Page Advice with Mallory O'Meara and Brea Grant

Page Advice was a monthly column dedicated to answer serious reader questions by Reading Glasses podcast hosts Mallory O’Meara and Brea Grant.

Column #12

Zoë asks: I have a bookish problem! What should I do when I’ve just finished a book and am still so in the book that I can’t read anything else cause it is not that book?

Danielle asks: What do you two suggest about giving away books that you have not read yet, intend to read, and never get to. I have so many books hoarded from library sales, sidewalks, and forays into used book stores, but I have not gotten into many of them. I want to donate them, but I feel like that means I am giving up on those books I haven’t even read yet! What are your suggestions about giving up on books that have been around for too long?

Column #10

Rhianna asks: Do you guys experience the “nobody around me likes the same kind of books as me” problem? There are so many books I love that I can’t talk about because nobody else seems to know they exist.

Column #9

Hollands asks: What do you do when a favorite living author dies? Do you read posthumous publications? Do you read novels that take place in that universe written by other authors? Do you feel guilty when you miss literary news about the author years after they die?

Column #8

Mae asks: How do I resist impulse buys on my Kindle? I need to be able to pay my bills, but also… books?

Column #7

May asks: I would like to read more outside of home, like at cafes and such. But I find it difficult to get up and go when I can read at home. What can I do to overcome this?

Column #6

Alexis writes: For the last few years, I’ve been enjoying using Goodreads to organize my TBR (To Be Read) list, find new books, chat with friends, and review books. I enjoy leaving ratings and reviews, when I finish a book, and I use the reviews of others to help me decide what to read next. However, I’ve noticed lately that as I’m reading, I’m thinking more about what my rating will be and what my review will say than about the book. I feel like I’m constantly writing book reports! Even when I decide not to leave a review, I’m still constantly thinking about how many stars I’ll give the book. How can I keep using these community features, but get back to focusing on the story?

Column #5

Sarah writes: How do you know how much horror you can handle? I don’t want to rev up my anxiety too much, but I also love the psychological thriller/monster thing. Any suggestions for inching forward without jumping straight to terrorville? Should I start with old-school classics that created the genre? Short stories? YA horror? R.L. Stine?

Column #4

Spencer Hays asks: What do I do if I’m just … not feeling a book? Do I try to push through, despite the fact that I’m not really enjoying it? Or do I drop it (my current strategy)? Does this change if it’s a Culturally Significant Book™?

Column #3

Isabela asks: How do I keep from falling asleep while reading? I never fall asleep with my face in a book, but spending hours without moving much always makes me feel like napping. It’s very hard to battle against it and it eventually makes me unable to keep reading because my mind feels too groggy.

Column #2

May asks: What are your thoughts on reading challenges?

Column #1

Kate M. asks: I struggle with fantasy because of all the lengthy series. Reading them takes—ugh!—time. Any recommendations for a single fantasy book? Or even just a trilogy?

ABOUT OUR COLUMNISTS

Mallory O’Meara is an author, screenwriter, and producer for Dark Dunes Productions. Along with freelance writing and film projects, her latest production is the Dark Dunes Productions feature film Yamasong: March of the Hollows, release details TBA. She lives in Los Angeles. Mallory hosts the podcast Reading Glasses alongside filmmaker and actress Brea Grant. The weekly show is hosted by Maximum Fun and focuses on book culture and reader life. Her first book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon, is being published by Hanover Square Press, release date TBA.

Brea Grant is an e-reader who moonlights as an actress and filmmaker (most recently she can be seen on the television show The Arrangement and in movies like A Ghost Story and Dead Awake) and daylights as a podcast co-host on the show Reading Glasses. She writes comic books, reads scifi, and thinks ghosts are funny. You know her face from television.