Welcome to the What Your Next podcast. So excited to be back and so excited to chat with you and all things bookish. Recommendations. Today's office is a little bit interesting 'cause I'm recording it from my phone. I'm actually recording it from my little la ear mini microphone. And it's just off the cuff. Checking in voice message of what's my reading life looking like this year? It's been interesting, I have to say. It's been an interesting journey and I'm so excited to share with you. So, first things first, I, one of the things that happened this year was that I lost my 2000 plus reading streak on Kindle. I stopped reading. EBooks on a daily basis for 2000 years, For 2000 days, I was reading at least 15 minutes a day on Kindle, and it was something that brought me pleasure, something that I enjoy, something that was a habit that I was doing every single day, you know what happened about a year ago, I started realizing it just felt like a chore. It felt like I just didn't wanna do this. It was having difficulty reading, difficulty just like paying attention and finding books that I enjoy. And so I missed a streak about 10 months ago. And then I try to like retrack it and you can actually re update your streak if you want to do it. I have a tutorial how to update your streak and then in February I was like, no, I just don't wanna read. And so the days that I pick up my Kindle have been far and few betweens as someone who read digitally. Exclusively since 2016. This is like a whole new change. So yes. So how I've been reading and, uh, am I reading? That's the other question. Well, I am kind of like, I am reading differently this time this year. From 2016 I was reading based on my phone and then I upgraded to a Kindle and then I was ac having access to digital galleys and I realized, I was like, oh, this is great. I was. Consuming books all year round all day, all every single day. And then. I think about 2021, I discovered audiobooks and I discovered that they were actually great for sleep. I suffer from insomnia. I have terrible sleep issues. They're just, they're not, you can give me all the tips in the world, but it's just, it's a personal issue. I have terrible sleep and so I found that audiobooks were really great to enjoy The evening when you are. Wide awake. It just kinda like have somebody write your story. And so I started using audiobooks at night and I was like, oh, this is great. And I slowly transitioned over to audiobooks a couple years ago. And it's been lovely. I now have a car, I don't know, I think I've shared this, I've shared it in the substack, but I'm, I may not have shared it into the podcast, but for the past five years I've been in isolation. I moved from New York to Chicago right before the pandemic started, and I was in Chicago for about a year and a half, and most of Chicago was shut down. It was pretty much like. Social distancing every, they took the pandemic like seriously. And so by the time I left Chicago, it, like it was starting to open up, it was starting to have, I think a while started, like events were going back in session and everything, but. For the most part, I was like isolated to my neighborhood, which I was living in Lakeview and I may have gone downtown a few times where I was there. For about six months, I did not take public transportation. I was walking, I was walking miles to go to a, to Joe's, coffee shop, to supermarket and everything. But so my experience in Chicago was like isolated. I was in a new city. I really knew. I didn't know anyone. I didn't have any close book friends and like a bookish community, most of them live in the suburbs. And so it was really difficult. And so, and thanks to my job, I ended up moving to Tampa and I really struggled with Tampa. Tampa was like an interesting choice because I chose Tampa randomly. After a conversation. Originally I was supposed to move to Miami. Right before, in 2019 when I was trying to decide where I was gonna live after New York City, I was like, I'm just gonna move to Miami. I think Miami is similar culture, similar vibes. I'm actually from Puerto Rico and it's, most of my friends from Puerto Rico actually moved to Miami. There's also the line culture. There's just, it is just a different vibe and it's similar to New York City, so it wouldn't be as shocking. But the problem in Miami is. So expensive. It's cost prohibitive and there's so much traffic, and so I had to take into account the cost of the apartments, the cost of getting a car, as well as actually having a job. And the jobs were not paying. They were paying nothing. They were just like not New York prices. And so when I moved to Chicago. I decided there was like, you know, there's the, the job market's similar, similar to New York City, I should be able to afford and it's much more affordable to find a place. And long story short, I ended up getting hired back to my job my New York City job. So I've been working with them for seven years now. And so it, it worked out that I was