Episode 588 || Best Books of the Year (So Far)
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie and Hunter discuss the best books of 2026 (so far)!
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 588) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie
First five-star read: The Reservation by Rebecca Kauffman
Most surprising: Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mai Nguyen
Least favorite: Man Overboard! By Kathleen Rooney (July 7th, 2026) and Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune
Next on your TBR: June Baby by Shannon Garvey
Most anticipated fall release: The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw (September 29th, 2026), Fair Ones by Lydia Millett (October 6th, 2026)
Annie’s Top 10
1. Kin by Tayari Jones
2. Celestial Lights by Cecile Pin
3. Strangers by Belle Burden
4. The Reservation by Rebecca Kauffman
5. The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout
6. Anywhere Else by Rachel Knox
7. Whistler by Ann Patchett
8. Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer
9. Good People by Patmeena Shaw
10. This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman
Hunter’s Top 10
1. Brawler by Lauren Groff
2. Whidbey by Kira Madden
3. Just Watch Me by Lior Torenberg
4. Departures by Julian Barnes
5. Kin by Tayari Jones
6. Gunk by Saba Sams
7. My Dear You by Rachel Khong
8. Murder Bimbo by Rebecca Novak
9. The Complex by Karan Mahajan
10. Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
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 reading Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object by Laurie Colwin. Hunter is reading Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer.
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...Ashley Ferrell, Beth, Cammy Tidwell, Gene Queens, Jammie Treadwell, Joseph Shorter IV, Kimberly, Linda Lee Drozt, Nicole Marsee, Stephanie Dean, and Wendi Jenkins.
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]
"No, what I mean is that great ambitions, unique achievements, often come hand in hand with the rather regrettable ability to go forward in life, no matter the cost."
-Cecile Pin, Celestial Lights.
[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. If you're craving more From the Front Porch, or if you want to listen to these episodes ad free, join us on Patreon. This year, listener favorite Hunter McLendon and I are sharing our monthly recaps of our conquering of The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor. Episodes air on the last Friday of each month, and it's never too late to start reading or listening. To join Patreon, just visit patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. Three tiers are available. The $5 a month tier will give you access to all of our Conquer a Classic episodes, including our back catalog of episodes and our monthly porch visit Q&A sessions. The $20 a month tier will give you Ad free episodes of From the Front Porch, plus a deep dive into some of Flannery O'Connor's other works. We hope you'll join us there. Now, back to the show. Hi, Hunter.
[00:01:44] Hunter: Hello.
[00:01:44] Annie: It's so weird to be recording these not behind a paywall.
[00:01:47] Hunter: Yeah. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the wild west over there.
[00:01:50] Annie: We got to keep it tight over here. Yeah. Before we get started, I do... I'm going to, I'm going to throw some information at you that I don't so-- The Guardian put out their top 100 books of all-time list. Did you see this? Of course you did. But number 12, Patreon listeners informed me, number 12 was Bleak House, and I wanted to check in on how you feel about that rating.
[00:02:09] Hunter: I thought that was so interesting. Good for Bleak House.
[00:02:13] Annie: Good for Dickens. He needed a win. Actually, what really made me proud looking at that list, I have complicated... Do I have complicated feelings about Bleak House? No, they're not complicated. I struggled with Bleak House. I've made that very apparent. But when going through the top 100, which I did not make it my way through the whole list, but I was very impressed with our Conquer a Classic reading tastes. Because we have conquered a lot of best novels of all time. In the top 15, I think, we had conquered so many. We had conquered Anna Karenina, Bleak House. Middlemarch I think was their number one pick. So anyway, it's fun to see what a good job we've done over there on Conquer a Classic through Patreon. So thanks for being my reading buddy over there.
[00:02:56] Hunter: Oh, my God, always.
[00:02:57] Annie: Okay, so we are doing what has become a pretty annual tradition. We are discussing our top 10 books of the year so far. So I'm looking at my list, because I think I broke the rules last year, didn't I? I think that was the controversy. Last year I picked a book that maybe was coming out in the fall.
[00:03:20] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:03:21] Annie: Do you remember? So this year are we sticking to books that have been published through July?
[00:03:28] Hunter: Yeah
[00:03:28] Annie: Is that what you did?
[00:03:29] Hunter: That's what I did, yeah.
[00:03:30] Annie: Okay, because I do have one book that publishes in August that I will not name here unless we want to include it. It would be probably nine or 10.
[00:03:41] Hunter: Okay.
[00:03:42] Annie: Okay. But before we get into our top 10, we do this rundown. And I apologize years ago I credited the woman on Instagram who came up with this. I cannot remember who it is anymore, so go listen to our back episodes. But, first of all, what was your first five-star read of the year?
[00:03:56] Hunter: I believe it was Just Watch Me by Leora Torenberg, which is it's also in my top 10.
[00:04:01] Annie: Okay.
[00:04:01] Hunter: So we'll get into it. But yeah, it was good.
[00:04:04] Annie: So we'll hear more about it. Okay. My first five-star read of the year was The Reservation by Rebecca Kaufman. It will also be in my top 10. I really enjoyed it. Collection of connected short stories. Most surprising book for you, like book you enjoyed and were surprised by.
[00:04:21] Hunter: This one's also in my top 10, but it's Departures by Julian Barnes.
[00:04:25] Annie: Okay. I'm curious about this one. I've not read it.
[00:04:27] Hunter: Yeah, I randomly started listening to it on a whim, and then I was like, "Gosh, okay, I really like this." So I'm excited to talk about it.
[00:04:34] Annie: Okay. Mine was Cleo Dong Would Rather Be Dead. This is by Mai Nguyen. She wrote a book called Sunshine Nails, which came out a few years ago, but this is her new one, and I thought it was really lovely. It is talking a lot about infant death, and so it is heavy subject matter, but I think handled really beautifully, and blew me away. I was really surprised by how much I appreciated it and fell in love with the characters she created. Okay, least favorite so far.
[00:05:03] Hunter: Okay. I have least favorites, but can I just put the one that I was actually most disappointed by that I think might actually also make people mad? Okay.
[00:05:09] Annie: Is it going to make me mad?
[00:05:11] Hunter: I don't know. I think you'll get it. It was not bad. I liked it. Okay. It's just that I was kind of disappointed, and I think we talked about it, but it's Vigil by George Saunders.
