Episode 408 || Literary Therapy, Vol. 19

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.

Our new website will be live on Friday, January 20! You can purchase books mentioned in today’s episode in the store or on our website starting January 20:

Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly (unavailable to order)

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

But You Did Not Come Back by Marceline Loridan-Ivens (unavailable order)
Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker (unavailable to order)

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Brainwaite

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb (unavailable to order)
Glitter & Glue by Kelly Corrigan (unavailable to order)
My Name Is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

One More Thing by BJ Novak (unavailable to order)

Single, Carefree, and Mellow by Katherine Heiny (unavailable to order)

Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close (unavailable to order)
My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King
A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee

Maus by Art Spiegalman
Displacement by Lucy Knisley (unavailable to order)
Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto (unavailable to order)
And Now I Spill the Family Secrets by Margaret Kimball (unavailable to order)
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall

Audition by Barbara Walters
I Miss You When I Blink and Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott
Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethaway
Beautiful Country by Quian Julie Wang
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker (unavailable to order)
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Spare by Prince Harry
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
Finding Me by Viola Davis
Chasing History by Charles Bernstein

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 Spare by Prince Harry.

If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. 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, Kate O’Connell, Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, and Laurie Johnson.

Transcript:

Annie Jones [00:00:01] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South.  

[00:00:24] "For me, becoming isn't about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn't end." Michelle Obama. Becoming.  

[00:00:46] 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, just in time for your New Year's reading resolutions and dilemmas. Before we get started, I wanted to remind you in case you weren't aware, that our bookstore is in the middle of a website change. Yes, again. But that's okay, we're doing it. And as a result, our website has been down for the month of January. Now, barring catastrophe, which I do think we are all mentally prepared for in a post-pandemic world, things should be back up and running on January 20th. Until then, you can still head to Bookshelfthomasville.com to purchase Shelf Subscriptions and winter Literary Lunch tickets. Our Winter Lit Lunch--  this is our virtual webinar about our favorite titles-- releasing this season is scheduled for Thursday, January 26th, and tickets are $15. Those tickets are still available for purchase at Bookshelfthomasville.com.  

[00:01:52] The Winter Lit lunch comes with a PDF of my favorite titles, as well as a recording of the webinar in case you can't attend live. Now, back to the task at hand. Every few weeks I dive into the metaphorical mailbag and peruse your writerly hang ups and bookish conundrums like a literary Frasier Crane tackling your issues on air. If you have your own writerly riddle you'd like me to solve in a future episode, you can leave me a voicemail on the From the Front Porch website. That's fromthefrontporchpodcast.com/contact. There's also a link in the show notes. You'll scroll until you see the orange button on that page that says 'START RECORDING', click or tap there and voila. You can leave me a voicemail. Just tell me your name and where you're from. I asked on Instagram for your writerly dilemmas revolving around New Year's reading resolutions or intentions you've set for your reading Life in 2023, and you all delivered. We have quite a few voicemails, and I want to be respectful and mindful of everyone's time and the length of this episode. So let's get started.  

Cindy [00:03:01] This is Cindy from Port St. Lucie. And my 2023 reading conundrum is how to fit everything in my devotional, something motivational or inspirational book on grief, because I'm still going through some grieving. And then the various books that I'm reading like Bleak House, Little Women, and Sharon Says So. So those are my things-- just how to stick to my schedule? I mean, sometimes I just get overwhelmed and then I get behind and then it's like, oh my God, there's so much to catch up. Thank you.  

Annie Jones [00:03:39] Cindy, I wanted to start with your dilemma, because I think you speak for a lot of readers and a lot of people with varied interests who are looking at their lists, their reading lists, their TBR lists, just their list perhaps of media consumption in general and they're thinking, who has the time? How can I consume all the things I want to consume in the limited amount of time that I have? And so I wanted to start with your question, because my first recommendation to everyone on today's episode, because there did seem to be kind of a theme to people's dilemmas more or less, there seemed to be this theme of I have a lot of reading to do and what do I do? So I want to encourage everyone, if you can, to listen to a different podcast. It's a podcast episode of Ezra Klein's podcast, which actually I do not listen to regularly, but I just might now because my article club earlier this month read the transcript and listened to the episode of the Ezra Klein podcast, where he interviews Marianne Wolfe. Marianne Wolfe is a professor and educator; she's also the author of a book called Reader Come Home, which I really do hope to read this year after hearing her interview. But she talks about the concept of deep reading. And what we find ourselves most often doing now, and I am especially guilty, is skim reading. And the difference between deep reading and skim reading and what it does to our brains and how different ways of reading and the different ways we read are just as important as what we're reading. And so I would encourage everybody to listen to that podcast or go read that transcript because I thought it was a fabulous interview. I've actually listened to the podcast twice now, and I may listen to it a third time because I found it so rich and full of helpful information if you are crafting out a writerly life, which Cindy I think that you are.  

