Episode 458 || New Release Rundown: January
Happy New Year! This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another New Release Rundown! Annie, Olivia, and Erin are sharing the October releases they’re excited about to help you build your TBR. What better way to start the year than with new books?
When you purchase or preorder any of the books they talk about, enter the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order!
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our website (type “Episode 458” into the search bar and tap enter to find the books mentioned in this episode) or or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie's books:
Mercury by Amy Jo Burns (out now)
Anna O by Matthew Blake (out now)
Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley (releases 1/16)
Olivia's books:
Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson (releases 1/30)
The Fury by Alex Michaelides (releases 1/16)
Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook (releases 1/16)
Erin's books
Invisible Woman by Katia Lief (releases 1/9)
The Ladies Rewrite the Rules by Suzanne Allain (releases 1/9)
Old Crimes by Jill McCorkle (releases 1/9)
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
This week, Annie is reading Among the Bros by Max Marshall. Olivia is reading The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith by Tom Llewellyn. Erin is reading Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle.
If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Our Executive Producers are...Ashley Ferrell, Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Kate O’Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.
Transcript:
[squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South.
[music plays out]
“Protect the part of you that still winces at pain. Refuse to become too familiar with tragedy our souls were made to stir.” - Cole Arthur Riley, Black Liturgies
[as music fades out]
I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and... happy new year! For our first episode of 2024, I’m joined by Bookshelf operations manager Olivia and online sales manager Erin to give you a rundown of our favorite new books releasing in January. 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 friends, you’re 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. In 2024, we’re conquering the classic American novel Lonesome Dove together with monthly recap episodes. For $5 a month, you can access our conversations, as well as our Porch Visits, monthly live Q&As where we talk about everything from pop culture to nail polish to what books you should take on your next vacation. To learn more about our Patreon tiers and benefits, just visit patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. I’d love for you to join us there!
Annie Jones [00:01:47] Now back to the show. Hi, guys.
Olivia [00:01:49] Oh, happy New Year.
Erin [00:01:51] Hey.
Annie Jones [00:01:53] Happy New Year.
Erin [00:01:54] I know.
Annie Jones [00:01:57] I feel like we are still holiday hung over, but we're here to talk about January books, believe it or not. We each brought to the table three January books that are releasing this month. And as we go through our new releases, keep in mind that Erin has made browsing our podcast book selection super easy. You can go to Bookshelfthomasville.com, type Episode 457 into the search bar and you'll see all of today's books listed ready for you to preorder or purchase. You can use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order of any of today's titles. Well, did you guys have a hard time with January books? How are you feeling?
Olivia [00:02:39] Not at all. I had to pick and choose between a long list of books.
Erin [00:02:45] I had a little bit of a hard time, but I think I found three gems, so I'm excited about it.
Annie Jones [00:02:50] I think Olivia, I don't know why this is, but I feel like January is peak thriller season. I don't know why.
Olivia [00:02:57] It is. And honestly, it's a little daunting because it's all the big authors happen right now. Or at least all of my favorite authors come in January and then I'm just drowning in January books and I'm going to scrape in like November and December.
Annie Jones [00:03:16] Yeah. I don't know why, because I think we as people, as booksellers, as readers, associate thrillers with spooky season at least a little bit. But I feel like maybe it's cozy mystery season and that's why there are so many.
Erin [00:03:29] Yeah.
Olivia [00:03:30] You want that cold, isolated-- you want to be trapped in a house that [inaudible] Snowden and there's a murderer on the loose. Like, isn't that everyone's dream?
Annie Jones [00:03:46] I mean, I did make Ashley-- we took a road trip fairly recently, and I made her listen to a couple of true crime podcast episodes because it was super drizzly and rainy on our drive up, and that's what I was in the mood for. On the drive home, it was sunny and I was no longer in the mood for that. But I think there are just certain wintry scenes that I'm like, oh, yes, as a cozy-- something to hunker down with.
Erin [00:04:11] Yeah. And like you said, it feels like a bit of a hangover in January. And so I think our mysteries and thrillers might be like the Bloody Mary or the 'hair of the dog' or whatever that we need to get. I've never had a hangover, but I hear that's what people like to use.
Annie Jones [00:04:27] Hair of the dog, that sounds--
Olivia [00:04:28] Me neither.
Annie Jones [00:04:29] Yeah.
