← From the Front Porch
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- [00:02]
A
Welcome to from the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South.
- [00:25]
Books do not find value when they are written, they find value when they are read. Every book here is both worthless and priceless at the same time. It depends on who you ask. Samantha Soto Yambaugh Water Moon I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and as is tradition as we close out the year, I wanted you to hear directly from the Bookshelf staff members about their favorite books of 2025. Before we begin, I wanted to let you know that Annie's Five Star Books will be continuing on Instagram in 2026. If you're new here, for $50 a year you can become a part of my bookish community online. Through my private Instagram account, you'll get access to my book reviews and my monthly Instagram story Q&As where I share about the books I start but never finish. And I offer other book recommendations too. If you follow me personally on Instagram, you've seen my reviews for years. And of course, from the Front Porch listeners will always have access to my monthly reading rec recap episodes. The private Instagram is simply a place where I've become more detailed with my reviews, and five Star book club members can also choose if they want any of my five star reads mailed to them each month from the Bookshelf. If you're giving up social media like a lot of people I know, no worries. This year or in 2026 rather, there will be a newsletter component where you can have all of the reviews emailed to you directly in your inbox quarterly. Again, so you won't get emails all the time from me, but quarterly emails so you can get a recap of all the books I've reviewed on Instagram. So so a couple of different options, a couple of different ways to get my reviews. For more information or to sign up for the 2026 group, you can visit anniebjonesrights.com Fivestar Book Club There's a link in the show notes too. Now, as we eek closer to the end of the year, I asked our staff for their favorite books of 2025. This has become a tradition of sorts on from the Front Porch. You you'll hear from me and Hunter in great detail about our top 10 books of the year. That episode is coming next week, so don't miss it, but I wanted you to get a sense of what our staff read this year. And because we are a working bookstore. It reminds me of when I toured Windsor Castle and over and over again it was like, this is a working castle. We are a working bookstore. And so you're not going to hear from every Bookshelf staffer. We are busy. They are busy. It is such a busy time of year and part of the reason you don't hear a ton of Bookshelf staffers voices on from the front porch is because they are busy doing their jobs and I don't want to ask them to do anything else. But a few of them graciously agreed to send in some voice memos talking about their favorite books of the year. So you're going to get to hear from a couple of staffers today. If you don't hear from a staffer, don't you worry. We're going to have a full list of our favorite books of 2025 on Instagram. So make sure you're following us over there at Bookshelf Tville. So if there's a staffer you love but didn't hear from today, cough cough Nancy, then you can go to the Instagram and Caroline will have put together a list of our staffer's favorite books of the year. I am so grateful to the Bookshelf team. I hope hearing their voices. It's so important to me that you hear their voices today. Hearing their voices should be a reminder of how much work and how many people go into helping our small business exist in the world. The brick and mortar store but also the podcast itself. I could not record this podcast if there weren't a team of people working at the store today so that I could record the bookshelf. Is the bookshelf from the front porch is from the front porch because of their hard work, ingenuity and creativity and I'm grateful to know them. I want you to get to know them too. First up then is a very recognizable voice that you have heard many times before. It is our Operations manager, Olivia. Olivia does a lot of the big picture planning and overseeing of our team. She helps manage our managerial team. She helps step in on the floor when needed because she has a ton of floor expertise. She functions as our children's book buyer and contributes frequently here to from the Front Porch and our shelf subscription program. She is a valuable and vital part of our team and she also has excellent taste in books. If you have ever been in the store and been hand sold a book by Olivia, you are in for a treat. You received a great gift because she is a fantastic hand seller. Every team member loves hearing Olivia wax philosophical about her latest and greatest read. So without further ado, her favorite book of 2025.
