Episode 335 || August Reading Recap
In this week’s episode, Annie talks about the books she read in August.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our new website:
Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer by Rax King
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton
Dear William by David Magee
Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin
Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee
When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough by Taylor Schaumann
Let’s Not Do That Again by Grant Ginder
Four Friends by William D. Cohan
The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel
Finding Freedom by Erin French
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.
This week, Annie is reading When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen.
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Episode Transcript:
[00:00:00] Annie Jones: Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the south.
“Two of life’s greatest pleasures, by my reckoning, are camping and reading -- most gloriously, both at once.”
— Michael Finkel, The Stranger in the Woods
I'm Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia.
I'm Annie B Jones, owner of The Bookshelf and independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And today I'm recapping the books I read in August. August is by my estimation, the longest, hardest one of the [00:01:00] year. It is when things in The South start to feel very dire. It is miserably hot.
And I try not to think about it too much. I try to survive, not thrive. And this year I was able to escape for a little bit and you are going to see how it definitely influenced my reading. So Jordan and I were able to take a trip to Maine this summer. It is not lost on us. What a gift that is and how... how lucky we are, that we got to do that and that we got to do so safely. But because we took this trip to Maine and it gave me some time away from the hot humid south, and it also deeply affected my reading. I like to read books set in the locales where we are going or have visited. And so you're going to see, especially at the end of the month, the books that I read very much influenced by our time in Maine.
Overall a lot of non-fiction in August and I'm not quite sure what that means, except I think I continue to [00:02:00] struggle with literary fiction. And as a result, I have been very content to spend a lot of time with nonfiction, which I'm actually pretty okay with. I miss literary fiction, but I don't doubt that I will fall in love...
and there was one literary fiction book that I read this month that I really liked. So I think I will go back to enjoying that genre. That is most of the time, my favorite, but it has been kind of a treat this month to, or last month, I guess, to. Read a little bit outside of my comfort zone. And yet I like nonfiction a lot.
It's just as a bookseller. I don't make time to read it very much. I, it takes me longer to finish a non-fiction book and I am typically trying to finish a lot of books. And so I don't gravitate toward that genre as much, but it's been nice to look back and August and to realize, oh, I've read a lot of nonfiction. So can't wait to tell you about them. Hear we go.
The first book I read in August, I finished it, I think really toward the end of July, but I did not get to [00:03:00] talk about it, is Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer by Rax King. Look that title alone should grab you. It certainly grabbed me. It's got this great little cover.
This book does not come out until November 2nd. So you do have some time, but it's going to be this little paperback has got this really great, funny striking cover, and it is Rax King, who some of you may know from other little essays she's written on the internet. I think she's got a pretty large Twitter following.
That's not really my medium of choice anymore, but I think she does have quite the following there. So you may recognize Rax King's voice, but she writes a lot about pop culture. This is her book about our very worst pop culture and each essay is about a different kind of aspect of our more tackier bits of culture.
So think Creed, the band not the office character. Think let's see. Warm vanilla [00:04:00] sugar scents by Bath and Body Works. Like that's what we're talking about here. So Rax King is probably my age, maybe a little younger. So certainly her bits of culture that she is writing about are very attractive and very familiar to the elder millennials.
So if you are younger than Rax King, I think you could still enjoy this. If you're older, I think you could too, but just know that it is very much written from this kind of elder millennial. The book is laugh out loud. Funny. It's really well written. Each essay is about a different aspect of tacky culture, but as the book progresses, the essays become more and more personal.
And while I really enjoyed that, It is so different from the first couple of essays. And so it took me a minute to adjust to, oh, this went from being like a funny essay collection to a really deeply personal memoir and a deeply felt personal memoir where she's writing really openly about [00:05:00] her familial relationships, her friend relationships, her sex life, things like that.
And so it went from being kind of this laugh out loud, funny essay collection to. Really a deeply personal memoir. And I think if you go in knowing that I think you will enjoy the book more because for me, it's got this really funny cover. It's like this figuring in a martini glass kind of thing. And the first two essays, the first one I'm pretty sure is the essay about Creed.
And the second one is about the Bath and Body Works. I just was, oh, I was just cackling. I was laughing out loud. I thought it was so funny. And I took it with me on like a little road trip, Jordan and I did at the start of August, maybe late July. And I took it with me because I'd been reading a lot of heavy things and I wanted something light and fun, and this definitely started out that way.
But then became just heavier and that is fine, but I do want readers to know that going in, what I do find brilliant about this particular collection [00:06:00] is that she somehow, Rax King somehow starts with this bit of culture and then is able to weave her personal story into it and tie some aspect of her personal history into this bit of pop culture.
And so she weaves the two beautifully together. And so in that way, this collection is also just really well-written and really thoughtful the way that she is able to somehow both be super tongue in cheek and talk about this aspect of tacky culture, but then also write really, really profoundly.
