Episode 402 || Literary Therapy Vol. 18
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s time for another Literary Therapy session! Our literary Frasier Crane, Annie, is back to answer more of your reading questions and dilemmas. If you have a question you would like Annie to answer in a future episode, you can leave us a voicemail here.
Get your copies of the books mentioned in this episode from The Bookshelf:
Flight by Lynn Steger Strong
Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak (currently unavailable to order)
The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews
Voracious! by Cara Nicoletti (currently unavailable to order)
My First Popsicle edited by Zosia Mamet
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Winter Solstice by Rosmunde Pilcher
An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott (currently unavailable to order)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Mr. Dickens and His Carol by Samantha Silva (currently unavailable to order)
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
Wintering by Katherine May
Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley
Little Women (painted edition) by Louisa May Alcott
Persuasion (painted edition) by Jane Austen
The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
All These Wonders and Occasional Magic by The Moth
Liturgies for Hope by Elizabeth Moore & Audrey Elledge
A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Miracle on 10th Street by Madeleine L’Engle (currently unavailable to order)
A Treasury of Family Christmas Poems by Union Square Kids
The Boy, The Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
The Sense of Wonder by Matthew Salesses (releases 1/17/23)
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. Spend Christmas in Thomasville! There is something truly special about the holiday season in Thomasville. From shopping for those must-have presents for everyone on your list, to the twinkling lights, sparkling window displays, and tempting smells wafting from restaurants all add to the festive feeling of the season. From downtown hotels, to delightful vacation rentals, book your getaway to Thomasville and add a little more sparkle to your holidays! Learn more and plan your trip at www.thomasvillega.com or @thomasvillega on Instagram.
If you liked what you heard in 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 and follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Our Executive Producers are... Donna Hetchler, Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle C, Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, Laurie Johnson and Kate Johnston Tucker.
Transcript:
Annie Jones [00:00:01] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South.
[00:00:25] "Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Joe, lying on the rug.
[00:00:30] "It's so dreadful to be poor," sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.
[00:00:35] "I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things and other girls nothing at all." Added little Amy with an injured sniff.
[00:00:44] "We've got father and mother and each other," said Beth contentedly from her corner. -Louisa May Alcott. Little women.
[00:00:55] I'm Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, it's time for an episode of Literary Therapy, holiday edition. Before we get started, I wanted to share with you about a new book club hosted by Melissa Zaldivar, Jamie Ivey, and me, Annie B. Jones. Launching on December 24th, we are reading Little Women together- one chapter a day until mid-February. It's not as intense as you might think. The chapters are actually pretty short. I had forgotten that. And one chapter a day of Little Women in the New Year sounds delightful. We'll meet over Zoom a few times over the course of the novel and everything will culminate in a final conversation also discussing the merits of Greta Gerwig's 2019 film adaptation (one of my very favorite movies of all time).
[00:01:46] This isn't a Bookshelf-sponsored thing-- though we are, of course, selling copies of little women to any readers who might need it. This is just me joining forces with two women I respect, to read a book I love dearly. Melissa is the author of What Cannot Be Lost and is a guide at Orchard House (she's also the host of the Cheer Her On podcast); you might be familiar with her because of her book or because my little foray into emotional support leaf peeping was sponsored in part by Melissa. By sponsored, I mean I went on her Cheer Her On weekend trip and it was amazing. Jamie Ivey is a podcast host of The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey, and she's reading Little Women for the very first time. I then am the third co-host and your resident reader extraordinaire. Armed with my own Alcott knowledge, which is secondary to Melissa's Alcott knowledge and the fact that I've read Little Women- probably no fewer than a half dozen times.
[00:02:38] The book club is free and you can sign up at Cheerheron.com/littlewomen. Once you sign up, you will receive a reading guide and schedule, and we will begin our journey together on Christmas Eve. Now back to the task at hand. Every few weeks, I dive into the metaphorical mailbag and peruse your readerly hangups and bookish conundrums like a literary Frasier Crane, tackling your issues on air. If you have your own readerly riddle you'd like me to solve in a future episode, you can leave me a voicemail at the From the Front Porch website. That's fromthefrontporchpodcast.com/contact. There's a link in the show notes too. You'll scroll until you see an orange button on that page that says START RECORDING; you'll click or tap there and voila! I would love to hear from you. I have quite a few holiday specific literary issues this go around, and I've also got a backlog of literary conundrums that I'll be tackling in 2023. So if you don't hear your conundrum this episode, there's a chance your issue will be discussed in a future edition of Literary Therapy. Now let's dig in to some holiday issues.
Alexandra [00:03:55] Hi, Annie, this is Alexandra. I'm at the Bookish Glow from Montreal, Canada. And my literary dilemma for the holidays is I'm constantly in search of a perfect, cozy holiday book that's actually not a rom-com. I love family sagas, messy sibling, family relationships, that kind of thing literary fiction. Can you help? Is there any kind of holiday book that fits this bill? Thank you so much.
Katie [00:04:31] Hi, Amy. This is Katie from Georgetown, Kentucky. And I have a holiday literary conundrum. I really enjoy seasonal reading throughout the year, but I find myself struggling a little bit around the Christmas holidays to find Christmasy reading that I really enjoy. I'm not very into the romance genre, so I feel like holiday romances are just coming out by the bucketful and I'm struggling to find any type of holiday reading outside of that genre. I have had some success with a few middle grade reads, like the Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, and I really enjoyed that. But I would love to know if you have any suggestions for other holiday reads that are not a street romance. Thanks.