[00:05:40] So Maryanne Wolf in this podcast episode talks about the idea of book ending. So she talks about starting her day-- and this is in order to kind of get her brain maybe deep reading instead of skim reading. She starts her day with about 20 minutes of reading something of substance, meaning something that's perhaps nonfiction or something that she's kind of working through, and then she ends her day with 20 minutes or more of a palate cleanser. She does not use that term. I'm using that term. But she says something that will clear the cobwebs, clear out, scrub away the rest of her day. And so she recommends, for example, Wendell Berry essays or something like that, because the goal isn't to stay up all night reading, although sometimes that is a very fun thing to do, but it's really to kind of close her day. So she starts and ends her day with reading, which I think Cindy is something that could work for you, where you start your day with some nonfiction. Perhaps it's your devotional book, perhaps it's a Sharon Says So pick and you start with about 20 minutes or so of that. And then throughout your day, you have other things going on, right? You may not have time to devote to just reading all day long, but you know at the end of the day you're going to end with 20 minutes or more of kind of palate cleansers. For me right now, this is Little Women. I read my chapter of Little Women at the end of every day. It's like as I'm going to bed, it's become part of my nightly routine and I love it. Cindy is reading along with our Little Women Book Club, which you can find more out about on the Cheer Her On website.  

[00:07:24] But we're reading Little Women, we're reading one chapter a day through about mid-February. So I'm going to really miss reading Little Women when it's all said and done. But I've already thought, well, what can I replicate and put in its place? And I think what I will do is read a Wendell Berry essay, because this is my Wendell Berry year. This is the year I wanted to devote to reading some of his work. So I thought, oh, well, this is an example Marianne Wolff gives. He's probably a somewhat soothing writer, and so that's how I'm going to end my day as soon as I finish Little Women. But I find Little Women to be a really lovely way to bookend or to close out my day, and you might too, Cindy The other suggestion I have for you, and this does not come from Maryanne Wolf this comes from my own reading life, is have you thought about changing formats? For example, I read a lot of those Sharon Says So nonfiction books. I listen to those-- not always, but often. I'm listening to the Stacy Schiff nonfiction book about Samuel Adams. I listened to previously Chanel Miller's Know My Name, which is another Sharon Says So pick. Last year I listened to the Anthropocene Reviewed, which was a Sharon Says So pick. So a lot of her books do lend themselves, I think, to audio reading. Now, if you're trying to do super deep reading, that might not work for you and you may need to do both. So I listened to River of the Gods by Candice Millard, but I also accompanied it with physical reading because I was leading a book club conversation about it. So I listened to it and I also had a physical copy where I could kind of mark it up, make notes. And so that might work for you where you're listening to some of these more heavy or even just sometimes I think nonfiction lends itself better to audiobook listening. That could just be me. But I'm thinking maybe you listen to your devotional, you listen to your nonfiction book, and that might change it up for you enough where you're not so overwhelmed.  

[00:09:26] I also want to recommend one last thing, which is it sounds like a lot of what you're reading right now. It's for Sharon Says So, for Little Women Book Club, for Conquer a classic where you're reading Bleak House, which means you're reading a lot in snippets and sections, which I think is great, but it may be taking away from like your sense of accomplishment. And it would be my suggestion to then read some fiction, which I'm sure you do. Read and interject some fiction into your daily reading so that you're finishing something. Little women's not going to be done for another month. Bleak House isn't going to be finished until the end of the year. Sharon Says So books take a little bit longer to finish though. Sharon Says So book club books, which you can find out more about on Sharon McMahon's website. But those books take a little bit longer. So injecting your life with some fiction reading that you can finish more quickly, I think will also help you because it will make you feel like, oh yes, I did finish something. It'll give you that sense of completion, that sense of accomplishment. That may not be important to you. It is a little bit important to me. And so that may also be helpful as you're trying to kind of read all of these things, but you're also looking around thinking, but I didn't finish anything.  

