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Through the private Instagram account, you'll get access to my book reviews, backlist and front list titles. I host monthly Instagram story Q&As and share about the books I start but never finish. If you follow me personally online, you've seen my reviews for years. And of course, from the Front Porch listeners will always have access to these free monthly reading recap episodes. The private Instagram is simply 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 to order my five Star reads each month free from the store. There's a quarterly newsletter option for the social media averse too. For more information or to sign up for the 2026 group, it's never too late. Visit anniebjoneswrites.com Fivestar Book Club There's a link in the show Notes. Now back to the show. Every month I like to give short reviews of the books I read that month, and since we haven't done these in a while, I'm going to share some of my December reviews too. I'm still going to try to keep this episode tight, but I did quite a bit of reading in December and did not cover it here on the podcast. So I want to recap a couple of those books that I still think would be worthy of your TBR lists and then I'll move into the books that I read in January. So first off, in December I wound up going on like a little booker spree. I don't typically align a ton with booker that I'M referring to the Booker Awards. I don't always read in line with Booker tastes. I more align I think with the Pulitzer, occasionally the National Book Award, but for whatever reason I found myself reading several novels back to back that were Booker long listed or shortlisted last year or in previous years. One of the books that I read but I'm not going to review here is oh gosh, Small Great Things, the Claire Keegan book. That's the name of it right now. I'm blanking. But anyway, it's that short almost novella that's very much set around the holiday time. I think it has since become a maybe a Netflix or TV adaptation. But anyway, I really liked it. I'm just not going to review it here because to me it's quite a seasonal book. But I read quite a few Booker nominated or long listed shortlisted titles and one of them was Stone Yard Devotional. This is by Charlotte Wood. I have referenced or talked about this book in a previous episode of from the Front Porch. I did find a way to kind of sneak it in. This book is quiet and sparse. Our unnamed narrator finds herself, despite her lack of belief, retreating to a convent in the wilderness of Australia. Australia kind of right during the height of the pandemic and unbeknownst to maybe me or you, perhaps if you live in lived in Australia or New Zealand, maybe you were familiar with this. But at the same time we were all experiencing the COVID 19 pandemic, Australia was experiencing it too, and they were also experiencing a mouse plague. And when I say a mouse plague, I was talking about this with Olivia and she thought I meant mice were dying. That's not what I mean. I mean mice were infiltrating spaces in Australia. And so in this book mice play a crucial role. And I did have somebody comment to me on my Instagram account, they said how how much mice are we talking? Guys? It's so much mice. I It's so much mice. Which was not that did not bother me in any way. But I do need you to know there is there there are a lot of mice in this book. And so if that is a turn off for you in any way, I guess be warned. Anyway, the unnamed narrator, she retreats to this convent and despite her need for uncomplicated silence, she find lot of complications. Of course, the nuns themselves run hot or cold depending on the day. The mice are scampering wildly throughout the walls and across the floorboards. And then a dead nun's bones wind up returning to the convent and they find their home in the great room. And so this book winds up being about, yes, faith and doubt, but it's also about grief, uncertainty, forgiveness, coming to terms, coming to terms with the lives we've been given. I loved this book. I loved it. I'm kind of annoyed that I read it after our top 10 books of the Year episode, because this would for sure have been in my top 10. If you're a fan of Matrix by Lauren Groff, Wild Dark Shore, Memorial Days, if any of those are appealing to you, the Memorial Days comp comes from the setting of Memorial Days. A lot of that book is set in Australia and so the setting felt familiar to me. This was long listed for the Booker. It was a New York Times Notable Book at the end of 2025. I loved it and just wanted to talk about it one more time because I do think it's a great, wintry book to read. It's not particularly set in the winter, as I recall. In fact, maybe quite hot and dusty in Australia, but it felt wintry to read. It felt like a book that you hunker down in your cozy chair with. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. So that is Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood. I finished that in December. Also in December, I picked up the Land in Winter. This is by Andrew Miller. This was also, I believe, long listed for the Booker. My friend kind of hands sold me this one after it had been hand sold to her. So it was hand sold to her in her local bookstore out in the Midwest. And then she hand sold it to me. And I'm always curious what other bookstores are recommending what they're selling. This book is quiet. It is told from the perspectives of two different couples across December 1962. The women in each marriage are both pregnant and they develop kind of an unlikely friendship. And then the men barely know each other exists. One's a doctor, one's a farmer. And this is a book, I cannot stress this enough, where nothing huge happens. Like I kind of kept waiting for some big moment that would kind of turn the novel on its head. And that moment never really came unless we're talking at the very, very end. And that's a very different kind of book. And so this is not a plot driven book. This is a character driven novel about these two couples. I had a lot of folks ask me if this. A lot of folks on Instagram ask me if this was like Dear Beloved or Crossing to Safety. Meh. I kind of think the. The best comp is Buckeye or a darker version of Niall Williams. If you have read Niall Williams books, I really appreciated the author's insight into each member of these couples. It's told from at least three, maybe four of their perspectives. You definitely get the two wives perspectives, but you also get the doctor's perspective. This was a five star book for me until the end. And that kind of big bombast kind of moment I was waiting for did eventually come, but not until the final pages. And I can't decide still even what I thought about it and how he chose to end it. But I'm so glad to have read it. This is great, obviously winter reading. Perhaps you get that from the title. It is set in a dark and cold December. This one is all about marriage and class. And in that way maybe it is a little bit reminiscent of Dearly Beloved or Crossing to Safety. But in my mind, I don't know the subject matter or the. The things that these couples are grappling with reminded me a little bit more of the things happening in In Buckeye. So I really like this one. It's got a beautiful cover. That is the Land in Winter by Andrew Miller. So those are the two books. I read quite a few books actually in December. I had a great December reading month which is almost beyond my comprehension. But I'm going to move on now to the books I finished in January. So I wanted to kind of wrap up my December reading here and then move on to January. So in January I began list to the audiobook of Meet the Newmans. This is by Jennifer Niven. It is narrated fantastically, I might add, by Maren Ireland and Tim Campbell. The main character is, well, there are a couple main characters, but really the focal point of the novel is Dinah Newman. The front cover is almost like a Doris Day type actress or type looking woman on the front cover which kind of sets the tone. I can't decide if it's an accurate tone, but it does set the tone. So Dinah Newman is this woman who at the heart of the Newman family. The Newman family is beloved by America. They are famous on tv. They have this long lasting, long running television show. And now the real world of the 1960s, kind of the upheaval of the 1960s is trickling into the show. And the show is starting to feel a little bit out of touch, out of reality. And the Newmans are struggling to find a way to continue their beloved television show in the middle of cultural upheaval. So while that is happening and kind of while that's happening in the background, Del Newman, Dinah's husband, who's kind of the force behind the TV show. He is in a car accident and the car accident prevents him from being able to make decisions about the show and that eventually falls to Dinah. That's kind of the. The underlying plot that's kind of happening. In the meantime, each of the members of the Newman family is trying to find their way in the 1960s. This has a great 1960s LA setting, very memorable to me. Kind of Los Angeles setting. Maybe it's because I was reading this while the Netflix Warner Brothers of it all was happening, but I. I really liked being in this world of studio lot and TV making and I don't know, I really, really loved the setting of this one. I also really loved the Newmans. And I think if Jennifer Niven had focused entirely on the Newmans, I would have been totally sold on this book. And instead she chooses to incorporate kind of all of these side characters who force Dinah and her family to act. So Dinah sometimes doesn't quite feel like the deciding force. Instead, she's heavily influenced by the forces at work around her, whether it's people or the culture. So the book shines when it is about Dinah, Del and their two sons. One of them is like the stereotypical, like eldest son. He's doing all the right things. He is the future of the show. He's trying to direct episodes of the show, but that kind of grates on Del's nerves. And then behind the scenes, maybe he has a love affair with his roommate and best friend and they're trying to keep it under wraps because obviously the 1960s is not kind to same sex couples. And so that is kind of one plot point. And then the other younger son is almost this Beatles esque, very popular young singer songwriter and he's trying to find his way through fame. I loved all of the Newmans. I was very invested in each of their storylines. I was less invested in the side characters that Jennifer adds, Jennifer Niven adds. And as a result, the book kind of becomes a little bit complicated. I think if the book had focused on the Newman family and the issues facing the Newman family, that would have been fine. But I think instead Jennifer Niven was trying to address all of the things that were happening in the 60s that maybe were the backdrop against which the Newman's are trying to make their old fashioned, you know, black and white television show. It was between three and a half to four stars for me. The audiobook is fantastic. The