Episode 540 || From the Archives: Traveling through Books
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another episode From the Archives! In this series, we’re sharing some of our favorite past episodes of the show while Annie is on maternity leave. Enjoy today’s episode about traveling through books.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 540) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Link to The Bookshelf's Libro.fm storefront
Morgan Page's Substack, In Residence
Morgan Page's podcast, That's The Spirit
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Ordinary People by Diana Evans (unavailable for purchase)
L’Appart by David Leibovitz (unavailable for purchase)
The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard Morais
The Vacationers by Emma Straub
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (unavailable for purchase)
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
The Next Great Jane by KJ Going (unavailable for purchase)
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Tangerine by Christine Mangan (unavailable for purchase)
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Malloy (unavailable for purchase)
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 The Names by Florence Knapp.
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]
“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home.” ― Anna Quindlen, How Reading Changed My Life.
[00:00:39] I'm Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, we're going back into the From the Front Porch archives, (a place not dissimilar to the Disney Vault) to bring you an episode all about traveling through books. Before we get started, did you know Audible is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon? I'm not sure I would have been fully aware of that fact were it not for my work in bookselling, which is why as both a consumer of audiobooks and as a bookstore owner, I'm grateful for Libro.fm and the ways they partner with independent bookstores like ours. If you're not familiar, Libro.fm makes it possible for you to buy audiobooks your local bookstore. Head to Libro.fm, choose the bookstore you'd like to support, and that store will get a portion of every purchase you make. You can support The Bookshelf by going to Libre.fm/bookshelfthomasville. There's a link in the show notes too.
[00:01:40] You can buy audiobooks a la carte, or you can have a monthly membership just like other digital audiobook platforms. I'm pretty sure at this point every Bookshelf staff member and member of my immediate family has a Libro.fm membership. Obviously, you can listen to audiobooks in whatever ways are most convenient to you. Many of my friends use Libro.fm as well as Libby, a platform for libraries, but The Bookshelf has partnered with Libro.fm since its inception and it is a joy to have a platform to recommend to audiobook listeners who want to support indie bookstores like ours. Plus, now is a great time to sign up. On your road trips this summer, Libro.fm will make audiobook listening super easy. Just go to libro.fm/bookshelfthomasville to find out more. Now back to the show.
[00:02:29] I am once again coming to you from the past where I still have a cold and I am still eight and a half months pregnant and I'm trying to record enough podcast episodes to keep you dear listeners satiated over the summer, and me in some sort of entrepreneur's version of maternity leave. A girl can dream. I have no idea what the future holds. I have no idea what kind of life I am currently now living, but between a book tour and a baby, this spring it did become apparent that despite my best efforts to batch record all of the episodes needed to bring you entirely new content all summer long, it just wasn't possible. So as you heard earlier this month then, we are bringing you a couple of different types of episodes for the months of July and August. We launched our "Summer Reading" series at the beginning of the month. And this week, we have the second episode in our “From the Archive” series. Allow me gently to take you back to the summer of 2020. I know this is risky, but I really did want to include this episode.
[00:03:30] Everything was fraught. The pandemic was raging. We didn't fully know what was going on. And several new listeners did join us that year, I think because at least we were offering some semblance of routine and normalcy. We just kept recording for you, but also for us and for our sanity. When it became apparent none of us would be going anywhere that summer, I invited my friend Morgan Page on the podcast. Morgan and I met on a trip to London in the summer of 2020. We referenced that trip in the episode.
[00:04:03] Morgan is a writer, artist, and creative. Her Substack In Residence is one of my must-reads, (which is saying something in this, the year of the Substack newsletter) I feel like I am bombarded by Substacks, but I really do read Morgan's. And her podcast, That's the Spirit, which she co-hosts with writer Sara Billups, is the cure for these overwhelming times. Their tagline is "A podcast about nothing for those carrying everything." And isn't that what we all need? Those are linked in the show notes, her Substack In Residence and her podcast, That's the Spirit.
[00:04:39] On this archival episode, Morgan and I talk about our love for travel, why and how we were missing it. And then we bring you book recommendations for when you can't leave your driveway. It may not be the pandemic anymore, but if you're like me, this summer does look different than years past. And I needed that reminder that books can take us places we may not always be able to go. As usual, all of today's titles can be found through The Bookshelf website. Just type episode 540 into the show notes. Now let's go back in time.
