March 15, 2024 • 32 mins
The Distracted Librarians are back for Episode 2.
This week, Nicole, Drew, Emily, and Killian are discussing their quirks as readers as well as their niche interests. Find out which of our librarians read multiple books at a time, which two have a shared book release Google calendar, who's the go-to for mythology adaptations, and more in this episode!
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out to us at distracted@btpl.org.
Many thanks to BCTV for their support in recording, editing, and releasing this podcast, and to the Friends of the Library for sponsoring closed captioning on every episode.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Emily (00:00):
The views and opinions expressed
in the Distracted Librarians podcast
do not necessarily reflectthose of Bloomfield Township,
Bloomfield Township Public Library,
Bloomfield Community Television,
the Birmingham Area Cable Board,
or its producers or production staff.
Nicole (00:16):
Hello and welcome.
We are the Distracted Librarians,
your friendly neighborhood bookworms,
who can't resist the siren call
of movies, video games, music,
and everything else inthe pop culture universe.
Drew (00:30):
Think of this podcast as a digital campfire
where we share our latest obsessions,
analyze the hidden depths ofour favorite distractions,
and maybe rediscover thejoy of reading in between.
Killian (00:42):
So if you're a fellow media junkie, a book lover,
or someone looking fora fun, engaging escape
from your daily grind, you'vecome to the right place.
Emily (00:50):
Sit back, relax, and prepare
to get delightfully distracted with us.
Nicole (00:56):
Hi everyone.
This is Distracted Librarians,
and we are going totalk a little bit today
about our quirks and niche interests.
All right, does anybody wanna start?
Emily (01:12):
So, for context, we should probably say-
Nicole (01:14):
Yeah, what does that mean?
Emily (01:15):
What does that mean to us?
Nicole (01:16):
All right. That sounds good.
Emily (01:17):
Yeah, for sure.
Reader quirks and niche interests,
so starting with quirks,I think that it's more
what are the little fussy things, I think?
Or I say that for myself,mostly fussy, (laughter)
but the little things thatyou like or don't like or
are particular about, eitherin books or audio books,
(01:39):
or any kind of, you know, story, really.
Drew (01:43):
I think it's also funny, at least with me,
when I'm applying that.
Like, the word quirks, on its own,
doesn't have any, like, morality context,
but when I'm applyingreader quirks to myself,
every single one I think of is negative.
Emily (01:54):
Me too. Yeah.
Drew (01:55):
It is all the things that I hate about myself
as a reader
or the things that I have to work around
in order to enjoy something.
Killian (02:03):
Yeah, that's the thing. It's not all negative.
Some things, it makesthe process of reading
or of finding something toread a little more difficult
because you're picky about it,
or it's gotta be a certain way
to be something you're gonna vibe with.
Nicole (02:16):
Totally, yeah, well, for you guys, you know,
I know some people, especially,
well, readers havedifferent rules in terms
of like whether they proceed with a book.
I know there are peoplethat will read a book
from front to end no matter what.
Do you guys have any strongfeelings about a book
if it's not really making it for you?
Killian (02:36):
Learning to DNF book
was one of the greatestthings in the world for me.
It saved me so much time in terms of just
not continuing to readthings that I actively hated.
Nicole (02:48):
And that's librarian slang for did not finish.
Killian (02:52):
Yes.
Nicole (02:52):
Yeah.
Drew (02:53):
I am still on that journey. I can DNF romances now.
If I get, like, 30 or40% into the romance,
and I've decided I genuinelywant one of these characters
to be unhappy by the end,
(laughter)
or I don't think they deserve happiness.
Nicole (03:10):
Okay.
Killian (03:10):
Wow.
Drew (03:11):
Then I will stop the book
because I know it'sgoing to lead to a place
where they're happy,and I don't want that.
Nicole (03:16):
Okay. Emily
That's fair.
Drew (03:18):
So I leave them in the pit.
Nicole (03:19):
Nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Emily (03:21):
I never used to be that way,
and then, at a certain point,
actually fairly early on, 'cause this was
a couple years ago, Iwas reading this book.
I don't even remember what book it was,
and I was reading it, andI'm like, I don't care.
There's nothing aboutthis that I care about.
I'm wasting my life reading this book.
Nicole (03:41):
Sure.
Emily (03:42):
And I just put it back, and that, for me, I was like,
(gasps) you're allowed to do that?
And yeah, you are.
You're allowed to do that,
and so now that I havedone that, like, once,
it's just like, Oh, I'm done. I'm good.
Like, it's-
Nicole (03:53):
Yeah.
Emily (03:54):
I try to get at least, like, halfway if I can,
or at least a third of the way to know,
or try to identify whatI don't like about it.
Like, is it the way that it's written?
Is it, you know, the language that's used,
or is it the story itself?
Or is there a characterthat's driving me crazy?
Or why is that?
But sometimes I justdon't wanna psychoanalyze
that response and I'mjust like, you know what?
This book is not for me,
(04:15):
or this movie is not forme, or whatever it is.
And that's okay. It doesn'tmean there's anything
wrong with the thing or with me.
It's just we're not amatch for each other.
Nicole (04:22):
Yeah, you know, I mean, I think it's pretty clear
that a book that comesaround at a certain time,
it may not be the righttime for that book,
and that doesn't meanthat we can't come back
to it at a later time.
Emily (04:32):
Oh, yeah.
Nicole (04:33):
And it might have relevance at that time.
Emily (04:35):
Sure.
Nicole (04:36):
But yeah, certainly, I tend to be like a hundred
pages and I will give it a hundred pages,
but I've been like wrong about that too,
because they're like theAnn Rice books, Lasher,
and I don't even remember,what is the Mayfair Witches
trilogy or a series of books.
(04:58):
That first book is like all about her just
so descriptively creating thisworld, which is fantastic,
and it's very Ann Rice, andshe does a great job of that.
But there was just too much description
and not enough action.
Emily (05:13):
Yeah.
Nicole (05:14):
And so I would get to that hundred page,
and if I had stopped thenI wouldn't have made it
through these amazing, wonderful books
that are really great.
I have to realize thatsometimes more patience
might be needed.
Emily (05:27):
Yeah.
Nicole (05:28):
More than a hundred pages may be needed.
Killian (05:29):
I definitely find that like you said,
sometimes it's just not theright time for that book.
There are ones that it's like,
I know I want to read this,but I simply could not
the time that I tried to.
Emily (05:41):
Yeah.
Killian (05:42):
I will go back to 'em on occasion
and try to actually finish them.
There are a few books that I have like
stopped reading them atreally ridiculous points
to stop reading them.
Like there's a few, I've gotless than a hundred pages left.
I could easily finish this book.
Emily (05:57):
Yeah.
Killian (05:59):
And I just stop.
It's been years and Iam like, some someday.
Someday I might finish it. Emily (06:02):
Yeah.
Nicole (06:04):
so would you go back and read the whole thing?
Killian (06:06):
I have no idea.
Nicole (06:07):
Or is it just...
Killian (06:08):
Cross that bridge when we get to it?
(laughter)
Drew (06:10):
I've actually been really bad about that too,
where like, a lot of times, if it's a book
that is interesting to me,
but isn't like deeply hooking me
and I have to put a bookmark in it
because I have to go to bed,
or I have plans for the next day,
I will just never pick it up again.
(06:30):
And it's gotten to thepoint where if it's a book
that I know I want to finish,I will save it for a day
where I have a dedicatedsix to eight hours
and just plan to read it in the day.
Emily (06:41):
Now, that is something,
I'm glad you brought that up,
because that is in the front of my mind
when I think about my own reader quirks,
is that I'm now in a mood where,
and I don't know when this started,
but if I can't devotelike a large block of time
to the process of reading,I won't read at all.
Which is weird, butit's just sort of like,
no, I'm not gonna read 10 pages of this.
I wanna sit down forlike two and a half hours
(07:03):
and read this book uninterrupted.
And which never happens. And like.
Nicole (07:06):
Yeah, I was gonna say, if that was what my rule was,
I would never read a book again.
Emily (07:11):
And so, I know you and I do this Drew,
where it's just like, I'mgonna read X number of books
this year and set a goal for yourself.
Within a year's time, I'mgonna read 50 books, 60 books,
whatever it is.
I'm behind a little bitbecause of that tendancy,
because I'm like, I don'twanna be interrupted.
I wanna read, I wanna enjoythe process of reading.
(07:32):
And if I can't do that,I won't do it at all.
Drew (07:34):
And I really don't know when that started for me,
because I remember last year I was reading
"Babel" by RF Kuang.
Phenomenal book.
Emily (07:42):
Oh, yeah.
Drew (07:43):
But it is very dense in terms of the amount
of like linguistic informationthat she puts into it.
And it's very readabletoo. It's fantastic.
But I was dedicated, I'mgonna read two chapters
of this a day.
