Episode 536 || Best Books of the Year (So Far) with Hunter Mclendon
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie and Hunter discuss the best books of 2025 (so far)!
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 536) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie's books:
First five-star read: Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
Most surprising: Blessings and Disasters by Alexis Okeowo (releases August 5th)
Least favorite: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Next on your TBR: The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley, The Names by Florence Knapp
Most anticipated fall release: Same by Hannah Rosenberg (releases October 21st), Heart the Lover by Lily King (releases October 7th)
Annie's Top Ten (So Far):
1. Tilt by Emma Pattee
2. Flashlight by Susan Choi
3. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
4. Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
5. Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
6. Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
7. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
8. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
9. Lucky Night by Eliza Kennedy
10. Playworld by Adam Ross
Hunter's books:
First five-star read: Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett
Most surprising: Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino
Least favorite: When The Harvest Comes by Denne Michele Norris
Next on your TBR: Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley
Hunter's Top Ten (So Far):
1 Audition by Katie Kitamura
2. Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones
3. Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett
4. Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez
5. Among Friends by Hal Ebbott
6. The Wilderness by Angela Flourney (releases September 16th)
7. Open Heaven by Sean Hewitt
8. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
9. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
10. Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino
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 A Change of Habit by Sister Monica Clare. Hunter is reading The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong.
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]
“Isn’t the best any of us can hope for is to be endearingly hypocritical?” - Curtis Sittenfeld, Show Don’t Tell
[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 like listening to From the Front Porch every week? Well, you can 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 a listener:
Can't wait for Thursdays I love From the Front Porch! I count down the days every week and Thursday doesn't come fast enough. Annie, Erin, Olivia feels like friends with the best book talk. I enjoy everyone that comes on the show to talk books- Shop Mom Susie, Hunter, Cousin Ashley, etc. I only wish I lived closer to Beautiful Thomasville, GA so I could visit The Bookshelf- life goals!
Thank you, 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 and it helps us spread the word about our podcast and our bookstore. Now, back to the show! Hi Hunter!
Hunter [00:01:53] Hello.
Annie Jones [00:01:54] Can you believe it's already time to talk about 2025 reading?
Hunter [00:01:58] No.
Annie Jones [00:02:02] I feel like this year has been such a blur. I could pretend that we are not time traveling, but we are time traveling. We're recording this mid-May, so a little earlier than we normally maybe would touch base about what our reading years have looked like. And that is my fault and my future offspring's fault, but we're trying to kind of pre-record some things. So it is a little early. That being said, how has your reading year been so far?
Hunter [00:02:32] My first month was great. I read almost 20 books and I loved most of them. And then I think you know this feeling of like you start to get stressed out and then when you're stressed out, reading is not as fun.
Annie Jones [00:02:52] Yes. I don't think we talk enough actually about how our personal lives and our personal emotional states affect our reading. We maybe talked a little bit about it during the pandemic when it was at the forefront of our minds. Like, oh, we're all grappling with this pandemic and this disease that we don't know anything about and we're working weird hours and our children are on Zoom calls, all these things. But now that life doesn't necessarily look like that. I think sometimes we just take for granted that our reading lives are definitely affected by what's going on in our personal lives. That has certainly been the case for me this year. I've read really good books, but I think I'm reading less than usual.
Hunter [00:03:39] Yeah, I did. I think I read like 12 books last month and I was like, oh, it's such a slow reading month for me.
Annie Jones [00:03:47] Yeah, no. And of course you and I both know this. It's not about quantity, but I think when you are writing newsletters or posting reviews on Instagram, receiving books from publishers, I'm book selling, you are trying to read as much as you can. I think I'm at about eight a month, which is pretty good. I'm not mad about that. I can also just tell that some weeks I'm loving the books or the rhythm is good, that's what it is. The rhythm is good, and then some months it's like I'd rather watch TV. Like some weeks, I would rather watch T.V.
Hunter [00:04:27] Did you have a hard time coming up with your top 10?
Annie Jones [00:04:30] Yes.
Hunter [00:04:31] Yeah, same.
Annie Jones [00:04:32] Here's what I did. I went to my Annie's Five Star Reads Instagram and I just looked at anything that was five stars or anything I still really had fond feelings for. And I made a list, and then I looked at the list. Now, this happens every year, where the top five is easy. I feel like I can do the top 5. But you know what made me a little sad? I felt like I'd read a lot of really good literary fiction or smart girl fiction, and I look and I'm like, no, I'm reading a lot of commercial lit. Which is fine. There is nothing wrong with that. But I think it's where my brain is. I just don't think it does feel a little pandemicy for me to have put a book in the world and to be pregnant. I think I'm reading a little bit differently.
Hunter [00:05:23] I will say there's a book that I know you've read that I just finished that's in my top 10 that I really enjoyed that I knew I'd like it because I liked the author. But I was kind of surprised. I don't know why, but how do I say? Yeah, you'll see, but it was one of those things where I was like, oh, wow, I didn't expect this, but it's like not, it's a little more commercial. And I was, like, okay, word.
Annie Jones [00:05:46] Yeah. So I don't know. I had a hard time. What's interesting to me is, I think if you were to ask me, Annie, when have there been better books? 2024 or 2025? I think I would say 2025. Every week, I feel like there are really exciting books releasing, books that I've highly anticipated. But then when it came time to make a top 10, I couldn't. I only did 10 because that's what this show is.
Hunter [00:06:14] I do have to say that there's like three or four books that are by favorite authors that came out this year that I did not love.
Annie Jones [00:06:23] Okay, which is a bummer.
Hunter [00:06:24] Yeah. And I was like these are going to be sure. I thought, wow, it's such an easy top 10 because I just got to put these people on it. No.
Annie Jones [00:06:32] No, expectations were not met. If somebody were to ask you 2024 versus 2025, what would you say?
Hunter [00:06:40] Some of my favorite books that I've read in the last, I know that like two or three of my favorite reads in the past couple of years came out this year. I don't love everything I've read, but the books I've loved are major standouts.
Annie Jones [00:06:57] So while I was doing book tour stuff, and this will be old news by the time this podcast episode airs, but the Pulitzer had just been announced. And I was talking to some fellow booksellers and we were talking about how for us that was not disappointing news. I expected James to be a top contender if not the contender because I remember when you and I were doing top 10 halfway through the year and then we did top 10 or best of the year at the end of the year, it was like James and then nothing else. And that's not fair. There were a lot of really good books last year, but James was the 'easy' best book.
Annie Jones [00:07:43] It just didn't feel like there was a ton of competition for that; whereas, I feel like this year there might be some competition.
