just the

480
00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:05,640
Speaker 4: title to know if I've actually posted a review about

481
00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,639
Speaker 4: them on my Instagram or not. So every time I

482
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:09,640
Speaker 4: finish a book, I have to go to four places

483
00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,080
Speaker 4: to enter information, which is why I'm like, it's getting

484
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:14,280
Speaker 4: out of control, and I think I probably will be

485
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:18,359
Speaker 4: leaving Goodreads completely very very soon. I don't love it there,

486
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:22,240
Speaker 4: and it's just an extra thing. But at the moment,

487
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:26,120
Speaker 4: I haven't quite made. Maybe I'm done in twenty twenty five.

488
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:26,920
Speaker 4: Maybe that's the plan.

489
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:29,320
Speaker 3: Well, I'm impressed that you have your data so many

490
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:32,240
Speaker 3: and I'm very jealous because I did not start tracking

491
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 3: my books until twenty twenty, and I'm so sad about it.

492
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:36,400
Speaker 3: I'm like, how can you go back? And I read

493
00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:38,399
Speaker 3: in my life, how can I go back? I mean,

494
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 3: I don't know what I read when I was like

495
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:41,399
Speaker 3: twenty seven, Like it's been a while.

496
00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,000
Speaker 4: So I started my tracker in twenty sixteen. When I

497
00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,560
Speaker 4: started that, like twelve books, yes, in the year. So

498
00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,720
Speaker 4: I have previous titles on my Goodreads that I read

499
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:53,840
Speaker 4: from a long time ago, but I don't have those

500
00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:56,119
Speaker 4: entered in the tracker because I don't have years.

501
00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:57,240
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know.

502
00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,520
Speaker 4: I still might go back because there are books that

503
00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,439
Speaker 4: I read loved that are not in my tracker that

504
00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 4: I sort of wish were.

505
00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:06,720
Speaker 1: So I don't know, but you can go back.

506
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,359
Speaker 3: I think tracking is like a relatively I don't want

507
00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:11,320
Speaker 3: to say new, like not new like this year, but

508
00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:15,600
Speaker 3: like in twenty ten, no one was like tracking. They're

509
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:17,840
Speaker 3: reading like it's so people.

510
00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:21,679
Speaker 4: Were I know people were people who have grandmothers, like

511
00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:23,879
Speaker 4: when they died, they found journals that were just like

512
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:26,960
Speaker 4: lists of every book they ever read. I know, I

513
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:29,240
Speaker 4: thought that was so cool and like the year they

514
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,280
Speaker 4: read them. So I think some people were, but I

515
00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:35,160
Speaker 4: do think you're right that was not like as gamified

516
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 4: and like social media. I think I got on good

517
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:39,680
Speaker 4: Reads in about two thousand and nine, and so that's

518
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,080
Speaker 4: when I started sort of keeping track, but I didn't

519
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,879
Speaker 4: start the spreadsheet till twenty I think I started the

520
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:46,119
Speaker 4: spreadsheet in twenty eighteen.

521
00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,760
Speaker 3: Actually, well, your spreadsheet sounds amazing. I may have to

522
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:50,560
Speaker 3: check out your Patreon just for the spreadsheet.

523
00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:53,199
Speaker 4: It's more a thing, I'm telling you, it's it is

524
00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:55,160
Speaker 4: the greatest part of my life. Every time I finish

525
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,040
Speaker 4: a book, I'm like, I get to put it in

526
00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:57,640
Speaker 4: the tracker.

527
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:02,240
Speaker 3: That is amazing. All right, Well, reading mediums you mentioned

528
00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,320
Speaker 3: you like audio, you like Kindle, you like paper. I

529
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:09,000
Speaker 3: mostly read on paper. I'm like weird, and I'm mix

530
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 3: of buying stuff and getting from the library because well

531
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:14,199
Speaker 3: I'm in Roward County, Florida, and like we have a

532
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:16,679
Speaker 3: great like people from not from here, apparently like can

533
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 3: get into our system, but we have like I can

534
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,600
Speaker 3: get almost anything I want on paper pretty quickly. I mean,

535
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:23,760
Speaker 3: there's a few really hot titles where there's a decent

536
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:26,119
Speaker 3: sized waiting list, but I actually think it's better than

537
00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 3: most places, so I feel spoiled that way. But yeah,

538
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,680
Speaker 3: how do you choose a format for a given book?

539
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:34,119
Speaker 3: Although I guess I know you get a lot of

540
00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:36,840
Speaker 3: books sent, so that might too skew the data here.

541
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,120
Speaker 4: I also love my library. I mostly use my library

542
00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:42,840
Speaker 4: for audiobooks and ebooks like I've never I can say

543
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:45,240
Speaker 4: I have purchased some audiobooks, but I have never purchased

544
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 4: an ebook in my.