I'm not gonna get bogged down in it,
but I also can't take like,strong distance from it
(08:06):
or everything will fall apart.
- Right.
- So I was strict twochapters a day for 16 days,
just read it, every bit, gaveit like 20, 30 minutes a day.
Emily (08:16):
Okay.
Drew (08:18):
So I used to have that ability.
Emily (08:19):
Yeah.
Drew (08:20):
Even as recently as last year.
And something about thisyear, I don't have it.
Emily (08:25):
Yeah, I'm on the total. I'm with you on that.
What happened to us?
(laughter)
I don't know.
Killian (08:31):
But I go through phases with that all the time.
There's times where I haveto be able to sit and read.
Like I have to sit and readthe whole book or I can't read,
but then there are timeswhere it's like, I can do,
you know, 10, 20, 30minutes before I go to bed
and like, that's fine.
And it's wild becauseyou'd assume there'd be
some sort of rule aboutlike what works for what.
(08:53):
There isn't.
It's complete chaos.
Emily & Nicole (08:56):
Yeah.
Killian (08:57):
Sometimes it's like, yes, this heavy dense fantasy,
I can sit and read it straight through.
Sometimes it's, I have to readit in small digestible bites.
Emily (09:03):
Yeah.
Killian (09:04):
And same thing with, you know, light, fluffy
romance that is like easyto read, very quick to read.
Sometimes I simply cannot sit and read it.
I have to break itdown. And I'm like, why?
Why can't I just...
I want to sit and readit and I just can't.
Emily (09:19):
Sure, yeah.
Nicole (09:21):
I'm like a very compulsive reader.
So like, if I finish abook that I really enjoyed,
then I'm like out tryingto find the next great book
that's gonna like, make me feel the way
the last book made me feel.
Emily (09:33):
Because you have inertia almost.
Nicole (09:34):
Oh my gosh.
And it's like, it's so hard sometimes
because then I find myselflike, I'm picking up this book
because it feels good to have this book
and know that I havethis project ahead of me.
But then when I start divinginto it, I'm like, well,
maybe I should havereally just taken a break
and I didn't take a break.
Killian (09:50):
It's the book hangover.
Nicole (09:51):
Yeah, totally.
Emily (09:53):
Yes.
Nicole (09:53):
Which is why buying books is evil sometimes.
Emily (09:56):
Oh my gosh.
Nicole (09:57):
I'm so glad I work in a library because otherwise,
which like, I know so manypeople that have just,
and I'm sorry, I'm probablytalking about some people
in this room, not on purpose,
but like, you know
Killian (10:08):
It's me and Drew.
Nicole (10:09):
... have so many books on their shelves
that they haven't read.
Emily (10:11):
Yeah.
Nicole (10:12):
Because it feels so good to pick that book up
and be like, you are mine.
Killian (10:16):
Look, they're pretty.
Emily (10:17):
Yeah. Yes.
Drew (10:18):
I feel attacked now.
Killian (10:19):
Me too.
(laughter)
Drew (10:22):
The, problem was when I got my own apartment
and decided that books wouldbe the aesthetic of the place.
Nicole (10:28):
Yeah, that's a beautiful thing.
It's a truly beautiful thing.
Drew (10:31):
And now buying a book,
I can buy it based onwhether I want to read it,
or I can also buy it basedon, this is a pretty cover.
Or I can also buy it based on my book,
"Rainbow Doesn't Have Enough Yellow Yet".
Killian (10:43):
Drew's book rainbow is stunningly beautiful.
Like mine is good. Drew's is amazing.
Emily (10:51):
Nice, I have kind of the opposite thing
where I'm attracted to objects and books
that look like they're castoffs.
So if there's like a dingypaperback, I'm gonna of whatever,
I'm gonna buy that one.
It's weird, 'cause I have alot of these very beautiful,
like special edition hardcover,like gilded yada yadas.
(11:14):
But it's like, I want thisone with the ripped cover
that has like, plasticholding it together.
I don't know why. That's the...
I want the dingy thing.
It feels good in my hands, you know?
Drew (11:27):
It's lived a life.
Emily (11:27):
Yeah, and so for me, I've got a lot of books
that like, look like that.
Killian (11:33):
Meanwhile I have an entire shelf of sprayed edges
that are edges out.
And I'm like, I don'tremember which of these books
is which book.
I have to go in and like, look for the one
that I'm looking for.
Emily (11:43):
Yes, yes, yes.
I have some of those too.
Killian (11:44):
But the pages are so pretty.
Emily (11:45):
They're beautiful.
Killian (11:46):
They have to be seen.
Emily (11:48):
Yeah.
Nicole (11:50):
Absolutely.
Alright, there was aquestion I was gonna ask,
and now I don't remember more.
Emily (11:58):
Well, we were talking about print items,
like books in print.
What about things like audiobooksor eBooks or any of that?
Nicole (12:04):
Yeah. Well, we have talked a little bit
before about narratorsand that kind of thing.
Is there anything that a narrator could do
that will absolutely shut it down for you?
Emily (12:19):
I read...
Before we were talkingabout liking horror stories,
horror novels, and GradyHendricks is amazing.
Nicole & Drew (12:27):
Amazing
Emily (12:28):
And so I just read, print read
"My Best Friend's Exorcism",
and I listened to the audiobookof it a couple years ago.
And it was so odd, the narratorwould have this really good,
well acted, verypersonality filled dialogue.
(12:49):
But then the description,the omniscient narrator
was like Siri reading it to you.
Nicole (12:54):
So totally deadpan.
Emily (12:55):
Totally deadpan, odd, like AI voice.
It was such a weirdchoice. I was like, what?
To the point where it would disarm me
whenever a character would stop talking
and you'd get this likeAI type deadpan narration.
It was very weird.
Nicole (13:11):
That's really weird.
Emily (13:12):
And it almost seemed odd, and it was the same voice,
like the same narratorthrough the whole book.
It wasn't like an ensemble cast,
but it was like, how are youswitching between this, like,
very well acted and then thisvery like, strange, robotic.
Nicole (13:24):
Caffeinated.
Not caffeinated.
Caffeinated, not caffeinated.
Emily (13:27):
It was so odd.
Like that was really weird. Huh.
Nicole (13:31):
Okay.
Drew (13:32):
Yeah for me, the thing that turns me off most
in an audio book is when the narrator
is someone who like chews on their words.
Mm. And like over annunciates into it
and adds emotion to every syllable.
I can't do it.
Emily (13:46):
Yeah.
Drew (13:47):
Like, I'm a very quick talker.
I tend to read audio booksat like 1.25 to 1.5 speed.
Emily (13:53):
Okay.
Drew (13:54):
And when they just linger on the consonants
and tell the story in away that needs to be... No.
Nicole (14:03):
Well, it's almost like they're standing on a stage.
Drew & Emily (14:05):
Yeah.
Nicole (14:06):
You know, and then they're like, just like leaning
into you to tell you something.
But in their like, best dramatic voice.
Emily (14:12):
Very theatrical.
Nicole (14:13):
It's kind of silly. It's like, I can't see you.
You need to stop doing that.
Drew (14:16):
Yes.
(laughter)
Emily (14:18):
Yeah.
Killian (14:19):
I'm weird with...
There's certain tones of voiceor like, ways of speaking
that hit parts of my brain badlyand I can't listen to them.
So like, it happens justtalking to people sometimes.
And in real life, I can'tjust like turn the person off.
Nicole (14:37):
You get up and walk away away.
Killian:But I can dothat with an audiobook
and I have done it,
and I'll get narratorswhere I'm just like,
It's the... I'm sureyou're a lovely person.
I'm sure this is a well narrated audiobook
for so many people.
I simply cannot.
And I have to find adifferent way to read the book
if I wanna keep readingit, because it's...
and I can't even articulate what those are
(14:59):
It's just something about it hits wrong.
Emily (15:02):
Yeah, this is going to cement my status
as the group nerd, but I was listening.
Nicole (15:08):
I think we're in a war of that.
Emily (15:10):
Yeah. Well, I'm gonna plant my flag
because I was listening toan audiobook of The Iliad,
which is like 40 hours long.
Nicole (15:19):
Yes, of course.
Emily (15:20):
And I went through and I listened to samples
of like, who's gonna win the person
who gets to read me this book?
And I listened to thenarrator, 'cause I'm like,
I'm gonna have to hear you for 40 hours.
Nicole (15:31):
Yeah.
Emily (15:32):
Have to, like someone's forcing me to do it.
But I'm like, okay, whosevoice can I tolerate
for 40 hours?
Killian (15:37):
Like okay, but I never thought to do that.
And that's brilliant.
Nicole (15:39):
Isn't it?
But it's only if they have, you know,
25 different versions of it, right?
Because you can't alwaysdo that with everybody.
Killian (15:46):
And we already established, I don't read classics
Emily (15:48):
Right, so I had my choice of like,
a bunch of differentreaders, but I'm like,
I need just the right.
