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- [00:02]
Annie Jones
Your message amplified. Ready to share your message with the world? Start your podcast journey with Podbean Podbean Podbean Podbean Podbean the AI powered all in one podcast platform. Thousands of businesses and enterprises trust Podbean to launch their podcasts. Launch your podcast on Podbean today. My school uses Podbean. My church too. I love it. I really do. Welcome to from the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South. I am good at a few things, but I am great at being married. As I learned that year in Shandon street, there is nothing that my personality or my humor thrives on more than being able to see the same person at the same time every day. I thrive on overexposure, on elaborate jokes, on private mythology Caroline O'Donoghue the Rachel incident I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week it's time for an episode of Literary Therapy. If you like my book reviews here on the podcast, you might be interested in joining my private Instagram account, Annie's Five Star Books. For $50 a year, you can become a part of my bookish community online. Through the private Instagram account, you'll get access to my book reviews, backlist and front list titles and I host monthly Instagram story Q&As and frequently share about the books I start but never finish. If you have followed me personally online on Instagram, you've seen my reviews for years. And of course from the Front Porch, listeners will always have access to free monthly reading recap episodes. The private Instagram is a place separate from the Bookshelf where I get to be more detailed with my reviews and five Star Book club members can also choose if they want my five star picks every month mailed to them from the store. For more information or to sign up for 2025, you can visit anniebjoneswrites.com Fivestar Book Club I know that's a mouthful, so you can also find a link in the show Notes. This is one of my favorite changes I made to my business practices back in 2023 where I kind of broke out and tried to have something that belonged to Annie B. Jones instead of belong to the Bookshelf. It's a whole thing that I talk about with my business coach. You don't need to know that. But that is kind of the impetus behind this five star Instagram account. And if you're intrigued you can go to my website for more information it's really fun. I love having a place where I can share my reviews, be honest about what I'm finishing and not finishing. It's a lot of what you hear on the podcast in the Reading Recap episodes, but it's a little bit more detailed and maybe a little bit more, for lack of a better term, intimate. And so we have a great time over there. And yeah, you can find more information at the link in the Show Notes. Now back to today's show. If you are new to from the Front Porch Every once in a while I dive into the metaphorical mailbag and peruse your readerly hangups and bookish conundrums like a literary Frasier Crane tackling your issues on air. If you have your own readerly riddle you'd like me to solve in a future episode, you can always leave me a voicemail at the from the Front Porch website. That's from the frontporchpodcast.com contact. There's a link in the Show Notes. Of course you can scroll down on that page until you see an orange button that says Start recording. Click or tap there and voila. I'd love to hear from you. You don't need headphones or a mic or anything like that. Just leave your name where you're from and your bookish conundrum. I solicited these voice memos back in December in hopes that we could tackle some New Year's Resolution themed dilemmas together. And sure enough, y'all delivered. So without further ado, the first voice memo from listener Kim hi Annie, My name is Kim.
- [04:23]
Kim
I am from Central Illinois Champaign to be exact. My readerly dilemma is during 2024 I read so many five star books. Lot of them were thanks to your recommendations. Thank you. However, this caused me to not meet my reading goal because after I read a few five star reads in a row, I would pick up a book and if I was not hooked immediately from page one or two, I would set it aside and say, oh no, nothing will ever be as good as the book I read before. So my dilemma for you is how do I fix this in 2025 so I can meet my readerly goals? What do you do when you have read a few five star reads in a row and the next book you pick up just isn't grabbing you as quickly? Thank you Kim.
- [05:23]
Annie Jones
I am thrilled you had so many five star reads in 2024 and I'm grateful and excited to know that some of them came from me and this show and the bookshelf that Thrills me. Here's what it sounds like to me is that you are discovering more and more what you love and what you like. And I am always a fan of quality over quantity. And so you and I might be different. I don't know that you need to meet your readerly goals. Wouldn't you rather read excellent books than just check books off a list in order to hit, I don't know, 50 or 80 or 100 or whatever, whatever your bookish goal is. So I think that probably is a little bit more about my personality than it is than yours. But I might say, what if you didn't make a numeric reading goal this year? What if instead you did a reading challenge? Or have you seen those book bingo cards or something like that where you're reading a work of translated fiction, a work by an indigenous author, or a book that's more than 500 pages where you can still, still maybe scratch the itch of conquering something or accomplishing something, but you're not necessarily working toward a numeric goal. There's nothing wrong with a numeric goal. I used to set them for myself and then I just did not enjoy that practice. It sounds like you really do enjoy that practice. And so I don't want to take away any of your reading joy, but my gut reaction is to say get rid of the numeric goal and instead do a reading challenge or, you know, make yourself a list of like 12 different kinds of books you're going to read this year or something like that. A book bingo card, what have you. That would be my first, most honest suggestion. It's the suggestion I would give myself because again, I as a reader, and I think this happens the more you kind of home in on your tastes, your reading tastes. I'd rather read really great books that I love and not hit a numeric goal, then hit a numeric goal reading maybe books that I didn't really even like. Now, if that's stressful to you and you want to keep a numeric goal, you, you still really like how that feels. Maybe you have a Goodreads account and it's important to you to have that monthly or that yearly number that you hit, then what I suggest is after you read a five star book, let's say you read a book that is gonna be like one of your very favorites of the year. I think you need to first of all give yourself some space. Now, again, this might affect your numeric goal, but you know, years ago