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B
I'm Olivia Perkins, the operations manager of the Bookshelf, and my favorite book of the year was Wild dark shore. Charlotte McConaughey. This came out in March. I read it a month earlier in February, but it swept me away. Pun intended. This story has so much to it, and it caught multiple staffers at the bookshelf in the same way it caught me. And I think that is because the story was a blend of so many different genres. At the heart of it, I think this is a story about a father and his three children and a mysterious stranger who gets introduced to them. But there's also an element of mystery happening. There's definitely an element of suspense happening through it, and it is all wrapped up in this beautiful prose that she came out with. And it was just so well done. This father and his three children live on this remote island, Shearwater, close to Antarctica. He is the caretaker of Shearwater, and he has been tasked with running the world's largest seed bank, making sure it stays safe, because the world is coming to a brink of climate change. Things are catching on fire, things are melting, and the world is a different place now. He has lived on this island for years. His children have grown up here. They love this island, and they are all about to have to leave. A while back, there used to be a group of scientists and researchers who stayed there and made sure the seed bank was safe, made sure that there were ways for the world to continue growing and continue being livable. But now the researchers have gone, and it is just the father and his three children, and they are waiting their last chance to leave this island before sea levels rise too high and this island becomes unlivable. Then a woman washes ashore, and this is wild for one main reason, that this island is close to Antarctica. And so for her to wash ashore and still be found alive means that she was on a boat nearby, which is also inconceivable because, again, this is close to Antarctica, so no one should be passing by unless they intend to stop at the island. And with no other researchers here, the bigger question is why was she intending to come to this island in the first place? And what happened? They know that she has secrets of her own. She also, as she gets to know this family, know that they're also hiding a lot of things. Maybe the bigger reason as to why all the researchers left and what happened before they left, and it kind of comes to a standstill between the two of them. But all the while she's been forming this connection with the whole family, one that they've been missing for so long since their mother passed away, and one that brings warmth to the entire family, especially the father who has struggled with his three children. He's a man who loves his children and he sees them for what they are, but living so remotely has definitely taken a toll on this family. The book is beautiful and I do think winter is the perfect time for you to be picking this book up since it is set in a cold, temperate area. This book is very atmospheric. If you live in a cold area as well. Pick this up now if you haven't already. One quote that I do want to read to you from this book is from the point of view of Dominic and it's talking about his children. And I think it perfectly portrays the nuances in this novel of how much he loves his children, how much he thinks deeply about who they are as people, and then the dark undertones of this book. So this is from the very beginning of the book, and this is from the eyes of Dominic the father. You are not meant to have favorites, but my youngest is that if only by a hair and with a gun to my head, if I really, really had to answer and not because we are most alike, that is my oldest in me. Not because we are least alike, that is my daughter in me. Maybe it is because he is curious and kind and so smart it can make your eyes water. Maybe it's because he whispers to the wind and hears its voice in return. Most likely. I don't know why, but it may also be because for one brief moment long ago, I wished him dead. Pick up this book. It was five stars for me. I think about it constantly because it was just so well done and so well written. You won't regret it.
- [09:48]
A
Hey friends, it's Annie. If you're looking for another bookish show to add to your listening cue, check out the Webby Award winning daily podcast Totally Booked with Zibby. It's hosted by my fellow independent bookstore owner Zibby Owens, who's been dubbed New York City's most powerful bookfluencer by Vulture. Every weekday on Totally Booked, she sits down with the best and buzziest authors to share work that's truly worth your time. And that's not all. Season two of Totally Booked Live is here. This time around, you're invited to be part of the live studio audience in New York for 16 incredible interviews with stars like Danny Shapiro and Susan Orlean. Every conversation will be released on the podcast feed after, so don't miss out. Follow Totally Booked with Zibby wherever you're listening now.
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What do you think makes the perfect snack?
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C
Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient.
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A
Could you be more specific when it's cray venient.
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C
Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at AM pm.
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A
I'm seeing a pattern here.
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C
Well, yeah, we're talking about what I.
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D
Crave, which is anything from am, pm.
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C
What more could you want? Stop by AMPM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience ampm. Too much good stuff.
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A
Next is another recognizable bookshelf voice, Aaron, our online Sales Manager turned floor manager. That's right. While Olivia and I were on maternity leave this summer and our wonderful Kate left the bookshelf for a new opportunity, Aaron stepped up. She took the reins on the floor and when we were hiring for a new floor manager this fall, it became apparent. I looked around and realized we already had somebody in Aaron. Erin is transitioning into her new role at our busiest time of the year and so I am very grateful for her flexibility, her willingness to try something new. She is going to take over and has been taking over the floor operations of our team while also wrapping up online sales manager management responsibilities. So kudos to Erin and if you know Erin, if you DM her, if you message her, tell her she's doing a good job because she is. And I am so glad she is sharing her favorite book of 2025. It's one of my favorites too.
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E
Hi, this is Erin and I'm the retail floor manager here at the Bookshelf. My favorite book of 2025 is Life and Death and Giants by Ron Rendo. This book was published in September, but I read it in July. The story follows Gabriel, who was born at a whopping 18 pounds. His mother is lost in childbirth and he is raised by his estranged grandparents, who also happen to be the leaders of the Amish community in Lakota, Wisconsin. They try and raise Gabriel in their secluded community, but Gabriel's size and his athletic talent bring the outside world to their doorstep. What follows is the push and pull that characterizes Gabriel's life. Ultimately, Gabriel's life serves to bring people together and to introduce love where it was previously gone. There are so many beautiful quotes from the book, but this one is my favorite. What is forgiveness but an undeserved gift given? Light as air, beautiful as a moonlit ride home.