“This is where you come when you are lost, when you feel that you are never going to find the place. You go to the first place, the first country, to her neck curtains and her singular food, to her safe and open door. You lie down. You eat. You listen to her. And you know that this house will not fall down. This house is sturdy and is made of bricks. And the wolf will not come and blow it down.” Diana Evans, Ordinary People.
[00:05:49] I'm Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And today I'm joined by my friend and fellow entrepreneur, Morgan Thomason. Morgan is the designer behind Winsome Paper, a whimsical stationery brand. We met last year while on Tsh Oxenreider's literary London trip, and Morgan happens to be one of the most well-traveled people I've ever met, so she's the perfect co-host to help me tackle a suggestion from a podcast listener. Hi, Morgan.
Morgan Page [00:06:16] Hey, this is so fun.
Annie Jones [00:06:18] I can't believe we're doing this.
Morgan Page [00:06:20] It's literally the best. I can wait.
Annie Jones [00:06:22] We're recording on the one year anniversary of our friendship. I was going to say London trip, but our friendship is more important than the trip.
Morgan Page [00:06:31] Happy friendiversary. Here we are.
Annie Jones [00:06:33] I know. It's so exciting. In fact, it's so exciting we are going to record a bonus episode for Patreon listeners, where we're going to recap our literary London trip.
Morgan Page [00:06:43] I can' wait. It's going to be great. I'm so excited.
Annie Jones [00:06:45] Okay, so I asked you to join me on the podcast today because of an email I got from a listener. I'm going to read that, and then we're kind of going to dive in to some travel book recommendations. This is from Kim. Kim says, "I'm a podcast listener from Israel." Also, what? Thank you, Kim, for listening from so far away. "I've loved the podcast for a long time. I was a listener who requested a journalism-themed episode." Thank you so much. That was a great episode back in the day. "And I have another episode request this time, vacation theme. So many of us are stuck at home dealing with everything this pandemic has brought. Since we can't travel, I'd love to travel vicariously through books, camping, lake house, exotic locations, honeymoon destinations, whatever. Just figuratively get me out of here. Thanks, Kim." Are we all Kim?
Morgan Page [00:07:31] I am Kim, 100%. I'm Kim.
Annie Jones [00:07:35] I wrote in my journal today, this is very vulnerable, but I wrote it in my general today that I feel like crying all the time, which is super healthy! But I think it's because for so many reasons, there is a lot happening in the world and in our country. But then underneath all of that is also just the personal loss of plans or of seeing the people we love or of traveling. And you in particular travel an awful lot. So I guess my first question for you is, how are you? You doing okay?
Morgan Page [00:08:05] Thank you for asking about this really hard time for me where I'm not traveling internationally. It's been really difficult. There's the grief of disappointment and misplans and all the things, but I think not being able to travel has really shown me what travel does for just my life and my heart. And there's just such a reprieve and a discovery of myself that kind of happens when I travel. But that's what I'm really missing. It's like I like to go and I like eat and I'd like to explore, I guess, but mostly I miss just the feeling myself that comes when I travel. I think that's the saddest part. Like, where am I? I'm home.
Annie Jones [00:08:49] Yeah, I totally get that. I think for me it helps me, I think, run my business better. I think it helps me take a deep breath. And I feel like I have spent the last, I don't know, four months, three months, just kind of go, go, going. And sadly I've tried to implement moments of rest and quiet at my house. And I think I've done that somewhat successfully. But there is something about going somewhere else and the physical act of changing your location that I really, really miss.
Morgan Page [00:09:22] Yes, me too.
Annie Jones [00:09:24] Okay, so we're going to go back and forth with some book recommendations. You have come up with these really lovely descriptions for yours, and then I found my books based on place, based on where you might want to travel or where you wish you were going this summer. So I think you should go first and tell the basic description and then the book you're recommending based on that description.
Morgan Page [00:09:49] Okay, great. So I meant to go back and make these descriptors more concise. They're very wordy and lengthy.
Annie Jones [00:09:57] I love them.