there was a super popular nonfiction book called Burnout that I really liked. And one of the lessons I took away from that book, and I think a lot of people took away from that book, was this concept of closing the stress cycle. Meaning after you've tackled a big event, you've finished a huge business deal, you've accomplish something major in your life, do something that kind of lets you know, okay, I'm closing that chapter, I'm finished with that. Whether it's, I think a lot of it had to do with physical exercise or maybe even some kind of reward. So I think there's a way here where you can close the metaphorical stress cycle, but for books. So maybe celebrate the books you love. And again, borrowing a concept from Kendra Adachi, the lazy genius, give them a closing ceremony. So after you finish a five star book, what do you do? Do you typically immediately pick up your next book? Because I would suggest not doing that. I would suggest finishing the five star book, maybe taking a minute to type out on your phone or to write down in a journal your favorite quote from that book. Maybe give yourself a minute. This is gonna sound so woo woo. But when I finish like a five star book that I love, I like walk around my house with it, like clutching it to my chest. It's not a ritual I've intended to do, it's just something that I do. When I finished Lonesome Dove, I bought myself merch. I think a lot of you guys did too. When you finish a five star book or a beloved book, honor it, celebrate it. For me, one of the natural closing ceremonies or closing the stress cycles that I do whenever I finish a book is I write a review. That's part of my practice, it's part of my business, but it also has always been part of my life as a reader. I've been writing book reviews on the Internet since 2008. So maybe review the book on Goodreads or on Storygraph or wherever. But kind of give that five star book its due, let it have its moment in the sun. Then I think it might actually be easier to move on to your next book because you've really taken the time to give that five star book the attention it deserved. And then I think your next book, there's a little less pressure on it because you've already given yourself some space and some time to recover, if you will, from your five star book. So give yourself space, close the metaphorical stress cycle, perform a closing ceremony of some kind, keep a book journal, write down a couple of quotes, walk around your house hugging your book, do something that Kind of honors the book you just finished. And then perhaps the most obvious piece of advice I have, and I think this generally works for me, is read a totally different book in a different genre. So if I have just finished a five star literary fiction book, I am not reading literary fiction, I'm reading a rom com that was only probably ever going to be three stars for me anyway. I'm reading a thriller that again, maybe was only ever going to be a three star book for me anyway. Now if I wind up loving the rom com or loving the thriller, fantastic. It's exceeded my expectations, but my expectations of those genres. And again, this is me as a reader. Your genres are going to be, you're going to fill in the blank for you, but for me, those genres occasionally I have a little bit lower expectations for. And so if I've just finished a five star literary fiction, I'm going to go read a rom com, I'm going to go read a YA novel, I'm going to go read a thriller. If I've just finished a thriller that I absolutely love, like a TJ Newman or something like that, then I'm gonna put that book down. And now I'm gonna go listen to an audiobook, celebrity memoir, or I'm gonna go read a romance novel, or I'm gonna try a dysfunctional family fiction book. So follow your five star read with a book that you don't necessarily even think is gonna be five stars. So part of this is a mind shift because as much as I said at the top, quality over quantity, sometimes you just want to read. It has nothing to do with numeric goals and it just has to do with not being in a reading slump. And not every movie I watch is Oscar worthy, not every TV show I watch is Emmy worthy. But every TV show has its purpose. I think that is true of books as well. Not every book is National Book Award winner level. Not every book is Pulitzer winner level. And wouldn't it be sad if it were so instead, yes, enjoy your five star reads, celebrate them, honor them, put them on your best of list at the end of the year. But make room for lighter fare, make room for books that maybe resound soundly in that three star space. Three star books deserve your attention to. Now again, I would like to just congratulate you. The fact that you start books and now you no longer feel the urge to finish them if you don't like them, honestly, I mean that to me is a great marker of adulthood. You have realized your time is valuable. You don't need to read something you don't like. So I'm not advocating that you read something you don't like, but I am saying not every book is five stars and that's okay. And you should allow some room in your reading life for the three star book, the three and a half star book. But I personally, I don't want to finish a one star book, a two star book, you know, like, I think I've learned that and it sounds, Kim, like you have too. So my gut impulse is to first say, stop making numeric goals and maybe turn to a reading challenge instead. If you love the numeric goal, then allow yourself space to honor your five star reads. And when you're done with a five star book, go in a totally different direction. Lean into a different genre, lean into a different way of reading. If you just finished a great audiobook, pick up a physical book. If you just finished a digital galley, go read a physical book. So mixing up how we read, I think is also important. But I think this way, if you do set a numeric goal for 2025, I think this will allow you to move on, to recover well and quickly from your five star books while also celebrating the fact that, hey, you've really figured out what you like and what you don't like. And I think that's wonderful. I think that's a great problem to have.
- [14:40]
Stephanie
Hi, Annie, this is Stephanie from Richmond, Virginia. I have been in a bit of a reading slump the last few months. I am in my second trimester and I don't know that I completed an entire book for the entire first trimester. And so the only thing getting me through right now that I'm back into reading are holiday rom coms. And while they're fun and great for December, they are not going to be as fun in January when the holidays are over and the decorations are put away. So I was wondering if you had any good recommendations for something that's light and easy and fun. I typically love family dramas, thrillers. I do love rom coms, and that seems to be the thing right now. So any suggestions or recommendations for something that could be kind of easy and not stressful would be fantastic. Thank you.