And I guess for me, it felt somewhat sadly about her life. And so she does both of those things in this collection. So it starts out as this funny essay collection, kind of morphs into this memoir. I really liked this one. Again, some of the content became a lot heavier than I was anticipating, but I did really overall like it.
I think it'll make a fun, fun, ish. I just hesitate saying fun because it did [00:07:00] not end fun to me. But I think this would be a good book to pick up if you like humorous essay collections, but you're okay with a little bit of, sorry. If that makes sense. So that is Tacky by Rax King
Next up I read Ghosts by Dolly Alderton. You may have heard me talk about this already. I feel like I've mentioned this book several times because it was one of my favorite books I read this month. I took this book on the same little road trip I took tacky on. And when I finished tacky, which again, ended a lot heavier than I was anticipating.
I picked up Ghosts, really having my fingers crossed that it would be the more lightweight book that I needed. And it was, I think this book is perfect for fans of Katherine Heiney or Amy Popel. It is laugh out loud, funny, maybe even fans of Emma's job, laugh out loud, funny, but again does have some depth to it, which is really my sweet spot.
I do like things that are [00:08:00] kind of bittersweet that tie in. This may be dysfunctional family story, but also a little bit of romance, but also just an adult coming of age. So the book is called Ghosts by Dolly Alderton. It was already published in the UK. You probably have seen the cover. I think the cover is pretty striking and it's about a young woman named Nina who's in her early thirties.
The book opens with a scene of her kind of prepping for her, I think 32nd birthday, maybe 33rd birthday. And. The reason I really liked this book is it's about Nina and it's about at its core, right? Like her being ghosted by this love interest. So she's trying online dating for the first time. This is definitely a book that does again, feel like an elder millennial book because it's a woman who's not accustomed to online dating.
She's been in a long-term relation. So she has to get used to this new form of dating. She doesn't understand what it means to be ghosted. So that's, [00:09:00] that's kind of happening. That's where the book gets its title. So you think it's a romcom, right? Like, or a, or if not a romcom in the traditional sense, certainly has romcom elements of her figuring out who she is, who she wants to date and how she wants to date.
But what I love about this book is that it goes even deeper and it's about a family and it's about Nina. Caregiving for her aging parents, her father suffers from dementia. I think that's also where the title of the book comes from. He's becoming a ghost of his former self. She's trying to get along with her mother who is in the primary role as caregiver.
And these women kind of can't really understand each other. They don't really understand the care that they're getting. And then Mina is also in her early thirties. And so she's watching her friends get married and have children. And her closest friend is having her second baby. And so Nina is having to grapple with going to baby [00:10:00] showers and kind of being this friend who's in a very different life stage.
And what does that look like? All of these things for. Both very familiar to me either I'm experiencing them or my friends are experiencing them. And it was also done in such a hilarious and also really sweet way. There were moments in the book where I felt close, nearly moved to tears, and then there were other parts of just, I was laughing out loud.
This book in particular is filled with one liner. So I kept thinking about Nora Ephron while I was reading it. Yeah. Some of the one-liners are so witty and so biting and so smart that I just feel like, oh, I can't wait to see what Dolly Alderton writes next. I really, really love this book. It may make its way into my top 10 of these.
I'm not quite sure, but I will tell you that this is an arc that I did not get rid of. I kept, because I thought I don't reread very much, but I could maybe reread this. I just really liked it. It's out already in the U S and if you haven't read it yet, but you are looking for a feel good [00:11:00] novel, but one that also deals with, I think, real life.
Real issues that you or your friends may be dealing with. I think this certainly deals with those. And so there's a bitter sweetness to it that I really liked. And I really find rare in literature. And when I find it, I really love it. So this is Ghosts by Dolly Alderton out already.
I took a hard right. Turn left, turn unclear. But like, I, I definitely went off the path of feel good lit or, or kind of comfy cozy lit and picked up Dear William by David Magee every so often a book will come to The Bookshelf, an ARC or something will come to The Bookshelf and I'll get sucked in immediately. Like I'll start reading the back cover or I'll read the first couple of pages just to see if it's what I'm interested in taking home.
And instead I will kind of get lost in it right there at my desk. That is what happened with Dear William. It doesn't have, in my [00:12:00] opinion, a particularly original cover, but the subtitle certainly caught my eye. This is Dear William, a father's memoir of addiction, recovery, love and law. And again, I didn't quite know what to expect, but I kind of sat at my desk at the bookshelves and cracked it open and read the introduction, read the first few pages and just was immediately struck by the writing.
The writing was very journalistic. David McGee is a, is a journalist, a former journal. And he has written this memoir about his sons addiction and his ultimate deaths from addiction. And. I was weeping at my desk because I thought this book was so tender and vulnerable and generous, generous in its storytelling, allowing and inviting me a reader into something that's intensely personal and seems very private [00:13:00] and kind of flinging open the doors and welcoming me in.
I just felt so deeply for the McGee family. So I took this book with me on that little road trip and devoured it, finished tacky, finished Ghosts, and then started Dear William and finished it in just a couple of sittings. If you are. Adjacent to addiction in any way, maybe someone you love is struggling with it.