Annie Jones [00:05:23] I hope somewhere in the ether publishers are listening to this podcast episode because Alexandra and Katie, you are not alone. This was the number one literary conundrum submitted for this holiday episode. Turns out there are a whole lot of readers who love all genres of literature. But around this time of year, we admittedly get a huge plethora of holiday romances and romantic comedies. And although that is appealing to a lot of readers-- otherwise they wouldn't publish that many-- I think there is a whole group of readers looking for maybe more traditional holiday fare or fiction and nonfiction collections or short stories or dysfunctional families or what have you. And I do think those books exist. But I also know that this is the time of year, and we'll discuss this a little bit later as well. This is the time of year where we do get a lot of holiday rom-coms and romances. Tis the season for the holiday Hallmark movie after all, right? I think this is just something we see every year around this time. But it is possible to find a wintery, cozy holiday book that's not a romance, so I have come up with a list of some. And then actually we have another voicemail from a listener named Stephanie and I'll answer her kind of similar conundrum next. But first, Alexandra and Katie, you specifically were talking about family sagas, messy family relationships, cozy books.
[00:06:50] So my very first recommendation is a front list title. It just came out this past November, and it's Flight by Lynn Steger Strong. Part of the reason I fell in love with Flight so quickly was because I felt like it was filling a void. The void being a book about families and the holidays where there's very little romance. This felt as close to the Family Stone kind of book as I really have been able to find. So Flight by Lynn Steger Strong is about a group of siblings whose mother has died, so the family matriarch has died. They are accustomed to going to visit the matriarch, the mom, every Christmas down at her home in Florida. But without her being alive, they're now having to change their traditions. They're all gathering at a sister-in-law's house already. Can you feel the tension? I feel the tension. And so they're all gathering at a sister in law's house where she's hosting Christmas for the first time. And they're all gathering with their grief and their drama and their angst. And I really loved this book. I especially loved-- and I do think I talked about this on a reading recap episode. I loved how Lynn Steger Strong kind of introduced these individual siblings and their families, almost like in little vignettes toward the front of the book. And then we kind of move into getting to see them all gather together, which is exactly how the Family Stone is kind of set up. By the way, the Family Stone is sort of my favorite holiday movies, and so you'll probably hear me reference it a few times this episode. But anyway, all of those siblings are kind of introduced at the front of the film, and then we get to see them all come together. And I just really like that structural organization. I also really like that this book is short.
[00:08:37] And maybe I'm alone in this, I think some people right around this time of year maybe have a little more time than usual because of that break that we get between maybe Christmas and New Year's. But if you're like me, this time of year is actually pure chaos and my reading life suffers a little bit. And so one of the things I really find lovely about Flight is that it is a relatively short novel and there's a lot going on, but it wraps up and it wraps up quickly, and I really happen to like the people at its center. I've also seen some other people tag me in their reviews on Bookstagram over the last couple of weeks. And I do think this is one that's resonating with a pretty wide range of readers. And I do think that's because it's scratching an itch not previously scratched or not often scratched. So that is Flight by Lynn Steger Strong. Next is a book that I read years ago, and sure enough, I Googled this. And this book I think came out in 2016 or 2017, which feels like a million years ago, but it's called Seven Days of US by Francesca Hornak. Here's the deal, this book came out in 2016 or 2017. It's about a family in England where one of the siblings, I think the oldest sibling, is a doctor and she gets home for Christmas and realizes that due to some exposure at a hospital, she is now having to quarantine for a week with her family. So in 2016, 2017, this was fairly novel and interesting and fun.
[00:10:05] I cannot speak to if this book still feels that way now that we've all literally lived this. So that's why I present this recommendation to you with a grain of salt, because I read this pre-pandemic, like, long, long, long ago before a pandemic was even a thought in our mind. And reading it in 2022 might be very different. But as I recall, I did enjoy this one because it felt less like a Christmas or holiday book and more like a fiction book, like a Maggie Chipstead novel about a dysfunctional family. And they're all holed up together in this house and they've all got their different dramas that they're having to deal with. So it feels a little less Christmassy specific and more just dysfunctional family, if that's what you're looking for. As I recall, I liked this one. Again, it was published a while ago. It would be interesting, I think, to read it in the 2022 landscape, but I don't know if it will be for every reader. So Seven Days of US by Francesca Hornek. Next, I'm going to recommend a book that I have not read, which I don't often do. But I do pay attention to what sells in our store and what customers come back talking about. And one of the books that really did well for us last year was The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews. Now, we are a Southern bookstore, and so Southern authors do very well with us. And Mary Kay Andrews is your quintessential southern writer. She writes a ton of fiction, specifically more summer-esque fiction. But this is a foray into a holiday book where a woman is renovating a hotel, a bed and breakfast kind of thing, and she finds in the attic a Santa suit and realizes that there's a note attached. And the note is from like World War Two era. And so she is on the hunt to find out where this Santa suit came from, the history behind it, who it belonged to. And so Mary Kay Andrews does often have a little bit of romance in her books, but to me, this feels a little less specific to the romance or rom-com genre and more-- and I really hate this terminology, but it is what it is-- women's fiction. So more general fiction perhaps than your genre fiction of romance or romantic comedy. This did very well for us last year, and people came back talking about how enjoyable and pleasant they found it. So do with that what you will. We really like Mary Kay Andrews at The Bookshelf. She's visited our store a couple of times and we really like her and her work. And so I think this one could be fun and a little bit different and maybe outside the typical rom-com read.