- [15:44]
Annie Jones
I want everyone to know, Stephanie, you especially, that the reading dilemma you described is one so many people described in the waning days of 2024. And even though I firmly believe in the joy that comes with the turning of a calendar page, I have no doubt that some people's reading slumps have followed them into the new year. So one of the things I like best about literary therapy is hearing from people all over the country with totally different reading tastes. And actually, oh, turns out we all are in a reading slump or we're all struggling to find things that capture our attention. And it's helpful to know you're not alone. So, Stephanie, you are not alone. It doesn't make you a bad reader. It doesn't mean you hate reading anymore. It just means, yeah, you are in a bit of a reading slump. Your life stage has changed. Your life stage is different. And so right now you're looking for good recommendations for light, easy, fun books that aren't holiday themed. And I think I can help you with this. I'm gonna focus first on the rom com because you mentioned that that's really working for you right now. And I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And so if you are liking romance and rom coms right now and that's the only thing bringing you comfort and helping you continue reading, then let's lean in, let's lean into that. So I have three rom com recommendations that maybe are not front list. And so maybe you might be able to access these a little more easily and maybe you haven't read them. So first of all is the book Play for Me by Libby Hubsher. A dear friend of mine recommended this book to me a couple of autumns ago and I do find that it's a great fall book. That being said, it's set on a high school, kind of boarding school type campus. And so I think campus novels are great year round. Perhaps you, Stephanie, might agree, this is a really fun book that also deals with sports and music. And so we have a male lead who's a little bit of a curmudgeon. He's the music teacher at the school. And we have a woman who is an athletic trainer and she's kind of in a career crossroads and she comes to this school and there's like a child prodigy who's like a great baseball player, but he's also a fantastic musician. And so of course our two love interests kind of butt heads. And I really like this book. I suspect it might fill the romance void and the post holiday, the post holiday blues, if you want to go the more Regency route, like maybe, maybe you're a Bridgerton fan. I adored A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting. This is by Sophie Irwin. I felt like, like it was a beautiful homage to Jane Austen. It was witty, fast paced. Sometimes these Regency romances and I don't know what this says about me, but I find them lagging. They aren't interesting to me. But I thought this one was incredibly funny and well written. I did not like Sophie Irwin's second one as much, but that doesn't mean you won't. And so if you like this one, you could move on to Sophie Irwin's follow up, A Lady's Guide to Scandal. Anyway, I think it's always crucial when you're in the middle of a reading slump to have a good, like, what do we call it? A book in the holding area. What do we call it? That's what I call it. Like to have a book ready on, on deck, in the batterbox, you know, whatever. Whatever metaphor you want to use. So if you like A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting, you might also like Sophie Irwin's second book. And then Lynn Painter is fantastic. I prefer her young adult rom coms Better Than the Movies was so, so much fun. If A Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting was an homage to Austen, I think Better Than the Movies is an homage to all of the rom coms. So many of us grew up with kind of those early aughts 90s movies that we love. And I like the audiobook of this. So if you are an audiobook listener, you might really like the audiobook of Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter. So those are good romances. If you want to lean in, stick with what you know, but kind of get you out of Christmasy books, holiday themed books, and move you into a romance novel that can take you into 2025. Now I also have a couple recommendations that you could try if you're willing to step out of the romance box. The first is Begin Again. This is a book by Helly Acton. You've heard me. If you're a podcast listener or if you've listened to the podcast over the last year, you've heard me talk about this book because I think it's great women's fiction. I know we roll our eyes at that term, but I honestly don't always know another term to use. But it's a lovely work of fiction about a woman who chokes on a kebab, as one does. And when she chokes on a kebab, her life more or less flashes before her eyes and she has to go back and reinvestigate these defining moments, these. These kind of crossroads moments in her life. I thought it was incredibly thought provoking, but also wildly funny and definitely dabbled in romance a little bit. So it could be a good novel. That moves you from romance reading to fiction reading again, but at the same time dealt with major life decisions and I thought was really thought provoking, but in a wise and funny way. So that's Begin Again by Helly Acton. And then an author I love to recommend to folks going through a reading slump is Amy Papel. If I were you, I would start with Limelight or Musical Chairs. Those are two of my favorites. Now, most, if not all of her books are fantastic. I think I've read almost all of them. But I would start with Limelight or Musical Chairs and go from there. Her characters are really compelling and oh, just they're just lovely people you want to spend time with. Limelight is incredibly funny. Musical Chairs got me through the pandemic and I think any book, we're going to talk about some other ones a little bit later, but any book that could get me through the pandemic, I feel like deserves a million gold stars. So that is why I consistently recommend Amy Papel for Reading Slumps. Because what was more of a reading slump than the entire year of 2020? So, Stephanie, that gets you some romance novels. It also allows you some fiction and then just for kicks and giggles, if you want to try nonfiction, one of my favorite books to recommend for a new year is the Life Council. This is by Laura Tremain. I really like Laura Twain. I follow her online, but I think her books are genuinely great. She wrote Share youe Stuff. I'll go first. But this one is her kind of treatise into friendship and the different kind of friendships that women might experience over the course of their lives. It moves us beyond the concept of the best friend and instead we can think about. I think the subtitle is something about like the 10 types of friends Every Woman Needs or something like that. And I had so much fun reading this book and identifying, like, who my friends are and which category they fit in. And I think it's a lovely reflection in the new year to kind of sit and think, especially Stephanie, as you're in your second trimester, potentially entering your third, maybe you want to think about, like, who are the people in my life who are going to help me, help me through these seasons? Who has gotten me to this point? I loved that book and it's super thin, easy to read, and just the right amount of reflective. And then Laura Tremain also writes all about her own friendships. And so it's got this memoir element that I thought was really lovely. So rom coms, some women's fiction, family fiction, and then the Life Council by Laura Tremain for a little bit of nonfiction. I hope that that helps you, and I hope it will help you also to know that you are not alone in this reading dilemma.
- [23:31]
Kate
Hi Annie, this is Kate from Wichita, Kansas. That feels weird to say. My reading problem right now is that I really want to read literary fiction. But I have a new baby and I don't want to read anything where bad things happen to children or parents, which I feel like is most literary fiction. I feel like I'm looking for something like the Wedding People or the Logger Queens of Minnesota, but I have read both of those and many others, so some under the radar picks would be amazing.