Olivia [00:04:31] But I did read two books set in Antarctica this month. I was like, I don't know if that's the theme.
Erin [00:04:36] Perfect setting.
Olivia [00:04:37] But like, yeah.
Annie Jones [00:04:38] Yeah. Well, maybe that's part of it. Is that a lot of really good thrillers are just set in cold weather. And so maybe that's part of why there's so many that are published right now. Okay, well, I will kick us off with my first book. Actually, I will talk about a thriller. Olivia, I don't know if I passed this one along to you, but this is a thriller called Anna O, by Matthew Blake. It's a British novel. It may come out in the UK before it came out here on January 2nd. It's a British novel where I read it last fall, and it very much reminded me of The X-Files because there's a young woman at the heart of the book who is accused of murder, but she committed the crime while she was sleepwalking. And after committing the crime, she immediately went into a deep coma like sleep for four years. And so she's been asleep for four years, and she's taken to a sleep clinic. She's transferred to a sleep clinic so that this doctor who specializes in sleep can wake her up and she can be put on trial. They are going to try her. She's just not been convicted because she's not been able to sit trial because she is asleep. And so it very much reminded me of a David Duchovny, like trying to investigate was this person really cognizant? And it did make you think about like I saw Mike Birbiglia's movie years ago called Sleepwalk With Me.
[00:06:06] Jordan during peak stress at law school, he sleepwalked, sleptwalked-- I'm never sure of the past tense. He sleepwalked a couple of times. It was terrifying. And so it makes you wonder what are you actually aware? Because when Jordan was sleepwalking, he had no idea what he was doing. So could you commit a crime while sleepwalking and be convicted? Or as the prosecutors in the book claim, were she faking sleepwalking? And so, anyway, the book is narrated and told mostly by the doctor. And in that way, it very reminiscent to me of the silent patient. The whole time I was reading it, I was like, oh-- I mean, I feel like, you know after Gone Girl came out and then Girl on the Train and we had like a smattering of those? No offense to Matthew Blake because I think this book is good. But it was very much like, oh, I wonder if he wrote this like after the Silent Patient or if a publisher picked it off the slush pile or something and was like, oh, yes, like now's the time. And I think if you like the Silent Patient, I do think you will like this. I had some qualms with the ending, but no spoilers, it was truly an enjoyable bingeable book. I hunkered down with it, read it over-- like it got me out of a reading slump. I think I read it in less than 24 hours. So it completely hooked me and captured me and kept me interested, even if maybe it didn't end the way I really wanted it to. But I think this is a satisfactory thriller, would be worth trying this winter season. That's Anna O and it's by Matthew Blake and it released on January 2nd. Did I give this to you, Olivia, or not?
Olivia [00:07:44] You did. And it's been sitting on my piano the whole time, and I just haven't picked it up.
Annie Jones [00:07:50] No worries. I was like, I haven't seen that book in a while, and I didn't know where I'd put it, but yeah.
Olivia [00:07:56] I have it. I'll read it at some point. I think I finally gotten through all of the authors in January that I wanted to read. Mission accomplished. My first book it's called Maud Horton's Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook, and this comes out January 16th. I found this on a whim, just like browsing through [inaudible]. And I was like, "This sounds good. This was one of my Antarctica books." Which then sent me down a deep hole of Antarctica and the Drake Passage.
Erin [00:08:29] Oh my gosh, I've been thinking about the Drake Passage a lot. Sure, sure.
Olivia [00:08:37] True, I have. It's like a part of me is like, I want to go. But then another part of me is like, don't put yourself in life risk situations. Why would you do that?
Erin [00:08:46] Exactly.
Annie Jones [00:08:48] Oh, you guys.
Olivia [00:08:49] Well, would you go to Antarctica?
Annie Jones [00:08:52] No, I just am laughing that only at the Bookshelf are two people on a podcast like, "Oh my gosh, I also was thinking about the Drake Passage."
Olivia [00:09:00] Might become my Roman Empire.
Annie Jones [00:09:02] It might be.
Erin [00:09:03] I watched a video-- like occasionally when I'm scrolling through my phone, I see these travel videos of a couple and they were going to Antarctica on a cruise ship or like some kind of ship. They were going to the Drake Passage, I don't know. But then I saw another video yesterday where somebody was on the Drake Passage and the boat was like going like this. And the waves were like overtaking the boat. And I was like, "No, sir. No, thank you. It's not worth it."
