Episode 430 || Annie and Hunter's Favorite 2023 Books So Far
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie is joined by friend and frequent co-host Hunter for a mid-year reading check-in and to chat all about their favorite books of 2023 so far.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our website:
Annie:
First five-star read: Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny
Most surprising: The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
Least favorite: When in Rome by Liam Callanan or Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Next on your TBR: Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry / Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Most anticipated release: Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward / Family Meal by Bryan Washington
Annie’s Top Ten:
1. In Memoriam by Alice Winn
2. Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
3. Stealing by Margaret Verble
4. All My Knotted-Up Life by Beth Moore
5. How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key
6. Monsters by Claire Dederer
7. Paper Names by Susie Luo
8. Congratulations, the Best Is Over by R. Eric Thomas
9. If We’re Being Honest by Cat Shook
10. How Far to the Promised Land by Esau McCauley
Hunter:
First five-star read: Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Most surprising: Brother and Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella
Least favorite: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai / The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie
Next on your TBR: The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Most anticipated release for fall: The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff / Family Meal by Bryan Washington
Hunter’s Top Ten:
1. Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
2. August Blue by Deborah Levy
3. Monsters by Claire Dederer
4. The People Who Report More Stress by Alejandro Varela
5. My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Albert Florin
6. The New Life by Tom Crewe
7. Your Driver is Waiting by Priya Guns
8. The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
9. Witness by Jamel Brinkley
10. In Memoriam by Alice Wynn
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 Talking at Night by Claire Deverly. Hunter is reading Rouge by Mona Awad.
If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter and follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic. 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.
Thank you to this week’s sponsor, Visit Thomasville. Summer is a wonderful time to see Thomasville, Georgia! If it’s time to hit the road for a quick getaway, we’re exactly what you’re looking for! You can rekindle your spark, explore historical sites, indulge in dining out, shop at amazing independent stores, and finally relax and unwind. There’s no better getaway than Thomasville! Whether you live close by or are passing through, we hope you'll visit beautiful Thomasville, Georgia – it’s worth the trip! Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGa.com.
Transcript:
Annie Jones [squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
“Our days have so often been evil. We have so often lived in utter affliction, you, me, Lauren, the lot of us. This cannot be denied. But the darkness has been overcome, is being overcome, by shining what light we have into the places where you don’t always want to look and laughing at the absurdity, the audacity, of life, and our audacity to carry on. The merry heart so often seems ridiculous to the afflicted because it is a heart of flesh, not stone. Stone hearts cannot laugh. Only soft ones, loose and alive, do that.”
- How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key
[as music fades out]
I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week, I’m joined by my friend and frequent co-host Hunter McLendon to talk about our reading years so far. Do you love listening to From the Front Porch every week? Spread the word by leaving a review on Apple podcasts. 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.
Here’s a recent review from Julie:
A bright spot in my week
I love this podcast. Yes, I hear about great books that are coming soon and add to my TBR list all the time, but it’s more than that. Each episode is full of joy and laughter and vulnerability. The staff at the Bookshelf clearly love their jobs and talking about books. The episodes with Annie and Hunter shine with honesty and banter. Thank you all! Keep doing what you do so well! ❤️
Thank you, Julie, and thank you to all of the reviewers who’ve left kind words and thoughtful reviews about the show. We’re so grateful any time you share From the Front Porch with your friends; thanks for spreading the word about our podcast and our bookstore.
Annie Jones [00:02:16] Now back to the show. Hi, Hunter.
Hunter [00:02:20] Hello.
Annie Jones [00:02:21] Wasn't that so nice of Julie?
Hunter [00:02:23] That was so nice. We're just coming off of the latest Reader Retreat. And there were several people who were, like, I love whenever you're on. Your episode are some of my favorite episodes. And I was like, "Wow, wait I shade Annie, that's so rude."
Annie Jones [00:02:39] Oh, dear. Listen, we joke that who could have predicted five years ago that you would be our resident celebrity that we bring in with, like, bring it in the ringer or something. Like, we bring in you for shopping night and people come and it is delightful to watch you get your moment in the sun that you have more than earned.
Hunter [00:03:02] Well, celebrity, celebrity, what can I say?
Annie Jones [00:03:06] Okay. So we have been alluding to this episode for weeks, if not in public, in our private conversations. We've been texting and talking because we are at the halfway point in 2023, and it's time to think. Maybe it's not. But I like to think about what some of my favorite books of the year have been so far. It's a good time to reflect on what my reading year has looked like. And so at the halfway point, I am curious how you feel your 2023 reading year compares to years past.
Hunter [00:03:38] Well, I think that the first several months were very slow for me. I think that I just finally reached peak burnout. But also I think last year was when I started that National Book Award Reading project, which is still ongoing. But I also been reading a lot of backlist stuff, and I can't even tell what the landscape of literature is as well as I used to, which is just kind of weird.
Annie Jones [00:04:05] Yeah. I think you've spent the last couple years reading a lot of backlist. I also think your bookish friendships play a role in your reading life. And I think that's true for a lot of us, right? So even if we think we have a TBR list or we think we have a reading plan, I think your relationship and your friendship with Bernie has affected, and you're reading more works in translation, you're reading backlist titles. I think frequently my reading is dictated by Bookshelf life and Bookshelf relationships and shelf subscriptions and all kinds of things. And you and I talked. I don't remember if it was off air, in a conversation, or if it was in the podcast, but we have talked to about your work life has changed. My work life has changed. Just everything looks a lot different post 2020. And so maybe our reading time is a little bit more limited. Or I have realized that I can be reading or I can be writing. It's hard to do both. And so maybe you too are dealing with that. I'm not sure. But I find that when my real life is busy or intense or a little bit chaotic, it's hard for me to hunker down and read because I've got other stuff going on.
Hunter [00:05:15] Yeah, I have a job now where I have to do my job every single day, which is rude. I told my boss the other day I'd worked the entire 8 hours for like four days in a row, and I came into my boss's office and she was like, "Are you okay?" And I was like, "No, honestly, because I was not meant to be a full time worker."
Annie Jones [00:05:44] I saw a tweet that said something, like, full time should be 20 hours. I've got a lot of stuff to do.
Hunter [00:05:52] Listen, the thing is, I think any time that I give full exertion for like a full 40 hours, that I am so burnt out by the time I get home that I lay on my couch and I watch old episodes of The Office, which is not even productive TV watching.
Annie Jones [00:06:09] Right. Well, look, you're preaching to the choir because literally today I thought, why have I not read very much this month? Now, there are some legitimate reasons. Reader Retreat, traveling, getting a puppy, all this kind of stuff. But mostly, really, it has nothing to do with any of that. And what it has to do with is I decided to get hooked on X-Files and I can either watch X-Files or I can read. I can't do both. And look, X-Files is not productive tv watching. That show is old. What am I doing?
Hunter [00:06:41] But it's your first time, right?