Hunter [00:07:52] I will say one of my favorite books of last year that is not for you, but that I still am obsessed with is All Fours by Miranda July.
Annie Jones [00:07:59] Listen, I just saw Riverhead post about it and I did have a moment where I was like, am I missing out? Because I think it's like the one year anniversary of its publication. And I thought, should I give it a go?
Hunter [00:08:08] I think you would like appreciate so much, but I just know that the parts that you wouldn't like you would really, really not like.
Annie Jones [00:08:15] Yeah, I don't know, we'll see. Okay, so as is our tradition, we're going to do top 10. Did you like how I blacked mine out so you couldn't see?
Hunter [00:08:24] I was like, wow, she's not playing this time.
Annie Jones [00:08:27] I wasn't, I'm so proud of that. I have not looked at your list. But before we do that, we're going to run through just a couple of categories. So the first category is, what was your first five-star read of the year?
Hunter [00:08:39] Mine was Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett.
Annie Jones [00:08:42] I want to read this. Would I like it?
Hunter [00:08:45] Yes, it is so good.
Annie Jones [00:08:47] I think I would like it, too. You talked about it, I think I'm going to move that to my TBR. My first five-star read was Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld. Listen, when your attention is divided, short stories are the answer, my friends. Don't be intimidated by short stories.
Hunter [00:09:07] Would I like this one?
Annie Jones [00:09:09] Yeah, I liked it a lot. Like there's a story about a man who abides by the Franklin Graham rule or like the Mike Pence rule that I thought was fantastic. So she's dealing with maybe some religious themes that I find familiar because there's another one where a woman is trying to buy the book rights to this work of Christian nonfiction about marriage or something. Anyway, she's dealing with some themes that I just enjoy. I just think she's a good writer. I really do. I think I read almost anything she writes.
Hunter [00:09:45] I've still never read her. I'll fix it.
Annie Jones [00:09:49] A friend of mine just finished Prep. You should at least read Prep. Let me rephrase. I think you should start with show don't tell. That's where you should start. But the rest of the world can start with Prep.
Hunter [00:10:05] Makes sense.
Annie Jones [00:10:06] Okay, what was your most surprising book?
Hunter [00:10:09] Okay, my most surprising was a short story collection called Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino. She wrote Beauty Land and another book called Parakeet. And I just picked it up because I'd seen a lot of buzz for Parakeet and Beauty Land. And actually Lauren Groff said that she loved Beauty Land, and she wanted it to be in on the National Book Award long list and it just make it. So I read the short story collection. And there's this one story about a haunted bag of peaches that has like stayed with me. And it's so good.
Annie Jones [00:10:46] Okay. All right. I'm intrigued. My most surprising is a book that actually-- I hope this isn't cheating. It doesn't release until August, but I read it already. It's called Blessings and Disasters. This is by Alexis Okeowo. I picked this book up on a whim. It's nonfiction. I am going to say connected essays. That's what I'll say. That is what it felt like to me. Connected essays, but it's all about her upbringing as the child of African immigrants living in Montgomery, Alabama. And so it's a history of the state of Alabama. But it's told through her perspective like as a second generation immigrant, and then her parents. I loved it. And I don't know if I loved it because of the kinship. I went to college in Montgomery. And so I don't know if I just liked it for the familiarity of it, but I think it was unlike anything else I've read this year. Like where I was getting the history of a state, but also personal essays. So I just thought it was really original. I really like it.
Hunter [00:11:53] I hate whenever you make me really invested in something, ugh.
Annie Jones [00:11:56] Right. And now we've got to add to our TBRs. It's really annoying.
Hunter [00:11:58] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:12:01] Okay. What has been your least favorite book this year? Spill the tea.
Hunter [00:12:08] I want to clarify this book just kind of came at me at the wrong time. And I was captivated in the first half. And you've read it. And it feels so bad because I like this person. But it's When the Harvest Comes by Denne Michelle Norris.
Annie Jones [00:12:26] I read this. This was on my spring literary guide, but I will say I loved the first half.
Hunter [00:12:35] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:12:36] I wish it had been set over the course of the wedding weekend, don't you?
Hunter [00:12:40] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:12:42] I think if it had been a tight wedding weekend story, I would have appreciated it more.
Hunter [00:12:50] Yeah. You know what it is, that's the thing is I love the first half. And I think that maybe it's just that I was kind of so disappointed in where it led to. The first half I liked, but the second half just made me like meh about it.
Annie Jones [00:13:06] Well, I'll also say the dialog for me was a struggle. I don't know if that was the case for you.
Hunter [00:13:14] Yeah, same.
Annie Jones [00:13:14] My least favorite book, and this is going to make some people mad, it's Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. I did it. And listen, I'm not a snob, y'all. I am not a book snob. My list is full of commercial fiction. I like the Hunger Games. I bought Mockingjay Etsy pins for my entire book club to go see the midnight release of the Hunger Games when it came out. But this was not it for me. And let me tell you why. Did you read this? Are you going to read this.
Hunter [00:13:48] No.
Annie Jones [00:13:48] Okay. No, I don't think so. Listen, Bookshelf staff loves this book. So again, I'm not throwing shade. I think this book is for whom it is for, but I wanted to love it because I wanted that nostalgia kick and instead there were so many song lyrics in this book. Suzanne Collins could write her own lyrics collection. I was like, what? Why are there so many song lyrics in these books? And so you and I feel the same way. And honestly, I'm making fun of us now. I'm making fun of me and you because what happens when you and I encounter italics in a text? We're not reading that. I am pretty sure this book included the entirety of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. And I was like, what is this doing here? Why do I need the entirety of The Raven quoted here? And then this is the other thing I will say, and anybody who's read this book you know, he describes his love for someone as all fire. All-fire. If I never see that phrase again, it'll be too soon. I wanted to put my head into the wall. All -fire? Please stop. And what I've decided is teen angst may not be for me anymore. I might have aged out. I might've aged out, we'll see. So, sorry Suzanne. Listen, as I said, when I reviewed this book originally, Suzanne doesn't need my approval. She is a bajillionaire. And so it's okay that I didn't like this book. And it's okay if you did, by the way. It's totally okay if you did.
Hunter [00:15:19] I'm so glad to hear that though, because people were beginning to make me feel like I was insane because they were like—
Annie Jones [00:15:23] You had FOMO, didn't you?
Hunter [00:15:24] Well, yeah, because everyone was like this is the best book I've read all year. And I was, like, really? Okay.
