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Welcome to from the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South. A murder trial is not a Sunday afternoon tea party. Vincent Bugliosi and the sea will tell I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week we're back with an installment of our podcast series into the Backlist. If you're a new or newish listener, you might not realize that from the Front Porch is a production of the Bookshelf, a small, independently owned bookstore in rural South Georgia. By listening to our show and recommending it to your friends, you are helping to keep our indie bookstore in business. And if you like what you hear, one way you can financially support us is through Patreon. This year we've been conquering the classic Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. For $5 a month, you can hear Hunter and I recap that work of classic literature as well as view our porch visits monthly live Q&As on Zoom, where we talk about everything from pop culture to nail polish to what books you should take on your next vac. We're also and it's hard to believe I'm saying this, but we're also gearing up to announce our 2026 conquer a classic selection. And the first people who will know about it are our Patreon supporters. So to learn more about Patreon tiers and benefits, you can visit patreon.com from the FrontPorch. There's also a link in your show notes. I'd love for you to join us there. Now back to the show. We launched the podcast series into the Backlist last January. So January 2024 after I had been thinking about the magic of indie bookstores and how we try to replicate that in store magic for you, our long distance customer. One of the most magical things to me about shopping at an indie bookstore is the serendipitous nature of it. How you might stumble upon a book you've never seen before and be inspired to read it or buy it because of an in store recommendation, or maybe simply because the book begs to be read from the shel. Now don't get me wrong, I still get that serendipitous feeling from new titles all the time, but it seems to especially come from the unsung book, the book that's been out for a while, or the book that only that particular store seems to know about. I feel like I could name for you the books I've discovered this way I think about Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs, which is one of my favorite books. It's a book that helped inspire my own book, and I picked that one off of a stack at Sundog Books in Seaside, Florida. There are so many books that I have discovered because an indie bookstore has highlighted them and I would never have found out about them. Not through the New York Times Book Review, not through Bookstagram, only because of an independent bookseller at an independent bookstore. So now on our show, every so often I dig through the imaginary bookshelf vault and I try to highlight backlist titles I think are special books we keep on our shelves at the store and even though they were published years ago, books we secretly hope a customer stumbles upon, then asks us about and maybe eventually takes home for themselves. For past into the Backlist episodes, I've discussed Frances and Bernard, the ensemble. Asia Gable has a new book coming out this fall, by the way, the Defending Jacob and History of Wolves, which if you listened to the episode about the history of wolves back in January, that's episode 513. I linked all of these in the show notes Caroline did for us. If you listened to History of Wolves and if you went and read that book, I do want you to know that the new book by Joyce Carol Oates called Fox is a great read along or a great sibling to History of Wolves. So if you liked episode 5 13, you liked that book, you went and read that book. I think you might really enjoy or appreciate Joyce Carol Oates Fox that came out earlier this year. Today, as I come back from maternity leave and I'm batch recording podcast episodes and I saw that into the Back list was on the schedule, I had every intention of doing an autumnal book, like some book that would maybe speak to the season that we are kind of in. I mean, it's always hard as a Southerner to say that we're in in the fall because we're really not. It takes us a minute here to get the fall. But I really did contemplate doing something like the old Lovegood Girls or something that reminds me of fall. But then this summer I had the most wonderful time reading backlist books. I don't as a bookseller, get to read a ton of backlist titles. My job is dependent upon reading new releases, previewing titles, reading books that aren't yet out so that I can tell you about them so that I can sell them in my store. That's like one of the primary functions of my role as a bookseller and a curator in our store. So backlist titles are something that in a pre bookshelf life, I would have read all the time. Almost, almost always I would have read a backlist title. It's one of the reasons I loved libraries in my life. Pre bookshelf. I still love libraries, but I spend most of my time in a bookstore reading and shelving and showcasing new works of literature. So this summer, when I wasn't spending time in the bookshelf, I was going to the library and I was reading Ellen Hildebrand and kind of just exploring my own backlist on my shelves, like books that I had bought but hadn't read yet. One of those books was and the Sea Will Tell by Vincent Bugliosi. You might recognize him. I did not. But you might recognize him as the author of the true crime classic Helter Skelter, which is about the Manson murders. That book has leaped to the top of my TBR list, though I have not read it yet. So it feels to me like the world is drowning in substack newsletters, which is a risky thing to say as somebody who writes on the Internet. Like, I understand the point and purpose of substack, but I get really overwhelmed because it just feels like there is an abundance of riches and I cannot keep up. So I'm not trying to add more newsletters to your plate, but I will tell you that one of the newsletters I pay to support and I actually read is Shana Nequist's Reading and Eating. I have been a fan of Shauna's since my early 20s when I encountered her books Bittersweet and Cold Tangerines. Those books, I think, would actually be great backlist titles to feature here. I love