Episode 343 || Literary Therapy, Vol. 10
This week Annie is back to answer listeners' literary conundrums in round ten of Literary Therapy.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our new website:
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary (Currently unavailable)
Stuart Little by E.B. White
Book journal
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
Competitive Grieving by Nora Zelvansky
This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper (Currently unavailable)
Family Fang by Kevin Wilson
The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny
Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg
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 at @bookshelftville, 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.
Thank you again to this week’s sponsor, Visit Thomasville. Whether you live close by or are passing through, I hope you'll visit beautiful Thomasville, Georgia: www.thomasvillega.com.
This week, Annie is reading So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C. Morrow.
If you liked what you heard on today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter, follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic, and receive free media mail shipping on all your online book orders. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Libro.FM:
Libro.fm lets you purchase audiobooks directly from your favorite local bookstore (Like The Bookshelf). You can pick from more than 215,000 audiobooks, and you'll get the same audiobooks at the same price as the largest audiobook company out there (you know the name). But you’ll be part of a different story -- one that supports community. All you need is a smart phone and the free Libro.fm app.
Right now, if you sign up for a new membership, you will get 2 audiobooks for the price of one. All you have to do is enter FRONTPORCH at checkout or follow this link:
Flodesk:
Do you receive a weekly or monthly newsletter from one of your favorite brands? Like maybe From the Front Porch (Or The Bookshelf)... Did you ever wonder, ‘how do they make such gorgeous emails?’
Flodesk is an email marketing service provider that's built for creators, by creators, and it’s easy to use. We’ve been using it for a couple of years now, and I personally love it. And right now you can get 50% off your Flodesk subscription by going to:
Full Transcript:
Annie Jones [00:00:02] [squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
[as music fades out]
“We cannot understand. The best is perhaps what we understand least.”
― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia,
Annie Jones [00:00:52] And this week I'm putting on my Frasier Crane hat and working my way through your bookish conundrums in an episode of Literary Therapy. Before we get started, this is your friendly reminder, I'm going to do this every week. That From the Front Porch is a production of The Bookshelf, an indie bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. As our store heads into the last three months of the year. We hope you'll consider shopping small. Our online store is always open, and we'd be so happy to mail holiday gifts your way because of, yes, supply chain issues and potential shipping snafus. I like everyone else. I'm encouraging you to shop now. Yes, October really is the new December. We really are this stressed about it, and we hope you'll support our small business when you shop this holiday season. Now onto the show. The first conundrum is brought to us by Marilu.
Marilu [00:01:45] Hi, Annie, it's Marilu. This summer, my almost five year old daughter and I have enjoyed reading children's chapter books together. We like to celebrate finishing a book by watching a movie that ties in. So far this summer, we've read and watched Matilda, The Witches, and Harry Potter, the first one. Do you have any recommendations for good children's chapter book, read-aloud, appropriate for her age, that have good movie tie ins? Thanks so much!
Annie Jones [00:02:13] Marilu, I love answering this question. Also, I love your Alabama accent because it feels like home to me in some ways from my college years. OK, so this was super fun and I. But it was also hard because your little girl is five, and so I wanted to make sure I was picking books that were appropriate. Like, there are some really great old, I think, Disney movies and things like that that are based on books, but that you guys don't want to read right now. Like Swiss family, Robinson is very long. So I really did try to think about books that you could enjoy reading aloud together and then followed up with the movie, which I think is a lovely idea and a fun reward. The first one that immediately came to mind is Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. Great read aloud, really fun movie adaptation. I think they even do maybe a live action version of this, but I'm thinking of the animated version. There's a great goose character in there, Jordan, and I still quote her spelling of terrific, I don't know, just really fine. I think your little girl would like it a lot. Then this would be cutting it close. Like, I think a five year old could appreciate this movie. And you could, and some people would think this is sacrilege.
But like, I think I first read A Little Princess abridged. And I think when you're reading aloud to kids, it's totally fine to read abridged versions if you want. But because I think the real version of A Little Princess might be too long. But A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett the movie adaptation of this, I'm sure Marilu. I think you and I are close ish in age, and so you probably are familiar with this movie adaptation. I feel like it really speaks to a lot of our millennial nostalgia. But that movie holds up. I rewatched it not too long ago. The soundtrack is fantastic. It's a lovely, lovely story again. I think I'm cutting it close there on the five year. Like, it might be better for seven or eight, but gosh, it's just such a good movie. So at least put it for your list for down the road. One that I do think would be very age appropriate, though, and that I never hear people talk about is The Cricket in Times Square. This is by George Selden, and there is an animated option.
