From the Front Porch

Episode 20 || Better Than Before

Annie and Katie discuss habit tendencies, the power of Gretchen Rubin, activity trackers, and goal-setting worksheets.

Episode 19 || March Madness, Vol. 1

Annie and Jordan tackle literary bracketology, BOOK MADNESS 2015, and John Green.

Episode 18 || Writing as a Career

Annie and author/journalist Jodi Helmer discuss pining for publication in the New York Times, marathon-running nuns, Farm Fresh Georgia, and why writing groups are so important.

Episode 17 || The Future of Retail

Annie and Katie discuss The Localist, kindred spirit Carrie Rollwagen, shopping locally in Thomasville, "perfect as enemy of the good," the future of retail, why it's okay to settle, and what they're reading right now. (Bonus reading: Ronda Rich on why shopping for books in person is always better, John Green on the future of bookselling, why Millennials like to read paper books, and "The Health of the Independent Bookstore.")

Episode 16 || February Reading Recap

Annie reviews the books she read in February, including Bon Appetempt and its author Amelia Morris.

Episode 15 || Bloggers with Books

Annie and fellow Bookshelf staffer Sidney Webb chat about book clubs, Bon Appetempt, food-blogging goddess Molly Wizenberg, and other bloggers with books (Design Sponge, Young House Love, Nie Nie Dialogues, Hey Natalie Jean, Ann Voskamp).

Episode 14 || Harper Lee + Southern Literary Towns

Annie and Katie chat about the controversy swirling around the discovery of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman, what makes Southern stories so special, the truth about book sequels, and the documentary Hey, Boo; plus Annie reviews this year's ABA Winter Institute. (Bonus reading: HarperCollins botched the release of Harper Lee's new novel, the New York Times article about Go Set a Watchmanand the first comments from Tonja Carter, Harper Lee's attorney.

Episode 13 || January Reading Recap

This episode, Annie reviews the books she read in January (eight in all... hooray!). A complete list of titles and reviews can be found on The Bookshelf store blog and in the latest issue of the Thomasville Townie.

Author Celeste Ng has a helpful book club guide on her website, and her novel, Everything I Never Told You, comes out in paperback later this year.

A free soundtrack inspired by Donald Miller's new book, Scary Close, is available here.

Here's a link to that BookPage article about Scott Blackwood's See How Small.

More about Carrie Rollwagen's The Localist can be found here.

Episode 12 || The Fuzzy Goat

In this episode, Annie interviews fellow entrepreneur Cadence Kidwell, owner of the new knitting shop The Fuzzy Goat, located in downtown Thomasville, Georgia. They talk about adjusting to entrepreneurship, living in a small town, and knitting vs. reading.

- The Fuzzy Goat is on the main street coming into downtown Thomasville. Pay her a visit, and take a class!

- Cadence's yarn shop was partially inspired by Fibre Space, a funky store in Alexandria, Virginia.

- Downtown Thomasville offers great resources for new business owners in our area; Cadence also took classes through the Small Business Development Center in Tallahassee (which Annie has now bookmarked for her own use).

- Knitting classes and community events are a huge part of both The Fuzzy Goat and The Bookshelf. For a complete list of Fuzzy Goat classes, check out their shop website; Bookshelf events are online through their website as well.

- New Voyager Trading Company will be familiar to knitters and weavers; Fuzzy Goat partners with them for weaving classes and more.

- Guy knitters, be on the lookout! The Fuzzy Goat and Sturdy Brothers have some plans for partnerships in the future.

Episode 11 || The Girl on the Train

We're back with Episode 11 of From the Front Porch! This episode, Annie is joined by Bookshelf staffers Sidney and Rebekah; they're talking about the new suspense novel The Girl on the Train -- a book readers are calling the next Gone Girl. They'll talk about whether that's a fair assessment, and why the book would make a fun book club read. (Not discussed? Author Paula Hawkin's ingenious way of marking time in the novel -- perhaps the staff's favorite characteristic of the book.) 

For information about the author, British journalist Paula Hawkins, Annie recommends this BookPage article, where she first heard about the book.

Curious about what the experts are saying? This New York Times review should do the trick.

Hey, book clubs: Penguin's done the work for you. Here's a book club discussion guide.

Sidney liked Gone Girl better, but truthfully, these are two pretty different novels. The Wall Street Journal compares and contrasts Gillian Flynn's bestseller with The Girl on the Train.

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