The Weekend Reader on The Reading Comprehension Crisis

Is there actually a reading comprehension problem in the bookish community, or is it an expectation problem? This week on We Read Smut, Alesia welcomes back Lynell (aka The Weekend Reader) to dive deep into her viral Substack article on literacy, the evolution of content creation, and why reading diversely is the ultimate tool for expanding your perspective. Whether you're a creator struggling with the algorithm or a reader looking to get more out of your favorite tropes, this conversation is a must-listen.

Weekend Reader is a book blogger and bookstagrammer who enjoys sharing recommendations with busy readers. Weekend Reader reads and reviews contemporary fiction, specifically romance, but enjoys reading widely. Additionally, Weekend Reader is committed to supporting indie authors with an emphasis on authors of color in her recommendations. When the Weekend Reader isn't reading or reviewing, she's baking and snacking. 

In this episode, we're discussing:

• Comprehension vs. Expectation: Lynell argues that while literacy issues exist, the real "crisis" in the book space is the clash between long-form analysis and short-form algorithms that reward shock value over critique.
• The Value of Intentional Reading: Reading isn't just about self-insertion or relating to a character; it's about curiosity and understanding the "what if" behind an author's choices.
• Diversity as a "Window": Following the philosophy of authors like Kennedy Ryan, Alesia and Lynell discuss how diverse books act as windows into adjacent cultures (like Chilean or Mexican traditions) that broaden empathy and reading skills.
• The "Mojo" of Content Creation: Many creators feel burnt out trying to "stay the same." Lynell and Alesia emphasize that it is okay to evolve, change your favorite tropes, or shift toward more analytical content.
• Romance as a Resilience Tool: Romance often pushes back against the idea that certain people aren't capable of being loved, providing a vital counter-narrative to formulaic storytelling.

"Reading diversely can actually improve our reading comprehension, but we can also read for fun—and that’s okay too." This week, we challenge you to find a window book—something outside your lived experience—and see the world through a new lens.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

In this episode, we're doing something a little different. Today I have Linnelle, aka The Weekend Reader, on. She was in season one, and I'm so excited to have her back. And we're going to be talking about what it is like to be a content creator, especially in the bookish space right now. The ebbs, the flows, the things that we struggle with, the things that we've changed as we have evolved as creators, and so much more. We also talk about how none of us are equipped with great reading comprehension because of the society that we live in and how reading diversely can actually improve our reading comprehension. And we can also read for fun, and that's okay too. We go into so much in this conversation. But if you are someone who is already a bookish content creator or is thinking about getting into the bookish content creator space, this is a must-listen conversation. Please join me in welcoming Linnelle to the podcast. Listener discretion is advised. This podcast contains mature content intended for adult audiences only. Linnelle, I am so excited to have you back on the podcast. If people didn't hear our previous episode, go check that out. Like becoming this weekend reader, how you created this space. But today we're going to be talking about something kind of going a little deeper into something I saw you post on Substack, and I was like, we need to talk about it. And that is, is there a reading comprehension problem in the bookish community? But before we get into that, if you could tell everyone a bit about your reading journey and what your kind of bookstagram journey has looked like.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

Yeah, well, first of all, thank you for having me back. I'm really excited to be here and to talk to you about the blog post. Yeah, so my reading journey, I think, is is pretty similar to yours in the sense of I was a reader and took a little bit of a break, graduated from grad school, and I was like, oh, I need a life. And I circled back to reading. At the time, I felt like the bookish community was like coming up. And so I learned about booktube and and bookstagram and book twitter and that kind of stuff. And so I was like, oh, this would be an easy way for me to make friends. So then the weekend reader was born because as my handle suggests, I mostly read on the weekends. Don't call me, don't invite me out. I am on the couch with my Kindle Kiki. Kindle the Kiki. And that's all I want to do. Now, you know, I do a little bit more social stuff, but yeah, that's how I got here. And I've been doing this since 2017. It feels like decades ago. Um and yeah, I'm still kicking, still trying to figure out my little way.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

But yeah, so yeah, that does it does feel like it was decades ago in uh in American years, yeah, especially.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

Yeah, oh my gosh. 2020 was oh yeah. And things have definitely changed, and I think some things have gotten better, some things maybe not so much. So, but I do want to say I appreciate having connections like this because it reminds me why I started. And yes, it's a good, you know, reset in a lot of ways.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Happy to be of service. Yeah, I think that's so much of what we do as creators and content creators in this bookish space. Like, we're we aren't just reading, we are putting thought into this. And I would I don't know if you know how many words are in this blog post, but like this blog post that you created is like it's a full-on article about like your the research you did and your thoughts and your feelings and coming to a conclusion. And when I saw it, I was like, oh, this is spicy. So one, it's on Substack for anyone who will make sure we have it linked in the show notes, people can go read it. But I'm seeing quite a bit of a shift to Substack for a lot of creators over to Substack.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