Annie Jones [00:06:42] It is my first time. Yeah.
Hunter [00:06:43] Okay. That's productive.
Annie Jones [00:06:46] I mean, is it? Is it productive? The other day I came this close, Hunter. I came this close to Googling fanfiction Molly and Scholder [sp]-- no, what are their names? Scully and Mulder [sp]. And I was like, no, Annie, don't do that. You have reached--
Hunter [00:07:03] Fanfiction?
Annie Jones [00:07:03] I know. I was like, don't do it. There are books to be read. You cannot be out here reading decades old fanfiction about two characters whose names you can't even pronounce. Mulder and Scully.
Hunter [00:07:14] Also, I'm sorry, but fanfiction? This sounds like a dangerous game for someone of your like...
Annie Jones [00:07:19] Correct. It would have to be closed door fanfiction.
Hunter [00:07:23] Can you just Google closed door X-Files fanfiction?
Annie Jones [00:07:27] I don't know because I told myself not to do that, that would be a bridge too far. That would be a step too far. I'm trying to keep it together over here. I'm not ready for that.
Hunter [00:07:36] You know what, though? Good for you. I don't know if you know this. I didn't know this until recently, but there's fanfiction that's about just famous authors hooking up I guess.
Annie Jones [00:07:49] That sounds like something you would imbibe in.
Hunter [00:07:51] Let me tell you, I'm not going to lie. I spent like 3 hours. I was like, I'm about to read a book. And I spent like 3 hours with that. I was a prude. And I was just scrolling through like, oh, my goodness. It was so scandalous. There is like one thing actually-- may he rest in peace. There was one where it was Cormac McCarthy and he was in his eighties in the story. And I was, like, what is this life?
Annie Jones [00:08:16] Again, he has just died as of this recording. But was he handsome as a younger man? I need to look it up and see if he was plainly handsome.
Hunter [00:08:23] I'm not going to lie. I thought he was kind of--
Annie Jones [00:08:26] He's distinguished older man, I think.
Hunter [00:08:29] Have you ever seen that movie Heartbreakers with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Sigourney Weaver?
Annie Jones [00:08:34] Oh, my gosh. If I have, it has been decades. But I know what you're talking about.
Hunter [00:08:39] They're basically trying to scam these old men. And let me tell you, I feel like if there was ever a profession that I was meant to partake in, it would be that because I was like, wow, it's like Cormac McCarthy making recipes for us also like rare.
Annie Jones [00:08:57] Oh, man. We should move on before we get in trouble.
Hunter [00:09:00] I know.
Annie Jones [00:09:01] So last year I used a template and it was an Instagram template put out by Sara at the Hi Reader. And I don't think she's done one for 2023, but I did think I would ask some of those same questions of you before we launch into essentially our top 10 of the year so far. So tell me, I'm going to let you go first, then I'll go. What was your first five star read of the year?
Hunter [00:09:28] My first. Are we talking like front list?
Annie Jones [00:09:31] Yes.
Hunter [00:09:32] Okay. My first five star was Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Annie Jones [00:09:36] Can you tell me about it? What was that about?
Hunter [00:09:39] It's about this girl who writes transcripts for therapy sessions. And he's not like a real therapist that she's transcribing for, but he's kind of weird. But there's this one patient who she refers to as Big Swiss who has been through this horrific trauma. But Big Swiss believes that people nowadays kind of wear their trauma as a form of identity, especially like a marginalized identity to be oppressed by. And this girl who's transcribing these therapy sessions is somebody who's kind of been doing that, and eventually they meet. And it's kind of about this weird dynamic and this exploration of what does it mean to have trauma and to exist with it without letting it become part of you?
Annie Jones [00:10:30] Should I read that? That sounds good.
Hunter [00:10:32] I think you'd like it.
Annie Jones [00:10:34] Yeah. Okay. Hmm. That's a new book to me, so I would like to read that. My first Five-Star read I read back in January Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny. And I really had to think about this because I initially gave it five stars. But sometimes I was discussing this with a friend and listener of the show, Jennifer, and she was talking about how sometimes early in the year she's really generous with five stars. And then as the year progresses, she realizes, wait a minute, was five stars or was that not? I think at the beginning of the year you're still trying to figure out your reading rhythm. But upon further reflection, I stand by my initial five star rating, which is I do not know why Katherine Heiny is not-- she's popular in my heart, but I don't know why she is not more popular. I have loved every book I've read by her, including her short stories. So this is a short story collection. I loved her first collection called Single Carefree and Mellow, which was a book I hand sold early in my tenure at the Bookshelf. And I had sold it to the point that a customer pulled me aside and asked me if my marriage was okay, which was a really, really high moment in my career. But Games and Rituals, I think she is such a brilliant writer and I love reading her novels, but she is really so gifted at the short story format, which is not true of every writer. I don't love every short story collection. It's not like I'm just devouring short fiction all the time. But I do think if you are somebody who always scratches your head a little bit at short stories and isn't quite sure where to start, Katherine Heiny would be a great place to start. I just discussed this at Reader Retreat with author Kerry Winfrey, who mentioned this as one of her favorites of the year so far. And she mentioned one of the short stories that she can't stop thinking about where the character in these short stories they do donuts in a, I believe, it's a hospital parking lot. Anyway, and I immediately knew what story she was talking about. I was immediately taken back there, which for a book I read in January, that's pretty remarkable that I can remember any bit of it. So that was my first Five-Star read and I stand by it. I really like Katherine Heany's work, and I think it's a great short story collection.
Hunter [00:12:43] It's so funny because whenever you're talking about her, II keep having flashes of every-- because I remember the covers of each of her books because of you constantly. And I've still not read her. And I have several of her books.
Annie Jones [00:12:54] Oh, my gosh. And I think you would actually really like her.
Hunter [00:12:57] I think so too. I don't know why I haven't, but I need to.
Annie Jones [00:12:59] You should at least start. Here's my thing about short story collections, and maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but you don't have to read them all. Just open up and read a couple of stories. I don't know. Maybe that's not how they're meant to be read, but that is sometimes how I read them.
Hunter [00:13:14] I don't know. I think that's perfectly fine. And also I know I'd enjoy it. Okay, so the next thing is most surprising.
Annie Jones [00:13:23] Yes.
Hunter [00:13:25] This is a book that's in my top 10 but it's Brother and Sister Enter the Forest by Richard Mirabella.
Annie Jones [00:13:30] Great title.
Hunter [00:13:31] Yeah. Let me tell you, I mentioned this at the Reader Retreat, but this was a book that I've befriended Richard on Instagram. He follows my little Bookstagram account. And whenever I saw he had a book coming out, I was like-- it's one of those thing. I don't know if you ever feel like this, but sometimes a friend will publish a book and you'll be like, oh no, am I going to like it? And I get that anxiety about like is it going to be good.
Annie Jones [00:13:59] Yes. How I'm I going to talk about it if it's not.
