From the Front Porch

279 || What Would Susie Read?

This week on From the Front Porch, Annie is joined by her mom, Susie Butterworth who shares her suggested PG books for sensitive readers.

All of the books discussed in this episode can be purchased at The Bookshelf:

• Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

• Anne of Green Gables by by Lucy Maud Montgomery

• Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy

• Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Henry

• Educated by Tara Westover

• The Love Story of Missy Carmichael by Beth Morrey

• Mr. Malcolm’s List by Suzanne Allain

• The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

• Stand All the Way Up by Sophie Hudson

• Little House on the Prairie collection by Laura Ingalls Wilder

• Betsy-Tacy Treasury collection by Maud Hart Lovelace

• Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

• Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

• Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland

• Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

• All-of-a-Kind Family Book Series by Sydney Taylor

• We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

• The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall

• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

• Mother to Son by Jasmine L. Holmes

• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

• All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred D. Taylor

• The Crosswicks Journal Series by Madeline L’’Engle

• A Rhythm of Prayer by Sarah Bessey

• Miracles and Other Reasonable Things by Sarah Bessey

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week Annie is reading Tiny Imperfections by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans and Susie is reading Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

 

278 || June Reading Recap

This week Annie recaps all of her June reads.

The books mentioned in today’s podcast can be purchased at The Bookshelf:

• The Next Great Jane by K.L. Going

• I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown

• Check Please! Book 1: #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu

• Check Please! Book 2: Sticks and Scones by Ngozi Ukazu

• House Lessons by Erica Bauermeister

• Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland

• Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

• The Lightness by Emily Temple

• A Burning by Megha Mujumdar

• Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory

• Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

• The House on Fripp Island by Rebecca Kauffman

• Claudia and the Phantom Phone Call by Ann M. Martin

• The Truth about Stacey by Ann M. Martin

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week Annie is reading Destination Wedding by Diksha Basu.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

277 || Traveling through Books

Annie is joined this week by her well-traveled friend and fellow entrepreneur, Morgan Thomason. Morgan is the designer behind Winsome Paper, a whimsical stationery brand. Annie and Morgan help listeners travel through books this summer as most of our travel plans are a bust (for now).

The books discussed on today’s podcast are available for purchase from The Bookshelf:

London picks:

• Ordinary People by Diana Evans

• 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer

• Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Europe picks:

• L’Appart by David Lebovitz

• The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais

• The Vacationers by Emma Straub

• Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

• My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

America picks:

• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

• The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

• The Next Great Jane by K.L. Going

• Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

• Next Great Jane by KL Going

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Other hot summer vacation picks:

• Tangerine by Christine Mangan

• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

• Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

• Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Annie’s Summer TBR list:

• Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

• The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward

• Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week Annie is reading Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson and Morgan is reading Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty by Kate Hennessy.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

276 || Literary Therapy, Vol. 3

Annie’s tackling more readerly dilemmas in this week’s episode.

Leave your own bookish conundrum via voicemail by going to fromthefrontporchpodcast.com/contact.

Reading People

You and Me Forever

Garlic and Sapphires

A Woman Is No Man

A Place for Us

Mother Land

Delancey

House Lessons

I Capture the Castle

Happier at Home

Strangers and Cousins

This Is Where You Belong

Hidden Art of Homemaking Anna Karenina

East of Eden

A Little Life

Poisonwood Bible

Theft by Finding

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, Annie’s reading A Burning by Megha Majumdar. 

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

275 || Playlist Meets Booklist: Summer

Annie is joined by Robbie Hopkins, a former teacher/librarian, now homeschool dad. Robbie is a music and literary aficionado, and shares his summer playlist based on some of Annie’s anticipated summer reads. 

You can listen to the playlist on Spotify here.

The books mentioned in today’s episode can be purchased or preordered from The Bookshelf:

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

The Lightness by Emily Temple

Beach Read by Emily Henry

Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicola Mae Goldberg

Mother Land by Leah Franqui

The Bright Lands by John Fram

Let's Never Talk about This Again by Sarah Faith Alterman

A Star Is Bored by Byron Lane

The Switch by Beth O’Leary

Of Bears and Ballots by Heather Lende

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, Annie is reading I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown and Robbie is reading The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.