Olivia [00:09:29] Yeah, that is called the Drake Shake. So you either get the Drake Shake or you get the Drake Lake.
Erin [00:09:35] Okay, well, they got the lake. And I was like, I would do that. And then I saw the other one, I was like, no, no, I would not do that.
Olivia [00:09:41] Yeah, the Lake is really peaceful and it takes you no time to pass. The Shake is like 30 foot waves crashing into your ship. You have to, like, buckle yourself in for breakfast if you can even stop [crosstalk].
Annie Jones [00:09:53] Oh, no, like a child.
Olivia [00:09:58] So, Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge is about this sister Maude. This is set in the 1800s. And her younger sister sneaks onto this boat headed to Antarctica, which is in search of another ship that got lost over there. But it's at the time where it's superstitious to have a woman on the ship. So she dresses as a boy and keeps this diary of what's happening. And there's this guy who's very suspect on there. He's on there for the wrong reasons. And she kind of gets entangled in his way and she gets killed on the ship. So when the ship returns home, Maud is given her sister's clothing and her sister's journal. And from the journal, she starts to piece together what happened to her sister. It gave, like, Lost Apothecary vibes to me. I think for the people who loved Lost Apothecary, you'll love this one. It's this, like, feminist revolution women who their father works in an apothecary type shop. They're very smart and very good at what they do. There is no like time flash forward or flash back. It's just the same time, the whole time.
Annie Jones [00:11:14] That's what I was going to ask.
Olivia [00:11:14] Sometimes you get excerpts from her sister's journal as she was traveling through Antarctica. And then the other part is you get it from the perspective of the guy that her sister thinks is the villain of this story. And so you get him when he gets back to the mainland. His point of view, which I thought was really interesting because he was just an interesting character. But it was surprisingly great. I will say I read this on my e-reader. I downloaded it from Edelweiss. I don't know who made the digital copy of this, but it was missing F, I and F, L in any word.
Annie Jones [00:11:51] Oh, your brain. What a real puzzle.
Olivia [00:11:55] So like, for instance, it said fire and flame. It would say -re and -ame and you would just have to put in the first two letters. So, yeah, it took me a little while to get through it, but I really enjoyed it. I stuck through it. So that's a good sign right there. I think it was great. And that was Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge.
Erin [00:12:21] I love the title. Like the title alone makes me want-- a glorious revenge is something I want to read about. Okay. My first book is called Invisible Woman by Katia Lief. It comes out January 9th. Our main protagonist is Joni, and she is a filmmaker who is married to a very powerful entertainment executive. And in the beginning of the book, you find out that there's this other very powerful entertainment executive, sort of like this happens in real life too where there's a powerful executive, all these women start coming out and saying that he had assaulted them when they were younger. And so he's about to have his downfall. And it turns out that that Joni's friend, Val, was one of those women. And she remembers it and she knows about it and Val knows about it, but they've decided to keep it a secret all these years. And they've kind of grown apart, so they haven't seen each other in a while. And so when the news comes out, Joni tries to contact Val, and Val does not want to come out. She doesn't want to talk about it. And Johnny keeps kind of pushing her and she doesn't know why Val doesn't want to talk about it. But it turns out that Val has a secret about that assault that would ruin Joni's life. So you start to kind of figure out, like, what is the secret? How is it connected to Joni? And so I would say it's a thriller, but it's not. It kept me turning the pages, it kept me up reading at night. But I don't know. The character of Joni is so complex and the situation is very complex that it feels less like a thriller and more like a friendship, like a novel about this friendship. But it has the trappings of like a me too situation. But it kept me going. Every once in a while they dropped a little crumb and I was like, oh, I got to keep reading. So it started slow. I didn't know what it was about, and then I couldn't put it down. And the characters, they feel very authentic. They feel very well written. I don't know if this is her debut novel or not, but I will continue reading this. It's called Invisible Woman by Katia Lief. It comes out January 9th.
Annie Jones [00:14:34] I do love a toxic friendship story. That's very interesting to me.
Erin [00:14:39] Oh, so good. So good.