Like, who am I to like just pick one
and go, but I can't, you know.
Nicole (15:59):
No, that's too much of an investment.
Emily (16:01):
Yeah.
Nicole (16:02):
I don't know.
My biggest issue is likemouth sounds and goodness,
I hope I'm not making them right now. Mm.
But like, imagine NPR whereyou have that one person
who has a dreamy voice, butyou can still hear them,
like slapping.Drew: Oh God.
Their lips,
Emily (16:19):
The clicking and their
Nicole (16:20):
Or the teeth clicking or something.
And I'm just like, I canhear entirely too much.
I'm inside of your mouth right now.
Killian (16:28):
The point where the microphone is too good.
Nicole (16:30):
Where it's too good, right.
Yeah, can we edit that stuff out?
Please edit that stuff out.
(laughter)
You know, that will shutme down. I just can't.
Emily (16:38):
Well, when I do my read alouds for the same thing,
I'm like, all right, let'sget out all the clicks.
Like it's all of thebreathing in or the, you know,
the like before someone talks.
Nicole (16:49):
es.
Emily (16:50):
No, no. Like it's, it's that kind of stuff.
Drew (16:53):
One of my pandemic hobbies that I picked up
was this channel on YouTubecalled "Cracking the Cryptic".
Nicole (16:57):
Okay.
Drew (16:58):
They do these really like intricate Sudoku solves.
Emily (17:01):
Oh.
Drew (17:02):
Of like, the really weird rule sets.
Killian (17:04):
I remember this era.
Drew (17:05):
Yes, of like Sandwich Sudoku and Arrow Sudoku,
and like all of the weird rule sets.
And it's really, really cool.
It's these videos withthese two British guys
where they'll take liketwo hours to solve a Sudoku
and I will be investedin it the entire time.
But one of them is exactly that,
where every time he openshis mouth, it slaps.
Emily (17:26):
Yeah.
Nicole (17:27):
Nope.
Drew (17:28):
And I have to only listen to the other one now.
I can't do it.
Nicole (17:31):
Yeah. Yeah.
Emily (17:33):
A perfect example of the
well, in my opinion
the absolute majestyof audiobook narration
is Steven Lang's "Heart Shaped Box",
reading of "Heart Shaped Box",
which I'm obsessed with"Heart Shaped Box".
(17:55):
So I'm gonna probably mentionit all the time, a lot.
But Stephen Lang reading"Heart Shaped Box"
is a transcendentexperience mostly because
the way that he will enunciateeach part of the word,
but not in that aggressively dramatic,
and the tone of his voicecan stop a migraine.
(18:17):
I'm serious. Like, I don't knowif it's like just the depth
or whatever, and it's a veryintense, like spooky scary,
like, and in parts likeaction packed narrative,
but there's just somethingabout the tone of his voice
that adds to that ambiance.
But it really gives you avery, like, mellow, calm,
(18:39):
like some, and I'm not joking.
I've had migraines before and I'm like,
I gotta download 'Heart Shaped Box' again
so I can like, I don't know,it's an absolute perfection
of story and the telling of that story.
They really made a goodmatch with him doing that.
Nicole (18:57):
Yeah.
Emily (18:58):
He really has the quality.
Killian (18:59):
You're absolutely gonna get a message from me
asking, who's thisnarrator, because I'm dying.
(laughter)
It's gonna happen someday.
Emily (19:07):
Just sort of like, this is better than like Tylenol.
It's like he can fix your migraine.
Killian (19:11):
Maybe I'm out of Tylenol, I'm out of everything.
Gotta try something.
Emily (19:15):
Now we know not to worry, Steven Lang.
I don't know, but that's my kind of like,
all of those things kindhave to align in order to.
Nicole (19:23):
Sure.
Emily (19:24):
But 'cause I'm not really an ebook person.
If I have a digital version or a book,
it's an audiobook, typically.
Drew (19:32):
I've gotten a lot more into eBooks.
Emily (19:34):
Have you?
Drew (19:35):
In the last couple of years.
I used to be only when I was reading
my book club books on Desk.
Emily (19:42):
Yes, that would be the only way
that I would deal with Ebooks.
Me too. Me too, yeah.
Drew (19:46):
And in the last year or so,
I got a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Emily (19:50):
Okay.
Drew (19:51):
And obviously those are only available in ebook form.
So I've gotten a lot more used to just
being at home with my Kindle.
This has not stopped me from buying
all of the physical books on the planet.
Nicole (20:03):
Of course.
Drew (20:04):
Every single one.
Nicole (20:04):
Yeah.
Well, some things just have to be had.
Drew (20:07):
Yeah
Emily (20:08):
That's true.
Nicole (20:09):
Digital copy's just not good enough.
Drew (20:10):
I think I have another three that come out today.
Emily (20:13):
Wow.
Killian (20:14):
Look, I don't wanna talk about the books
that I haven't bought yet.
(laughter)
Drew (20:18):
Yep.
We have a standing Googlecalendar of book releases
that we're looking forward to in the next,
we keep it updated to six months or so.
There are at least 60 books on it.
Nicole (20:29):
Oh my goodness.
Killian (20:30):
There are days where there's like seven
or eight books that come out that day
that we're both just like,yes, this sounds amazing.
I need it.
I can't buy six books in one day.
Drew (20:39):
May 2nd, 2023 devastated me.
Emily (20:41):
Wait, why?
Drew (20:42):
I will pull up the list.
Emily (20:44):
Oh, please do, 'cause I'm uninitiated into this.
Killian (20:48):
There's a date in April coming up,
that is like, for meespecially, I'm just like,
these hit all of my littleniche interests in such a way.
Emily (20:54):
I'm still reading books where the author's been dead
for like centuries and so youcan just find it anywhere.
Nicole (20:59):
Yeah.
Like you can pull it upon the internet, right.
And just.
Yeah, you don't evenhave to pay for it or.
Emily (21:04):
I know, so I am like, oh, wow.
Nicole (21:06):
It's been in the public domain for so long
that nobody cares about it anymore.
Emily (21:09):
Right, exactly.
Drew (21:11):
Okay. So May 2nd, 2023.
"Ander and Santi Were Here."Best Men"," Dragon Fall".
"I Like Me Better"."The Sun and the Star".
"The Thorns Remain" and theUS release of "Solitaire"
All came out.
Emily (21:23):
On the same day?
Drew (21:24):
On the same day. May, 2023.
Everything in purple isbooks that I wanted to buy.
Emily (21:30):
You have a whole calendar.
Drew (21:32):
Yeah, I do.
Killian (21:32):
It's a shared calendar.
Emily (21:33):
You have a shared calendar, both of you.
Wow.
Drew (21:37):
Yes.
Emily (21:38):
Look at how organized you are.
Killian (21:39):
We were roommates and we didn't
have a shared calendar then.
Now we have a shared book based calendar.
Emily (21:44):
Priorities, it's priorities.
Drew (21:45):
We didn't have a calendar
because I could shoutacross the house at you.
Killian (21:47):
Exactly.
Emily (21:48):
That's true.
Nicole (21:50):
Okay, well, let's talk about our niche interests.
Drew (21:52):
Yeah.
Nicole (21:53):
'Cause I think that's a good segue into that.
I mean, clearly.
I feel like we have some ideas about
the things that we like
(laughter)
All right, well, who wants to start?
What do we like?
Drew (22:05):
Oh, I mentioned it briefly in the previous episode,
but I tend to stick verymuch into the queer spaces
of books that come out.
If I'm picking up something for myself,
it is a 98% certainty thatthere will be a queer subplot
or interest or some element of it.
(22:27):
And I'll bounce across every,you know, genre for it,
you know, into thefantasy, into the romance,
into the historical, into the nonfiction.
Emily (22:36):
Well, I was reading, I remember, I messaged you
and I said, I need a good book
that's gonna make me feelfeelings, but good feelings.
And you were like, oh, youwanna read "Legends and Lattes".
And I was like, great, cool. Thank you.
Nicole (22:50):
Oh, I keep looking at that book.
Emily (22:51):
It's so good.
Killian (22:52):
Read it.
The prequel comes out next month
Emily (22:54):
I'm so excited.
And then halfway through I'm like, okay,
I don't wanna put pressure on them,
but I want so and so andso and so to get together.
And Drew was like, oh,that's so interesting.
I wonder if that will happen by the end.
I guess you'll have toread it to find out.
So you're really, really good
for like good recommendationsalong that line.
There's the one person Iknow to go to and that's you.
Nicole (23:15):
Oh, nice.
Drew (23:16):
And that's made it.
Nicole (23:16):
What a wonderful compliment.
Drew (23:17):
I do love that.
And it's made it funfor reference interviews
with patrons too.Emily: Yeah.
Because, you know, they'll ask for any sort of genre
and it's like, well, yes,
I have two or threerecommendations for that.
How do you feel about queer books?