[00:05:19] Annie: Yes. Okay, because I liked this one.
[00:05:23] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:05:23] Annie: But I think I succumbed. I think I gave it four and a half. I think now, because this is what happens, right? You rank books and then as the year progresses I think some books get a benefit from being read early in the year. Do you know what I mean? Because it's like a new calendar page has turned, and so I'm excited about everything I'm reading. And I think Vigil to me would now be four stars.
[00:05:46] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:05:47] Annie: It's no Lincoln in the Bardo. We'll put it that way.
[00:05:49] Hunter: And to be clear there are other books that I liked less, but that is the one where I had sky-high expectations.
[00:05:54] Annie: Yes. Your expectations were not met.
[00:05:57] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:05:57] Annie: I think a lot of people agree with you. I think our friends at the Popcast agree with you. I think they really did not enjoy that book. Okay, I've got two. This is where I do prefer a paywall because I really respect authors, and I'm a bookseller. I will tell you that Carly Fortune's romances just tend to not work for me, but I had really liked last year's, which was One Golden Summer. And so I thought I'd give her new one, Our Perfect Storm, a go. Have you read Carly Fortune? Do you like a straight people rom-com? What's your stance?
[00:06:25] Hunter: I can get into it.
[00:06:27] Annie: Okay. So and rom-com is not the right word. These are romance novels, and I need to start describing them correctly. So this is a romance novel, and I know you have to suspend disbelief for a romance novel, but when the main characters have their names tattooed on each other's ribs, but we're supposed to be like they're not in love, like they're just friends? I'm sorry. I like you a lot. I would not tattoo your name on my ribs. Can you imagine?
[00:06:54] Hunter: I would tattoo your name. But that's very different. We're very different people, so I don't expect that from you.
[00:06:59] Annie: Wait, do you have tattoos?
[00:07:00] Hunter: No.
[00:07:01] Annie: I don't either.
[00:07:03] Hunter: Yeah, it's so funny. Despite what people think, I'm actually a very pure soul.
[00:07:09] Annie: Okay. I'll go ahead and name my other one just because it's coming out this summer, and I'll be so curious what people think. Man Overboard by Kathleen Rooney. She wrote Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk or whatever that book was. Okay. So this is her new one. I had really high hopes for it. I liked the premise. Basically, a man goes overboard of a cruise ship, and the whole book is him in the water, and I just didn't like him enough. You got to be Tom Hanks. You got to be Ryan Gosling. You got to be a really capable character to carry a whole book. And this character, to me, was not capable. But if we're talking about most disappointing, what'd you think about Emma Straub's new book?
[00:07:49] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:07:50] Annie: We don't have to say. I just was curious. Okay. What's next on your TBR?
[00:07:55] Hunter: A Tender Age by Chang-rae Lee.
[00:07:58] Annie: Oh, that's on buy. Do you like it? Or you don't know. You're starting it.
[00:08:01] Hunter: I started it, but I just I just actually read his backlist book, The Surrendered.
[00:08:05] Annie: Okay.
[00:08:06] Hunter: And it was really good, and I loved My Year Abroad.
[00:08:08] Annie: Okay, so I have this ARC and so I'm going to move it. I'm going to bump it. We're in the middle of summer over here, so my next is June Baby by Shannon Garvey. It's just got a beachy cover, and I want a beach book, so that's where I'll go next. What is your most anticipated fall release?
[00:08:23] Hunter: Wait. What did I say? Was that not the one? What'd you just ask?
[00:08:27] Annie: I asked next on your TBR.
[00:08:30] Hunter: Okay. Yes. It's both. That is both.
[00:08:32] Annie: Okay. So you're reading it next, and it's your most anticipated.
[00:08:34] Hunter: Yes.
[00:08:35] Annie: Because it does come out this fall, you're right. Don't panic. Yeah. Nobody panic. We're professionals. Okay, my most anticipated fall release... Do you know I still have not read the short story collection, was it called Secret Lives of Church Ladies?
[00:08:46] Hunter: Really?
[00:08:47] Annie: So I am going to read that because she's got a new book coming out called The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman. And it looks good. It looks so good. So that is on my list, and then guess what I just read. It was my most anticipated, but I read it.
[00:09:02] Hunter: What?
[00:09:02] Annie: Fair Ones by Lydia Millet.
[00:09:04] Hunter: Oh my gosh.
[00:09:06] Annie: I got the ARC. I'm so proud.
[00:09:07] Hunter: See, I didn't, and I should like--
[00:09:09] Annie: That never happens. You always get the ARCs.
[00:09:12] Hunter: I know. Watch, I'm going to email them and be like, "Excuse me." Did you like it then?
[00:09:15] Annie: I really liked it. Yeah, I really liked it. So that was my most anticipated, but I already read it, so The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha Philyaw is on mine. Okay. What have you been your reading vibes for 2026? How you feeling? We're at the halfway mark. What do you think? How does it compare to years past? What's the vibe?
[00:09:36] Hunter: It's so funny. I think that we've talked about this a lot on Patreon, but I think that your mental well-being really dictates how you feel. And the first half, it's so funny, I just started a new anti- antidepressant and I'm feeling much better. But I definitely think that my mental health caused a lot of books to feel more underwhelming than they might have otherwise. Actually, I've loved a lot of the backlist books I've been reading, and I've liked some of the new releases, and I've loved a handful.
[00:10:02] Annie: Okay. Listen, I have five-starred quite a few books this year. I have read a lot. Like quantity-wise, I'm having a great reading year. It's been an interesting year in the life of the business. I don't think I've shied away from that in my personal newsletter. I think I've been fairly open on Patreon. And what I mean by that is it's a tough year to own a business. Like 2026 there's a lot going on. There's a lot going on globally. There's also tariffs. There's also cost of living, cost of goods. Your groceries are going up. Guess what? So are the prices of books. So is the price of shipping. So is the price of everything that it takes to run an independent bookstore. And I do think you are correct. The state of your mind certainly affects how you read a book. And so I can tell that the deeper into spring and summer we got, and the more overwhelmed by workload that I got, the less I was doling out five stars. The less I was inclined to be like, "Yes, that was awesome." Even I should know things were bad when I gave Ann Patchett's book a 4.5. I was like this is a 4.5. This isn't a five-star.
