I'd Read That!

Ep 16: 2024 Reading Challenges!

• Liz & Jerry • Episode 16

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Happy New Year!
We're excited to share with you all today the I'd Read That Reader Challenge!!
It's fun to see how we can expand our reading horizons and we believe we picked out a few fun exercises for you.

Book Mentioned
Nimona by ND Stevenson
Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
Spell Bound by F. T. Lukens
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Interesting Facts about Space by Emily Austin

Liz!:

Next time you're feeling low, just listen to our show will sock Books and More. So much content to explore sci fi thrillers and romance. Just give our show a chance. Give a listen to our chat. You'll be saying Hi.

Jerry Perez:

And welcome to the I agree that podcast. It's me, Jerry. And as joined, as always, is our co host, Liz. Hey, Jerry, Happy New Year, Happy 2024.

Liz!:

Happy New Year, I can't believe it's 2024. But as always, it's exciting to start a new year, get kind of fresh beginnings. start some new personal challenges and goals, which we're going to talk a little bit more about today. So yeah, it's always exciting. Yeah,

Jerry Perez:

I can only think of one resolution I've already broken. So that's okay. You know, I won't let it ruin the whole year. No, a non book resolution that I have this just to start journaling a little more than I have been in the past. So bought like 10 notebooks. I'll try to fill those any, any non book resolution that you want to share?

Liz!:

Um, yeah. So the last few months, I've been getting really into running again. And so I have a lot of like running related goals, some races that I want to do this year. So yeah, it's exciting. I know here where we live in Northwest Arkansas, the weather has not been conducive to that. So hopefully, when the weather clears up, I can get a little more into those. Those goals. Awesome.

Jerry Perez:

And speaking of goals, that's what we're talking about today. reading challenges, reading goals. It's a popular thing to do for a lot of folks, you know, whether it be a book count or something else, we've got that on the agenda today. Don't we lose?

Liz!:

Perfect. All right. But are we going to start with talking about a book we read recently, Jerry, what's a book that you read recently?

Jerry Perez:

Well, a book I read recently, pretty recently, is Nimona BY Andy Stephenson, a graphic novel. It's a science fantasy graphic novel. And it's about a shapeshifting team. That's helping a villain. And what I think is interesting is the villains a villain because he was in like hero training camp, and lost an arm and an accident. And well, you can't have your heroes with deformities. So he's not will slot in the villain position. And so it's just an interesting tale of, you know, you know, what's known as deal like, why is she trying to help this villain out? And she's actually got a lot of powers or own does she really need anybody? So finished it? It's great. What I did not know was Netflix did a movie of this last year.

Liz!:

I didn't, either.

Jerry Perez:

Yeah, I was I was looking at something about this, to make a note. And then it says, Do you want the movie or the book? And I'm like, what movie? And I guess it came out in the summer of last year. And now I'm gonna try to watch it here the next couple of days.

Liz!:

Yeah, this is I read this book a while back. This is a great book. I knew you would like it. I had a good feeling you'd like it. I will tell you that I was unsure about it for about a split second when I started it. And then when Nimona the shapeshifter jumps out and says, I'm a shark. I was hooked. I love this book. So I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Jerry Perez:

Yeah, a lot of fun. How about you? What's something you've gotten your past?

Liz!:

Yeah, so I recently read I us against you BY Frederic Bachman. So I Jerry and I are part of a friend's book club. And last year about a year ago, we read bear town, which is the first book of this series as a group. Jerry can attest it took me a really long time to get through that book. I just had a hard time getting into it. But once I got into it, I really liked it. And so I decided to go ahead and I actually listened to the audiobook for the sequel. And I really enjoyed book number two it really it Frederick Bachman just does a good job of like diving into characters and really making you feel for everybody involved and like really just getting into like how these characters connect to each other their relationships, their growth, and I really enjoy him as an author. Have you read this book Jerry? No,

Jerry Perez:

I own it though. Okay, and I'm gonna make a book sin I just did. I need to get my life in order because I realized the other day I've now bought it twice. Oh.