Emily (23:31):
Right, right.
Drew (23:32):
Like, is this a boundary for you?
And there have been a coupleof people who are like, yeah,
that's not really somethingthat I'm interested in.
I'm like, okay, my coworker is over there.
(laughter)
Emily (23:42):
Yeah. It's kind of the same thing
where someone came up to me
and was like, have youread any good, like,
adaptations of Greek mythology?
And I was like yes, yes, I have.
Nicole (23:51):
We've got it.
Emily (23:52):
Yes.
I've read almost everysingle one in this building.
Like it's really funwhen you get that, like.
Drew (23:57):
Yeah.
Nicole (23:58):
Oh yeah.
Emily (23:59):
The thing that speaks to you is just like,
my time has come, I'mthe person to talk to.
Nicole (24:02):
Yes, absolutely.
And so Killian and Iwork with kids' books,
but we also read adult books clearly,
or other age groups and things like that.
So, you know, I think likeour time is probably strained
in some ways because we'reexpected to read a certain amount
of kids' books, but thenwe also like to have fun
(24:24):
and do things for ourselves.
So I don't know about you,but do you have any rules
about, like, do you read a kid's book
and then an adult book or a teen book?
Or do you just kind of flyby the seat of your pants?
Killian (24:34):
I don't do structure.
So I don't, I don't have rules.
It's more of what speaks to me when,
and my thing is like I saidin the previous episode,
I tend to gravitate towards fantasy
or towards mythology adaptations.
And there's so many.
If you're a person who cando mythology adaptations
(24:56):
that aren't necessarily the most faithful.
(laughter)
Emily (24:59):
Some people other than myself.
Killian (25:04):
And even some of them are pretty faithful.
Emily (25:06):
Oh yeah.
Killian There's some reallygreat middle grade adaptations
that came out of the Percy.
Like the height of the Percy.
We might even still be in the height
of the Percy Jackson era.
Let's be real.
TV show's coming out.
There's so much going on with it.
But so much has come out of that,
including Rick Riordancreating his own imprint
(25:27):
within Disney of mythology adaptations
that are told by people from the cultures.
(indistinct).
I love that.
And just, there's so muchgood middle grade fantasy
out there that I don't necessarily feel
like I'm missing outwhen I'm reading that.
Nicole (25:43):
Okay.
Killian (25:44):
Which is why there's a lot of times
when people on the desk get, you know,
someone who is betweenlike nine and 13 comes in
looking for fantasyrecommendations like, Killian?
Do you just wanna take this?
And I was like, yes, yes I do.
Nicole (25:58):
Totally.
Yeah, generally I willread a children's book
or middle grade book, that kind of thing.
And then I try to reada grownup book for me,
and then I try to read anonfiction grownup book
and then I go back to kids.
That's my general, like,that's how I try to do things.
It doesn't always work out that way,
'cause I'm also one of those weird people
(26:19):
that reads two to three books at a time.
So we just see how it goes.
Killian (26:22):
Take a look at my Goodreads currently reading shelf
at some point.Nicole: Okay.
It's ridiculous.
It's out of control all the time.
Emily (26:28):
Oh yeah.
I've got a bunch that arejust sitting up there too,
like, I'm technically reading this.
Nicole (26:33):
Yeah.
Also, I have an audio book in the car.
And then I have a physical book
that I carry around with me,
and then I have an ebook that I'm reading
on the desk at work.
Killian (26:42):
Yes. Emily
Nicole (26:43):
The time when they're trying to catch up on things.
Emily (26:45):
Yeah.
Nicole (26:46):
So yeah, it's.
Killian (26:48):
I have an upstairs book and downstairs book.
(laughter)
Nicole (26:52):
Oh my goodness, alright.
Killian (26:54):
'Cause if I'm upstairs,
I don't wanna go getthe one from downstairs.
It's so far away.
I don't do well withstairs, I'm not coordinated.
And so it's just best toavoid them if possible.
Nicole (27:08):
All right. Niche. Do we have any more niche stuff?
Emily (27:14):
This is I think my, my parting comment on my end
of the niche thing is,Drew I joke about this
with you all the time, whenpeople come to the desk
like, do you have a good recommendation
for historical fictionor romance or whatever.
It's like, I only readbooks about ghost murder,
and which is obviously not a genre,
but it speaks to that
(27:35):
when we're talking about reader interest
and things that you gravitate towards
the same sort of stuff.
And I think that a lot of us have said
like that as a blanket statement.
Sometimes a reference interview
could be a very difficultquestion of like,
do you have a recommendation for a book?
Do you have a, you know,like you were saying earlier,
like, what is your hardline about, you know,
what you're interested in?
(27:58):
It can be really difficultbecause when you as a reader,
it's like, yeah, we'relibrarians, but like you said,
you wanna read a nonfiction,a children's book, you know,
all of those things.
Try to cover all of your bases.
It can be really hard to balance that
with your own tendenciesand interests as a reader,
because we're people too.
Like, it's, you know, it's not just that.
And we don't really haveas much time to read
(28:19):
for pleasure on our own aspeople would expect, maybe.
So balancing, being awareof, you know, current trends
and new publications and allof that with our own interests.
And like you've said before, Nicole,
you don't always have a lot of time
to read for pleasure for sure.
And so that can be really difficult.
Drew (28:36):
I have to imagine that's even harder
on the kids' side because you're.
Emily (28:39):
Yeah. I would have to be.
Drew (28:40):
You're balancing where they are in their reading ability
them probably not having adeeper interest or wealth
of books to pull from,balancing the parents' opinions.
Nicole (28:51):
Oh yeah, for sure.
Killian (28:54):
Parents' opinions can be a big obstacle sometimes.
We get people who will comein and I know Nicole and I
both really like graphic novels.
We see a lot of people who, oh,I don't like graphic novels.
I don't want my kidreading graphic novels.
And like, there's reasons for that.
There's a time and place for that.
(29:16):
But it's also, you wannadefend your favorites
so bad.
Emily (29:20):
Well, and I think you wanna defend the idea
that it's not a comic book
and there's absolutely nothingwrong with a comic book.
Nicole (29:29):
No.
Emily (29:30):
But I think that a lot of people are like, well,
I want my so and so, or I wantmyself to read a real book
and I get what people mean,and I'm not, you know,
questioning that desire.
But I think that graphicnovels in particular,
just as an example, isa very difficult, like,
needle to thread to make, toshare what that actually means.
Killian (29:54):
I do a lot of reminding people, graphic novels
and comic books tend to havea much higher vocabulary,
even than general adult fiction.
Emily (30:00):
Yeah.
Killian (30:02):
And it's a different type of literacy,
being able to fuse graphic information
with textual information.
And that's a reallyimportant skill to develop.
And not everybody has it.
So there's definitely benefits
that you simply can't getfrom the so-called real books.
Nicole (30:19):
Yeah, well, I think, and some parents just consider
graphic novels to be liketraining wheels for regular books.
Emily (30:26):
Yes.
Nicole (30:27):
Oh, well, it can't possibly be as, you know,
fulfilling or educationalor blah, blah, blah
as other, you know,fiction or other things.
And I don't agree with that.
- Yeah.
- I have to imagine if theyput it in the same path
as like picture books tobeginning to read books,
to chapter books, where then they feel
like graphic novels are a step backwards.
Yeah, they really do.
Yeah, but then, so that's the thing.
(30:49):
And I guess, you know,something that I would like
to invite everybody to do isto pick up a graphic novel
and read it so that you can actually see
that there's definitely somemerit and some benefit there.
Because I think sometimes the people
that have the most idea about something,
(31:10):
they're not as experiencedwith that particular thing.
Emily (31:17):
Yeah.
Killian (31:18):
You mean they haven't hyperfocus researched on it?
Nicole (31:19):
Right, right.
They haven't read.
Killian (31:21):
Wild.
Nicole (31:22):
5,000 graphic novels in the past year, like I have.
Emily (31:25):
Right.
They didn't take thelike, graphic novels class
in undergrad or then in grad school.
Killian (31:29):
Well, we didn't have that when I was.
Emily (31:32):
I was able to have a image and text class.
Killian (31:35):
That's so cool.
Emily (31:36):
I was doing my MA, yeah.
Nicole (31:37):
Amazing.
Emily (31:38):
And my instructor actually is a graphic novel artist
himself in addition to being a professor.
And so that was really cool to see,
to learn more aboutthe narrative structure
of the marriage of image andtext and how those two things
collaborate to tell that story.
Nicole (31:57):
Sure.
Emily (31:58):
And it's just like, absolutely a mind blowing idea.
Really cool.
Nicole (32:01):
Well it sounds like we need to have an episode
about graphic novels.
Killian (32:04):
Yes. Emily
I would love that. We should,that would be really fun.
Nicole (32:08):
And I think that's all for now.
Thank you for listening andwe'll see you next time.
Thank you for joining us for this episode
of Distracted Librarians.