Hunter [00:14:01] Yeah, and thank goodness it is so well-written, so beautifully written, so emotional. And it's about this brother and sister who grew up in this really tumultuous household. And it deals a lot with addiction and with trauma. Everything deals with trauma. I don't know.
Annie Jones [00:14:26] Trauma. A common denominator.
Hunter [00:14:27] But the book is structured based on the emotional beats of the relationship rather than chronologically. And I just thought that was such a smart and interesting way to structure the book. And so I was very surprised on how it played out structurally. I was very surprised in how honest it was and how moved I was by it without ever feeling like it was manipulating me emotionally. And also really surprised because I was like, oh, good, it's actually really good. And I don't have to pretend it's good.
Annie Jones [00:15:01] Yeah, what a relief. I am genuinely relieved for you. That is always a conundrum. Okay. My most surprising is a book that Erin and Keila on staff both had read, and I picked it up on a whim earlier this year. It's the Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill, so this almost feels like a novella to me. It's a short little book that I picked up because Erin and Keila both were, like, not only is an excellent, but it's weird. And you and I know that every so often I like a little bit of weird. And this book is almost like a gothic kind of fairy tale, which I normally would shy away from. But do you remember Megan Hunter's The Harpy? I adored The Harpy. This is very much along those same lines. We have an unnamed narrator who is a young adult, a young woman living at home with her mom and little brother, and her mom brings home her new lover, a crane. It's based on kind of the folklore of the Crane Wife, but it is not related to C.J. Hauser's, the Crane Wife. And basically this young woman watches as her mother becomes less and less of herself as she develops this relationship with the crane. And it is so dark and weird and scary and a little gruesome, and I just ate it up. One sit read, loved it, love a book that's not afraid to be a little strange, a little weird. And also really like a book that knows how to start and finish. Like, I didn't need a 300 page novel about the Crane Husband. I needed exactly this length, exactly the story. The unnamed narrator will stick with me for a long time. She was so brave and compelling and complicated and bigger eldest daughter Energy. And I just really liked this book a lot and I'm really glad I read it. It was partly a surprise, not only because of the subject matter, but because so rarely in bookselling do you have a book that you just kind of pick up on a whim and by serendipity, and this one was for me. And so I'm going to look back on it as a surprising read I think for the first half of 2023. It's The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill.
Hunter [00:17:21] Now I have to read it.
Annie Jones [00:17:22] Oh, it's so fast. You'll fly right through it. It's so easy.
Hunter [00:17:26] Okay. My least favorite-- this always feels like an attack.
Annie Jones [00:17:30] I know. It does feel aggressive. Is it mean?
Hunter [00:17:35] You know what, it's fine because I do have an answer.
Annie Jones [00:17:38] Okay.
Hunter [00:17:42] Actually, I'll tell you. To be clear, as far as 2023 releases go, I don't think I've read anything bad myself. I think that everything I've read has been pretty good. These kind of fell a little bit short for me in some ways. And actually I think that one of these is The Dog of the North by Elizabeth Mackenzie, which I liked it. I thought it was charming, but I had a higher expectations for it. But I still think a lot of you would like it.
Annie Jones [00:18:15] Look, this is what we talk about here on From the Front Porch. I always want to be cognizant of the fact that authors are doing things that I have never done, which is that they've published a book. But I also want to be an honest reviewer for readers, and I also want to be cognizant and kind in regards to authors. So I think the key here is always-- and this isn't dishonest, this is just true. Not every book is for me. Many books are for other people. I have disagreed with staffers on some books, right? Sometimes Olivia loves a book that I don't or somebody hates a book that I loved or my book club hates books that I loved. That's okay. We talked about this at Reader Retreat. When we talk about books that people love that we hated, it really isn't so much about what we hate or what we dislike as it's figuring out what books work for you and which don't. Ad that I think is what we mean.
Hunter [00:19:07] Yeah. Well, and I even think I initially gave it four stars too because it's one of those things where if you like Anne Tyler actually I think that you'd really like this book. It's got very quirky characters. There's a lot going on. But I think that I loved her last book, The Portable Veblen, which was actually a national book award backlist [crosstalk] and I thought was so charming. And so, I think that because I was so deeply in love with that book and what it was doing that I expected a little bit more of that here. And the writing's gorgeous. I think she's great with the characters and it's so interesting. We listened to it on audio with my boss on the way to a board meeting and we finished it on the way there. And it was just hard to start listening to. So that's one that I liked, was a little disappointed towards the end, I guess. But the one that I actually was disappointed in was I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca MacKay.
Annie Jones [00:19:59] Oh, my gosh. Did you know this was our Reader Retreat book club selection?
Hunter [00:20:03] No.
Annie Jones [00:20:04] I specifically picked it for this very reason because I think it is quite divisive. And I love a book club book that is divisive and people have so many opinions about it. So I liked this one. I think I would give it a four star, but I had some qualms with it. And maybe they're the same qualms you have. I don't know.
Hunter [00:20:24] Well, yeah. I was frustrated because here's the thing, I really enjoyed her last book, The Great Believers. I don't think this is a bad book at all. I finished it very quickly, once again.
Annie Jones [00:20:36] She's a talented writer. She's a very good writer.
Hunter [00:20:39] Yes. And to be fair, books are written and then they come out a time later and a lot can happen in between then. And I think that the conversations that she's having in this book had already been had by the time the book came out.
Annie Jones [00:20:56] Okay. That was my major qualm. And it's fresh in my mind because we talked about it at Reader Retreat. But, yeah, that would be my critique as well. First of all, I need to read the Great Believers. But Reader Retreaters were very aggravated with me that I had not read The Great Believers. So I've got to get on that. But I thought the writing in this was great and I really liked the campus novel, true crime podcast. I felt like that was interesting and compelling. I had some issue with some of the ways in which she was tackling "tough subjects" that it just already felt outdated, which I am not sure who to blame for that. I don't know if you blame Rebecca MacKay. Sometimes when a book is narrated in such a way, I'm like, maybe it was the narrator. Maybe she wanted the narrator to be having these conversations belied. I don't know.
Hunter [00:21:52] Yeah. It's so funny too, because I don't know if you would agree. I think one of the biggest comp titles that I kept getting was The Secret History, which I thought was maybe a little misleading.
Annie Jones [00:22:07] Okay, let me ask you this. A Reader Retreater, I think it was Hope at Reader retreat, I thought she had a great comparison, which was she felt like The Great Believers is to The Goldfinch, as I Have Some Questions For You, is to Secret History. And I thought, oh, now that's interesting. Because I do think I Have Some Questions For You might be the more commercially appealing book, or at least the book with crossover appeal.
Hunter [00:22:35] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:22:35] And I think we can agree that Goldfinch did not have a ton of crossover appeal. You either loved it or you hated it. Probably fell into the more literary camp. And perhaps that's with Great Believers. I think the Great Believers was also commercially successful, but I liked that [crosstalk].
