Episode 605 || Reading Recap: October
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie recaps the books she read and loved in October. You get 10% off your books when you order your the October Reading Recap Bundle, which features a bundle of some of Annie’s favorite books she read this month.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 600), or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
October Reading Recap Bundle - $74
Children of the Wolf by Abbi Geni
Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
The Rally by Carla Vass
Children of the Wolf by Abbi Geni
Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
Missing Sister by Joshilyn Jackson
Lane Being Lane by John Talty
American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee
The Rally by Carla Vass
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 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 listening to The Vanishing Family by Robert Kolker.
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 Phares, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, Jospeh Shorter IV, Kimberly, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stephanie Dean, Gene Queens and Wendi Jenkins.
Transcript:
[00:00:00] Annie Jones: Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
“Falling in love in New York in the fall? It's absurd that someone could be so lucky.”
Lynn Painter. Trust Fall.
[as music fades out]
[00:00:35] I'm Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week I'm recapping the books I read in October. If you are a new or new-ish listener of From the Front Porch, you might not realize that we are a production of The Bookshelf, a small independently owned bookstore in rural South Georgia. By listening to our show and recommending it to your friends, you're helping keep our indie bookstore in business. And if you like what you hear, one way you can financially support us is through Patreon. Last year, we read the classic work Don Quixote together, and this year, as of this recording, we are finishing up conquering the American classic, The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor.
[00:01:20] For $5 a month, you can access our monthly Conquer a Classic recap episodes, as well as our monthly Porch Visits, live Q&As where we talk about everything from books, to pop culture, to nail polish, to what reads you should take on your next vacation. To learn more about our Patreon tiers and benefits, visit patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. Now is a great time to join us because we are getting ready to reveal our 2027 Conquer A Classic, if you can believe it, and it makes a great holiday gift. Yes, you can gift Patreon memberships. So go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We'll be revealing our... Maybe, I don't know. When does this episode come out? This week we're revealing our selection for our 2027 Conquer A Classic program. So patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. Okay. How are we doing? What did we read in October? What's the vibe? I feel like I typically try to read spooky reads in October. I did a little bit of that. I dabbled in that. I spent a lot of the month reading for the last dwindling Shelf Subscription selections. And I also started to do big fall books, like the books that have been on my TBR, but maybe I didn't get early access, and so didn't get to read them until you guys got to read them. So I did a little bit of that, too. Overall, decent reading month. Decent reading month.
[00:02:55] Let's start with Children of the Wolf. This is a book by Abbi Geni. It's one of those spookier reads I was alluding to. This was recommended to me by Olivia. I think I heard her first talk about it on a New Release Rundown podcast episode, and then I think I also heard her talk about it during a Newsday Tuesday. If you're not familiar with our Newsday Tuesdays, these are live Instagram Lives, and we post them to Patreon later. And you don't even have to financially support us on Patreon. They're free. Anybody can view them. Patreon's just an easy place where we can put them after the fact, because who wants a 20-minute Instagram post just living on Instagram? That's a lot of uploading time. So anyway, you can catch those live on Instagram at 12:00 PM Eastern, or you can find them on Patreon after the fact. Olivia is always hand-selling books during that 20-minute conversation, and I frequently walk away with books to read, including this one. So Children of the Wolf by Abbi Geni was one that Olivia raved about. The main character in the book is Liv. Liv and her brother were raised in rural Iowa by their Viking father, and I do mean that literally. He is a genuine Viking and raises the children accordingly. They study Viking lore, Norse mythology, practice sword fighting. Maybe they also dabble in some animal sacrifices.
[00:04:20] And to Liv, of course, it's her childhood, so it is all very normal until the day when the FBI raids her home and takes her dad away, and she and her brother are left to fend for themselves. The book opens with Liv as an adult, but the first half or first third of the book is really devoted to Liv and her brother's upbringing, very unusual upbringing. I knew nothing about Norse mythology. I guess I've seen Thor. Does that count? And I felt like I learned a lot about Norse belief, and Vikings, and the reputation Vikings have, and the role that her dad played at home and in the community. I found all of that very interesting. Then the back half of the book focuses on Liv's life with her brother as an adult, and how they maybe overcame a somewhat traumatic upbringing. And then, of course, there are some dead bodies, and Liv feels like maybe she could know something about those dead bodies. The book took a relatively straightforward path. And I believe Olivia sold this not as a whodunit, but a why-done-it. And I thought that was a clever way to put that because there's not a ton of twists and turns. We're going to talk about a thriller today that took a lot of twists and turns. This one didn't have twists and turns. It was relatively straightforward, but I was hooked the whole time.