Drew (32:18):
If you have any questions or suggestions,
feel free to reach out tous at distracted@btpl.org.
Killian (32:25):
Until then, keep those pages turning
and those screens lighting up.
Emily (32:28):
We'll catch you in the next episode.
The views and opinions expressed
in the Distracted Librarians podcast
do not necessarily reflectthose of Bloomfield Township,
Bloomfield Township Public Library,
Bloomfield Community Television,
the Birmingham Area Cable Board,
or its producers or production staff.
Nicole (00:16):
Hello and welcome.
We are the Distracted Librarians,
your friendly neighborhood bookworms,
who can't resist the siren call
of movies, video games, music,
and everything else inthe pop culture universe.
Drew (00:30):
Think of this podcast as a digital campfire
where we share our latest obsessions,
analyze the hidden depths ofour favorite distractions,
and maybe rediscover thejoy of reading in between.
Killian (00:42):
So if you're a fellow media junkie, a book lover,
or someone looking fora fun, engaging escape
from your daily grind, you'vecome to the right place.
Emily (00:50):
Sit back, relax, and prepare
to get delightfully distracted with us.
Nicole (00:56):
Hi everyone.
This is Distracted Librarians,
and we are going totalk a little bit today
about our quirks and niche interests.
All right, does anybody wanna start?
Emily (01:12):
So, for context, we should probably say-
Nicole (01:14):
Yeah, what does that mean?
Emily (01:15):
What does that mean to us?
Nicole (01:16):
All right. That sounds good.
Emily (01:17):
Yeah, for sure.
Reader quirks and niche interests,
so starting with quirks,I think that it's more
what are the little fussy things, I think?
Or I say that for myself,mostly fussy, (laughter)
but the little things thatyou like or don't like or
are particular about, eitherin books or audio books,
(01:39):
or any kind of, you know, story, really.
Drew (01:43):
I think it's also funny, at least with me,
when I'm applying that.
Like, the word quirks, on its own,
doesn't have any, like, morality context,
but when I'm applyingreader quirks to myself,
every single one I think of is negative.
Emily (01:54):
Me too. Yeah.
Drew (01:55):
It is all the things that I hate about myself
as a reader
or the things that I have to work around
in order to enjoy something.
Killian (02:03):
Yeah, that's the thing. It's not all negative.
Some things, it makesthe process of reading
or of finding something toread a little more difficult
because you're picky about it,
or it's gotta be a certain way
to be something you're gonna vibe with.
Nicole (02:16):
Totally, yeah, well, for you guys, you know,
I know some people, especially,
well, readers havedifferent rules in terms
of like whether they proceed with a book.
I know there are peoplethat will read a book
from front to end no matter what.
Do you guys have any strongfeelings about a book
if it's not really making it for you?
Killian (02:36):
Learning to DNF book
was one of the greatestthings in the world for me.
It saved me so much time in terms of just
not continuing to readthings that I actively hated.
Nicole (02:48):
And that's librarian slang for did not finish.
Killian (02:52):
Yes.
Nicole (02:52):
Yeah.
Drew (02:53):
I am still on that journey. I can DNF romances now.
If I get, like, 30 or40% into the romance,
and I've decided I genuinelywant one of these characters
to be unhappy by the end,
(laughter)
or I don't think they deserve happiness.
Nicole (03:10):
Okay.
Killian (03:10):
Wow.
Drew (03:11):
Then I will stop the book
because I know it'sgoing to lead to a place
where they're happy,and I don't want that.
Nicole (03:16):
Okay. Emily
That's fair.
Drew (03:18):
So I leave them in the pit.
Nicole (03:19):
Nice. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Emily (03:21):
I never used to be that way,
and then, at a certain point,
actually fairly early on, 'cause this was
a couple years ago, Iwas reading this book.
I don't even remember what book it was,
and I was reading it, andI'm like, I don't care.
There's nothing aboutthis that I care about.
I'm wasting my life reading this book.
Nicole (03:41):
Sure.
Emily (03:42):
And I just put it back, and that, for me, I was like,
(gasps) you're allowed to do that?
And yeah, you are.
You're allowed to do that,
and so now that I havedone that, like, once,
it's just like, Oh, I'm done. I'm good.
Like, it's-
Nicole (03:53):
Yeah.
Emily (03:54):
I try to get at least, like, halfway if I can,
or at least a third of the way to know,
or try to identify whatI don't like about it.
Like, is it the way that it's written?
Is it, you know, the language that's used,
or is it the story itself?
Or is there a characterthat's driving me crazy?
Or why is that?
But sometimes I justdon't wanna psychoanalyze
that response and I'mjust like, you know what?
This book is not for me,
(04:15):
or this movie is not forme, or whatever it is.
And that's okay. It doesn'tmean there's anything
wrong with the thing or with me.
It's just we're not amatch for each other.
Nicole (04:22):
Yeah, you know, I mean, I think it's pretty clear
that a book that comesaround at a certain time,
it may not be the righttime for that book,
and that doesn't meanthat we can't come back
to it at a later time.
Emily (04:32):
Oh, yeah.
Nicole (04:33):
And it might have relevance at that time.
Emily (04:35):
Sure.
Nicole (04:36):
But yeah, certainly, I tend to be like a hundred
pages and I will give it a hundred pages,
but I've been like wrong about that too,
because they're like theAnn Rice books, Lasher,
and I don't even remember,what is the Mayfair Witches
trilogy or a series of books.
(04:58):
That first book is like all about her just
so descriptively creating thisworld, which is fantastic,
and it's very Ann Rice, andshe does a great job of that.
But there was just too much description
and not enough action.
Emily (05:13):
Yeah.
Nicole (05:14):
And so I would get to that hundred page,
and if I had stopped thenI wouldn't have made it
through these amazing, wonderful books
that are really great.
I have to realize thatsometimes more patience
might be needed.
Emily (05:27):
Yeah.
Nicole (05:28):
More than a hundred pages may be needed.
Killian (05:29):
I definitely find that like you said,
sometimes it's just not theright time for that book.
There are ones that it's like,
I know I want to read this,but I simply could not
the time that I tried to.
Emily (05:41):
Yeah.
Killian (05:42):
I will go back to 'em on occasion
and try to actually finish them.
There are a few books that I have like
stopped reading them atreally ridiculous points
to stop reading them.
Like there's a few, I've gotless than a hundred pages left.
I could easily finish this book.
Emily (05:57):
Yeah.
Killian (05:59):
And I just stop.
It's been years and Iam like, some someday.
Someday I might finish it. Emily (06:02):
Yeah.
Nicole (06:04):
so would you go back and read the whole thing?
Killian (06:06):
I have no idea.
Nicole (06:07):
Or is it just...
Killian (06:08):
Cross that bridge when we get to it?
(laughter)
Drew (06:10):
I've actually been really bad about that too,
where like, a lot of times, if it's a book
that is interesting to me,
but isn't like deeply hooking me
and I have to put a bookmark in it
because I have to go to bed,
or I have plans for the next day,
I will just never pick it up again.
(06:30):
And it's gotten to thepoint where if it's a book
that I know I want to finish,I will save it for a day
where I have a dedicatedsix to eight hours
and just plan to read it in the day.
Emily (06:41):
Now, that is something,
I'm glad you brought that up,
because that is in the front of my mind
when I think about my own reader quirks,
is that I'm now in a mood where,
and I don't know when this started,
but if I can't devotelike a large block of time
to the process of reading,I won't read at all.
Which is weird, butit's just sort of like,
no, I'm not gonna read 10 pages of this.
I wanna sit down forlike two and a half hours
(07:03):
and read this book uninterrupted.
And which never happens. And like.
Nicole (07:06):
Yeah, I was gonna say, if that was what my rule was,
I would never read a book again.
Emily (07:11):
And so, I know you and I do this Drew,
where it's just like, I'mgonna read X number of books
this year and set a goal for yourself.
Within a year's time, I'mgonna read 50 books, 60 books,
whatever it is.
I'm behind a little bitbecause of that tendancy,
because I'm like, I don'twanna be interrupted.
I wanna read, I wanna enjoythe process of reading.
(07:32):
And if I can't do that,I won't do it at all.
Drew (07:34):
And I really don't know when that started for me,
because I remember last year I was reading
"Babel" by RF Kuang.
Phenomenal book.
Emily (07:42):
Oh, yeah.
Drew (07:43):
But it is very dense in terms of the amount
of like linguistic informationthat she puts into it.
And it's very readabletoo. It's fantastic.
But I was dedicated, I'mgonna read two chapters
of this a day.
I'm not gonna get bogged down in it,
but I also can't take like,strong distance from it
(08:06):
or everything will fall apart.
- Right.
- So I was strict twochapters a day for 16 days,
just read it, every bit, gaveit like 20, 30 minutes a day.
Emily (08:16):
Okay.
Drew (08:18):
So I used to have that ability.