Maybe a friend of yours has lost someone to it. I think this book would be so helpful in kind of, if you often ask yourself wondering maybe how or why I think this book would be really helpful. Again, it's also deeply personal. This is not a scientific kind of academic look at addiction or drug use. This is.
Dad writing about his son, who he, his son, who he really loved and, and the results of his son's decision- making on their entire family and what the other siblings [00:14:00] experienced. The, the marriage experience. I just, I, again, thought it was so deeply personal and was a story I had not read yet. I know there are a lot of memoirs in the world about addiction and about recovery.
I have not read many of them. It's not a genre that I am particularly drawn to. I picked this up on a whim and just wound up. I just wound up really invested in the story of the McGee family. I don't know if it's partly because the story is set in the center. It takes place in Mississippi. It felt very familiar to me.
The culture that, that he's writing about felt very familiar to me. His writing style felt similar to, if you read the book in the sanctuary of outcasts, which is a book I really loved a few years ago. Totally different, totally different subject matter, but non-fiction written by a white male Southern journalists.
The writing style fell very similar in, in Dear William. And so I was [00:15:00] drawn to that style. I liked journalistic nonfiction. I liked journalistic writing. I like Southern writing. And so all of those things were appealing to me, but this is not a book I would have picked up. On my own off the shelf, I, this felt serendipitous.
It felt like this was a story and an experience I needed to read about, but it wasn't one. I had read, I've read nonfiction. I read dope sick a few years ago. Like I've read books kind of around this topic, but I'd never read. From the portrayal or from the perspective, I've, I'd never read this portrayal from the perspective of a dad.
And so I just felt really invested in the story and I am so glad that I read it. I found it to be very valuable. I think again, if you or someone, you know, and love is struggling with addiction, I think it would be helpful or at least comforting to feel less alone. I. [00:16:00] Really likes this book. It comes out in November, so it's not out quite yet, but I think even if you're like me, maybe, and you're not typically drawn to this genre or this isn't subject matter, you typically cover in your reading.
I think. I think it's worth trying. I just really appreciated it. And I'm so grateful for the generosity in storytelling and in language. I really liked it. So this is Dear William by David Mickey. It's also out in November. Then I, again, kind of switched back and I picked up a book that Olivia had recommended to me.
This is a book that came across our desks and she picked it up admitting that it sounded like an Annie book, but loved it so much, then pass it along to me. And I think she's right. I think it is like a typical Annie read, super quirky dealing with religion. But I'm so glad she liked it too. So this is Everyone in This Room Will [00:17:00] Someday Be Dead.
It's a debut novel by Emily Austin. And it's somehow miraculously, not miraculously, Olivia and I do have quite a bit of overlap in our Venn diagram of reading tastes, but I just think it's so fun that this book somehow appeals to both the Olivia reader, Olivia typically is drawn to thriller suspense, cozy mysteries.
And then it also appeals to me who likes again, as, as you could probably already tell or already know, like adult coming of age books, books that deal with faith and doubt. And so somehow Emily, Austin has created this book that certainly. Is both things. This is about Gilda. She is a something atheist, animal, loving, lesbian.
She is desperate for a job. She's walking by a Catholic church one day and this priest mistakes her for time. Looking to replace the secretary who has died. [00:18:00] So this church secretary died, the priest assumes that Gilda is there for a job interview. She's really not. She is actually, they're not even looking for work.
She's trying to enter kind of free therapy, almost like a, yeah, like a group that's meeting at the church. So she's got this flyer she's trying to go to this free therapy. Groups therapy session, but instead the priest meets her at the door and assume she's there for the job interview. And the next thing you know, she has become the secretary, the administrative assistant at this Catholic church, which is just a hilarious premise from the very start.
But then the book gets even perhaps darker and. The sheet Gilda is filling the void, you know, fulfilling the jobs and the responsibilities that this former secretary once did. That's a secretary has died, but Gilda starts getting emails from one of the former secretaries, friends and [00:19:00] Gilda cannot bring herself.
Gilda reminds me ever so slightly of Eleanor Oliphant, Gilda. Can't bring herself to tell this woman that the secretary is dead and that Gilda. Has replaced her. So instead she begins writing emails back as the former secretary. So she's got the charade going both, both somehow and trying to convince or trying to she's, she's a secretary at the Catholic church and she's an atheist and the lesbian.
And then she's also pretending to be this little old lady to this little old lady, friend. And the results are, as you might guess, chaotic and catastrophic and hilarious. I know that there are so many, I don't, I don't know if you all notice this, there are trends in publishing. Well, of course you noticed that that's not fixed.
There are trends in publishing, but often in publishing it's like they, they grasp on to one aspect of pop culture. So Fleabag, right. We had a really big moment a couple of years ago. I mean, [00:20:00] if you're like me, you're still very invested in that work and. Hunter. And I have laughed a lot at how many books are being compared to Fleabag.