[00:05:48] I was very invested and curious which direction Abbi Geni was going to take with some of these characters. The characters, I think, are really well thought out in this one, and the plot is pretty good, too. I think, for me, this one's a three-and-a-half-star book. Very thin. You will fly through it. Short chapters. I think I might have mentioned this one on the What Would Scully and Mulder Read episode because it did feel like an X-Files episode. It just felt just unusual enough that my it might have caught Scully and Mulder's attention over there at the FBI. So I really liked this. This is Children of the Wolf by Abbi Geni. And I don't think it's just-- thriller readers understand. It's not just spooky reading. You can read this any time of year, so you could read it right now, November.
[00:06:34] Then I was listening to Trust Fall. This is by Lynn Painter. At The Bookshelf, we're big Lynn Painter fans, particularly of her young adult fiction. I personally think I prefer her YA romances to her adult romances, and I have listened to quite a few of these in audiobook format as well. So I liked this one in audiobook. The main characters are Julia and, oh my gosh, what is his name? It's familiar. It's a kind of a weird name for a male protagonist. Damian. It's Damian. That's weird, right? No offense if your name is Damian. I knew at least two Damians in college. I just associate it with The Omen, and that's on me. That's a personal problem. So Damian's the main male character. So we go back and forth between their narration, which is why I think audiobook sometimes works really well for these Lynn Painter stories. But I really wanted to read this because of the setting, and I thought the premise was pretty clever. The female protagonist is Julia. She is an introverted main character. She and her family have moved from Nebraska to the Upper West Side of New York because one of their neighbors in Nebraska has passed away, and he has left her and her family this home on the Upper West Side in New York in his will. So he's bequeathed his home to this family of these neighbors in Nebraska. So Julia and her family make the move to the Upper West Side, and that is where most of the story takes place. Although it also takes place just enough in Nebraska where I could have believed that this was a Rainbow Rowell book. I could have believed that this was Rainbow Rowell trying to sell me on Nebraska.
[00:08:15] So Julia goes to this private school with her twin brother. Julia in particular is a little bit behind. She needs a math tutor. Enter Damian. And then turns out Damian has a connection to that Nebraska neighbor. And so I thought the plot of this was very creative, very interesting, realistic conflict. I thought this was really cute. Here's my pet peeve and I don't know, you guys tell me. But these young adult romances where the male protagonist calls his teenage love interest sweetheart and honey, it's just not for me. I don't really like that out of an adult's mouth either. I don't know if Jordan Jones has ever called me sweetheart. That's something I want my grandfather to call me or maybe my dad. But other than that, I'm not super interested in that as a term of endearment, and I'm really not interested in it out of a 16-year-old, 17-year-old, 18-year-old. This has happened in a couple of young adult romances I've read recently, and I just want to know, are teenage boys talking like this? Somebody needs to prepare me, if so. Not because a teenage boy would talk to me like that, but because I have now a son and I do need to know if this is something I need to be aware of in 20 years. Do I need to watch out for this? It's so bizarre-seeming to me. And sometimes, even though I prefer Lynn Painter's young adult romance, I do feel like you have to suspend a little bit of your disbelief. Because what if she did college-aged romances? What if she did that? And then I think I still wouldn't like the lovey-dovey language, and again, that's my own personal pet peeve.