those books. They made a huge difference in my life. She feels like a cooler, wiser older sister, and her writing is honestly still the goal. Like that is still what I would often like my writing to look like. She also has a taste in books similar to my own. When we talk about books Whisperers, Hunter is one of my book whisperers. Shauna is one of my book whisperers. She doesn't know that. I mean, she does not. She does not know I exist. She does not know who I am. But we do have really similar overlapping tastes. Like our Venn diagrams definitely overlap when it comes to what we read. And so when she recommends something, I tend to pay attention. Many times I've already read what she's recommended. Like, we are on the same wavelength. But every so often I see one and I make a note to pick it up. So at the beginning of this summer, when I was still very, very pregnant, trying to decide what I was going to attempt to read postpartum, I read Shauna's newsletter about all things Fisherman Summer. So I'm going to link to that one in the show notes she took the latest trend. So think of last year's coastal grandma. Was that, was that a year ago? Are we still doing that? Earlier this summer, it felt like fisherman stuff was everywhere. Fisherman sweaters, which we can't wear here until January, but kind of this main aesthetic, lobsters. I feel like a lot of people I know bought lobster stuff. So anyway, she devoted a whole post to all things Fisherman Summer, and she linked clothes, jewelry, books, recipes. And I'd heard of most of the books, but my eye immediately was drawn to the one I hadn't heard of. So Shauna wrote and the Sea Will Tell by Vincent Bugliosi is an absolute classic. Bugliosi wrote Helter Skelter, so you can imagine it's got all the creepy, suspenseful vibes in a very good way. Okay. That was her two sentence recommendation. I immediately ordered myself a copy. And then I was shocked because that was literally all the research I did. It was a book I had not read. She described it as creepy, suspenseful vibes in a good way. Okay, great. That's what I'm looking for. And then when it got to my house, 752 pages and I. Oh my gosh. I mean, I was. Isaac, my son was due any day. I feel like I was on. I don't even know what the weeks were anymore, but it was the end of May and it was like, I am not going to have time to read this 752 page book. It felt like such a dumb thing to have done, to have bought this book on a whim. And then it arrived and clocked in at nearly 800 pages. So it felt like one of those books that you might start but never finish. Like I'd. I would. It would hold my attention for a few days, but then I would just inevitably forget about it instead. And this is just so delightful to me. The book became my companion while I waited for Isaac to arrive. He came a little late. Not too late, but a little bit late. And so I definitely was waiting longer than I thought I would be. And so I carried this book everywhere. I mean, it went in my bag to every doctor's appointment. You know, the doctor's appointments where you think, surely I'm going to be admitted to the hospital after this appointment. Just kidding. No, I'm back in my car. So it went with me everywhere. It really did become my companion. And it felt like one of those salt sprayed books you find on the shelf of a musty beach house or lake house. And by the end of May, my copy had accompanied me on many a dip in the pool. So it looked as waterlogged as I felt so many months pregnant. Instead of devouring it, which was kind of impossible since it's such a long book, I wound up savoring it. And I would return to it chapter by chapter when I was bored or exhausted or overwhelmed or it was too hot to do anything else. And I wound up loving the book and the experience of reading it, which that doesn't always happen. Maybe I like the book, but my reading experience isn't great because I'm in a hurry or I'm listening to it in the car and I'm, you know, pausing and picking it back up. But this was a situation where I was already technically on maternity leave. I really did think a baby was coming any day. And then he didn't. And so instead I just, I read. It's probably the closest to a summer vacation I've had in a long time. Because I mean, you might disagree, you might be like Annie, you went to the Olympics last year. Yes, yes, I know, but I mean like a staycation I guess, just staying at home, not doing too much. I wasn't doing too much because I couldn't. And so instead I read this book and now and the Sea Will Tell sits on my bookshelves. And it's going to be kind of a time capsule, I think, of a pre Isaac existence. So let me tell you a little bit about the book itself. Back in 1974, Buck Walker and his girlfriend Stephanie, she's called Jennifer in the book, they leave Hawaii and they set out on a journey across the Pacific, landing on what they hope and what they've heard is the uninhabited island called Palmyra. Palmyra. P A L M Y R A Palmyra. Both Buck and Jennifer are free spirits and Buck is in a bit of trouble with the law. So they fully intend to go sailing and live off the grid on Palmyra. Like they have every intention of not just like sailing around the world, but sailing specifically to this island in this in the South Pacific and staying there. But when they arrive, they are disappointed because they discover the island is actually home to several other visitors, including wealthy and experienced sailors Mac and Muff Graham. By the end of 1974, Mac and Muff are missing from Palmyra and the Pacific, presumed dead. And Buck and Jennifer are the last witnesses to their lives. Hey, this is Annie, and I'm taking a quick break from this episode to tell you about Discover Thomasville. Gracefully tucked within the storied red hills of South Georgia, Thomasville curates a distinguished downtown experience that meanders along several blocks of our iconic red brick streets. Here, bespoke boutiques, master craftsmen, coveted antique art purveyors, and celebrated culinary artisans converge in harmony with the cultural richness of the Pebble Hill Plantation Art Tour and the tranquil allure of Birdsong Nature Center. Here you discover the soul of the South. Here you discover Thomasville. Learn more by visiting thomasvillega.com News Ever wonder what life is like with a phantom screen? It's magic. It is. Oh, wow. Wow, wow, wow.