Yeah, so one of the things that I always want to be mindful of is that nothing is ever black and white, nothing is ever like a really hard and fast, right? And so a lot of that was getting lost in threads, a lot of that was not getting conveyed on Instagram, at least for me. And so I started off blogging and then it kind of fell off, you know, for a little bit. And so this reviving the blog specifically on Substack, I think was like a call home for me. And strangely enough, the blog post that you're talking about, the Substack, it took me, I think, four months to write. And what ended up being published was like the sixth iteration because I just didn't feel like I struck the right tone, right? Because there was a part of me that the very first draft felt judgy, right? And didn't really provide any new take on it, right? And so, because I also do research in my non-creator life, I went back to a lot of like ask the question and ask the question again, right? And what am I missing? Who am I not including? What am I not thinking about? And so I remember when I said, Hey, I'm gonna write this stuff stack. Do you anyone care? And everyone was like, Yes, write it. And then I was like, but how nerdy can I get, right? Because I don't want to lose anyone along the way, and so maybe the second or third iteration of it, it felt too dense, and I felt like it wasn't the right tone because I'm not trying to preach to anyone, like I really wanted to make sure that I was being thoughtful, but also providing resources because we have a lot of people who have thoughts, right? And hot tapes. And I think talking about reading comprehension required a little bit of both, like it needed to go beyond just my thoughts, right? Part of doing that though, and asking the question again, I was like, am I even asking the right question? Or am I just regurgitating what everybody is saying? Because it's easy to say yes, right? There is a comprehension problem, but when we specifically look at the book space, it started to make me think about, well, I don't know if anyone really is set up to talk, and we were talking about this a little bit earlier. Are we really asking creators who just want to talk about the books to do this heavy lifting in like analysis and critique and comparisons? Are we really asking creators to do that when the algorithm is preferencing something else? Right? So I think there was like this collision of we're saying we want one thing, but we're rewarding something else. And to say, because that thing that is being rewarded, that is the problem, it's you know, like the light belt went off for me. And I was like, I don't think it's a comprehension problem, I think it's an expectation. Could there be right? Because we're a subset of the larger population. Clearly, there's a comprehension and a literacy problem in America. The facts are there, and we're a part of that, right? But the fact that we're voluntarily here and talking about books, I don't think we can say that there's the problem, is the way we're talking about books. That is actually the problem. And so if you don't want to read the full thing, that's where I land landed. Like the expectations about how we talk about books might be different. And so I recommend that people go and find creators who are talking about books in the way that you know that you want. And sometimes those are smaller accounts, those are not the you know, 100k creators, it's the ones with 500 followers who are really doing the heavy lifting beyond the entertainment, which I think is also fine.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

Yeah, and you kind of have to have an expectation of that if that is the route that you want to go, that the algorithm isn't going to reward you for all that hard work that you're putting in. And I think that is an expectation that a lot of bookish creators have, especially when they're starting out. I mean, and I say this, I work in the podcasting space, and I at least every other week have a conversation with someone who's like, How do I get 100,000 downloads really fast? And I'm like, be here for five years? Like, I don't really like there's nothing I can say to you that's, yeah, go phone farm it to another country. What do you want me to? I'm not gonna lie to you and say, here's the quick and easy way to do this thing when it's gonna take hard work, dedication, time, effort, honing your craft, being a person who can podcast well, who has a good production team behind you, like it takes time, effort, and money. And you have to set the expectation of what you're actually gonna get out of it. And the majority of, like, sticking with the podcast analogy, the majority of podcasts get maybe 30 downloads in the first month, and nobody knows that because that information isn't really public. But like 50, 60% of podcasters, they're getting 30 downloads in the first, you know, couple, the week or two. So I think that it's really important to set that expectation up right out the gate. But I think that you know, we were kind of talking about this a little bit before we hit record as well of like, are we as creators and readers expected to write reviews that are well thought out, that have a almost thematic and pulling quotes and analyzing it? Like, you know, we like watching guys' grocery games, you know, in my house. Like how the judges are saying, well, this note was really good or it needed some acid to it. And I'm like, I would have just been like, the vibes were good, it looked pretty on the plate, right? Because I'm not trained in that. And so, what expectation do we have of the creators? But also, I don't think publishing gives us space to maybe teach us to do better if that's something that it even wants. I don't know that it wants that. I think it wants the kind of flash in the pan attitude that Bookstagram and Book Talk have created, which I don't know that it lends to good stories.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Yeah, I mean, there's so much there to unpack because going back to your original thought, going viral for me was never a goal because that viral moment now changes the focus, right? Because now you have to produce whatever got you all of the viral, and that might not actually be the essence of what you do. So I think people who are going in and coming into the book space who are expecting to get a hundred thousand followers, I don't know how realistic that is, but it happens, right? And so if that if it happens for you, then great. One of the commenters on the substap talked about, which I did not cover in the post, is that it really depends on the platform too. So, like a substack might lend for more long form content versus say an Instagram and certainly not TikTok. So a lot of people looking for long-form content on maybe YouTube, but they're not looking at it, say, like I said, TikTok. And no shade to TikTok. I'm not on there. I think the success of it is because it's scratching a need. So there's that. But at least for me, right? Like I mentioned, it took me four months to write this post, and I still see where I could have gone a little bit further. I could have added some more things here or there. I don't know if you are batch creating content if you have that kind of time and space, right? So there is that content farming where you have to keep up with the algorithm, right? You have to be ahead of the algorithm. So that could also be at play, but you really make a really good point about we are not trained to give reviews, right? Not a lot of us are, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