Hunter [00:22:50] That makes sense. Yes, I can see that. I think that it's so funny, though, because I feel like the thing that won me over-- this is my problem too-- is that the thing I always associate with The Secret History is that it's a very Fall book.
Annie Jones [00:23:07] Yes.
Hunter [00:23:08] And I did not get quite that Fall vibe, I guess.
Annie Jones [00:23:14] Well, and I think I Have Some Questions For You is also just trying to do so many things. And I think The Secret History is really only trying to do one thing. It's telling a story. I Have Some Questions For You, is telling a story and it's perhaps making some social criticisms and critiques, some of which I think were fine and then some I just think felt outdated or fell flat. But I think that's the difference. I feel like Secret History is a really succinct book about one thing, and it felt like I Have Some Questions For You was a little bit more all over the place.
Hunter [00:23:52] Yeah, I think that's the thing too. I think it's a lot on one's plate.
Annie Jones [00:23:56] Yes. Okay. So my least favorite books probably fall into that same category where I know for a fact, again, I liked I Have Some Questions For You. I think I rated it four stars. I loved the audiobook experience, but my one of my least favorite books of the year was Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld. And it pains me to say that, but I think I had an expectations problem and I have said that in every review I've given of the book because I think it's unfair to not say it. I really like Curtis Sittenfeld. I love her work. I love pretty much everything I've ever read by her, and I think I just went into it with completely the wrong expectation and the wrong lens. If you go into this just expecting a romantic comedy, which is exactly what the title says you should expect, I think you'll be fine. I went into it thinking, oh, it's a romantic comedy written by Curtis Sittenfeld, so it's going to turn the world upside down and do something creative and do something unique. And it really didn't. And that's okay. It's just not what I thought it was going to be at all.
Hunter [00:25:03] But also, if you have a title like romantic comedy, I expect--
Annie Jones [00:25:08] Right, you need to do something a little different, a little wild and crazy.
Hunter [00:25:12] Yeah. That kind of feels it feels like you're, like, grabbing a hold and making it your own...
Annie Jones [00:25:18] Yeah, exactly. So I struggled with that one a little bit, and then another book that I struggled with but then I pass it along to my mom thinking she would love it-- and I'll be curious. She'll come on the podcast in a couple of weeks and maybe she can tell us. But she read it and I think also struggled a little bit with it. And it's called When in Rome. This is a book by Liam Callanan. But then I talked about it on the podcast and I saw at least two readers post about how much they loved it. So I think, again, you just never know. For me, I was excited about that book because it's about a woman who returns to Rome in middle age and she had wanted to be a nun when she was in her early twenties, and life's events prevented her from doing so. And now she is middle age, late middle age, and reinvestigating that part of her life. The best part about the book was the Roman setting, the Italian setting. I thought that was beautiful, but I think I wanted a little bit more in terms of questions about faith and things like that, which that's not shocking. Anyway, that was my other book that just kind of let me down. And I think Jordan always says the key to happiness is low expectations. And that is probably true in literature as well. Okay, let's do quickly before we do our top 10. What's next on your TBR?
Hunter [00:26:39] The Look Back Window by Kyle Dillon Hertz. The only thing I know about it is that it's gay and that's all I know.
Annie Jones [00:26:46] Okay. I am trying to do my dumb Wendell Berry year and I have failed miserably. Miserably I failed. I think it's because Wendell Berry's books are a little quieter and I have had very little quiet time this year. And the quiet time that I have had, I've been trying to try my hand at some writing. And so, Jayber Crow is next on my TBR, followed by Tom Leak by Ann Patchett.
Hunter [00:27:12] Oh, I want to read it.
Annie Jones [00:27:14] I'm really excited. I'm nervous excited. Okay. What is your most anticipated release for Fall?
Hunter [00:27:24] Okay. My most anticipated release, if I had not already read it, which I'm keeping a secret, is the Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff.
Annie Jones [00:27:34] You've read it already? Oh, my gosh. Okay.
Hunter [00:27:38] I love how much it's a secret because I'm buddy reading it with Bernie, but he hasn't started yet.
Annie Jones [00:27:43] Okay. Can you just tell me, are we talking Fates and Furies, Matrix, which direction are we going in? Or something totally different because she's amazing.
Hunter [00:27:52] It is definitely like a sister story to Matrix in a lot of ways.
Annie Jones [00:27:57] Okay.
Hunter [00:27:58] I think you really like it. It's different, but it's good.
Annie Jones [00:28:01] Okay. My most anticipated is let us descend. This is the new Jesmyn Ward. I am really looking forward to this. I have my copy here. I just need to dive in. And I wonder if this is on yours as well. Family Meal by Bryan Washington.
Hunter [00:28:19] Oh, I read that.
Annie Jones [00:28:20] Okay. Did you like it?
Hunter [00:28:22] Yes, I prefer Memorial, but I did really like it.
Annie Jones [00:28:25] Okay. Well, will I like it?
Hunter [00:28:30] Yeah, I think you'll finish really quickly. Yeah, I think you'll like it. I do think you'd like Memorial more, but maybe if you read Family Meal then you'd, you know.
Annie Jones [00:28:39] All right. Well, I'm excited. Also, I just love the cover, if I'm being quite frank.
Hunter [00:28:43] Oh, that's the thing. Sometimes I'm like, oh, a cover. It's got me won over.
Annie Jones [00:28:47] Yeah, it does. It totally does. I'm trying to remember, was Memorial a pandemic book? Was it a 2020 book or was it pre 2020?
Hunter [00:28:55] I think it was 2020. I think maybe it was 2019. I think was 2020.
Annie Jones [00:29:01] Okay. I need to try it. I don't think I finished it. I think I'm getting it confused with.
Hunter [00:29:08] Real Life.
Annie Jones [00:29:09] Yeah, Real Life. That's what I'm getting confused with. Real Life I started and didn't finish. I do think there are so many things where don't you wonder what if the pandemic hadn't happened? Would my brain still be fine.
Hunter [00:29:23] All the time.
Annie Jones [00:29:26] Okay. Are you ready to do top 10 of 2023 so far?
Hunter [00:29:31] I think so, yeah.
Annie Jones [00:29:33] Okay. Here is what I will say about my list, because I'll start with ten, then you go. We're going to go back and forth. I just want to say that my top five or six, I feel great about. When I texted you a couple of weeks ago that we were potentially going to be doing this episode, I had no problem coming up with six, but anything after that was kind of a mixed bag. These are definitely books that I enjoyed, but I don't know if at the end of the year they'll be in my top 10, and that's how it's supposed to be. I don't think you're supposed to have 10 five star books in June. That would be an embarrassment of riches. So, anyway, if you're halfway through the year-- we're all halfway through the year, so not if. If you feel like you don't have a ton of five star books yet, I think that's okay. Fall is coming.
