From the Front Porch

259 || Literary Therapy, Vol. 1

Today, Annie is diving into listeners’ bookish dilemmas with some literary therapy. Topics include romance novels, tackling nonfiction, genre shame, and, of course, Little Women. Pretend Annie is coming to you live from Seattle, because she is Annie Jones, and she is listening.

Want to leave a voicemail for the next round of Literary Therapy? Email podcast@bookshelfthomasville.com, or leave a voicemail here.

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

You Never Forget Your First by Alexis Coe

Dead Wake by Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Inheritance by Dani Shapiro

Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Americana by Bhu Srinivasan

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Picking Cotton by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino

27 Dresses by Jesse Russell

Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy by Ann Boyd Rioux

March Sisters by Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado & Jane Smiley

Meg and Jo by Virginia Kantra

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 Handle with Care by Lore Ferguson Wilbert.

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.

BONUS: Winter Institute 2020

SURPRISE! We know it’s Tuesday, but we thought you’d enjoy this bonus episode of FTFP, where Annie and Olivia debrief about Winter Institute, an annual conference held for members of the American Booksellers Association.

Here’s a link to “Reinventing Retail: The Novel Resurgence of Independent Bookstores,” by Ryan Raffaelli.

Some books Annie brought home:

The Fixed Stars by Molly Wizenberg

The Harpy by Megan Hunter

Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West

A Good Family by A.H. Kim

Broken People by Sam Lansky

Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Megan Gail Coles

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Siri, Who Am I? by Sam Tschida

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.

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 on Thursday.

258 || To All the Boys in Books I‘ve Loved Before

In honor of Valentine’s Day, Annie and her two special guests — Ashley Sherlock, cousin, friend, and former Bookshelf social media guru, and Hunter McLendon of @shelfbyshelf — discuss the book To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han and reminisce about all the literary crushes they’ve had and what literary crushes say about you.

Most of the books discussed today can be purchased from The Bookshelf:

• Looking for Alaska by John Green

• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (4th book)

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

• An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

• White Oleander by Janet Fitch

• Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

• Impulse by Ellen Hopkins 

• Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

• Emma by Jane Austen

• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

• Normal People by Sally Rooney

• Emily Novels by L.M. Montgomery

• Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

• Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

• Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

• The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

• The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

• To Kill A Mockingbird by by Harper Lee

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

This week Hunter is listening to Flowers in the Attic and Ashley is listening to Such A Fun Age on Libro.fm.

This week, Annie is reading Writers & Lovers by Lily King, and she adores it. 

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.

257 || Books and the 2020 Oscars

Annie and fellow book club member and Oscar enthusiast, Callie Sewell, deep dive the 2020 Academy Awards and what it means for our reading lives.

The books discussed during the podcast can be purchased from The Bookshelf:

• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

• Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

• The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

• I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt

• Caging Skies by Christie Leunens

• Meg & Jo by Virgina Kantra

• We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

• Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

• I Wear the Black Hat by Chuck Klosterman

• March by Geraldine Brooks

• Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy by Ann Boyd Rioux

• A Separation by Katie Kitamura

• State of the Union by Nick Hornby

• The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

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 productions 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 -- Super Host by Kate Russo, which will be available June, 9, 2020, and guest, Callie is reading — The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher.

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. 

Episode 256 || January Reading Recap

On this week’s episode of From the Front Porch, Annie recaps all the books she read in January. These can be ordered or pre-ordered through The Bookshelf website:

• We Wish You Luck by Caroline Zancan

• The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

• Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

• Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

• We Ride Upon Sticks by Quam Barry

• All Adults Here by Emma Straub

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 productions 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 listening to Know My Name by Chanel Miller, which you can listen to on Libro.fm.

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.

255 || We‘re Still Not Over Little Women

Happy New Year! We are so excited to bring you the first episode of 2020! Annie and Hunter Mclendon, a regular From the Front Porch contributor and bookstagrammer at @shelfbyshelf, honor Greta Gerwig and Louisa May Alcott, by diving into the genius that is Little Women.