And I understand that impulse because Fleabag is in my opinion, a literal work of genius, and it is dealing with a lot of things. Issues and themes, but as hunter and I have discussed when we are together, Fleabag is also different things for different people. And so it's hard to even know when a publisher comps something to Fleabag.
You don't really know what that means. Is it a. You know, sexy, rom column. Is it a deep look at grief and face? Is it a dysfunctional family story? Because Fleabag is all of those things and. There have been a few books this year that I have read that the publisher has sold as Fleabag desk and I have thought they were right.
So the one that immediately comes to mind is sorrow and [00:21:00] bliss by Meg Mason. That definitely felt like it could be in the same. On the same bookshelf as Fleabag or on the same end campus Fleabag. This is the other book. I think that could as well, like, because it's dealing with Catholicism and it's Gilda kind of asking herself questions about what this priest believes and why he behaves the way that he does.
And then. Gilda also. So she's kind of confounded right by that. And then also she's it's, it's this mystery. So it's this multi-genre book. Cause it's this mystery of wait, what happened to the secretary before? Did she just die of old age? Why does nobody talk about it? What happened to her? News breaks in the local media that a woman has been helping elderly people die peacefully.
And so some people in the community think that's equivalent to murder and some understand it. And so there's, so there's all these. Rooted issues and things at play, [00:22:00] just like, I think there are in Fleabag. So this is a book that actually does feel like that comp is correct, like which, which is not, has not always been the case this year.
But I do think this book certainly to me, Is in the same tone or in the same family as Fleabag. I loved this book. I loved Gilda. I loved the characters around her. I think somehow Emily, Austin treated all of the characters with grace, even the ones that maybe don't act the way I want them to. Behave the way I want them to.
I, and I find that really remarkable to handle, especially in fiction. And this is a short work of fiction. This is not some giant tome where she's got a ton of time to flesh out these characters, but somehow she does. It's been a long time. I feel like since I've read a book where even the unlikeable characters actually, Katherine Heiney is probably the last book I read where even the unlikable characters somehow are likable and somehow have depths.
[00:23:00] And. That is so refreshing because it is such a powerful reminder that the people we interact with on a daily basis also have depth, even if we only see pieces and bits and parts of them. So I really liked this book. It's dealing with all the things that I really love in a book it's dealing with faith and doubt, a little bit of grief, a little bit of coming of age and.
Just a lot of grace. And then there's also kind of a mystery element, great character development. I loved this book. Olivia loved this book. We can't recommend it enough. It is out already. And it is Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin.
Okay. For young adult book club last month, if you are not familiar, we have a nostalgia book club called. I want it that way. We did Babysitter's Club. In 2020 this year, we've been reading different works of young adult literature across the decades, seventies, eighties. We always sound like a rock station [00:24:00] like seventies, eighties, nineties, and today. And the book we read, I think in July, but I finished it kind of right at the cusp of the.
Is Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee this is a book that released, I think in the gosh, I think it's in the eighties. We have read a lot of middle grade and young adult fiction. I don't think we've done too many, too much non-fiction this year. And what I am noticing is that I really love our middle grade selections, but our young adult sections are hard for me.
We re-read sisterhood. It was a reread for me, sisterhood of the traveling pants in June. I fully intended to love that because I loved that book as a teenager. And upon reread for me, it did not hold up. And if you are different, that is great and fine. And if you find comfort in that particular book, I think that's lovely.
Yeah. I wanted to, I really wanted to, but it just did not. Hit me the same as it did when I was a teenager. So I have [00:25:00] found that it seems to be a pattern, whether I have read the book before or not, that these works of true young adult literature books that have been written for teenagers. I just am not enjoying as much and Finding My Voice fell into that category.
It is a book about Ellen sung. Who's this 17 year old girl. She is Korean American. She lives with her Korean American family in this small town in Minnesota. They are one of the only Asian American families in town. Maybe the only one and Ellen deals with. Racism, both overt and subtle. And that is one thing I really appreciated about the book was it w it showcased what racism can look like across the spectrum.
And she is also just a teenager. So she's just trying to be a senior in high school and graduate high school, please, her parents, but also figure out who she is so very to me, traditional young adult. [00:26:00] This released. Okay. I do think it released in the nineties because the, I think the 20th anniversary of this book, re-released in 2020.
And so you can, this is an easy, not all of our, not all of our young adult selections have been easy to find a lot of them. It turns out become out of print titles, but this one is one that is still in print and it was like an American library association, best book for young adults. It really made an impact, especially when it first released, because there were not books about Asian-American characters written by Asian-Americans.
So we. We had red babysitters club all last year. And of course, Claudia is one of our favorite characters, universally beloved the coolest babysitter by far. I mean up there with Stacy, I guess, but to me, Claudia is the coolest, but Claudia is a character written by a white woman, right? She's written by Anna Martin.
She's created by Anna Martin. So to have this 17 year old character written by a Korean American. [00:27:00] Was unusual, a first of its kind and made a deep and lasting impact. And when we were doing research for this book for a young adult book club, there are all kinds of articles because this was recently celebrated like it's oh gosh.