Morgan Page [00:09:58] Whatever. The first one I called it A Book for the Loved One Listener. I don't know what that means, but the choice was 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. And I read this, I think it was literally on the flight back from literary London last year, and just cried like the entire time. But it is this beautiful correspondence between an American writer living in New York City in the 1940s. And she's writing to this tiny bookstore in London, and the same man takes all of her letters and sends her all of the antique books that she's looking for, like first editions. And so it's just her asking for books and then they start to get to know each other. And then it turns into this 30-year correspondence between this tiny bookstore like The Bookshelf and this American woman who is just wanting beautiful books. And it's so charming and so lovely. And the feeling I get when I'm reading it is like I'm actually in London. It feels very English. How they respond to her so deeply politely and everything about it is so polite and tender and she's more brash and American and it's like this hilarious coming together of these two people from different cultures essentially and so I love it. It literally feels like you're actually in England to be reading this book.
Annie Jones [00:11:42] I listened to this on audiobook, I want to say, and I listened to it, like you, on the flight back from London, and then for a couple hours on finding myself back at home. I also cried while reading it because who wouldn't after the experience we had just had? But I had never thought about it. You're right. It definitely feels British. It's kind of a quiet polite little book and you do feel like you're there. Well, and I guess it's both Helene Hanff and then also the bookstore owner she's writing, encapsulate the culture of England so perfectly. It's really lovely.
Morgan Page [00:12:23] Beautiful. Yes. And it's very short. And so a lot of time you can eat it in one bite. It's like literally you could read it on the fly, like finish it.
Annie Jones [00:12:34] Yeah.
Morgan Page [00:12:34] And you can get to England quick by reading that book.
Annie Jones [00:12:38] And don't you have another title if somebody maybe has read 84 Charing Cross already and they want like a comparable title.
Morgan Page [00:12:45] The second one that feels similar, just because of the correspondence, is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which is so wordy.
Annie Jones [00:12:54] I hate that title so much, but yes.
Morgan Page [00:12:57] Whoa. What? But yes it feels the same, that correspondence, the time in which it's written, the era in which they're living, it's written in letter form. Both of those are. There's something so intimate and a little creepy, but I feel fine about reading other people's letters. I guess I feel like I'm seeing a really precious part of somebody by being able to read these actual letters. Like Helene Hanff's are real life letters that she sent. But then in Guernsey, it's obviously fictional, but kind of feels the same, even though it's-- yeah.
Annie Jones [00:13:38] Yeah. I think it's because, for me, writing is how I process things. And when I write a letter I almost forget there's going to be a person on the receiving end of it. And so it winds up being this really personal intimate thing. And so when you're reading books that are kind of in this epistolary format, I think it really does open you up to them in a really sweet way. I'm going to do my London picks too then because obviously that was on the top of my mind. So if you're wishing you were in London this summer, I have two recommendations. One is Ordinary People by Diana Evans. I read a quote from that book at the top of the episode. This is a book I picked up in London. I always try to buy books kind of set in the place I'm going because I own a bookstore.
[00:14:28] And so sometimes I have to explain to myself why I'm buying books when I could just buy them at my other house, AKA The Bookshelf. So Ordinary People by Diana Evans, she kind of in a, I won't say famous, but kind of bookish famous interviewed, talked about how she really wanted to write about the middle-class lives of black British people. And so Ordinary People is exactly that. It kind of starts at an inauguration party for Barack Obama set in London, and then travels to kind of follow this married couple through the next year or two of their marriage and their lives. So it's really an interesting look at just a marriage and a relationship. And then if you want to go a little more PG-13, Queenie by Candice Cardy Williams. Have you read that? Have you ready either of these?
Morgan Page [00:15:16] I haven't.
Annie Jones [00:15:18] So Queenie, I listened to part of Queenie. I have not read the whole thing, but I think it was pitched as Americana meets the Bridget Jones's Diary. And so I think that's a great pitch and it is very funny, very snarky told in this first person narrative. But just go in knowing we were listening to it as an audio book club, I think last summer, and it's just very PG-13, very Bridget Jones's Diary. So just go into it knowing that's what you're getting. But I thought these would be fun to make you feel like you're in London. What you got next?
Morgan Page [00:15:55] Okay. So my next theme is a book for the therapeutic traveler. And I've realized that's a lot of what I do. Like when I'm going to another country I'm usually bringing something with me about my life or about myself or chewing on something. And so I'm going to struggle to say, how did I manage to pick two books that I don't actually know how to say the titles of those two books? You would have thought that I would have thought that through, but here we are. Okay, so this one is David Leibovitz's second book, and I'm going to just butcher it.