545
00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:47,480
Speaker 1: Life, except for that's not true.

546
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:52,359
Speaker 4: One an independent author who I love, I've bought her

547
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 4: romance novel, But other than that, I've never purchased because

548
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,200
Speaker 4: I have a library system that I love as well

549
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:02,280
Speaker 4: as far as what I'm going to read. If I'm

550
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 4: making the decision for myself, I'm usually reading fiction on

551
00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:10,560
Speaker 4: paper or with my eyes, whether that's kindle or physical book,

552
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,679
Speaker 4: And if it's pretty dense nonfiction the same, I'm usually

553
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:20,440
Speaker 4: listening to memoirs or very narrative nonfiction. That's just how

554
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:25,240
Speaker 4: my brain works. But sometimes I'm reading a book physical

555
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,840
Speaker 4: and kindle at the same time, or audio and physical

556
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,200
Speaker 4: at the same time. Not literally at the same time,

557
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 4: but like I might be making dinner and I put

558
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,600
Speaker 4: the audiobook on, and then when I sit down to

559
00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:37,440
Speaker 4: read at night, I go find the book and I

560
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,159
Speaker 4: go find what page I'm on. I jokingly say that

561
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:42,080
Speaker 4: I'm a one book pony, which just means that I

562
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,280
Speaker 4: can pretty much only read one book at a time.

563
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,199
Speaker 4: That's not exactly true, because I can do one on

564
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:50,320
Speaker 4: audio and one with my eyes, but I'm not You'll

565
00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,240
Speaker 4: it would be so rare that I would actually be

566
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 4: actively reading two different books at the same time in

567
00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,640
Speaker 4: the same format. I pretty much just power through one

568
00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 4: as I go. I know people who have books in

569
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:05,200
Speaker 4: different rooms, Like their night time book in their bedroom

570
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:06,399
Speaker 4: is one book, and then they have a book that

571
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,439
Speaker 4: they read like on the couch in the evenings or

572
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,560
Speaker 4: in the mornings. Not me, it's one book all day

573
00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 4: until it's done.

574
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 3: I was gonna ask you that question. That's so interesting.

575
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 3: I'm I have to have one fiction and one nonfiction

576
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 3: at all times generally, Like I don't go beyond that,

577
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:23,800
Speaker 3: but like for me, there's such different like reading, they're

578
00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,760
Speaker 3: almost like not related, like yeah, experience.

579
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 1: How do you decide which one you're going to read?

580
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,000
Speaker 1: Or where? Like is it a physical location or is

581
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:31,680
Speaker 1: it a time of.

582
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,439
Speaker 3: Day or yeah, like my nonfiction is morning reading, like

583
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:36,879
Speaker 3: that's how I start my day and then I'm usually

584
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,200
Speaker 3: done with it for the day, like it's rare that

585
00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 3: I would pick it up again. And then fiction is

586
00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:43,160
Speaker 3: like any other time, like for fun, like at lunch

587
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:44,679
Speaker 3: or like when I'm going to bed or whatever.

588
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:46,240
Speaker 1: But yeah, what kind of nonfiction?

589
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,359
Speaker 3: A mix of stuff, but some memoirs a lot of

590
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:52,840
Speaker 3: like personal development, like but it more on the like

591
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 3: I don't know, like cal Newport or like well, Lauravanerkam

592
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 3: is the co host of this podcast, and I got

593
00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 3: into her stuff for a reason. I love it. But

594
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,440
Speaker 3: authors in that realm, which I often end up reading

595
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,080
Speaker 3: also kind of for work since I have this podcast

596
00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:07,920
Speaker 3: and then bestlaid plans. So yeah, all right, but back

597
00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:08,720
Speaker 3: to you.

598
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 4: Sorry, podcasters can't help themselves asking no questions, Like I've

599
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:16,639
Speaker 4: been biting my tongue and asking you so many questions

600
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:18,240
Speaker 4: so that I had to get those off though I'm done.

601
00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 3: I'm done, And you saw on my face when you

602
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:21,159
Speaker 3: said you only read one book at once, and I

603
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 3: think I was shocked because I was just like, oh,

604
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:25,160
Speaker 3: she's a reading person and she likes to just power

605
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,960
Speaker 3: through one. I never would have thought that so very interesting.

606
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:30,080
Speaker 3: I'm going to pivot a little bit because i want

607
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,359
Speaker 3: to talk about reading and kids. Now, your kids, not

608
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:35,920
Speaker 3: you reading with kids, but like helping the kids read.

609
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 3: So your kids are five, and what are your reading

610
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 3: practices with them now? And what are tips for cultivating

611
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:46,160
Speaker 3: or reading habit in your children.

612
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:48,440
Speaker 1: We read every day at bedtime.

