Episode 533 || Shop Dad Recommends
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie is joined by her actual dad and The Bookshelf’s Shop Dad, Chris! Annie and Chris chat about his reading life and some of his favorite books in honor of Father’s Day. These books are perfect for giving to your own dad or anyone who’s been there for you like a dad.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 533) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
The Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing
Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor
Bandit Heaven by Tom Clarin
Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones
To the Linksland by Michael Bamberger
John Lewis by David Greenberg
The Barn by Wright Thompson
Munichs by David Peace
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Taking Manhattan by Russell Shorto
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, Tiktok, and Facebook, 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 We Loved to Run by Stephanie Reents. Shop Dad Chris is reading The Man No One Believed by Joshua Sharpe.
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...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.
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]
“Everything has changed in the past few weeks. The way the girls look at her in the corridor, now she is wearing the black cotton smock with long sleeves and a square neck — the one that signals that she is a member of the figlie. As if she is a king. As if she is something to be admired. As if she is someone at all.” ― Harriet Constable, The Instrumentalist
[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 chatting with Shop Dad (literal dad Chris) about his favorite recent reads and books for your own dads and dad figures. Before we get started, a thank you to everyone who’s been leaving reviews for From the Front Porch. iTunes reviews and ratings are how new listeners can best find out about From the Front Porch and — as a result — learn about our indie bookstore, too. Here’s a recent review:
Love the podcast and want to roadtrip to your store
Your podcast has become an auto listen for me - I am a librarian in Rochester NY and I love hearing your suggestions and reviews. I enjoyed the most recent episode with your dad and have added several of his picks to my TBR list! I lead a book discussion here at the Library, purchase adult fiction, and also have a library podcast. The Bookshelf team is an inspiration to me - I hope I can take a Southern roadtrip and visit Thomasville. Being a displaced Southerner your podcast feels like home.
Thank you so very much! If you haven’t left a review, we’d love for you to. 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. Your reviews help us spread the word about not only our podcast, but about our brick-and-mortar business, too.
[00:02:24] Now, back to the show. Shop Dad, if you've heard that term on this show or in our store, is actually my literal dad, Chris Butterworth, and for the last couple of years, actually last few years, he's been picking books as part of our Shelf Subscription program. He appeared on the podcast last year in honor of Father's Day, so this year we're continuing the tradition in case you need recommended reads for your own dad. Welcome back to the show.
Chris Jones [00:02:53] Good morning, thank you!
Annie Jones [00:02:54] Okay, so the last time you were here, we were talking about Shelf Subscriptions. There was a Shop Dad Subscription. We've changed that at The Bookshelf this year. Now we have what is called our Revolving Shelf Subscription where you pick a book, mom picks a book, Nancy, Erin, and you guys rotate. And, well, first of all, you were part of the reason behind that change.
Chris Jones [00:03:20] I was. Why?
Annie Jones [00:03:21] Oh yeah, why do you think?
Chris Jones [00:03:23] You're looking at me... strangely.
Annie Jones [00:03:27] With reproach.
Chris Jones [00:03:29] With reproach.
Annie Jones [00:03:32] Because you expressed that you missed getting to read for fun.
Chris Jones [00:03:37] Oh yes, I recall.
Annie Jones [00:03:39] You were quite a--
Chris Jones [00:03:40] So you changed all that just for me?
Annie Jones [00:03:42] Well, that wasn't the only reason. Long distance customers love Erin. Erin is their bookseller essentially. And so we wanted to give Erin a chance to pick Shelf Subscription selections. But Erin is the mom of four. She is busy. And so, we were trying to figure out how can she get added to the mix without having to pick a book every month. Picking a book every month is hard. And Olivia and I, it makes sense, we're 40 hour a week staffers. She's the operations manager, I'm the owner. But for everybody else, it is a big commitment.
Chris Jones [00:04:16] Right. And I do feel like I'm enjoying some other choices more. I'm able to pick some of my own preferences in reading. So I've enjoyed being off of the monthly assignment list.
Annie Jones [00:04:33] Yeah. Now it's more like quarterly and that feels doable. So, are you reading a mix of old and new? Are you reading from your shelf at home? Without me to guide you, how are you picking books for yourself?
Chris Jones [00:04:51] I'm lost, just totally lost. I have no idea where I'm going. No, I think as we go through this list for this recording, we'll find that I'm picking new releases, I'm picking ones that have been out for a while, I'm picking biographies, non-fiction fiction. My preferences are all over the board, but yeah, I've got to be showing that I'm reading a wide variety of things.
Annie Jones [00:05:25] I think when I got to go on the book tour this spring and I got to go to these different bookstores, one of the things I enjoyed was, it's rare now for me to-- I don't want this to sound arrogant, but I spend so much time around books that it's rare to stumble upon one I haven't heard of or haven't seen or haven't sold. And so it was fun to go to Bookstories and find things that I just wanted to read that had nothing to do with the podcast or Shelf Subscriptions. Anyway, so I understand that. Okay. So you read pretty eclectically. You read fiction. You read nonfiction. So where do you want to start? What book do you want to talk about first?
Chris Jones [00:06:08] Well, why don't we start off with the one that you quoted from.