And we are all looking for different things. Like I see people doing quote polls for like spicy scenes or quote polls for like really shock value type things, and there's clearly an audience for that, but when I think about what I'm highlighting, it might not be that, right? And so your content really has to find the right audience, and I think if you have struggle with doing things that are quick and snappy, you might not always want long form content, you might want something quick and digestible, so there's this balance of well, you can't, you know, apply that logic across the board because we might have a little bit more creators who are doing something shorter, you get more information that way. And I was trying to be very gentle about readers talking about turning your brain off, like some of that I think also lends into where you might lean or who you're gonna get recommendations from because your attention on that needs to be fast, right? It takes me a while to get to the point, right? So you might only come to me when you have the time and emotional capacity to sit through like my rambling thoughts, right? And so I might not be for you, and I think that's okay as well.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Yeah, I think what you said about TikTok is such an important thing to note and knowing that the user is there for the dopamine hit, that they're there for that quick fix of entertainment or shock value or something like that. And so you have to create content that's tailored to that. But if you're someone who wants to do more long-form content, then you kind of just have to skip out on that stuff and just go in a space that's gonna work for you. I mean, I see some book creators in the YouTube space and they've got like two and a half hour videos, and I'm like, there is no way that I personally could talk about a book for two and a half hours. And it's about one single book, and it's their full analysis of it and of the story and of you know what they found problematic or what they enjoyed. And I'm like, yeah, that I that's never gonna that's not the kind of content that I want to create, and that's okay too, right? But also, like, they're gonna have a different audience. You kind of just have to know that you're gonna attract the people that are going to be the right people for you.

SPEAKER_02 16:28

Yeah, and I think that's a really important point to make that your content should reflect your strength, and you shouldn't be making content that's gonna get you followers, right? Because over time that's gonna weigh on you. So I love a two-hour deep dive, right? Like that tickles a part of my brain, and I'm actually gonna start doing some video essays. I want to test out that format, and so we'll see, but I don't always want that too, right? Like sometimes just tell me what the book is, and I I think I share with you I've separated out my TBR from like my other list. So really, I'm just there's a I have an Excel spreadsheet where I just dump all of the books that you guys are recommending to me, and you know, I'm thinking about where I can put them in reading projects because that's the thing, there's so many options, right? And we are technically helping people filter, right? And so you become a trusted voice intern, hopefully.