Annie Jones [00:16:33] Just do it.
Morgan Page [00:16:34] It's L'Appart? That's French for apartment. I don't know. And I learned that like while reading the book, I had no idea. But he is an American chef working and living in Paris. He's lived there for 10 years. And I love this book because it's so deeply French. I love it because so I go to France to eat and to be nourished by all of their beautiful things. I feel like in America we have these huge conglomerate stores that sell all the things we need; whereas, in France, it's like, no, we're going to go to the soap store, and then we're going to buy some soap. And we're going to go to the cookie store and we're going to know the man that makes our cookies and we're going to invite him to our Christmas parties. Like there's something so they know their people and who is making their goods and making their food and it's all in their neighborhood.
[00:17:31] And this book really talks about just the neighborhood feel of France. It feels very French to read this book or it feels very Parisian. I don't know if it feels like the whole of France. I don't know if I can actually say that. But he talks about how he bought an apartment in France and all the bureaucracy around that and how the French deal with just the weeds of details, basically. But that he wanted to be in certain neighborhoods because of how he wanted eat. And I loved the thought of choosing where I live based on nourishment. And there was something so European, I think, feeling about that. It was almost like because I listened to this on audio book, I can close my eyes and it was like if I just had like a cafe au lait and like a macaron in my hand, could I act like I'm in France right now? And this book really helps. It's like a time machine. I can get there.
Annie Jones [00:18:31] That's why I love books. And I think that's exactly why Kim wanted recommendations because I think so many of us just wish that we could close our eyes and maybe be somewhere else just for a minute, and books help us do that. So I think it's a great recommendation.
Morgan Page [00:18:44] And he's ridiculously funny. I think that helps, too. He's so light and fun about just the clash of cultures that goes on with him constantly, even after all this time.
Annie Jones [00:18:55] His narration reminds me of David Sedaris. Does that ring true to you?
Morgan Page [00:19:01] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:19:02] He's very snarky.
Morgan Page [00:19:05] Yes. The absurdity of things, like he's here for that. Yeah, I loved it.
Annie Jones [00:19:10] What about if you've already read L'Appart, what's a backup book?
Morgan Page [00:19:20] My backup book is The Hundred Foot Journey.
Annie Jones [00:19:25] Oh my gosh, I forgot that was a book. I loved the movie so much.
Morgan Page [00:19:30] The movie is beautiful. A must. Everyone should just go home and just watch it right now. You can feel like you're traveling immediately. It's just beautiful. It's about an Indian family that comes and moves from London to this tiny French village and just about the clash of cultures going on there, too. It's about food and it also just feels very French. I think it's the food thing. I think it's just the particularness of it all and the attention to detail, it feels like when I'm in France, I feel really taken care of, like they're paying attention to the details and there's beauty in everything they're doing. And The Hundred Foot Journey feels like that too.
Annie Jones [00:20:11] Yeah, what a lesson for us. I've never been to France, but whenever I comeback, I'm always thinking like how can I implement their ways of life here? Because I feel like they're doing something differently than what we're doing. But I like the idea of paying attention to the details and taking care of people. Okay. My European recommendations are, I've got three, The Vacationers by Emma Straub. This is a book I've recommended many, many times, but it is set along the coast of Spain in Mallorca. It is very fun, dysfunctional family lit, but also dysfunctional family members that really like each other. So it doesn't feel hateful and mean, it feels kind and loving and like these people are figuring each other out. And often when you travel with your family, I feel like those different parts of you come out and up out of you. And so I love The Vacationers. I love how Emma Straub writes. So The Vacationers, which is set in Mallorca. Then Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter or My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, both of those speak to, I think, the culture of Italy.
[00:21:19] And Beautiful Ruins kind of goes back and forth between modern time and also I think like the 1940s and kind of incorporates some Hollywood film culture. And then My Brilliant Friend is like historical fiction, but still I don't know more about the people and the culture of Italy than it is about any historical events. And so those are two books where I very much felt transported. And it's like you're saying, where the book isn't just, I don't know, telling you about the place, it's also doing this thing with storytelling that makes you feel like you are there alongside these people. It was my favorite thing about My Brilliant Friend, which is very like kind of a tome to me in and of itself, but I felt transported. I felt like I was in this friend group and I was walking the streets of Italy. And in Beautiful Ruins, I felt like I was along the coast. So those are my European picks.