613
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 4: They don't read yet, and I am really nervous to

614
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,919
Speaker 4: pressure them to read, Like I've been very sort of

615
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,960
Speaker 4: hands off in reading, Like I think other parents are

616
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:07,200
Speaker 4: probably more active at this age with reading. But I'm

617
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:11,280
Speaker 4: like too scared for them to like resent it because

618
00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:13,399
Speaker 4: it is my job. So I think I'm maybe like

619
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:15,800
Speaker 4: over correcting the other way. Like they know all their letters,

620
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:17,639
Speaker 4: they know all their sounds, but when I try to

621
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 4: have them like put it together, and then they're like

622
00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 4: I don't want to.

623
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,120
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, don't do it. It's fine. Nobody who

624
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 1: reads readings for losers. It's fine, it's fine. But they

625
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:26,400
Speaker 1: love books.

626
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 4: They love books like they get so they each get

627
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,560
Speaker 4: to pick a book at bedtime that I read to them.

628
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:33,680
Speaker 4: And if we're really running late, sometimes we have to

629
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,439
Speaker 4: agree on one book only, like all three of us

630
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,359
Speaker 4: have to agree on one book, and that is always

631
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 4: like the worst.

632
00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 1: Like it's like I.

633
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 4: Want to pick a book, this one, picked the book,

634
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 4: this one. Like if we can get the two books

635
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:45,920
Speaker 4: in or a bonus book, that's always great.

636
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:47,399
Speaker 1: So mostly we.

637
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,280
Speaker 4: Read picture books, but recently we started reading a chapter

638
00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:52,840
Speaker 4: a night from sometimes from certain chapter books. So like

639
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,240
Speaker 4: we were reading Charlotte's Web. We were listening in the

640
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 4: car to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on audio. They

641
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,640
Speaker 4: were really into that. On longer drives, Trevor Noah has

642
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,400
Speaker 4: this great new book called Into the Uncut Grass. It's

643
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,760
Speaker 4: really small, it's for like teeny tiny chapters, but it's

644
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:11,880
Speaker 4: so I'm like obsessed with that. I'm telling everybody it's

645
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,679
Speaker 4: so good. And they just really i mean, they just

646
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:16,320
Speaker 4: really like to be read to, and they like to

647
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:19,000
Speaker 4: ask questions and tell me about what they're seeing, what's

648
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 4: happening in the book.

649
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, And do you have a process for picking books

650
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 3: for them or like a favorite resource you go to

651
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 3: to find kids books, No, I.

652
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,920
Speaker 4: Mean at this point now they like to pick books

653
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:34,439
Speaker 4: when we go to the bookstore. And one of the

654
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:35,840
Speaker 4: things I do is every time I go on a

655
00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:37,440
Speaker 4: trip because I have to travel for work, is I

656
00:28:37,480 --> 00:28:40,640
Speaker 4: always bring back a book for each person. And so

657
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,480
Speaker 4: that's like a fun, fun way for me to find

658
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 4: new books because I'm usually going to bookstores in my

659
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:49,520
Speaker 4: travels and sometimes I get sent books from publishers. I

660
00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:51,800
Speaker 4: have some people on social media that I follow who

661
00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,000
Speaker 4: talk about kids books, but mostly I'm sort of just

662
00:28:55,080 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 4: like peruising, and we go to the library a lot,

663
00:28:57,040 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 4: so that's also a good way to discover new authors.

664
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 4: And usually when we go, everyone gets to pick two

665
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:04,720
Speaker 4: or three books, including me, so we end up with

666
00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:07,200
Speaker 4: and if my husband goes, you know, another, so we

667
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,520
Speaker 4: end up with like eight to twelve books for like

668
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:12,320
Speaker 4: kids books for a library trip, and then that's enough

669
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,400
Speaker 4: to kind of rotate and if we find any favorites,

670
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:15,880
Speaker 4: we might go back and see if that author has

671
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:17,880
Speaker 4: other you know, so the same way that I do

672
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 4: with adult books, sort of just recommendations if I've seen

673
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 4: it somewhere, going to the library, asking friends, whatever, looks

674
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 4: exciting all of that.

675
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,640
Speaker 3: We had the best library routine last year because one

676
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 3: of my kids had a piano teacher that was like

677
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:33,640
Speaker 3: right by the library. We would go every week. And

678
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,160
Speaker 3: I'm like, that's why we don't have library books anymore,

679
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,560
Speaker 3: because we just switch piano teachers. Oh, but I agree

680
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 3: that regular visitation is so helpful and unlike me, like

681
00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 3: when I go to the library, I'm just picking up

682
00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:46,360
Speaker 3: my holds, you know, But with them, I want them

683
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 3: to browse and like choose, so that sane really makes sense.

684
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 1: That's exactly when I go, I'm just in and out.