Annie Jones [00:06:12] Yes, because that was an interesting quote. The Instrumentalist.
Chris Jones [00:06:15] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:06:16] I do just want to say that both of my parents come to these shows to record with, they are the most prepared guests that I ever host. They come here with their literal stack of books. They bring the books as if this is a visual show.
Chris Jones [00:06:31] Well, I was going to hold the book up for our viewers.
Annie Jones [00:06:34] For our YouTube followers.
Chris Jones [00:06:35] And so I'm holding it up right now
Annie Jones [00:06:37] If only you could see it. It actually has a great cover.
Chris Jones [00:06:41] It does.
Annie Jones [00:06:41] This was a Shelf Subscription book, wasn't it?
Chris Jones [00:06:43] It was a Shelf Subscription for September of last year.
Annie Jones [00:06:49] All right, so talk about The Instrumentalist.
Chris Jones [00:06:51] Well, this is the debut novel by an award-winning journalist, Harriet Constable. And if it were up to me, this would be a hit for everybody. I'm no keen critic, but I thoroughly enjoyed this read. My Men's Shelf Subscribers might have wondered why I would choose such a book.
Annie Jones [00:07:16] Yeah, men are sometimes weird about reading women. I don't know what that's about.
Chris Jones [00:07:19] Yeah, I don't know either. I had a little hard time settling on it as a matter of fact
Annie Jones [00:07:26] You felt devotion to your male followers.
Chris Jones [00:07:29] But our male followers and anybody else that was on my list would encounter the protagonist in this story by the name of Anna Maria. And I hope they would enjoy the story of a young girl coming of age in an orphanage and that this orphan is a child prodigy in classical music.
Annie Jones [00:07:52] Okay.
Chris Jones [00:07:52] And playing the violin. This story is based upon real people and real events of the 18th century. I think that everybody would find this story fascinating. And since this came out in September of last year, probably people who are listening to this have read it and I hope they found it fascinating and intriguing.
Annie Jones [00:08:16] I bet some people haven't. I don't know that that's a book that got a ton of buzz. I can't remember now. And I wonder, it might be coming out in paperback soon, too.
Chris Jones [00:08:28] One of the things that I thought about when I was doing my write-up for this Shell Subscription book is the quote what goes around comes around. And you'll find this to be the case with Anna Maria, who ultimately finds out from whom she came, because she's in an orphanage, and that her ambitions can be as devastating as they can be rewarding. Because she eventually becomes the lead musician in this orchestra that's famously part of this orphanage which is a real thing.
Annie Jones [00:09:07] Which was based in real. Okay.
Chris Jones [00:09:10] In Italy. But as she accepted that role, she found out that it was much more challenging and she would encounter jealousies from all around her, as well as the person whose place she took- her mentor.
Annie Jones [00:09:32] Interesting.
Chris Jones [00:09:34] So it is a really good book and it describes the realities inside of an orphanage.
Annie Jones [00:09:41] And it's set in Italy, I guess.
Chris Jones [00:09:44] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:09:44] Do you realize you read a lot of books about music? Because think about Brendan Slocumb, Violin Conspiracy, is that right?
Chris Jones [00:09:53] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:09:54] And you read lot of historical fiction.
Chris Jones [00:09:57] Well, as an accomplished accordionist...
Annie Jones [00:10:02] That'll be a fun surprise for people.
Chris Jones [00:10:05] I say that tongue in cheek, but I did take eight years of accordion.
Annie Jones [00:10:10] Which is, listen, that is a long time.
Chris Jones [00:10:13] It was a long time ago. I was a child basically. But yeah, the thing in central Florida when I was growing up was to play the accordion.
Annie Jones [00:10:26] Was it really? Was that really a thing or was it just a you thing?
Chris Jones [00:10:29] Well, there was at least 25 of us in all of central Florida that played the accordion out of this one school of music.
Annie Jones [00:10:37] Now you're all scattered across the country, eight years of accordion under your belt.
Chris Jones [00:10:42] Playing the polkas everywhere we go.
Annie Jones [00:10:45] Like John Candy in Home Alone or something. Okay, next up, what do you want to talk about next?
Chris Jones [00:10:52] Well, let's talk about The Garden Against Time.
Annie Jones [00:10:56] Okay, I did help pick this book for you, The Garden Against Time.
Chris Jones [00:11:01] Did you really?
Annie Jones [00:11:03] Yes, if it's a Shelf Subscription, who do you think narrowed those down for you?
Chris Jones [00:11:07] Sorry, that's right.
Annie Jones [00:11:08] Who do you think helped? But I was curious about this book because then last year, do you remember this? When we went to Europe, we found the UK version, like the UK cover of this book.
Chris Jones [00:11:20] Did you?
Annie Jones [00:11:21] And we took a picture because the UK covers are often different from the US covers. Anyway, look at you, another lady author.
Chris Jones [00:11:29] I was going to say I'm showing my feminine inside.
Annie Jones [00:11:33] Yeah, I guess so.
Chris Jones [00:11:34] How do they say that?
Annie Jones [00:11:36] You're so feminist.