Where you can stream it? I do not know, but your local library might have a copy. I feel like my local library is full of like older DVDs and things like that, so you might want to try there. But it is a lovely little animated film and this book is so fun. I think you guys would both love it, and I think it is entirely age appropriate. Then kind of along a similar wavelength as The Cricket in Times Square, is Stuart Little, also by E.B. White, also a very fun kind of slapstick movie adaptation that your little girl would probably think is very funny. And then I had to recommend, even though the main character is eight, I had to recommend Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. And then do I own it on DVD? Yes, I do. Ramona and Beezus, starring Selena Gomez and Joey King, and it is delightful. I watched that movie. I obviously loved the Ramona books, but as a beezus myself, I felt very seeing by not only Selena Gomez's portrayal, but honestly by Aunt Bee, as portrayed by Jennifer Goodwin. It's just a great, really fun movie. I think you both would enjoy it, and it make an outstanding fun read aloud. So those are kind of my five recommendations.
I'm going to keep thinking about this because this is such a fun question. That's kind of why I wanted to start with it. But Charlotte's Web, A Little Princess, The Cricket in Times Square, Ramona Quimby, Age Eight, and Stuart Little. Those are my recommendations for you. Next up, I wanted to pair both Dana and Jessica questions together. So first, we'll hear from Dana and then we'll hear from Jessica. But these these questions are related, so I wanted them to go at the same time.
Dana [00:06:04] Hi, Amy. My name is Dana, and I live in Raleigh, North Carolina. I've read some really great books in the last few years, and many of them were thanks to your recommendations. I find that when I look back over my read list, I sometimes struggle to remember why I loved or didn't love a book, the plot, or even embarrassingly enough, sometimes the characters' names. I love the enjoyment that a book provides me in the moment, but I wish I could relive the joy a bit as I review my list or look to recommend a great book to a friend. I currently use good reads to track my read books, but the public nature of writing book reviews on that platform scares me a little bit. I know that you use Instagram as a sort of log now, but I'm curious to know what methods have you tried and enjoyed over the years to help you recall details of books and how they made you feel? Thank you.
Jessica [00:06:55] Hi Annie, this is Jess from Michigan. Just calling in to ask for your advice or tips on writing a good book review. I'll go on Good Reads, and I read some just really thoughtful book reviews, both positive and negative. And I just I know there's an art to it. I don't have that art. I would love to get some tips from you and how to write a helpful book review. Whether that'd be good negative, when I do my book reviews, looking forward to hearing any of your advice and thoughts on this. Thank you.
Annie Jones [00:07:26] These are my favorite kinds of questions I love giving people book lists, and we'll do that next up for Debbie. But I do kind of love these more philosophical. I think this speaks to my personality type, right? Like the in part of my INTJ Brain just loves thinking big picture. And so this kind of semi philosophical question about tracking your reading, writing book reviews. I really do love offering this kind of advice. Whether you take it or not, is up to you. So I currently, as I think Dana pointed out, I currently do my book reviews only on Instagram and here and on From the Front Porch. I do them those two places. I loved recording and still love recording my reviews on Instagram, but I loved doing it. I think starting either in 2017 or 2018 because I really did not want one more thing to keep up with. So I know some of my fellow book club members, friends I have in real life love and utilize Goodreads.
I truly cannot keep up with one more thing. It's part of the reason why I refuse to be on Tik Tok, and I just rely on my cousin Ashley, to text me the best Tik Toks like I can't. I can't. I can't do it. I can't add one more thing. I'm already barely hanging on to Instagram by a thread, so I keep track of my reading on Instagram. But I have previously used notes in my books, book journals and a blog. A blog is kind of where it all started, I guess, in terms of tracking my reading. Otherwise, I just read books and loved them and put them on the shelf once I finish them. Like, there wasn't really much tracking going on until I started doing little reviews on a blog I had. So I think you could do if public sharing is of interest to you. I think we are moving back toward, you know, post the Instagram blackout of 2020 was like, I think a lot of people are reconsidering newsletter formats or blog formats. And so maybe there's a little newsletter that you share just with your book club because I think Dana, that's something you're kind of talking about specifically. Is this public sharing of reviews? And part of the reason I publicly share my reviews is because I work in a bookstore and I own a bookstore.