[00:12:40] Now I've got two books that I really would like to recommend because they're foodie books. And maybe that seems silly, but around this time of year I love a foodie book. So the first one is a book I read a few years ago called Voracious. This is by Cara Nicoletti. It is an essay collection that Cara wrote where each essay is about a different food inspired by a different book in literature, a lot of children's books, but I think maybe a couple of adult books as well. I loved this book. I remember it distinctly, I brought it home for Christmas and I read it by the tree in my parents house. I have very cozy, fond memories of it. I love an essay collection this time of year because again of attention span and just the fact that you're often up checking on what's in the oven, your back and forth from the kitchen. You're in the car a lot on road trips. So I like a book that you can pick up and put down. Voracious is a great essay collection. Each essay is followed by a recipe and I really loved it because it kind of marries food and also literature, so it really ties into the world of books. So if you're one of those readers who loves books about books, this could be worth checking out. The next recommendation I have is a brand new book called My First Popsicle. It's edited by Zosia mamet. And I loved this book. I listened to it in audiobook format on the recommendation of Erin at The Bookshelf. She recommended this and I loved it so much. I listened to it all during the Thanksgiving week. My love for audiobooks rests around that eight hour mark, any longer and I get a little bogged down. As I recall, this was between six and eight hours long. And it is an essay collection edited by Zosia Mamet. And each essay is written by a different writer, actor, artist. And in many cases in the audiobook, it is narrated by that artist, author, actor. And I fell in love with so many of these essays. They kind of run the gamut.
[00:14:49] I will give a little content warning, and she does at the beginning of the book where because this is a book about food, she basically told a variety of these artists like, hey, I'm doing this book collection, it's all about food. Take your best food memory or your most significant food memory and write about it. And so some of the essays, I think two or three, as I recall, deal in some way, shape or form with disordered eating. And so I will throw that out there that a couple of the essays are heavier than others. But this collection I just found to be delightful because it really covers a variety of genres. It's all essays. It's all true little vignettes. But some of them are funny, some of them are poignant, some of them are sad. There is a lovely essay by a journalist who went to visit the sushi restaurant that was featured in Jiro Dreams of Sushi, that Netflix documentary that came out a few years ago. I thought that essay was particularly memorable. Hamish Linklater, who was the star of Midnight Mass, had a really lovely essay about sitting at the deathbed of his godfather and sharing a pumpkin spice donut. So you just have this really wide range-- almost like your own food memories would be-- this kind of wide range of thoughts and memories around food. I loved this collection. I especially loved it in audiobook format, but I think it would be equally enjoyable in print. And I believe a lot of these essays are also followed by the recipes that the recipes are not necessarily read in the audiobook. And then finally, two recommended books I have not read, but one I have added to my TBR. Well, actually both of them I have added to my TBR, but one specifically I've added to my TBR and the other one comes so frequently recommended by podcast listeners and by bookstore customers that I would be remiss if I did not mention it. So the first is The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. I've only read maybe one of Jonathan Franzen's books, but this is one that I'm very curious about. So it's about a family, two parents and I think two or three adult children. And basically they are all dealing per usual with their own issues and dramas and frustrations, particularly in a modern landscape. So kind of navigating the perils of the modern world. And the mother, the matriarch of the family, before everything goes haywire, she wants to have one final Christmas with her family all together under the same roof. And so what I like about this book is it culminates in Christmas.
[00:17:20] So a lot of the books I've mentioned so far, they are all surrounded around a Christmas holiday, but this book kind of takes these family relationships and looks at them pre holiday season and then has everything kind of reach to this climactic weekend together, which I find very true to life, right? That's what we're all living. We've lived these really hard, heavy, good years, but then you're kind of coming crashing into the end. I just find it to be so kind of ironic how we celebrate Christmas together after just really surviving really a lot of things. And so, anyway, I'm very curious about this one because it sounds, again, like it's dysfunctional family that just happens to have this culminating Christmas moment. So that is the one I've added to my TBR. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. And then the book that comes highly recommended by podcast listeners and by bookstore customers is Winter Solstice by Rosmunde Pilcher and .Alexandra and Katie, other than Flight, this could be a good place to start because I think it's going to have that cozy vibe you're looking for. And Rosmunde Pilcher may even become an author who you want to read her other title. She's got a lot of other books. The Shell Seekers is one we do really well with at The Bookshelf. So if you fell in love with Winter Solstice, there would be other titles as well. It takes a family and then kind of tells a holiday story, a cozy story around their being together. So that is Winter Solstice by Rosmunde Pilcher. I'm going to mention her later, she's kind of on my curious about list and I know I need to dive in but her books are longer. And so I kind of want to be able to hunker down with them and I'm not really in a season in life where I can do that just yet. There may come a time. And so I'm curious about her. So Winter Solstice by Rosmunde Pilcher. Alexandra and Katie. You are not alone in your hunt for a non romance non romcom holiday read. I hope there are some recommendations that might work for you here.
Stephanie [00:19:17] Hi, Annie, this is Stephanie from Richmond, Virginia. I have a question and book recommendation request for holiday reading. I have always wanted to have that classic that's a go to that I read every holiday season and gives me the warm and fuzzy use and puts me into the holiday spirit but have never really attempted this. And so I would love for a recommendation or a suggestion of where to start. I also would love a recommendation for a book that gives like the Family Stone vibes. I feel like a lot of holiday books that are out right now are really cheesy rom-coms, which are great and are definitely working for my pregnancy brain right now. But I would also like something that has a little bit more depth and a little bit more family drama rather than the romantic comedy vibe. Thank you.