Find Kevin Porter’s review of Little Women can be found here.

What is Hunter reading this week? He is reading -- and loving -- Real Life by Brandon Taylor (pre-order here!) and Annie is reading Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin, which is out on February 18 and can be pre-ordered here.

A special thanks to Dylan Garven and his team at Studio D Productions for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the prefect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.

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. 

254 || Favorite Books of 2019

In our final episode of 2019 (and the decade as a whole!), Annie and Bookshelf staffers Olivia and Lucy sit down to talk through their favorite titles of the year. These are the books that meant the most over the last 12 months:

Annie's List:

1. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

2. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

3. The Dearly Beloved by Carla Wall

4. Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

5. Family of Origin by CJ Hauser

6. Normal People by Sally Rooney

7. Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

8. Miracles and Other Reasonable Things by Sarah Bessey

9. The Current by Tim Johnston

10. Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Olivia's List

1. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

2. A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher

3. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

4. All the Greys on Greene Street by Laura Tucker

5. The Line Tender by Kate Allen

6. Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

7. Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia

8. Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

9. This Was Our Pact by Ryan Andrews

10. The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

Lucy's List:

1. Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

2. Furious Hours by Casey Cep

3. The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey

4. Stars of Alabama by Sean Dietrich

5. This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

6. The Great Pretender by Susannah Cahalan

7. The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

8. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

9. The Innocents by Michael Crummey

10. The Organs of Sense by Adam Ehrlich Sachs

--

As we close out 2019, we're so grateful to our listeners for playing such a large role The Bookshelf's success. Every purchase, every like, every comment, every email means the world.

Special thanks to Chris Jensen for his work on From the Front Porch over the years. We're so grateful for his contribution to The Bookshelf and the podcast, and we wish him nothing but the best in his next endeavor.

This episode of From the Front Porch was produced by Dylan Garven at Studio D Productions. Our new theme music -- a hint of what's to come in 2020 -- is by Simeon Church.

Annie's got some fun things in the work for Patreon; support us there for more bonus Bookshelf content coming in 2020.

From the Front Porch is going on a brief hiatus; new episodes will launch Thursday, January 30.

Episode 253 || Seasonal Reads: Christmas

In our final Seasonal Reads of 2019, Chris and Annie run through some reads (and movies) for the Christmas season and chat about the Christian season of Advent.  + A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens + A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote + A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas + Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris + Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle + One Day in December by Josie Silver + Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory + The Meaning is in the Waiting by Paula Gooder + Miracle on 10th Street by Madeleine L'Engle Thanks, as always, to Forlorn Strangers for the use of our theme music. Learn and listen more here. Listen to a full back catalog of our show here, and, if you're interested in some exclusive content like Annie's author interviews, consider supporting us on Patreon here.

This was unexpectedly Chris's last episode, but please know he appreciates your support over the years.

Episode 252 || November Reading Recap

A new month means a new look at what books Annie and Chris were able to read in the last one. And folks, it was pretty light. Annie read: + Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodeser-Akner + Born a Crime by Trevor Noah + Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout Chris read: + The Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges + The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North Thanks, as always, to Forlorn Strangers for the use of our theme music. Learn and listen more here. Listen to a full back catalogue of our show here, and, if you're interested in some exclusive content like Annie's author interviews, consider supporting us on Patreon here.

Episode 251 || Backlist Book Club, Vol. 6: Born a Crime

Hunter joins Annie once again for the fifth installment of Backlist Book Club. On the docket this week: Trevor Noah's Born a Crime. Follow Hunter and his own Backlist Book Club here. Thanks, as always, to Forlorn Strangers for the use of our theme music. Learn and listen more here. Listen to a full back catalogue of our show here, and, if you're interested in some exclusive content like our Unpopular Opinions, consider supporting us on Patreon here.