I said, 20th anniversary, but I'm really guided that millennial thing. It's 30 years. This is a 30 year old book. But anyway, because it recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. There are all these articles you can find about what an impact his book made, especially on the Asian American and Korean American populations in Minnesota.
So there's an article that was done by, I think, a Minnesota in journalist, in a Minnesota paper all about how these. Young and now older Asian-American women found themselves in this book. And so for that reason, I think this book is, is valuable and worth trying. Is it a typical. Young adult [00:28:00] like teen angst story.
Yes. And I'm finding that as a 35 year old. That is not really my favorite genre. Those things popped up in sisterhood of the traveling pants and they popped up again in this book where it just, some of it felt a little cringy and a little eye rolly. And I have to remind myself. This book is not written for me.
This book is written for teenagers. And so the emotions or the, the conflicts that could just be resolved if we talk to each other, those things were frustrating to me, but. I did find it to be really helpful because even now, as a, as a fast approaching middle-aged white woman in the south, I found myself saying aloud, like, wait, does this stuff really happen?
Like, did this really happen? And we talked about in book club and so many women were like, yes, this happens. And so it was a good way to. Check myself too, to realize, oh, like these things that she's writing about are real and really [00:29:00] happened. Even if they feel like surely not, oh, that feels so over the top or that feels so extreme.
And then realizing no this kind of language absolutely was used. Like this kind of behavior absolutely does exist, still exists. And so I, for that reason, I did appreciate the book and I always, as I frequently said on this podcast and in my real life, I always love reading a book club book, because even if I don't love the book in my own reading, I develop a whole new appreciation and understanding for it when I read it with a group and when I discuss it.
And so for that reason, I'm really glad we read it really appreciated it really appreciate it. It's spot among the Canon of young adult literature. Also very much could see the seed being planted for books like to all the boys I've loved before. Like definitely could see how this book helped pave the way. And so that's always pretty cool to see, to see how other authors were able to succeed because [00:30:00] of Marie Myung-Ok Lee's first book. So this is Finding My Voice by Marie Myung-Ok Lee.
Again, just a little bit all over the place this month. I'm realizing the next book I picked up is When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough by Taylor Schaumann. This is a book I have had on my list for a long time. Taylor Schumann is one of my internet friends. We've followed each other on Instagram foryears, I guess.
And I watched and kind of waited as she worked so hard to write out her story and bring it to light. And now it is a published book. And so it came out in July, I think in July. And I finally made the time to read it. And I'm so glad that I did. So if you are not familiar, Taylor Schumann is a survivor of gun violence.
She was a victim in a school shooting and survived. And this is her [00:31:00] story. What I really appreciate about, about this book is that. It is very clearly delineated. The first half is about the shooting that she survived. It's about the act of violence she survived and the consequences of that. And it's her personal story.
Very personal, very hard to read. Gut-wrenching beautifully. And then the second half of the book is about gun reform and about solutions that really are, she believes possible. And I believe are possible if we. Think critically and open our minds to new possibilities and do some research. And she has done a lot of the research for us.
And so the second half is a little bit more traditional nonfiction, but still incredibly well-written to say that I love this book would feel odd. I appreciate this book so much. I am so grateful to Taylor for again. [00:32:00] It's almost like the David Magee Memorial. Yeah. For being so vulnerable and generous with her story, she does not have to share it with us.
She spent a lot of time on the internet educating and being so gracious with her followers, with her listeners, like really being vulnerable with her story and also being generous with her knowledge. And I think what makes me saddest and most hopeful is that I can't wait to see what Taylor writes next, because I am sad that this was the book she had to write.
Do you know what I mean? Like the book is so well-written and so well-researched and so profound, but it's also deeply sad because it's her story of survival and surviving. Oh, shouldn't have happened in the first place. And although I'm so grateful for this story, I also wish she'd been able to write anything else, you know?
This book to me is written primarily for a Christian audience. I do think you could read this and not [00:33:00] be a Christian. Taylor is a Christian. So that's kind of where this title comes from is so often on the internet, after an act of violence happens, or often after a tragedy occurs people in the Christian community and beyond the Christian community offer up their thoughts and their prayers because.
Right. We don't really know what else to do. I have been in that position countless times recently, right where news has broken. And I do not know what else to do. And her title comes from this idea that thoughts and prayers aren't always enough. And her belief is that thoughts and prayers are good and prayers are powerful, but there is more that we can be doing to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
And so, and so she certainly is writing from a Christian perspective. I do not think you have to be a Christian to appreciate this book particularly. I mean, I think both parts, but particularly the second half, I think is really helpful. Just in laying out. I knew a lot about gun control laws, but [00:34:00] it was, but I really didn't, like, I thought I knew some things, right, because of internet headlines, I'd probably read or articles I clicked and not even read the whole thing, but now that I've actually.