Morgan Page [00:22:14] I love that. I love when a book makes you feel included. Like I'm in on the inside jokes and stuff. It's a mark for me of a good book.
Annie Jones [00:22:21] Like I am here. I'm a part of it.
Morgan Page [00:22:23] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:22:23] Okay. What you got next?
Morgan Page [00:22:26] Okay. So the next theme is a book for the American adventurer because not everyone likes to travel internationally. I do, but some people might not be into that. My favorite book of all time that talks about just absurdity and adventuring in America is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Annie Jones [00:22:48] I've never read it. It's so funny.
Morgan Page [00:22:51] I love Bill Bryson. Like we have that discussion of if you could only have five people at your table to eat dinner of all history, who would it be? Bill Bryson, I want him at my table. He's so well traveled. He's lived overseas. He is so precise with his observations of things and his observations of people. Like he just nails people and it's the funniest. He's spot on almost every time. And it's about him and a longtime friend. They decide that they are going to walk the Appalachian Trail and just don't really count the costs before they jump in, which will be my epitaph. She just didn't count the cost.
Annie Jones [00:23:34] I was about to say that sounds like you.
Morgan Page [00:23:39] That is me. And so I love that they just have this huge undertaking. And it just talks about him buying a tent and buying shoes and being like, all right, let's do this thing. Sounds great. And just the absurdity of what it means to walk across states. And it's super dangerous to undertake this essentially, which I didn't because I'm the type of person I'm like that sounds great. Maybe I should do that.
Annie Jones [00:24:04] I'm going to do that tomorrow.
Morgan Page [00:24:07] Yes, but hearing it an actual practice is just the most horrific and hilarious thing ever. I remember the copy I have is actually my dad's from probably 15 years ago. It's pretty old. I specifically remember my dad getting this book because my dad is a big hiker and him reading it in his chair and just cracking up. I've vivid memories of him loving this book.
Annie Jones [00:24:37] Dad laughs are the best.
Morgan Page [00:24:39] Dad laughter. That's how you know this is a quality read. So yes, but it encapsulates everything about like my inability to understand the ruggedness of where I live and just to be like this is fine. Like we're going to go to the Grand Canyon and just maybe walk around a bit. And it just feels very, I guess, American. Like his approach to just not understanding what he's getting himself into.
Annie Jones [00:25:08] Yeah, that does actually sound very American. If 84 Charing Cross Road encapsulates the sensibilities of Great Britain, going on a hike and buying a tent and thinking you're prepared sounds like the American way.
Morgan Page [00:25:21] It's so funny because that pioneering spirit is there, but no know-how. Hilarious.
Annie Jones [00:25:33] Okay, what's your second pick for that category?
Morgan Page [00:25:34] And then my second pick is the Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
Annie Jones [00:25:38] This is a book I was going to read this year. Hunter and I were going to do it for a backlist book club because I've never read the whole thing, if you can believe it.
Morgan Page [00:25:47] It's so beautiful. It's obviously different. It's a much more serious and thoughtful read like what Bill Bryson is trying to do. But I think their eye for precision and detail and observation feels very similar, even though she's coming at it from such a more serious and almost scientific way. I love Annie Dillard talking about the country I come from. I need her to just like talk and talk and talk about where I come from just because I don't know it the way she knows it. And I remember reading that book for the first time and thinking like, oh my gosh, is she talking about my land? Like you know what I'm saying?
Annie Jones [00:26:33] Yeah, she makes it beautiful.
Morgan Page [00:26:35] It's so beautiful. I think especially in my younger years I thought that beauty was somewhere else, that America kind of got the short end of the stick. Which is just not true, that's just me living in suburbia. But I think Annie Dillard has this way of reminding us like, no, America is beautiful. Our land is so lovely. And our physical nature is just really beautiful. And so I love that book, too.
Annie Jones [00:27:08] That's on my list. I need to read that. Okay, so I picked a couple of books set in America. So I've got two books set in Maine. The first book is called The Next Great Jane. This is by KJ Going. This is a new children's chapter book of all things, but Children's Lit is something I've really gravitated towards during the time of Corona. And I adored this book about a young aspiring writer named Jane. Who lives in Maine and her dad is a biologist, but I guess more of a marine biologist. He works from a boat. So you really get these great scenes and information about environmental science, but in a way that's really captivating and interesting. And the book also almost exists as an homage to Jane Austen because we get some references to that because Jane is a young writer. And so I really love this book, and it made me want to go to Maine so badly. It talks about lobster, and I love lobster. So it's called The Next Great Jane by KJ Going.