Chris Jones [00:11:38] Anyway, this was a book by Olivia Lang, it was my July of last year Shelf Subscription. I thought I had some other choices to choose from at that time, but I settled on this one. I thought I was going to go with John Boyne' s All the Broken Places or Your Presence is Mandatory by Sasha Vasilyuk, but I settled on this one because I'm a abbess and Terry and Gardner.
Annie Jones [00:12:07] What is that, pray tell?
Chris Jones [00:12:10] It means beginning.
Annie Jones [00:12:12] Okay.
Chris Jones [00:12:12] But really I'm a bit more than a beginner.
Annie Jones [00:12:16] Yes.
Chris Jones [00:12:16] Gardener since I am a septuagenarian as well.
Annie Jones [00:12:20] Yes, look at you, did you use a thesaurus for all these big words?
Chris Jones [00:12:24] I've been doing my own landscaping and gardening all my life.
Annie Jones [00:12:28] Yeah, I would not call you a beginning gardener. Not at all. Now, I think you're a hobbyist. It's not like you're professional, but I definitely think you are more than a beginner. So was this book really about gardening?
Chris Jones [00:12:42] Yeah, I took the chance on this that people would like to read about Lange's restoration of an English garden whose roots go back several decades. And along the way she provides insight into some fascinating history about British gardens and some of the interesting characters that were the design architects of well-known gardens in previous centuries. She even addresses controversy of the gardens of the aristocracies built on the backs of the excluded.
Annie Jones [00:13:16] Yeah.
Chris Jones [00:13:16] And she guides the reader to an understanding of the necessary stages in the life of gardens. So the further I read in this book, the more engaged I became. And when I finished, I was really longing for more.
Annie Jones [00:13:29] First of all, I love the cover, both the US one and the UK one, and it sounds good and a little bit different from...
Chris Jones [00:13:37] Yeah, very different from what I usually would read as a non-fiction.
Annie Jones [00:13:43] Yes.
Chris Jones [00:13:44] So I was glad I chose this.
Annie Jones [00:13:47] I'm glad you did too, something a little unique. And would probably make a good summertime read because now in the South I do feel like our gardens are dying.
Chris Jones [00:13:58] In the South, in the summertime, we are just struggling to keep them alive.
Annie Jones [00:14:02] Yeah, but if you wish you were going somewhere this summer, which I kind of do, I'm missing that I'm not traveling like we normally do in the summer, this book sounds like it could transport you to the British gardens.
Chris Jones [00:14:15] Exactly.
Annie Jones [00:14:16] Where you might not get to go in real life, but you can go travel through books.
Chris Jones [00:14:21] Yeah. Because she describes not only her own garden in this apparently very historic cottage or home that she and her husband bought. And so they were transforming, reviving, if you will, the gardens. Apparently British homes, especially those that are of any size, have large courtyards.
Annie Jones [00:14:44] And they're beautiful. Tallahassee has some very natural-looking yards, but Great Britain, I do think is known for its gardens. They're beautiful like English cottage gardens. There are lots of bright flowers and...
Chris Jones [00:15:00] I think when we as Americans look on those gardens too, I haven't done so in person, but through pictures and things, sometimes your first impression is, "Ooh, there's no organization to that."
Annie Jones [00:15:12] Right!
Chris Jones [00:15:12] Americans like to be here it is. Here is this spot for this. So when you talk about wanting to build an English garden here, you've got to let your mind wander a little bit.
Annie Jones [00:15:26] Yeah. I think that it would be a fun book to read this time of year. Okay, what's next?
Chris Jones [00:15:34] Let's talk about Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor.
Annie Jones [00:15:41] Okay. Agony Hill, that sounds a little dark.
Chris Jones [00:15:47] As a matter of fact, when I read this for a Shelf Subscription, I'm not sure how long it had been since I had read a mystery novel for the Shelf Subscription. But I'm happy to recommend this one because she sets this novel where she resides in Vermont.
Annie Jones [00:16:05] Oh, love that. Love New England.
Chris Jones [00:16:08] The year is 1965. She has combined events in the United States and in Vermont with her narrative that makes for interesting reading. Since I was a teenager during that time. In this novel, the death of an eccentric farmer, husband and father, must be investigated by a Boston state police officer whose name is Franklin Warren in the book. And he has relocated to Bethany, Vermont after the tragic murder of his own wife.
Annie Jones [00:16:40] Okay.
Chris Jones [00:16:41] So he's kind of rebuilding his career. He's settling for something that should be a little bit less stressful.
Annie Jones [00:16:50] I would think after Boston, yeah.
Chris Jones [00:16:52] Yeah, kind of a rural country setting. He finds rural Vermont to his liking, but he has difficult moments still grieving from his loss. The author sets the plot very carefully and intriguingly pairing interesting side stories with some of Bethany's residence with the murder investigation. So she takes you on this journey through this murder investigation with this police officer's grief also part of the story. And his interaction with townspeople that helps him, in some cases, recover, but in some case also presents challenges to his grief story.
Annie Jones [00:17:39] Okay, so it's not just maybe your run-of-the mill whodunit; instead, it's also dealing with small town life maybe.
Chris Jones [00:17:47] Exactly. But the murder that's trying to be solved takes some very interesting twists and as it comes out on the other side, you end up being very surprised at how this turned out.