audiobook is fantastic. Certainly, I think the most obvious comp title and the one the publishers have been pushing this month is is Lessons in Chemistry. This is definitely poppier feeling than Lessons in Chemistry, though not as poppy as the COVID suggests. There are some heavy things happening in this book. I would argue too many to the detriment of the book. So I liked this one. I think it'd probably make a great book club selection. And I know Aaron picked it for our audiobook shelf subscription and that made total sense to me because it is excellent in audiobook format. So if you're going to read this one, I would do it in audiobook format. The narrators Marin Ireland and Tim Campbell do a really great job. This is one that would be great to discuss because I think there could be a lot of complicated. Not complicated. That's not the word I'm looking for. There could be a lot of contrasting opinions about this one. I think some readers will love it. I think some people could hate it. So that is Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven. Excellent in audiobook format. I listened of course through Libro fm. Then because Meet the Newmans did not quite hit for me, I wound up not choosing it for my January shelf subscription. Instead, I felt like Erin was absolutely right to pick it as her audiobook subscription, so I had to keep hunting for a January shelf sub. So I picked up Lost Lambs by Madeleine Cash. This is a debut novel about the Flynn family. I loved it. 5 stars. It was my January shelf subscription. It is not for everyone. It is not for everyone. I think I compared this in my shelf sub card to Fleischman is in trouble. Fleischman is in trouble. Kevin Wilson, Marcy Durmanski. Sons and daughters of ease and plenty. That is the direction this book goes. I loved it. Not everyone will. So we are. We are introduced to the the Flynn family. Bud and Catherine are the mom and dad, the husband and wife. Their marriage is falling apart. But before they fully call it quits, they decide not so much in a family meeting, but just like by sleeping with other people, to sleep with other people. Like they don't really have a con about it. They just all of a sudden decide to try an open marriage, an open relationship. While they are doing that, their daughters have their own issues to contend with. There's a boyfriend nicknamed War Crime Wes. There is a possible conspiracy tied up in their dad's place of business. And then there's a gnat infestation at the local church. And this does matter. Mice are to Stonyard devotional as gnats are to lost lambs. Madeline Cash's characters to me are very Amy Sherman Palladino esque. Smart, quick, witty, very funny. Cash's writing feels clever. I laughed out loud multiple parts. Although it is a very certain type of humor, which is why I I use the Amy Sherman Palladino comp because it's weird dark humor. Definitely weird dark humor. Especially when it comes to the conspiracy that the dog, one of the younger daughters, thinks is happening at her dad's work. There is so much going on in this work. The three daughters each have their own different issues that they're battling and facing. I love this one. I could not put it down. Like I took a copy with me when I went to go get I think I got a manicure pedicure at the beginning of this month and the poor I rarely in fact I could probably count on one hand how many manicures I've had in my life. But I was desperate post Christmas this But the thing about a manicure is you can't use your hands. So I brought my Kindle and I will never forget the nail technician. He was so kind because I was like trying to be subtle. I didn't want to be a pain. So I was like subtly balancing the Kindle in my lap and like tapping every chance I could to keep the pages turning. And finally the nail technician like got me this a stand to hold my Kindle up while he did my nails. It was so lovely and wonderful. But that's how desperate I was to keep reading this book. I was totally hooked. I loved it. I think once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down. That is Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash. It's a debut novel. It is fantastic. If you like the comps that I mentioned, if you like Kevin Wilson, if you like Marcy Drmansky, Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, if you like that kind of literature, Fleischmann is in trouble. Then you will like this. Okay then throughout December and into January, I was listening to. I guess I'm trying to think maybe I finished Meet the Newmans in December actually. Anyway, I was kind of on the hunt for a January shelf sub. But after I finished Meet the Newmans, I started listening to the book the Rest of Our Lives. This is by Ben Markovitz. And I picked this one up because at this point in time I had wound up reading quite a few of the Booker long list. And so I guess I was just kind of like, well, let's keep it going. And I did not realize that this book was already out in the UK but it did not release in America until January, so it is out now. You are able to read it, listen to it. I listened to it in audiobook format through Libro. The audiobook is narrated by Eric Myers. I liked the audiobook. I don't think you have to listen to this one in audiobook format. And this actually wound up being shortlisted for the Booker. I will just be very transparent with you. I don't fully understand why I. I wound up liking this one, but I hated. Oh, my gosh, I hated the character so much. The. The narrator. I want to be clear, I don't hate Eric Myers, the