[00:28:15] And then if you want to maybe go a more adult lit route, (although I really do think grownups will like The Next great Jane) I love the book Maine by J Courtney Sullivan. It is set right on the coast of Maine. I've always wanted to be one of those people who has like a second home or like a second home in your family, which you have that. I'm realizing as I'm talking out loud. But this kind of family home place that has been in a family for generations. And in this book, there are these sisters and their family has this kind of seaside coastal home in Maine. And even though I grew up going to the Florida Gulf Coast and visiting there, I love this idea of like an old family home and where you go every summer and just this place becomes a part of who you are. And then my last pick for Americana traveling is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I've finally read this for the first time. Have you read this?
Morgan Page [00:29:15] Yes, beautiful.
Annie Jones [00:29:17] I read this for the first time a year or two ago. It is the book that you're supposed to read if you're from Florida, like it's the Florida book. And I grew up in Florida and I was born and raised there. And so I finally, finally read it and I can't believe it took me so long. This book is gorgeous. There's nothing new I could say about it that hasn't already been said. It is profound. When I was making my list of things, books I wanted to talk about during the summer, and I've said this many times on this podcast, I do not want to read books set anywhere cold. I just don't. It's a bajillion degrees here. I will happily cozy up with a wintry snowy book in the winter. But when it is 100 degrees and your door has swollen shut due to humidity, I'm just not interested in reading a cold weather book. And so one of the things I love about Their Eyes Were Watching God is because it is set in Florida. You feel the humidity, like you feel the stickiness and the steam, and it's set during hurricane season. And I just adore this book. I think it's fantastic. And it's a classic for a reason. So that's Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. What's your next category?
Morgan Page [00:30:29] Okay. My last category is a book for the home discoverer. And this is me just trying to be kind to all of us since we can't actually travel. These books do a really good job of rediscovering our actual homes. So my first one is Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry. And I love Wendell Berry so much.
Annie Jones [00:30:52] I know that you do.
Morgan Page [00:30:53] I love him deeply and I want to be his best friend, which is probably his worst nightmare because I know him so personally. You know what I'm saying?
Annie Jones [00:31:01] Did I tell you I've met him?
Morgan Page [00:31:03] Wait, what? Why haven't we talked about this?
Annie Jones [00:31:06] I met him. Okay, this is going to break your heart into a million pieces. I have only read Wendell Berry's poetry, but my brother is an adoring fan, an absolute adoring fan. And so at some literary conference or another, Wendell Berry was there signing. He wasn't even signing his newest book because it hadn't been published yet, he was signing posters. And I stood in line so that I could give my brother a signed poster for Christmas.
Morgan Page [00:31:34] What a great sister.
Annie Jones [00:31:35] Thank you. It was a really good gift; I'm not going to lie.
Morgan Page [00:31:37] How does anyone ever gift after that? I don't know.
Annie Jones [00:31:39] I'm a really good gift giver. I don't if you know that about me, but I'm a really good gift giver. Yeah, but I waited in line and at the time especially I was not really familiar with him at all. I only knew that he was like my brother's hero and so I got up in line. And I hate meeting famous people or authors. I always feel like a goob. And I was like my brother adores you. Like that's all I could say because I hadn't read any of his books and so I was, like, oh my gosh, I just need you to know that my brother is one of your biggest fans. And anyway he was so delightfully quiet and shy seeming. And now that I know more about him and about his work, it totally makes sense. So I didn't mean to commentate your description, but I did just want you to know I have met him and he is a delight
Morgan Page [00:32:29] This is information I needed. I don't know if I can finish, but I'm going to try. Okay, so Hannah Coulter is his fiction work. And he writes about different people in this small town in Kentucky. And all of them are beautiful and wonderful. All of his fiction works should be read, if I'm going to be super bossy right now. But I love Hannah Coulter in particular because I love that it's from a woman's perspective, even though Wendell Berry is writing it. But her view on growing up on the same land and how she sees it over time and how's she's always discovering something new and how with each life change her home that remains the same changes. And so it's fascinating to watch because that's his whole bit. Is to go home and cultivate your home. Know where you live, know the land that you have grown up on, things like that. And so he does a really beautiful job of just creating this character that notices that even though she's in the same place, she never gets bored.