[00:09:48] That's not really a Lynn Painter issue. That's an Annie B. Jones issue. But I do think sometimes I find it hard to believe that 16, 17-year-olds are behaving like this. Now, my generation watched what? I'm actually a little too old for Gossip Girl, I think. But I understand that there's some suspension of disbelief that has to occur when you're engaging with YA content. That's just my only complaint. That being said, this is a great time. This is a great time. Maybe I haven't sold it well. It's set in the Upper West Side, so the autumnal vibes are immaculate. I loved Julia in particular. I liked Damian. I think they have good chemistry. I think Lynn Painter writes chemistry really well. I still think Better Than the Movies is my favorite Lynn Painter, but this one is charming, and charming for this time of year. This is the kind of book you need to be reading right now because the fall, the back to school, there's a world in which this is also a campus novel because it's set at this elite private school where Julia and Damian both attend. I liked Julia and Damian's trajectory. They both experience a lot of growth in the book, not just in their romance, but as individuals, which again I think is the hallmark of a good Lynn Painter novel. So that is Trust Fall by Lynn Painter, also excellent in audiobook format. And for what it's worth, I do think a high schooler could read this book. Not all YA lit feels like it was actually made for the YA reader, and obviously I'm 40 years old reading a young adult book. But as booksellers, it can be hard sometimes to identify which YA books are actually good for teens, good for the teen reader, and I really do think I could easily hand sell this to a high school student. So again, Trust Fall by Lynn Painter.
[00:11:36] Okay, and then I picked up Missing Sister by Jocelyn Jackson. So I picked this up-- I don't know, y'all-- I guess when it released this spring. I picked it up and DNF'd it, and honestly, I'm trying to remember. I think it's because I was listening to it, and occasionally, if I am listening to a book for too long, I sometimes just give up because it's just I don't have a commute, so I'm not listening to an audiobook in big old chunks. Does this make sense? Anyway, I did not finish it in audiobook format. And then Joshilyn Jackson agreed to come to our fall reader retreat. So I thought, "Okay, let me pick that back up." I honestly had forgotten I had started it, and then I read it in physical format and thought, "Wait, this sounds familiar," and it's because I had been listening to it. So this one, Joshilyn Jackson, if you are not familiar with her, she is a fantastic writer, and for many years she wrote Southern Gothic women's lit. Gods in Alabama is probably my all-time fave, but Backseat Saints... oh, there's one with a swimming pool. I literally have it on my shelf. The Almost Sisters was relatively recent. Anyway, she spent many years writing in that genre. And then around the pandemic, she began writing domestic suspense and thrillers. And so Missing Sister is her latest thriller. I think I had read Never Have I Ever, which was maybe her first one, and this, I want to say, is her third.
[00:13:08] They're not in order. You don't have to read them in order. They're standalone thrillers. Maybe Olivia has read these, too. I really don't remember. But I wanted to do my due diligence because Jocelyn was coming, and so I've read, I think, all of her previous non-thriller books, and so I decided to pick this one back up. The main character is a new detective named Penny. Penny is still reeling from the loss of her sister, Nix, to a drug overdose. Penny and Nix were like two sides of the same coin. They were twin sisters. They grew up doing everything together. And really, in my mind, Missing Sister, even now as I'm saying the title to you out loud it's not about the mystery of Nix. It's not super mysterious what happened to Nix or why she's no longer a part of Penny's life. We know why she died. We know what happened. But it's more, what is Penny going to do with that loss? And the book is a lot about grieving the person you thought you were going to grow up alongside, grow into adulthood alongside. Penny and her family are really lovely, and I especially love their dynamic with one another. Is Penny the best detective? No I could not say that she is. It would be difficult for me to say that Penny is a good detective, and that is one of Olivia's pet peeves in thrillers, and maybe that's why I immediately noticed.
[00:14:34] I'm not sure Penny is supposed to be a good detective. She's new to the job. She's new to the gig. It's one of her first calls. She's out with her partner, and they encounter a dead body, and Penny immediately recognizes the dead body. And I don't want to spoil anything, so I'm going to leave it a mystery, though it does not stay one for long, why or how Penny recognizes this person who was a part of her sister's life. And as Joshilyn Jackson kind of weaves the story, you wind up getting a fuller picture of Nix, that is Penny's twin. This is one of those books that probably a third of the way through, which ironically is where I dropped off last time, I thought I was reading one kind of book, and then the book takes a couple of really marked twists and turns that I did not see coming. And I'm not the prolific thriller reader that Olivia is, but I don't know a ton of times where I'm like, "Whoa, oh, interesting," like, where I'm blindsided by a twist or turn. That was also earned, that you felt like, "Oh, yeah, actually, that does make sense. I need to flip back a couple pages, but yes, that totally makes sense. Well done." And that's what I thought the back two-thirds of this book.