274 || Reading as a Place to Start

It’s hard to know what to say, so this week’s episode is unusually short, focused instead on sending you toward resources we hope might be helpful as we grieve and learn together.

You can find several titles geared toward racial justice on our store website, including: How to Be an Antiracist, Just Mercy, and I’m Still Here. Ten percent of the proceeds from the sales of these titles and more are being donated to the Equal Justice Initiative.

Traci from The Stacks Podcast and Jaime from Absorbed in Pages posted excellent lists of fiction and nonfiction titles addressing anti-black racism and anti-racism. 

• Fiction

• Nonfiction

You can listen to The Stacks podcast here, and if you want to support Jamie and Traci directly, consider purchasing through Bookshop:

• Jamie’s Bookshop page

• Traci’s Bookshop page

Other resources:

• Black Coffee with White Friends

• Mockingbird History Lessons

• Black Coffee with White Friends book list

More than ever, it’s important to support black-owned small businesses; below are links to a few bookstores owned by people of color, and a more comprehensive list can be found here.

• Brave + Kind in Georgia

• The Listening Tree in Georgia

• The Lit Bar in the Bronx

• Loyalty Bookstore in D.C.

• Books and Crannies in Virginia

• Semicolon in Chicago

• Harriett’s Bookshop in Philadelphia

273 || May Reading Recap

This week, Annie recaps the fourteen books she read during the month of May, all of which can be purchased on The Bookshelf’s website:

• Meet Me at Midnight by Jessica Pennington

• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

• Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker

• American Royals by Katherine McGee

• You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe

• Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

• Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb

• Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

• Beach Read by Emily Henry

• Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin

• Sea Wife by Amity Gaige

• All Things Reconsidered by Knox McCoy

• Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin (Buy your own Babysitter’s Book Club bundle here!)

• The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, Annie is finishing The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.

272 || Casting Call

NOTE: There’s a small audio glitch in today’s episode, and you may hear it pop up when Annie's speaks. It’s not you; it’s us, and it should be resolved next week.

Annie is joined today by friend and fellow book club member Julie Anna Helms. You may know Julie Anna from her popular bookstagram account, @julieannareads, where she specializes in “Who Would You Cast?,” an Instagram story series where she partners with her followers to brainstorm casting her favorite books. This week, Julie Anna joins Annie on the front porch to cast one of Annie’s favorite books of the year, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. 

You can purchase The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires here.

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, I’m reading Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin; and Julie Anna just finished reading The Grace Year by Kim Liggett.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.

271 || The One with the Pandemic

Annie and cousin, friend, and former Bookshelf staffer Ashley Sherlock share their thoughts on quarantine reading. What is one supposed to read during a global pandemic? The following are Annie and Ashley’s recommendations.

All of the books mentioned in today’s podcast are available at The Bookshelf:

• The one who wants to pretend everything is fine: How To Be Fine by Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer; The Office by Andy Greene; Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

• The new homeschooler: Matilda by Roald Dahl; Bloomability by Sharon Creech

• The graduate with no graduation: Here For It by R. Eric Thomas; Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas // Booksmart on Hulu

• The one freaking out: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox & the Horse by Charlie Mackesy;The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits

• The one doomsday prepping: The Road by Cormac McCarthy; The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker // The Leftovers on HBO

• The one planning her post-pandemic party: The After Party by Anton DiSclafani; The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker

• The one dreaming of a trip she’ll never take: Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin;The Vacationers by Emma Straub // Home on AppleTV

• The one who cries every day at 3:00: The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead; Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman

• The one whose family is driving them crazy: All Adults Here by Emma Straub; The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson or The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney

• The one whose wedding got postponed: Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams; Strangers and Cousins by Leah Hager Cohen

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, Annie is reading Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas and Ashley is reading The Office by Andy Greene.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

270 || Building a Personal Library

Annie is joined today by my friend Hunter McLendon to talk all about personal libraries. What books do we buy, which do we borrow? What titles stay on our shelves forever and which ones make their way to a donation bin?

The books mentioned in today’s episode can be purchased on The Bookshelf’s website.

The New York Times' piece about celebrities' bookshelves is here.

From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. 

Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. 

This week, Annie is reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Hunter is reading Writers & Lovers by Lily King.

If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free shipping on all your online orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.