Liz!:

Oh my goodness. Okay, well, you need to get to it. I think you'll like it. But yeah, maybe maybe offload one of those copies to someone you think would also enjoy it.

Jerry Perez:

Clearly I want to read it because I went and bought it twice. So yes, yes, I read it first. It took effect against the SEC court and Now you've surpassed me, you've gone to the second one.

Liz!:

Yeah, it was actually a really good audio book too. So yeah, I think that made it a little easier for me to get into it this time, although also the fact that I already knew the characters and kind of knew what was developing in the plot that made it a little bit easier to get into. But yeah, I really enjoyed it. I will probably tackle the third book soon. All right, what's the book that you are currently reading?

Jerry Perez:

So what I'm currently reading and probably about a third of the way through, it is in the lives of puppets BY TJ Clune. Good Reads 2023 winner for Best Science Fiction. And looking at end of the year list, it didn't show up on any list. It didn't show up on anywhere else other than the Goodreads one, what I thought was really interesting. And I don't know if it's like, maybe because of when it was published. But I do enjoy the book a lot. It's, I would say it has those familiar found family vibes from Serbia and see, we already have a strong contender for a great character for the year. So the story is about Victor Who is a human. And he's been, let's say, adopted BY an Android, and he has created two best friends, a robot vacuum that seems to be a little neurotic, and a medical droid. And that medical droid is might be one of my favorite characters already, just because they have a lot of what do you dog, her name is nurse ratchet. So she's always looking to help people but it's really more looking like to like just like poke and prod people. And so it's a fun story. Again, very found family vibes. Victor, the protagonist seems to be one of the only humans left in this world. And, you know, so it's tinkering with robots all the time and makes a new robot. And so looks like adventures win Sue with this new robot Android he's just created. Oh,

Liz!:

that's so fun. I have not read this. But I love this author, and I cannot wait to hear what you think about it. I feel like this is the most like sci fi that this author has gotten into. And so you as a sci fi fan. I'm very curious what you have to say about it when you get done with it.

Jerry Perez:

Yeah, I would definitely say soft sci fi. Yeah, there's that a 10 page description of a schematic. So it's so soft sci fi but what about you? What do you what do you enjoy right now?

Liz!:

So I'm currently reading a YA book. So I've been in a little bit of a reading slump lately. One strategy to get out of a reading slump for me is to read kind of easy to digest books. So I am currently reading. It's called spellbound BY ft. Lukens. And it's basically about two teenagers who are apprentices for these people in the magical world. So our main character, rook is an apprentice for Antonia hex, and she runs a business whereby she basically like removes curses and hexes from people. And rook isn't magical, but he used to be a part of the magical world through his grandmother, and wants to get back into that world. So he apprentices for Antonia, and then he meets another teenager son, who is the apprentice for a another person in the magical world fable, who kind of has a similar job where they remove hexes and curses from people. So kind of like rival businesses. And then there are apprentices. But there's like this overarching group called the National Consortium, who I it's kind of hard to tell, but I think they're kind of the big bad or maybe that's just me like wanting to fight the system. Like, I don't think that they're good. But basically, something goes wrong, where their bosses get, they disappear. And so these two teenage teenagers have to kind of band together to save their bosses. So it's really fun. It's set in this like really cool world. I love what they're getting into like the difference between like a curse and a hex. And as they're like going out on jobs to remove these from people. It's really funny how creative the author gets with like, what types of hexes and curses have been placed on people. There's a lot of representation there several non binary characters and a Yeah, it's it's really great so far, and I think they do the job with getting me out of my reading slump. Alright, Jerry, what's a book that you are looking forward to reading?

Jerry Perez:

One of the books I got was a beloved offer between you and me, Stephen King, and it's fairy tale, which I'm actually kind of someone looking forward to reading this because I know at the tail end of last year, I seem to have read quite a few different takes on fairy tales. So now this will be Stephen King's opportunity to take on fairy tales. It's described as episodic. So you know I can get had to pick it up and put it down. So that'll be fun. I was looking at something else up. This is considered his 64th novel that he's written. Wow, that is an insane amount of output. So I'll probably be picking up in and reading this maybe throughout the year, because like I said, it's a series of fairy tales. So we'll see. We'll see how this goes. All right, what's on your TBR? There, Liz?