Annie Jones [00:18:02] Okay. And I do recall, I remember this book, it's a great length. It's not too long to me. It looked like a tight 200, 250.
Chris Jones [00:18:10] Right. it's not Don Quixote.
Annie Jones [00:18:13] Yeah. So it felt like, again, because we're talking about this episode's coming out this summer, like a good summer book if you're looking for a beach side mystery and maybe a new novelist for some folks.
Chris Jones [00:18:28] Can I read from a quote?
Annie Jones [00:18:29] Yeah, absolutely.
Chris Jones [00:18:32] "Alice always felt slightly uncomfortable at these recitations of the successes of people's offspring. It seemed to her that the reciter's pride was based entirely on the genetic connection they had with the child. She supposed people felt responsible for their children's accomplishments though, and in her experience, they rarely claimed their children’s failures."
Annie Jones [00:18:57] Hmm, do you claim my failures?
Chris Jones [00:19:00] Do you have any?
Annie Jones [00:19:02] Wow, that's a great answer, but yes, I do. Okay, next up, all of these have been Shelf Subscription selections so far.
Chris Jones [00:19:12] Yes. They have so far. So the next one will be Bandit Heaven by Tom Clavin.
Annie Jones [00:19:18] Okay. I don't remember this one at all.
Chris Jones [00:19:20] This was a good book. I really enjoyed this.
Annie Jones [00:19:23] I do remember this cover, okay.
Chris Jones [00:19:28] I thought that maybe my readers at the time, my Shelf Subscriptions followers, were ready for something lighter when I recommended this in November of last year. This Bandit Heaven is a nonfiction account of the events and real bandits and cattle rustlers of the late 19th century and their Western hideouts, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Annie Jones [00:19:54] Okay.
Chris Jones [00:19:55] And that movie about them came out, I was just probably coming out of teenage. At times the reader will wonder how those thieves were so successful because this book describes all their blunders and missteps that could have resulted in capture, but instead escape and riches were often the result. Eventually, technology is what ended the era with the telegraph and soon to follow the telephone because then the law enforcement could communicate with each other.
Annie Jones [00:20:28] Right. You do forget about that.
Chris Jones [00:20:30] Yeah. And before that, they would just round up a posse and they would go after them.
Annie Jones [00:20:35] Like in Lonesome Dove.
Chris Jones [00:20:36] Yeah, so oftentimes these bandits they would get away with it, but the book is as much about their hideouts as it was about the people.
Annie Jones [00:20:47] So the places.
Chris Jones [00:20:48] The places and it was quite, quite interesting. But you can see the transition in this from when Telegraph was invented and how that really helped law enforcement gain eventually the upper hand.
Annie Jones [00:21:03] Isn't it funny even sometimes when we watch true crime documentaries or we might read books set in the seventies or eighties and then you start to watch how DNA changes or how the institution of the FBI changes things because, you're right, of improved communication or improved technology databases, things that we take for granted now.
Chris Jones [00:21:26] Yeah. And some of the things that mom and I watch, we watch some British crime dramas, but they're old and so they're before DNA. You want to say, well, just...
Annie Jones [00:21:36] Just test that stuff.
Chris Jones [00:21:39] Just test that stuff.
Annie Jones [00:21:40] Just test that blood. This sounds like what I would call your stereotypical Father's Day book. Meaning when we, at The Bookshelf, people come in the week of Father's Day and it's like they have this crazed look in their eye, desperation. What can I buy my dad? What will my dad like? I think this sounds like a great dad book.
Chris Jones [00:22:01] This would be a very good dad book, dad's day gift, as would some of those that we discussed a year ago like the Bullet Swallower would be another one.
Annie Jones [00:22:10] Yes.
Chris Jones [00:22:10] Chernobyl would be another one that would be very good for dad's day. But this is more recent and it is a real good read.
Annie Jones [00:22:19] All right, what's next?
Chris Jones [00:22:22] What about Ordinary Time?
Annie Jones [00:22:24] Listen, I didn't see that on your list, and I wondered...
Chris Jones [00:22:27] I thought, "You know what, I better slip Ordinary Time in there. I've read it and it was really good."
Annie Jones [00:22:35] Where did it rank amongst this list? I don't even see it named.
Chris Jones [00:22:40] I didn't think I was supposed to talk about that.
Annie Jones [00:22:42] Mom did.
Chris Jones [00:22:43] Did she?
Annie Jones [00:22:44] She did.
Chris Jones [00:22:45] Wait a minute, she's after me.
Annie Jones [00:22:46] This was earlier when she came on the show in March. She loved Ordinary Time.
Chris Jones [00:22:53] Okay. Well, I'm slipping it in and I'm very proud of you for it.
Annie Jones [00:22:57] Thank you, you're going to claim my accomplishment.
Chris Jones [00:23:00] That's right.
Annie Jones [00:23:00] As your own.
Chris Jones [00:23:01] Good reference back to the previous quote. Mom and I both shed tears reading some of it. Certainly laughed in many parts of it. And just so proud that you were able to get that first book done.
Annie Jones [00:23:18] What was one of your favorite chapters? Did you have any that you really liked?
Chris Jones [00:23:23] Unfortunately, there wasn't one completely about me.
Annie Jones [00:23:28] Next time!