Annie Jones [00:20:18] Okay, Stephanie, I think I answered your Family Stone part of the question. So the latter part of that question, I feel like I answered with Alexandra and Katie, I almost combined your voicemails with theirs, except I really think your first question is a little bit different, which is what is a go to classic that you could read every year and not tire of it? Of course, Little Women comes to mind because of this book club that I'm helping host this winter, but An Old-Fashioned girl is honestly my go to. You've heard me talk about this before on previous episodes of From the Front Porch. This is a book I reread pretty frequently once every couple of years. I reread it during 2020 and found it just as charming, just as comforting, just as lovely as previous years. There is something about these Louisa May Alcott books that I do find so endearing. And although Little Women is certainly beloved, An Old-Fashioned girl is actually my favorite. And then a friend of mine and I were talking and we really love Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom, which is a pair of books that I really treasure. And so if you have already read Little Women and you're like, been there, done that, I would encourage you to try one of those. And because of their New England setting, they all eventually have at least one, if not more, pretty memorable scenes set at Christmas or in the winter. And so An Old-Fashioned girl is kind of my go to answer to this question. Now, I thought about it a little bit more, and I also thought of some other options for you. One of them I think came out a couple of years ago, and this is another book that we got really good feedback on in store, and that is Mr. Dickens and his Carol by Samantha Silva. This was a really well-reviewed book when it released, which I think I was actually kind of surprised by it-- that's okay for me to say. I just wasn't sure. It looked like, could this be cheesy? But it really got really good reviews and we again sold a lot of copies. There's a lot of people out there who are looking for non rom-com related holiday books and it looked like a book you could potentially visit again and again.
[00:22:20] So it is the fictional story of Charles Dickens and where he was in his headspace and in his literal life when it came time to write A Christmas Carol. And so if you're familiar or if you have read Dickens Christmas Carol or if you're even just like me and you're familiar with The Muppet rendition, I think this could be really fun for you if you are a fan of historical fiction. I'm thinking of... Who am I thinking of? I'm thinking of Marie Benedict. I'm thinking of Fiona Davis. I'm thinking of the author of the C.S. Lewis book about becoming Mrs. Lewis. If those kinds of authors and books are of interest to you, I think this would be right up your alley. And I just kept thinking about cozy and The Christmas Carol obviously comes to mind when we think of traditional Christmas stories. So Mr. Dickens and his Carol by Samantha Silva. Another book that I have revisited many holidays in a row, although certainly snarkier than some of the other ones we've discussed so far is Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris. It doesn't quite feel like Christmas until I've listened to the NPR version of Santaland Diaries, which is a story that's included in this collection. And it is one of the stories, I think, that really launched David Sedaris into the zeitgeist. I love this collection. It is laugh out loud funny, maybe sometimes the darker side of the holiday season. And if you're a grown up who needs like grown up holiday fair, then please if you have not already read Holidays on Ice, I hope that you will. It's hilarious. It also would probably be a great audiobook for your road trips, though you may want to have your children listen to something else. And then I thought, well, what about a book? Stephanie, I can't remember, but I feel like you or somebody else mentioned like this stretch of time between Christmas and New Year's and I can think of no better book than Wintering by Kathryn May. This is a nonfiction book that came out a few years ago. I want to say winter of 2019, and then I read it early 2020. But anyway, this is nonfiction about the different habits of people who live in cold weather climates and what they do with winter and what winter looks like. And so many people I think struggle with depression and anxiety issues really coming to a head during this time of year.
[00:24:47] And so she was looking at things like light and sunshine, like, the very things that we kind of rely on to get us through hard moments, especially in nature and of natural elements we look to, are very different looking in the winter season. And so what do we do in the winter to rest and recharge? What can nature teach us about hibernation and about resting and relaxing? What is winter supposed to do for us? Why does winter exist? And I loved this book. I'm pretty sure I gave it out as my January Shelf Subscription that year, maybe my December Shelf Subscription that year, but I think this would be a very fun one to revisit year after year. Even if you don't reread the entire book, to pick it up and read certain essays from it I think would be really fun as you head into the New Year. And then the last recommendation comes from former Bookshelf staffer Lucy. She really loved the book Perestroika in Paris. I'm pretty sure it was her Shelf Subscription in December of last year, maybe the year before. All these last couple of years have run together. But Perestroika in Paris is a book about animals. She always compared it to Charlotte's Web, and of this book about a horse who lives in Paris, in the city of lights, and befriends a slew of other animals. And as winter approaches, has to decide kind of where they're going to live and how they're going to survive the winter. And she loved this book so much. Customers loved this book so much. It's now obviously out in paperback. So I thought this one could be fun as well and maybe a little different, but definitely cozy. And also a Parisian setting I think would be really fun this time of year. So, Stephanie, I hope those help and then I hope the recommendations that I gave Alexandra and Katie might work for you too.
Alicia [00:26:28] Hi, Annie, this is Alicia calling from Washington and I have a holiday literary dilemma. I give everyone a book every Christmas, a carefully selected title that I genuinely believe they would enjoy with a handwritten note hyping up the book and explaining why I think they'll like it. I'm all in on the hand selling. I've been doing this for so many years now because I love reading so much and I love sharing it with people I care about and I know there are lots of folks in my life who really appreciate these hand-picked recommendations. But at the same time, it's also become really obvious to me that some of my closest family members, like my mom, my dad, my brother, just don't read. For so long, I've been determined to introduce them to books they will enjoy if they just give it a chance. But now I'm wondering if my plucky optimism about turning my family into readers is actually just obnoxious. So what do I do? Keep hoping that this will be the time that they trust me and pick up a book or do I just send a generic gift card instead? Hoping you can help. Thanks.