- [24:02]
Annie Jones
Hope you're well, Kate. Speaking of pregnancy and new moms, Kate has been mentioned on the podcast many a time. We think of her fondly and mention her often at the bookshelf. She is a former inventory coordinator at the bookshelf. Then she became manager at Bookmarks in North Carolina and now she's in Wichita, which did sound so weird. I'm not even 100% sure I know how to pronounce Wichita. Okay, so you're looking for under the radar feel good picks. The reason Kate is looking for under the radar books is because Kate is one of the most avid readers I know. She reads so widely, so diversely, and so much. I remember when Kate came to the Bookshelf and began working with us. I could not believe how much she was reading all while still at the time in grad school. I could not get over it. So Kate reads a lot. And so I have. Let me see how many books I found. I have seven books. I'm confident you've read some of these, but I am hopeful that by giving you seven titles, there's at least two. That's my goal. If you can walk away with two recommendations you've not read before, I feel like I will have done my job. So I'm going to start with an easy one that I think you probably have already read. You may have even recommended it to me, Kate but under the radar feel good. Pick where parents and children are okay, that's like the note. I am always typing up notes when I listen to these voicemails. That's the note I wrote down. And so one of my I think it was a five star book for me, but now I'm like, was it a four and a half? One of my favorite books of last year was Slow Dance by Rainbow Roll. I think Rainbow Roll is right up there with J. Ryan Stradell. I think the difference is a lot of her books have a romantic element and so they're often classified as romance or rom coms. Obviously she's written young adult, but this is a soundly adult novel about two best friends, former lovers, boyfriend, girlfriend, who now in adulthood try to rekindle a romance. But it's so, it's so adult. And I mean that in a non R rated way. I just mean, oh, it's about grownups and gosh, I just love a story about grownups. And so if, and I know Kate, you like romance novels. Again, I'm confident you've read this one. But I really did like this book and it felt feels like a book in which the parents and the kids are all going to be all right. The kids are going to be all right. So that's Slow Dance by Rainbow Roll then I did wonder if you had read the second ending. This is by Michelle Hoffman. It was supposed to come out in hardback. I picked it as a shelf subscription and then it only released in paperback I believe in 2023. But Kate's background is in music and musicology. And so one of the things I loved about the second ending is it's about a woman who was a child prodigy, like a child pianist who I think like went on tv, she became famous and now she's a grown up and she through a series of events, I don't want to spoil anything, but she basically needs some money and so she decides she's going to enter almost like this dueling piano contest. And she has not played piano in years because of her experience as a child prodigy. And she winds up participating in this reality show competition alongside like another teenage prodigy. So now she is, is well into adulthood. She's an empty nester. And now she's competing with another child prodigy. This is like goofball funny. Like a little bit out there reminded me a lot of Where'd you go, Bernadette? Where It's a woman who is an empty nester. I know Bernadette was not an empty nester, but like somebody who is maybe grappling with a new stage of motherhood. But Kate, she's in a different state of motherhood. And so she is. Everybody's okay, her kids are okay, she's okay. But what unfolds is almost a second coming of age. And it's. I thought it was deeply funny and I do not recall seeing this book very many places. So I hope that means maybe, maybe, maybe you haven't read it and maybe you'll like it because of the music, the musicality of it all. Next up, if we're being honest, this is by Kat Shook. Perhaps this will remind you of your slightly Southern roots. I know you really don't have Southern roots, but you went to college in the south and maybe you will appreciate this book set in Georgia. I adored this book. Dysfunctional family fiction where this is not a spoiler. This happens in the first chapter and I just, I feel like it's such a great selling point. But basically this family convenes in small town Georgia at their grandfather's funeral. So they're a patriarch's funeral and no one can figure out who should give his eulogy. And the way Catshook introduces all of these characters is by explaining why none of them could give the eulogy, so why his wife couldn't, why his grandchildren couldn't. And instead, the family finally settles on his best friend, his lifelong friend. And the lifelong friend gets up to give the eulogy and then admits that he and this patriarch have been having an affair. And the smile on my face is so large. This book is so funny. Kat Shook wrote a second book that released last year called Humor Me. It's good, but I think this is is the better one. This was her debut, very Emma Straub, but set in the South. And so I think if you haven't read this one, I think you'd really enjoy it. If you want something a little deeper that I think would be perhaps considered even more maybe literary. And it deals with harder themes, but not any themes that you mentioned as being triggering. I think you would like. Now you see us. This is by Bali Kaur Jaswal. This is about a group of domestic workers who live in the Philippines, but they're sent to Singapore to be caregivers, cleaners, maids, et cetera. And so you're introduced to three of them, Corazon, Donita and Angel. And their personalities shine through the whole book. And you're introduced kind of, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, you're introduced to them in alternating chapters. But then the three women discover that one of their fellow workers is being accused of murdering her employer. So there's like a slight mystery element, though I would not classify this book as a mystery thriller at all. But there's a slight mystery element as these three women who are very different. They're very different, but they're all connected because of what they do and where they're from. And so they kind of band together to figure out what happened to one of their own. And is she really guilty of committing this crime. I liked this book and I never heard much about it. I read it as an arc. I waited for it to get a lot of buzz. It never did. The author wrote erotic stories for Punjabi widows, which I know was super popular. And sometimes I think that's what happens, is the debut is so popular that then the sophomore. But I did not read erotic stories for Punjabi widows. And so this felt great to me. I loved this book. And so it kind of is like the underbelly maybe of something like crazy rich Asians or something like that, where you've got this super wealthy, upper class, upper echelon group of people living in Singapore. But then, like, who is helping run their lives and what's going on? Like, think about Downton Abbey and like, what's going on in the downstairs. I really liked this one. Again, I didn't see it a ton of places, so maybe that bodes well. Maybe it means you haven't read it yet. If you want to go deep into the backlist. One of my favorite books I read last year, one of my favorite reading experience experiences last year was the Best of Everything by Rhona Jaffe. I think that's how you pronounce it, but I'm not 100% sure. I saw this. This was recommended, oh, gosh, a couple of places. But I picked it up while I was in New York, and it has, you know, a deeply, deeply New York setting at the time was of its time. Now it reads like historical fiction. It's set in New York in the 60s, and it's all about these aspiring writers who, like, work in publishing and who are women on the cusp of becoming wives, becoming mothers, but they also want careers. And I read this book and immediately thought, oh, like, this is where Sex and the City came from. And Rona Javi wrote this decades ago, and I had just such a great time with this book. The ending was maybe not my favorite, but because this book is totally