[00:15:46] So it, again, took a lot of twists and turns. Was I think a fine domestic thriller, a good entry into the genre if you are... Oh, who have I liked the last couple years? If you've liked a Mary Kubica book, give Joshilyn Jackson a go. You might want to give her a try. See what you think. I liked this one. I wound up, again, probably three and a half stars for me, a lot like Children of the Wolf. Totally satisfactory, kept me on my toes. Maybe that first third of the book, I wasn't sure the direction we were going to go, and that's why maybe Penny not being the world's best detective was a little frustrating. But then, by the time the story hits its stride, and it's not a long book, by the time the story hits its stride, I was invested and I appreciated Penny for who she was, and the conflict in the book made a lot of sense. Anyway, I really liked this one when it was all said and done. So that is Missing Sister by Joshilyn Jackson.
[00:16:41] Then, y'all, I took a hard left turn. So I had finished Trust Fall in audiobook format, and I decided to download the audiobook Lane Being Lane. This is by John Talty. He is a sportswriter out of Birmingham, Alabama, and this is a book about Lane Kiffin. And I'm not going to spend a ton of time on it because I'm not sure this audience is that audience, which is unfortunate. I wish there was more overlap. Every couple of days I do throw the idea out to Jordan, "What if we did a sports podcast?" Because I got to tell you, I have this fantasy football league. I'm terrible this year. My team is absolutely atrocious, and I've been listening... I've wanted to find a fantasy podcast that maybe could give me some tips and tricks because I'm needing to trade for players a lot more, or I'm needing to use the wire. I don't want to get you guys bogged down in the details, but I'm having to acquire different players than I initially drafted because injuries are just rampant. And so I thought maybe I could find a podcast that would talk to me about who to get off the waiver wire, and I found one. I'm not going to name it for you. You can Google. There's lots of them available to you, but most of them are by men. And I like men. I'm married to one. There's just so many poop jokes. There's so many poop jokes and anatomy jokes and you can dig through that and get some great insight. I will see.
[00:17:58] I'll tell you if it's great insight if I've improved from 0 and 5 by the time this podcast airs. But I just thought what I wouldn't give for a woman's touch in this space? So maybe I should host a sports podcast. But my mom told me no more ideas in 2026, so we're going to put that on the back burner, but I do think it could be worth trying. Anyway, I listened to Lane Being Lane. If you're not familiar, Lane Kiffin is an SEC football coach. He works in the Southeastern Conference. He is currently the coach at LSU. Last year, he was the coach at Ole Miss. Prior to that, in other years, he's been the coach at Tennessee. He also was a coach at USC back in the day, and even dabbled in pro football coaching there for a hot minute. His dad was a coach on the professional side. I was intrigued by him because he has this bad boy image. That is being generous, but he has this less than... Because of how often he's team hopped, because of how he has left his teams, although that feels like that's changing in the world of the transfer portal in NIL. Anyway, you don't, you might not care about any of this. The point is, he's an SEC football coach with a bit of a reputation, and I was curious. Guys, I really liked this book. I had a great time. I loved listening to it. I learned I'm not a huge Southeastern Conference fan. Florida State plays in the ACC.
[00:19:20] I have my own frustrations with the SEC, but that's because I'm not an SEC fan. But I am intrigued by Lane Kiffin. One of my fantasy football teammates, what do we say? One of my league members, she thinks Lane Kiffin is hot. I'm intrigued by that. I disagree, respectfully. It's a great book. It's because I learned not just about Lane Kiffin, which was an interesting history, but I also learned a lot about college football and the ways that college football is changing, which I think is part of the reason some teams are falling behind and loved it. Don't know if you guys will, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a decent audiobook narrated by Chris Brinkley. I'd pick up the physical copy if I were you, unless you're just bored out of your gourd and you want to listen to something. Lane Being Lane by John Talty. I'd actually read another book by John Talty. I need to see if he's written anything else because I really did find it insightful and good reporting. There were a couple times when I felt like he was trying to psychoanalyze Lane Kiffin, and then he kind of gave up. But I think he's a good sports writer. I'd go back and read other stuff by him for sure.