Chris Jones [00:23:31] But I think that the essays that recounted, and I think there was more than one of them, the spiritual journey were of particular interest and particularly moving since, I think, Mom and I have made some similar journeys. But the way you describe yours would certainly might be different from the way we describe ours, but they still link up.
Annie Jones [00:24:00] Yes. Somebody asked at one of the bookstore events how family responded to, and I said one of those faith chapters I sent to you and mom in advance. I did not do that with very many of the essays, but one of them I did. And it wasn't like I was asking for permission, although maybe I was, but I really mostly wanted to know is this accurate? I think I sent it to you guys and I sent to our really good friends because I knew they would have a similar perspective because they're about our age. And then I wondered, does this feel accurate to y'all? Is this true? It's my perspective, but I wanted it to be as true as possible.
Chris Jones [00:24:45] And our response was we felt like that it was.
Annie Jones [00:24:48] Yes, which I was grateful for. Well, thanks for reading it. I have a copy here for you actually because I signed a copy to mom.
Chris Jones [00:24:58] I wondered where mine was.
Annie Jones [00:25:00] Listen, it's because mom's name was on the pre-order slip, so I thought, well, dad didn't do this, mom did.
Chris Jones [00:25:07] You're right. But I thought she always ordered for me.
Annie Jones [00:25:11] Well, now we know.
Chris Jones [00:25:12] But nonetheless, I do want you to know that I'm going to probably purchase five to ten copies because I want to have some--
Annie Jones [00:25:21] Put them in the trunk of your car?
Chris Jones [00:25:23] That I can just pass out to whomever I want.
Annie Jones [00:25:26] It reminds me of--
Chris Jones [00:25:28] I'm glad my phone number is not out there.
Annie Jones [00:25:32] Dad's dad, Papa B, is what I called him, but he wrote a book called Backroads to a Better Life. It was his autobiography, his memoir, and he self-published it, independently published it. And, like many local authors I think you and I have interacted with, he kept boxes in his trunk and would pass them out, but he'd also try to sell them. It wasn't like he was just giving away for free. Sometimes he would. But you can do that for Ordinary Time.
Chris Jones [00:26:01] Yeah, I'm looking forward to doing that. I have some people on my list that I think I would just want to give. And then if somebody else were to come up to me and say, "Hey, where can I get a copy?" I can say, oh, well.
Annie Jones [00:26:15] I've got one. Boy, have I got something for you.
Chris Jones [00:26:17] And I can mark it up whatever amount I want to.
Annie Jones [00:26:19] Yeah, sure. Upcharge that.
Chris Jones [00:26:24] And then I also I think it's safe to say now that we know that it is in the top 10 of the publishers' new releases.
Annie Jones [00:26:34] Yes, that was really exciting.
Chris Jones [00:26:36] That is.
Annie Jones [00:26:36] Yeah, that felt like a big deal. Once your book is out there, at least my experience has been, you don't hear much unless it becomes a New York Times bestseller, which it did not. That doesn't mean it won't ever, but probably not. I wrote an essay about that this week, actually, because you dreamed that it could, but that's a tough designation to get. So, anyway, you won't hear a ton from the publisher once it's out into the world, but I did hear that it was in the top 10 of Harper One's titles, which is exciting. All right, what else have you been reading besides your daughter's work?
Chris Jones [00:27:12] Well, why don't we go to something that wasn't on Shelf Subscription?
Annie Jones [00:27:16] Okay.
Chris Jones [00:27:16] To the Linksland is the name of the book.
Annie Jones [00:27:20] Did I give this to you?
Chris Jones [00:27:24] No, I don't think so.
Annie Jones [00:27:26] Bought it yourself.
Chris Jones [00:27:26] I did buy it myself. I don't know. Maybe you told me about this. This is an old book.
Annie Jones [00:27:32] You told me about it. We stocked it because of you.
Chris Jones [00:27:35] This particular one is the 30th anniversary edition. It's been out there a long time. I did not know about it.
Annie Jones [00:27:43] I think your golf buddies told you about it.
Chris Jones [00:27:46] I think I told them about it.
Annie Jones [00:27:48] Maybe so.
Chris Jones [00:27:49] But anyway it's a great read, non-fiction. It is about a golfer who played collegiately here in the United States, I think at one of the Ivy League schools. Michael Bamberger is the author and he was a very good golfer in his own right, but he didn't make it to the professional level. When he and his wife got married, they decided that they were going to spend their honeymoon, a 12-month honeymoon.
Annie Jones [00:28:15] Okay.
Chris Jones [00:28:17] In Ireland and Scotland.
Annie Jones [00:28:20] Okay.
Chris Jones [00:28:21] And they were going to fund this by him being a caddy on a professional tour in Europe.
Annie Jones [00:28:30] Alright.
Chris Jones [00:28:31] And so he became a caddy and the stories that he tells about now-- this also took place, what 25 years ago, I don't know how long it took for him to write this book, but this is the 30th anniversary edition of it.
Annie Jones [00:28:49] So this is from really probably more like 40 years or 35 years ago in order to write and publish it.