Annie Jones [00:27:33] Alicia, I wish you were in my family. What a delightful and kind tradition and so thoughtful. This is so incredibly thoughtful. So I have two kind of overarching feelings here. The first and probably most prominent feeling is, do you like this tradition? Is this something that brings you joy or over the years has your joy begun to wane because your family's enthusiasm is not what you hoped it would be? Because if this no longer brings you joy and it doesn't necessarily bring them joy, then I think it's time to try something else. And we'll talk about what else this could be. But I think this is a lovely tradition, but you might not need to do it anymore. I think it really boils down to does this bring you joy? Is this something you like to do? And if it's something that you like to do, then I say keep doing it. It's thoughtful. It's fun. You write these little handwritten notes. I don't know that you have to put forth that much effort. Maybe you stop the handwritten note part, or maybe you just have a little tag that says My favorite book this year or something like that. Or maybe you give them all-- I mean, this might drive your family off the wall, but I like the idea of giving them all the same book and being, like, I would love to discuss this with you sometime in 2023. Or maybe I'd love to discuss this with you next Christmas. Like, we don't have to talk about it now. There's no deadline here because I know not everybody's like me and is like, ooh, let's talk books together. But I think that could be really sweet to give them all the same book and you all talk about it together at the next family gathering. Those are some options if you still like the tradition. If you are starting to feel like this is a whole lot of work and there's not a lot of return here, I'm not getting the joy in their eyes that I need when I give gifts, I think it might be okay to hit a pause button on this. And the reason I say pause is because wouldn't it be interesting? Wouldn't it be a scientific experiment to not do this this year and see what the reaction is? And I think if you have the mental stamina, this reaction could be one of two things, right? The first could be thank you, Alicia. I feel so much pressure every time you give me a book. I'm kind of glad you didn't give me one this year. Like, maybe that's what you hear. Maybe you hear from your family, oh, thank you so much for this gift card instead. Or the other response could be, oh, I really miss getting a book this year. Now, you may get neither of those reactions, right? Maybe your family doesn't react either way.
[00:30:09] But I think it could be interesting to hit a pause button on this tradition and see if there's a reaction, if there's a sense of relief, if there's a sense of renewed gratitude because you gave them a gift card to their favorite restaurant instead. Or is it, oh, you know what? Alicia, I actually really missed that. I really missed getting a book from you. I think it could be an interesting experiment to hit the pause button. Okay. If you do hit the pause button, I would boldly suggest that the option is not between heartfelt hand picked book and generic gift card. What if there is such thing as a middle way and there's a heartfelt gift card option? So I was thinking because there are many people in my family, particularly my extended family with my husband, who are not readers. And I am not going to force that. One of my favorite things I did this was a few years ago was I think this was to my sister in law and brother in law (so Jordan's sister and her husband I at the time), I want to say they were living in or around Atlanta and I had a friend who lived in Atlanta and I was, like, what's the best restaurant like to go on date night? What's your favorite restaurant to go on a date night? Or maybe I looked up-- because Atlanta is massive-- what was a really good restaurant in their area and I gave them a gift card to that restaurant. So there is a way to still be thoughtful and still pay attention, but to take the attention and the thought that you've poured into book recommendations and pour it into something else. And you might even have fun. You might even have fun trying something new. So I would encourage you to look past that "generic". Alicia, you and I are similar. We are similar people. And I kind of feel that way about gift cards. But there is a better way. There is a better way to gift card. And then I also thought if you still wanted to do the book, but maybe you're going to tone it down a bit, maybe you're going to take a step back, what about a pair of cozy socks and a paperback? Just a paperback, doesn't have to be a special edition. Just a little paperback that's one of your favorites. Or what if it's cozy socks and an audio book gift card to Libro fm? Maybe they prefer audio books. I mean, my mom used to do such fun things with like, oh, a gift card to AMC movies and then a popcorn bowl-- I don't know. I think there is a way to be thoughtful even in the non I love to give books.
[00:32:44] So even in the non book gifting world, I think there is a way to still channel the really thoughtful energy that you have and the gift giving energy that you have, but to put it somewhere else and see what the reaction might be. So that's a lot of advice, but that is my basic thought here, which is either lean in because you love it and it brings you joy and I think that's fine. Or take a step back because it's really not bringing you joy anymore. Perhaps, maybe it's not bringing them joy, but you don't really know because you've never not done it. And maybe try something different this year and see what the reaction is. Obviously, I personally love that you do this and, again, if you were in my family, I would really appreciate this. The other thing it sounds like and this will be my final thought. The other thing it sounds like is that there are people in your life who love this and who love that you do this every year. Keep doing it with them and do something else for the people who maybe aren't as enthusiastic. That's the best of both worlds. You can still do it for these people who I think really treasure it and then for the people for whom it is not as important, don't do it. No big deal. That is my recommendation to you this holiday season. I kind of would like to hear back about those. I don't feel like I often get a report back. But I would love a report back, if you think about it.
Jordan [00:34:03] Hi, Annie. This is Jordan from Michigan. You gave me such wonderful advice on a prior episode of literary therapy, so I am back for more. So it is October 2nd as I record this and I'm already thinking about my holiday shopping. So with the holidays approaching, I really want to shop long distance at the bookshelves this year. How do you know what is the right book to gift a person? I typically want to give books that I have already read myself and vetted so that I know they're good, but I never know if the person I'm buying for has read that book yet or not, especially if we have really similar taste in books. And I don't know a sneaky way to ask them what is on their TBR list. So do you have any go-to rules to shop by when it comes to gifting books or are there books you tend to gift more often than others because they're crowd pleasers? I would love to know. Thank you so much.