different. It's not dealing with parents, children. I mean, maybe a little bit of impending motherhood, but I think. I think this would fit the bill. And the writing is excellent. I couldn't believe I'd never read it before. Okay. And then last but not least, an unsung memoir that I never hear people talk about, but it's one of my favorites, is Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs. I know you didn't mention nonfiction, you didn't mention memoirs, but this has a great Alaska setting and I think you'll like it because you just moved to a new place and Heather Lynd moves to Alaska and becomes an obituary writer there. And I believe like in her, in her first little bit there. If I'm remembering right, it's been years since I've read this, but if I'm remembering correctly, she like has a bike accident or something and she has to rely this is a true story memoir. She has to rely on her new neighbors in this small Alaska town and each chapter can be read standalone. So when you're in the middle of these early days of motherhood and it feels like things aren't holding your attention, I always think a book that you can easily pick up and put down is helpful. And so Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs is such a fun backlist title that I rarely if ever hear people talk about. I encountered it at Sundog Books in Seaside, Florida and it was like on their staff shelf and I'm so grateful I found it there. So maybe that one will work for you as well. So Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell the Second Ending by Michelle Hoffman if We're Being Honest by Kat Shook now youw See Us by Bali Kaur Jaswal the Best of Everything. And take good care of the garden and the dogs.
- [34:22]
Lauren
Hey Annie, this is Lauren from Hoover, Alabama. My bookish dilemma is trying to find a book for my husband to read. He's not a reader by nature, but the two books he's read in the last couple years include the Matthew Perry memoir and the oral history book of the Big Bang Theory. He loves Friends and Big Bang, so those were really easy books for him to get into. I thought starting Harry Potter would be a really easy intro to fiction because he's seen and loved the movies. But he's daunted by seven books and he thinks if he starts one, he'll need to finish all seven. What would you recommend a beginner reader in his 30s? I'm looking for something easily digestible, entertaining, and not too genre, if that makes sense. Thanks for your help.
- [35:07]
Annie Jones
Hooray for partners who love to read and who aren't afraid to try new things and new hobbies. I love that your husband is kind of dabbling in reading, perhaps for the first time, and I like leaning into what he already likes. So I have a few like pop culture Y recommendations and then I also have a couple of recommendations that we and by we I mean store staff, but particularly Olivia and I are constantly recommending for for male readers who come in and maybe they just finished a book they like and it's like the first book they've ever liked and now they're trying to keep the momentum going. So first up, live from New York, this is the SNL Oral History by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. I know you didn't mention Saturday Night Live, but I like Saturday Night Live. But I'm not like a huge, I'm not some huge fan girl or something. And I loved this book. I love an oral history. I think an oral history is great. Great for a reluctant, or maybe reluctant isn't even the right word, but maybe a reader who's trying to fall in love with reading for the first time because it's like reading a long form magazine piece. And you mentioned the Big Bang Theory oral history. So I wanted to mention this. Live from New York, SNL oral History. It received rave reviews when it released. I'm not the only person who loves it, but it is absolutely fantastic and works through SNL through the decades and could be especially fun since we're in the 50th season of SNL. Speaking of SNL, I know he is a controversial figure. I know that some people really dislike him. I like Colin Jost and I loved his book A Very Punchable Face. I think this book is great. It's actually, well, it shouldn't be surprising. I mean, he's a writer on snl, but it's actually extremely well written, very poignant. There's a beautiful essay in here about his dad and mom because of 9 11. And I was so surprised by this book. Again, I'm not a huge Colin Jost fan. I just picked this book up because I thought, well, that's an interesting title and I love somebody who can make fun of themselves. And instead I found a really moving, lovely, funny memoir. So A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost then. I know you said your husband liked Friends. I loved the book I'll Be There for your by Kelsey Miller. Ashley. My cousin and I both read this book and really liked it when it released, I want to say in 2018. It's a great deep dive into the show Friends. I learned some things, even though I do feel like I might not be a, I might not be an SNL superfan, but I do feel like a bit of a Friends superfan just by how many times I've seen the seasons. And I learned some new things and I thought it was a quick, fun, easy read again, something that's gonna hold your husband's interest because he's already interested in it. And then again, you did not mention this show, but I loved the Office Oral history. This is by Andy Green. Again, I do love the show the Office, but I just really like these oral history formats. I know it sounds silly, but I've said before on this show that I actually learn a lot from these oral histories because it's so much about creativity and directing and writing. And I feel like I've learned a lot about business in these books, which sounds. Sounds nonsensical, but it's 100% true. So if you want to, like, lean into your husband's pop culture interests, and I think that you should, like, I think part of the problem, especially with kids when they're early readers, is we force them to read books that they're not interested in. And I'm not blaming. I'm absolutely 100% not blaming teachers. I'm not blaming schools. I'm just saying that sometimes we don't let kids like what they want to. Like. I think we've had parents before come in and almost, like, apologize that their kid is super into the Titanic or super into not apologize. But, like, we don't know what to do. And then we see parents who come in and they buy their kids all these Titanic books and they're like, might as well lean in. Yes, you should. You should lean in and let your kid be into what they're into. Let grownups be into what they're into. And so if your husband's super into pop culture and books about TV shows, there's a lot of those, and they're well written, good books. So lean into that. That would be my first recommendation. And then, as I mentioned, we occasionally, and I really like when this happens, we'll occasionally get a guy at the bookshelf who's like, hey, my wife gave me this book and I really liked it. And now I'm looking for something else. And it's because by their own admission, they're not readers, meaning maybe they're not as avid readers as their wives are, but they really do. They fell in love with this one book and now they're trying to follow up. And I love somebody who is willing to come to the bookshelf and come to the bookstore and ask that question. So whenever that happens, there is like a 99% chance. Olivia or I, if we're on the floor, we're hand selling Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir or Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. You're an avid reader, Lauren. You're probably already familiar with these, but your husband might not be. And I think Project Hail Mary is going to be a movie soon is the rumor that we hear. And then Dark Matter is a show that I've not watched, but it is a show I believe on Apple tv. So again, capture your husband's interest, maybe you guys can watch the show together. But these are fast paced sci fi thrillers that even are appealing to me. Like even if your husband's not super into sci fi, neither am I. These are just good stories, these are just fast paced hook you from the moment you start them stories. And so I think those could also really work for your husband as he adventures further into this new hobby of his.