685
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:52,760
Speaker 4: I have to go this afternoon, I'm gonna walk over there,

686
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 4: pick up my books and get out. But yes, with them,

687
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 4: we go sit in like the little kids room and

688
00:29:57,960 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 4: they get to pick.

689
00:29:58,880 --> 00:29:59,520
Speaker 1: And it's so funny.

690
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 4: When we go to the a bookstore, they'll pull books

691
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:03,280
Speaker 4: off the shelf like they're at the library. But at

692
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:04,920
Speaker 4: the library they tell you to just leave them on

693
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:06,880
Speaker 4: the table and the librarians put them away.

694
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:08,400
Speaker 1: But at the bookstore, I'm like, where did you get that?

695
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 1: We have to put it back. It's like different vibes,

696
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:11,560
Speaker 1: different vibes.

697
00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:13,320
Speaker 3: All right, we're going to take one more break and

698
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 3: we are going to be back with some tips on

699
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 3: maybe fitting in more reading or getting out of a slump.

700
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 3: All right, we are back, and I definitely have my

701
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:37,160
Speaker 3: own reading slump in the end of twenty twenty four

702
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:39,720
Speaker 3: kind of like started with some stressful stuff around August

703
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 3: in September and had trouble recovering. And I know that

704
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 3: it's a common like New Year's goal for people to

705
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 3: read more. So what would you suggest for someone either

706
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,400
Speaker 3: in a reading slump or who is trying to build

707
00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 3: up the habits of reading more? And maybe those are

708
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:56,280
Speaker 3: two different things.

709
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,240
Speaker 4: Yeah, I say those are two really different things to me.

710
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 4: I'm going to start with the reading slum. If you

711
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:04,920
Speaker 4: are in a reading slump now more than ever, pick

712
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:09,280
Speaker 4: up things that you really want to read, not that

713
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 4: thing that you bought last time at the store or

714
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:12,959
Speaker 4: the thing that the hold is going to be up

715
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,920
Speaker 4: on soon from the library. That book that you have

716
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,840
Speaker 4: been dying to read, that everyone is talking about, that

717
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 4: you're so excited about. That is the only thing that

718
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:24,520
Speaker 4: will get you out of a reading slump. The other

719
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 4: option is to avoid your books like the Plague, watch

720
00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 4: every TV show that you've ever wanted to watch until

721
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 4: you feel like you're excited to read books again. I

722
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,400
Speaker 4: had a horrible reading slump when Love is Blind was

723
00:31:35,400 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 4: on and I was like, I gotta read, I gotta read,

724
00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:39,880
Speaker 4: and I was like, you know what, I'm just going

725
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:42,080
Speaker 4: to watch all of Love is Blind. And I did,

726
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 4: and I bounce back with my best reading month ever.

727
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,720
Speaker 4: So like it just I think, like, Okay, you're in

728
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 4: a reading slump. Great, who cares?

729
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:51,880
Speaker 1: You'll go back, you know.

730
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:53,440
Speaker 4: Like even when I was in a reading slump, which

731
00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 4: is different because I have to read for work, I

732
00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,800
Speaker 4: still was like, I hate reading. I hate every book

733
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,000
Speaker 4: I read, and it was miserable for like I had

734
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:02,600
Speaker 4: like two or three this year. Actually it was a

735
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:03,960
Speaker 4: really hard reading year for me.

736
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 1: But you get out of it. You bounce back.

737
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,800
Speaker 4: Something exciting comes along and it takes you right out

738
00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 4: of it as far as wanting to read more. So

739
00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 4: this is still my reading goal every single year. I

740
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 4: started doing this about four years ago and I do

741
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:19,600
Speaker 4: it every single year.

742
00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 1: My only reading goal is to read ten pages a day.

743
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 1: That is my only goal. And I know it's all crazy.

744
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 3: I'm interrupting you, because that's the goal I set for

745
00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,200
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five, Like it's already been announced on the podcast,

746
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,280
Speaker 3: so no one will think I copied. That's okay, keep going,

747
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,320
Speaker 3: that's hilarious. Actually it was ten minutes for me, but

748
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:38,800
Speaker 3: keep going.

749
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 4: Ten minutes okay. So I'm a slow reader. Ten minutes

750
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 4: will get me like three pages, and I'm like, I

751
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,400
Speaker 4: can't be efective. Ten pages for me is probably about

752
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:50,360
Speaker 4: more like twenty minutes of reading time. And I think

753
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:55,960
Speaker 4: it's a perfect goal because it's quantifiable, it is easy

754
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:56,880
Speaker 4: to achieve.

755
00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:58,440
Speaker 1: It's not a pain.

756
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,440
Speaker 4: It's not even not even running a mile, right, It's

757
00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:04,040
Speaker 4: not difficult. It's just a matter of sitting down and

758
00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 4: doing it. When I started reading ten pages a day

759
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 4: as a goal, I started reading even more than what

760
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 4: I was already reading a lot, because it makes it

761
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 4: a practice.