Annie Jones [00:15:29] Yes, I had FOMO. And listen, there comes a time, we all know this, when you just want do something for fun. And I think Bookshelf staff loved this because a lot of them read it together. So it was like buddy reading it together. It was a cultural moment. We all like a cultural moment. It was like reading Fourth Wing from last year. And I was invested. I would like to say, I was in invested in Hamich's story. Just of all the books I've read this year, this is the one where I was like did I need to read that? No.
Hunter [00:16:01] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:16:01] Okay, what's next up on your TBR?
Hunter [00:16:03] Consider Yourself Kissed?
Annie Jones [00:16:05] I just read it!
Hunter [00:16:07] Did you like it?
Annie Jones [00:16:08] Yeah, I did. Okay. It's very British. Very British.
Hunter [00:16:14] Okay, there's a joke people have a lot where because I read the National Book Award books for so long, everyone's like, oh, he only reads like American lit. And I'm like, no, I read world literature.
Annie Jones [00:16:26] I think you're way better at reading world literature than I am, for sure.
Hunter [00:16:30] Actually, one of my top 10 books is a translated book.
Annie Jones [00:16:35] Good. Okay, next up for me is I need to finish The Girls Who Grew Big. This is by Leila Mottley. I am super annoyed with myself that I did not finish this before our top 10, because I suspect it is top 10 material. Did you read Nightcrawling?
Hunter [00:16:54] No.
Annie Jones [00:16:54] So this is the author of Nightcrawling, but it's about these pregnant teenagers on the panhandle of Florida, and I am loving it. I also want to read The Names by Florence Knapp. It looks so good. Erin on staff read it, so I'm excited to read that, too. And then your most anticipated fall release.
Hunter [00:17:14] It is Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood.
Annie Jones [00:17:19] I want to read that too.
Hunter [00:17:23] It's so funny. I met her.
Annie Jones [00:17:24] Are you going to tell us the story now? Yeah, tell us.
Hunter [00:17:26] Okay, listen. Let me tell you. So I go up to her and I told her about how we did the podcast for Priestdaddy for Love It or Loathe It, and how much we loved it. And I was telling her the story of how I read it on your front porch while you were playing piano. And it was like this beautiful moment. And then I proceed to tell her some very dark stories about my life that I thought were hilarious. And no one else is going to get this except for you. But when she signed my copy of Priestdaddy, she said, "Hunter, breathe those crackers. Patricia Luckwood." And no one's going to get this, but it was truly the funniest thing that has ever happened to me. And she also kept wanting to hang out. She kept coming back to me.
Annie Jones [00:18:16] Delightful.
Hunter [00:18:18] Yeah, but it was also really funny because I gossiped with her and the VP of Riverhead. And let me tell you all, there's some drama in the publishing world that y'all don't know, but it's good.
Annie Jones [00:18:32] I want to know. You got to tell me.
Hunter [00:18:34] I'll tell you off air.
Annie Jones [00:18:36] Tell me off air. Here's what I'll say, though. I think Riverhead's back.
Hunter [00:18:41] Yeah, I agree.
Annie Jones [00:18:42] I felt disinterested, but I didn't know if it was me or them because it honestly could have been me. My brain has been fractured in all kinds of ways.
Hunter [00:18:49] No, I think there was a slump.
Annie Jones [00:18:53] Yeah, I've been very invested in the last several releases that have come out and I've really liked them.
Hunter [00:19:00] Same.
Annie Jones [00:19:00] Okay, my most anticipated fall release is Heart the Lover by Lilly King. I cannot wait for this. It looks so good. I've already requested an ARC. I don't know if I'll get one. And then I do want to throw out there a poetry collection that is releasing called Same by Hannah Rosenberg. I love following Hannah on Instagram. And if you like Lindsay Rush or Kate Bear-- Kate Bear also has a new collection coming out in November. But this is a debut. It's called Same by Hannah Rosenberg and I'm super excited for it. Are you ready to do our top 10? Wait, I was going to ask you, I wanted to go back to your Patricia Lockwood story. When you meet authors, you've met a lot now, you live in Philly, you live that big city life. When you meet authors and they meet you and you regale them with your wild Southern gothic tales, do you ever think they go home and steal your material? Do you ever they go home and take notes?
Hunter [00:19:59] Let me tell you, last year when I was at the National Book Awards, I talk a lot and at one point I was in a group of writers, several that we love, and two of them literally said, "I'm stealing that."
Annie Jones [00:20:15] People say, listen, you got to watch writers.
Hunter [00:20:19] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:20:20] And I think we were in the green room, I'm using that term very loosely, with Jeff Zentner before we recorded the live podcast and you were telling him all these tales. And it's so funny to watch people who've never interacted with you before try to keep up. And to Jeff's credit, he was keeping up. But people who are trying to riff with you, figure out where you're going, where the story is going, whatever. And I had a moment where I thought, I wonder if anybody has ever listened to Hunter and gone home and been like, I got to write that down.
Hunter [00:20:52] Listen, I can't help it. I just have a very entertaining life.
Annie Jones [00:21:00] You do. Listen, a lot of people live entertaining lives, but they don't know how to tell stories. But you know how to tell stories and so that's the other thing. But this has only happened to me one time. I'm hesitant to even say it here. But one of my very first book events, I was the manager at the Bookshelf in Tallahassee and Jocelyn Jackson came for an event and we went out to dinner. It was like me, her and Katie, the former owner of The Bookshelf. And I made a comment about how there's a hymn that I was still in the Church of Christ at the time, and so there's this hymn that we sung. It's talking about the Jordan river, but I sing it and think to myself it's about Jordan Jones. And the phrase is something about-- I wish I could remember the hymn. I'll remember it as soon as we get off air. But it's basically this hymn that's like you have to go through Jordan to get somewhere. And I said that, and Jocelyn Jackson looked at me, she said, "I'm taking that now." She was nice about it, but she was like it's fine. And I was like wait a minute. You're a writer. I am a writer, and it made me immediately think, well shoot, no, wait a minute. Because I think you and I were both raised in storytelling homes and storytelling families, and it doesn't occur to us that like some stuff we need to reserve for only ourselves. Does that make sense?
Hunter [00:22:27] Yeah. Listen, it's so funny, because sometimes people will be like nobody wants to steal your ideas. And I'm like, actually, sometimes they do.
Annie Jones [00:22:34] They do. Read Elizabeth Gilbert's Big Magic. Sometimes they do. Sometimes that's what creativity looks like, stealing. Okay, let's do our top 10. I'm going to start with my number 10.
Hunter [00:22:48] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:22:49] We're surprising each other. I blacked out my choices. My first one is Play World by Adam Ross.