Chris Jones [00:28:56] So, 1980. So he hooked up with a professional golfer. It's just funny. It's very interesting. The fact that this professional tour in Europe at the time wasn't that lucrative. And of course he would just get paid off of what his pro that he worked for made, and sometimes that wasn't very much. They traveled about in caddy busses. All the caddies just went from tournament to tournament in there.
Annie Jones [00:29:29] Did his wife join him on those?
Chris Jones [00:29:32] She met him up in different places. She settled in some place and got a job.
Annie Jones [00:29:38] Okay.
Chris Jones [00:29:39] But for the early part of it, yeah, she would just tag along.
Annie Jones [00:29:43] So I might not be super intrigued by the golfing aspect, but the travel log, Ireland, Scotland, I'd be interested in that.
Chris Jones [00:29:51] And the description of the courses, that's where the birthplace of golf is in Scotland. And so the description of the course, how the courses came about to be cut out of wilderness areas and how they maintain them to be what is described as links courses are different from courses that originated here. The layouts are different. They're very much coastal type horses. Being a golfer it was very, very interesting read to me.
Annie Jones [00:30:29] Sounds like another good Father's Day book.
Chris Jones [00:30:32] Indeed, especially if they're a golfer. To the Linksland by Michael Bamberg.
Annie Jones [00:30:36] Okay, what else you got?
Chris Jones [00:30:38] Let's go to a biography that I read. Did I do this one as part of a Shelf Subscription?
Annie Jones [00:30:46] You did do it as a Shelf Subscription because poor Erin and Keila had to package this puppy up and poor Bookshelf had to pay for the shipping.
Chris Jones [00:30:55] I did think about that when I chose it, but I said, "I got to read this book about John Lewis, a biography by David Greenberg."
Annie Jones [00:31:04] And what'd you think? This is the kind of book, I'll say this, growing up, do you know what book I forever associate with you reading?
Chris Jones [00:31:13] Growing up?
Annie Jones [00:31:14] Yes. Growing up, I have a distinct memory. Like, if mom's book was The Family Manager, that's the book I remember mom reading. There is a book that I remember you reading.
Chris Jones [00:31:25] Was it a biography of Ronald Reagan?
Annie Jones [00:31:30] No. It was a biography, but not of Reagan.
Chris Jones [00:31:33] What was it?
Annie Jones [00:31:34] Truman.
Chris Jones [00:31:35] Oh, the Truman biography. Yes.
Annie Jones [00:31:36] I think by David McCullough.
Chris Jones [00:31:38] By David McCullough, yes.
Annie Jones [00:31:39] I have a very vivid memory of you reading that book, because it was so big. This is the kind of book that it doesn't surprise me that you picked it up, but it is hefty.
Chris Jones [00:31:48] I imagine it did cost a little bit to ship.
Annie Jones [00:31:51] It wasn't cheap. People really got their money's worth that month.
Chris Jones [00:31:57] A great book. And the life of John Lewis is filled with such challenge and such tragedy. He was personally attacked on many occasions and arrested many, many, many times. Of course, he became a congressman from Georgia and the description of the fight for civil rights was taking place at the time that I was growing up. I'm ashamed to say that I did not know much of the history of the things that were going on in big and small towns throughout the South, even though I lived in the South.
Annie Jones [00:32:43] He was part of that Selma March.
Chris Jones [00:32:45] That's right.
Annie Jones [00:32:46] Is the image I have of him as a young man.
Chris Jones [00:32:50] The Pettus bridge.
Annie Jones [00:32:52] Yes.
Chris Jones [00:32:52] He was part of that and they were beaten by state troopers as they came across that bridge and trunked up charges like assembling without a permit or things like that, but when they were actually just trying to be able to vote.
Annie Jones [00:33:11] And I'm glad you said you came of age during that time. One of the things when mom and I talk about some books that she's read about that history or that I've read about that history, it's just not that long ago. It's really not. And so it is striking to read details because we might have a few images from news reports or from videos we've seen. But to dive deep into somebody like John Lewis. I think his tagline or the thing that he said was like get into good trouble. I feel like as a Congressman, maybe that was--
Chris Jones [00:33:47] Yeah. Let's get into good trouble. Yes. That became part of the mantra of that group of people that were close to Martin Luther King Jr. Just sacrificing everything for civil rights.
Annie Jones [00:34:04] I'm glad you read that one. I think it made a lot of best of lists for the end of the year because I think came out toward the end of the last year. Anyway, it was a New York times bestseller. And that would also be a good Father's Day present.
Chris Jones [00:34:17] Yes! I'm on a roll.
Annie Jones [00:34:20] You are. Thank you so much.
Chris Jones [00:34:23] Go to Bookshelf and get your Father's Day book.
Annie Jones [00:34:25] That's right. We've got you covered. All right, what's next on your list?
Chris Jones [00:34:29] Well, another book that I read that was not on my Shelf Subscription is the nonfiction entitled The Barn by Wright Thompson. Another book that is closely related to civil rights time and this is where Emmett Till was murdered, and the book is about that barn where it took place. And the author grew up in that area and was very familiar with it, but he too, even though he was raised in that era, had no clue about this whole story.