Liz!:

Oh, boy, I'm so excited to talk about this. So I subscribe. I subscribe to book of the month. And I really enjoy book of the month, it's really fun. I will say there are several months that I choose to skip. Just because it's the books are so much up my alley. And when I first just looked at the covers of the books for this month, I was I was so so about it. And then I realized that one of them is written BY a beloved author. Well, she has written a beloved book for me. So I obviously clicked that to be my Book of the Month, and it is here now and I'm going to hold it up, even though our listeners can't see it, but I want you to be able to see it. It is interesting facts about space BY Emily Austin. If this author sounds familiar to you, it is because she wrote everyone in this room will someday be dead. So this is her new release. We all know how much I love, everyone in this room will someday be dead. This looks like it is similar in some ways, in that it has a very neurotic, anxious main character. And I did read some reviews already that were annoyed BY the main character, which I think was some people's criticism of everyone in this room will someday be dead. And maybe the timeline is a little bit jumpy. But I don't think I'm gonna have any issue with that. So I'm really excited about this. It's about a woman who is obsessed with space. She does have a major phobia, which is bald men. Yep, yeah. But she tries to keep that one under wraps. She listens to a lot of true crime podcasts. And she dates a lot of women just like on rotation from dating apps. And then she basically gets into a serious romantic relationship for the first time in her life. And at the same time, she starts getting really paranoid that someone is following her. So she's like trying to kind of manage this paranoia with this new relationship and her obsessions. And I just think she sounds like such an interesting character, just like the character from her other book, with a lot of quirks and perhaps flaws. But it sounds like there's going to be a lot of growth with this character. And I'm really excited about it. And yeah, so interesting facts about space BY Emily Austin. It I didn't even realize this was coming out. I was not following book news. As much as I should have been, obviously, that this was such a pleasant surprise. And I'm so excited about it.

Jerry Perez:

Nice. Yeah. I read her the book based heavily on your recommendation. And it was a book club pick for a local bookstore here that we got to attend. So definitely Liz type of. I remember reading, you know, last book and going just experience cringe a lot. I wonder if I guess we'll see some more of that. All right. We'll take a quick break, and we'll see you soon. So it's a new year, new US or maybe same us. Quick recap for me. I met my reading goal last year, and that was a lot of work. But I enjoyed it. It's a fun to push yourself a little bit. How about you, Liz?

Liz!:

I did not make my reading goal last year, but that's okay. Because sometimes we fall short. And it's not it's not a big deal. My goal was 100. I did not quite make that. But yeah, I think they it's a good it's actually a good opportunity to reevaluate if 100 books a year is really realistic, most years. You know, life gets busy. We get into reading slumps. I don't want reading to be a job. So it kind of is a good it's a good opportunity to evaluate if that's a goal that I want to keep doing.

Jerry Perez:

Yeah, I hit my reading goal. But to hit my reading goal. I felt like I switched to a lot of novellas to get to that number in my hand that I made. And while I certainly enjoyed a lot of the novellas I read, I think it caused me to veer away from books I probably would say traditionally read that a little bigger one the epic side because I'm like I have in my head. I have this number I want to hit. So as a personal reading goal, I've actually reduced my book count quite a bit so that I feel like I have room to pick up a chunk your boy have a book I already feel better knowing I don't have this crazy number in my mind. That is a strike. score versus, you know, that number I picked, which is something I can reach. And it will let me pick up a bigger book. Some

Liz!:

I've heard that from a lot of people, they, when they set a certain number of books a year, it discourages them from reading longer books. And one way that I've heard people address this is BY instead having a page count goal, instead of a number of books. So there's like a number of ways that you could address this, if you still are like a goal oriented person, which I am, and I think you are, too, we like to write things down, we like to check things off. And so there's, there's ways that you can do that and kind of work around any obstacles or anything getting in the way of you enjoying your reading life. Because ultimately, that's the goal is for us to enjoy our reading lives.