Red and benefited from Taylor's research. I feel like I know a lot more. And so I can go into conversations now armed with information, which is an Enneagram five is, is my, is my preferred method of communication. I like to be well-armed with information. This book most reminds me of a book. Like, I think you're wrong, but I'm listening, which is the book that the women of pantsuit politics put out a couple of years ago, because I think again, Taylor is being so gracious with her knowledge and.
She is gently. Trying to inform and if necessary change minds. And I learned so much, I read some things aloud to Jordan. My eyes were open to my own state. You know, when I think maybe I've talked about this before we live in Thomasville, Jordan works in Tallahassee. [00:35:00] He works with the Florida legislature.
And so I feel so in tune to Florida politics, I feel like I know so much about it. That's where I grew up. I grew up in Tallahassee, which is the state Capitol. And so, and now Jordan works in that world. And so I'm feel very familiar with that. We are four to five hours from Atlanta. And so I feel very removed from Georgia, which isn't good because I live in Georgia.
So just because I'm closer to Florida, the Georgia laws are the ones that impact me. In Taylor's research. She was so helpful in saying like, which states do what, and which states don't have these rules in the books or which states do. And I appreciated that. And Jordan learned a lot, like I was reading bits and pieces aloud to him.
We both learned a lot about something I felt like I was familiar with, but, but probably really wasn't one of those things where I don't know how you are after a tragedy occurs, but I do that thing where I do have thoughts and prayers, but I also feel like how I [00:36:00] cope is by researching. And the thing about that is binge researching.
Isn't always helpful. Like not everything always sticks. And so by reading a book about it, I find that as my preferred way of gathering information. So I think Taylor's book is really good for that. So this book is called When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough by Taylor Schaumann. It's out now, part memoir part non-fiction part academic nonfiction, but accessible, super accessible academic nonfiction about gun reform, gun control, gun violence, and the role that we all play in it because we do, I really appreciate the spoken of grateful Taylor so generously shared of her story and her and her knowledge.
Okay. Then I picked up what I think might be, I think it's literary fiction. I feel like it's a crossover between literary and commercial fiction. The best comp I could say is like Emma Strobbe modern lovers or something like that. So it's called, Let’s Not Do That Again.
This is by [00:37:00] Grant Ginder. You might recognize him. I recognized him from the book, the people, we hated the wedding, which I tried to read a few years ago when it came out, I thought it was going to be super funny. And I think a lot of people loved it. Like I recall when it came out at getting really positive reviews, I did not wind up finishing it for whatever reason.
And sometimes that's because. Something else crosses my desk. That takes priority. Sometimes it's just because I don't have a lot of time to devote to books that I'm not super into. And so for whatever reason, I put it down, but a publisher offered to send me this one because, and I'm S I'm so sorry. Truly.
Cause I knew. How this makes everyone feel, but this book does not come out until April 20, 22. I know that's ridiculous. So the publisher offered to send it to me and I picked it up, even though I have lots of books that I needed to be reading that are published much more quickly than April 20, 22, but I need you to know that I loved this book.
I loved it. So. Very very much. [00:38:00] So I love a political book, but like a political fiction book, but I will admit that it is hard right now to enjoy political fiction. I just feel. For a lot of people, politics is not particularly fun right now, but I love this. So the book is essentially about the Harrison family.
Nancy is running for Senate. She is determined to win and she has two children Gretta and Nick Gretta is kind of, in my opinion, like this flighty, the book opens with her. Doing committing these, I don't even want to say crimes, but like she's participating in. Rather violent activism and she's kind of this young pretty, in my opinion, kind of self-centered character.
And then Nick is desperately he's he's the brother who has always helped the mom and always [00:39:00] been like the good stuff. But he is determined to not be involved with his mom's politics anymore. Like he's, he's been her campaign manager he's helped her on the trail, but this, this particular race that she's running, he is determined for his own mental health that he cannot help with it anymore.
So he is living his own life. He's also at the same time trying to write a musical inspired by the life of Joan Didion. We've just, just, it's just very fun. And so he's trying to like move on with his life and no longer be involved in politics. The book opens with. Act of semi violence, committed by Gretta.
And of course the family has to now come together to understand why Gretta did this and how it's going to affect the campaign. And she participated in these, like almost this could French revolution or French revolutionary acts. And so she's like throwing bottles through windows like that kind of thing.
That's what I'm talking about and she's over in France. And so of course, Nick has to go over to France and help her. [00:40:00] A lot happens. This is a, this is a thick book. I feel like I'm not doing this book justice because I just got so much joy out of it. Because again, it has like this house of cards, political, intrigues suspense, which I love, like, I love that stuff.
And then it's got this deeply dysfunctional family at the heart of it, and I think. Gosh, I think the publisher sold it to me as like Veep or succession. It definitely feels more succession to me. Veep is so oh gosh, Veep is so very funny, but very like over the top, I feel like this book is a little more subtle and.