[00:11:08] Hunter: Have you seen Hustlers with Jennifer Lopez?
[00:11:11] Annie: Yes, I do think I watched that.
[00:11:13] Hunter: Okay. After the stock market crashes or whatever, the rich men stop throwing them 20s and 100s. That's kind of how I feel about stars and [ crosstalk].
[00:11:20] Annie: Yes. Things aren't going well so I will not be giving this a five star even if it deserved it. Okay. So we're on the same page. And it's hard, and I don't ever know that it's fair to compare past reading years, but there have been some standout years- I think post-pandemic the literary landscape is interesting. I don't have fully formed thoughts around that, but I think being a person post-pandemic has been challenging. And I think the literary landscape is ever-shifting in a way that I am starting to feel a little bit old in that I miss my previous reading experiences. I don't know if you feel that way.
[00:11:59] Hunter: I think that my best reading years were 2015 to 2018 and things have not really hit... there have been a handful of books I have loved as much, but I loved so many books that were coming out around that time.
[00:12:09] Annie: Yeah. Okay, so that's the vibe. Good, great? I don't know. It's fine. Okay, so I'll kick us off. Okay. I'm going to start with my number 10. My number 10 is... Oh, my gosh, I wrote these in white ink so that you couldn't read them. Sneaky. This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman. Have you read this?
[00:12:27] Hunter: No.
[00:12:28] Annie: Okay. I loved this. This is a connected collection of short stories, which I found myself reading quite a bit this year. I think there's two more on this list. And so this one is about a Jewish family. The three matriarchs get in a fight over apple cake at one of their funerals, and the resulting argument causes a rift in their family for years. Each story is told from a different perspective of a member in that family. I still have a heart for dysfunctional family lit. I think this is really well-written, well-rounded dysfunctional family lit. I thought it was unique, creative take on the genre because of the connected short story format. I really liked it. It's got a great cover, too. That is This Is Not About Us by Allegra Goodman.
[00:13:18] Hunter: I've never read Allegra Goodman, but I own several of her books, and she was a National Book Award finalist, so I really do want to read that now. Yeah, so my number 10, which I think you really enjoyed too-- okay, so it's also a dysfunctional family book, is Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash.
[00:13:34] Annie: Loved it.
[00:13:34] Hunter: Yeah. It is about a dysfunctional family who's in a small coastal town, and there's a billionaire shipping magnate, and the daughter, Harper, she becomes obsessed with this mysterious shipping container, and then the family gets dragged into this criminal conspiracy. And somebody described it as Royal Tenenbaums. I think that's probably--
[00:13:53] Annie: Yeah.
[00:13:54] Hunter: Yeah. But I did find this very charming, and it's one of those that it has such an interesting tone because it is it's dealing with certain things that are a little bit challenging, but it does it in such a lighthearted way.
[00:14:06] Annie: You almost forget how dark it is. I don't think this spoils anything. There's a trafficking component to this book.
[00:14:12] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:14:13] Annie: That almost feels like it comes out of nowhere. And maybe it's because of the time in which I was reading it, in which we are reading it, but I thought, "Oh, I didn't see that in the reviews."
[00:14:21] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:14:22] Annie: But she handles it. You know what it reminded me of? So Far Gone by Jess Walter, which I don't know if you ever read. And then what was that book? Somebody got mad at me for liking it. It had a lot of sex in it. The woman who wrote it she wrote Long Island Compromise.
[00:14:39] Hunter: Oh, Fleishman is in Trouble.
[00:14:40] Annie: Fleishman is in Trouble. It reminded me of Fleishman is in Trouble, in that the characters are so kind of wacky, zany, but also very believable. Very believable. I loved that book. Good call. Okay, my number nine, and this is the case with these. It'll be so interesting to see at the end of the year how many of these still stand. You know what I mean? And I don't know. I feel like with time some of these will go up. I already see one on my list that I'm like, "Oh, I think that one's about to be canceled." We'll have to move that one. But anyway, okay, my number nine is Good People by Patmeena Shaw. I struggle putting audiobooks on a list like this because I typically do so much better with a print book.
[00:15:21] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:15:22] Annie: But this I listened to, and I think it's a great audiobook, and it very much feels in the same family or in the same vein as a Celeste Ng Little Fires Everywhere. It is about this family who I think the parents are, like, first-generation immigrants, but the kids still have their American identity. But what I liked was the book opens with this police report, and then what unfolds is you trying to figure out what happened to this family and why they're the center of this investigation. And it really made me ask myself questions about who gets to tell a story, how many different versions of a story there are, and then what stories we put on immigrant families as from an outsider perspective. As a white person, when I see an immigrant family, what narrative have I made up for them in my head? And so some of the judgment that this family faces, I thought, again, it was really timely, but it didn't feel like it was preaching at me. Or it just was a really well-told story about this family and kind of a tragedy at the heart of their family. I really liked it. I don't know. It could even be a companion novel to definitely Little Fires Everywhere, but I'm trying to think. There were a couple of other books in that same vein like one by an Atlanta author that I really liked. Anyway, great audiobook, highly recommend Good People by Patmeena Shaw.
[00:16:53] Hunter: Okay. I also love how we keep on doing family books.
[00:16:56] Annie: Yeah, it just is a tried and true genre for me.
[00:16:59] Hunter: I get it. Same. My next one is another family book. I should have looked up. I forgot how to look up how to pronounce the author's name. I don't know their gender. Oh, gosh. It's the person who wrote Association of Small Bombs. It's The Complex by K- Karan Mahajan. I promise I'm not just trying to not know how to pronounce people's names. But it's like a family saga set in a housing complex following the sons and daughters of this S.P. Chopra person who's one of India's political architects. And they're all trying to figure out their own lives and stuff while this nation is the nation is transforming basically. And it's between the 1980s and the mid-'90s. And I just thought it's a time period that I don't really read that much about, I feel like, surprisingly. I just was really surprised at how engaged I was with all these different family members, and I got so wrapped up in it. And it's a thicker book too, which sometimes when I'm in a stressful period in my life I don't always pick up these door stoppers. But I thought it was really good, and I ended up really enjoying it. I don't know, I got really connected to all the characters. And it is a little heavy at times for people who are looking for something a little bit lighter, but yeah, The Complex by the author whose name I cannot pronounce right now.