working remotely and I was like, well, I'm working remotely. I. Want to move to, I'm supposed to move to Florida at some point, like it's, there are certain states that I can allow to work remotely for my job. And I was like, Florida was one of them. And I was like, well, Miami's expensive. I do not wanna live in Orlando. I have like strong feelings about Orlando just. And so I was like, well, I had a friend. She was like, you know, my family moved to Tampa and it was actually a pretty nice city. And I've been to Tampa a couple times. I've been to Busch Gardens and I've been to a conference in Tampa. And I was like, well, it's kinda like a nice little city going on. And so I moved to Tampa in 2021 Around the time people were just moving in from the pandemic and so it was cheap and then it just became more expensive. And so I ended up just not having a car for, because the cars in 2021 were so expensive. They were like, I think what I pay for my new car right now would have been the cost of a used car at the time. And it was just like, not worth it. So I ended up like just basically being without a car, I moved to a neighborhood northeast of Tampa neighborhood and I was like, I just get around with Ubers. And I did it for a couple years. The first year I was pretty much isolated. I was pretty much in a place where I was like, I didn't feel comfortable. It was still early pandemic and so I just started to do this and start venturing out. I started, I joined Orange Theory at a time. I. Liked the idea of going to fitness classes, but it was not the right thing. So then I tried class fast for a little bit, tried different classes around my neighborhood. Then I joined the bar studio peer bar, and I did it for about a year. And I was like, I kind of like need a car. But I was, you know, the problem with going to classes was like, I also had to take into account like any type of auditing that I wanted to, I needed to account the cost of the Ubers or the cost of delivery. Long story short I ended up joining a yoga studio that I'm love it. It's, I am like obsessed with it. And so I finally told my brother, who's the one who's like, you know, he's my, he's my friend, it's dad. And I was like, I, I really need a car. Like it, it's, it is no longer, he was like trying to explain like, if you are spending too much money on Uber and all these sort of things. I was like, no, no, no. I think. We need a car. So I made the decision in November. I sent him a text message of the election. I was like, you need to come before Trump gets in office because tariffs are coming. We need to buy a car. And so we bought a car in January. Right before anything. I think it was like the week the Trump was inaugurated. And so I was like, okay, we got a car. And I haven't driven in 20 years. I haven't had a car in 20 years. Uh, last car, I sold my car on December 20 something, 2005. And ever since I've been without a car, so I was like, okay, great. So I, I didn't know how to drive. I was like, I learned how to drive, learned how to drive in Florida, which is like a whole different kill game. And so I was like, okay, so this is like, now I have freedom to do other things. And I think that some ways that's from a reading life has shifted. It shifted from like being the old time consuming thing that I was doing to like, it's just one thing I do. It's just one thing I experience. And so with the car, I've been listening to books every so, but sometimes I just wanna listen to music and I just have like my go-to music. I've been just discovering that space. So I have like my audible, it's what works on the car. So I've been listening to audible books. One trick that I do for Audible is I cancel audible every. Three months, whenever I get a deal. So I cancel it. I try to get like 9, 9, 10 books for three days. For three months, cancel Audible, wait for the next deal. And what I do to supplement that is either I buy the book on Whisper Sync, if it's ku, I keep my KU membership because whisper syn, the cost is 7 49, which is still less than an audible credit. Or what I've been doing is I got a deal. And you should be able to get a deal if you're new to it. I think Prime Deal is four months for free. Get a deal at Amazon Music. I don't use Amazon music for music 'cause I use YouTube music 'cause I have a YouTube premium. But m Music allows you to our one autobook. Per month. And what I do for these audiobook per month is I choose a expensive audiobook that's autobook exclusive. So that way I've been able to read a lot of the Bailey Hannah's books. I think Seeing Red is one of them that, that didn't have whispery. I ended up listening to it. I'm listening to New Paisley Hope book. I think it's Training the Heart or. Something like that. I'll put it on the show notes, a book that I'm listening to right now. So those are audible exclusive books that are traditionally published, so I wouldn't be able to get the deal. So that's how I justify. But there's tips and tricks, but if you're looking for ways