Jerry Perez:

Right, you don't want it to turn into a chore. I think the idea with a goal, like a number count, a book count or a page count is, especially for a new reader to maybe develop the habit that if they're getting back into reading to kind of sustain it. I think for more advanced readers, that's more just kind of like, you know, I've done readings for my habit, how far can I push myself, but your point there, I think there is a limit of maybe your, you can push yourself like, Okay, now it's now I am doing, I'm not doing other things to to get to a certain count. So we don't wanna do that, we just want you to be comfortable. But page count bootcamp, they're not the only types of goals or other kinds of reading calls out there. One that I like, is when people pick genre goals, to read more outside of their area, what are some other types of goals lives that you think you've tried in the past?

Liz!:

I know, something I've tried in the past that actually was really eye opening for me was to read more diversely. And I know we've talked about this before that this is something we both want to make sure that we're doing and, and making a conscious effort to do. I know that the first year that I started tracking my reading, I was looking at a my authors. And I truly thought that I read diversely until I was tracking it and looked at my first 30 books that I read that year. And I was not reading as diversely as I thought I was. And so I think that's a great goal to include, like diversity goals to try to read authors, they, you know, maybe don't look like you or have you know, differences in their life, they that maybe you get some exposure to someone who has a little different life than you or characters that are diverse. However, someone wants to address that. I think that that's important. And that's another good way to set some reading goals for the year.

Jerry Perez:

A reading challenge, I enjoy reading lessons a challenge from a different podcast, and they have these kinds of goals. So one they had was to read about a disabled protagonist. And that may not be something you think about a lot to, to just look for that type kind of protagonist or that kind of book. And it doesn't necessarily even mean the books about this disability. It's just it happens to be someone who has a disability, and it's just part of their life. And so to make it more, you know, not like let's hyper focus on this one thing. It's just, it's just a different point of view. And so that's kind of nice to kind of see that. Yeah.

Liz!:

And reading challenges, which SPOILER ALERT we're going to be talking about today. But um, reading challenges are just a great way to like really stretch yourself and really read books that maybe wouldn't normally pick up. And so I think another goal sometimes that I say it especially unable to accomplish through things like reading challenges is like reading outside of genre that I would normally read. And sometimes I find favorites through that. I think that that can be a really fun way to discover new gems that like maybe you wouldn't normally have picked up. Yeah, I

Jerry Perez:

would say early on in my reading life. Post College. I had a very narrow reading scope. It was science fiction, fantasy, and maybe history books here and there. And then I got into a book club with different readers. A lot of them were kind of big fans of thrillers, and I hadn't really read a lot of those and surprise surprise I really enjoyed that a lot. You know, Girl on the Train, Gone Girl. Those kinds of things. But of course, now new favorite Riley Sager thriller type books, so can't you pointed? I'm not sure I would have ever picked up those books. In the past I had not had someone or an activity to make me read outside of what I normally do. We have our own challenges, Liz that you have masterminded, crafted, spent hours months, curating and perfecting for us.

Liz!:

I don't know that it go that far. But I have come up with a few things to add to a reading challenge. I know we both really like participating in reading challenges. And I guess before I get into mine, are there any any reading challenges you plan to do this? Your

Jerry Perez:

one challenge I'll certainly be doing as the annual reading glasses challenge. And they have a fun list, I'll quickly go through them, you know, a debut novel, a novel BY a non binary author, and a any buzzy book. It's a currently buzzy book, which, you know, I think maybe one of the more difficult challenges to do. Because, you know, I love a library. You know, I love Libby, and for books really buzzy, it's hard to get hold of unless you're just buying it. How about you any other personal challenges outside of the ones we've created for everybody?