And I mean that in the best possible way, I just thought this book was laugh out loud, funny, but like in a darker, more satirical way, not super slapstick, which is kind of what I associate Veep with, but I really liked this book. I'm really sorry that I can not sell it to you until April. I'm telling [00:41:00] you about it now, because this is when I read it.
And this is when I'm most excited about it. It is available for pre-order. I. Can't wait to hand sell this next year. I just really, really liked it. And now I kind of want to go back and read Grant Ginder's other books, because maybe I didn't give it the full, the full chance that it deserves. So I really liked this book it's called Let’s Not Do That Again by Grant Ginder.
Okay. And now the books were very much inspired by our trip to Maine because this, these are all books that I read kind of at the latter part of the month. So Four Friends by William D. Cohan. I picked this up at print bookshop in Portland, Maine, which I highly recommend it was a lovely store and I bought.
I bought this and Hamlet because I still haven't read Hamlet. But when I travel, I try to support independent bookstores for obvious reasons. And then because I'm drowning in books and because I own a bookstore, I try not to go overboard. And I typically just buy a book that is somehow related to the place we are visiting.
[00:42:00] So Four Friends by William Cohan is a work of journalistic non-fiction though. I also think pretty personal it's about four men, all who died in there. Late thirties, maybe early forties, but mostly late thirties, who all went to Andover, which is this private elite high school in Massachusetts, this elite boarding school.
It's where lots of politicians have gone. The Bushes went there: George H.W, George W. And Jeb, all I think, went to Andover and also like Humphrey Bogart went to Andover. Like it's just, it's been around for generations and it's this school for the wealthy elite. Anyway, these four people, including the author, so five, I guess beyond the Four Friends at the heart of the book, but the author went to Andover as well.
And he noticed that some of these young men who were like just the most promising in his class class, like these were people who were going to grow up and become politicians, or they were going to be, you know, they were going to work on wall street or whatever, and they wound up all dying in [00:43:00] their late thirties, including, and part of the reason I will be honest that I picked it up, including John F. Kennedy Jr. Who I have always had a fascination with. Like this is so bizarre because it doesn't make sense given how old I was when he died.
But I remember watching coverage on TV religiously, and I was very invested in the success of his magazine. George, do you guys remember George? Probably not. It did not last long, but for whatever reason, I was very invested. So. Anyway, I pick this up because it takes place in Massachusetts. And then also there are there are some of the guys' stories set in Maine.
And so I picked it up for that reason. And for the John F. Kennedy Jr. Tie-in it is journalistic non-fiction. But also, but also William Cohan clearly is trying to, I mean, clearly there are PR there's a personal investment here, right? Like he, he graduated with a lot of these. He graduated in the same class, I think is John F.
Kennedy. Jr. Did. And [00:44:00] so for that reason, I hesitate to say that it's total journalistic non-fiction because it felt definitely very personal. So what William Cohan does is he writes a little bit about Andover, which I, as you know, am fascinated by it. I mean, just completely, I don't know what it is. I think it's so far removed from my frame of reference, Jordan and I were talking about this while we were traveling like.
We grew up in the south. And even though he grew up in Birmingham, which is not the rural south, like it just, this world of like elite boarding schools is, is not when I'm familiar with, I grew up soundly middle-class in the south. And so this is just a whole other world. So I love reading about boarding schools and particularly real ones that I can actually, like, I don't know, put a finger on.
Like I re when they're real, that brings that makes them even more fascinating to me. So the first few chapters are about Andover itself. And then each section, the book is divided up into four basic sections. Each section is about a different young man [00:45:00] and it's about his entire life. Like William Cohan really did consider.
JFK Jr. Is the only famous person in this book. He really somehow did these young men stories, justice, even though these are kind of just normal. I mean, very wealthy, very elite men, very privileged men, but these are also normal people. Like there's, there's not the celebrity that JFK Jr had it, which I would think meant a lot of work on the, on the part of William Cohan.
So each, each section is about the entire life of these men from their growing up and they're coming of age at Andover to their adulthood. And then what led to in all cases, just an utterly tragic deaths. And you can tell William Cohan is also trying to figure out why these guys and why not me, which I think is just really vulnerable because I think if you have lost a peer [00:46:00] and Jordan and I did a few years ago, like it is you start asking yourself questions and I think William Cohan is asking those questions as he gets older, he's realizing his friends don't get to grow older.
Anyway, I really liked this book a lot. I definitely think in some ways it felt a little. I don't want to say self-indulgent, but it kind of did, right. Because William Cohan is, and he's written other, he's a famous journalist, famous, famous writer. So this is not his first. But I certainly would think this is his most personal. And so in parts, it felt like a little bit like, wait, why, but then, but then you realize, oh, because William Cohan is a journalist who had questions.
And so this is the result of that work. And I really liked journalistic nonfiction. I really, I don't want to elevate or celebrate tragedy, but I learned a lot too about JFK Jr and about the Kennedy family, but also about the. More normal guys. And [00:47:00] the pressure that sometimes comes with this with this privilege that I do not understand.