Annie Jones [00:33:43] And that is a lesson for us.
Morgan Page [00:33:45] Yes. And I know she's fictional, but the only reason I don't call or I don't say this is all garbage and he's just being idealistic is because it's him. That's the way he has lived. He went home and wrote books and grows crops and there's something about that. There's no restlessness in her in this book. She's always waiting to be awed and to be surprised by this land that she's always known. So even though she's in the same place, she's not necessarily finding comfort in the monotony of it, but in the wonder of what could come even here?
Annie Jones [00:34:35] You should review books for a living. That was truly beautiful. That was so good.
Morgan Page [00:34:42] Well, thank you. Thank you so much. Wendell Berry, if you're listening, I would be happy to review all your books.
Annie Jones [00:34:50] Yeah, that was so good.
Morgan Page [00:34:51] Thank you. I read Hannah Coulter during quarantine and it was just such a lesson to be like I live in a tiny neighborhood and what am I doing to be surprised or to put myself in a position to surprised.
Annie Jones [00:35:08] Okay. I'm just making a list as we speak. I'm like, okay, maybe I need to move that one to the top of my list. Because when you said there was no restlessness in her, I was like, oh no, all that Annie B. Jones is right now is restless.
Morgan Page [00:35:20] That is me. I'm like what is the prescription for this? I don't know.
Annie Jones [00:35:25] Maybe it's Wendell Berry.
Morgan Page [00:35:27] I think it's Wendell. I love all of his fictional characters where he worked out what he actually believes. I think that's probably it.
Annie Jones [00:35:35] Okay, what's your second choice for that category?
Morgan Page [00:35:37] Okay, and the second choice is The Dutch House, which you and I have just gone gaga over when we're talking to each other. But, oh my gosh, I think The Dutch house is one of the most beautiful books I've read in recent years even. It's about a family that grows up in the Dutch house essentially and things happen, but it's about the same family over time. I'm afraid of what to say about it because there's so many important details that oddly give it away. So I'm being careful. I love what you're saying about the books you were talking about how the importance of an actual place, like an actual house and what that does to a family and what happens when our legacy expands outside of each other and is actually in the places that we live, like the literal places. How do we manage that when houses get sold and people die? And they kind of talk about that through this book, like what a house does to a family, which I love. And if you listen to the audio book, Tom Hanks reads it which is a whole different level of...
Annie Jones [00:36:50] I'm thinking about re-reading it but listening to it because I never did. I read the physical book and now I'm like I think I want to revisit this book. I'm not a huge re-reader, but I'm tempted with this one and then I could listen to Tom read to me. Which would be better?
Morgan Page [00:37:04] Let Tom reshape this book for you. Because I read it I think in maybe December January and I'm remembering just what it felt like to read that book made me want to be (this is pre-corona) home. I remember thinking like I want to do the work of having a place that is a sanctuary kind of like this house was for this family. But I obviously forgot that because now I'm like let's just [crosstalk].
Annie Jones [00:37:36] Read that lesson and promptly forgot it.
Morgan Page [00:37:39] Very short-lived. It was really beautiful in the moment, but now it's like, I don't know.
Annie Jones [00:37:43] Get me out of here.
Morgan Page [00:37:45] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:37:45] Okay. My last category is very different. This is truly hot and steamy. If you just want to be in a sweltering place or you want to read what that is like, I've got three books. The first is set in Morocco. This is Tangerine by Christine Mangan. This is kind of an unsettling book. It's kind of quietly building to something, but you don't really know what. You just know that there are these two friends who kind of met and were really close in college, but have not really seen each other since. And one of them lives in Morocco, and then the friend kind of winds up on the doorstep and has come to visit. But you know that the friend who lives in Morocco is not pleased to see her. And so there's this kind of underlying sense of what's going to happen here, what happened to this friendship, and it's all set in this backdrop of Tangiers in Morocco. And I just remember. Distinctly feeling just oppressed by the heat of this book. And I loved it. I think the writing is outstanding. It's a quiet book, but it's really good.