Annie Jones [00:35:12] Yes. I read this. I loved it. I read it, you read it, Nina read it. I remember reading it and thinking that it would be a chore. I think it's important to read books sometimes that feel like a chore, that's okay. Sometimes books are supposed to be hard and hard for you to grapple with or read through, but actually this book it's so much about the history of Mississippi Delta that at first I thought, "I'm going to be bored." I actually wasn't bored. I was very invested. Wright Thompson is a-- I did not know this, but he's a sports writer for ESPN. His last book was Pappyland, which is about Pappy Van Winkle or whatever. What is that called? It's some kind of alcohol, some kind of liquor, I thought. Whiskey.
Chris Jones [00:35:58] Not sure about that.
Annie Jones [00:35:59] I think so. But, anyway, Jordan would like that book. You probably would, too. So that's what I knew him from, was from those things, from Pappyland. Pappyland was a Bookshelf bestseller one year. But, anyway, this book really is all about local history of Mississippi and, I think, Wright Thompson as a white man realizing that he didn't know things he should know.
Chris Jones [00:36:25] Mom gave me this book for my birthday in October. And thanks for reminding me because the history of the Mississippi Delta, he spends quite a bit of time talking about that.
Annie Jones [00:36:38] Yes, he does.
Chris Jones [00:36:38] And how that history impacted the region.
Annie Jones [00:36:42] Yes. That's the thing, is you feel a little bit, and I talked to Nina about this too, at first you're a little bogged down by the history of the Delta. You're like why does this matter? But as any Southerner knows, what happens in the land and on the land makes a deep and lasting impact. And so all of the history, you totally see why names matter, why last names matter. Anyway, and why then some of Emmett Till's murderers were kept secret. And anyway, it's a really good book.
Chris Jones [00:37:18] Just so much deception and lying.
Annie Jones [00:37:22] Yes.
Chris Jones [00:37:23] The perpetrators from...
Annie Jones [00:37:25] Yeah, protected them. I love this book.
Chris Jones [00:37:28] I should ask your aunt what she thought about it because I remember that she read it and I would like to know what her perspective was.
Annie Jones [00:37:35] Yeah, that's why I do love when we as a family pass around a book. We did that with The Barn a little bit. I think we did it with The Women. Did you read The Women about the Vietnam?
Chris Jones [00:37:46] No.
Annie Jones [00:37:47] Okay, that was me, Nina, and Mom.
Chris Jones [00:37:49] Mom read that, yes.
Annie Jones [00:37:50] It's fun for me because I get y'all's perspective. Nina and mom lived through Vietnam. You did too, but you lived through the civil rights movement. So it's just interesting to get y’all’s perspectives.
Chris Jones [00:38:05] A very sobering book.
Annie Jones [00:38:05] Yes, agreed. Well written. I thought it was great. All right, next up.
Chris Jones [00:38:12] Let's talk about the Munichs. Again, I'm holding it up for the viewers. You see the cover? This was a great book. It is a novel, a fiction, but it's also based upon true events. This is about the football team in England.
Annie Jones [00:38:31] So soccer?
Chris Jones [00:38:31] So it'll be soccer.
Annie Jones [00:38:34] Did you hear my disdain? I didn't mean for it to sound so disdainful. So soccer?
Chris Jones [00:38:41] Yeah, this was a good book because when I read the promo quote on the back cover of the book, it said, "From the acclaimed author, a novel of tragedy and renewal about one of the greatest disasters in the history of sports". So I was hooked on that. And so after I got into the first few pages and understood that this novel was the author's reimagining of the 1958 plane crash in Munich, Germany, which took the lives of many of the members of the Manchester United soccer team. So then I realized, of course, I was embarking on an event that I had no knowledge of. The fact that it was a huge tragedy and affected fans and people all over England reminded me of the sports tragedy that I was very familiar with and that was the plane crash involving the Marshall University football team in 1970, and which I was a student at Florida State University at the time. And I was part of the basketball team at Florida state. And we took a road trip to play a game at Marshall University. It was actually a holiday tournament and we had to fly into the airport in 1970 where that plane crash occurred. And interestingly, as you have referenced in your own book, every flight that leaves Tallahassee, Florida lands someplace else before you can get to your final destination.
Annie Jones [00:40:37] Correct.
Chris Jones [00:40:37] So we went from Tallahassee to Atlanta. And then we had to board a two-engine prop plane in Atlanta to fly into Huntington, West Virginia.
Annie Jones [00:40:49] Wow, because I guess it's even smaller than Tallahassee.
Chris Jones [00:40:52] And it's surrounded by mountains and we flew into that airport at night and so all of us on board of course knew.
Annie Jones [00:41:01] I bet that was scary actually.
Chris Jones [00:41:03] Two years later.
Annie Jones [00:41:05] So that this book kind of then reminded-- because even though you weren't familiar with this at all, I think we all have stories like that.
Chris Jones [00:41:14] Right. So, anyway, that's what this book is about. And David Pearce, the author, reimagines this event. And so what he does is he kind of expands on what families, what the teammates that didn't lose their lives, some of the teammates who were told they weren't going to make this trip you can imagine...
Annie Jones [00:41:38] The guilt.
Chris Jones [00:41:38] The guilt. And he oftentimes throughout the book will write in the vernacular. He'll try to show you what the vernacular was of how they talked. And he really at first have to really pay attention, but this was a really, really good read.