- [40:50]
Keely
Hi, my name is Keely, I live in Atlanta, Georgia and my dilemma is I have a seven month old son, new mom and I love to read but have found myself in a reading rut since he's been born. I want books that are not slow, are easy to get into from the very beginning, have short chapters so I can pick it up and put it down quickly and has a plot that is easy to remember and I just have not found anything like that recently. I did finish Louise Penny's newest book, but I love Louise Penny so I just made that happen. But I would love to find books that meet my criteria.
- [41:36]
Annie Jones
Thanks Keeley. As I was taking notes from your voicemail, this is what I wrote down. Fast paced, easy to get into short chapters, easy reading, easy to remember plot. And what I liked about this was okay, you don't actually have a genre you've named. You don't have a ton of triggers or things you're trying to avoid. You just want the book to hook you the moment that you start it and you want it to be a plot that you're going to remember. And so I think I have some good books for you. The first is the Frozen river by Ariel Lahan. This is a book that I read in December of 2023 and if anything, if any book can hold my attention during peak holiday at the bookshelf, well that is a book worth sharing. This book got rave reviews. I had not read Ariel Lahan previously. She's a historical fiction writer. This is a book that is based on a real life midw midwife. I'm also going to tell you I am very particular about books that deal with childbirth, birthing, pregnancy, et cetera. And this one wasn't icky. This was fascinating to me. I loved it. It's deeply researched. You can tell it's deeply researched. The chapters are short and the plot is one you can remember because it's all about. I mean, it's set before America is even a country. And so really there's so much interesting detail about what the criminal justice system was like. I'm using air quotes because there wasn't even a system. What was it like before we had a constitution, before we had laws, before we had rules? What did the rule of law look like? And so the midwife in the book is supposed to testify during this kind of court case. I loved this one. It's a little bit different for historical fiction. Like it's not your typical World War II story. It's a part of history I had not read or done much research on at all. And it hooked me from the very first page, which I think is key for you. So the Frozen river by Ariel Lohan. Another book that is lengthy. Now look, Frozen river is lengthy and so is this next one. But the key was you wanted short chapters and fast paced and that I can give you. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. Hooked me. Aaron Keela, Olivia it hooked all of us from page one. Short chapters, kind of a thriller mystery. But it's about two young friends who witness a crime or they are victims, more or less of a crime, and then you watch them grow up and grapple with the consequences of what they've seen, seen, witnessed and participated in. I loved this. It's a great book club book because there's so much to unpack. But Olivia and I talked at length about how short these chapters were and it's a plot that you will remember and a lot happens. It's a plot driven. These are plot driven books I'm kind of focusing on for you. So that's all the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker. Another book that I really loved and so did Olivia, is the book Kill show by Daniel Swearin Becker. It kind of plays with the thriller genre and the whole true crime podcast thing, but it does it really, really well. And super slim book. So Frozen river, all the Colors of the Dark, pretty thick. But Kill show, pretty slim little book and packs a punch. We both really liked it. It kind of was a great, like Annie and Olivia crossover book. Years ago I read a beautiful book by Karen Thompson Walker called the Age of Miracles. I think she's got a new book coming out this year, if I'm not mistaken, which may be why this one was on the top of my brain. But if you have not read the Age of Miracles, I remember reading this on my couch in Tallahassee. So this must have been 2013, 2012 or 2013. And it captured my attention. I read it in one sitting. I stayed up late. It's post apocalyptic, almost like a great precursor to something like Station 11. But I just don't hear people talk about it very much. But it's about a girl who wakes up and realizes it's not young adult, but the protagonist is a young adult. She wakes up and kind of discovers that the days are getting shorter and shorter. Gosh, this book is so good. And you'll fly through it. You'll absolutely fly through it. Okay. And then my last two recommendations are slightly less plot driven, but they both have short chapters and enough happens to hold your interest and they pack a punch. So the first is the Rachel incident by Caroline O'Donoghue. This is a fantastic Irish novel. Rachel works at a bookstore. She becomes friends with James. And so they have this really lovely relationship, this deep friendship. They become roommates, but then Rachel falls in love with a married professor. James insists he'll help her get the married professor, but, like, chaos ensues. This is. Listen, my friend Hunter would love this book. Maybe he already read it. It is messy. These people are so messy. But in the best possible way. It held my attention. Dysfunctional friendships, but also these people really love each other. Like James and Rachel really love each other. I really liked this book. Leaving by Roxanna Robinson is my last recommendation for you. I adored this when I read it in 2023. Then it became a February shelf subscription. It is deeply memorable. Short chapters about two older protagonists who reignite a romance after years apart. Now, I do want to let you know one of them is a widow, but the other is still married. And so there is an infidelity plot. And I know some of our listeners that can be kind of a content warning for them. But the book is exceptionally written. I mean, I do not understand why more people weren't talking about this book last year. And it is one of those books that you just want to know what happens to these people and so highly recommend Leaving by Roxanna Robinson. I hope that helps. Keely. This was a fun list to come up with. Hi, Annie.