And so this is one way that I can maybe get people to visit my bookstore. But maybe public sharing is unnecessary, but sharing with people you love makes sense. And what if there was a Google Doc or a newsletter that you and your book club or your friends and family, like your fellow readers who you trust and you love, all shared together? I just wonder if that could be a way where you could share your reviews and track your reading without feeling. Maybe this pressure of the public review, if that makes sense. And then I also really loved and it didn't help me track like it didn't help me tally up the number of books I read. But if I owned the book, this obviously would not apply to library books. I'm not a total monster, but if I own a book when I finish, I make a note in the front, the date I finish and what I liked or didn't like about it. Now, if I didn't like it, if I if I hated it, it may not stay in my house like feeling like it may make its way to a little free library or to a friend I think might really like it. But I found that to be really fun. And so now when I am looking for quotes to start the episode with or when I want to go reference something in a book I've read previously, I'm pulling a book off my shelf and I often can flip to the front cover or the front page and see that past Annie.
Read it In 2019, it made her cry. It made her laugh. Like those little notes actually bring me even more joy than maybe my public Instagram reviews. The other thing I'm considering for 2022 and you might want to consider is a book journal. I'm still trying to figure out the best way for me to publicly offer my reviews other than from the front porch episodes. But there's a part of me that also wonders if I would really like to just privately keep track of my reading through a book journal. And right now at The Bookshelf, although you could find them, I'm sure anywhere we have a couple of really great book journals that are really like one is by One Canoe Two which is the stationery company. It's this beautiful little mustard colored book journal, and I happen to love the questions each page asks about the books. It doesn't feel too time intensive, and it feels like something I could fairly easily keep up with. Then there is the newly released book journal that you've probably seen, maybe on Instagram, My Reading Life by Anne Bogel. I really again like the format of this one doesn't feel too terribly time intensive, you can tell Anne is obviously an avid reader. She's asking the right kinds of questions about how book makes you feel, what you remember, your star rating, things like that. And then another option that I'm kind of leaning toward are these little Letterfolk journals. Letterfolk is the name of the company, and they're just little pocket book journals, and I think they each hold 20 books, and I kind of like the idea of having one every quarter or one every season. And just seeing how I can fill them in again, not too terribly time intensive, but a book journal Dana might be something you could really enjoy without again.
Maybe that public exposure that I think comes with sharing your reviews publicly. The other thing I'll also tell you Dana is you are not alone. Like, I try really hard to give thoughtful reviews here and on Instagram. But I read a lot. Even if I didn't read a lot, I I think I do retain. I think I retain how a book makes me feel. I know I do retain how book makes me feel, but I am not always good about retaining character names. I think that has to do with how many books I'm reading. But it could be how quickly I move from book to book. And so you're not alone in not being able to remember all these details. I focus often on how book made me feel like I can remember where I was when I finished it, that kind of thing. And so don't be bothered. Maybe if you can't remember every detail with the details that you do want to remember. I think writing them down is so helpful, and I don't know if you're going to get that same feeling from typing it out on a keypad on your iPhone, as you will from physically writing it down. If there if the goal is to retain why you loved the book, I think physically writing that might be better or maybe typing it up in that Google Doc or in that blogging newsletter format that might also be helpful. Jessica When it comes to writing book reviews, I think this is such a great question. It's part of the reason I started, including a quote from the books I read because I really felt like the author could better articulate the thesis statement of their book than I could. And so and plus it gave me something to do. Even if it was a book, maybe I felt ambivalent about. I almost kept reading as a treasure hunt to figure out. Now, wait a minute. Where is the author kind of going to tell me why this book was written? Or where's the character going to tell me something really insightful about themselves? Like, Where's the quote that I'm going to remember? And so that's part of the reason I include a quote with my review. I don't read a ton of book reviews, except in places like Kirkus or Publishers Weekly or my fellow independent booksellers through indie next. That's where I get most of my book reviews. The exception to this is my in real life friend Hunter, who is at shelf by shelf on Instagram and his Instagram reviews, in my opinion, are outstanding. He's always incredibly thoughtful. I think he's sets up a great example is what to do in a book review.