unknown 17:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Hopefully a trusted voice and helping people filter. And so you just have to find your right filter because sometimes it might be a combination, like somebody might come from me for certain things and then find somebody else for something else, or they might use me and then somebody else as a checks and balance, right? Which I often get where people are waiting for me to read popular books to see like how I'm going to like talk about the book. And sometimes I'm like, don't put me in the middle because I don't always like you know, books that are popular, or it might not be a part of my reading projects for the year. And you know, sometimes I have curiosity, I'll read the book, but I also don't want to be country, you know, like always disagreeing with the collective, right? Which doesn't always happen, but there are a handful of popular books where I'm like, yeah, I didn't read it that way. I'm sorry. And so and I also don't always publicly talk about books I don't like, not because I'm don't want to share that, but if you read my review, you'll know how I feel about the book. But I don't give books that I would not recommend time and space because I'm only recommending books where I think people would want to pick up and read, and that's how even I've shifted like my rating system. If like I'm not comfortable recommending the book, it's not gonna show up on my grid, right? And that's like an easy way that I make those decisions about how I'm gonna recommend books, but that's just like a personal commitment for me, and I know some people go to folks who are like dislike books, and I think that's important as well because maybe you don't want to read the review, you want to hear the snappy reason why you might not like a book or a detailed justification of why someone didn't like a book, and so it's like stylistic choices that I want people to make sure that we're not thinking that one way is better than the other because like we were talking about our age before we hit record. I think some of the two were presenting information maybe slightly different. I'll say this, I was like, I'm not dancing to tell you about reading a book, right? But I might tell you about because I'm a very visual reader, and when I went to Italy, I was like, this book, this cafe, I can tell you three books that I can imagine, right? And like that's the type of like reader I am, and so I was like making all of these comments about things, and I think people wanted to be transported with my excitement that way, and so we all can figure out how to make those connections, and I think your followers validate that or not, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yeah, and you're allowed to change too, right? Which I think is so important in noting. Like, I think when I first started in this space, it was very shock value and all the spicy scenes, and like honestly, now I'm finding myself skipping the almost gratuitous sex scenes of like man, they were just banging like three pages ago. Come on, I want to know what happens next in the story. Like, and I know there are some authors, like I've heard Kennedy Ryan talk where she's like, I write my sex scenes so that if you skip them, you're like, wait, what happened? Because there has to be a point. She wants them to have a point. And I think that in the romance space, what I'm finding is I'm talking about the books that I'm reading very differently than I did when I initially and I think I was also looking for the books for a different reason, right? And I've talked about this on the show before of you know, my libido was shot. I had had my second kid, and I was like, the spicy books and the spicy scenes helped me get my sexy back. Like beneficial. It was good, but like now I'm like, I enjoy the stories. And I I was talking to a friend earlier today, and she mentioned an author. I won't mention the author's name, but it's a white author who's got a huge slew of books. And And I was like, I don't think I can differentiate between the books that I have read of this author's. Let me tell you about this one I read, right? That was like recently that was by a BIPOG author. That was like, it was so unique and it was so different. And I think that, yeah, we're allowed to change why we're reading. And I think that can help with our reading comprehension. But like getting back to why is it that you're actually reading? Is it for escapism? Is it because you need a little shot of libido? Is it because you want to read about the sex? You want to read about people falling in love? Or you want to be read about, you know, uh women going to space and getting dicked down. Whatever it is, like you get to decide what that is. And also, like we can have fun with it. And I feel like, especially as creators, and I know you're gonna be doing some work on this later in this year, so we'll have to do like a little follow-up or something. Everybody go just keep following Lynnelle on Substack. We'll have links in the show notes. But I feel like we're losing our mojo and our excitement as creators because there's this expectation to stay the same, and there's this expectation to always be talking about the spice of the book, right? Instead of taking a more analytical view of it.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