Hunter [00:30:20] I also I'm going to tell you, by the way, they sent me a second copy of The Vaster Wilds, if you're [inaudible].
Annie Jones [00:30:26] I want it. Hold it for me.
Hunter [00:30:28] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:30:29] All right. My number 10 book. I literally changed this today because I finished this book today.
Hunter [00:30:36] I saw.
Annie Jones [00:30:36] Did you see on the Google Doc?
Hunter [00:30:37] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:30:37] Okay. So I just finished today a book called How Far to the Promised Land by Esau McCaulley. I really love this book. I do not know, again, if it'll be in my top 10 at the end of the year, but it's a very compelling memoir about a black man growing up in Huntsville, Alabama. He is probably a little bit older than I am. I suspect that he is in his forties and he is an Anglican priest. But this book is not necessarily "Christian". It's really just his memoir about growing up black in the American South. And he specifically writes a lot about his father. So he grew up with his mother and father and his, I believe, two sisters and a brother in Huntsville. And so the Huntsville of it all, I have relatives who lived outside of Huntsville, and so that felt familiar. But his father dies when Esau is an adult, and he has to examine what his relationship with his dad was like because his dad was in and out of his life throughout adolescence and childhood. His dad abused his mom, struggled with drug abuse. And Esau is writing a lot about what it was like to grow up with that kind of looming. And I think one of the first things he opens the book with is at his Alabama high school, the principal looks at these kids, their freshman, and says, "There are 400 of you my senior year, there's only going to be 200." And I think that's supposed to be like a cautionary tale and also perhaps even in some ways inspiring and Esau really struggles with that. And then he winds up graduating high school and he realizes how many of his peers he's lost to violence or to institutional racism, things like that. So I just thought it was such a really honest, unflinching look at life at the South, black experience in the South. It's a really great father-son story. The storytelling is really great. The writing is good. I really liked this book a lot. I just finished it today, so it's hard to know what I'm going to-- it takes me a few days to think about where a book is going to fall, but I really liked my reading experience of this one and I can't wait to hand sell it.
Hunter [00:32:55] It sounds so good.
Annie Jones [00:32:56] It is. It is really good. He's a New York Times columnist. And so you can kind of get a sense of some of his writing. I think my dad is going to love this book. It doesn't come out until the Fall, but I liked it a lot.
Hunter [00:33:07] Okay. I'm adding it to my list. My number was actually the first 2023 release I read, which was The New Life by Tom Crewe.
Annie Jones [00:33:17] Okay.
Hunter [00:33:17] It's interesting cause I feel like it's connected in some ways to In Memoriam in time and setting a little bit. But I will say The New Life is much drier, but it's about queer history and sexuality. And I'm not making it really clear what it's about. It's like dry British men discussing their lust for each other in a way that feels a little clinical, but also really smart. Listen, we had to have number 10 and--
Annie Jones [00:33:56] And this is it.
Hunter [00:33:58] This is it.
Annie Jones [00:33:58] This is yours.
Hunter [00:33:59] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:34:00] Okay. My number nine is If We're Being Honest by Cat Shook. This is a debut Southern novel. I just felt like all the characters were so familiar. I liked that it was set over one week. The book opens at a funeral and ends at a wedding. I just want to say that what hooked me was the book opens with this large family and their mourning their patriarch, and they're trying to figure out who is going to give the eulogy at the patriarch's funeral. And the book kind of lays out why each of these characters would be terrible at the eulogy. And that's how you kind of get introduced to the characters. It reminded me of Flight by Lynn Steiger Strong in that way, just how it kind of introduced us to all of these people. And then the family finally decides, forget it, we're going to have his best friend do the eulogy. And so this elderly gentleman gets up during the funeral. He's clearly inebriated. He's going to give his best friend's eulogy. But then he confesses that they weren't just best friends, they were lovers. And the family sits stunned, not knowing this truth about their patriarch. And so immediately it just felt like high drama, Steel Magnolias level Southern fiction. I loved it. I thought it was so smart. I felt like I knew all of these characters. So fun.
Hunter [00:35:16] I have the ARC and I kept putting it off.
Annie Jones [00:35:19] It's very commercial, but not in a bad way. I really enjoyed it. I thought the characters were so funny.
Hunter [00:35:25] Didn't you compare it say like Southern Emma Straub maybe, or some like that? Y.
Annie Jones [00:35:29] Yes. Absolutely.
Hunter [00:35:31] Yeah, I can go with that.
Annie Jones [00:35:33] We don't get enough Southern Emma Straub. We always get Brooklyn Emma Straub. We don't get any Southern lit like this. So I was pleased.
Hunter [00:35:41] That's true. My number nine was my Last Innocent Year by Daisy Albert Florin.
Annie Jones [00:35:50] That book is great. I almost forgot about that book.
Hunter [00:35:53] Well, I didn't. It's so funny because I stayed home one day and was cleaning and I actually listened to the audiobook and it's one of those things where just something's on your mind, there's a lot that's on your mind, and all of a sudden a book is talking about it. See, this is the problem. I don't know how to describe some of these books. It's been a while since I've read, but I really guess it's about this just woman in college.
Annie Jones [00:36:24] Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think she has an affair with a professor? You know how we were talking about I Have Some Questions For You and how it felt a little bit outdated?
Hunter [00:36:37] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:36:37] This felt like this is the kind of conversation I want to have about the MeToo movement, only this book was set in the nineties, I want to say.
Hunter [00:36:45] Yes, well, because the book kind of opens with this really awkward sexual encounter that she has and how she's not really sure how to react to it, but her friend kind of reacts for her.
Annie Jones [00:36:55] Yes.
Hunter [00:36:56] And let me tell you, this book is very sticky, tricky, hard to figure out what you what you think about it. And that's why I think it works.
Annie Jones [00:37:06] It's not trying to make you feel a certain way.
Hunter [00:37:08] No. And that's the thing. I think that something like I Have Some Questions For You has a very clear idea of what it wants to say and this has that clarity of what's right or wrong in a lot of ways. I think with my Last Innocent Year that this is an author who's like this is really complicated and there's no clear answers here. We're going to get the most murky, complicated scenario going and really dive in and.
Annie Jones [00:37:35] Yes. And here's a story, and I'm not going to tell you how to feel about it.
Hunter [00:37:38] No, not at any point. It is so rewarding as a reader to read a book that does not hold your hand, does not tell you what to think, but it's just like, hey, get ready to challenge yourself. I find it really exciting. I rarely get like this. This is one of those audio books where I listen to in pretty much normal speed and then just lay in bed for an hour and a half listen to the end
Annie Jones [00:38:06] That's fun.