My number one rule is that even if you don't like a book, tell who it would be for instead. So there have been times when I have read a book and I've reviewed it on Instagram or on the podcast, and it's not been my favorite. But I have not written a book, I've not published a book, and so there's a little bit of no wait a minute. Who am I? Who am I to negatively review this? This book that got published? That being said, negative reviews are fine. That is how we get a healthy criticism, right? So I'm not disparaging negative reviews. I think sometimes they are valid and necessary to the discourse. But when I am reviewing and when Hunter reviews, I've noticed he does the same thing. I do try to pay attention to, OK. I didn't love this, but somebody will. And that is often true, if not always true. There is somebody that that book is for. And so no matter how you feel or how you review a book, I would be sure to include, you know, good for you, not for me or good for good for me, not for you or whatever. Like, who is this book written for?
Who do you think would enjoy it? I think that is so helpful so that even if I think most people probably paying attention to my reviews read very similarly to me, but there might be people who read more like an Olivia or a Lucy or an Erin. And if that's the case, what books are best for them and what books might they really enjoy? And so I try to pay attention to that and include that in my reviews. So that's one thing that I really try to do. Also that quote or the the line or the theme that might be helpful to to a person reading a review. Jessica You might also consider asking yourself when you read a review, what are you looking for? Like, why do you trust one reviewer over another? Is it because your tastes are similar? Why do you go back to one Instagram or Goodreads reviewer over and over again and ask yourself why? I'll tell you one thing that I don't particularly need in a review is a plot synopsis. Now other people do, and other people do that so much better than I do, but I realize, you know what? For me, it's not about the plot. Not really. Now, my friend Julianna, it is for sure about the plot.
But for me, it's about character development or it's about how a book leaves me feeling. And so that's what I incorporate into my review. Other reviewers incorporate plot because plot is really important to them, so that's just something to consider as well. Like what's important to you as a reader when you read reviews, what do you find helpful and how could you incorporate those into your own reviews that you're sharing? Dana and Jessica I wanted to answer your question this week instead of putting it off until November, because I really do think we are all kind of forward thinking right now, whether it's because we're trying to get rid of 2021, or maybe it's just the last quarter of the year. So we're starting to evaluate. I think that's just kind of natural. I am asking these same questions like I'm trying to figure out how do I want to share my reviews in 2022? What's both helpful to the general public or to the general reader, but also what is easy for me to do? What is the best use of my time? Is it Instagram Stories? Is it Instagram posts? Is it a newsletter? Is it podcast reviews only? Like, what is it that is going to be best for both the reader and for me, the other reader? For me, the average person reading. So I think I really did want to answer these questions because they're on top of my mind as well as I hope this answer helps at least a little bit to kind of point you in the right direction to get you set up for a successful reading year in 2022.
Debbie [00:18:49] Hi Annie, this is Debbie from Wisconsin. I love grand epic novels. A few of my favorites over the years have been Evergreen by Belva Plain, Roots, Gone with the Wind, The Shell Seekers and The Thorn Birds. I'm having trouble finding this type of book in current works of fiction and wondering if you have any suggestions? Thank you so much.
Annie Jones [00:19:09] Debbie, I am coming off reading my own epic in the words of George Eliot, so I have been reading Middlemarch, as most podcast listeners know. And so I have been struck by your question. This idea that where are all the epics? Where have all the epics gone? Please sing that to yourself, to the tune of Where Have All the Flowers Gone. OK, great. OK. So I really did try to think what are some epic novels that are more contemporary, but that I think would fill the void left by some of these epics that you named that, by the way, a lot of readers really love. Like, we still get readers coming in talking about Shell Seekers or talking about The Thorn Birds, like you are not alone in those being like beloved novels and you're also not alone in looking for something more contemporary or more recent that that could, yeah, fill that void. Scratch that itch. Here is what I came up with in terms of backlist title. You may have already done this one, and it is not the tome that some of the other books you reference are.
But I immediately thought of Homegoing. If we're talking about sweeping epic stories, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, I feel like completely encapsulates that feeling like the number of decades and generations that she traverses in this one fairly compact novel is truly stunning to me, and I know maybe you're looking for a tome, but there are some cases where I think a writer is just so good at what she does that she's able to tell this epic story in a few or fewer amount of pages. And Yaa Gyasi to me qualifies. It's it's still, I think, going to give you the same feeling that some of those epics you mentioned dead. But maybe in a shorter in a shorter book and a shorter number of pages. I loved this. Book it. It's a stand out. You may have already read it, but it immediately came to mind when you were talking about kind of these epic stories, a newer book, a book that came out this year that I feel like does the same thing again in fewer amount of pages, but on a totally different scale. So, Yaa Gyasi is kind of painting this picture of generations of a family and taking them from Africa to America. And it's real, I mean, truly an epic tale. This is a little more set in one summer. And so you might be thinking, well, that's hardly an epic, but I think it qualifies. So Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann is a book with so much drama and so much family intrigue and so much dysfunction that I just feel like it qualifies as an epic story. There is so much happening on the page, and yet I never felt like it was entirely plot driven.