narrator. I hate the character Tom, who is narrating this book. Yeah, the first 50 to 100 pages. It's hard to say when you're listening, but I think about the 51st 5200 pages. I did not like this book and I almost gave up. I took the question to my private Instagram and I was like, should I stop reading this? And a couple of people encouraged me, Most people said to give up. A couple of women encouraged me to keep reading. I'm glad I kept reading. It wound up. I think it is four stars in terms of literary quality. I could totally see it being long listed for an award. Shortlisted. I don't know. But I think I understood by the end what Ben Markovitz, the author, was trying to do. And Ben Markovitz actually has a great. Is it technically an op ed? He has a great op Ed in the New York Times, kind of about what inspired this book and that. I read it after I finished the book and that maybe helped me further understand some of the decisions he made. So our main character, our protagonist and narrator is Tom. Tom is sardonic. He's down in the dumps. He's a law professor, kind of on sabbatical. That maybe sort of has been for. I really did not like Tom. I cannot stress this enough. Tom and his wife have a complicated marriage. His wife had an affair years previous and Tom, air quotes, forgave her, but you can tell obviously not, very obviously not. And their youngest daughter is about to go to college. And Tom has kind of always told himself if he would just keep the marriage together until after the girls were out of the house, then he could kind of of live his life, divorce his wife if he wants, et cetera. So the book opens with Tom and his wife and kind of you get maybe a sense of their marriage. It is not good. And he winds up taking his daughter, their daughter to college. And the wife doesn't go. And I have a lot of questions. I have a lot of questions. But anyway, Tom takes his daughter to college and then decides to continue the road trip. So this is a road trip book in which Tom winds up crossing the country to California. So he starts on the east coast and then heads to California, along the way playing some pickup basketball. He has always been kind of in love with the sport of basketball. He kind of thinks maybe he could write a book about pickup basketball and the power of pickup basketball to bring people together. But the book is really all about the inner workings of Tom's mind and all the things going around in his head. Not only his marriage, but his relationship to his friends, to his relationship to past loves, some of whom he meets along the way of this road trip. And also underlying most of this is Tom's health and his failing health, his aging. And then Tom is also struggling with maybe the new world that he's trying to navigate as a lawyer and law professor and some of the things that are coming up in his career. I don't know, stuff dealing with the MeToo movement or, in Tom's view, political correctness or things like that. Here's the magic of the book, because there is some magic to it, which is I hated Tom. I hated Tom for most of this book. And somehow I did not wind up loving Tom. That would be inaccurate. But I did wind up seeing Tom more fully as the story unfolded. And I wound up understanding him better. By story's end, he's evaluating his life on this road trip. His health is slowly deteriorating. I never felt a kinship with him, but by the end I felt like I got him better. And I think that is the magic of the book is that it helped me understand this character who I previously had a real intense hatred or dislike of. This book is not for everybody. And surely by listening to this review you know that if you already have a bias against male protagonists, and I know some of you do, you can leave this one on the shelf. You don't have to read this, but I for one, am glad that I persevered and gave it a chance. It's not the best Road Trip novel I read last year. That that award, I think, would go to Road to Tender Hearts. But I liked it and I'm glad to have read it. I ultimately am really glad to have read it. So I also think it's good in audiobook format. I liked the narrator. I think the narrator did a good job of being Tom, both for better and for worse. So I'm glad I read it. It wasn't my favorite book I ever read, but I. I am glad to have to have gotten to know Tom a little bit better. Okay. Then I picked up this Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman. Allegra Goodman just keeps on putting out hits. This one. And now. I'm so sorry, now that I'm looking at my list, I finished all of those books in December. Oh my gosh, I really did have a great December read. So I read Stonyard, Devotional Land in Winter, Meet the Newmans, Lost Lambs, and the Rest of Our Lives all in December because this Is Not About Us was my first book of the year. Wow. December and January do kind of run together to me. Anyway, this Is Not About Us was my first book of January. Interesting. I picked this one up because again, kind of on the hunt for shelf subscriptions for books to talk about in literary first look, which is coming up. This book releases February 10th. You will recognize Allegra Goodman from Isola, which is her historical novel that came out, historical fiction that came out last year. And then I Love and have Long Sung the Praises of Sam, which came out a couple years ago. It was a shelf subscription pick for me. I loved that book. I am fascinated by Allegra Goodman because each of her books is so vastly different from the other and they've all been great. I did