to, you know, support your independent bookstores and libraries. You can do that. But then if you wanna supplement that out monthly music, it's no idea. And actually keeping Amazon Music, I may keep it 'cause it's still cheaper than a credit. If you're a Prime member it comes down to, for me it's about $12 a month, which is $2 cheaper than than a credit. So, and I don't, listen, I'm not a reread. If you're a reread, then a credit makes sense. But I'm not a reread. I only read them once and just like, move on. So that has, well. Other books that I've listened to, I listened to a couple books I was obsessed with. The series is when she unravels by Gabrielle Sands. This is a runaway bride., She's not, she, they got married. She almost kills off her husband escapes to Spain and Ibiza, and she ends up with another, with a, like a head of the cartel who we then, then we find out he's in the mafia. Two, and it's. So juicy. I love mafia princesses. I love them. Like, I love they trying to figure out their world in the world and how they're actually just trying to combat patriarchy in their own way. So I listen to the first two books in the series when she unravels and when she something. I listen to those two books. I have the third book. I wanna start it. It's forbidden. She's supposed to be marrying some other guy from another organization, but she has feelings for this other guy who is her sister's best friend's. Something related to her sister's husband. So I am very excited for that. So those are my card books, but going back to where I've been reading, what I've been reading actually surprisingly, is I've been reading physical books, which is I thought I never would do, but I think what has helped, so you're like me, who has procrastinating getting an eye exam. I'm 43. I. Have terrible vision, but I haven't had glasses for about 20 years. I tried contacts, didn't love them, tried to just wear glasses and I just like, was like, I ordered glasses online, but I didn't properly fit them. So they were like not really working well. So I finally asked my friend, I was like, tell me give me like a good eye doctor. I went to an LI doctor in my neighborhood and they were able to get me the right prescription, the right glasses, and then I was like, okay, I'm gonna go to Costco. I'm gonna use my Costco membership 'cause I live in the suburbs and I'm going to get my glasses. And it was like, it took me like a half an hour. And uh, thanks to insurance. It all came down. I got two glasses for $200 and they're progressive. This is how bad the first is. This progressive lets us, it's not single. I have like, I have way too much damage. Eyes, I an eye that's working overtime. They're like, yeah, you need to wear glasses all the time. And now I know because I actually start to wear the glasses and I was like, oh, I can actually see. So I noticed that because I was not wearing glasses, physical books were difficult to read because the font is so tiny. I couldn't make them bigger. So I finally was like, no, let's just give it a try. So I went to my local library and I borrowed some books and it's just been fun. I also borrowed books from the library has been fun because one, I don't keep the clutter. I can just take pictures, I can share the shared findings. Again, I'm not a reread, so it doesn't make sense for me to have a book collection. But at the same time, I get to support my library and it's been so much fun because I have a car, I can go to my library every week. And I get to try out different things. And some of the things that I follow that I've borrowed from my library, and this is like a voice message that I'm sending you, is I borrow a GoPro on camera. I was overwhelmed by it, so I had to return it. But it's kinda like neat to know that you can borrow cameras and you can have they, some libraries have podcast equipment, some wipers have like. Studios, they have like seeds. You can actually, if you're gardening, you can actually get some seats from the library. My library also has ukulele if you wanna practice. They have like all these different things that you can borrow for free. And it's kinda like neat to just have that opportunity just to be like, well, I just get to just do what I need to do. And it's just been fun and I, I love that my library keeps track of how much money I'm saving. Right now I'm saving like $600 in all the books and I keep outing more. So it's been fun just to go back. I haven't borrowed books from the library since I lived in New York City I used to use New York Park Library, which I love. It is such a beautiful library. I used to order books and get those books for great and, and just borrow the books and it's just been a great resource because right now thinking about finances are tight. You know, being able to borrow books is a gift and it's something you can do. And it's great. A lot of the books I'm getting are like, are new releases. So I found out that my library has a list of what they have order. But I also can actually