762
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 1: And if you do the.

763
00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:20,280
Speaker 4: Math, ish we're talking about like three thousand, six hundred

764
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:23,440
Speaker 4: and fifty pages in the year, which is approximately going

765
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 4: to put you let's say every book is three hundred pages,

766
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,200
Speaker 4: like you're looking at ten to twelve books in the year.

767
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 4: But the real reason that this goal, I think it

768
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:34,120
Speaker 4: worked for me so well, is that once you start

769
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 4: reading ten pages, you're not gonna want to stop at

770
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,200
Speaker 4: ten pages, right, Like, if you're picking the right books,

771
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 4: if the books are exciting too, if it's things you

772
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:44,800
Speaker 4: want to read, you're going to sit down for those

773
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:46,560
Speaker 4: ten pages and you're gonna be like, I have a

774
00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:49,120
Speaker 4: little extra time, I'm gonna read more. And like, some

775
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:52,840
Speaker 4: days I truly only read ten pages. Some days I

776
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,200
Speaker 4: only get to like three pages or zero pages. I mean,

777
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:57,960
Speaker 4: it happens. But then some days I read two hundred

778
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,320
Speaker 4: pages in the day. But the thing is like having

779
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 4: the goal be low and achievable, I think is really important,

780
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,680
Speaker 4: especially if you're trying to get back into reading or

781
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 4: you are just like I want to read a little

782
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,319
Speaker 4: bit more, but I'm not really a reader. Something like

783
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:13,799
Speaker 4: that is really doable. I also think one book a

784
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:16,680
Speaker 4: month is also like a doable goal, or depending on

785
00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:19,440
Speaker 4: how much you read, maybe it's one a week whatever,

786
00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:22,440
Speaker 4: but like something that's super duper quantifiable. Did I do

787
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 4: this yes or no? Because like reading more not like,

788
00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:27,799
Speaker 4: how do you know if you're reading more?

789
00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:31,000
Speaker 3: Totally two be So yeah, That's what I was saying.

790
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:32,520
Speaker 4: And then the other thing I say for people who

791
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 4: like are struggling to read or like finding time is

792
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 4: to I mean, I'm not as intense to be like

793
00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:40,680
Speaker 4: put it on your calendar. But if that's like I

794
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 4: don't know some people, you know, some people put their

795
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 4: workouts on their calendar. Some people put having sex with

796
00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:47,040
Speaker 4: their partner on their calendar. So like, depending on who

797
00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,839
Speaker 4: you are, maybe that's helpful. But to me, I think

798
00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:53,000
Speaker 4: just when it's time to read, going on airplane mode

799
00:34:53,200 --> 00:34:56,000
Speaker 4: is huge. Making sure you have your snacks and beverages,

800
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:58,920
Speaker 4: your blankets, you have gone to the bathroom, all of

801
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 4: the things that are the thing that will make you

802
00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:03,879
Speaker 4: get up and stop reading. Make sure you've taken care

803
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 4: of those things first and then sit down to read.

804
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:07,840
Speaker 1: I think that's.

805
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,839
Speaker 4: Really really, really, really really important. If you have young

806
00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 4: kids and like maybe you're trying to sneak in reading

807
00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:16,000
Speaker 4: when they're out of the house, maybe they're with their sitter,

808
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:19,640
Speaker 4: or maybe they're with your partner, maybe they're at school.

809
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 4: What I do is I have a do not disturb

810
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 4: mode that is for sort of reading time that allows

811
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:28,680
Speaker 4: for those people to get through to me. Otherwise nobody

812
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,319
Speaker 4: else can. So if you're worried about that, like you

813
00:35:31,360 --> 00:35:33,359
Speaker 4: can customize your phone to give you a do not

814
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:36,719
Speaker 4: disturb that allows for any people that you might need

815
00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:38,719
Speaker 4: to talk to, you know, so, and you can have

816
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:40,320
Speaker 4: like a special one that's just for reading.

817
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:44,040
Speaker 3: Yes, reading mode. I love it, Yeah, I love it. Well.

818
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:46,200
Speaker 3: We usually do a Love of the Week, which is, like,

819
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:48,000
Speaker 3: you name something that makes you happy this week, but

820
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:49,600
Speaker 3: I thought it might be more fun for you to

821
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,520
Speaker 3: share as of now. This is mean, but your top

822
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:56,279
Speaker 3: three books for twenty twenty four? Can you or okay,

823
00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,919
Speaker 3: just three books you loved in twenty twenty four? There

824
00:35:58,920 --> 00:35:59,480
Speaker 3: you go, I can.