- [47:54]
Jayla
My name is Jayla. I'm from Sylacauga, Alabama. I will be taking the February 2025 bar exam. I will be studying heavily for the 10 weeks leading up to the exam. When I was in law school, I didn't get a lot of time to read. And I'm afraid that preparing for the bar exam will be very similar. I don't want to put a stop to my reading life during this time. So I was hoping that you could give me some tips on how you maintain a reading life during the stressful, chaotic seasons of your life. Thank you so much again. I love your podcast and I appreciate you.
- [48:33]
Annie Jones
Jayla from Silicaga your I know, I know it's weird to comment on people's accents. I want you to know that I know that. But your accent felt so familiar to me, and I don't know if that's because I've married someone from Alabama or because I went to college in Montgomery. But man, I love hearing a recognizable Alabama accent. So, Jayla, the moment you opened your mouth, I was like, where's this girl from? Where's she from? Jayla, good luck on the bar exam. Jordan Jones is still an attorney in Florida because the thought of another bar exam made us both want to put our heads into the wall. So Godspeed to you as you embark on preparing for the bar exam. You're gonna do great. One of my notes I wrote down for you was Books for Reading during Chaotic Seasons, because we might not all have to take the bar exam, but we all do have chaotic seasons in our lives. For me, it's Q4 at the bookshelf, or maybe in the case of 2024, almost every season came with its own chaos because of writing a book and things like that. For Jordan, it's legislative session. For all of us, it was 2020 and 2021. And so how do we keep reading when our lives are chaotic? And I have a lot of tips for that that sometimes work, sometimes don't. Sometimes my tip is as simple as don't read, take a break. But it also is mixing up how you read the formats in which you read. But for you, I have some essay collection recommendations because I do think for me, nonfiction, particularly essays, work really well when my brain is being taken in a million different directions. For some reason, fiction is hard. I love fiction. It's my first love. But fiction is harder for me in chaotic seasons. And so I wanted to recommend to you the Elizabeth Passarella book It Was an Ugly Couch. Anyway, Elizabeth Passarella wrote the essay collection Good Apple, which was good, but to me it was an Ugly Couch Anyway, which was her second book is excellent. It's a collection of essays about moving in New York City and there was just something about just how they found an apartment. Like it was so otherworldly to me as a Southern small town dweller, I think I read a lot of it with my mouth agape. Witty, funny, thoughtful, poignant, and a very thin little collection, meaning not very many pages, so you should be able to read this. And Elizabeth is originally from the south, and so I think you'll recognize a lot of her sensibilities. Everybody has heard me recommend him over and over and over again, but it is always worth pointing people towards R. Eric Thomas, Congratulations. The Best Is Over, I think would be particularly lovely to read in your current season because it was written for him during a hectic, chaotic season. He wrote this while moving, while experiencing the pandemic, and also kind of recovering from the pandemic. I found so much of it deeply, deeply relatable. I think I always mentioned the chapter about his high school reunion that I just thought was so deeply funny. He's just a very funny writer. And I think when you're studying for the bar exam, you really need a sense of humor to get you through. I don't recommend her a ton, which is weird because she was When I had to come up with comp titles for my own book, Shauna Nyquist came up over and over and over again for me. I adore her. And then her most recent essay collection, I guess I haven't learned that yet. The chapters going back to Keely, the chapters in this one are so short, and it's all about life after a major life change and a major life shift. And I remember reading this and thinking, oh, like your life changes over and over and over again. Like, there's never gonna be a season of my life where there's not some element of change. And I loved. She's like an older, wiser sister who I absolutely love sitting at the feet of. I think her writing is outstanding. I don't know why more people don't talk about it, but her latest collection is especially great. It's. I guess I Haven't learned that yet. By Shawna Nyquist. Last but not least, a book that got me through the pandemic was Nobody Will Tell youl this But Me by Bess Kalb. I follow her on Instagram. I think I used to follow her on Twitter. She is hilarious. I want to say she's a writer for Jimmy Kimmel, but this was her, oh my gosh, deeply moving memoir about her grandmother, and it was so original. She writes it from her grandmother's perspective. And I was deeply close to my grandparents, and so I adored this book. I laughed, I wept like a baby. It's again, a short book. So short. But I think when you're ready to feel something, and I imagine there will be times when prepping for the bar that you desperately need to feel something that doesn't have to do with, like, legal precedent. Try Nobody Will Tell youl this But Me by Bess Kolb. And then the last recommendation I have for you, particularly in audiobook format. Because again, if you're spending a lot of time pouring over physical reading material and, you know, exam prep material, it might be good for you to listen to an audiobook while you drive to and from your practice tests or while you load your dishwasher or whatever. I, during my own chaotic reading season in Q4 of last year, read a ton of five star celebrity memoirs. From Here to the Great Unknown by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough. The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop. Obviously Stanley Tucci, though I would start with Taste if you've not read him before. And even a book that's a little bit older. I'm Glad My mom died by Jennette McCurdy. I think those would be great, particularly in audiobook format in case you need to switch it up a bit and give your eyes a rest. Good luck, Jayla. I hope that you pass the bar easily and beautifully.