Hunter [00:22:55] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:22:56] Have you read this?
Hunter [00:22:57] I did. I really liked this. I did forget it for the list. It's fine.
Annie Jones [00:23:00] Yes, no, that's the thing. And here's what I'm here to tell you. This is on my top 10 today. And again, I'm not trying to be mean. I don't think this is going to be in my top 10 at the end of the year. But what I will say is that for my first half of the year, I loved and I devoted a lot of time to Play World. I think I read it from November to February, or maybe January of this year. So it took me a long time. But it felt a little bit Goldfinch-esque to me, where I felt like it was worth devoting the time to it. I liked what it was dealing with. It was a coming of age. I think one of the obvious comps is probably Catcher in the Rye, something like that. Catcher In the Rye meets The Goldfinch. It's about a boy living in New York. He's a child actor. The 1970s New York setting. I really, really liked this book. I don't know that at the end of the year, it will be one that sticks out to me, but for now it is and I'm glad I read it. Again, I was talking about my fractured attention span. It felt to me like affirmation that I can still pay attention. Like, I can still read a chonker of a book. Because sometimes I wonder, am I done with reading big old books? But no, I could do it and I did it.
Hunter [00:24:25] So my number 10 is a book I've already mentioned, which is Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino. I really did love this. I think it's such a good collection. It makes me really want to go back and read her novels, which I do have. But I just think that there's something that almost reminds me of a little bit of Karen Russell and how she kind of folds in these fabulous type things with really grounded human experiences. And I think she does it as well as Karen Russell does, but it's like in a very different way. And I think there's things so special about something that's so fantastical, but that really pierces into some part of the human experience that you feel like doesn't really get explored enough.
Annie Jones [00:25:11] That sounds beautiful and also makes me wonder, because I don't know what's in your top 10. And I don't even know the answer to this, but is Karen Russell's latest work going to make your top 10?
Hunter [00:25:23] No. Did you read it?
Annie Jones [00:25:27] No. I'm not going to lie to you. I feel intimidated. I know and this is probably why you go in blind to books, because even the description has been overwhelming to me. And I trust her. I totally trust her. But I have had a hard time feeling motivated to get started.
Hunter [00:25:45] I truly thought it was going to be in my top five. And I think I'll reread it because I think I read it at a really weird time in my life. But I also was like some of the things I love about her other work, it's very different and I like that it's different, but it does feel like some of things that I do love. Also, it reminds me a lot of like it feels like I can see how some of her short stories were kind of like playing towards like especially in Orange World. That collection, if you read that collection and then you read the antidote, you can really see that she was exploring some of these ideas for a greater work.
Annie Jones [00:26:17] Well, interesting. She was setting the groundwork, which is always fascinating. My number nine is a total surprise-- well, to me anyway-- it's Lucky Night. This is by Eliza Kennedy. I'm putting it here for a couple of reasons. First of all, this was one of the books I read this year that I absolutely flew through and held my attention from page one. This is a book about a couple. They go to spend the night in a high rise Manhattan hotel. You realize that they are not married to each other. They are both married to other people. And this is their first time to like spend the night together. They normally like get away in the afternoon or what have you. And they've been doing this for like seven years. And so they've together a long time. And then their hotel catches fire and you don't know if they're going to survive the evening because they're in like the top of this high-rise hotel.
[00:27:13] And it's very much about their inner lives and them trying to figure out what have we been doing? Are we going to be found out after all this time? Why are we even having this affair? Do we love each other? I loved it. So the first reason I'm putting it here is because it held my attention and I thought it was really well written. And doing a lot while also being incredibly plot driven. Like you just want to know what happens to them because it's one night and you've got to know if they make it out. But then the second reason is because-- and I don't have the book title in front of me, but I was going through fall catalogs and I came across a book that was like this exact plot. And this happens, have you ever noticed this? This goes back to Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. But there is another book coming out this fall that sounds the exact same as this. And so, I think that just sometimes happens. So I did just want to plug this one before the next one comes out and maybe the one releasing this fall, which I remembered the name, sounded just remarkably similar. So I wanted to plug this before another one releases.
Hunter [00:28:19] What was the name again?
Annie Jones [00:28:21] Lucky Night by Eliza Kennedy.
Hunter [00:28:23] I'm not going to read that?
Annie Jones [00:28:25] It was great. It was kind of Fire Sermon-esque in that it's these two people in their inner workings. Fire Sermon was so heady, I think, and very literary. This is well-written, but it is also like propulsive, fast-paced fiction.
Hunter [00:28:48] So my number nine is a book I just read yesterday. It's called Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico.
Annie Jones [00:28:58] I saw you post about this one, is this the one Bernie recommended?
Hunter [00:29:01] Yes. Let me tell you, it's like 120 something pages. You've got to read it. It's about this couple who live in Berlin, who are basically social media influencers. And it's kind of just about how hollow their lives-- the first three pages is this lush description of their apartment basically. And then that facade is like wiped away by like the description of them having to tuck their sheets in this one thing and do all these other things to make it all appear a certain way. And it describes their relationship and how perfect it is and then it is not perfect. And it's kind of confronting this idea of the performance of social media, but in a really interesting, honest way that I think will resonate with lot of people. t was really funny, but also when you stop to really reflect on it, it's so devastating. And the more I think about it, it could probably go up in my list as the year goes on, but I already was like, yeah, this is really good.
Annie Jones [00:30:20] I saw you post about it and I wondered if I would like it. Number eight for me is the Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett. Listen, I like feel good fiction that has some depth to it. This qualifies to me. I definitely fell in love with the characters, the quirkiness of it, the silliness of it and yet it's also very rooted and grounded. I like Annie Hartnett. I really need to read Unlikely Animals. I think that's the one I haven't read, but it's just been a joy to kind of watch her career. And here's the good news for her, is I think the cover will make this one a super easy hand sell in the store this summer. I think it's going to be really accessible for people who've never read her before. And at the same time, if you have read her, I don't think you'll be disappointed. So it feels like a very accessible work and yet it's not a disappointment. The characters are really great. The road trip plot feels very summery. I suspect this one could stay on my top 10 though I don't know where by the end of the year because I really did like it. So that is The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett.
Hunter [00:31:34] Okay, so do you want to guess what my number eight is?
Annie Jones [00:31:37] Is it the same thing?
Hunter [00:31:38] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:31:39] Oh my gosh, that's so fun! This never happens anymore. You read so elite.