[00:10:43] So Cindy those are my recommendations for you. Again, I wanted to start with your question because I think a lot of people, even if they're not reading Sharon Says So or reading Little Women or Conquering a Classic with us, there are lots of readerly obligations I think some of us have, whether it's because of goals we've set or because of book clubs we're in. And so how are we supposed to balance all of this? Then there are other readers for whom this isn't a big deal at all because there's a lot going on and so they're reading one book a week and that's their goal or whatever. But I do think a lot of our listeners fall in your category, Cindy, where there's a lot to read and not enough time in the day. And I would encourage you to maybe try this recommendation by Marianne Wolff, where you're kind of bookending your day and also consider maybe adding additional formats into your reading life. So I hope that is helpful as you embark on your 2023 reading.  

Carrie [00:11:36] This is Carrie Foster from North Carolina. One goal that I want to incorporate into 2023 is reading more books. And one way I think I could do that is if I read them faster. I hear you and your guests talk about being able to finish certain books within one sitting and I have never been able to do that. I am gravitating more towards some shorter books that are less than 300 pages, which are probably some of the books that you are able to read in one sitting. And I was hoping you could give me tips for how to do that. How can I finish these books in one sitting? Even if I'm interested in them, I typically am taking up to three days or four days to finish a book. So how can I be faster?  

Annie Jones [00:12:18] Carrie, the first thing I want you to know is that it's okay to not be a fast reader. In fact, not to once again reference that Ezra Klein/Marianne Wolfe interview, it might be better. And so I just want to gently encourage you that you don't have to be a fast reader. You don't have to finish a book in a day. That is not necessarily an admirable thing. In fact, is it an admirable thing? I really don't know. Do authors like that I finish their book quickly? Probably not. So I do want to take that pressure off. However, if you're interested, because you just want to, right? You want to be able to say that you did. You finished a book in a day or you finished a book in one sitting. If that is still important to you or of interest to you, then I do have some recommendations. The first is to put your phone on airplane mode. I think our phones are just the number one distraction from a reading life, and I am guilty as charged. I'm working hard this year to keep my phone in its place, metaphorical and physical. And so I think putting your phone on airplane mode for an hour, for 2 hours, you would be amazed, I think, at how much you're able to read when you're not constantly checking your phone for the time or constantly flipping over your phone to see if anybody's texted you or if you've missed a call. I just even think if you're not addicted to your phone, if you're not like me, I still think there's a high likelihood that you're looking at your phone during your reading time. And so I would encourage you to put your phone on airplane mode. I would also encourage you to give yourself the gift of time. So maybe you say to yourself-- and this is hard to do, but maybe say to yourself, I really want to finish a book this weekend, so I'm not doing anything on Sunday afternoon. Maybe you even put in your Google calendar or you put in your planner reading day. Today is my reading day.  

[00:14:14] And that way you know you're not doing anything else. Whether it's a span of 8 hours or 4 hours or 2 hours, you're not doing anything else but reading this book. You have given yourself the gift of time. I see people on Instagram-- I'm trying to think of who I've seen do this, but I know I've seen it where somebody carves out a day and almost does an old fashioned readathon but just with themselves. They're just at their house reading, but they've set aside the day to read, which I have never done before. But it sounds glorious and I'm paying attention because I do think that is something I might really enjoy. And so, Carrie, maybe that's something you might enjoy. Maybe you want to set aside a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to be your reading day. So put your phone on airplane mode. Give yourself the gift of time. Pick short books. Pick a short book. You're not trying to finish Bleak House in a day, right? You want to finish a book. It doesn't matter how long it is. And so I have some very short books for you that are very compelling, because not all short books are compelling. And some short books are dense. Some of the most dense books I've ever read are short books. And so this isn't just about length. This is about what the book is about, the context of the book, the setting of the book. This is about the plot of the book being short in page length, and also in the time it's going to take you to read it.  