825
00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:04,280
Speaker 4: I can share three of my favorite books. My problem

826
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,120
Speaker 4: is that this year there were two books that were

827
00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 4: sort of like the most beloved books by everybody in

828
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 4: the world, and like they're up for all the awards,

829
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:14,080
Speaker 4: and so I'm just gonna say them because I too

830
00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 4: loved these books, but everybody's talking about them, and so

831
00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,640
Speaker 4: I feel like, let's not waste time with them. One

832
00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:20,799
Speaker 4: is called James by Percival Everett, and the other is

833
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:22,080
Speaker 4: called Martyr by Cave.

834
00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:25,080
Speaker 1: Akbar Love Love, Love, Love Love. Okay, I'm with everybody.

835
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,600
Speaker 1: They're great done. My favorite nonfiction.

836
00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:30,520
Speaker 4: Book so far or like overall this year is a

837
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:34,160
Speaker 4: book called Challenger by Adam Higginbotham. It's about the Challenger

838
00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:38,040
Speaker 4: disaster in nineteen eighty six. It is so riveting. It's

839
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:40,120
Speaker 4: one of those books where you know the ending and

840
00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:43,520
Speaker 4: you're still like, what's gonna happen? Like, how did this

841
00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:48,399
Speaker 4: spaceshift take off? It's so fascinating. I will do one

842
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:50,400
Speaker 4: small disclaimer. I did not think this, but a lot

843
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,279
Speaker 4: of people told me that the first section they thought

844
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:54,360
Speaker 4: was a little bit slow because it's a little bit sciency.

845
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,000
Speaker 4: So if you're a person who's like, should I keep going, yes,

846
00:36:57,120 --> 00:36:59,279
Speaker 4: get to part two, I'm part three, and you're gonna

847
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,920
Speaker 4: be like sick to your stomach because you cannot believe

848
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 4: what's happening. So that's a book I loved this year.

849
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,279
Speaker 4: He also wrote the Chernobyl book that got turned into

850
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,760
Speaker 4: that Chernobyl TV show on HBO. The book's called Midnight

851
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:12,360
Speaker 4: in Chernobyl.

852
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:14,239
Speaker 1: He's great.

853
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:16,640
Speaker 4: Another book that I loved this year is a book

854
00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:20,960
Speaker 4: called Colored Television by Danzy Senna. She's so funny and

855
00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:23,919
Speaker 4: I just absolutely I am obsessed with her. It's about

856
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:27,000
Speaker 4: this woman named Jane. It's a novel, and Jane is

857
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 4: a professor and she's trying to write her second book.

858
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 4: But it's a failure and it's about Jane's mixed race

859
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:34,600
Speaker 4: and it's about being mixed, and she's like, I'm going

860
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:35,160
Speaker 4: to sell out.

861
00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:36,400
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to Hollywood.

862
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:39,560
Speaker 4: She goes to write the great like Mixed TV show,

863
00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 4: and it's just all about her extremely bad decisions. Danzy

864
00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:47,200
Speaker 4: is like an author who writes main characters who a

865
00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:49,799
Speaker 4: lot of people think are unlikable. I love them, but

866
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:53,319
Speaker 4: they make bad choices, Like the whole book, You're just

867
00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:56,680
Speaker 4: like Jane girl, do not do that, don't Jane.

868
00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:58,800
Speaker 1: I hate this for y'all. And then.

869
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:04,440
Speaker 4: Last book I'll pick is, let's see, I did nonfiction.

870
00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:05,200
Speaker 4: I did fiction.

871
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 1: Do you want me to do essays? Or do you

872
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:08,440
Speaker 1: want me to do memoir?

873
00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:10,480
Speaker 3: Deep, let's have a memoir. I need to mate.

874
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,240
Speaker 4: This memoir is called Another Word for Love by Carvel Wallace.

875
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:16,480
Speaker 1: It is so good.

876
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:21,400
Speaker 4: Carvell Wallace is a black queer person from the Bay Area,

877
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:23,360
Speaker 4: or actually they're from the East Coast.

878
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:25,320
Speaker 1: They live in LA. They live in the Bay Area.

879
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 4: The first part of the book is about their childhood

880
00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,560
Speaker 4: and sort of the trauma that they experienced their mother

881
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:31,879
Speaker 4: dealed with like houselessness, and it's a lot of kind

882
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:35,239
Speaker 4: of difficult, heavy stuff, and then as the book goes on,

883
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:39,760
Speaker 4: Carvell sort of imagines these other possibilities around healing and

884
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 4: redemption and reconciliation. It's just so beautifully written. It's so smart,

885
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 4: it's so tender. When I first started the book, I

886
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,200
Speaker 4: was sort of like, this is really good writing, like

887
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:54,640
Speaker 4: this feels like every other sort of trauma memoir, And

888
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:58,399
Speaker 4: as you keep going, you're just like, whoa, I am

889
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:02,000
Speaker 4: blown away by the way that this memoir was transformed,

890
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:04,280
Speaker 4: by the way that this author has transformed their thinking.