Hunter [00:31:46] Listen, okay, this is what I was telling you that I just read or I just finished. I started it because I loved Rabbit Cake. And here's the thing, so I read Rabbit Cake which is a book that's dealing with-- so Rabbit Cake is about this little girl dealing with the grief of her mom dying from drowning. And I read that right after my step-brother had been found drowned in the lake.
Annie Jones [00:32:07] I do not remember the timing of that for you. Okay.
Hunter [00:32:10] And so that was just really funny. And then I read Unlucky Animals. I liked Unlucky Animals, but I didn't love it as much as Rabbit Cake. But I read that one during a weird transition period of my life, and then I read this one. And there is something about how she writes with such tenderness about such difficult subject matter.
Annie Jones [00:32:29] Yes, because like I said, this book feels like this silly road trip story and yet the kids are dealing with serious trauma.
Hunter [00:32:39] Yeah. Someone described it as like Little Miss Sunshine-esque.
Annie Jones [00:32:43] Yes, I would agree with that.
Hunter [00:32:45] Yeah, which also the first like 30 or 40 pages are buck wild.
Annie Jones [00:32:53] Yes. You almost can't believe. You're like where is she going with this? You're introduced to a bunch of different characters, but she handles it deftly. I loved it.
Hunter [00:33:04] So the more I'm talking about it the more I'm like, oh no, I did love this book because it's so funny because I was listening to the audio book for the first like-- I started on the treadmill and I was gasping. Like Hank was next to me and I grabbed his arm and was like, and then he was trying to talk to me. I was like no, shut up. I don't know what's happening, I have to know what's happening. And it is I think that it is one of those books that has grabbed me very quickly this year that not a lot of books have done that, but it takes a hold of you.
Annie Jones [00:33:37] Yes. I would agree with that. I never do I feel as cool as I feel when I'm reading a bound galley. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's the size of a manuscript. Like it just came straight to my editor's desk. And that's how this came to me. I mean, it's not fun to read what's essentially a word document printed out, but that is also testament to how good this book is that I was reading it as essentially a word document and I loved it. I thought it was so great. I'm going to need one for my shelf. Well, good. Well, that was a fun surprise. My number seven is Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green. Listen, Ashley and I were talking on a recent episode and I just think John Green can do a lot of things, which is impressive to me. Like to go from writing really good-- I think we forget how good his YA lit is because he really was like an early adopter, like an entry into the form. And so I think now we kind of take him for granted a little bit. Maybe millennials don't, but I think millennials feel a deep attachment to John Green. But anyway, he went from YA lit to then and truly the Anthropocene Reviewed is one of my favorite essay collections of the last few years. And then now to turn his attention to something like tuberculosis and to make me care and pay attention, I think is a real gift. So I really like it. I think he puts a lot of thought into his work. Again, don't know where this one will land by the end of the year, but for now I really think it deserves a spot.
Hunter [00:35:17] Well, now I actually haven't read either of his non-fiction books and now I'm like, well, maybe I should.
Annie Jones [00:35:23] You should listen to Anthropocene Reviewed. I think you would enjoy that actually.
Hunter [00:35:29] Okay, I'm like I'll put that on my like-- because actually I think I have audio book too. So like, there's no excuse.
Annie Jones [00:35:34] And it's a good audio book. He's a great narrator.
Hunter [00:35:37] Good to know. My number seven is Open Heaven by Sean Hewitt.
Annie Jones [00:35:43] Okay, now I don't know about this one.
Hunter [00:35:45] So, okay, I'm going to be honest, it is a little overwritten. He's a poet and you can just [inaudible].
Annie Jones [00:35:50] Listen, you can tell the poet. You know the poets.
Hunter [00:35:54] I was like, all right. It's beautifully written, but sometimes I was like come on. However, despite that qualm, I ended up being really invested in this because it's literally about this guy who is so obsessed with this childhood love that it is basically like ruined his marriage. All these things are like taking a backseat to this obsession that he has had for years.
Annie Jones [00:36:24] Why does this resonate with you as a person? I don't understand.
Hunter [00:36:27] Yeah, whatever. Read the memoir. But no, it's so funny. I read this, I was like, oh, wow. Okay, well, somebody else has already done this. I think he handles this dynamic between these two boys very beautifully. And also the audio book is narrated by the bully from Heartstopper. And I really liked that. And I don't know if that really got me. I love a bully. But it's a good audiobook. It is beautifully written though, even though it's still a bit overwritten at times, it's very beautifully written. And I just thought that it was such a tender coming of age coming into romance story. So yeah, I thought it was good.
Annie Jones [00:37:13] What was the name of it again?
Hunter [00:37:14] Open Heaven.
Annie Jones [00:37:16] Open Heaven. Okay, my next one. These are a surprise for me too because I'm so proud of myself for blacking them out. Man, what talent. Okay, number six for me is Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks. She would not want me to call this a grief memoir, I do not believe. There are a couple of books on this list that I would put them in the grief canon. This is one of them. But aside from being a really thoughtful reflection on her husband's sudden death, and then also the bureaucracy that she found herself like wrapped up in, I don't think people talk about that enough. About how, especially here in America, the aftermath of death is so clinical and decision-making. You have to make a million decisions when you are at your absolute worst. And the way she writes about that. And then it's actually really beautiful nature writing about Australia, where she is from. So this book, I truly adored. I picked up a copy in Savannah and I read it over the course of a weekend. Geraldine Brooks just knows what's up. She's just a great writer and I loved this one. This one I think will still be in my top 10 at the end of the year potentially.
Hunter [00:38:29] Hadn't we read a book by her?
Annie Jones [00:38:31] Yeah, we read March.
Hunter [00:38:33] Okay, that's what I thought. Okay, maybe I should read more by her.
Annie Jones [00:38:36] I think I should read more by her. I actually haven't read that much and now I'm kind of like, oh, maybe I need to read more of her because I really liked this one.
Hunter [00:38:44] Okay, I'm going to read that one. My number six, which it could go up, but I'll explain, so my number six is The Wilderness by Angela Flourney.
Annie Jones [00:38:55] This comes out this fall, right?
Hunter [00:38:58] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:38:58] Okay, talk to me about this one because I'm super excited about it.
Hunter [00:39:01] Okay, did you ever read The Turner House?
Annie Jones [00:39:03] I did not, but you liked it; didn't you?
Hunter [00:39:04] I loved. So, the Turner House was a National Book Award finalist in 2015, which was the same year that A Little Life and Fates and Furies was on the shortlist. And for me, the Turner House was like right under those two as favorites, which I think speaks very highly of that book.
Annie Jones [00:39:24] Yes.