[00:15:42] My first recommendation is Heating and Cooling. This is a micro memoir collection by Beth Ann Fennelly. I adored this book so much that I risked choosing it as a Shelf Subscription years ago. And by risk, I mean it's a very short little book and I was worried people would think they weren't getting their money's worth out of the Shelf Subscription. But let me assure you, you are getting your money's worth. This is a beautiful book. Unique. I've never read anything like it, full of micro memoirs, meaning some of them are two or three pages, some of them are a paragraph, some of them are one line. And it is rich and beautiful, exquisitely done, but super short. You Carrie can finish this. You can finish this in one sitting. You can. You can do it. It's so short, but it packs a punch. I don't want you missing something just because you're trying to read quickly or just because you want to read a book in one sitting. You still want to read good books, right? It's not just about finishing a crappy book in one sitting. You want to finish a good book. So Heating and Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly. I'm sure most readers would agree, but 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, is a fantastic short book that I think you could easily read in one sitting. It's an epistolary novel, so it's written in letter format and it's very charming. Would be a lovely book to start your year with because I find it to be very cozy and British. That is 84 Charing Cross Road. And then a book that I read last year actually on recommendation of a podcast listener was the book But You Did Not Come Back.  

[00:17:18] This is by Marceline Loridan-Ivens, and this is set post World War Two where a daughter is kind of looking back at the family that she lost. So again, this is not light reading. This is not reading that won't make you feel things. Short books can be just as compelling as long books. And I guess if you're trying to incorporate time in your reading life to set aside to read a book in one sitting, I think this is where I would start, where the books are beautiful, the books are compelling, but they're not super long, and so you're not going to get bogged down in them. They're also easy to read. I read all of these books so quickly and thoroughly enjoyed each and every one. The other category of book I would try here is your compelling book, meaning your thriller. I think about Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica, which is a book I read recently in a sitting or two or two. My Sister The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Brainwaite. These are books that you're going to finish very quickly because you want to know what happens. It's almost like I have some opinions on White Lotus on HBO that I think might be different from other people's. But I think part of the reason those shows were so compelling to people and people became so obsessed with them is because in the opening episode you know someone is dead. Someone has been murdered. Someone has been killed. And so you then sit through the whole rest of the series because you want to find out what happens. A good thriller is like that, right? From page one you know something has happened and then you really don't want to get up. You really don't want to get up until you've figured it out, until you've finished it. And not every thriller is like that, but I do think Local Woman Missing is one I've recently read that I can say is a one sit read or one to two sit read. And then My Sister The Serial Killer is another one that I just from the moment I opened it, I thought, oh, gosh, I'm not going to be able to get up.  

[00:19:16] I also want to say a couple of other books that I either read in one sitting or desperately wanted to read in one sitting. One is The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. I adored that book. I remember exactly where I was. I had plopped myself on my couch in our house in Tallahassee, and I did not get up until I finished that book. And Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro which is a more recent new release. I love that book and easily could have finished it in one sitting, but just did not have the time at that moment to do so. So those are books that would lend themselves. And I keep saying one sitting. I'm not sure you were even looking for one sit reads so much as you were looking for books that you could finish quickly so you could say I finished a book in a day. And again I'm going to close with the same encouragement I started with. You don't have to be a fast reader. My mom is not a fast reader, but like you, I think she really did desperately want to finish a book in a day because she heard me talk about that. You'd have to go back and listen to her podcast episodes, but I am pretty sure within the last year she read a book in a day and it brought her so much joy. And so I want it to be joyous for you and fun for you that you get to set aside some reading time and you're so compelled by a book that you just have to finish. So I hope these recommendations work for you. Don't forget to put your phone on airplane mode and don't forget to give yourself some time and snacks. Snacks are crucial. So stock your pantry with some snacks and have so much fun.  

Julie [00:20:49] Hello, my name is Julie and I'm calling from Oregon. And my New Year's reading conundrum is getting back into the swing of reading after a very difficult December. My mother died unexpectedly on December six, and so Christmas and the holidays was very different and very difficult this year. So I would love recommendations for shorter books. And additionally, if they have a mother-daughter theme, that would be wonderful. I appreciate your help and I hope you're having a happy New Year. Thank you.  