[00:18:05] Annie: We'll put it in the show notes so people can find it. Okay, that sounds good, and different. Sounds different from my typical read I might look into that. Okay, what number are we on? Eight?
[00:18:16] Hunter: Eight, yeah.
[00:18:18] Annie: Okay, my number eight, I think you read this, or maybe it's on your list, I don't know. Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer. Have you read this yet?
[00:18:27] Hunter: Not yet. I was going to read it this past weekend, and then I didn't because I was trying to see if it would make my top... ugh, okay.
[00:18:32] Annie: Okay, I loved it. Now, I think somebody asked if they did not like Less, which is his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from a few years ago, would they like this? And my response was no because I definitely think you can see his writing style, his character development. You can see elements of Less in this book. But I was delighted by it. There's a great author's note that I hope will appear in the final edition. It appeared in the ARC to Booksellers. But he said he set out to write a charm novel, and something that would be timeless, that would be a book you could return to again and again, a book that you would want to reread that would sweep you away. And this book did that for me. It's set in the Italian countryside. The narrator is this unnamed, at least at first, this unnamed archivist who graduates from college. He needs a job, so he goes to work at this Italian kind of estate, and when he arrives, I think he expects it to be, like, this beautiful, I don't know, castle or something. And instead it's crumbling and it's this very waif-like 90-year-old woman who wants him to catalog her home and all the art she owns and the furniture she owns. I loved it. I loved the people in it. I loved the characters. I loved the setting. You get to watch him have his coming-of-age, so there's a slight romantic element, though that was not the main point to me. There's a found family aspect to it, where these people are this motley cast of characters where maybe they don't fit anywhere else, but they fit here. I really enjoyed it. I felt good when I was reading it. And I don't know about you, but this year I have not... I don't know how else to word it except I have not wanted to take a lot of books with me. Do you know what I mean?
[00:20:10] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:20:10] Annie: If I love a book, I'm carrying it in the car, it's in my purse. I want it with me at all times so I can read it any moment I can. And Villa Coco was one of those for me. So that is Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer. It came out earlier this summer.
[00:20:24] Hunter: Okay. Wait, no. Did it?
[00:20:27] Annie: As of this...
[00:20:27] Hunter: oh, yes. Yes. You're right.
[00:20:29] Annie: We like to time travel here on this show.
[00:20:33] Hunter: Yes. Okay. Gosh, should I like see if Hank will take me to Italy so I can read it in Italy?
[00:20:37] Annie: Yes. And I bet Hank would.
[00:20:39] Hunter: He would. I just have to be like, "Come to Italy." It's fine.
[00:20:42] Annie: Yes, please do. But you know what? Stop. But be like, "Can Annie come though? I think she'd have a great time."
[00:20:48] Hunter: I think he'd be fine with that. I think he'd be let's all go. We'll talk more about it. We'll talk about this.
[00:20:50] Annie: Okay. We'll talk off-air.
[00:20:52] Hunter: Yeah. Okay, so my number eight is Murder Bimbo by Rebecca Novak
[00:20:58] Annie: Okay. Tell me about this. I'm surprised.
[00:21:01] Hunter: Are you? Did you read it?
[00:21:03] Annie: No, I didn't read it, but I heard that read about it.
[00:21:06] Hunter: Okay. I think the blurb said it's like the Gone Girl for the Luigi Mangione era.
[00:21:11] Annie: Oh, okay.
[00:21:13] Hunter: Yeah. And it's about this this sex worker in her 30s who like on the run after she kills this right-wing extremist politician, and she emails this true crime feminist podcast to kind of tell her story. But I don't think it's really a spoiler to say that it's split up into three parts, and each section is shifting the narrative. You can tell it's very Gone Girl inspired structurally.
[00:21:36] Annie: Yeah. Okay.
[00:21:37] Hunter: But I read this on an airplane, and I read it in one sitting.
[00:21:40] Annie: See, that matters. I am convinced when I'm making my top 10, it's not just about what is the work of greatest literary value. It is what was my reading experience? That is tied into it, for sure.
[00:21:51] Hunter: I actually think you would find this very entertaining.
[00:21:53] Annie: Okay.
[00:21:54] Hunter: It's very fun.
[00:21:54] Annie: I had wondered about it, but I wasn't sure. But the fact that you read it in one sentence, now I'm curious.
[00:21:59] Hunter: Yeah. So I think it's good. Murder Bimbo by Rebecca Novak.
[00:22:03] Annie: Okay, my number seven is Whistler by Anne Patchett. Did you read this?
[00:22:08] Hunter: Not because they didn't send it.
[00:22:10] Annie: Oh, wow, I'm two for two. I don't want to brag, but I did receive an ARC of this. Whistler by Anne Patchett. I really liked it. As I said at the top of the episode, I did give it four and a half stars, because to me, it's not going to be in my favorites of hers. I still love The Dutch House, Commonwealth. I liked Tom Lake. If you did not like Tom Lake, I don't think this will be for you, because I actually think the sensibilities of this one are very similar to that one.
[00:22:35] Hunter: Okay.
[00:22:35] Annie: Where it's somebody reflecting back on their past. The main character is a woman named Daphne. She's middle-aged. She and her husband are browsing, walking through The Met, and turns out somebody's kind of following them, and lo and behold, it's her former stepfather, a man named Eddie Triplett. Anne Patchett, in her essays, has written about her own relationships with some father figures in her life and I definitely think this is paying homage to them. And I told this on another episode of From the Front Porch, but I kept waiting for something nefarious to happen. I kept waiting. This is not at all a spoiler because this is something I made up in my head. I kept waiting for Eddie Triplett to be some kind of gambler who was going to take her fortune. I don't know what I was thinking. That would be a very different book. This is not that book. This is a very tender story about people who we only get to share just a tiny sliver of our lives with. And then what happens when we re-meet them, and what does that mean? Do you reignite the relationship? Do you just spend your time seeped in nostalgia? I thought it was very thoughtful, and I really liked it. That is Whistler by Anne Patchett.
[00:23:42] Hunter: I will say, for me, holding one of her books just feels really special in itself.