Annie Jones [00:41:59] Well, I'm looking at it because, like I said, you and mom bring your books with you, and you guys have adopted my tearing.
Chris Jones [00:42:07] Yeah, page tearing. I was so afraid to do that.
Annie Jones [00:42:11] People really hate me for that. They really do. It gets a lot of push back on the internet. But my whole family has adopted it and this is full of tears.
Chris Jones [00:42:22] It's easier than underlining.
Annie Jones [00:42:24] Yes. Well, you can find it then.
Chris Jones [00:42:29] So, anyway, I want to quote from this. "Manchester from the moment the news came through was a city in mourning. Newspapers sold out as fast as they could be printed. It was as though every family in a city of three quarter of a million people had suffered a personal loss, and so indeed they had. At Old Trafford, the saddest football ground in the world, the flag flew at half-mast and on hundreds of other football grounds, other flags were being dipped in sympathy. For this disaster is perhaps the most tragic single blow British sport has ever suffered."
Annie Jones [00:43:05] That's really good writing. I'm intrigued by that one myself, actually. I didn't know that's what it was about. Is it dumb that I thought it was a World War II book because it was called Munich? I thought it was a German book.
Chris Jones [00:43:18] You can be forgiven.
Annie Jones [00:43:19] Okay, thanks. Okay, what do you got over there?
Chris Jones [00:43:23] Why don't we just mention this?
Annie Jones [00:43:26] We'll mention what you just most recently finished because I think now it'll be okay because you were the picker for June's Revolving Shelf Subscription. What did you pick?
Chris Jones [00:43:37] My June selection, My Friends, Fredrik Backman.
Annie Jones [00:43:44] And you'd never read him before?
Chris Jones [00:43:45] I had not.
Annie Jones [00:43:46] What a delight.
Chris Jones [00:43:47] And apparently he's a very, very well-known author.
Annie Jones [00:43:49] Yeah
Chris Jones [00:43:50] I didn't know about it.
Annie Jones [00:43:51] Well, because I told you. So he wrote one of his most famous books as A Man Called Ove. You would know it as a Man Called Otto.
Chris Jones [00:44:01] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:44:01] Yes. And so because that was like the Tom Hanks movie. You would love his other books.
Chris Jones [00:44:06] I won't hold this cover up for anybody to see because the final cover is yet to be revealed.
Annie Jones [00:44:13] All he's got is his pitiful looking ARC.
Chris Jones [00:44:16] I don't know how much you want to say about this, but this was a fantastic book.
Annie Jones [00:44:21] I'm going to read this one. I like I like Fredrick Backman a lot. I actually have one on my shelf you should borrow of his about a hockey team, but I am excited to read that book. That was your Shelf Subscription that should be going out; may already be in people's hands by the time they get this.
Chris Jones [00:44:37] Indeed.
Annie Jones [00:44:38] Okay, anything else or do you think we're good?
Chris Jones [00:44:42] Let me just recommend the Taking Manhattan.
Annie Jones [00:44:44] Okay, yes.
Chris Jones [00:44:45] That's a history of how Manhattan came to be.
Annie Jones [00:44:48] Oh, Taking Man. Wait, what is it called? Taking Manhattan.
Chris Jones [00:44:51] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:44:52] That's another good one.
Chris Jones [00:44:54] Russell Shorto.
Annie Jones [00:44:55] All of these books will be listed in the show notes per usual. If you're interested in these selections and more, we actually have two ways for you to read more like Shop Dad. First of all, did you know this? You have your own page on The Bookshelf website?
Chris Jones [00:45:10] No, really!
Annie Jones [00:45:11] Yeah.
Chris Jones [00:45:12] Do I need to autograph it?
Annie Jones [00:45:14] Yeah, that'd be great. Digitally. His reads have their own home, bookshelfthomasville.com/collections/shop-dad-reads. That's a mouthful. So you can really just go to bookshelfthomasville.com and click Featured and then you'll see that Shop Dad has his own page where the books he loves are always listed. You can also purchase the Revolving Shelf Subscription and you'll get selections not only from Shop Dad, but Shop Mom, bookseller Nancy, and online sales manager Erin. It has been a hit this year. You're signing more cards than ever.
Chris Jones [00:45:50] Yes I have.
Annie Jones [00:45:51] Yeah, which is really fun. So it is great for the adventurous or eclectic reader. If you're listening to this, I think you could be sold on any of those books for your dad or for the dad figures in your life. But if you want to get him a Shelf Subscription, I think that makes a great gift. You can visit bookshelfthomasville.com and click Shelf Subscriptions at the top of the page.
Chris Jones [00:46:13] And thanks for adjusting your Shelf Subscriptions to my need to read more of what I want to read.
Annie Jones [00:46:19] To your whims and fancies?
Chris Jones [00:46:21] That's right.
Annie Jones [00:46:21] You're welcome. This week, I'm reading We Loved to Run by Stephanie Reents. Dad, what are you reading?
Chris Jones [00:46:32] I am reading The Man No One Believed by Joshua Sharpe.
[00:46:33] 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:
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, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Gene Queens, Beth, Jammie Treadwell…
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins
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:
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.