Emily (08:19):
Yeah.
Drew (08:20):
Even as recently as last year.
And something about thisyear, I don't have it.
Emily (08:25):
Yeah, I'm on the total. I'm with you on that.
What happened to us?
(laughter)
I don't know.
Killian (08:31):
But I go through phases with that all the time.
There's times where I haveto be able to sit and read.
Like I have to sit and readthe whole book or I can't read,
but then there are timeswhere it's like, I can do,
you know, 10, 20, 30minutes before I go to bed
and like, that's fine.
And it's wild becauseyou'd assume there'd be
some sort of rule aboutlike what works for what.
(08:53):
There isn't.
It's complete chaos.
Emily & Nicole (08:56):
Yeah.
Killian (08:57):
Sometimes it's like, yes, this heavy dense fantasy,
I can sit and read it straight through.
Sometimes it's, I have to readit in small digestible bites.
Emily (09:03):
Yeah.
Killian (09:04):
And same thing with, you know, light, fluffy
romance that is like easyto read, very quick to read.
Sometimes I simply cannot sit and read it.
I have to break itdown. And I'm like, why?
Why can't I just...
I want to sit and readit and I just can't.
Emily (09:19):
Sure, yeah.
Nicole (09:21):
I'm like a very compulsive reader.
So like, if I finish abook that I really enjoyed,
then I'm like out tryingto find the next great book
that's gonna like, make me feel the way
the last book made me feel.
Emily (09:33):
Because you have inertia almost.
Nicole (09:34):
Oh my gosh.
And it's like, it's so hard sometimes
because then I find myselflike, I'm picking up this book
because it feels good to have this book
and know that I havethis project ahead of me.
But then when I start divinginto it, I'm like, well,
maybe I should havereally just taken a break
and I didn't take a break.
Killian (09:50):
It's the book hangover.
Nicole (09:51):
Yeah, totally.
Emily (09:53):
Yes.
Nicole (09:53):
Which is why buying books is evil sometimes.
Emily (09:56):
Oh my gosh.
Nicole (09:57):
I'm so glad I work in a library because otherwise,
which like, I know so manypeople that have just,
and I'm sorry, I'm probablytalking about some people
in this room, not on purpose,
but like, you know
Killian (10:08):
It's me and Drew.
Nicole (10:09):
... have so many books on their shelves
that they haven't read.
Emily (10:11):
Yeah.
Nicole (10:12):
Because it feels so good to pick that book up
and be like, you are mine.
Killian (10:16):
Look, they're pretty.
Emily (10:17):
Yeah. Yes.
Drew (10:18):
I feel attacked now.
Killian (10:19):
Me too.
(laughter)
Drew (10:22):
The, problem was when I got my own apartment
and decided that books wouldbe the aesthetic of the place.
Nicole (10:28):
Yeah, that's a beautiful thing.
It's a truly beautiful thing.
Drew (10:31):
And now buying a book,
I can buy it based onwhether I want to read it,
or I can also buy it basedon, this is a pretty cover.
Or I can also buy it based on my book,
"Rainbow Doesn't Have Enough Yellow Yet".
Killian (10:43):
Drew's book rainbow is stunningly beautiful.
Like mine is good. Drew's is amazing.
Emily (10:51):
Nice, I have kind of the opposite thing
where I'm attracted to objects and books
that look like they're castoffs.
So if there's like a dingypaperback, I'm gonna of whatever,
I'm gonna buy that one.
It's weird, 'cause I have alot of these very beautiful,
like special edition hardcover,like gilded yada yadas.
(11:14):
But it's like, I want thisone with the ripped cover
that has like, plasticholding it together.
I don't know why. That's the...
I want the dingy thing.
It feels good in my hands, you know?
Drew (11:27):
It's lived a life.
Emily (11:27):
Yeah, and so for me, I've got a lot of books
that like, look like that.
Killian (11:33):
Meanwhile I have an entire shelf of sprayed edges
that are edges out.
And I'm like, I don'tremember which of these books
is which book.
I have to go in and like, look for the one
that I'm looking for.
Emily (11:43):
Yes, yes, yes.
I have some of those too.
Killian (11:44):
But the pages are so pretty.
Emily (11:45):
They're beautiful.
Killian (11:46):
They have to be seen.
Emily (11:48):
Yeah.
Nicole (11:50):
Absolutely.
Alright, there was aquestion I was gonna ask,
and now I don't remember more.
Emily (11:58):
Well, we were talking about print items,
like books in print.
What about things like audiobooksor eBooks or any of that?
Nicole (12:04):
Yeah. Well, we have talked a little bit
before about narratorsand that kind of thing.
Is there anything that a narrator could do
that will absolutely shut it down for you?
Emily (12:19):
I read...
Before we were talkingabout liking horror stories,
horror novels, and GradyHendricks is amazing.
Nicole & Drew (12:27):
Amazing
Emily (12:28):
And so I just read, print read
"My Best Friend's Exorcism",
and I listened to the audiobookof it a couple years ago.
And it was so odd, the narratorwould have this really good,
well acted, verypersonality filled dialogue.
(12:49):
But then the description,the omniscient narrator
was like Siri reading it to you.
Nicole (12:54):
So totally deadpan.
Emily (12:55):
Totally deadpan, odd, like AI voice.
It was such a weirdchoice. I was like, what?
To the point where it would disarm me
whenever a character would stop talking
and you'd get this likeAI type deadpan narration.
It was very weird.
Nicole (13:11):
That's really weird.
Emily (13:12):
And it almost seemed odd, and it was the same voice,
like the same narratorthrough the whole book.
It wasn't like an ensemble cast,
but it was like, how are youswitching between this, like,
very well acted and then thisvery like, strange, robotic.
Nicole (13:24):
Caffeinated.
Not caffeinated.
Caffeinated, not caffeinated.
Emily (13:27):
It was so odd.
Like that was really weird. Huh.
Nicole (13:31):
Okay.
Drew (13:32):
Yeah for me, the thing that turns me off most
in an audio book is when the narrator
is someone who like chews on their words.
Mm. And like over annunciates into it
and adds emotion to every syllable.
I can't do it.
Emily (13:46):
Yeah.
Drew (13:47):
Like, I'm a very quick talker.
I tend to read audio booksat like 1.25 to 1.5 speed.
Emily (13:53):
Okay.
Drew (13:54):
And when they just linger on the consonants
and tell the story in away that needs to be... No.
Nicole (14:03):
Well, it's almost like they're standing on a stage.
Drew & Emily (14:05):
Yeah.
Nicole (14:06):
You know, and then they're like, just like leaning
into you to tell you something.
But in their like, best dramatic voice.
Emily (14:12):
Very theatrical.
Nicole (14:13):
It's kind of silly. It's like, I can't see you.
You need to stop doing that.
Drew (14:16):
Yes.
(laughter)
Emily (14:18):
Yeah.
Killian (14:19):
I'm weird with...
There's certain tones of voiceor like, ways of speaking
that hit parts of my brain badlyand I can't listen to them.
So like, it happens justtalking to people sometimes.
And in real life, I can'tjust like turn the person off.
Nicole (14:37):
You get up and walk away away.
Killian:But I can dothat with an audiobook
and I have done it,
and I'll get narratorswhere I'm just like,
It's the... I'm sureyou're a lovely person.
I'm sure this is a well narrated audiobook
for so many people.
I simply cannot.
And I have to find adifferent way to read the book
if I wanna keep readingit, because it's...
and I can't even articulate what those are
(14:59):
It's just something about it hits wrong.
Emily (15:02):
Yeah, this is going to cement my status
as the group nerd, but I was listening.
Nicole (15:08):
I think we're in a war of that.
Emily (15:10):
Yeah. Well, I'm gonna plant my flag
because I was listening toan audiobook of The Iliad,
which is like 40 hours long.
Nicole (15:19):
Yes, of course.
Emily (15:20):
And I went through and I listened to samples
of like, who's gonna win the person
who gets to read me this book?
And I listened to thenarrator, 'cause I'm like,
I'm gonna have to hear you for 40 hours.
Nicole (15:31):
Yeah.
Emily (15:32):
Have to, like someone's forcing me to do it.
But I'm like, okay, whosevoice can I tolerate
for 40 hours?
Killian (15:37):
Like okay, but I never thought to do that.
And that's brilliant.
Nicole (15:39):
Isn't it?
But it's only if they have, you know,
25 different versions of it, right?
Because you can't alwaysdo that with everybody.
Killian (15:46):
And we already established, I don't read classics
Emily (15:48):
Right, so I had my choice of like,
a bunch of differentreaders, but I'm like,
I need just the right.
Like, who am I to like just pick one
and go, but I can't, you know.
Nicole (15:59):
No, that's too much of an investment.
Emily (16:01):
Yeah.
Nicole (16:02):
I don't know.
My biggest issue is likemouth sounds and goodness,
I hope I'm not making them right now. Mm.