Hunter [00:38:07] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:38:08] Oh, that is memorable. Okay. My number eight is Congratulations the Best Is Over. This is by our Eric Thomas essay collection that comes out in August. I loved his debut essay collection Here For It. I liked his young adult novel Kings of Be More. But this is a return to essays. Look, I know we're all really wary of pandemic books, meaning books that kind of reflect on what life was like during the pandemic. But I think this one does a really good job of capturing a lot of that zeitgeist, a lot of those feelings that we all had. And it also deals in a really lovely way with grief. I love a book that one minute I am laughing out loud in my front yard that people drive by and think I'm crazy, but I also the next minute I'm tearful at some brilliant truth I've read or really poignant line that I've read. I really like that about Eric's work, that one minute he's really, really funny and so quippy. I think I said this in a podcast episode, but it's like watching an episode of Gilmore Girls where you feel really smart when you understand the reference. You feel like, oh my gosh, I get it. But I also just think the writing is really good and makes you feel things. So I can't wait to hand sell that one too.
Hunter [00:39:25] Okay. Well, I will clarify since Eric is now my friend after he came [inaudible] this past weekend at Reader Retreat, that when I finish it will likely be in my top 10. I'm not done yet, so don't come for me.
Annie Jones [00:39:39] That's fair.
Hunter [00:39:40] No, but what I've read, though, is amazing. And I will never get over this one line that you and I both talked about from here for it, where he said the tears and temerity.
Annie Jones [00:39:53] I laughed so hard just thinking about it. It was so good.
Hunter [00:39:57] That is a line that's stuck in my head for, like, forever and ever.
Annie Jones [00:40:00] Yeah.
Hunter [00:40:01] Okay. So the next book on my list was The People Who Report More Stress by Alejandro Varela.
Annie Jones [00:40:09] That's a great title too.
Hunter [00:40:11] Yeah. He was a National Book Award finalist last year for the Town of Babylon, which I really, really enjoyed. I think it was in my top 10. And if it wasn't, I don't know why because I have something about it. But this is a collection of being queer, dealing with all these intersections of identity. It talks a lot about-- what's the word for like economic, like the things with houses? This stuff...
Annie Jones [00:40:38] Class?
Hunter [00:40:38] Yes. Thank you. Yeah, that sounds good. Listen, words are hard. But also about being a queer parent. There's several stories here that I think are fascinating. Also about being in an open relationship, which is very funny. It's this really great short story collection and the voice is so strong. Each story I found so captivating. And there's this one story where this dad, his son is on a play date, and the other boy's mom is this insufferable New York socialite. And I don't know why, but I love really shady people being shady to people who don't get it.
Annie Jones [00:41:21] Yeah. It's very southern, honestly.
Hunter [00:41:23] Yeah. And there's so many moments where he's just kind of throwing shade at this [inaudible] woman. I just laughed the whole time. But I think he's so smart. Definitely there's a lot that goes over my head but I think that I I love when a book can be both entertaining and informative and thought provoking.
Annie Jones [00:41:43] Okay, that sounds good. My number seven is Paper Names, this is by Suzy Luo. This is also a debut novel, and I feel like I read so many books this year and I'm sure this has been true in other years as well. But so many books I've read this year are told from three different viewpoints or three different voices, and sometimes they all ran together. But this one I thought was really distinct about a man who has immigrated to the US and he serves as a doorman. And there's this kind of inciting incident, almost like Such a Fun Age moment where he's a doorman and it kind of changes the trajectory of his family's life. And it's like Signal Fires meets Such a Fun Age and very compulsively readable. It's the type of book that I think Jenna Bush Hager would pick for her book club book. Maybe she did. Oh, as I'm saying that out loud, I'm like, did she? Anyway, I don't know. But it seems right up her alley. So if you normally like her picks, I think you'd enjoy this.
Hunter [00:42:40] My number seven was Your Driver is Waiting by Prius Guns.
Annie Jones [00:42:45] Oh, yeah! I liked this book.
Hunter [00:42:47] You read this one?
Annie Jones [00:42:48] Yeah. [Crosstalk]. That's right.
Hunter [00:42:51] Oh, my gosh. That's so funny. Did we talk about this?
Annie Jones [00:42:54] No, I don't think we did.
Hunter [00:42:55] Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So it's pitched as far as what Taxi Driver would be if it was about a queer South Asian woman.
Annie Jones [00:43:06] Yeah.
Hunter [00:43:07] I thought this book was so fun and so hard to put down. There's some really striking imagery in this book, but it's about this woman who's she's a driver for like Uber, but it's not Uber. And she accidentallyhits this girl while she's driving one day and they start a relationship. And I don't know why, but I just love messy people.
Annie Jones [00:43:31] I was going to say it's messy. Of course, you loved it. It's so messy
Hunter [00:43:34] I know. I think if you like those sad girl millennial books, like [inaudible] Melissa Broder [sp], those types of things, this is definitely like right up that. And also even Big Swiss. I think that it would fit into that same kind of thing. But this is another book that I finished in a day and I love how I'm like, "Oh, I feel like my reading is so slow," then I'm like, "I finished all these books in like one day." I just thought it was so weirdly charming. And on the two girls first date, I just think that there's so many moments the way that she describes it all is just like lodged into my brain. And I love when a writer can write a specific scene or a specific image in a way that I can't shake it.
Annie Jones [00:44:17] Yeah, it's super cinematic. I could picture the movie adaptation in my head while I was reading it.
Hunter [00:44:21] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:44:23] Okay. My number six, which I feel like this could move up, but at this moment in time it's number six. Monsters by Claire Dederer. This is a work of cultural criticism about what we are supposed to do when the art we love is created by somebody who does really horrible, awful, problematic things. Like, what are we supposed to do with these monsters? And what happens when we're the monster? And I think that is one of my favorite aspects of this book. I also love that this book does not offer answers because newsflash I don't think there is an answer. But the closest she comes is by kind of finally articulating that reading a book is not a moral act, which is something you and I think have talked about at length. And she, of course, gives a lot more detail. I don't want to reduce it to a sound bite. I appreciated her thoughtfulness at realizing that whether or not we read a book or listen to a song or watch a movie created by a problematic creator is not necessarily the moral act that we think it is. And I thought that was fascinating. And I listen to the audiobook. I actually found it to be really excellent. She's the narrator. Claire Dederer is the narrator. But I want to buy the physical copy because I have things I want to underline. I just thought it was so profound and so good.
Hunter [00:45:44] Well, surprise, surprise, we share the same number six. It's also Monsters.
Annie Jones [00:45:52] Great.
Hunter [00:45:52] And it's funny because I after I listened to, I loved it. I thought it was great. But I realized after listening I was like, oh, this is exactly what I think. She articulated it and that was exciting. [Inaudible]. But the question that actually made me think of was the reverse of what she's saying, which is that she's asking about what do we do with people who are monsters? My question became what do we do with art that is either mildly or extremely problematic or racist or whatever it is, by a person who either seemed fine when they were alive or now has realized like, oh, I didn't realize that was what I was doing. Or even like I said, even if it's just mildly problematic, but it's just something that now people are really upset about. Like, what do we do with that work? But I think I would have never gotten to that point of asking those questions if it had not been for this book really solidifying. And there's still things that I kind of felt differently than her about.