I mean, there is a lot happening, but it's also just deeply entrenched in character development and character story. There are also references to Greek myths which were mostly lost on me, not entirely lost. I do know some basic things about Greek myth. But I think if a book any book writes that kind of takes these themes from the epics, the original epics, the Greek epics, I think those would immediately qualify, right? She's dealing in epic mythology and tragedy, Greek tragedy, and she's implemented those in her story in around three hundred and fifty pages, which is truly a stunning feat. So it is set, as I recall, I read it earlier this year. It's going to be in my top 10, but it is set over the course of one summer, as I recall. Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing is stretched over generations, so this is very different, but I still think qualifies and I still think would fit the bill. And then I also thought of three books that I had not read but are on my TBR or a staffer or someone I trust has already kind of vetted them for me. So the first is The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. You're probably familiar with the Amor Towles work because of Rules of Civility or Gentleman in Moscow. This is his latest. And it is being described everywhere as kind of this Americana road trip story. So I'm already getting visions of like John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley. So some of the books you mentioned Debbie I would almost classify as classic literature. Not all of them, but many of them I would classify as classic literature. And I think Amor Towles does a really good job of writing in that same vein where when you're reading him, you almost feel like you're reading something something timeless or something from another era. Just his prose is so different, I think.
And Lincoln Highway is no exception. Staffer Lucy has already read this one and given it her stamp of approval. Here's another reason why I put this one in this category. A lot of the books that you mentioned, I feel like are despite being epics, they're kind of genre bending, and I think they appeal to a wide range of genders in terms of reading, so sometimes as a bookseller, it can be really hard because so many people, so many men are turned off by books. Air quotes. For women and women are turned off by booklets, by books, air quotes for men. There probably a less awkward way to say that, but it just feels like we're turning our nose up at books that we don't think are for us. And one of the things I really like about Amor Towles is as a bookseller, I can sell his book to truly anyone, anyone who walks in the store. I could sell his books, too, and I think epic tales, adventure stories, family stories often fall in that category, and Amor Towles just happens to be one of them. So The Lincoln Highway is his latest. It to me would be the one that classifies most as an epic. And I think you should try it. The other one, I think you should try that I have started and loved and just need to pick back up. Is the book The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead? I think Maggie Shippstead is a great writer, I've read all of her other books. This one is just really thick. And so I picked it up, started reading it, loved it, put it down because I didn't take it from a shelf subscription. And when I don't pick something for a shelf subscription, shelf subscription books take first precedence and so I take precedence. And so I do not finish this when Hunter read it and loved it. And I am dying to finish it to me because it's dealing with two characters and it is one of the like.
There are two different time frames the story is dealing with, and so you're ultimately kind of finding out how these characters interact with one another. And so to me, the story feels quite large and looming and like a lot is happening almost a little bit like City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. I don't know if you would qualify that as an epic, but you might also take a look at that one as well, because that one does span decades. And when I think of an epic, I do kind of think of how much time does this book cover? How much happens in this in the span of these pages? And The Great Circle also deals with somebody who's a little bit Amelia Earhart adjacent to which I am definitely here for. So there's an element of his history to it, historical fiction to it. And I think when you mentioned roots that comes to mind like an element of history, something that happened, like in Homegoing, she's dealing with historical events, and the Great Circle is doing the same kinds of things, like she's dealing with actual historical moments. The other book that I will mention, although I have been a little reticent, is Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Door. I'm mentioning it here because any book that the covers millennia does feel like it should potentially be considered an epic Lucy. Read this and loved it. I have been so on the fence because I loved all the light. We cannot see so much, which is where most of us recognize Anthony Doerr. From now, he has written many, many books, and so this isn't his sophomore. This isn't his potential sophomore slump. He's written lots of other things, but I've been hesitant because of the length that doesn't deter you, Debbie. So I feel like it might be worth trying, especially because it sounds so unique.
It almost includes an element of Gosh, I always struggle. Magical realism, fantasy like there's a slight element of magic ish to it. I hope that's the right language to use. Lucy would know best because she's the one who's on staff who's finished this, but there is that element which would kind of be different from maybe some of the other books that you're drawn to. But those would be those five books would be my starting place for you. So Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, The Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead, Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anothony Doerr or Debbie. I'd love to hear back if you read any of these.