[00:23:47] Annie: Listen, I prefer her more recent fiction to the Bel Canto era, but I know a lot of people are reversed on that. They preferred her Bel Canto era. And full disclosure, I've not read Bel Canto. But like was it Signs and Wonders? It was, like, that era of fiction. So I have not read those, but there is something about Ann Patchett is just consistent. I don't know what else to say. Just because I gave this one four-and-a-half stars, guys, that doesn't mean anything. That doesn't mean anything. I liked it. She's very good at what she does.
[00:24:17] Hunter: I've read all of her books except for Taft and Bel Canto.
[00:24:20] Annie: Okay.
[00:24:21] Hunter: I don't think I'll end up reading Taft, if I'm being honest.
[00:24:24] Annie: Okay.
[00:24:24] Hunter: But I do want to read Bel Canto. But I agree, I liked State of Wonder. I loved Commonwealth. I really enjoyed The Dutch House, and I also really enjoyed Tom Lake. I was surprised that more people weren't as warm to it.
[00:24:35] Annie: I didn't understand the dislike for that book. And there did seem to be some dislike, and I don't get it. I don't know if it was a pandemic book and people are weird about that, but I really liked Tom Lake. Also, what was the name? It's not Signs and Wonders. State of Wonder.
[00:24:48] Hunter: State of Wonder, yeah.
[00:24:49] Annie: Thank you. Okay. And now that I'm talking, what did I rank that? Seven? Yeah. Don't be shocked if at the end of this year it's number five. Don't be surprised.
[00:24:55] Hunter: Yeah. Let's see. Okay, so my number seven is My Dear You by Rachel Kong.
[00:25:01] Annie: I love Rachel Kong. Wait, how did I miss this?
[00:25:03] Hunter: It's a short story collection. It's 10 stories.
[00:25:06] Annie: That's why I missed it.
[00:25:07] Hunter: And some of them are very surreal. Some are, like, prophetic, but there's one where the government injects citizens with a drug that makes everyone perceive each other as the same race and gender.
[00:25:15] Annie: Oh, now that's interesting.
[00:25:16] Hunter: And that was fascinating to me. It was very entertaining and engaging. There's one where God decides to do away with humans entirely. It's a very interesting, strange, compelling collection, and it's also devastating. But there's some really heavy subjects dealing with like racism and grief and stuff, but it's going alongside hundred spirits and a psychic cat. Which honestly I think that Real Americans felt very grounded to me, but Goodbye, Vitamin, which you recommended to me years ago--
[00:25:41] Annie: I loved Goodbye Vitamin.
[00:25:43] Hunter: Love. And I think if you love Goodbye Vitamin, this feels more in tune with that than her second book.
[00:25:48] Annie: My number six book is Anywhere Else. This is by Rachel Knox. And actually, of the books on my list today, this is the one I think you should read.
[00:25:56] Hunter: Okay.
[00:25:56] Annie: So this is a University of Florida Press book, paperback original. I stumbled upon it. She's a Florida writer. I want to say she's a bookseller at Tombolo. Is that how you pronounce it? I don't know. Tombolo Books in Tampa. I should know that, but I don't. Anyway, so she's a Florida bookseller. But this is her essay collection all about Florida, and about Florida being the redheaded stepchild of America, and the punching bag of everybody's jokes, but what happens when you really live here. And I think she writes so beautifully. I suspect she's around my age, so I think this'll hit especially for a millennial audience, but I think an older audience would appreciate it too. She does make a lot of pop culture references. There's a great essay that includes some X-Files references, which I appreciated. But she for example talks about Florida's opioid crisis, but she does it through the lens of writing about a high school classmate that I thought was really beautiful. The sense of place in this book is outstanding. And I think anybody who grew up in Florida or lives or lived in Florida, and who gets a little bit tired of... I was talking to a friend recently and I guess the older I get, the more the term bitter Southerner really does apply. I get really tired of the way I hear the South talked about, and the same, of course, is true of my home state of Florida. And so I really liked how she was writing about it openly and honestly. That doesn't mean she's all praise for the state. She has some critiques obviously, but I loved how she was writing about it. Very much C.J. Hauser in the same vein of her writing style. There were even elements that did remind me a little bit of Lauren Groff, just not every person writes Florida well. Kristin Arnett is a great Florida writer. Lauren Groff is a good Florida writer. And I think Rachel Knox deserves to be among those ranks. And it's a university press book, so I'm not sure it's going to get enough attention. So I'm trying to bring attention to it. It is Anywhere Else by Rachel Knox.
[00:27:58] Hunter: So my number six, which I don't know if you read or not is Gunk by Saba Sams.
[00:28:03] Annie: Not read this.
[00:28:04] Hunter: It has this bright green cover with this bubblegum pink font. But it's about this woman named Jules who's been divorced from her ex-husband for five years, but they still work at this nightclub he owns. And he ends up hiring this 18-year-old girl named Nim, and the two women kind of bond until Nim gets pregnant with the ex-husband's baby. And it's really interesting because I don't want to give anything away, but this book is beautifully written, and it reminded me a little bit of this other book called Pizza Girl that came out in 2020 I think.
[00:28:34] Annie: Yes. Okay.
[00:28:35] Hunter: But it's about motherhood and desire and chosen family, and I actually thought it was really beautiful and very tender, and I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, but I thought it was really good.
[00:28:44] Annie: Wait, how do you spell gunk?
[00:28:46] Hunter: G-U-N-K by Saba Sams. I hope I'm saying that correct.
[00:28:50] Annie: All of these will be in the show notes, but I'm also taking my own notes. Okay, and then this is another one that I'm not sure where it's going to land at the end of the year, but right now sitting at number five is The Things We Never Say. This is by Elizabeth Strout. Have you read this? Okay. So I liked this a lot. It is, again, not my favorite Elizabeth Strout book.