[00:38:50] Next, I would recommend Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. This book is set in South Africa and it's a memoir. And I think people maybe by now, because it's been out in paperback a while, people understand that it's not like a funny haha book by this great comedian. Instead, it is a really smart book about growing up in South Africa and during and after apartheid and what that looked like and the impact it had on him and his relationship with his mom. I think this book is so good, but I think because it is so good and because it's talking about these really complicated, interesting things, I think we forget that it's also kind of a love story to South Africa. And the setting plays such an important role in this book. And you can tell that South Africa really shaped who Trevor it is and his ideologies and where he came from. And then last, if you want to feel like you're on a vacation but also you want comfort in the fact that you're not on vacation, you could read a book about a vacation gone horribly wrong. And I would recommend Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Malloy. This is set in Central America. This family goes on a cruise, which I will read about a cruise because I will never go on a cruise. So I would much rather just read about one.
Morgan Page [00:40:06] Sure.
Annie Jones [00:40:07] I feel like I've watched too many 2020 or Dateline episodes where like something goes wrong on a cruise. I'm just not interested in that. And so, but I really liked this book by Maile Malloy where this family goes on a Cruise and something goes terribly, terribly wrong. And so it's really stifling, just kind of going along with this family on this journey and figuring out the repercussions of a horrific mistake and what happens to these children in this book. It's so good. Very much for fans of St. X, which came out earlier this year and which would also fall into this category of vacations gone wrong. So to make you feel better that you have to be at home.
Morgan Page [00:40:47] Sure. You could be on a bad cruise.
Annie Jones [00:40:48] Yeah, you could be on a terrible cruise where somebody gets kidnapped and wouldn't that be awful. So, okay, before we wind up the episode, I did want to mention three books that are on my personal TBR list this summer. The first is Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson. I love New York and I had a New York trip canceled in May and my heart is broken over it and Another Brooklyn is a Jacqueline Woodson book that is sitting on my bookshelves. I specifically bought it a couple of years ago and have never read it and it is set in 1970s New York. So that is on my TBR. The Jetsetters by Amanda Ward. I think this might have been a Reese Witherspoon pick. It's got a very similar cover to Beach Read. So maybe I am confused, but it is another cruise book, but it doesn't look like a cruise gone wrong. It just looks like a cruise with a dysfunctional family. So it feels like it might have The Vacationers vibes, where this 77 year old matriarch insists that her children go with her on this cruise. And so I'm there for a spunky matriarch. And then Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn. This book is set in Jamaica. The protagonist works at this resort. And I am very intrigued mostly by the beautiful striking cover. And these are three books that I would like to read based on maybe vacations I wish I were taking and then just books that have been on my TBR list. And I think summer might be the time to tackle them. So where do you wish you were right now?
Morgan Page [00:42:14] Oh my goodness. Probably I was supposed to be in Spain in May, and so there's a part of me that wants to say Spain just so I don't have to deal with the disappointment of not being in Spain. You know what I'm saying? Like so that I'd be fine. But truly where I want to be is probably England, Scotland, but in the countryside. I want two rent a car and I want to drive along the coast and have no responsibilities.
Annie Jones [00:42:48] That sounds lovely.
Morgan Page [00:42:50] Doesn't that sounds great? And see all the flowers and it not be 100 degrees. Wear a summer jacket.
Annie Jones [00:42:56] Yes. Don't you wish? All the time. I'm wearing a sweatshirt right now just because in my home Jordan is not here and so I have bumped down the air to pretend it is cold out. Like to pretend that I'm the kind of person who can wear shorts and a long sleeve tee when the reality is that this is not the community for that. Like I'm not in a geographical location where that makes any sense at all. And that is why I think where I wish I was right now is Maine. I really do. It wasn't on our list. Like Jordan and I were supposed to go to Utah this summer for our yearly vacation. But instead, I wish I was like in a lakeside home like one of those cozy cabin situations and where I could have a view of the coast. Maybe there's a hammock. And yes, the requirement is that you need a sweater in the evenings. People whose summer requires a sweater. I mean because of you.
Morgan Page [00:43:50] Come on. What a dream.
Annie Jones [00:43:53] What a dream! This has been a dream. Thank you for talking travel books with me. Thank you for dreaming with me, this was so fun.
Morgan Page [00:44:00] It was so fun, what a joy. Thank you for inviting me.
Annie Jones [00:44:07] This week, I'm reading The Names by Florence Knapp.
[00:44:08] 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…
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