Yeah, I mean, oh, we could probably write a dissertation on this. So I think a couple of things are happening because I've been reading Rome since the 90s, okay? I'm aging myself, and so I think we are like most publishing, there's this is the cycle, right? Like where I remember people saying, Oh, it used to be spicier than this. I'm like, wait, we that's too much for my little delicate eyes, and then so now we're here, and I think we're just gonna swing back. But what I think romance does really well over the test of time is it's ahead, most of the time, it's ahead of what we're saying that we want. So I think what we're feeling right now with a lot of the gratuitous sex, because I agree with you, there's a lot of that right now, is we are trying specifically in romance to regain that connection that we lost during COVID, right? Like we were isolated, and I think romance provided like this really respite for people to have like really wild thoughts about all of things, right? And I think maybe we might be a little burnt out on that, and it's gonna swing back, and I think you see that in how we're talking about the heated rivalry fandom is really interesting to watch, particularly because of the queerness of that, and you know, who can write those stories who can. And the romance readers who read that series, they're engaging with the show a lot different, I think, than people who just purely watch the show. And I think this is why romance is so beneficial because maybe in the moment you might not be talking about like the intricacies, the yearning, the decisions that both of the characters are making. But I think the show watchers are hyper focused on the spicy things, and romance readers have the language to talk about the book and the series as a collective, is more than that. So I think we're gonna swing back, thankfully. And don't get me wrong, I think it's really important to have the spicy scenes because sex can be a driver of the plot. I I don't want to devalue that at all, but the book actually has to be categorized correctly for that as well. So that's a separate thing. But I do think the more you read, you want different things, and maybe you can go to the right subgenre to get those things, but if you're just reading pure sex, I think there's gonna be a tipping point for most romance readers where they will want more than just the sex, like you need a palette cleanser, right? So you might need something sweet, or you might need something dark, or you might need something to like balance that out because it can get repetitive. Like, how many times can a couple or couples have sex before it becomes repetitive? And I think romance does a really good job of giving you different options, right? And and I think the part of like your comprehension, hopefully over time you get better at pointing out the things that you do like, and you're able to communicate that out. And and for some people, it might be that you will always focus in on the sex part because that's important. I saw a really fascinating quote from a ace creator who talked about why it was important for them to read spicy scenes because they don't necessarily need it in their life, and I was like, that's a really important way to like contextualize how they engage with the text, and their comprehension of the text doesn't have to be a lived experience, and I think those are the types of things are important to talk about when we're talking about comprehension globally, right? Because I too don't need to relate to what I'm reading, right? Like, I don't self-insert, I think I call myself like warrior the other day. I was like, oh, wait a minute. What I mean by this is that like I'm reading the text for what the author is trying to describe for me so I can see it in my head. I don't need to drop myself in. I'm coming along with you with the story. And sometimes I'm gonna agree with you and sometimes I'm not. But the point of like reading isn't necessarily always to take the text for what it is to build from my perspective, right? Is to build a curiosity of the what if. What if these decisions were different, or what if I didn't see this coming, and so now I have a different way of seeing how there could be a different outcome, right? And so I think those are the things that are getting lost in the larger reading comprehension conversation, right? Because we're coming to the books for all different reasons, and we're gonna pick up on different things. That's why I said I think like on one-on-one conversations, that's a better way to talk about the comprehension. Book clubs, and maybe you don't have a book club, but because of the way the space is set up, it's a one-way transmission, right? And there's no not a lot of what did you see this part? And did you get the double entendra? Or did you get the allegory here? You might not always catch that, but when someone points it out, it's like, oh, that sparks a different conversation. And I think those are the things that we need to not devalue because they're happening, they might just not be happening online.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Oh, that's so interesting. That's one thing that I wanted to do more of this year was to be in book clubs, even though like I I struggle so much with a set TBR. Don't tell me what to do. I don't want to do it. And I 100% am a voyeur. I said what I said when I'm reading the books that I read, right? Like, I'm not someone who self-inserts in any way like that. And so, yeah, it's so I think that having those discussions, having those one-on-ones, and that's one reason why I wanted to create the podcast, because I was like, I want to have deeper conversations with the people that I like to talk to. And so, how can I do that in a way that is beneficial for the space? Maybe highlights because I could do a roundup of all right, here are all of the Hispanic authors, right? Or here are all of the Latinx authors, and like you should go follow them. But to be able to go in and say, like for season two, here's Leonor Salis, who's a Chilean author, and here are the things she's so awesome, and here are the things that I was able to find in her book that even as a Puerto Rican who, you know, people might be like, oh, well, y'all are all Latinx. No, actually, there's so much that separates us, but so much that brings us together, and being able to understand the culture, and then having Jada Hernandez on as well, who's a Mexican author, and like hearing about her story and like why she created the motorcycle club one that she did, because all these white authors were making MC clubs that were the bad guys that were all Latinos, and it's like, no, that's not at all what that looks like. Let's flip it on its head, right? And show representation that's accurate. And so, like, I wouldn't have been able to do that, had those more deeper and in-depth conversations, or provided those conversations for other people if it was just here are the Latinx authors that you should check out. I love them all. Let me do a little dance for you with it. It just doesn't lend itself to that. So I think that finding a space, right? Whether that's listening to a podcast, watching a long form YouTube video, or being on SubSec and reading these more long form, this more long form content in any way can help us be and do better as readers and also pinpoint things that we maybe didn't even think about and broaden our view of the world.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Yeah, you know, it's as you're talking, I'm thinking about there is a fun factor that we can't avoid, right? This is the we're doing this for fun. And I think I mentioned that there is some avoidance about like talking about books beyond like the fun factor. And I think some of that might have to do with like our experiences in school, because reading was mandatory. So if we're choosing to, you know, read these things for fun, we want to keep it fun. And so there might be some people who find the roundups beneficial and stop there, and so in that regard, you've done your work, but then there might be some people who want you to help them contextualize Leonora Soliz's wife, right? Because she's doing a lot of character work and she's a soul-burn team. That lady, yes, she's gonna take you through it, right? I told her whenever I recommend her books, she is like a ghost pepper, right? Because you don't expect it when the sex starts, sexing, right? Right, it goes there, right? But she takes the time to build the characters up, even if they have sex early, there's still time, and I think that's really important. And some people might not want that, but you've just contextualized that for them. So, you know, maybe if they're in the right mood, they will um read her books by the way you should.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yes. I love her. Audiobooks are great too, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:54