But like, imagine NPR whereyou have that one person
who has a dreamy voice, butyou can still hear them,
like slapping.Drew: Oh God.
Their lips,
Emily (16:19):
The clicking and their
Nicole (16:20):
Or the teeth clicking or something.
And I'm just like, I canhear entirely too much.
I'm inside of your mouth right now.
Killian (16:28):
The point where the microphone is too good.
Nicole (16:30):
Where it's too good, right.
Yeah, can we edit that stuff out?
Please edit that stuff out.
(laughter)
You know, that will shutme down. I just can't.
Emily (16:38):
Well, when I do my read alouds for the same thing,
I'm like, all right, let'sget out all the clicks.
Like it's all of thebreathing in or the, you know,
the like before someone talks.
Nicole (16:49):
es.
Emily (16:50):
No, no. Like it's, it's that kind of stuff.
Drew (16:53):
One of my pandemic hobbies that I picked up
was this channel on YouTubecalled "Cracking the Cryptic".
Nicole (16:57):
Okay.
Drew (16:58):
They do these really like intricate Sudoku solves.
Emily (17:01):
Oh.
Drew (17:02):
Of like, the really weird rule sets.
Killian (17:04):
I remember this era.
Drew (17:05):
Yes, of like Sandwich Sudoku and Arrow Sudoku,
and like all of the weird rule sets.
And it's really, really cool.
It's these videos withthese two British guys
where they'll take liketwo hours to solve a Sudoku
and I will be investedin it the entire time.
But one of them is exactly that,
where every time he openshis mouth, it slaps.
Emily (17:26):
Yeah.
Nicole (17:27):
Nope.
Drew (17:28):
And I have to only listen to the other one now.
I can't do it.
Nicole (17:31):
Yeah. Yeah.
Emily (17:33):
A perfect example of the
well, in my opinion
the absolute majestyof audiobook narration
is Steven Lang's "Heart Shaped Box",
reading of "Heart Shaped Box",
which I'm obsessed with"Heart Shaped Box".
(17:55):
So I'm gonna probably mentionit all the time, a lot.
But Stephen Lang reading"Heart Shaped Box"
is a transcendentexperience mostly because
the way that he will enunciateeach part of the word,
but not in that aggressively dramatic,
and the tone of his voicecan stop a migraine.
(18:17):
I'm serious. Like, I don't knowif it's like just the depth
or whatever, and it's a veryintense, like spooky scary,
like, and in parts likeaction packed narrative,
but there's just somethingabout the tone of his voice
that adds to that ambiance.
But it really gives you avery, like, mellow, calm,
(18:39):
like some, and I'm not joking.
I've had migraines before and I'm like,
I gotta download 'Heart Shaped Box' again
so I can like, I don't know,it's an absolute perfection
of story and the telling of that story.
They really made a goodmatch with him doing that.
Nicole (18:57):
Yeah.
Emily (18:58):
He really has the quality.
Killian (18:59):
You're absolutely gonna get a message from me
asking, who's thisnarrator, because I'm dying.
(laughter)
It's gonna happen someday.
Emily (19:07):
Just sort of like, this is better than like Tylenol.
It's like he can fix your migraine.
Killian (19:11):
Maybe I'm out of Tylenol, I'm out of everything.
Gotta try something.
Emily (19:15):
Now we know not to worry, Steven Lang.
I don't know, but that's my kind of like,
all of those things kindhave to align in order to.
Nicole (19:23):
Sure.
Emily (19:24):
But 'cause I'm not really an ebook person.
If I have a digital version or a book,
it's an audiobook, typically.
Drew (19:32):
I've gotten a lot more into eBooks.
Emily (19:34):
Have you?
Drew (19:35):
In the last couple of years.
I used to be only when I was reading
my book club books on Desk.
Emily (19:42):
Yes, that would be the only way
that I would deal with Ebooks.
Me too. Me too, yeah.
Drew (19:46):
And in the last year or so,
I got a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Emily (19:50):
Okay.
Drew (19:51):
And obviously those are only available in ebook form.
So I've gotten a lot more used to just
being at home with my Kindle.
This has not stopped me from buying
all of the physical books on the planet.
Nicole (20:03):
Of course.
Drew (20:04):
Every single one.
Nicole (20:04):
Yeah.
Well, some things just have to be had.
Drew (20:07):
Yeah
Emily (20:08):
That's true.
Nicole (20:09):
Digital copy's just not good enough.
Drew (20:10):
I think I have another three that come out today.
Emily (20:13):
Wow.
Killian (20:14):
Look, I don't wanna talk about the books
that I haven't bought yet.
(laughter)
Drew (20:18):
Yep.
We have a standing Googlecalendar of book releases
that we're looking forward to in the next,
we keep it updated to six months or so.
There are at least 60 books on it.
Nicole (20:29):
Oh my goodness.
Killian (20:30):
There are days where there's like seven
or eight books that come out that day
that we're both just like,yes, this sounds amazing.
I need it.
I can't buy six books in one day.
Drew (20:39):
May 2nd, 2023 devastated me.
Emily (20:41):
Wait, why?
Drew (20:42):
I will pull up the list.
Emily (20:44):
Oh, please do, 'cause I'm uninitiated into this.
Killian (20:48):
There's a date in April coming up,
that is like, for meespecially, I'm just like,
these hit all of my littleniche interests in such a way.
Emily (20:54):
I'm still reading books where the author's been dead
for like centuries and so youcan just find it anywhere.
Nicole (20:59):
Yeah.
Like you can pull it upon the internet, right.
And just.
Yeah, you don't evenhave to pay for it or.
Emily (21:04):
I know, so I am like, oh, wow.
Nicole (21:06):
It's been in the public domain for so long
that nobody cares about it anymore.
Emily (21:09):
Right, exactly.
Drew (21:11):
Okay. So May 2nd, 2023.
"Ander and Santi Were Here."Best Men"," Dragon Fall".
"I Like Me Better"."The Sun and the Star".
"The Thorns Remain" and theUS release of "Solitaire"
All came out.
Emily (21:23):
On the same day?
Drew (21:24):
On the same day. May, 2023.
Everything in purple isbooks that I wanted to buy.
Emily (21:30):
You have a whole calendar.
Drew (21:32):
Yeah, I do.
Killian (21:32):
It's a shared calendar.
Emily (21:33):
You have a shared calendar, both of you.
Wow.
Drew (21:37):
Yes.
Emily (21:38):
Look at how organized you are.
Killian (21:39):
We were roommates and we didn't
have a shared calendar then.
Now we have a shared book based calendar.
Emily (21:44):
Priorities, it's priorities.
Drew (21:45):
We didn't have a calendar
because I could shoutacross the house at you.
Killian (21:47):
Exactly.
Emily (21:48):
That's true.
Nicole (21:50):
Okay, well, let's talk about our niche interests.
Drew (21:52):
Yeah.
Nicole (21:53):
'Cause I think that's a good segue into that.
I mean, clearly.
I feel like we have some ideas about
the things that we like
(laughter)
All right, well, who wants to start?
What do we like?
Drew (22:05):
Oh, I mentioned it briefly in the previous episode,
but I tend to stick verymuch into the queer spaces
of books that come out.
If I'm picking up something for myself,
it is a 98% certainty thatthere will be a queer subplot
or interest or some element of it.
(22:27):
And I'll bounce across every,you know, genre for it,
you know, into thefantasy, into the romance,
into the historical, into the nonfiction.
Emily (22:36):
Well, I was reading, I remember, I messaged you
and I said, I need a good book
that's gonna make me feelfeelings, but good feelings.
And you were like, oh, youwanna read "Legends and Lattes".
And I was like, great, cool. Thank you.
Nicole (22:50):
Oh, I keep looking at that book.
Emily (22:51):
It's so good.
Killian (22:52):
Read it.
The prequel comes out next month
Emily (22:54):
I'm so excited.
And then halfway through I'm like, okay,
I don't wanna put pressure on them,
but I want so and so andso and so to get together.
And Drew was like, oh,that's so interesting.
I wonder if that will happen by the end.
I guess you'll have toread it to find out.
So you're really, really good
for like good recommendationsalong that line.
There's the one person Iknow to go to and that's you.
Nicole (23:15):
Oh, nice.
Drew (23:16):
And that's made it.
Nicole (23:16):
What a wonderful compliment.
Drew (23:17):
I do love that.
And it's made it funfor reference interviews
with patrons too.Emily: Yeah.
Because, you know, they'll ask for any sort of genre
and it's like, well, yes,
I have two or threerecommendations for that.
How do you feel about queer books?
Emily (23:31):
Right, right.
Drew (23:32):
Like, is this a boundary for you?
And there have been a coupleof people who are like, yeah,
that's not really somethingthat I'm interested in.
I'm like, okay, my coworker is over there.