891
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,520
Speaker 4: It's just so powerful and so beautiful. So that's another

892
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:09,440
Speaker 4: word for love by Carvel Wallace.

893
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,640
Speaker 3: And that sounds awesome. All right, Maybe one of those

894
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,320
Speaker 3: will get me out of my slum. Oh my gosh, Tracy,

895
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:18,280
Speaker 3: this has been so so delightful. So remind our listeners

896
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:21,320
Speaker 3: where they can find you, including that very tantalizing spreadsheet

897
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:21,720
Speaker 3: you mentioned.

898
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,400
Speaker 4: Yes, okay, so you can find me at the Stacks

899
00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,400
Speaker 4: pod on Instagram. And the podcast is called The Stacks.

900
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:31,920
Speaker 4: It comes out every Wednesday, so wherever you get your podcasts.

901
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:33,600
Speaker 4: And then if you want to support the work that

902
00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:35,919
Speaker 4: I do, I have a Patreon. It's Patreon dot com

903
00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:39,120
Speaker 4: slash the Stacks. If you join in December or January,

904
00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:43,120
Speaker 4: you have access to the Reading Tracker. It'll get sent

905
00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:47,120
Speaker 4: to you. It'll be posted sometime in December, sometime soon,

906
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:51,600
Speaker 4: and then yeah, that's that you can and I have

907
00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:54,040
Speaker 4: a website. The Stacks podcast will all the places. If

908
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:55,680
Speaker 4: you go to any of the places, you'll be able

909
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:59,640
Speaker 4: to find all the other places because that's how internet works.

910
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:02,440
Speaker 1: So yes, the Stacks find it.

911
00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:05,720
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, thank you so much for coming on, Tracy.

912
00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:06,480
Speaker 3: This was a blast.

913
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,320
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me. Well, that was great.

914
00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:13,400
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Sarah and Tracy for that discussion

915
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:17,400
Speaker 2: of reading. So this week's question comes from a listener

916
00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:20,560
Speaker 2: who says you both seem to take weekends away with

917
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:22,799
Speaker 2: your husband's I mean, I hear about this less from Laura,

918
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,680
Speaker 2: but it seems like it happens. My question is how

919
00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:28,760
Speaker 2: do you deal with childcare in this situation? It seems

920
00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:31,359
Speaker 2: like your nanny sometimes covers. Does she sleep at your house?

921
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,799
Speaker 2: What do you pay for the weekend relative to an

922
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:37,440
Speaker 2: hourly rate? Do your grandparents ever cover? With a big family,

923
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:39,080
Speaker 2: I now have three kids under six, do you ever

924
00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:40,960
Speaker 2: split up the kids to make it easier on the

925
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:44,280
Speaker 2: childcare provider. This person says that she and her husband

926
00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:46,080
Speaker 2: were pretty good about this when they had one kid,

927
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:48,520
Speaker 2: maybe even two, but three seems like nobody wants to

928
00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,279
Speaker 2: take over for forty eight hours, So, Sarah, what is

929
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:54,080
Speaker 2: your answer there?

930
00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we do usually hire our nanny to do this.

931
00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,319
Speaker 3: I'm not going to go into total payment specific, but

932
00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:03,319
Speaker 3: you can pay a lower rate for overnights. You just

933
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,280
Speaker 3: have to legally make sure that you're at least paying

934
00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:08,440
Speaker 3: a minimum wage, so you can't be like when the

935
00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 3: kids are sleeping it's free, like they're still working, and

936
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:14,719
Speaker 3: you have to be paying something. So we worked it out.

937
00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:18,160
Speaker 3: It's not the full full regular rate, but it's definitely

938
00:41:18,239 --> 00:41:20,759
Speaker 3: extra above what she would get into normal week and

939
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:24,040
Speaker 3: meets those criteria. She will often stay at our house

940
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:26,360
Speaker 3: because it's just easier if the kids have activities, or

941
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:28,600
Speaker 3: she'll take them to her house for a night, And

942
00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:32,520
Speaker 3: we have in the past also had grandparents help, not

943
00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:35,439
Speaker 3: by sending all three there, but like sending one kid

944
00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 3: with the grandparents and then her taking the other two

945
00:41:37,920 --> 00:41:40,719
Speaker 3: and the other kind of share the load. Option would

946
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:42,399
Speaker 3: be like if one of one friend had like maybe

947
00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:44,640
Speaker 3: your oldest has a really close friend and they could

948
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:47,480
Speaker 3: just have a sleepover. Because the older kids get, the

949
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:49,759
Speaker 3: easier it is to just kind of host another kid,

950
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:52,080
Speaker 3: so it's not a huge burden for you know, your

951
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:53,799
Speaker 3: next door neighbor with a similar age kid to take

952
00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:56,640
Speaker 3: your twelve year old, for example. So yeah, I mean

953
00:41:57,760 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 3: I love going away with my husband. We try to

954
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:01,440
Speaker 3: do it twice a year, so it's not like this

955
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,279
Speaker 3: is a happening all the time kind of a thing.