Annie Jones [00:14:43] Okay. My next book is very much like a typical Annie book. It is called Mercury. This is by Amy Jo Burns. It released on January 2nd. Amy Jo Burns wrote Shiner, which was pretty critically acclaimed. I remember it because it's a book I should have read, like everyone told me to read it. Hunter really told me to read it. Hunter loved Shiner, and he said it was a book I would have enjoyed, and I just never picked it up. So when I saw this ARC of her new book on my desk or in the mail, I was like, oh, well, maybe I'll give that one a try since I accidentally did not read Shiner. So Mercury is by Amy Jo Burns. It is about the Joseph brothers. So there's three brothers and they all run this roofing company in Mercury, Pennsylvania. And Marley, as a young woman, comes to town. I think she's maybe in her late teens and she's just desperately seeking a family. And she immediately kind of becomes part of the Joseph brothers family. I will say I love how the blurb on the back of the book describes this, and so far it is accurate. I'm currently reading this book, but basically she becomes young wife to one, one who got away to another, and adopted mother to all three. So she becomes a part of this Joseph brother family. But the book opens where their marriage is in trouble. Marley's marriage is kind of in trouble. They have a child together and then the two brothers go out on a roofing job at the local church. You can tell they've lived in this town forever. This town is very connected, maybe small town vibes. And so the brothers go to do this roofing job at the church and there's a big leak. The priest is standing there kind of looking at it. They're fixing it. And then one of the brothers goes up and there's a dead body up in the roof of the church and it's decomposed. And Marley, the young woman who is now middle aged, she and her friend find out and they're like, oh, no, is our secret out?
Olivia [00:16:46] What? [crosstalk].
Annie Jones [00:16:54] That's that's like the first, I don't know, 20 or 30 pages of this book.
Erin [00:16:59] Wow! What an opening.
Annie Jones [00:17:01] Yes. And then the book flashes back, I think, to show us how Marley and these brothers kind of became who they now are. Gosh, I love a dysfunctional family story. I love a small town story. I love a little bit of mystery. And I like kind of these flashback points where you meet these people in adulthood, but obviously you need to know how they met, how they interacted for the first time. What brought Marley here? Now we need to know what Marley secret is. Does she actually know what happened to this dead body? I am really liking it so far. The plot, the kind of quiet-- yes, there's a lot happening, as I just said, but like it's kind of quietly written just about these people in this town. I think it's going to be an Annie book, maybe even along the same lines as Empire Falls, which I loved last fall. So this is Mercury by Amy Jo Burns. It is one of those books in which-- I am sorry, no offense to both of you, but I am sorry I'm talking to you instead of cozied up in my bed reading it right now. Does that make sense?
Erin [00:18:04] That's fair.
Annie Jones [00:18:05] I really want to finish it. So anyway, that's another one of my January picks.
Olivia [00:18:12] I feel like you don't find many books set in Pennsylvania. Or if they are, they're set in the city.
Annie Jones [00:18:17] I thought of you.
Olivia [00:18:18] Thank you. I have to know where Mercury is. I don't know.
Erin [00:18:20] Is that a real place? Yeah. I was like, is it a real city? Let us know.
Olivia [00:18:25] [Inaudible] talk about Pennsylvania all the time because we're just like, it's such a blast. And I can say that because I'm from there. There's not many distinguishing qualities outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Annie Jones [00:18:35] And Amish country.
Olivia [00:18:37] Okay, Funny you should say that. Yeah. I grew up in Amish country. Well, makes fun of me for it. But I went on this like Instagram where it was like this AI generates women from each state. And I got to Pennsylvania, and it was an Amish lady. And I was like, great. And then I go to Georgia and it's just some blond chick holding peaches. And I was like, all right.
Annie Jones [00:19:01] Yeah.
Erin [00:19:02] That seems accurate.
Annie Jones [00:19:03] Yeah, that is accurate.
Olivia [00:19:04] It was pretty accurate. It was sadly, very accurate. My next book is set in Greece. I feel silly talking about this because I feel like everyone's going to find this book anyways. Alex Michaelides came out with a new book called The Fury. It's out January 16th and it is excellent. I read The Silent Patient, I read The Maidens. He does a thriller like no one else, and I don't know how he puts in because I feel like a lot of thrillers set you up in these kind of unrealistic standards. And then when they end, they're just like, well, yeah, of course that didn't end very realistically because this whole thing wasn't. But he sets it up and ends it in a way where you're just like, yeah, okay, that feels plausible. And there's always a huge twist, and I feel like he's just the master of it. I also didn't look up how to say his last name but I, this could be a fault of mine, feel pretty confident that I nailed that.