Hunter [00:39:24] Initially, with The Wilderness, I wasn't sure it is so different from The Turner House that at first I kind of had to wrap my mind around that it was just a different kind of book. I don't think you'll have that problem if you haven't read The Turner House. But she's approaching this book as a complete-- you can tell that there's been a decade of distance between that book and this one. And I think that once I was able to adjust my expectations and be like, okay, this is not the same book, this is its own thing, it helped me to be able appreciate it. And let me tell you something, I was so invested in these friendships that by the time I like got to the end, it almost kind of has like a-- I'm trying to think about how I would describe it. It feels like there's something about like Anne Patchett-esque about the way that she explores some of the social dynamics it's really interesting. It goes in really unexpected places. I did find all the different character stories interesting and distinct enough to where I could keep them separated. You know how this goes. I liked the ending a lot and I thought it was unexpected and definitely got me.
Annie Jones [00:40:27] You can stick the landing, man. We'll give you five stars.
Hunter [00:40:31] Yeah, so I do think this is going to be a really great one. It's about this group of Black women over the course of like 20 years, I think, and it's just exploring their friendship and some of the ways they've come together and fall apart over the years. But the structure it's really interesting because it's not chronological and it goes in and out of like different time periods and different character storylines. And it may take a minute to get your grounding, but I think it's clear enough to follow. But anyway, still think it is great. And I think actually the more I think about it, the more I'm like, oh yeah, you would really enjoy this.
Annie Jones [00:41:13] How many pages? How long are we talking?
Hunter [00:41:16] It's short. It's like under 300, I think.
Annie Jones [00:41:19] Okay. Because I'm starting to read for fall, and I saw this one in the catalog and I was like, did you read the physical ARC?
Hunter [00:41:30] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:41:31] Dang it! I've asked for a physical ARC. We'll see if I get it, but I'll download that. I'll downloaded it to my stupid Kindle.
Hunter [00:41:37] It's so funny because this is another reason why I wish that we still lived closer so that way...
Annie Jones [00:41:43] I know!
Hunter [00:41:44] I know.
Annie Jones [00:41:45] When are you coming back? You and Ashley, sometimes I'm like what is it going to take you guys? What is it going to take? I'm having a baby. What more do you want?
Hunter [00:41:53] I know. Not that people care, but it was so funny because I was talking to Hank and I was like, you know what? In the next year, I need to buy a home in Thomasville, Tallahassee. And he was like, okay, yeah.
Annie Jones [00:42:06] It can be where you summer. LOL. Actually, you should winter down here. That's what it should be. It should be your winter home. Okay, number five for me is Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld. We've already talked a little bit about it, but it's a short story collection. I think it's the very last story in the book is a continuation or a follow-up to her novel, Prep. But even if you've not read Prep, that is fine. It is totally fine. I hadn't read prep in probably a decade and it's okay. But I loved the short stories. I think she's great in short story format. Yeah, I really like her. I liked this book. Not sure where it'll land by the end of the year, but definitely top 10 for now.
Hunter [00:42:50] My number five is Among Friends by Hal.
Annie Jones [00:42:56] Ebbott?
Hunter [00:42:57] Ebbott. Is this in your top 10?
Annie Jones [00:42:59] It's not in my top 10, but it could be at the end of the year. I got to think about it. Because it's one of those books that I finished it and I was like, did I love that? Like, did love that as much as I think I did? And honestly, I think with time I have loved it more.
Hunter [00:43:15] Yeah, okay, that's the thing, is that I really enjoyed it. First of all, I will say, the construction of that book is really good.
Annie Jones [00:43:22] It's so good. It's so good!
Hunter [00:43:24] It's so funny because I was reading it while I was in St. Croix.
Annie Jones [00:43:29] Okay, Patricia Lockwood, National Book Award Parties, and St. Croix, please tell me more.
Hunter [00:43:36] I was reading it while I was on the beach and I was like, this is great. But the thing is that I had the time and I was not distracted and so I was able to really marvel at the construction of this book. And it is so smart. But also it does feel like a book that would have come out like the 60s as far as like there's something old school about it. It reads like a modern classic, I guess.
Annie Jones [00:44:03] Totally. And did it remind you of the dinner at all?
Hunter [00:44:06] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:44:07] Yeah, that's what it reminded me of.
Hunter [00:44:10] So anyway, yeah. And it comes out in August, doesn't it?
Annie Jones [00:44:16] Sometime this summer.
Hunter [00:44:17] July, maybe.
Annie Jones [00:44:19] Yeah, that's what I was going to say, is it feels summery but also it's set in the fall, too. So it could be a great transition book for you if you're trying to go from summer to fall reading. I think it also went places I wasn't expecting. Meaning I went into it maybe thinking I was getting one type of book, and then instead I got a different kind of book and I was okay with it. I really liked it. But interestingly, the more time passes, the more impressed I am by it.
Hunter [00:44:45] I'm hoping we see it award season because I feel like it's deserving.
Annie Jones [00:44:50] Yeah. Okay, number four for me, Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li.
Hunter [00:44:55] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:44:56] Okay, you read this too?
Hunter [00:44:59] Yes. Okay, go ahead.
Annie Jones [00:45:01] Listen, it is a choice to read a book like this while you are pregnant with a little boy because this is really a book about mothers and sons. Yiyun Li would not want me to tell you it's a book about grief. She would not like that. But it is a mother grappling with her two son’s decisions to take their own lives. And it is brutal. I mean, it's just brutal. And I think it will be in my top 10 at the end of the year. And the reason it's a standout for me is to go from reading her fiction, like Book of Goose, which I adored, and then to see this book is almost fragmented. The sentences feel incomplete. It's almost like she needed more time before writing it and yet she put it out into the world still grieving perhaps. I don't know. And I liked that. I thought it was a really brave choice. The writing is beautiful, but it definitely feels like you're in her brain. Like you are in her thoughts. And so they're kind of all over the place, but in a way that is brutal, beautiful. I loved it, but it's also hard to say I loved it because of what it is and what it's dealing with.
Hunter [00:46:21] That is a book that I probably would have been in my top 10 because I it's one that I think even considered it. And then I was like I think I just read the other two books since I was like swapping stuff around. But I did love that book. And also, did you read Where Reasons End?
Annie Jones [00:46:38] No, I did not.