Annie Jones [00:34:58] Jordan, bookish gift giving is one of my very favorite things. And I think there's a way to do this where maybe we can't all be as thoughtful as Alicia, but there is a way to give the right book to the right person. So I have a couple of generic kind of recommendations in how to do this. And then I also have a couple of thoughts about specific book titles or types of book titles. So for your avid reader friends, I am going to guess that you are either in a book club together or you know their Goodreads accounts or they have a Bookstagram. You have some way of knowing what they've read this year, right? Gosh, I get so excited just talking about this because I just feel like this could be Nancy Drew style mystery solving. I would go through their good reads, their Bookstagram, their accounts that they have publicly available, and I would see what they've read this year, what their ratings have been for those books and see what's missing. What titles are they missing? What are similar titles you might want to share with them? And this is great, especially I think for backlist titles. So if they really loved Lessons in Chemistry, is there a backlist title that kind of coincides or an unsung title that kind of coincides?Now I'm thinking if they love Lessons in Chemistry, what could you get them? Well, you could get them The foodie essay collection I mentioned at the top of the episode. Or you could get them Where Did You Go Bernadette, which has a similar cover vibe. Or you could get them I'm thinking about the book by Barbara Kingsolver called Unsheltered that had to do with a female scientist that I really loved. So there are other titles that you could get them that would be similar. Like, you know they loved Nora Goes Off Script. Okay. What's the best rom-com you read this year? And maybe you mail her a Carrie Winfrey book and you're, like, I notice that you love rom-coms. I do, too. This is my favorite author-- or something like that. I do love the thought behind and it sounds like Alicia does this really well, right? I'm not saying you need to write a treatise in the front of the book, but just on a little card-- if you're scared they already have the book, this is great to do too-- on a little card and slide it in the front or on a bookmark and just say I picked this because. And here's the thing. If they're like me, even if they already have a copy of the book, now they're going to keep that book because that book now means something. You've inscribed it. You've given them a bookmark or some kind of piece of paper that tells them why you picked it for them. Now they're going to keep it, even if they already have a copy. So that's one thing to keep in mind.
[00:37:34] Many book lovers have multiple copies on their shelves and that's okay. So look for similar titles to the books they already love. But maybe they're novels or nonfiction books that they have not read yet. Maybe they're backlist titles or unsung. I think about the book I loved this year called Girls They Write Songs About which has this great New York setting set in like the nineties. It's a great music book and I feel like I could hand gift that to a lot of different people. Even if they maybe don't love it, love it, I still think they would like it and it would be fun because I doubt they would have heard of it. Obviously, you know I believe in independent bookstores. This is why indie bookstores are so great. As much as your local Barnes Noble is important, (I do believe bookstores like that are important to their communities) there is something about an independent bookstore with knowledgeable bookshelf staffers with displays and indie caps that can help guide you to maybe books you haven't seen before and your friends haven't seen before. So look at their Goodreads, look at their Bookstagram accounts, see what they're missing. Think back to backlist titles that maybe you've loved that could be similar. Write a note either in the book or on a bookmark and visit your independent bookstore. Those are some generic thoughts. Another direction I have gone before is I gift my favorite book of the year. SoI loved Everything Sad is Untrue, and that's a book that I loved and that Jordan loved. Another one that immediately comes to mind is the Anthropocene Reviewed. Those are books I think I could gift almost anyone. Now, not everybody in my family or Jordan's family is a huge reader. But I do feel generally speaking most people on our lists would love that book. If they gave it a chance, they would love those books. So those are some of my kind of go to recommendations because it is so easy then while you're watching them unwrap it or whatever to say, "The reason we gave that to you is because Jordan and I read that book this year and we absolutely loved it. It's our favorite book we read.".
[00:39:39] And then that book means something. And even if the person doesn't wind up reading it, it sits on their shelf as a reminder of who you are and that you thought they might enjoy your favorite thing. It's like going to those favorite things parties. Have you ever been to one? I love those things where everybody brings like their favorite lip balm or their favorite face soap or their favorite snack or whatever. It's fun because now any time I think of Trader Joe's peanut butter cups, I think of my friend Ruth-Anne. And now maybe any time somebody reads Anthropocene Reviewed, they might think, oh, Annie and Jordan love this book. And so I think it's really easy to just buy five copies of your favorite book you read this year and gift that. And even if your friends have it, then maybe they read it on Kindle, maybe they got it from their local library and now they have a copy and it means something because it was your favorite. Okay. And then any time-- and I know this because we just did this as a staff, any time someone asks the staff collectively, like, what book do you enjoy gifting almost everyone, we almost always say, "What about a classic?" And that is because there are so many beautiful editions that even for the non reader, a beautiful classic looks pretty on a shelf, looks pretty on a coffee table, means something because you gifted it to them. And so our favorites and I do speak, I believe, for everyone because I'm pretty sure every one of The Bookshelf staff has bought one, two or three copies of these books. But there are these new painted editions by Harper Collins that are gorgeous. They're gorgeous. The Little Women Edition I brought home myself. Persuasion is next on my list. And I love these. I love them because they're also readable. So if your friend or family member is a reader, these are not like precious copies that you cannot read. These are accessible copies that you absolutely could read, but they're beautiful. They're beautiful like collector's looking edition books.