956
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:06,799
Speaker 3: But I just think it's so good for our relationship

957
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:08,879
Speaker 3: when we do it, and I look forward to them

958
00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:12,600
Speaker 3: and want to keep doing it. Yeah, well, I can

959
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:14,240
Speaker 3: say we don't do it that frequently.

960
00:42:14,280 --> 00:42:17,960
Speaker 2: I mean, we've done three since Henry was born, and

961
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:19,600
Speaker 2: those have all been in the last year, So I

962
00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:21,120
Speaker 2: guess we're getting better at it now as the kids

963
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:23,960
Speaker 2: are getting older. But we need to hire overnight coverage.

964
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:26,520
Speaker 2: But we had overnight cover, you know, we have it

965
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:29,120
Speaker 2: during the week as an option because that's always something

966
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:32,480
Speaker 2: we've built into our agreements with our nannies that they

967
00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:35,440
Speaker 2: would be available for that. Because I travel for work,

968
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:38,439
Speaker 2: my husband travels for work, we need coverage that could

969
00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:42,840
Speaker 2: be overnight. So we tend actually to hire different people

970
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:48,200
Speaker 2: though for the weekends, just as a matter of keeping

971
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:52,799
Speaker 2: ours reasonable. You know, we have other people that we

972
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:55,080
Speaker 2: have hired for the weekend, and you just you know,

973
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,440
Speaker 2: negotiate a rate like anything else, like this for the

974
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:00,759
Speaker 2: hours that we assume the kids are and then this

975
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:05,600
Speaker 2: is the overnight rate, and that's how you do it.

976
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:07,799
Speaker 2: But yeah, I totally sympathize that it is hard to

977
00:43:07,840 --> 00:43:13,040
Speaker 2: get anyone to cover for large families. You know, grandparents

978
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 2: may have been fine with one kid, but five kids

979
00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:19,759
Speaker 2: makes it a little harder on anyone to manage the chaos,

980
00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:23,399
Speaker 2: even if some of the kids are older. And so yeah,

981
00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:25,920
Speaker 2: that is the kind of a drawback of the larger

982
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:28,320
Speaker 2: family is the ability for you guys to get away

983
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:28,880
Speaker 2: to gather.

984
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:30,400
Speaker 1: This is actually the hardest thing.

985
00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:32,760
Speaker 2: It is not hard for one parent to get away,

986
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,360
Speaker 2: and so I often encourage people to trade off with

987
00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:37,759
Speaker 2: their partners so each of you get time away to

988
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:39,880
Speaker 2: do fun stuff. But of course the two of you

989
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,360
Speaker 2: to gather is the hardest of all of that, since

990
00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 2: you don't have a readily available person.

991
00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:48,200
Speaker 3: So empathizing here totally, and in some ways I do

992
00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 3: feel like the challenges kind of seem to get more

993
00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:53,480
Speaker 3: so when the kids are old, I mean they're easier

994
00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:54,920
Speaker 3: in the way that you could send them to a neighbor,

995
00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:57,480
Speaker 3: and they're harder in a way that like the kids

996
00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:01,160
Speaker 3: have more stuff and so like for example, when we

997
00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:04,400
Speaker 3: just left, the kids had like a soccer tournament and

998
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:06,160
Speaker 3: then the restraumatics it was piano and like you know,

999
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:08,080
Speaker 3: our Nanni was one person managing all of that. And

1000
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,680
Speaker 3: that's a lot. Of course, our kids could skip an

1001
00:44:10,680 --> 00:44:12,799
Speaker 3: activity every once in a while and they wouldn't know,

1002
00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:16,840
Speaker 3: no disaster, what would happen. But it just logistics become

1003
00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:19,880
Speaker 3: a little bit more complex when the kids are older.

1004
00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:23,440
Speaker 2: Sometimes exactly all right, Well, this has been best of

1005
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:26,760
Speaker 2: both worlds. Sarah has been interviewing Tracy Thomas of The Stacks.

1006
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:28,959
Speaker 2: We will be back next week with more on making

1007
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,240
Speaker 2: work and life fit together.

1008
00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:35,080
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening. You can find me Sarah at the

1009
00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:39,480
Speaker 3: shoebox dot com or at the Underscore Shoebox on Instagram,

1010
00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:40,520
Speaker 3: and you can.

1011
00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:44,640
Speaker 2: Find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. This has

1012
00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:48,000
Speaker 2: been the best of both worlds podcasts. Please join us

1013
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:51,400
Speaker 2: next time for more on making work and life work together.