[00:29:10] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:29:10] Annie: What I love about Elizabeth Strout, and there are many things, but I think what I love about her the most is her characters are so ordinary. And there's nothing super special about the people she's writing about, and somehow she offers this beautiful insight into the average life. And so Artie Dam is our main character. This is a standalone novel for her, so it's not-- but all of her books have the same sensibility, honestly. So it's a standalone, but you could read it in part and parcel with all the rest. Artie Dam is a school teacher. This is about his life as a high school teacher living in Massachusetts. It's about his relationship with his wife. It's especially about his relationship with his son. To me, I finished it and immediately wanted my dad to read it because it felt like a book about aging and masculinity and sons and dads. Yeah I loved it. There were elements of it that took me out of the story just a little that felt. Because I don't think-- I feel like I can say this because I'm trying to write too. I think it's hard to write in this moment. It's almost have you heard comedians talk about how it's hard to be a comedian in this moment? They don't really know how to make jokes about this. I think writers are really struggling how to address this. Meaning, if they want to write a contemporary work, do they acknowledge the current politics? Do they name the current president? Does it make it worse to make him go unnamed? Anyway, so it's interesting to watch authors grapple with this, and I think Elizabeth Strout is grappling with it in this book. Now, she's always written books of the moment. Like oh William felt very pandemic to me. But there was something about this that took me out of the book just a little bit. That being said, still solid. I love Elizabeth Strout. This is a thin little book that I think is well worth people's time. It is my number five, The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout.
[00:30:55] Hunter: I think we talked about this on one of the Patreon episodes recently. But when I read that book, it's not in my top 10 because I read it this month and I forgot that I read it. But there is this line where where he's talking to his son, and he says basically "At every moment I thought I couldn't love you more than this, and then I loved you even more."
[00:31:13] Annie: That's so good.
[00:31:14] Hunter: I cried when I first... Yeah. My number five, I'm pretty sure this is going to be in your top 100 too, but it's Kin by Tayari Jones.
[00:31:20] Annie: Yes. I loved it.
[00:31:21] Hunter: Yeah. It's about two Black girls in the mid-20th century South. There's Annie who is a little bit different from you, who is abandoned by her mother. And then there's Vernice, who was orphaned as an infant. And they form this really close friendship. And then as they navigate adulthood with the civil rights movement, everything, and they're both kind of searching for belonging. It's an Oprah's Book Club pick, which I think can be hit or miss for some people, but I do not want that to deter people or lead to weird expectations. But this is very different from her book An American Marriage.
[00:31:50] Annie: Which I still haven't read. Did you know that? Still haven't read An American Marriage
[00:31:55] Hunter: Okay, I'm going to be honest. I thought it was fine. I've read other books that were very similar, and I think you have too. Actually, I really enjoyed this one. Did you ever read Sula by Toni Morrison?
[00:32:02] Annie: Yes.
[00:32:03] Hunter: Do you think that there's...
[00:32:03] Annie: yes. There is, pun intended, a kinship there, for sure.
[00:32:07] Hunter: Yes.
[00:32:07] Annie: You see what I did?
[00:32:09] Hunter: Yes. That's great. So that's my number five, Kin by Tayari Jones.
[00:32:14] Annie: Okay. My number four is The Reservation. This is by Rebecca Kaufman. I think I mentioned it at the top of the episode because it was my first five-star book of the year. I just thought this premise was fantastic. I like Rebecca Kaufman a lot, and I actually don't know why more people aren't reading her. So this is me trying to re- promote Rebecca Kaufman's work. I think Erin and I at The Bookshelf both really love her, and I've read a lot by her. She puts out a lot of books. It's astounding. But The Reservation is a collection of connected short stories all about a day in the life of this restaurant. It's like this semi-highbrow restaurant in a college town. And the whole premise is, first of all, that the manager arrives and the ribeye steaks are missing. And so there's this underline of mystery and humor where you want to know where the steaks went. You want to know is something nefarious going on? Who stole the steaks? And then I think the other very clever thing that could have been gimmicky but didn't feel gimmicky at all, is that the staff is preparing for John Grisham to come to his reservation. And I so want to know the inside baseball of how Rebecca Kaufman why she chose John Grisham. Do they have a relationship? I just thought it was so delightful. I also read a backlist title a couple weeks ago, The Blue Bistro by Ellen Hildebrand, which was good. It was fine. But I think writing about a restaurant is hard. I think it is hard to do, and I think The Reservation is a great snapshot of a day in the life of this one small business. Each story is told from a different perspective, like a customer, the hostess, the waitstaff, the manager, and I think it does such a great job of showing how many hands put food on your plate, and how many people are involved with creating an atmosphere that you will remember, like a dinner that you'll remember forever. So I loved it. It's The Reservation by Rebecca Kaufman.
[00:34:06] Hunter: I kept wondering why it sounded so familiar, and then I realized that you sold it to me last time I was there, and it's on my TBR. That's so funny.
[00:34:12] Annie: You'll fly through it. You'll finish it so fast.
[00:34:14] Hunter: I'm excited. Okay, so my number four is the one that was, like, most surprising, which is Departures by Julian Barnes. So he turned 80, and he announced that this book after 44 years and 27 books will be his last. And it's like a hybrid of autobiography, essay, fiction and it's exploring mortality, memory, time. It's so funny because you would think that a book that's dealing with some of the things it's dealing with would be really heavy. It's so funny. I went back and forth between reading and listening to this over the course of one morning. And I just found it really beautiful and surprising, and there were just moments where I would just sit down and be like, "Wow, this is really good. I really like this." I think because I wasn't expecting it, I just ended up being really excited by that, and I think you'd really like it too. But that's Departures by Julian Barnes.
[00:35:01] Annie: So far I've written down My Dear You, Murder Bimbo, Gunk, and Departures.
[00:35:05] Hunter: Perfect.
[00:35:06] Annie: Okay, my number three, and again, perhaps we are on the cusp of being over this book. Am I a little basic? Yeah, I guess I am because number three on my list is Strangers by Belle Burden. Here's the deal I see that the backlash has started which is just I feel like when something takes off, it just is a matter of time. Because this is a book about and by a very wealthy white lady. More wealthy than either of us could probably fathom. And she is writing about her divorce. This is a divorce memoir. I listened to it. She narrated it. I actually think she's a fantastic narrator. I also think she's an excellent writer. So when I'm referencing the backlash, what I'm talking about is I did see I believe it's a New Yorker or an Atlantic piece, about, wait a minute, maybe this isn't the sob story we think it is. She's very wealthy. I also will just say she's very upfront about how wealthy she is. And I say very upfront meaning it doesn't take much to read between the lines of somebody who keeps talking about the Hamptons. Do you know what I mean?