- [54:26]
Becca
Hi Annie, this is Becca from Southern Maryland. In 2024, I made a goal to end the year with fewer physical books on my TBR shelf than I started. And I'm sorry to say that I was not successful. Do you have any strategies that I could use to achieve this goal in 2025? It's not that I buy too many books. I mostly just don't read the books that I do buy. I tend to opt for the new and shiny books that I get from the library as opposed to the ones that are sitting on my shelf. Any suggestions that you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
- [55:01]
Annie Jones
Rebecca. I feel you. I decorate with books a lot in my house and it is every season when I'm like undoing that season's decor, when I realize I have a lot of books, might need to buy a new bookcase or it may be time to clear out. And so I do think this is a common dilemma, especially for those of us who are avid readers and who love to love, who love to buy books, who love bookstores. And so I have a couple of recommendations for you. My first recommendation is perhaps in 2025 you could embark on an unread shelf project. So I first came across this on. I've been following Jules Kendall on the Internet for years. She is a librarian out of California. Um, but she used to have a blog, I think it was called Pancakes and French fries. Maybe if you Google for it, you can still find it. But she did a project she called the Unread Shelf. And what she did is she went through her bookshelves and she literally started a shelf, and I think it wound up becoming multiple shelves, but she started a shelf of her unread books, and she was determined, okay, I'm going to read through these books. And we talk so much about reading goals, reading challenges. We talked at the top of the episode about numeric goals. But what if one of your reading goals for 2025 was to read books off your unread shelf and you put all of those books in one part of your house, in one part of your bookcase? And so visually, you know, this is my unread shelf. And throughout the year, when you're in a reading slump, maybe before you default to. To the library, you shop your shelves. You don't have to read them in order. You can shop your shelf. It sounds like you have a lot of different books on your shelf from picking them up at different points in time. So I don't think this is. You don't have to read these in order the order in which you bought them. You don't have to start with the most recent one, the most recently published one. I bet you have now some great backlist titles on your shelf. But maybe tell yourself, okay, I don't know how often you read. I don't know how many books a year you read, but maybe once a month, you're gonna read one book off your unread shelf. And then, and I think this visual aspect is important, you remove it from the unread shelf and you move it to the red pile, which I think you're probably already doing, it sounds like. But I think visually, then you could see throughout the year, oh, my gosh, look at me whittling away. And maybe for you, it would give yourself permission, ooh, now I can go buy some books, or now I can go to the library. But maybe just once a month, you're reading a book off your unread shelf again, doesn't mean you have to read all of them this year. You know, that doesn't have to be the only thing you read this year, but maybe you could in your head know or in your mind know. Okay, every. Every four weeks or every time I finish a new library book, I'm gonna go to my unread shelf. So that's my first suggestion for you. My second is maybe use the library, since you love browsing the new release shelf at the library, maybe use that as a treat. So every time you finish an unread shelf book, you're going to go to the library and treat yourself to a new book from there. And so use it as like a reward mechanism, a Pavlov yourself. Create a Pavlovian response so that it's not. Maybe the library is no longer your default, but it is where you go as a treat and as a reward. And then I think I've recommended this before, but keep a running list on your phone of what you want to read. So maybe you still go to the library. Maybe that's a really peaceful, fun place for you to go, but you don't have to check something out every time. Same is true of a bookstore. I mean, far be it from me to tell you not to spend money at a bookstore, but next time you go to the bookstore, unless a book really, really strikes you, you don't have to buy it. You put it on your TBR list. Like, you put it on your phone and you tell yourself, okay, next time I finish a book from my unread stack, I'm going to read a book from this list. And you can go to your library, you can buy it from the store, but you're keeping track on your phone. And so that way you're not worried you're gonna miss a book. Because I think that sometimes does happen. We almost get, like, scarcity mentality. Like, if I don't read this new release right now, I'm never gonna read it. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. If we're lucky. Life is long. And so I think you do have time, and you will have time, but it doesn't have to be right now. And then you may have already tried this tactic, but clear your tbr. Clear it. No guilt, no shame. Send those books to a friend. Write a note in one. Tell somebody you're thinking of them. Put it in your little free library. You know, you don't have to keep all those books. That's okay. Use 2025 as a fresh start. And maybe whittle down your TBR list to the books that you know you're going to make time for. I think it's totally fine to admit to yourself, you know what? I bought that book, but I really don't. I'm really not interested. Fine, don't be interested. Give it to somebody who is. Pass it along to somebody who might be. Wrap it in brown paper and stick it in a little free library and give somebody a surprise. Or, you know, give it to a friend and let them know you're thinking of them. I think that could be a great thing to do in January as well. And Those are some 2025 reading dilemmas that I hope I have helped solve for you. Thank you so much to every person who left a voice memo. I hope these were helpful bits of advice and maybe wisdom that you can carry with you as you try to finagle your way through a reading slump. Maybe read your way into a new life stage and maybe try to tackle the goals you've set for yourself for 2025. Speaking of reading goals in 2025, this week I'm reading Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes from the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow the Bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram ookshelftville and all the books from today's Episode can be purchased online through our store website, bookshelf thomasville.com a full transcript of today's podcast Episode Episode can be found at. From the frontporchpodcast.com Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of from the Front Porch and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. Our executive producers of today's episode are Kami Tidwell, Chantal Carle, Kate O'Connell, Kristin May, Linda Lee Drost, Jean Queen, Amanda Wickham, Martha Stacy Lau, Chance Combs, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Farrell, Nicole Marcy, Wendy Jenkins, Lori Johnson, Susan Newlings. Thank you all for your support of from the Front Porch. If you'd like to support from the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and helps us reach new list listeners. All you have to do is open up the podcast app on your phone. Look for from the Front Porch. Scroll down until you see. Write a review and tell us what you think. Or if you're so inclined, support us. Over on Patreon, where we have three levels of support. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts and giveaways. 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