And so I'm very glad I read this book. I do not know entirely who it would be for. It came out a couple of years ago and it was, I think well-received and a well-reviewed book when it came out. But again, I just because of where we were because of where we were traveling, we had flown into Boston and then taking the train because of my long-time fascination with the Kennedy family, like and boarding schools, like all of those reasons made this, the perfect book for me. I think if you like journalistic non-fiction, you would like it as well. And if you, if you're traveling to the Northeast, like I think this book is really a lot of it. I could picture, it was very easy for me.
And a couple of the men in the book took these. Outward bound trips to Maine. And so I was very familiar and it was very fun. Although this isn't particularly a fun book, like this was a fun thing for me to read while I was traveling. So Four Friends by William D. [00:48:00] Cohan.
Then I picked up The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel. This book came out a few years ago to rave reviews. I remember it coming out distinctly. I was a bookseller when it came out. We sold quite a few copies of The Bookshelf, but I'd never picked it up. It is set in the Maine woods. It is nonfiction about Christopher Knight. You are probably vaguely familiar with Christopher Knight's story, even if you never read this book.
So Christopher Knight was 20 years old when he walked into the woods of central Maine and did not come out until 25 years later when he was caught stealing food from a camp. And. He had been living alone in the woods for 25 years. This definitely is for fans. The book is for fans of Jon Krakauer. Like I definitely felt scenes of that.
I pick this up at Sherman's bookshop in bar Harbor, Maine, and I picked it up because it is set in central Maine in the woods. I wanted to learn more about Maine and Maine culture and the main people and I did. And [00:49:00] also this is just really good writing again. Journalistic non-fiction Michael Finkel is.
A journalist who had written other books before, but this is probably the book he is most famous for. He was the only journalist who Christopher Knight gave interviews to. It's also, so it's about Christopher Knight and like why he did what he did, but it's also about solitude. And it reminded me a little bit like ever so slightly of Susan Cain's Quiet in that way, just because I learned a lot about hermits and hermit culture and solitude and quiet and. What I'm probably missing in my own life and what Christopher Knight took too. I think he would, he would even say, took to the extreme. So I really, really appreciated this book, whether you're traveling to Maine or not, I think you would enjoy this one is great nonfiction.
You know, what else is great about it? It's short. Four Friends was actually pretty doable as well. I feel like so often a story like The Stranger in the Woods could be this big tome. And instead I actually really [00:50:00] thought the chapters are super short and I actually thought the entire story was so well told in this compact narrative, which is why I love journalists nonfiction, because I think they are often used to, like, I prefer it, I think, to academic nonfiction, because I think journalists are used to having to write on a deadline.
And with with parameters, right. And boundaries. And so this book was not particularly long. I think he had written an article for GQ first, and then it kind of became this book. I really liked it. If you did not read it when it first came out, I don't think it's too late. I think you would enjoy it. It's called The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel.
Then I closed everything out and read on my way home. And as I came back into reentry, I read Finding Freedom by Erin French I was totally unfamiliar with Erin French and her story, but you might not be, you may know her from, I think it's a TV show called the lost kitchen.
I know that's the name of her restaurant, but I'm pretty sure that the TV show on like Discovery Plus or something, she apparently is part of this [00:51:00] new kind of network of shows that like, oh, Chip and Joanna. Have helped promote, but I was unfamiliar with any of that. I only picked it up because at first, because of the very beautiful cover and I knew we were traveling to Maine.
And so I picked this book up when it very first released at the beginning of the summer, late spring, and then just made the time to read it kind of as we were traveling home. And as we were reentering the humid, humid south, and it is obviously Erin French's story of. Owning the kitchen, but really the first half of the book at least is about her personal life and her being raised in a small town in Maine.
And what she endured as a daughter. Of an alcoholic and how she was a single mom. Like it's very, it's kind of this deeply personal memoir with just a little bit of food writing and you can kind of see that, oh, you can definitely see how she [00:52:00] became a foodie and how she became a chef because she's, she worked on her, she worked in her dad's restaurant as a line cook, like, so she's writing about that.
But the first half to me is really just her personal memory. Pretty much unrelated to the restaurant itself. And then the back half of the book is more how she came to work at this beautiful restaurant and how it became world renowned and, and. Anyway, I really am loving it because of the setting that I am now.
So gratefully familiar with. And it's just an interesting story and I love food writing. I really do love food writing, wherever it takes place. I, I'm not particularly a great cook myself, but I sure do love to read about it. So I really recommend this. If you're a foodie, if you like Ruth Rachel's books, that kind of thing. I think you would really appreciate this. It is called Finding Freedom by Erin French.
Wow. I did not mean to talk that long. This is a long episode making up a little bit for our abbreviated episode last week. These are the books I read in August. I would love to know what you read in August. You can tell us on [00:53:00] Instagram @bookshelftville, you can find the posts relating to today's episode and go comment there. I'd love to know what you read this month.
[00:53:20] Annie Jones: 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:
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
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This week, I’m reading When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen.
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