[00:41:40] And so I do think pretty classics are like a go-to standard. I don't know anybody who would turn their nose up at that. I really don't. I think anybody would love a book like that. And then the last direction I will go, I mentioned Anthropocene Reviewed. The reason I mention that book is because essay collections I think are great. They're great for the non reader and I think they are great for the avid reader because often avid readers are reading a lot of fiction and maybe they've missed a nonfiction essay collection. Some of my favorites, and these are books that I was gifted and so now I love gifting them and you've heard me mention them maybe a couple of times, is All These Wonders and Occasional Magic. Those are two different books. All These Wonders, Occasional Magic. They are put out by The Moth storytelling group. And I adore these for gifting. They look great on a shelf. They're compact. They're little vignettes, little essays-- I've used the word vignette three times this episode, please forgive me. I adore them. You can read them in little bites, which I think is perfect for new moms or something like that. Anthropocene Reviewed fits in this category. And then if you have religious people in your life, Christian people in your life, I think books of poetry or books of prayers are really powerful. I think about Prayers for the People by Terry Stokes, Liturgies for Hope by Elizabeth Moore and Audrey Elledge. I love these books to give people voice to things they may not have a voice yet for. And so I love giving collections like poetry and prayers for something that people can kind of flip through and realize, oh, I really needed that. Or, oh, I never thought to voice it that way and now I know how to voice it that way. So those are some other recommendations for you as well. I wish you nothing but the best. Jordan, I know you sent this voicemail on October 2nd. I hope I'm not too late with the recommendations for you. I hope we caught you early enough in the holiday season where this has been helpful.
Julie [00:43:36] My name is Julie. I'm calling from Oregon. My holiday question is concerning my family's tradition of reading poems or stories on Christmas Eve, and I wondered if anyone had any good suggestions for that. A short story, a children's story, or a poem that has impacted them around faith or the holidays? That would be a good addition to our tradition. Thank you.
Annie Jones [00:44:00] Julie, what a sweet question. I grew up in a home where every year we, of course, read Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. And then my dad-- I don't know how old I was, probably around the age where I was starting to... I was a late bloomer. This is not shocking. I believed in Santa for a very long time, but perhaps I was reaching the age where I wasn't sure. Every year, the Tallahassee Democrat reprinted the famous editorial by Frances Church: Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Clause. And I still love that editorial so very much, and I think it is a wonderful thing to read aloud. Now I'm thinking and I'm, like, would that be a fun little episode From the Front Porch to just read to you Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Clause. I think it could be. I might do that. Anyway, I just love that editorial so much. My dad showed it to me. I don't know if the Tallahassee Democrat that was our local paper still print that editorial every year. But he showed it to me and it made a deep and profound impact. It also made an impact on my faith. Anyway, I really love that and I think it'd be fun to read aloud to your family. Here are some other quick recommendations. A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas. There's a lovely new edition of that just in a little paperback format that we have at the store and I love it. A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote is kind of a collection of his favorite kind of childhood memories growing up particularly in the South. But I think Truman Capote is a fabulous writer and this is a fun little collection.
[00:45:33] Of course, I cannot do a holiday episode of anything without saying Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson is such a fun, fun book and would be such a fun read aloud. Jordan and I have read that aloud. We don't even have children and we have read that aloud together and had a really good time with it and I bet your family would too. I also own the book Miracle on 10th Street by Madeleine L'Engle. This is a lovely collection of her essays and her poetry, all revolving around Advent and Christmas and the Incarnation. She's a Christian author. I really love that book, and I think there are a lot of jewels in there to find. We at The Bookshelf have a new collection that I love and it's shaped like a picture book, so it's kind of larger format. It's got this great cover with a nutcracker on it, and it's called a Treasury of Family Christmas Poems. It's a little thin book put out by Union Square Kids, and I think it's great for a coffee table and great for flipping through. It has little snippets and excerpts of famous Christmas stories, favorite Christmas poems, and I think would be a really fun family keepsake. And then last but not least, the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse I think is a lovely, more wintry and feel good selection that would cross boundaries of religion and personal tastes. I think anybody would love this book and would love to flip through its pages and look through its illustrations and also read it aloud together. I think this would be a really sweet book to start reading as a family during the holiday season. Julie I hope these are fun little things to add to your own family traditions. I love this idea very much and it was fun to come up with this list.
Nameless [00:47:10] Hi, Annie. My question comes from an idea I have to start a new holiday reading tradition for the week between Christmas and New Year's, when I usually have a bit more time for reading. Inspired by your annual author goal and past years of reading Harry Potter during the holiday season, I was thinking that it could be fun to try something new, so my idea is to pick an author whose backlist I want to get into and read a book or two each holiday season. Then the next year I could continue with the same author until I'm ready to switch it up. Ideally, I'd be looking for an author with a decent backlist character-driven books and cozy, quiet or family vibes. Off the top of my head, I was thinking Elizabeth Strout might be a good place to start, but would love your thoughts on any authors and books to try out this idea with. Thank you so much.