[00:36:06] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:36:06] Annie: I'm sorry. I know Ina Garten is super wealthy, okay? I understand that Belle Burden, who is like related to, I don't know, the Vanderbilts, is very wealthy. To me, the writing is outstanding. The writing is excellent, and it's about the implosion of her marriage, the unexpected nature of it, the shock, and then the aftermath. I think some people didn't like there's, in my mind, beautiful writing about nature and ospreys and she ties in the landscape of the area where she lives. I loved those parts, and I found it to be a very compelling work. I think she was a lawyer in a former life. You can tell that to me. I think she's very careful. This did not feel voyeuristic in any way. Instead, it felt like a belated coming-of-age story where she's trying to figure out who she is post-divorce, whatever the circumstances of her divorce may be. I don't need to feel sorry for somebody to think a book is good. I don't know. Do I feel sorry for her? Sure. It sounded like her marriage was crap and ended crappily. But was I glued to her narrative? Yeah, because her storytelling is really great. So we'll see where it winds up at the end of the year, but for now, Strangers by Belle Burden is my number three.
[00:37:24] Hunter: Should I read this when I go to the Hamptons?
[00:37:26] Annie: Yes, 100%. Listen, can I say, I bet some of this backlash is coming from... You know what happens? I don't know where I fully stand on this because meaning you know I didn't like Where the Crawdads Sing that much. Do you know what I mean? So something blows up and immediately there's going to be a pendulum swing. That's just the nature of it, right? I really liked Strangers. I only read it because I got an ARC. I never read the ARC. I put the ARC in my little free library because I thought, "Ugh, divorce novel. I don't need this." Or divorce memoir. I don't need this. Because I'd already read some of that last year. And I was like, "I don't need another one." And then I listened to the audiobook and thought it was great. But I think Yesteryear has the Anne Hathaway of it all. I have feelings about Yesteryear that are unrelated to Anne Hathaway. But I wonder if some of the Strangers Belle Burden is we've got a Gwyneth Paltrow situation. She's now bought the movie rights. She's going to play her. So I guess it's one of those things where maybe you're a little eye-rolly about it because you don't need a book about rich people having problems. But I like reading about rich people problems. I don't know. It's interesting. So yeah. You should read it when you go to the Hamptons.
[00:38:28] Hunter: Okay. I'm better than you, so my number three is about a poor person. It's Just Watch Me by Leora Torenberg, who I met at a book event for her and Rebecca for Murder Bimbo. Just Watch Me is about this girl named Del who she's dirt poor, and her sister is in a coma in the hospital and they want to pull the plug. And she decides to live stream her life for seven days in order to raise money to keep her sister on life support.
[00:38:57] Annie: Interesting.
[00:38:58] Hunter: And some of what she does is that she starts eating these really hot peppers. I really resonated with it. I think you would too. If you are somebody who's chronically online, especially if you're somebody who feels objectified by the general public sometimes, it resonates in a lot of ways. And it's funny because the author is not really online like that, so I was really surprised by how accurately she depicted it. That's why she wrote it, because she was just so interested in that world. But I found this very captivating. It is so funny, but also very heartbreaking and it's very uncomfortable at times, but it makes sense for the story. It doesn't feel overdone. And I think that if you like sad girl books, I think this is really up in that same vein as Melissa Broder or Jen Beagin. So I definitely recommend it for those people. It's Just Watch Me by Loir Torenberg.
[00:39:44] Annie: Okay, can I ask you how this compares? because immediately I was like, "Oh, sounds slightly Margot's Got Money Troubles."
[00:39:52] Hunter: It's similar, but it's different enough to where it won't feel like you're reading the same thing.
[00:39:55] Annie: Okay. But sounds like maybe with some similar themes of wealth, socioeconomic status, that kind of thing. Okay. My number two is delightful, and I don't know why more people aren't talking about it. This will, I think, remain in my top, top book, and that is Celestial Lights by Cecile Pin. This is a beautiful little novel. Actually, did you read Cecile Pin's other... Now I'm going to blank. She wrote something else. I'm Googling. She wrote Wandering Souls which I think was a Women's Prize-- Oh, I just realized she's 30 years old. Okay. That's lovely. Love that for me. Okay, Cecile Pin, she's written other things. Wandering Souls is a book I had not read, but I think it was a finalist for a women's fiction award. Anyway, Celestial Lights is a short little book about Oliver. We meet him as a child when he has glow in the dark stars on his ceiling. He wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. And the book flashes backwards and forwards. Back in time to his childhood, but forwards in time to where he is on a mission to an outer ring of Jupiter. And so this mission is a decade-long thing. I felt like it would be great to read after going to see Project Hail Mary, if you're in the mood for a space book. I read it before the Artemis crew went on their mission. But space was having a moment, and I think Celestial Lights captures that moment, but also, again, has that timeless feel that I'm looking for out of my literature. It is very much a book about ambition and what is required to do legacy-defining things, and what sacrifices may or may not have to be made to be great. I loved this book. I did see that after I raved about it, and this is what happens when you rave about a book, somebody does let you know why they didn't like it. And somebody did say they didn't like it because they didn't like the choices he made. And I just like reading books, and I don't really need to [ inaudible] fictional character's. I don't know. I was totally intrigued by the whole thing. I loved it. I loved the characters in this book. I wish it was getting more praise. I wish I had seen it more places. It is Celestial Lights by Cecile Pin.
[00:42:05] Hunter: Every time now that somebody tells me that they don't like a book I love, I just always respond with, "Ma'am, this is a Wendy's."
[00:42:12] Annie: How does that work for you? Does that go over well?
[00:42:14] Hunter: Typically, they don't respond. Sometimes they unfollow or whatever.
[00:42:17] Annie: And I don't mind it because sure, I guess this can be a book club dialogue. I think my thing is I have a lot of book club dialogues with people in real life, and then it is weird to me when you know I've loved it. To tag me in a negative review feels odd.
[00:42:33] Hunter: Yeah.
[00:42:33] Annie: But maybe that's just me. I don't know. My online etiquette might just be different.
[00:42:36] Hunter: I don't know.
[00:42:37] Annie: I'm fairly disengaged there and that may be part of the problem.
[00:42:40] Hunter: I don't know. It's fine. My number two, which you read, is Whidbey by Kira Madden.
[00:42:45] Annie: Yes, I really liked that book. Yeah. Number two.