Kensi [00:28:06] Hi, Annie, this is Kensi from St. Petersburg, Florida. And I was wondering if you had any suggestions for good books with themes about grief. I recently lost my dad this past month, and I was really thinking that doing some reading with any fiction or nonfiction books that have themes of grief would really be cathartic to me and be able to kind of help me through this time. I'm admittedly a mood reader, so I don't typically tend to lean towards books that would make me sad when I'm reading them or to have themes of grief, but I'm thinking that this would be the right time. Thanks in advance for your help.
Annie Jones [00:28:46] Kensi, thank you so much for leaving a voicemail. I am so sorry for your loss and I immediately kind of got to work thinking, OK, if Kensi walked into The Bookshelf, what would we want to offer her besides metaphorical hugs? Because not everybody's into hugging, especially in a pandemic year, but often that someone will come in to The Bookshelf with a conundrum or a dilemma like yours. And this is one of the reasons I became a bookseller is how can you meet a person where they are and offer comfort in the best ways I know how? And so here is a list that is partly encapsulated by books that I have recommended to other customers who have come in needing books to read during times of grief. And then they're partly books that I've read this year because I feel like as a community, as a as a country, we are grieving and I have found myself drawn to books about grief. So the first one that I always recommend because I loved it and it's a stand out book to me is the Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.
This is a really beautiful book about spousal grief. Joan writes about losing her husband and writes about this year in which she envisions him still being physically present and physically near her. This year of magical thinking, this book is stunning. The writing is beautiful. I definitely think it would be cathartic for you. It was cathartic to me, and I wasn't even reading it at a time of particular peak grief. I think you could really enjoy it, even though it's a book about spousal grief rather than parental grief, right? Kind of. Along those same lines is the book that I started the episode with, and that is a A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis. I think I'm a little weird in that this is my favorite C.S. Lewis book, and I know he has written so much about Christian theology, and I have some others that I really like. But this is the book where I find him to be most vulnerable. Now, this is certainly a book rooted in Christian theology and in Christianity. I thought at first that you could read it even if you weren't particularly religious. That may be true, but as I was flipping through it to find a quote, I realized, Gosh, this really is deeply Christian, deeply religious. So I don't know Kensi kind of where you fall. But if you are religious, you might find comfort in this. If you don't, it could be when you skip or when you kind of look at the local bookstore or the local library and you kind of flip through and see if it's for you. I found it deeply comforting and I found it. I found it to be C.S. Lewis at again, his most vulnerable and therefore perhaps his most accessible. I really loved this book more maybe written in the last couple of years. I would recommend Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. This is a book that might crack my top ten for the year.
It's a memoir about a mother and daughter, a daughter grieving her mother's illness and death, and it is beautiful. The first essay on which the book is kind of based is called Crying in H Mart, it was an essay published in The New Yorker. It is beautiful. You could easily Google for that and see if Michelle Zauner's on her story or writing style is right for you. I think you would find a lot of comfort in this because she's also writing just about a parental relationship, which is beautiful and messy and complicated, and she doesn't shy away from those details while also talking about what it was like to almost lose this part of her identity when her mother died. And I, I found it to be deeply moving in parts. Deeply funny, darkly funny, obviously, but but funny and very realistic. Very realistic parental relationship, mother, daughter relationship. I loved this book, and I think you would, too. Now, if we're going to go more toward fiction, those are kind of all memoirs. Actually, I do have one other memoir to recommend is Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb. This is one of my favorite books. Maybe my favorite book I read in twenty twenty deeply moving memoir told in the perspective of Bess's grandmother. So she is writing from her grandmother's perspective, it's brilliant. I think it is so wholly original, such an original premise, and it is laugh out loud, uproariously funny, and yet you will be deeply moved. I did find this to be particularly cathartic. I had a very close relationship with both of my grandmothers, and so read this and felt very seen and known and just cried like a baby like Jordan. Jones asked me, What is wrong? And I said, This book is so beautiful and so wonderful. And so and yet you also will have moments of humor.