[00:20:21] What I really read though, all month long, was American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee. Y'all, this is so good, and I knew that it would be. But I've confessed here that I had not read Pachinko, and then a Patreon member very kindly, gently informed me that Pachinko was not Min Jin Lee's debut, and she was absolutely right. Min Jin Lee first came on the scene back in I think 2007, 2008, with a book called Free Food for Millionaires. That was her debut novel. Then about 10 years later, she came out with Pachinko. That was a finalist for the National Book Award. I think the New York Times named it one of the best books of the century. It got so much praise. And that year, it was either in 2016 or 2017, I attended a bookseller’s conference, and Min Jin Lee was one of the speakers. And she was just schlepping her book like anybody else. Meaning she gave a six-minute talk. It wasn't long. And I remember sitting there thinking, "Oh, this is what genius sounds like." Do you ever just sit in front of someone, and you immediately feel dumber, but in a good way? I immediately thought, "This woman is absolutely brilliant." And anyway, she went on to be a finalist for the National Book Award for Pachinko, which I did not read, but now guess what? Now I will because American Hagwon was fantastic. I think I pitched this when I was pitching it for Fall Literary First Look as a sweeping epic of the Ko family.
[00:21:53] The Ko family starts off in Korea, then they find themselves in Australia, then by the end of the book they find themselves in California. So the book takes place over a couple of decades. And it is the Ko family, the husband, wife, the mother, father, and their three children. And I would actually not use the word epic or sweeping to describe this story anymore. Instead, I think it's a book about a family. It's just a book about a family. If you read Returns and Exchanges earlier this year by Kayla Rae Whitaker, which I absolutely loved. If you liked Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, remember how when-- you might not remember this, but Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi I thought was such this big book with big ideas, crossing generations. And then I loved that Transcendent Kingdom was quieter, and it was a book about siblings. And she went from big picture to small. It feels here like Min Jin Lee has written a Transcendent Kingdom, but it's much larger scale, much larger scope because you've got these three siblings. There are multiple storylines to follow. So I understand why it's getting the descriptor epic, and it's getting the descriptor sweeping. But I just think at its heart this is a book about a family, and I loved it. If you did not know, which I did not, hagwon is essentially an educational center, a tutoring center found in Korea.
[00:23:23] And so An American Hagwon, you'll see where the title gets its name. But in the book, a hagwon In Korea and then a hagwon in America gets a lot of play. Just how important I think education is to immigrant families and to young people trying to get into really prestigious colleges. So that is where American Hagwon gets its title from, but you'll learn more as you read the book. But I did not know any of that going in. And all I think you need to know is it's a book about a family, and the mother and the dad and three siblings. My heart, there were multiple points in this book, there was a moment where I did tear up. There were multiple points where I just felt my heart squeezed if that makes sense. I felt so on edge for this family, and I just wanted success for them, and I wanted good for them. I was so invested in their story. It's been a very hard time to pick up anything after this because I loved it so much. It'll be in my top 10 of the year for sure. It is worth all the praise. We are not going to include it in the Reading Recap bundle for this episode simply because it is a big old book, and it's pricey. I've joked about it on air, but it's about $36 hardback book. I will say, as a reader, and I bought it. Y'all, I didn't buy it from my own bookstore. I bought it from a different bookstore.
[00:24:41] I bought it from Little Professor back in September. And I paid for this book, and I have no regrets. It will sit beautifully on my shelf. I absolutely loved it, and now I fully intend to go back to Min Jin Lee's backlist. She is exactly the genius I thought she was. I'll be interested to see folks who have read Pachinko or have read Free Food for Millionaires. I'd be curious to see what they think about this, like how it compares. But as somebody who had never, who had not read either of those, I loved this. Min Jin Lee apparently has planned out a quartet of these books. And so this is the third installment. I'm so curious about that because, again, they each read as standalone novels. Obviously, they do not have to be read in order. I certainly didn't. But I do wonder how they build upon each other. And so I fully do intend to go back and read Pachinko and read Free Food for Millionaires because I am very invested in these stories and in the families about which she's writing. So that is American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee.