[00:42:48] Hunter: Yeah. I should admit I am a little biased because she has been very kind. And I enjoyed her memoir, but this is a challenging read, I think. It's so funny because I think it's being marketed as almost not like a thriller really, but like as--
[00:42:59] Annie: It's is being marketed as a thriller, which is incorrect.
[00:43:02] Hunter: Yeah. I think that because it's a page-turner in a lot of ways that people think that, but it's not really like that. It is dealing with really heavy subject matter. It is about this abuser, this man who I guess we would say he's a pedophile.
[00:43:14] Annie: Yeah, that's how I would.
Yes.
[00:43:16] Hunter: Yeah. And who dies and you know that very early on, but there's Birdie, who is the main character and she's the one who was abused when she was younger, and it's dealing with her part of this storyline, as well as, this I actually really thought was a really great choice, was the mother of the abuser and her perspective. So good. I think another reason why I put it so high up is because I really do want people to pick this one up because I think a lot of people are kind of scared because of the subject matter. I think that there are much heavier books dealing with this kind of stuff.
[00:43:44] Annie: It's heavy. But I think that's a testament to her writing. And this is why it's being marketed this way, but because she's got that through line of who killed him it propels you forward, so you don't get too bogged down in the details of it all. Would you put this on a shelf with Notes From an Executioner?
[00:44:02] Hunter: Yes.
[00:44:02] Annie: Do you remember that book?
[00:44:03] Hunter: Yeah. I think that's a good comp. So that's my number two, Whidbey by T. Kiara Madden.
[00:44:08] Annie: Okay, and my number one you have already talked about. It is Kin by Tayari Jones. I love this book, and currently it just because it was compulsively readable, I took it with me wherever I went. So kind of like the Villa Coco book, I took it everywhere I went. Could not put it down. I do not typically fall in love with historical fiction, and of course, this is historical fiction. It's mid-1900s, goes back and forth maybe between Memphis and Atlanta, but it's these women. Sula is a great comp. It's these two women who are motherless, but in different ways, and their story of belonging and trying to find home. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. I feel like Oprah's picks are so diverse. And what I mean by that is they are all over the place. I feel like you can smell a Reese Witherspoon pick from a mile away.
[00:45:01] Hunter: Yes.
[00:45:01] Annie: I also have become quite good at picking a Jenna Bush Hager book because she and I have very similar taste, so it's quite easy for me to identify a Jenna Bush Hager book. But Oprah throws me for a loop every time. I never know what she's going to pick. This feels like a traditional Oprah pick. And that is meant complimentary. Because I do think Oprah and her team have good pickers. But you're right, stickers on books make people feel things. But I think this is worth a lot of the praise it has received. I really like it. It is Ken by Tayari Jones. It's my favorite book of the year so far.
[00:45:30] Hunter: I'm curious to know if you'll be able to guess what my number one book is. Do you know? Can you guess?
[00:45:35] Annie: Have I read it?
[00:45:36] Hunter: No, I don't think so.
[00:45:37] Annie: No. What is it?
[00:45:39] Hunter: It's Brawler by Lauren Groff.
[00:45:41] Annie: Oh my gosh, what a goof. Of course. I'm so stupid. You know what? There were people yelling it. People knew.
[00:45:47] Hunter: It's so funny. This was a tough one for me because I think that I read a lot of these stories when they were originally published in The New Yorker and in The Atlantic over the past almost decade, and so I wasn't entirely sure. I was like how do I rank this? But I loved these stories separately, and I loved them together. I do think you would really like this collection.
[00:46:05] Annie: I got my copy over here. I have not gotten rid of it. I'm going to keep it. I'm going to keep trying.
[00:46:09] Hunter: Listen, it is so good. I do not think it is her best book ever, but I do think it is probably her most accessible book since her debut.
[00:46:18] Annie: Okay.
[00:46:19] Hunter: And the stories are all very compelling, every single one. There's not a bad one in the bunch. There's a story called Between the Shadow and the Soul that I think is absolutely beautiful, and there is a story called What's the Time, Mr. Wolf, that made me wish that she would write like a full-blown like thriller, just because that story is makes me... there is something so uneasy about it. And I'm probably the only one who thinks that much about... it just really I don't know. I was feeling some kind of way. It's beautifully written. Each story's very captivating. The way she plays with time is really interesting, and I think that the themes that she is dealing with are very timely. But I think that she does deal with it in a timeless fashion, which is true to her as a whole. But anyway, so that's my number one books of the year so far. Brawler by Lauren Groff.
[00:47:00] Annie: Okay. Listen, I have had that ARC forever because it's been out for months now, but I don't know. I just have not picked it up. So I will make it a priority because I do think I would like it. I like her writing a lot. I think she's up there. I've not finished it, which is why it is not on my top 10. It may make my top 10, but I'm reading the Jesmyn Ward On Witness and Respair, and I just think Jesmyn Ward and Lauren Groff are two of our best like living American writers. I think they're so talented. So I will move that to the top of my TBR. Also, there are certain books where like I can't un-hear songs. What is the song? I'm not going to sing it for you. I think it's hip hop, and it's something about wishing you were a baller and a little bit taller. But all I can sing in my head is that phrase "I wish I were a brawler, a little bit taller." That's what I say over and over again when people talk about that. Like in my head, that's the mantra. There are just some songs... Oh, I can't remember. There was another book that's been out this year that I told Jordan every time somebody says it, my brain sings a phrase instead. Anyway. Poor Lauren Groff. That's not her fault. That's my fault. That's on me. Okay. These are our top 10 books of the year so far. I will be very interested, because you and I will talk, but we will not look at these lists again until December. So I can't wait to see how these hold up. So happy rest of your reading year. If you are on Instagram, come find us @bookshelftville and tell us your top 10 or, I don't know, top three books of the year so far. We would love to hear from you. This week, I'm reading Shine on Bright and Dangerous Object by Laurie Colwin. Hunter, what are you reading?
[00:48:41] Hunter: I'm reading Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer.
Annie Jones: From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website:
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
Our Executive Producers of today’s episode are…
Cammy Tidwell, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Gene Queens, Beth, Jammie Treadwell…
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins
Annie Jones: If you’d like to support From the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the Podcast App on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see ‘Write a Review’ and tell us what you think.
Or, if you’re so inclined, support us over on Patreon, where we have 3 levels of support - Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions, and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts, and giveaways. Just go to:
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.