And I think that's really important when we grieve to also be able to laugh and to be able to honor joy. And so nobody will tell you this, but me, would be a great memoir for that. I'm going to wrap up my suggestions with some fiction because I do think fiction can somehow. Speak to us in ways even memoir can't quite do. The first is Competitive Grieving by Nora Zelvansky. I read this book earlier this year and loved it. This is a book about a young woman who loses a friend whose friend dies. And so this is a different kind of relationship to like this loss of a friendship. But the way she writes about grief and how each of us grieves differently. So she's watching her other friends grieve in different ways and realizing that nobody's grief is better or worse than her own and also kind of fighting for weight. I was close to him. I was closest to him like almost making it competitive, right? And so that's where the book gets its title from. There's also a sweet little love story that I think provides a nice bit of humor. This book is very funny, and yet I also wound up tearing up in multiple spots. I love this book. I can't recommend it enough, whether you've lost someone recently or not, but Kensi, I think you in particular might appreciate it. It's called Competitive Grieving by Nora Zelvansky. My last two are Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune, and the reason I wanted to recommend this is because Olivia and Kyla on staff have not been able to stop talking about this book. And when I read the book's description, it is certainly a little bit weightier than his previous work called The House in the Cerulean Sea. And there was this really lovely moment. I hope it's OK for you to share publicly. But where I was able to witness Olivia and Kyla sitting in the children's section like whispering to one another about how much this book meant to them. And the book is dealing with death and grief and the way it moved both of them and Olivia and Chela work super well together.
They get along super well. They're very different in terms of personalities. And so the fact that both of them could see themselves in this work and could be deeply moved by it, I think says something. And I think as much as grief memoirs are important, I think it's also important to read some fiction. And I think it's important to read uplifting books, too, that are going to be cathartic for you, that are going to help you cry. But they're also going to help you maybe, maybe reminisce, maybe move forward. And so I think Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune might be able to do that for you. Last but not least, if you want family grief and comedy darkly funny comedic This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper, I'm mentioning this one here because our next conundrum deals specifically with this book, but this is a book that I read when it came out. I don't think the movie is as good, although you could watch the movie and maybe find catharsis there as well. But it's about a family losing a patriarch, and I just loved this family so very, very much. And they are complicated and messy. These are not these are not like a hallmark movie, people. These are people with with issues. And I I just felt less alone while reading this book. And I think maybe you will, too. Kensi thanks for trusting me with your conundrum today. I hope these help.
Christina [00:36:57] Hi, Annie, this is Christina from Chicago. I don't normally have literary conundrums as I'm a strong believer in book serendipity, but I find myself with an issue. I read This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper about two years ago and I adored it. Lately, I've been what can only be described as chasing that feeling. I'm not a big re-reader as I like to keep my first impressions of a book intact. So while I did grab it from the library, I'm not really ready to jump back into it. I cannot fully tell you what it is about the book that I adored so much. I read a few others by Jonathan Tropper and didn't feel the same rush. I've read other family dramas and same thing. I think maybe it's the wonderful blend of dysfunctional yet loving family drama, grief and comedy. Can you help?
Annie Jones [00:37:45] I love this question because I think it actually speaks to not only the quality maybe of This is Where I Leave You, but actually just how a book can meet us at just the right time. Because I think there are some great like dysfunctional family books that are heartfelt and funny. Like a humor is what comes to mind when I think of This is Where I Leave You that deal with grief or loss. But. But it sounds like This is Where I Leave You, you just met, you have just the right time, and so I think it's going to be hard to substitute for that level of serendipity. I do have some recommendations because I also loved This is Where I Leave You. But I guess this is also just a lesson in what happens when we just kind of meet a book right when we're supposed to. And so next month, I think some of our literary therapy questions are going to be dealing with planning or reading versus book serendipity and how I think our reading lives really encompass both of those things where we plan. But then occasionally we stumble upon just the right book.
So if these books don't work for you, don't get disheartened. I think a lot of it might have to do with just this is where I leave. You landed, was you right when it was meant to? That being said, I do have some recommendations and I'm going to build to my top recommendations. So I'm going to start with some that I think you'll like. But you may have already read and then I'm going to end with the one that I really think is the closest cop that will get you maybe the same feelings that This is Where I Leave You. gave you. So the first recommendation is the author Katherine Heiny. I just love this author. You've heard me talk about her before her most recent book, Early Morning Riser is really, really lovely. Maybe a little bit more heartfelt and less snarky than This is Where I Leave You. you. If you're looking for more snark, actually recommend her previous work standard deviation. Both of these are excellent. I think Katherine Heiny writes really well about families and friendships and how complicated relationships I love both of these books. I think standard deviation might be more in line with the tone of This is Where I Leave you, but I really do recommend this author. I also want to recommend the author Cynthia Dupree Sweeney, her first book, The Nest, kind of like took the world by storm and then her second book, I think partly because of just what it's been like to release a book in the last two years. Her most recent book, I Don't Feel Like Made The Splash. I think it was supposed to, and interestingly, I actually preferred good company her book that released this year to the Nest. However, I think the Nest and the characters in the Nest remind me most of This is Where I Leave You., so I preferred the company.