Erin [00:19:57] I think that sounds right. Yeah. Michaelides.
Annie Jones [00:20:00] It sounds good to me.
Olivia [00:20:02] So the theory is that on this little Greek island, and the whole story is told by this man, Elliot, who is best friends to this woman, Lorna, who is like a A-lister movie star. Everyone knows Lorna. She gets flocked wherever she goes, and she just wants a quiet Easter with her close friends and family on this little island that she owns, that her previous has been bought for her because I guess that's what celebrities do. And Elliott is telling the story, and you can tell that Elliott has a love for Lana that surpasses friendship. I mean, in the very beginning, he was just like, this might be a tale of murder, but it also is just a tale of love. And you're just like, okay, Elliot.
Annie Jones [00:20:42] Calm down.
Olivia [00:20:43] Yeah, exactly. But it really is both. He did nail that. I can't go too much into plot because there's so much that I could give away in this novel. But if you wanted a small, isolated murder mystery, Alex Michaelides is the person to give that to you and deliver it so well done. Being told by Elliott through his eyes, I loved that because at first you were just like, oh, is this going to be an unreliable narrator? And you're like, oh, no, he might actually be honest to a fault. And the way he tells the story is so well done, because he's also an aspiring playwright. And so he wants this to seem larger and bigger than everything really is. And to his credit, it is, but not for the reasons that he thinks it is. There's also like callbacks to if you read The Maidens, I think her name is Marianne or Mariana.
Erin [00:21:38] Oh, yeah. The therapist?
Olivia [00:21:39] Yes. She gets a callback in this novel, which I love that he does that because he gave a callback to the psychologist in the Maidens, to the silent patient guy. And so she gets a very sliver of a part. But if you know who she is, it is fun to catch in his book. It was an insanely fast read. I did this in one sitting. It's less than 300 pages and it's super short chapters, so you just fly through the whole thing. But it was so good. I love Alex. I believe he's one of those authors where I will read everything he writes.
Erin [00:22:13] I'm looking forward to reading that one. Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:22:16] I have that one too. I have it right over here. And I started it and got distracted. You know, ‘tis the season.
Erin [00:22:23] Holidays. Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:22:24] Yeah. I'll pick it back up because it sounds really good and it sounds like it'd be a great like one sit.
Olivia [00:22:29] Yes, it is.
Erin [00:22:31] My second book is a very fun book. It's called The Ladies Rewrite the Rules by Suzanne Allain comes out January 9th. She got very popular. She wrote Mr. Malcolm's list, which was made into a movie. And this is a really fun regency. There's a little bit of a twist on it, but it's your typical like-- I hate to compare things to Bridgerton, but it's sort of set in that like you've gotten your due Bridgerton our love is [inaudible] thing to other things. This is the protagonist Diana Boyle. She is a young widow. She finds out from two visits from some very wealthy single men that are [inaudible]. They they let it slip that there is a list, like a directory for all of the young-- they call themselves second sons, the ones that are not going to inherit the fortune. So they have to make their fortune elsewhere. So their plot is to gather up all the names of these wealthy widows or young ladies who have fortune and go after them. And so Diana finds out she's on the list and she gets her hands on the list and she contacts all the other women that are on the list. And they get together. They're going to keep it a secret that they know about it, but they start to plot how they can use the list sort of against the men in a little bit of revenge if they want to. But of course, she goes and confronts the creator of the list, who is a very handsome man named Max Dean. And I haven't finished this yet, but you can tell that Max and Diana are on a collision course bent for love, I'm sure. But what I love about this book that I've read so far is that she becomes friends with this other very wealthy woman in London who has been sort of ostracized from London society because of something I don't know yet, haven't gotten there. But she becomes friends with her. And I love that this book not only focuses on, of course, the romance side of it, but also on these friendships between these women. And in a time when women didn't have a lot of agency, it's kind of fun to see these women take a hold of their lives and decide for themselves based on some information that some guys let slip. So it's really fun. It's called The Ladies Rewrite the Rules. It comes out January 9th, by Suzanne Allain.
Annie Jones [00:24:54] Two things. First of all. Shop mom Susie loves these books, so she's very excited.