Hunter [00:46:40] For the listeners, Where Reasons End that's the novel that she wrote which is basically about a conversation that she is having with the first son after he's dead. And it's just this continuation of this conversation that she's trying to have. And it's a devastating book as well. But I think that I actually think that this one is, I hate to say this, but I do think this is better just in how she's truly just kind of like-- she's not doing it through the lens of fiction at this point, like this is truly--
Annie Jones [00:47:10] No, she's fumbling through her own... So I would like to read Where Reasons End because she references it a lot in this book where she talks about how that book was for her first son and this book is really written for her second son. And what I think is interesting, obviously, we are not privy to who exactly her children were, but her first son sounds like he was creative and artistic, and her second sons sounds like he was cerebral. She makes all kinds of literary references, scientific references. She, I think, even says in the book she couldn't write fiction about this son. Which I thought was fascinating.
Hunter [00:47:51] Yeah, so good. So my number four is a book that also explores a lot of like the relationship between a mother and son. It's an essay collection by Edgar Gomez called Alligator Tears.
Annie Jones [00:48:03] I saw you post about this.
Hunter [00:48:04] Yes. And his first book is a memoir called High Risk Homosexual. I think you would actually really like this essay collection. It's very funny, but it is also he writes a lot about growing up in poverty and the struggle his mom had to give him a better life. And he tells a story of how his mom paid all this money for him to get veneers so he could have nice teeth and how it made him feel like he had the social currency. He talks a lot about writing high-risk homosexual and had this feeling he had of like if he could just sell the book, he could make enough money basically to pull his mom out of poverty. As someone who literally spent in my entire 20s trying to write something with this delusional mindset that it was going to like save my entire family, that really resonated. And I think that he writes with such tenderness and he's a Florida writer and you can really sense that in his writing. And so this was really surprising and I thought it was really beautiful and I'm surprised, actually, that I haven't seen more people talking about it because it is a book that I continue to look at and know that I think it'll be in my top 10 at the end of the year.
Annie Jones [00:49:18] Okay. I'm trying to make mental notes. I think I want to read Mothers and Sons and then Alligator Tears is the name of it?
Hunter [00:49:27] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:49:27] Okay, number three. Listen, I loved this book. I don't know if it's for you, but it is The Correspondent. This is by Virginia Evans. Certainly, I think this qualifies as commercial fiction. I've seen it on Bookstagram, a lot of places, But, gosh, I think it is so worth reading. My mom read it and loved it. It's one of those books I could easily hand sell to anybody, but it's an epistolary novel about a woman named Sybil. Sybil has been writing letters her whole life, letters to her friends, letters to her sibling, her children. It's how she communicates with the world, and it's how we get to know her. She has also been recently given a diagnosis of losing her sight, and so she is grappling with what will happen when she can no longer write. Here is one reason I do think you could like it. And what was a delightful surprise to me is that she also has a history of writing famous authors, and this is all fictionalized. There are letters in the book to various authors, and on certain occasions, they write her back. I don't want to spoil it, but it's been out for a while, but there is some Lonesome Dove. I just love when books that I love show up in other places. And it was really fun to see. I do think this will be in my top 10 of the year. I fell in love with Sybil. I read this on my Kindle, and then immediately when it released I bought a copy while I was on book tour. I really liked it. I think it's blurbed by Ann Patchett. Charming, that's the word I would use. Charming book if you like books like 84 Charing Cross Road, which I do. So that's The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. And it's a debut. Gah, I'm impressed with debut writers.
Hunter [00:51:16] I'm going to say this and I also realized I mispronounced his name earlier, but my number three is Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett.
Annie Jones [00:51:23] Haslett, okay.
Hunter [00:51:24] Yes. So he wrote Imagine Me Gone, which was a National Book Award finalist in 2016. It was also a Pulitzer finalist.
Annie Jones [00:51:31] I'm sorry, but does that below your mind? I just would like to say, when you said Turner House came out in 2015, I was like that why does that not feel like that long ago to me?
Hunter [00:51:42] I know. I literally in my mind feel like everything's still 2018.
Annie Jones [00:51:47] Yes. Or everything's five years ago. Like, I can't wrap my brain around time. I'm sorry to interrupt.
Hunter [00:51:55] No, you're fine.
Annie Jones [00:51:56] Imagine Me Gone doesn't feel like it came out that long ago.
Hunter [00:51:58] Did you read that one?
Annie Jones [00:52:00] No.
Hunter [00:52:01] You'd like it. You'd really like it, but yeah. So Mothers and Sons it follows this man who I think he's an attorney for immigration law or something. And he is also haunted by this relationship that he had with-- it's so funny. Such a reoccurring theme for me of this. He's basically obsessing over this like young love that he had. And so there's that thread. And then there's also something about his mother, who I believe comes out as queer and is also like some type of faith leadership person. And so there's these two storylines that are kind of like coming together. And you also know that there was some reaction that the mom had to an incident when he was a kid. And so it's like all these things are coming together basically. But it's really good, beautifully written, interesting construction. I think this is one of those books that has a very strong narrative engine. So it's like quick to read, and that's something he's really good at. I think he's good at writing stuff that's like really captivating, but it's also just good.
Annie Jones [00:53:07] Yeah, and playing with maybe structure or whatever. I would like to read this. I remember you talking about it at the beginning of the year. Okay, my number two is Flashlight by Susan Choi. Have you read this yet?
Hunter [00:53:20] No! I want to read this so bad.
Annie Jones [00:53:23] Listen, did you and I do a podcast episode about Trust Exercise? Why did we talk so much about Trust Exercises?
Hunter [00:53:29] Okay, because I loved it, and you did not, but I convinced you to read it.
Annie Jones [00:53:34] You loved it, I did not, and so I saw this was coming out and I was like, I don't know, she might not be for me. And I was sad, by the way, to not like Trust Exercise. I would just like to say, I like when you and I agree. And I was in the minority. Trust Exercise was it an award winner or an award finalist?
Hunter [00:53:55] It won the National Book Award, yeah.
Annie Jones [00:53:58] So that was a me problem. But I picked up Flashlight, honestly, just because the premise sounded interesting. Like a father goes on a walk with his daughter along the beach, the next morning his little girl is found, he is nowhere to be found. So I went in expecting, okay, maybe this is almost going to be-- I knew it was Susan Choi, so I knew wasn't going to be a thriller or anything. But I thought maybe this is going to be like a literary suspense or something like that. There are suspenseful elements, but really then it becomes this great history. And I hope people won't be turned off by this description, but it turns out to be this really fascinating history about Japan and North and South Korea. It is very much about generational trauma and the decisions that kind of trickle down. I adored it. I thought it was fantastic. And I felt like, oh, now I get to see what everybody else saw. It reminded me a little bit of like maybe a Jesmyn Ward where maybe if you're like me and Trust Exercise felt inaccessible to you for some reason, or maybe you couldn't quite get invested, I think you'll be able to get invested in Flashlight fairly quickly.