request my library to buy some books, which is kinda like neat. I do have a tutorial how to request books from a library so you can actually follow them for your own library system. As you know, libraries are. In danger due to the funding freeze. For the IMLS, which is the federal Library grants a lot of digital libraries are going away or the, a lot of systems are dropping or they're not purchasing books as quick or anything. And so that's something to look for. Libraries. Do you want to hear from you? Which books do you want? So they have tracked that information, but they may not be able to buy it. They may be able to buy it physically because digital license are much more expensive than actually physical books. But it's kind of like, you know, have the option to. So that's been a little hint, our libraries, but libraries have rediscovered, libraries have been such a joy just to do and just to have fun. It's been fun to go to different library systems and just enjoy the specifics and whatnot. So physical books have been what I'm reading audio versus is one I'm reading. I'm listening to quite a few. I've been listening to some nonfiction, which I'll do another episode about the NonFiction's book that I've listened because they're actually fun nonfiction. They're actually nostalgia. Best way I can describe like is a niche, nostalgia of odds, nineties aughts and 2010s. And it's been delightful. 'Cause it's like my history so that's been fun. The other stuff that I've been listening to is Cozy Mysteries. I'm still in the ozzi mystery realm. Listening to some thrillers, listening to some like murder books because romance has been interesting. It's just, it's not hitting the same the way it used to. And so mystery had been hitting in a place. Where I like, but when I look back at the books that I like, I tend to like more plot driven content where there's external conflict, there's different things are happening than character driven character study things. And I look back at years of reading. It's like the books I drive me to do that. Reading it. Actually, I'm reading Rose in Chains Julie Soto, which is a Dramione updated fanfiction, also known as auction. It is a whole new story. I have to tell you. This one is actually feels fresh. It feels different. It doesn't. And it doesn't require you to understand your money in that way or anything like that. It looks very different story. And if you're someone who's intimidated about world building and a fantasy, this book is a great fantasy entry because it's not a lot of world building. It's just, it's, it reads like a dark romance. And I think that's been like, kind of like fun. It's like a dark promise to do. And it's not as, at least it's not as triggering as. Manacled I read like a good 30% of man, man is like a thousand pages long. So, and this is a tough read, so this one's a little bit lighter than man, at least from what I've read. And it's about 40% of the book. So I know there's more books in a series, but. I would say like if you're looking for an entry to mysteries and you wanna have some like angst and some sort of like understanding what's going on Rose in Chains might be the way to go. Other books that I'm recommending, I think I read my Favorite Bad Decision by Elizabeth Rorke. This is in Kindle Unlimited. This was like a fun little romance, like summer romance. Someone who wants to do adventures and someone who thinks that I'm like, oh, maybe I should just. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro, then actually do this. This book is for you. I thought in my, in my thirties, I wanted to do that. Now I'm a person. I'm like, no, no, we are not doing that. I am a more spa, more like relaxing, you know, wine country. Go to Italy, go to Spain. Kind of like trip. I'm not gonna rough it out in one tent, but this was a fun one too. If you wanna experience from Mon Tomorrow it looks like it's basically they're hiking the summit and then they're just trying to fall in love. It's a little before forbidden. He was her sister's ex-boyfriend, or her sister has still has feelings. She thinks that he's the one who got away. And they're kind of forbidden. There's a little bit, they were they knew each other when they were growing up and then they're just coming back to it. And there's some meddling families, it's a little bit angsty, but it's just delightful. So that's a really one, it's a kindle unlimited that you can read. I think the audiobooks available, so you might be able to get Whisper saying if you're an audiobook listener, but. I thank you for looking for that. So yeah, but I'll come back in a future episode to talk some more book recommendations, some more specific book recommendations such as can Kindle Unlimited recommendations or some books you can borrow from the library or you can request from your library. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate, review or subscribe. This help support the podcast. Thank you so much for listening and I hope you have a great day. Bye.