Erin [00:24:57] Yeah. Oh, good. She'll love this one.
Annie Jones [00:24:59] Yeah, she's super excited. Suzanne Allain is from Tallahassee, which just until when Malcolm's list came out, I think that's when I discovered that. But I thought that was so bizarre. I feel like we get a lot of FSU grads who maybe write books, but they go on and live elsewhere like they move somewhere else. So it's kind of fun to get to celebrate her and her books. And I really liked Lady's Guide to Fortune Hunting that came out a couple of years ago, and this sounds like something that could be really fun.
Erin [00:25:30] Yeah, it sounds similar.
Annie Jones [00:25:32] Okay. My last book that I want to highlight for January is Black Liturgies. This is by Cole Arthur Riley. It releases on January 16th. We do really well at The Bookshelf with these kind of books of prayers. Liturgies for Hope is one of our favorites. Prayers for the People by Terry Stokes is another one we did really well with here. I love these kinds of books. I frequently am at a loss for words, and so I love reading other people's words and how other people are processing things and writing prayers or writing letters or kind of putting their their anger or their rage or their exhaustion to paper. So I have followed Cole Arthur Riley on Instagram for a really long time. Her Instagram handle is Black Liturgies. She writes beautiful prayers there. I don't know if I started following her in 2019 or 2020, but she also had a book that came out last year, a couple of years ago called This Here Flesh, which is a beautiful, gorgeously written memoir with a really, really great cover. If you're into cover art, it's just a very striking cover. But anyway, so her memoir came out a couple of years ago, and I was surprised that a publisher released a memoir by her before because she kind of-- I don't know how many followers she has on Instagram, but it's a pretty large Instagram following. And I'm always intrigued by publishers and what they put out first. And I assumed she would have a book of prayers. And so when her first book was a memoir, I was pleasantly surprised by that. And again, a gorgeously written memoir. But now the publisher is putting out this collection of her prayers. I think there are some letters in there as well. But if you are not familiar with her work, I would encourage you to follow her or to go look at her Instagram account, blackliturgies, so that you can see kind of the things that she's writing about. This book is also going to have spiritual practices for Lent, but also for Juneteenth. I think this would be a great book, obviously, for black readers, for black listeners, but also if you're a white listener or a white reader who's trying to understand the black experience, particularly in America, I think this could really be an interesting book for you. I just love the way that she puts words on really intense, complicated feelings. She encourages her followers to rest, but to not tire of doing good. If you follow Happy Danny on Instagram, I think this is another account that you might like. Just like her first book, this book has a beautiful cover. So if you like collections of prayers, if you liked Liturgies for Hope, Prayers for the People, I think this is another one to add to your shelf. That's Black Liturgies by Cole Arthur Riley, and it releases on January 16th.
Olivia [00:28:21] Okay, my next one a little different is Everyone on This Train is a Suspect, by Benjamin Stenvenson. The segue that you may be talking to.
Erin [00:28:38] I know. It's like taking a hard left here.
Olivia [00:28:41] Back to the murder mysteries. Benjamin Stevenson newest novel Everyone on this Train is a Suspect is out January 30th. It's the second novel featuring Ernest Cunningham. So if you read Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone, this is that main character yet again finds himself. And he also finds this ironic in the middle of a murder mystery. I loved Ernest Cunningham. I loved his honesty. I loved his writing style. There were several moments that this book had me literally giggling out loud. And I don't do that with books because I find it weird that, like, I need a good delivery. And so when it happens in a book where I'm reading it in my-- it takes a lot. So good job Benjamin Stevenson. But this is set on a train that goes through the middle of Australia, which yes, I also did another Google deep dive on.
Erin [00:29:35] Yes.
Olivia [00:29:37] It was fascinating. I do have to be careful with Australia because I don't want to see spiders, but this was very interesting. So he gets on this train because he's invited, because they're doing this literary talk where a bunch of these people are invited. So he's a mystery writer. There's like a literary writer, there's another mystery writer who has like a long, ongoing series. There's just several writers there, all of whom know how to commit a crime and know how to get away with it, because they all write it for a living. And Ernest is there trying to write his second novel with his his fiancee or his girlfriend at the time. And so he's like looking for something to write. His editor is there trying to egg him into finally just sitting down and writing and he's kind of like, I don't have anything to write about. And then a murder happened. And suddenly Ernest now has something to write about.