But I think for you and for what your reading life looks like, you should try. Although you may already have tried the nest and then my final recommendation that I actually think is the most similar in tone theme character development storyline. Although the storyline is pretty original, but the most the most similar, I think, to This is Where I Leave You is the family fang. This is by Kevin Wilson, he wrote. Oh gosh, he wrote that he wrote the book sorry, wrote the book nNothing to see here. The children, the children catch on fire. So this hints me thinking it was little fires everywhere, but no nothing to see. Here is his most recent book. It got rave reviews, but I love his book The Family Fang, and I think you will love the characters. I think they are so realistic and nuanced and snarky and also otherworldly just in the sense of kind of what they're dealing with. It's so different from like what my family might have dealt with growing up or something like that. It's a sibling story, which I actually think I think is part of the reason I recommended The Nest as well, because This Is Where I Leave You is a family story. But it's really it's really about the siblings. It's really about who they are. You know, as I've been giving this answer, I actually thought of another book that could fit the bill, and that is, gosh, it's a backless title from, I think twenty nineteen. It's called All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg. I remember reading it at the same time I was watching the show succession and these kind of all play around the same things that Jonathan Tropper is playing with, I think and This Is Where I Leave You, All This Could Be Yours also has a really, if I recall, it has a really, oh, a very realistic, palpable southern setting. And so that also could be an option. Before I forget, I still think the family thing is the closest you're going to get to that to the vibes of This is Where I Leave You. but all this could be yours, I think might be worth trying is a little darker.
As I recall, but still could be worth trying. I loved how you worded this question because sometimes don't we when we finish a good book, we just kind of are chasing that feeling and like trying to find the next book that makes us feel the same way. And I think sometimes that effort is a little fruitless because I'm telling you there is something magical, like truly magical about when a book hits you in the right moment and it's hard to look. I hope this list helps you. I'd love to know if any of these even come close to filling the This Is Where I Leave You sized hole in your heart. But don't get discouraged if they don't, because I have no doubt that eventually another book will come along. It may be of a totally different genre by a totally different kind of author, but it might strike you in just as magical a way. If you have a literary conundrum, you'd like my help solving go to www.fromthefrontporchpodcast.com/contact, then scroll to the middle of the page where you will see an orange link that says Start Recording. You don't need a microphone. You don't even need headphones. Just tap that buttons, click that button and leave me a voicemail. Tell me your name and where you're from. And I would love to feature you on an upcoming literary therapy episode.
[00:44:14] 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 at @bookshelftville, 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 at www.fromthefrontporchpodcast.com. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
[00:44:51] This week, what I am reading is brought to you by Visit Thomasville. As I sit and record this week's episode, I am looking out my window. The leaves are dancing. It is still kind of no, it is really warm. I was going to I'm going to try to spin that. But no, it is still really warm here. But I'll tell you, the sky starts to turn a different color around this time of year. The blue to me is even deeper. And after several days of rain, it's been so nice to have several days of sunshine. Our house faces McIntyre Park, where Jordan loves to play disc golf and where I frequently will either join him or will grab a picnic blanket and sit and read. And this is other than spring. This is my favorite time of year in Thomasville. Soon, the temperature will drop ever so slightly and that will be even better. So like early November, late November is peak North Florida South Georgia weather. But if you are planning a trip to Thomasville, I would encourage you to look at the fall season and even look at the holiday season where temperatures are so nice and mild and plan your visit because it is just very beautiful here and reminds me of how lucky I am to get to live in a place where there is beauty and there are trees and there is a perfectly blue sky. To find out more about how you can visit Thomasville or even call Thomasville home, go to www.thomasvillega.com to begin planning your next trip.
[00:46:22] This week, I’m reading So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix by Bethany C. Morrow.
[00:46:29] Thank you again to our sponsor. Visit Thomasville. Whether you live close by or are just passing through. I really do believe you would enjoy a visit to beautiful Thomasville, Georgia. If you liked what you heard on today's episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes or if you're so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic. And you can participate in monthly lunchbreak Q&A videos. Just go to Patriarch CNN.com forward slash from the front porch. We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.