not read a Sola, but it got starred reviews from basically everybody and I heard about it from multiple readers. I just wound up not picking it up, though now I am tempted to go back. So this Is Not About Us is totally different. It is a collection of connected short stories. Though it did read like a novel to me. Like, I think if I had not told you it was a collection of short stories, you, the reader might not have known that they are connected short stories. But yeah, to me it just felt like a novel told from different, varying perspectives of the Rubinstein family. So the Rubenstein family have these three sisters who are the matriarchs. They're each in their 70s, early 80s. And the book opens with the death of one of the sisters. And I'm not going to go into a ton of detail, but what I will tell you is there is an apple cake that is on the COVID of this book, and that is the inciting incident after which all the rest of the plot follows. So the Rubenstein family is relatively close. They have these three very Jewish matriarchs who kind of keep the family together. And then a feud begins after the death of one of the Sisters and the presence of this apple cake and the. The rest of the novel. The rest of the stories kind of unfold with this rift in the family underlying everything. Each story is about a different member of the Rubenstein family. I read this one on my Kindle. I'm trying to remember if there's like a family tree at the beginning. I think that there is. I didn't need it, and I don't think you will need it either. But that kind of gives you an idea of what to expect. Each member of the Rubenstein family kind of gets their own story. And I loved this one. Actually. The New Yorker published one of the short stories, and my understanding is maybe she published one of the short stories a few years ago and readers begged for more of this family. And so the result is this is not about us. And I loved it. I think it's fantastic. Really good New Year's reading. The first book I finished in January 2026. It releases in February. It is excellent. It is. This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman. The less I say about it, I think the better. Next up, I read Vigil by George Saunders. I had started this one in December and then decided to hold it until January. It released January 27, so it released this week, so it's out now. Jill. I'm using air quotes. Doll Blaine. We kind of know her as Doll. She is. I don't know that we've ever. I don't know that George Saunders calls her an angel, but we're kind of led to believe she's an angel type figure. She's hurtling through the air to her next mission. She has always been responsible for helping lost souls find their way to the next life. And. And so there is a powerful oil tycoon on his deathbed, and Doll Blaine finds herself on a mission to help him to the. To the afterlife. Unfortunately. Unfortunately for her, this powerful oil tycoon, K.J. boone, which is a great name for a character, K.J. boone doesn't really seem to need her comfort. He doesn't have regret. He doesn't have a desire to make amends, even though all the evidence points to the fact that he should have regret, he should want to make amendments, sins. And so Doll kind of finds it her responsibility to somehow help him see the light. Weirdly, I think the comp to this is a Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life. I mean, those are definitely the vibes. It's not campy. Like it. It. It's not campy to me. It's Quite a serious work, very much in line with the same themes Saunders was addressing in Lincoln and the Bardo, which is, like, for me, a top 10 of the last. Was that published in the last decade? I'm losing track of time, but I do think it was published within the last decade and I loved it. And so if you liked Lincoln and the Bardo, to me, Vigil is a less complicated version of that story because he's dealing with the exact same themes. He's dealing with grief and death in this book. He's also dealing with human nature, the complexity of it, what we might face at the end, meaning facing our own demons, facing our own decisions. This is a book about capitalism. This is a book about are we good or bad? Are we. Are we complicated? Are we somewhere in the middle? Is this powerful oil tycoon a villain? Or is he just a person? I thought this was excellent. I loved it. I think if you like. If you liked Lincoln and the Bardo, pick this one up. If you didn't like Lincoln and the Bardo, but you appreciated the themes of it, like, maybe you thought Lincoln and the Bardo was a little bit convoluted or too many characters. This simplifies it because really, most of the characters in this book, I mean, there are a few people at play, but the two primary characters in the work are Doll and KJ Boon, whose name I did have to look up a couple times because really, it's Doll trying to grapple with why this person, why she can't quite shuttle him to the afterlife the way she has done so many times before. I really like this one. It's short, complex. If I were you, the best way to read this book, in my opinion, is in one or two sittings. Don't let it go beyond that. I think it's meant to be consumed in one or two sittings. It's almost. I mean, it's not. It's not short enough, but it's almost novella like. Loved it. Vigil by George Saunders came out this week. I then listened to another audiobook I downloaded, this story, Might Save youe Life by Tiffany crumb. This releases March 10th. I fully picked this one up because I finished the Ben Markovitz, I finished Meet