And you know, she's a really interesting one too because she's Chilean Canadian, right? And I believe she mentioned that her reader base is American, so there's even like that cultural difference that sometimes might show up in her books. But I think that is you've hit the nail on the head. The work that we're doing is helping people filter through what they should and maybe shouldn't read, right? I'm not a big proponent of telling people what they shouldn't read. Read whatever you want, but I'm gonna tell you the books that I'm recommending why I think you should read them, right? And I always prioritize authors of color. I need to do better with queer authors and authors with disabilities, but you know, I'm constantly working on that. And so for me, if you don't care about that, maybe my content might not do well because that's not important. And you have a variety of creators who you can go to for that. But if you care about that and that's something, then I think you found the right space. And my weekend TDR wrap-ups, I'm usually talking about what I like, what I didn't like. And some people are like, oh, but you like this in the other book. And I'm like, right. That's part of the reading experience. I might not like how this author wrote this thing, right? Like right now, I'm having an existential crisis about friends to lovers because I'm like, do I really like friends to lovers? I don't think I do. But I'm not willing to say that on record quite yet. But it's because I've had enough authors who I don't think did the trope justice. And now I see why people don't like the trope, and I don't love that for me. I don't love it at all. But that's part of I think the reading experience, right? Like it's testing what I say I like all the time. And now I'm trying to make sure that I actually really like the thing that I say that I like.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Oh, okay. So I have to say one, I love your weekend. Like, here's what I read, and here's what I liked, or I didn't like, or didn't prefer, because it signals to me that the weekend's over. Like I am working nonstop like throughout the week. I don't really have an official weekend. And my husband works Friday through Monday, so he works all weekend, and so I got my kids the whole weekend to myself, and so it's like it signals hate the end, like it's the beginning of a new week. And like, here are the things you kind of need to do or get situated. So I appreciate that so much. So thank you.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

Oh, yeah, let me tell you, I have gotten really funny loving DMs when I don't post a weekend TBR because I think people are expecting that I do, and it's like, oh no, no, I'm fine. It's just that I haven't posted it yet, or I'm traveling and uh it just fell off. But yeah, there have been a couple of times we're like, are you okay? I didn't, or did I miss it? I'm like, no, it's it's coming here, or I forgot, right? Because I don't necessarily schedule that content because sometimes you know, I know on a Wednesday or a Thursday what I'm reading, or sometimes I'm literally deciding an hour before you see it, or even 10 minutes before you see it. So that's really funny, but it's like my ritual now, right? And I have gotten a couple of questions about I am not reading, like usually I have four books, and I've dropped it down to two, and it you know, life changes, and I want to be able to do the wrap-up at the end. And if I know I'm not gonna have the capacity to read more than two books, I'm not gonna just have a whole bunch of books there.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

So yeah, that definitely makes sense, but I appreciate it. And the other thing is about that the tropes and like changing your mind about tropes. This is something I had a discussion with my husband about, a quite funny discussion. For context, he had cancer in his cerebellum when he was a child. So, brain for anyone who doesn't know where that is. And I was talking about how much I hate the amnesia trope because how you gonna tell me that you forgot the whole first half of the book? I can't handle it. And he was like, I was like, it's just not realistic to me. And he was like, Do you not think that amnesia is a real thing? Like he was like questioning my sanity for a second there, and I was like, no, I get that it's a real. I just don't think in romance that it happens as often as it does in the romance books. And then I read, I want to say it was a Deanna Gray uh book. And this is not spoiling because it happens at the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

Sandy despositional?

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Yes, yeah, and the character gets amnesia because he gets into an accident, and they were like supposed to meet for the first time, and then they don't meet and then become roommates. It yeah, etc. etc. Things happen later. And I loved it. Yeah, I loved that amnesia trope, and I was like, I see, I just don't like when they forget the first half of the book.