Annie Jones [00:46:59] Yes, me too.
Hunter [00:47:01] But I think that I love that she had a very clear point of view and was so well articulated. It was really entertaining. And I feel like a lot of these books are entertaining.
Annie Jones [00:47:16] Yeah, it was very readable. It would be a great book club conversation for a book club to discuss together. Because you're right, well, not everything she said that I agree with, but I think she's a really good storyteller and really articulated herself really well. And I don't want to read books where I just agree all the time. I want to read books that make me think. And this book helped make me think and, like you said, made you then maybe articulate other questions you have. My number five is the book I quoted from at the top of the episode. It's How to Stay Married. This is by Harrison Scott Key. I had never read him before. He is a pretty prolific Southern author, but this was my first work of his. I was immediately struck by the title, by the premise. Basically, Harrison Scott Key's wife had an affair, and this is the story of how he kind of finds out about the affair and then what happens to their marriage after and the role that he plays in the affair. So I was worried perhaps that the book would be voyeuristic or even maybe relish in its own scandalousness, but it did not. Instead, I found it to be one of the most beautiful books about marriage I've ever read. I'm going to make Jordan read it. I read pieces out loud to him. This releases later in July, and I loved it. It's How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key.
Hunter [00:48:29] Do you think I'll like that one?
Annie Jones [00:48:31] I do, actually. I just think the writing as a Southern reader, I think you will appreciate the Southern writing. I said this on a previous podcast, but he was raised Church of Christ and very rarely does anybody write about that. And I was raised Church of Christ. I was just laughing out loud and then also again wanting to cry. He just-- it was so good.
Hunter [00:48:57] That sounds good. Okay. Mine number five is Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, which I've already talked about. It's actually really funny because that's one of the books that I heard other people who were were kind of upset. There's were upset by either the handling of trauma in the book, which I think is kind of part of the point of the book, and also about just certain things that the narrator says, which I will not give away. But I think if you end up reading it, it'd be fun to discuss.
Annie Jones [00:49:25] Okay, I am going to try to read that one. I was very intrigued when you described it. Okay. My number four is All My Knotted-up Life. This is by Beth Moore. This could have been another big surprise book for me. Beth Moore is an evangelical writer, creator, pastor. And I was not necessarily a huge fan of her Bible studies. I had read a couple of them, but I really liked her on Twitter and especially 2016 and on, I think any Christian voice that was willing to take a bold stand, it shouldn't have been a bold stand, but at that time it felt like a bold stand I really appreciated. And so I followed her. But, anyway, this is her memoir and I really had no expectations going in. I thought, oh, this will be interesting and maybe she'll write a little bit about what it's been like over the last few years of, like, if you identify as a Christian what does that mean anymore? But this book is more than that. She definitely talks about that, at least in the back third. But really this is a Southern Gothic memoir about a girl growing up in Arkansas. And I don't always love Southern writing when I think it's a little bit eye rolly, but I did not think this was eye rolly at all. I felt like it was realistic and the writing was outstanding in a way I could not have predicted. And I was blown away, pleasantly blown away. So that is All My Knotted-up Life by Beth Moore.
Hunter [00:50:49] It sounds so good.
Annie Jones [00:50:51] It really was. It really was good.
Hunter [00:50:53] My number four is August Blue by Deborah Levy. And I've now read I'm pretty sure most of all of the work that's available to get of hers. She has a lot of backlist that isn't available. This is not my favorite of her work, but that's just because of her. I think it's so great that this is just like another-- it's kind of after a while Meryl Streep has great performances that just don't win because all looks good.
Annie Jones [00:51:21] Right.
Hunter [00:51:21] But this is a book about this acclaimed pianist who truly has dedicated her life to this, but has a moment that kind of reminded me of Tar a little bit. Did you see Tar?
Annie Jones [00:51:34] I loved Tar.
Hunter [00:51:35] Okay. There's the tiniest little elements that remind me of this obsession of like being a creator everything. You'll see. But there's a lot of stuff about a double that she has. And there's something so striking about the way that Deborah Levy uses imagery throughout the book. And it's one of those books that's it's like a pandemic novel, but only because people are wearing masks. It's one of those that I can't stop thinking about just because, like I said, the imagery was so striking.
Annie Jones [00:52:08] I've got to read Deborah Levy. I'm behind and I need to. Is this where I should start?
Hunter [00:52:14] I think it'd be a fun one. Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:52:16] Okay. My number three is Stealing by Margaret Verble. I read this in late 2022, but it came out this year. I do not know why more people aren't talking about this book. The narrator is so very memorable. She reminds me of a scout from To Kill a Mockingbird. She's a young protagonist, and she is stolen from her father after her mother dies and taken to a boarding school designed for indigenous children. And it does not feel like a special episode. You know what I mean? Like, it doesn't feel like it's capitalizing on that news story, but instead is just offering a story about what that would look like, what those awful schools that we've kind of learned about in the news over the last decade or so. I just thought it was outstanding. I think the writing is excellent. Again, the narration reminds me of like Rabbit Cake or something like that where you've got this really smart kind of 12 year old voice. And I was just struck by the themes revolving around indoctrination and education. And when whiteness is forced upon different cultures. Anyway, I thought it was outstanding. I loved it. I don't know why more people aren't talking about it. So I'm talking about it. Stealing by Margaret verble.
Hunter [00:53:37] Okay. Because I own it and I started and was loving it, and then it was a board meeting and I stopped reading it.
Annie Jones [00:53:44] Oh, you got to get back on it. It's so short.
Hunter [00:53:46] I know. Okay. That's the new goal, is to read it this week. My number three is witness by Jamel Brinkley. It's a new short story collection by the author of A Single Man, which was a short story collection that was shortlisted for the National Book Award back in 2018. There is something about his voice that is so arresting and his work is so funny and surprising. And I'm trying to think about who it might remind me of. But basically a lot of his stories are kind of about like witnessing injustice of different people in different ways. And I think it's very fascinating. And I think that there's something that he does about the way that he captures certain subcultures that just feels very authentic without feeling too campy or melodramatic. I don't know.
Annie Jones [00:54:41] Okay. That sounds interesting. And that's your second or third short story collection on this list.
Hunter [00:54:46] I know.
Annie Jones [00:54:46] Okay. My second book is Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano. This was an Oprah Book Club pick. It hardly needs me singing its praises, but I will just say that for me this book was worth the hype, which is not always the case. Often I am a little averse to hype and to hyped books, but I spent the first part of my year rereading Little Women going to visit Orchard House, and so it felt only fitting that I read these this year. It is in some ways an homage to Little women, but I actually think it is most successful just as a standalone book about a group of sisters, and particularly about a young man named William who is, I suppose, supposed to be a Laurie-esq figure. William will stick with me for a long time. There's so much to love and be confounded by and heartbroken by. And the book also weirdly deals with basketball. Like in some ways, it's a sports book. And so I loved that. I liked Dear Edward. But this to me is very much the book Ann Napolitano was probably meant to write.