[00:25:46] Hard act to follow, but on a whim, I was at The Bookshelf, and we briefly in the month of October had a hurricane scare. It wound up for our neck of the woods not being anything nearly as tragic or as scary as it could have been. Which Olivia teased with me because I was working the next day. It's not like I had a whole weekend to hunker down and read. That's not what it became at all. I literally worked the next day. But I was at the store, and I saw this book, and I thought, "I recognize that cover." And sure enough, I had picked this book when I was going through the Edelweiss catalog, and I thought, "Oh, that sounds really fun." And I downloaded it to my Kindle and promptly forgot about it. And that book is The Rally. This is by Carla Vass. This is her debut novel. Very fun. You would look at it and think, "That's a fun book for summer." But it's not. You can read it any old time. You could read it any old time. But I would, if I were a publisher, I might have thought to myself, "Huh, should this come out in October?" And it did, and I worry it's not going to get enough attention, because I have had a great time with it.
[00:26:49] The Rally is about a young woman named Charlie. She's in her late 20s. She was the co-founder of a dating app; I'm picturing almost like a Bumble. And within, I don't know, the first five pages, she's essentially been ousted from her company. She is totally at a loss as to what she's going to do, and immediately she decides to join her best friend in Europe for the rally. I do not know if this is a real thing or not, okay? But in this book, it's very real, where a group of essentially billionaires, very wealthy, eccentric, misbehaving elites travel across Europe in old vintage cars, and they just stop in at these manors, and picnic on the side of the road, and have these drug-fueled drunken parties. I think the publisher billed it as White Lotus. It's like White Lotus. What is that show we all got into for a hot minute? Succession, only not as dark or nefarious as Succession. Instead it's a romp. It's a romp of a book, almost like a Stephen Rowley novel or something. There is an element where Charlie is trying to figure out her life. She's trying to figure out if she needs to sign this NDA and part ways with her former co-founder forever. Has she been barred from now any further intellectual property? That part's pretty interesting, and the author, I believe, worked in the tech world. So I do find all of that to be very realistic.
[00:28:25] The parties, the locales, you feel like you're traipsing around Europe with her. You get a little eye-rolly at some of the wealthy people antics. This is definitely a case of these people are not like us. I do need to just say, by the time this episode comes out, this is going to be such old news, but I was listening to this book at the same time that dumb Kelly Clarkson Molly the Bird story broke. And I remember, I was reading this book thinking this is unrealistic." And then I saw that Molly the bird story, and I thought I guess it is not. Don't ever let People Magazine convince you that celebrities are just like us, you guys. They're not. They're not, unless they are pumping their own gas and don't have money for $15,000 animatronic birds. They are not like us. They're not. Don't let People Magazine fool you. So this book is a great book if you like rich people behaving badly stories. It reminds me a little bit of Palm Beach, which I loved a few years ago, read that book on a whim. And I also read this one on a whim. It's got a great cover, having a great time. It's her debut. I wish it would get a little bit more buzz, so I'm going to buzz it. It's called The Rally by Carla Vass. I will just say I would not under any circumstances shelve this under romance. It is not a romance novel. But there is a romantic plot line that is appealing. And so if you're a romance reader, you might enjoy this one. It's not the main point of the plot, but there is, I think, a pretty satisfying romance, if that's your vibe.
[00:29:47] So those are the books I read in October. As usual with our Reading Recap episodes, we are offering a Reading Recap bundle. The October Reading Recap bundle is $74, and it includes Children of the Wolf, so you get just something a little spooky; Trust Fall, a delightful young adult rom-com; and The Rally, which I think is very escapist, which could be really good for November. You know what I'm saying? So escapist lit. If you just want to travel somewhere, if you want to go to Europe but you can't afford to go, read about these rich people who go all the time. So The Children of the Wolf, Trust Fall, and The Rally. Details and the October bundle are available online through the link in our show notes, or you can go to bookshelfthomasill.com and type today's episode number, that's 605, in the search bar. This week I'm listening to The Vanishing Family by Robert Kolker.
Annie Jones: From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website:
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
Our Executive Producers of today’s episode are…
Cammy Tidwell, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Gene Queens, Beth, Jammie Treadwell…
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins
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