SPEAKER_02 39:17

The author didn't take the time to help you make it believable, and maybe some readers got it and some didn't, but yeah, I think there's something to be said. I love it when an author proves me wrong. Yes, but then I start questioning myself as a reader, right? Because I have some strong, I think, opinions about certain things. Like, you can't convince me an abuser is a love interest. That's a hard and fast rule. However, I have read things where I'm like, I guess I can see it, like it's a possibility, right? So I do think there is something to be said when authors take you on a journey to question the things that you say you like or didn't like, right? Yeah. And especially when authors are doing things, because I don't know if you're like this, but there's certain authors I go to to read certain things, right? I'm going to read a Katrina Jackson book because I love how she writes men, right? Like how they care for their female love interests, right? And there's one particular book I was like, hello, what is this? He's a little too heavy-handed. I was not prepared. And she was like, I'm allowed to play with different things and finish reading the book and come back to me. And I was like, Right. And so I loved it in the end, it made sense for the character, but yeah, it's those types of things about I go to certain authors for certain things, and then when they start introducing things that either make me uncomfortable or something that I didn't expect in the one of A. H. Cunningham's, oh, I'm blanking on the book, but I can see the cover.

unknown 41:07

Right.

SPEAKER_02 41:08

He spends some time talking about Dom Drop. And I was like, wait a minute, what are what is happening here? I'm so confused. And it's because there's so much romance that focuses on the subdrop. I don't think even I wasn't even thinking about it, right? And so we talked about that, and she's like, Yeah, why wouldn't you have that inner romance about Kink? It's responsible. And I'm like, uh-huh. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

Yeah. So it's like these like moments of expanding what I understand to be a certain thing because I've read it a couple of ways, and just I don't know, assume it's the rule, and then someone writes something different, and it's, you know, another part of my brain is um activated. And I think that's the part that I don't want ever to get lost in these discussions because I think all of the creators that are making this decision to put themselves out there, they're providing a source of labor that we are we can all benefit from it. And maybe you don't like it, but that's okay. Let that creator do what they're doing and find somebody who speaks to your preferences, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:30

So yeah, and I think that one, we're mentioning diverse authors here, right? That are broadening our horizons or making us think about things differently. And I think that when you read diversely like that, it's more likely that you're back to the original idea. Your reading comprehension will increase. You'll be able to see the world differently, to experience the books in a different way. That I don't think that every, you know, not to pick on hockey, but every hockey white brother's best friend romance is going to like give you or deliver. And so I think that it's important that we're reading diversely. If, you know, if reading comprehension is a goal or if it's something that you want to consider from our conversation, I highly recommend reading diversely because those are the ones that are going to be, to quote Kennedy Ryan again, like a window, right? So much of romance, especially when it looks exactly like you, is a mirror. It's a mirror reflecting your experiences, what you have lived, or what you people in your family have lived. But when you can see the world in a different way, I think that it really allows us to have a better empathy for other people, even with romance, right? You can still learn so much from it. And I think that it's just such a powerful tool that I hope we never. Take for granted because I know I have learned so much about the world around me just from a book.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

Yeah. And I think I mean I don't want to get on a soapbox about romance because I could probably I think the devaluing of romance really m might be a reflection of people don't believe in love, right? And you we could probably talk about some people don't believe certain people are capable of love or being loved, right? And I think romance pushes back on that again and again. And I think there are some authors who want to write a certain way that love shows up. And if you want those types of stories, then good for you. But what I often find happen is with authors who are not white, their storytelling often they're critiqued a lot more for different ways, relatability, blah blah blah blah blah, right? Yeah. And I think authors of color, marginalized authors should be able to write fluffy, no it doesn't make any sense type books, right? But even in that, we're allowed that minute of joy. We're allowed the minute of this does not make sense. This is not like a literary masterpiece, but it's okay because there's there's a counterpart who has a hundred books that don't make sense and doing just fine. But I do think you're right about we need to have a variety of ways the HEA or HFN will happen. Because when it becomes formalaic, then that's when I think romance has no shield because then it is true that it's the same stuff cranked out. But if you are not reading diversely, then yes, you can say that.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Right.