Annie Jones [00:48:00] I thought this would be such a fun way to round out this edition of Literary Therapy, because I love the idea of creating a new holiday tradition and kind of setting aside that span of time. For me, the span of time between New Year's and Christmas is not maybe quite as relaxed as other people's, but there is a span of time at the very start of the new year that does feel a little bit like this. And I love the idea of having a tradition of getting cozy on your couch with a new to you author and maybe rediscovering that author every year with a work that they've written. I really love this idea quite a bit and I like that it's kind of a play on an author's year because, full disclosure, I have not been successful this year with my Toni Morrison year. I was successful in that I read Beloved, which had been on my TBR list for a really long time, but it was hard to sustain some of these year long traditions or resolutions in a year that about halfway through fell a bit apart. And so I like the idea of instead devoting a week or two to an author and then revisiting them the following year around the same time. I think this is lovely. So great idea. Your immediate author thought was my exact author thoughts. Before I finish listening to your question, I was like, yes, Elizabeth Strout. Cozy, quiet, family vibes. Perfect. So you and I are on the same page. I think Elizabeth Strout is a great option here, and she has an extensive backlist that I think would be a joy to read through. Marilynne Robinson obviously came to mind. You've heard me talk about her quite a bit. I think she and Elizabeth Strout are in the same vein. I also thought about Jacqueline Woodson. I don't know if you have children, but what could be really fun about this is Jacqueline Woodson has written adult novels, picture books, chapter books, young adult novels, poetry. She kind of runs the gamut in terms of genre, which could make this really fun for your own project.
[00:50:00] But if you wanted to incorporate other members of your family at all, like maybe you want to read a Jacqueline Woodson book while your goddaughter reads a Jacqueline Woodson book or something, I think that could be really fun. I like that there's a wide range of genres here, right? Whereas Elizabeth Strout is all fiction, Marilynne Robinson does have some nonfiction, which I think adds a fun element. But Jacqueline Woodson I just thought, oh, that could be really interesting because you've got some different genres to play with in her work. Maggie Shipstead and Jennifer Close, their lists are shorter but very enjoyable authors who I think would be really fun to read and a really fun but but short backlist to explore. Okay. And I mentioned her at the top of the episode, but I am very curious about her because, gosh, our customers love her. Rosamunde Pilcher. I just am not familiar with her work. I'm familiar enough with it to be able to sell it. But she is not someone I have read and so she would be somebody I would be super curious about. James Baldwin is an author who I'm considering for one of my year author choices. Wendell Berry is who I want to read in 2023. And I thought Wendell Berry and Madeline L'Engle would be lovely authors to spend time with during the winter season as well. So Wendell Berry and Madeline L'Engle, I think kind of round out that list. So Elizabeth Strout, Marilynne Robinson, Jacqueline Woodson, Maggie Shipstead, Jennifer Close, Rosamunde Pilcher, Wendell Berry, James Baldwin and Madeline L'Engle. And that way you get some classics, but you also get modern lit. I don't know. I'm really excited about this. This is another one that I would love a report back on. I kind of like establishing this tradition. And what a fun way to kind of make use of your time in of the year. How delightful.
[00:51:48] This week, what I'm reading is brought to you by Visit Thomasville. Spend Christmas in Thomasville. There's something truly special about the holiday season in Thomasville, Georgia. From shopping for those must have presents for everyone on your list, the twinkling lights, sparkling window displays and tempting smells wafting from restaurants all add to the festive feeling of the season. From downtown hotels to delightful vacation rentals, book your getaway to Thomasville and add a little more sparkle to your holidays. This week is Victorian Christmas in Thomasville, which I have been talking about for what feels like months because it has been months and we are so excited. But if you are missing Victorian Christmas, I want to stress to you how many other delightful opportunities there are to shop and enjoy downtown Thomasville and perhaps even enjoy a less crowded downtown Thomasville and that includes Sunday shopping hours. So if you have ever visited a beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, you know nothing happens on Sunday. And you know what? I'm not going to apologize for that because it is really nice to have a break and for our staff to have a break on Sundays. But for a tourist, that can be a bummer, right? There are very few restaurants that are open. Our friends at Empire Bagel are always open and our friends at Sass are always open on Sundays. But certainly there are fewer restaurants, fewer shops, so things are a little quiet. That is not the case in December in downtown Thomasville.
[00:53:12] So Sundays in December, most shops and many restaurants are open in downtown Thomasville. And I find it to be such a great time to catch up on Christmas shopping, to just walk downtown and enjoy the atmosphere, to look at the window displays. There are lots of fun things going on in Thomasville, but I think perhaps the most hidden of gems is this idea that we are open in downtown Thomasville on Sundays. And so you're looking to drive up from Tallahassee and you're accustomed to driving up from Tallahassee on Sundays and nothing's happening. What a delightful change for you that, yes, we are open Sundays in December in Thomasville. The Bookshelf is open 12:00 to 4:00, but most other shops and restaurants are at least open 1:00 to 5:00 and so it could be a really fun little day trip from nearby locales. Or if you're looking to stay the weekend, you don't have to worry about things being closed up on Sunday. So if you are looking for something to do this holiday season that is a little lower key and maybe you missed your opportunity to come to Victorian Christmas, never fear. Come shop with us. Come eat with us on Sundays in downtown Thomasville.
[00:54:23] This week I am reading The Sense of Wonder by Matthew Salesses. Thank you again to our sponsor, Visit Thomasville. To find out more about how you can visit Thomasville, go to Thomasvillega.com.
[00:54:37] From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram @Bookshelftville and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website: Bookshelfthomasville.com A full transcript of today's episode can be found at from the Frontporchpodcast.com.
[00:54:59] Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music which sets the perfect, warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
[00:55:08] Our executive producers of today's episode are Donna Hetchler, Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle C.
Executive Producers (Read their own names) [00:55:14] Nicole Marsee. Wendy Jenkins. Laurie Johnson. Kate Johnston Tucker.
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