the Newmans, and I needed an audiobook to fill the void. And I saw that Julia Whelan narrated this. And I have a complicated relationship with Julia Whelan, but one thing I will say about her is she's comforting because I've heard her voice so many times. I've heard her voice so many times that when I see a book is narrated by her, I'm like, well, might as well give it a go. And that is the only reason I picked this up. This book is not just narrated by Julia Whelan, though. It is also narrated by Sean Patrick Hopkins, who does a great job. And this book is another one like Meet the Newmans, that I think the only way to read it is in audiobook format. I mean, I fully believe that that is the only way to read this book. So it is about Joy and Benny. Joy and Benny are podcasters. They have a podcast, a kind of survivalist podcast about how to survive these very weird sc. The audiobook is great because you get actual snippets of the podcast episodes. Kind of like that Amy Tintera book. Oh gosh, what was the name of it? Listen for the Lie. I had to look it up because I kept wanting to say two truths and a lie and that wasn't it. Listen for the Lie. So kind of like that where you get this great kind of production, you get really an audiobook production in this book. So Joy and Benny are lifelong best friends. They have this podcast together and they are on the cusp, like they're on eve of signing this really big podcast deal, like million dollar deal, Millions of dollar deal, Millions of dollars deal. Joy goes missing. Joy and her husband Xander go missing. And so Benny is as the best friend, as the podcast co host, kind of one of the top suspects. And you get his perspective and then you also get Joy's perspective. We don't know what's happened to Joy, but she has left behind a half written memoir. And so you get Joy's perspective in the past tense and then you get Benny's perspective in the present. The setup is great. I think the setup is great. I think the audiobook is fantastic. I loved 60% of this book. By the end, she lost me a little bit. The author lost me a little bit. I don't think she'll lose everybody. I think a lot of people will really like this book. I think it's already gotten a little bit of buzz. It shock me if this was some kind of celebrity book club selection. Feels like it could be a Reese pick. Yeah, I, I think this one will make a lot of. I think this one will make a splash. I liked it, loved the first 60%. Fantastic in audiobook format. I think it's well worth your time. I think it'll just depend on what kind of reader you are. How Tiffany Crumb as an author kind of wraps everything up. I think think. I think mileage will vary, but overall I liked it. This Story Might Save youe Life by Tiffany crumb, releases on March 10th. Fantastic. In audiobook format. Then I picked up the Reservation by Rebecca Kaufman. I started this one months ago on Kindle because I really like Rebecca Kaufman. Actually, this is a huge overlap for me and Aaron. Aaron, I think, has read I'll Come to youo and Chorus, which are the two maybe more recent Rebecca Kaufman books. I read the Gunners and the House on Fripp island, which are her early, earlier work. So I think between the two of us, Aaron and I are Rebecca Kaufman completionists. This is her new book, which I immediately saw in the publisher catalog, downloaded it to my Kindle, and then I started reading it. And the Kindle version, the E reader version, was messed up. Like there were weird capital letters everywhere. And so I stopped reading. I was like, I cannot. I'm barely an E reader anyway and you mess up the format and I cannot do it. So I put it down down and I was like, I'll just wait till I get a physical arc. And reader. Wouldn't you know it, I never got a physical arc. And then I saw our friend Meg of Meg's Reading Room. I saw her rave about this one and I was like, dang it. I knew that was going to be a good book and I was stubborn and wouldn't read the E reader copy. So I went back, redownloaded the book and it still had some capital letter type issues, but overall was not nearly as bad as the the first version. I don't really know what happened. Anyway, I downloaded this, redownloaded this to my E reader and read it in one sitting. I. Well, one sitting, maybe multiple sittings. But one day I loved it. Five stars. Five stars. Oh my gosh, it's so good. The Reservation by Rebecca Kaufman. It does feel a little similar to the Allegra Goodman book I just mentioned. This is not about us because this feels like another novel told in stories. Feels kind of like these connected short stories tell the story of this restaurant one day in a restaurant's life. So the book is told from the restaurant staffers, perspectives, the line cook, the chef, the hostess, the owner. You kind of get all their perspective over the course. All their perspectives over the course of a day. Because at the very beginning of the book, 21 ribeyes go missing. Missing or was or is it 22 quite a few rib eye steaks go missing from this restaurant. And so that is like the. Again, like the apple cake in the, in the other book I mentioned that is kind of the inciting incident, the, the underlying mystery, though this book is in no way, shape or form a traditional whodunit or mystery. You do, as the reader, want to know who stole those steaks, who took those steaks? But ultimately, this book is beautiful. Oh, it is so beautiful about food, about restaurant work, about the service industry. There is one character in particular who will stick with me for a very long time, and