SPEAKER_02 46:13

It is formalaic if you're gonna always read small time romance, contemporary, blah blah blah. You might get the same thing, but if you're reading, you know, I'm gonna always make a case for women's fiction with strong romantic elements. Um yeah, I mean, I think it is not romance. Okay, let me just say that it is not romance, women's fiction, do not yell at me. I know that, but I think it also provides like a little bit more room for other things that are happening because in the realistic world, no one is stopping their life just to fall in love, right? You know, but sometimes the point of the meat cue or the point of initially falling in love, that's what draws you into romance, I think. So I do think people should read diversely, but do it not out of guilt, not out of obligation, but out of pure curiosity, because I don't I think there's a lot of readers who go into reading diversely and mishandle the text. So I would rather you not touch it at all if you're gonna be a bad faith actor. And who knows why some people might do that, but I get personally offended when readers are hypercritical of non-white stories because they don't believe the characters can fall in love and like, yeah, we you this does not make sense to me, and no, that really speaks to your imagination more than anything.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

So yeah, I mean, I literally just yesterday read a book where a literal Psychops giant fell in love with a cam girl, like a plus size cam girl, and he was a cat dad, goofy, nerdy dork, and like I need that. It was adorable, but I believed it. They fell in love and it was great, and it was 88 pages. Y'all can imagine what kind of story it was. It was fantastic, right? Like, but I can't suspend my belief that two black characters fell in love.

SPEAKER_02 48:37

Okay, tell me all right, uh make it make sense, yeah. Yeah, and I think that's the unfortunate part because you know, we call it spade, it's racism, it's misogyny, yeah, and biphobia, transphobia, you know what I mean? And so those things I think are a part of any community that you're gonna be in, and we have some responsibility to call that out when it happens, do it safely because people be taking things too far nowadays. But right, I do think my commitment, right, is if I am collecting recommendations for books that people are saying that I should read, I'm gonna always prioritize an author of color. I'm gonna always prioritize black authors. And I'm gonna always prioritize romance. The one area that I, you know, because I'm trying to get back to my mystery days, that's the one place that I think like I can do a better job of reading authors of color. Because I'm looking down on this sheet, because this is where like some of my project lists are, and most of them are white authors, and so I'm like, well, I guess that's why I read diversely that you know what I mean. Like, you know, if I'm asking for romance recommendations, I almost feel like if I don't say BIPOC, everybody should assume that. Everybody should just assume I'm asking for authors of color. That's not always the case though, like when I get recommendations, but I just filter it that way. But yeah, I that's my commitment, that's what I'm gonna do, that's how I want to choose how to spend my brain space time and my money, right? And so my KU spaces are always gonna support authors that are in KU. They're gonna be authors of color.

SPEAKER_00 50:30

100%. I definitely agree. So we have to wrap up. Sadly, I literally could keep talking to you for hours and hours, even though we already talked for an hour before we even hit records. That's true. I mean, it's it's getting late.

SPEAKER_02 50:43

So you, you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

But what are you working on next for people who are like, okay, I need more Linnelle, I need more weekend reader. Tell me what you're working on next. Where can they find you? Connect with you, all that.

SPEAKER_02 50:57

Yeah, so I am currently building from the reading comprehension post. So this year is really about how to become a more intentional reader or intentional, you know, I don't want to qualify it with the more. I'm trying to figure out how to make it like fun for people not to feel any stress about maybe learning how to pick up on context clues or Easter eggs, those types of things. So I'm still working through that. So I'm building from the is there a comprehension where I'm giving people tools to refresh or think about reading a different way. And I wrote a substack about what the year is gonna look like based off of those projects. But what I'm most excited about is that I'm gonna spend, I think it's six or seven months where I'm just gonna focus on romance. And so I have some fun things planned around that, and then I'm gonna wrap up the year talking about like how creators can, you know, support each other and how we can be sounding boards for each other. So starting the year with let's talk about how we read, I'm gonna focus on romance, and then let me not forget, like, I'm part of a community, so how can we make sure that we're doing better recommendations or doing recommendations responsibly and how we can support each other? And I'm specifically gonna do a call out for creators of color who've been around for a little bit because I don't want those voices to get lost in this shuffle, and so I'm looking forward to that as well. So I'm on Substack, weekend reader there, um barely on threads, but I is there, and then on Instagram. So mostly I'm on Instagram and Substack as the weekend reader.

SPEAKER_00 52:50

Awesome. And we'll have links for all that in the show notes as well, as the direct link to your Substack article on reading comprehension and your Substack article on what kind of is happening for this year for you. So people can easily grab those uh when they're ready for a longer, longer deep dive into what you're doing. Thank you so much, Lynelle. Thank you for the work that you do in this space and the recommendations that you give and the highlights that you do. I am grateful to know you in this space.

SPEAKER_02 53:22

And I feel like we need to figure out which book cons we're gonna see each other at because I fell off last year. I was like, I'm not going to any cons, and then cons blew up, and no. So I think 2020. Sold out in five minutes. Listen, yes, listen. So we have to figure out how we can meet in real life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

For sure. Uh, it's so great to know you. So thank you so much. And until next time, y'all, happy reading. Yes, happy reading, everyone.