- [13:24]
A
Next up is Keila. Keila is the online sales coordinator at the Bookshelf. She actually began working at the shop years ago as a bookseller. And now if you're an online customer, you are the recipient of Keela's hard work. She is the person who handwrites all the notes in your orders. She wraps every book by hand. She processes your online orders. She does your customer service emails. If you are an online customer, Keela is your girl and she is excellent at what she does, particularly during a season like this one where she is exceptionally busy. Also, just something fun. Keela is our resident horror reader, but what I really want to tell you is that a few years ago a reader retreater heard Keela talk and said, oh my gosh, it's Holly Hunter. And now that's all I can hear. And so without further ado, Holly Hunter, aka Keelah, with her favorite book of 2025.
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F
Hi, I'm Keela, the online sales coordinator here at the Bookshelf. It was really hard to pick a book that was my favorite of the year because I feel like I read so many good ones this year, like the Bones Beneath My Skin, Blackwood's Blue Sky, Sunrise on the Reaping, your favorite scary Movie, or Atmosphere. They all could have easily been my top book, but the one that I keep coming back to is Water Moon by Samantha Sotoyambao. It came out in January of this year, so that's when I read it and it was a great start to my reading year. I loved the world in this book and the characters, they felt so raw and real. I always compare this book to a Studio Ghibli movie and if you haven't watched one of those, I highly recommend it. Especially after reading this because you'll want to stay in that that world. This book is one that I will definitely revisit one day and it will feel like coming home. I'm so glad I read this. It even like made me restart a hobby that I had in high school, which was origami. There's so many good quotes in this book, but one I will leave you with is books do not find value when they are written, they find value when they are read. And that just is this book. I feel like I found so much value in it and it was amazing.
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A
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H
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A
Last but certainly not least is Kendyl. Kendyl is our Inventory Coordinator at the Bookshelf. That means she processes every book that comes onto our shelves. She processes returns. She's also an excellent hand seller. If you are an in store customer, you see Kendyl all the time. She is at the store all the time. If you're an online customer, you know Keela. If you're an in store customer, you know Kendall. She is remarkable at what she does. She has grown into the role of Inventory coordinator. She willingly took that increase in responsibility and has handled it beautifully. We were especially grateful for her this summer during our floor management transition and I don't think you get to hear from Kendyl very often and I actually love hearing Kendyl talk about books. So here she is talking about her favorite of 2025.
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D
Hi, my name is Kendall. I'm the Inventory Coordinator at the Bookshelf. My favorite book this year was Deep by Holly Brickley. It came out, I believe at the end of February of this year and I read it sometime in March of this year. I just love this book because of the way it intertwined music into the plot. So much so that even at some points music felt as if it was its own character. Each chapter is entitled after a song that the main character talks about and there's even a playlist of all the songs which I loved. I also enjoyed the complexities of the main characters, Jo and Percy. The book is a lot about their relationship dynamic and over the years, the times that they've been together, the times that they were friends, the times that they were each other's creative muse. I found that really inspiring and just so, so beautiful. My favorite quote from the book was this little excerpt that Percy said. I think songs gave me a window into a magical life, something bigger or whatever waiting out there. And I felt like the only way to get there was through the songs. Like the songs, if I listened hard enough, would show me how to get it right.
- [18:45]
A
And those are the folks that had time to record some voice memos this busy holiday season. If you want to see what our other Bookshelf staffers are reading and loving this year, what their favorite books were pleased, please either stop by the store or follow us on Instagram ookshelftville, where Caroline will have compiled some of their favorites and we'll be posting about them this week. I am so grateful for our team. I know I've said that before, but you hear all the time from. Well, obviously you hear from me all the time. You hear from Olivia and you hear from Aaron, but I don't think you get to hear from our other team members very often. And again, that's just because of the nature of what we do and how busy we are. But I hope that by hearing Keela and Kendyl today, you're able to get an idea of how diversely our staff is and how knowledgeable they are, how good at their jobs they are. This time of year, I just feel even more grateful. Although, gosh, there have been a lot of opportunities this year to feel grateful. I think about releasing Ordinary Time into the world. I think about having Isaac, and none of that really feels like it would have been possible without the Bookshelf team cheering me on, holding down the fort, doing their job so beautifully and for some of them, like Erin, transitioning into new roles so beautifully. So thank you to the Bookshelf team. I think they have exquisite tastes and I hope you will check out their books. All of today's titles can be found on the bookshelf's website. Just type episode559 into the search bar and that's it for today. Next week I will be back with Hunter where we will unveil our top 10 books of 2025. I hope you'll join us next week. Thanks for your patience as some of these episodes are a little bit shorter than usual. It's just because we're running a flesh and blood brick and mortar bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia and we hope we see you this holiday season.
- [20:33]
This week I'm reading a beautiful year by diana butler bass.
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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, Bookshelf, Tville 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 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 Cami Tidwell, Jamie Treadwell, Linda Lee Drost Jean Queens Martha Stephanie Dean Beth Ashley Farrell, Amanda Wickham, Nicole Marcy Wendy Jenkins. 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 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. Just go to patreon.com from the front porch we're so grateful for you and we look forward to meeting back here next week.