Erin [00:30:37] Very convenient.
Olivia [00:30:40] I love this one so much. Uncle Andy makes a little comeback. Here's what had me laughing out loud, because Andy is a great character. I don't know whether you have to have read the first one to read this one. I think you will enjoy it more if you have read the first one going into this one. I think you can read this as a standalone. I think you should read the first one though, because it's excellent. This one I don't think had as convoluted an ending as the first one did. I thought it went so well done. And like I think if you were dedicated enough to search through for those clues, you could probably do it. But if you just want an enjoyable mystery that's going to get wrapped up at the end, this is it. It's like a Janice Hallett. You can sit there and try to figure out what's going on, but you can also just enjoy your ride and you'll love it. I thought it was great. He continues to give me five star books. So good job Benjamin Stevenson. I would be okay with another Ernest Cunningham novel, although I don't think there will be one because I think he even said himself that this is outlandish if this happened a second time.
Erin [00:31:50] I hope so. It feels like we need another book to sort of complete the trial. Yeah, we need that.
Olivia [00:31:56] Yes, I'd be okay with the trilogy. I think Ernest is great.
Erin [00:32:01] He's running out of locations. We had like an Arctic resort. We had a train, and now were...
Olivia [00:32:08] In like a desert. Yeah.
Erin [00:32:09] And I don't know where else he would go. He tends to stick to Australia.
Olivia [00:32:13] He's from Australia.
Erin [00:32:14] Yeah, right. I listened to this one and it's so fun to hear it read in an Australian accent. It really completes the experience there.
Olivia [00:32:24] The whole vibe. Yeah.
Erin [00:32:27] Okay. My last book is called Old Crimes by Jill McCorkle, also comes out January the ninth. I had actually never heard of her before, but I think she wrote a very popular novel called Life After Life, or maybe another short story collection and another book called Hieroglyphics not too long ago. This is another short story collection, which I love. We always talk about short stories and my all at how an author can just give you this fully detailed story in like two pages. It's incredible. I have read a few of the stories. I haven't read all of them yet, but most of them are centered around women. The woman is the narrator in the story. Kirkus gave this a starred review. It said the stories are rich and emotionally complicated, and I would agree with that having read a few of them already. Some of them are. I wrote in my notes, like, I think January can be a good time to start digging into some of these deeper reads or deeper stories after. I don't know about you all, but during the holidays last year, like I just needed a bunch of fluffy books or something I could just get through that kept me turning the pages because you just have zero brain power during the holidays. So for me, January is a time to kind of like restart my brain, restart my reading life and not be afraid to sort of dig into these deeper themes. And I think a short story collection is the perfect way to do that because you're not committing to an entire story, but you are sort of eating this little amuse-bouches of deep themes that can get you started on a new on a new year of reading. So this is perfect. It's called Old Crimes by Jill McCorkle comes out January the ninth.
Annie Jones [00:34:13] Okay. I never read Life After Life, but Jill McCorkle is familiar to me because I'm pretty sure that came out like my first year of bookselling. And so I just remember the publisher rep talking to me a lot about that book. We sold I think a pretty decent number of that particular book in the store. But I've been so curious cause I've not really read any of her books, but I would love to try a short story collection. And I think you're right. January is a good time to do that. Yeah, I loved how you described that, to kind of set yourself up for bigger themes because I didn't have any brain power in the holidays. I needed the one set situation, so I kind of like, yeah, January might be hunker down and start over to try again. Okay, so those are nine books that we are looking forward to this January. Keep in mind, Erin has made browsing our podcast book selections so easy. Just go to Bookshelfthomasville.com and type Episode 458 into the search bar and you'll see all of today's books listed ready for you to preorder or purchase. You can use code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order of today's titles. This week I'm listening to Among the Bro's by Max Marshall. Olivia, what are you reading?
Olivia [00:35:27] I'm reading The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith by Tom Llewellyn.
Annie Jones [00:35:32] And Erin what are you reading?
Erin [00:35:33] I'm reading Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle.
Annie Jones: 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 at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website: bookshelfthomasville.com A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
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…
Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle Carl, Kate O'Connell, Kristin May, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stacy Laue, Chanta Combs, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell.
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, Laurie Johnson, Susan Hulings
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