I suspect the case would be true for a lot of readers. I loved this one. I know Aaron ultimately read this one and loved it too. Just one of my favorite books of the year so far, which it's Early Days, obviously, in the words of Love island, it's early days, but I loved it. The Reservation by Rebecca Kaufman. After I finished the audiobook, narrated by Julia Whelan, I again was kind of like, I gotta keep the momentum going. And my friend Jennifer told me I needed to read Homeschooled. This is by Stephen Merrill Block. It is the read with Jenna Pick for January. I had downloaded this to my Kindle, started it and did not like it, was not interested, put it down, thought good for someone, but not for me. And I downloaded the audiobook on recommendation of my friend and also did not think I was gonna like the audiobook. I just. Stefan Merrill Block narrates his own book. So he is the narrator, and that makes total sense. It is his memoir, his story. But I wasn't sold on his narration by the end. I was, because I do think a memoir is best told by the person who wrote it. But not every, and I think we all know this, not every author is a great audiobook narrator. So I struggled a little bit with the narration. But ultimately I was glad I listened to this one, though if I was really recommending it, I think I would recommend it to you in print format first. So if you are not familiar with this one, it is the memoir. A memoir about Stephen Merrill Block's experience as a teenager adolescent growing up in Plano, Texas, when his mom decides to homeschool him. And I do want to use the word homeschool very, very loosely, very loosely here. And there is an author's note at the end of the book book. I do wonder if it should be at the beginning of the book because this, the title of this book to me is not a hundred percent indicative or does not totally convey what's inside. This book is not in my mind a book about homeschooling. This is a book about a mother Son. This is a mother son story. A complicated mother son story. This isn't even, like, Educated. That's not what this is. This is. Hmm. I'm gonna struggle with a comp. I literally finished this one this morning, and I was like, I have to talk about it. So I don't know that I have a comp for you yet, but I think the publisher is saying educated, and I would push back on that. I don't think that's what this is. This is a mother son story about a woman who doesn't want her son to grow up, and she keeps him at home and homeschools him throughout his adolescence until he ultimately enters, like, the largest high school in the country in Plano, Texas. I wound up really liking this book. I liked the back half way more than I liked the front. I was really mad at the mom throughout a lot of this book. And I think Stefan Merrill Block does a really good job of handling his own story with grace and the story of his mother with grace, even though there's some abuse happening here. I mean, there really is. And so it's complicated. It's complicated. But I do think it is worth a read. I really liked it. I really liked it. And so if you can handle it, and I think you can. I believe in you. I believe in you, dear reader. I think you can handle it. I really liked it. That is Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block. I feel like I didn't give it its justice here in the podcast, but that is because I literally finished the audiobook as I was pulling into the driveway this morning. Great for book clubs. Would be an excellent book club book. If I hadn't already picked my book club for reader retreat, I would pick this one because I think there's a lot to unpack together. So that is Homeschooled by Stefan Merrill Block. I now see why it was a Jenna Bush Hager. I wasn't sure, and now I totally get it. I think he sticks to the landing, nails the landing, nails the ending. And I think this one's worth your time. So those are the books I read in December and January. Kind of wrapped up my December reading and then New Year reading. And honestly, great, like, really good start, really good end to 2025 and really good start to 2026. I feel good. There was a moment in probably two weeks ago where I thought, oh, no, I'm not gonna finish anything, because I was kind of stuck on a book anyway. I'm so glad I kind of moved past that little slump because I wound up having a really great reading month and I think I kind of was able to keep the momentum going from December, which I'm shocked by. So those are the books I read in December and January. If you're new here, we do a Reading Recap bundle for these Reading Recap episodes, so we are offering a January bundle. The bundle is $77 and includes three books the land in Winter by Andrew Miller, Homeschooled by Stephen Merrill Block and Vigil by George Saunders. Wow. Whoops. Great stack. All male authors. What do you know? I can surprise even myself. You can find more details and the January bundle online through the link in our show notes or go to bookshelf thomasville.com you can type today's episode number 566 into the search bar and all of today's books will come up as well as the bundle. I would love to know what you read this month, so feel free to find our post on Instagram about today's episode and tell us how your January reading was. This week I'm finishing up Whidbey by T. Kira Madden. From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow the bookshelf's daily happenings on Instagram @bookshelftville 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. 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