Hunter [00:55:09] I'm jealous.
Annie Jones [00:55:10] I love when you're jealous because you get all the ARCs and you know it.
Hunter [00:55:14] I know. I shouldn't be. Yeah, I'm being so greedy. So we're on number two, right?
Annie Jones [00:55:19] Yes.
Hunter [00:55:19] I have to say, my top two books are like neck and neck. And the only reason why I put this one is I was going to put it as number one, but I didn't want anyone to be like having something to say or talk about me being biased. But my number two is Ordinary Time. I love this book.
Annie Jones [00:55:37] Thank you for protecting our reputation here on this show as unbiased journalists. I appreciate this. Two is where I should be.
Hunter [00:55:49] I'm curious, do you have any idea what my number one is?
Annie Jones [00:55:53] No, I have no idea.
Hunter [00:55:56] Okay. But you already know. If you're listening to this podcast, I'm assuming that you either have read it or you know about it. If you don't then catch up.
Annie Jones [00:56:05] If you told them we have not done our jobs very well.
Hunter [00:56:08] Yeah, but I have read this in various stages over the last over two years now, I think maybe. And I've loved it every time I've read it. Actually, it's so funny because when I miss you, I'll reread something and now I'm able to listen to the audio book and it's very comforting. And so I think it is like, yes, I love it because you're my friend. I also think that you are always so full of wisdom and insight and humor and compassion. And honestly, I don't know if you remember this, but when I really miserable at my old job, I used to come in early so I could cry watching videos of my Angelo's masterclass from Oprah and the Ordinary Time gives me that same level of comfort.
Annie Jones [00:56:59] I'm your new Maya Angelou? That's what I just heard.
Hunter [00:57:02] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:57:04] I'll take it. I will happily take it. Okay, my number one is Tilt by Emma Pattee. This is a book about a pregnant woman named Annie who is shopping for cribs in Ikea and an earthquake hits in Portland, Oregon and it becomes the road essentially of Annie trying to make her way to her spouse or her partner so that they can have their baby. I loved this book. Jordan made a lot of fun of me that I struggle to finish any pregnancy book that is put in my hands. Knock on wood, but I haven't finished Emily Oster's Expecting Better. I haven not finished Crib Sheets. Did not even attempt What to Expect When You're Expecting. But you know what I did love? A post-apocalyptic novel about a pregnant woman trying to survive. I felt very seen and I think the writing is fantastic. It's amazing to me what she was able to pack in like a short number of pages. There was quite a bit of climate fiction that I thought about including on this list. I really liked Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaughey. So I think Tilt is also just writing very prescient literature about what's going on in our current world. So I loved it. Can't believe it's a debut. Can't believe how much she packed into truly so few pages. It's almost a novella. I really like it.
Hunter [00:58:31] I saw that, but now I have to read it, ugh.
Annie Jones [00:58:34] I do think you'd like it, actually. It's short. It's so short.
Hunter [00:58:38] Yeah. My number one, I don't know if you've read it, but my number one is Audition by Katie Kitamura.
Annie Jones [00:58:45] Okay, I need to read this. So this is your number one. Okay, you just bumped it to the top.
Hunter [00:58:53] So I read this in late October, early November of last year, and I read it in like one or two sittings. It's about this woman who she's an actress, and this boy comes into her life and is basically like I think you're my mom. And she's like I'm pretty sure that's impossible. I think I might've remembered that. But it's exploring that but she's also doing this play that she can't figure out and there is something that like it's kind of being promoted that there's this shift that happens in the book and I don't want to call it a twist but there's definitely a shift that happens. I compared it a little bit and I told her this when I met her, but I said it reminds me a little of Fates and Furies and how it's not like a twist in like a Gone Girl sense but it is like a shift in perspective in a way that is so unexpected that it kind of like changes your view of like everything that preceded it. And I love when a book does that, especially right in the middle. I'm pretty sure that it literally is directly in the middle of the book too.
Annie Jones [01:00:02] Which then you know is planned. You know what I mean? Like you know that that was strategic and purposeful.
Hunter [01:00:07] Yeah, and when I read the first page I was kind of thrown somehow, and I was like I don't know if I'm going to like this. And then within the first chapter, I was really captivated. And the second or third chapter talks about the woman and her husband's relationship to having breakfast with each other. And it is one of those things where she just writes so beautifully and devastatingly and honestly about marriage and about grief and about all these different things, but also the way she writes about motherhood is very interesting. Both becoming a mother-type figure and what the possibility is of actually being a mother type figure. So I think that in the same way that you would have liked Tilt for those reasons, I think you would love Audition for how it's exploring family dynamics.
Annie Jones [01:00:59] Do you think I should read the physical copy or listen to it?
Hunter [01:01:02] I read the physical copy. I don't know what the audio sounds like, but I love reading it.
Annie Jones [01:01:09] Okay, well, and I loved reading Separation by her.
Hunter [01:01:12] Yeah.
Annie Jones [01:01:13] I have a distinct memory of sitting in my front yard reading her book because her sentences are so sparse. And if I'm remembering right, that book was kind of billed as like, oh, this is about divorce or this is a break up or whatever. And it was about so much more than that. Like, I loved it. I don't know why I put off reading Audition. Now I want go get a copy.
Hunter [01:01:40] Yeah. Listen, I didn't think she was going to top intimacies, but she did.
Annie Jones [01:01:47] Okay. Those are our top 10 of the year so far. I think despite our apprehension at the beginning of the episode, those are two really good book lists.
Hunter [01:01:53] I think so.
Annie Jones [01:01:53] So you can find the full lists in our show notes. You can, of course, purchase the Bookshelf-- please don't purchase the Bookshelf. Please let me have it. You can purchase these books through the Bookshelf website, bookshelfthomasville.com. It will be fascinating. Don't you worry. I will keep record of this so that we can see at the end of the year how our lists hold up when we come back together end of this year. If you want to hear more from Hunter, of course, you can follow him on Shelf by Shelf on Instagram, or you can join us on Patreon, where you can enjoy this witty banter every month, where we talk about Don Quixote in our Conquer a Classic series. So thank you, Hunter.
Hunter [01:02:37] Thank you.
Annie Jones [01:02:37] This week, I'm reading A Change of Habit by Sister Monica Clare. Hunter, what are you reading?
Hunter [01:02:43] The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong.
Annie Jones: From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website: bookshelfthomasville.com
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
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Our Executive Producers of today’s episode are…
Cammy Tidwell, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Gene Queens, Beth, Jammie Treadwell…
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