Liz!:

Yeah, so one day I like to participate in is the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. They have it every year. So there's a 24 items on this year's challenge. And it includes a lot of things like, really, you'll see a lot of the same things on Challenge Challenge, which kind of shows how important some of these things are. So for example, like they have on their challenges here to read a white a book BY a trans author, to read a history book BY a bipoc. Author. So definitely, they also challenge readers to read diversely. One thing that they always include on their challenge, which I really like is to pick a challenge from any of the previous year's challenges to repeat. I see that a lot, which I think is really fun. Because, you know, it kind of gives you some some flexibility on your own to kind of pick what you want to do. Sometimes I will go through several different challenges to kind of create my own challenge, and pick and choose things that are not things that I'm like necessarily the most comfortable with. In fact, a lot of times I'm choosing things that I'm not comfortable with, because I think that's the point of a reading challenge. But I'll kind of create my own kind of based off of other people's challenges kind of picking and choosing, so they're really fun, you know, I I don't take myself too hard if I don't finish it BY the end of the year, but it definitely is fun to participate in these. Okay, so, so I made a list of some some things for reading challenge for our podcast. So if you want to participate in a pretty short reading challenge, this could be a good one to participate in. We will be posting the challenge on Instagram. So you don't have to write all of this on I'd read that underscore podcast on Instagram. So yeah, so we'll just go through and I Jerry, kind of tell me what you think. Or if you have any ideas for like a book that might fit this category for you. So the first one is a book that was written the year you were born.

Jerry Perez:

Okay, I'll need to double check if books were invented yet, but I think they were now No, there should be. I'm very curious about that. Cuz, you know, what was on the public mind? What was in the, the air? Because even if you're reading like a genre book, probably events of that time, make it the way book like, has, you know, one good one good analogy there is, um, as you read newer books, you're starting to see a lot more COVID reference. So what are those references from when you were born? That was the thing,

Liz!:

I do have a little bit of a fear about this one that like, what if I read it, and there's something just so dated, or like, maybe even like inappropriate and cringy, because it's like, oh, the world was very different the year that I was born than it is now. So I have like, some anxiety about the soil. Alright, so the second challenge is going to be a book set somewhere you want to travel. So this comes from just kind of not having travel, you know, in my life as much as it normally like has been throughout my life in the last few years. Partially thanks to COVID I think, you know, that really slowed down to stop travel for a while. And it's really like slowed down my travel life and even work more recently. So I think it's a really great way to experience a different place, a place that you really want to travel to, I still would encourage you to take that trip there. But this is a cheaper way to kind of get a little bit of exposure to a or or travel there in your mind. And so, do you have any thoughts about like where you want a book to be set relates to where you want to travel to?

Jerry Perez:

There is a place I have been fascinated my entire life. And that's Edinburgh, Scotland. That has a lot to do with the hometown I was born in was called Edinburg and one of my favorite musicians of all time. Shirley Manson is of Edinburgh, Scotland. And what I think is really funny is for some reason, there seems to be a lot of books set in Scotland and in the Edinburgh area. A good one is library the dead that I read last year the year before that set in Edinburgh, that's not a series. So I may continue that series or just find another book set in that country. I believe a book I read two years ago, was also set in Scotland. And each time I read it, I'm like, man, just booked that trip and get out there. So this is good. This is a fun one.

Liz!:

The next one was actually a little bit inspired BY you, Jerry, because I know that you are very, I into reading books that are up for awards, like I shortlist for awards, you try to catch up on those and kind of make your own opinion on which book should be the winner. And so my next one is to read an award winning book. I didn't specify off of any specific list, this could be any literary list that you choose from. But this could be the good reads, I winner, just like you chose I, in the lives of puppets to be reading right now. It was the good reads winner for a sci fi book of yours. So that that was kind of inspired BY you.

Jerry Perez:

Well, I appreciate that. And I think that stems from, you know, being, you know, growing up, whenever the Oscars would get announced, I would look at the list and be like, I haven't watched those two movies, and then would rush out to go see those movies, and then make a game of it, like who's gonna win the award for Best Movie or Best Actor, all that fun stuff. So I've just kind of carried that over into my reading life. So I'm a big fan of reading, like, less like that. I wanted, it helps me understand like, what did I miss out on, potentially, and then to just so I can be very Catty, at the end of the year, when they do announce the winner, I'm like, that's not what I would have picked. So I do love that challenge.