(laughter)
Emily (23:42):
Yeah. It's kind of the same thing
where someone came up to me
and was like, have youread any good, like,
adaptations of Greek mythology?
And I was like yes, yes, I have.
Nicole (23:51):
We've got it.
Emily (23:52):
Yes.
I've read almost everysingle one in this building.
Like it's really funwhen you get that, like.
Drew (23:57):
Yeah.
Nicole (23:58):
Oh yeah.
Emily (23:59):
The thing that speaks to you is just like,
my time has come, I'mthe person to talk to.
Nicole (24:02):
Yes, absolutely.
And so Killian and Iwork with kids' books,
but we also read adult books clearly,
or other age groups and things like that.
So, you know, I think likeour time is probably strained
in some ways because we'reexpected to read a certain amount
of kids' books, but thenwe also like to have fun
(24:24):
and do things for ourselves.
So I don't know about you,but do you have any rules
about, like, do you read a kid's book
and then an adult book or a teen book?
Or do you just kind of flyby the seat of your pants?
Killian (24:34):
I don't do structure.
So I don't, I don't have rules.
It's more of what speaks to me when,
and my thing is like I saidin the previous episode,
I tend to gravitate towards fantasy
or towards mythology adaptations.
And there's so many.
If you're a person who cando mythology adaptations
(24:56):
that aren't necessarily the most faithful.
(laughter)
Emily (24:59):
Some people other than myself.
Killian (25:04):
And even some of them are pretty faithful.
Emily (25:06):
Oh yeah.
Killian There's some reallygreat middle grade adaptations
that came out of the Percy.
Like the height of the Percy.
We might even still be in the height
of the Percy Jackson era.
Let's be real.
TV show's coming out.
There's so much going on with it.
But so much has come out of that,
including Rick Riordancreating his own imprint
(25:27):
within Disney of mythology adaptations
that are told by people from the cultures.
(indistinct).
I love that.
And just, there's so muchgood middle grade fantasy
out there that I don't necessarily feel
like I'm missing outwhen I'm reading that.
Nicole (25:43):
Okay.
Killian (25:44):
Which is why there's a lot of times
when people on the desk get, you know,
someone who is betweenlike nine and 13 comes in
looking for fantasyrecommendations like, Killian?
Do you just wanna take this?
And I was like, yes, yes I do.
Nicole (25:58):
Totally.
Yeah, generally I willread a children's book
or middle grade book, that kind of thing.
And then I try to reada grownup book for me,
and then I try to read anonfiction grownup book
and then I go back to kids.
That's my general, like,that's how I try to do things.
It doesn't always work out that way,
'cause I'm also one of those weird people
(26:19):
that reads two to three books at a time.
So we just see how it goes.
Killian (26:22):
Take a look at my Goodreads currently reading shelf
at some point.Nicole: Okay.
It's ridiculous.
It's out of control all the time.
Emily (26:28):
Oh yeah.
I've got a bunch that arejust sitting up there too,
like, I'm technically reading this.
Nicole (26:33):
Yeah.
Also, I have an audio book in the car.
And then I have a physical book
that I carry around with me,
and then I have an ebook that I'm reading
on the desk at work.
Killian (26:42):
Yes. Emily
Nicole (26:43):
The time when they're trying to catch up on things.
Emily (26:45):
Yeah.
Nicole (26:46):
So yeah, it's.
Killian (26:48):
I have an upstairs book and downstairs book.
(laughter)
Nicole (26:52):
Oh my goodness, alright.
Killian (26:54):
'Cause if I'm upstairs,
I don't wanna go getthe one from downstairs.
It's so far away.
I don't do well withstairs, I'm not coordinated.
And so it's just best toavoid them if possible.
Nicole (27:08):
All right. Niche. Do we have any more niche stuff?
Emily (27:14):
This is I think my, my parting comment on my end
of the niche thing is,Drew I joke about this
with you all the time, whenpeople come to the desk
like, do you have a good recommendation
for historical fictionor romance or whatever.
It's like, I only readbooks about ghost murder,
and which is obviously not a genre,
but it speaks to that
(27:35):
when we're talking about reader interest
and things that you gravitate towards
the same sort of stuff.
And I think that a lot of us have said
like that as a blanket statement.
Sometimes a reference interview
could be a very difficultquestion of like,
do you have a recommendation for a book?
Do you have a, you know,like you were saying earlier,
like, what is your hardline about, you know,
what you're interested in?
(27:58):
It can be really difficultbecause when you as a reader,
it's like, yeah, we'relibrarians, but like you said,
you wanna read a nonfiction,a children's book, you know,
all of those things.
Try to cover all of your bases.
It can be really hard to balance that
with your own tendenciesand interests as a reader,
because we're people too.
Like, it's, you know, it's not just that.
And we don't really haveas much time to read
(28:19):
for pleasure on our own aspeople would expect, maybe.
So balancing, being awareof, you know, current trends
and new publications and allof that with our own interests.
And like you've said before, Nicole,
you don't always have a lot of time
to read for pleasure for sure.
And so that can be really difficult.
Drew (28:36):
I have to imagine that's even harder
on the kids' side because you're.
Emily (28:39):
Yeah. I would have to be.
Drew (28:40):
You're balancing where they are in their reading ability
them probably not having adeeper interest or wealth
of books to pull from,balancing the parents' opinions.
Nicole (28:51):
Oh yeah, for sure.
Killian (28:54):
Parents' opinions can be a big obstacle sometimes.
We get people who will comein and I know Nicole and I
both really like graphic novels.
We see a lot of people who, oh,I don't like graphic novels.
I don't want my kidreading graphic novels.
And like, there's reasons for that.
There's a time and place for that.
(29:16):
But it's also, you wannadefend your favorites
so bad.
Emily (29:20):
Well, and I think you wanna defend the idea
that it's not a comic book
and there's absolutely nothingwrong with a comic book.
Nicole (29:29):
No.
Emily (29:30):
But I think that a lot of people are like, well,
I want my so and so, or I wantmyself to read a real book
and I get what people mean,and I'm not, you know,
questioning that desire.
But I think that graphicnovels in particular,
just as an example, isa very difficult, like,
needle to thread to make, toshare what that actually means.
Killian (29:54):
I do a lot of reminding people, graphic novels
and comic books tend to havea much higher vocabulary,
even than general adult fiction.
Emily (30:00):
Yeah.
Killian (30:02):
And it's a different type of literacy,
being able to fuse graphic information
with textual information.
And that's a reallyimportant skill to develop.
And not everybody has it.
So there's definitely benefits
that you simply can't getfrom the so-called real books.
Nicole (30:19):
Yeah, well, I think, and some parents just consider
graphic novels to be liketraining wheels for regular books.
Emily (30:26):
Yes.
Nicole (30:27):
Oh, well, it can't possibly be as, you know,
fulfilling or educationalor blah, blah, blah
as other, you know,fiction or other things.
And I don't agree with that.
- Yeah.
- I have to imagine if theyput it in the same path
as like picture books tobeginning to read books,
to chapter books, where then they feel
like graphic novels are a step backwards.
Yeah, they really do.
Yeah, but then, so that's the thing.
(30:49):
And I guess, you know,something that I would like
to invite everybody to do isto pick up a graphic novel
and read it so that you can actually see
that there's definitely somemerit and some benefit there.
Because I think sometimes the people
that have the most idea about something,
(31:10):
they're not as experiencedwith that particular thing.
Emily (31:17):
Yeah.
Killian (31:18):
You mean they haven't hyperfocus researched on it?
Nicole (31:19):
Right, right.
They haven't read.
Killian (31:21):
Wild.
Nicole (31:22):
5,000 graphic novels in the past year, like I have.
Emily (31:25):
Right.
They didn't take thelike, graphic novels class
in undergrad or then in grad school.
Killian (31:29):
Well, we didn't have that when I was.
Emily (31:32):
I was able to have a image and text class.
Killian (31:35):
That's so cool.
Emily (31:36):
I was doing my MA, yeah.
Nicole (31:37):
Amazing.
Emily (31:38):
And my instructor actually is a graphic novel artist
himself in addition to being a professor.
And so that was really cool to see,
to learn more aboutthe narrative structure
of the marriage of image andtext and how those two things
collaborate to tell that story.
Nicole (31:57):
Sure.
Emily (31:58):
And it's just like, absolutely a mind blowing idea.
Really cool.
Nicole (32:01):
Well it sounds like we need to have an episode
about graphic novels.
Killian (32:04):
Yes. Emily
I would love that. We should,that would be really fun.
Nicole (32:08):
And I think that's all for now.
Thank you for listening andwe'll see you next time.
Thank you for joining us for this episode
of Distracted Librarians.
Drew (32:18):
If you have any questions or suggestions,
feel free to reach out tous at distracted@btpl.org.
Killian (32:25):
Until then, keep those pages turning
and those screens lighting up.
Emily (32:28):
We'll catch you in the next episode.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.