Hunter [00:55:51] I have I have two copies. All my coworkers are reading it right now because I was, like, Annie said she loves it and I need to read it. So they're, like, we're already reading it. And I was like, okay.
Annie Jones [00:56:01] It's really good. And I really was not prepared. I really had no intention of reading it. I didn't get any ARC, so I was just like, oh, I'll read it if I get to it. And then I was almost even a little concerned maybe because of the Little Women aspect. But instead I immediately started reading and I was like, oh, these people like my heart. I just loved it.
Hunter [00:56:24] All right, I'll just read it. My number two is In Memoriam by Alice Florin.
Annie Jones [00:56:31] Okay.
Hunter [00:56:32] I know what's coming up. It's so funny I mentioned this during Reader Retreat because I listened to part of this on audiobook, and I think it's an amazing audiobook. It's British. But as I said at Reader Retreat it's not like, "Hello there, Governor."
Annie Jones [00:56:51] It's like posh British.
Hunter [00:56:52] Yeah, it's definitely not Adele. It's the British that has like the new teeth. I'm just kidding.
Annie Jones [00:57:06] New teeth British?
Hunter [00:57:06] No, I'm kidding. That's awful. No, we all have new teeth. It's about these boys who are at a-- what do you call it?
Annie Jones [00:57:16] A boarding school. My dream.
Hunter [00:57:19] Yes, a boarding school. And they're all, like, being shipped off to war. It's World War One, right?
Annie Jones [00:57:25] Yes.
Hunter [00:57:26] Yes. I love how you could be, like, you talked about this at Reader Retreat. But it's about friendship and romance and male relationships in very interesting different ways.
Annie Jones [00:57:40] Yes.
Hunter [00:57:43] It's just so beautiful. And the way that she writes about relationships is so interesting and intimate without-- sometimes I think that when you write something so intimate it can almost feel intrusive. But she somehow manages to find that balance of feeling like you're with them instead of like creeping on them.
Annie Jones [00:57:59] Oh my gosh, it's so tender. It is my number one book. It is In Memoriam by Alice Florin. You told me to read this-- and I don't even know if you told me to read it, but I stumbled upon it. And then I asked you should I read this? And you said, "Yes, I just finished it. You should read it." I don't know what I thought I was getting into. Sometimes I adopt your practice of just diving into a book without reading too much. I mean, I read the first sentence or two to see if I'm going to be hooked, and I was. Gaunt and Elwood are the main characters, and I just feel like I will hold them forever in my heart. World War One story, could not have told you that I would have enjoyed such a thing. But I absolutely loved it. And I think for all the reasons you named, tender is the word that keeps coming back to me. It is very intimate. I did have a retreater who asked, hey, it's pretty open door. And there are several romantic scenes. But I think this book is so much more than that. It is an epic story to me, and it is very much about relationships, both platonic and romantic. Boyhood growing up. Masculinity. I absolutely loved it. I can't imagine what I could read this year that would be better.
Hunter [00:59:14] My number one, and I don't want to overhype it because I get so nervous about this because it's like one of those things where I'm like, no, I want people to like be just, like, I don't know. It should come as a surprise, it's the Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff.
Annie Jones [00:59:27] Okay.
Hunter [00:59:28] Don't be like that. The thing is, she was writing this book before she started writing Matrix.
Annie Jones [00:59:36] That's right.
Hunter [00:59:37] And I had been hearing about this book for a while. And the thing is, I've read Matrix three times. And the first time I read it, I was like, I don't know. And the second time I read it, I was like, oh my gosh. And then the third time I read it, I was like, this is amazing. And I get all of it now. And I think that if you just read like a normal person, you'll be fine. But I don't.
Annie Jones [01:00:02] Thank you.
Hunter [01:00:06] This new book, The Vaster Wilds, is part Robinson Crusoe, part captivity narrative. And she was kind of inspired by this idea of like how all of these original narratives were very painted like indigenous people as the bad guys, obviously. And it's all about these fragile white women. And so she's like trying to like reconceive of that. And a lot of her work deals with the impact of human beings on natural life. And she deals with that, too. And I will say this, there is a lot of the book where this girl is just running. She is just running. And I was like, okay, all right, she's running. I got it. But I think that truly in the same way that Matrix has a very particular rhythm that is not like a rising action, this book is doing something very similar in how it's playing with structure in unexpected ways that I think really ends up working well. So when you finish it, you do feel there's something about-- like I would tell you now. The last two pages I did cry because I was like, wow, I'm very moved. So I'll be very interested in what you think of it.
Annie Jones [01:01:17] Okay. Please save a copy. I need it like [crosstalk] because now I want to read it. Okay. So those are our top 10 so far. I will love to see in December if any of this still stands. I think that some of it will. I suspect some of it will. But I am very much looking forward to the back half of the year. I was in a reading slump there for a hot minute, but I feel like I'm back. I've already started two books that I really like, so I feel good about what's to come. So thank you, Hunter.
[01:01:49] This week, what I'm reading is brought to you by visit Thomasville. Summer is a wonderful time to see Thomasville, Georgia. If it's time to hit the road for a quick getaway, we are exactly what you're looking for. You can rekindle your spark, explore historical sites, indulge in dining out, shop at amazing independent stores, and finally relax and unwind. There's no better getaway than Thomasville. Whether you live close by or are just passing through, we hope you'll visit beautiful Thomasville, Georgia. It is worth the trip. Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGA.com. Yes, the humidity is rising here, but it really is a wonderful time to visit. I went for a walk in nearby McIntyre Park the other day and just enjoyed the walkability the Thomasville has to offer. If you are wanting the small town experience, I think this is a great weekend getaway. Come on a Friday and stay through a Monday. And maybe even if you're on your way to Destin or Saint George or some other coastal kind of retreat, I think Thomasville would be a fun pit stop. And I just think there's always something to do. I know that sounds silly for a small town, but there really are great restaurants, wonderful shopping. One of my favorite local shops, the Hare and the Heart just started carrying beautiful floral bouquets grown by a local grower. And I just love that collaborative nature of our beautiful downtown. So I hope you'll come visit us this summer.
[01:03:14] This week. I'm reading Talking at Night by Clare Daverley. Hunter, what are you reading?
Hunter [01:03:20] Rouge by Mona Awad.
Annie Jones [01:03:22] Thank you again to our sponsor Visit Thomasville. Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGA.com.
Annie Jones [01:03:30] 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: fromthefrontporchpodcast.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 are…
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names):
Nicole Marsee
Wendi Jenkins
Laurie Johnson
Susan Hulings
Annie Jones: 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 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 3 levels of support - Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions, and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts, and giveaways. Just go to:
patreon.com/fromthefrontporch
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.