Liz!:

So the next one is read a YA or middle grade book. So part of the reason I put this on here is because like I said earlier, I have been in a little bit of a reading slump. And I think this is a great way to get out of a reading slump is to read something very accessible, and easy to digest. But also, I know that we've spoken a little bit about how certain genres are gonna look down upon. And I had mentioned previously that like ya, and middle grade books, some people don't consider them to be as mature or important to read. And so I thought, this is a great way to get people reading. You know, in these in this space, this ya middle grade space, which is actually a phenomenal space, like there are some amazing books that are published that are ya or middle grade. So I know you read some ya and some middle grade. And so are there any that you think you might be trying to get to this year that fit this category,

Jerry Perez:

I don't have it narrowed down. And because you bring up the last, an episode we did in the past about this genre. And a point out of bringing up again, is I think that point in your life is such a transformative part of your life, you're learning who you are about yourself. And the topics and in discussions in white novels have really evolved, there's just a treasure trove of books to pick from here. So I might pick more than one. Let's say that.

Liz!:

Yeah, same I put this on here. But this will not be a challenge and maybe a little bit Guinea for both of us. But alright, so the next one that I added to the list was actually inspired suggested BY you. And I thought it was really fun. It is to read a book where the protagonist or antagonist shares your name, I will have to do some research. Personally, to find an example of this, I think what I want to do is find one where the antagonist has my name. I think that would be a little more fun for me personally, to read my name as the villain over and over again. So what about you, as

Jerry Perez:

opposed to reading Elizabeth Bennett story? Well,

Liz!:

now that you say that, I also want to reread that, but um, yeah, no, I think it's a really like, challenge myself and make this a little more fun. I would like to be the antagonist. So for me,

Jerry Perez:

you know, I used to get teased a little bit a lot when I was growing up, because my name was shared BY a variety of famous people, whether it be Jerry Lewis, Jerry Seinfeld drinkers. Yeah. And so when it comes to like, that kind of media, I've seen lots of references to my name. I am racking my brain to know, I'm not sure I've seen my name in written form. Um, I'm sure there are, I just haven't seen a whole lot of it. And it's really fun. Every now and then I'll come across like a like a name of a friend I have. I'm like, it's like really kind of sometimes we'll cast them into that role, just for fun. So that's kind of where this came from.

Liz!:

Yeah, I love it. I'm excited to do a little research and find an example and then talk about it at the end of the

Jerry Perez:

year. Evil is one exists. Yeah. Yeah. All right. The

Liz!:

next one is an activity which is to go shopping at a used bookstore. So I think they, we all need to be very conscious of, you know, reading Use the reuse recycle. And I think they use bookstores, they're just a great way for things to be recycled. And sometimes it's really fun to to like pick up a used book and know that somebody else enjoyed that book and kind of see the wear and tear a little bit and be like, Wow, this was like a loved book. And, and now I get to enjoy the same coffee and read the same words that somebody else read. And I also want to point out that, you know, there are a lot of independent bookstores that sell new books that also have a little USD section, where people can bring in books, and they'll sell them. So. So there's a lot of places you can shop for used books. And they I think this would be a good one. Do you have any thoughts about use the book shopping?

Jerry Perez:

I think this is really timely for me, because a good friend of mine and her little place of business has started a new bookshelf. It's like, Hey, I also want to sell some used books and has reached out like, Hey, do you want to go help me go use book shopping to kind of curate my library? And I'm like, Heck, yeah, I want to do that. And I know, and I've had other friends kind of say, like, you know, I'm trying to get back into reading, you want to go to a bookstore with me? I'm like, Yeah, let's go do that. So I think I love I love this challenge, I think I'll kind of incorporate a little bit of social aspect to it to kind of bring a friend on. All

Liz!:

right. And then the last one is another activity, which is to listen to new book related content. So BY that, I would say, watch a booktuber that you've never watched before, or listen to a book podcast that you haven't listened to before, or follow a new Bookstagram account that you've never followed. But maybe expose yourself to a new content creator, a book related content creator, see what's out there, I know, I get stuck listening to the same people watching the same people over and over again, which is great, obviously, I love them. And I want to keep watching their new content, and I'm not going to stop watching or listening to them. But sometimes you can really discover there's some great new ones out there. And there's some that maybe you just haven't heard of before that you could discover that have some really great content. So what do you think? I? Do you think you might look to YouTube, or podcast or Instagram? Do you have any thoughts on this challenge,

Jerry Perez:

I will probably start the YouTube space. And I say that because I kind of I've already started a little bit in this space. So another activity I like to do at the end of the year is to look at a lot of people's best of list. And, and that's kind of one and do that on YouTube. And that's one really fun way to find other people's channels to see all those booktubers creating that content, you know, whose list, you know, makes the most sense to me. And maybe I'll start following their content more. So I've already kind of started, you know, doing doing some early research here to kind of get a new new person in my, in my feed. Well,

Liz!:

so that is going to be our book challenge for the year. So pretty short, I think most of it's pretty achievable. Like I said, I don't I don't beat myself up too much. If I don't finish a book challenge or reading challenge, it's a it is what it is, you know, they even if it helps me to read a book that I wouldn't normally read or do something a little more consciously. I think that that makes it worthwhile. So hopefully, it's a good start, you might do what I do sometimes, which is like pick one or two off of ours and then check out some others and kind of make your own reading challenge for the year. That we definitely would love to hear like any books that you're reading to accomplish any of these AI checkpoints that are your reading challenge. We'd love to hear like what you're doing or reading to accomplish that. All right, well, so happy to be starting a new year definitely, like I said, feels like a fresh start any other like guy reading goals or non reading goals. Anything else I to kind of start us off and this new year?

Jerry Perez:

I think one for me is one for certainly is to maybe tackle more books like Oh, first is buying more books. Listen, I'm not saying I'm not gonna stop buying books. I'm not going to the library and getting audiobooks. But it made me need to take a little bit of time to actually chip away at the stuff I actually do. Oh, and because it turns out my personal library is not bad. There's some good stuff in there. Yeah, there is one book on there that is beefy. It's It's big. It's a big book.

Liz!:

So maybe you can share what the book is.

Jerry Perez:

Well, if I failed miserably, I don't want you to get disappointed. Okay, okay. It's not Infinite Jest. So. Okay. What about you? How's your physical book? Let's look at it like it's out

Liz!:

of control. It's definitely out of control. The other thing that's a little bit out of control for me is that books that I've started, and I'm not going to call them do DNS because I didn't make a conscious decision not to finish this book, I did not put the book down. But I just got distracted BY another book. So there's probably about 20 books out there that I read the first chapter of and got distracted BY something. So I really would like to finish some of those books that I've started. And so yeah, tackling my own books, and especially my own books that I've already started, I just really need to get through them. I think they that would be a load off of my mind if they did get through them. So and they're obviously books I was excited about because I bought them. So why not read them?

Jerry Perez:

Absolutely. All right. Well, yeah. So again, reach out to us if you have your own book challenges that you have for yourself or use ours. And we will, again, we will share that on the show notes. We'll have it permanently listed on our Instagram page. So you can reference it throughout the year.

Liz!:

All right, well, I'm excited about this year of podcasting as well. So we'll see you back next time. For more I'd read that.

Jerry Perez:

Okay, that's our show, folks. Thanks for joining us on I'd read that be sure to rate and review us wherever you listen to our podcasts

Liz!:

and follow us on Instagram at I'd read that underscore podcast, DMS with questions, comments and show in book recommendations.

Jerry Perez:

All right. Sing us out. Liz.

Liz!:

We've come now to the end. Thank you, our dear friends. We hope you'll hurry back to ourselves. Pied