Annie Jones [00:21:21] Julie, I am so sorry about your mom. What a horrible way to end your year. And now you are going into 2023 holding grief you probably weren't expecting to hold and I'm sorry about that. But I love that you want to start your year thinking about your mom and reading books that might potentially remind you of her, but also knowing that reading books is going to be a challenge. Grief makes our brains fuzzy, and it makes tasking hard. And reading, even if it's enjoyable, is a form of tasking. It's something we're doing. We're not passively reading these books. Reading is an active activity and so I wanted to be mindful of that. And I did not want to bombard you with a giant list of books. I've got three. I have three mother-daughter books that I think are short enough and compelling enough that they might gently start your reading year without feeling too overwhelming, too sad. Although I do think these books will make you feel things, but I hope they also provide you with some comfort. So the first book is My name is Lucy Barton. This is by Elizabeth Strout. I love Elizabeth Strout. You could almost read any of her books, and I think it could potentially fall into this category of mother daughter reads and compelling shorter reads. I think all of Elizabeth Strout's works that I've read are so beautiful. I've almost read them all. And this one though is a mother-daughter story. And I think if you've never read Elizabeth Strout, it's a lovely place to start. My friend Erin just started with this book, and now she wants to read all of Elizabeth Strout's works. And so I think it's a wonderful place to start. And then if you've already read Elizabeth Strout, this might be one you've missed or it could be one worth revisiting now that you're in a different place in your life, right? Your life has changed. And so this book might hit you differently this time around. So that's My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout.  

[00:23:23] The second is a book I read a long time ago, but I really loved it called Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan. This is a book about mothers and daughters. It's also a book about fathers and daughters. It's a memoir. She's writing about her relationship with her mom and her relationship with her dad. And if I'm not mistaken, it's been a long time, but I am 90 percent sure I'm remembering this correctly, where she felt like her dad was the glitter. Her dad was the fun parent who sprinkled fun over everything, but her mom was the glue and she needed her mom. You need glue to have glitter. And so I look back on this book with a lot of fondness. All of these books I'm telling you about are books that are on my bookcase. I don't keep every book I read. So when I keep a book, it does mean something. And this is a book I've treasured. I read it a few years ago and really loved it, and I suspect you might too. And then the last book is also a memoir. I wept while reading this book, so that is your fair warning. But I also laughed out loud. It is Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb. Now this is a granddaughter-grandmother story. However, the mother in this book is equally interesting and compelling. And really it's a generational story. This is such an unusually done, beautifully done memoir, but very original, where Beth Kalb is writing from the perspective of her grandmother. Her grandmother has recently died and she's remembering her grandmother's voice. And so she writes this memoir from her grandmother's perspective, which means you get a lot of insight into the female relationships that are exist in this family. The mother-daughter relationship through multi generations, I guess. I keep thinking of Gilmore Girls: the Emily, the Lorelai and the Rory. You get all three. I absolutely adored this book. I had a very meaningful relationship with both of my grandmothers. And so this book means a lot to me, and I suspect it might mean a lot to you too. And again, even if you've already read it, I think would be worth trying now in a different life stage and in a different season of your life. So my name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan, and Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb. I hope these books bring you joy, allow you perhaps a cathartic cry and bring you comfort.  

Chrisse [00:25:55] Hey, Annie. My name's Chrisse. New Year's reading conundrum, here it is. Now, I love on the one hand the open possibility of a fresh reading here. But on the other hand, coming in hot from a year with my biggest reading sets ever, when I log on to my reading tracking website of choice and see the number zero, it's a little depressing. So I'm wondering what your favorite tips and tricks are for kind of juicing your stat early in the year. My favorite go to is to read a whole stack of stellar graphic novels. I've pumped out seven so far this year, but I would love to hear what else you might suggest. So my usual go to’s would be short stories. I'm poetry curious. Essay collections, I would be especially interested to hear maybe find new snacky reads coming out in January or February, or maybe some older titles that you haven't talked to us here on the podcast about previously. Thanks so much Annie.  

Annie Jones [00:26:58] Chrisse, I admit that I laughed. I love the phrase juicing your reading stats. It just reminded me of like putting your reading life on steroids. I don't know. It made me laugh out loud. So thank you so much. This was an interesting conundrum for me to tackle because Chrisse, I ended my reading year feeling a little bit differently. I read 122 books and that was the same amount, unintentionally, I read in 2021. But I ended 2022 thinking, I don't need to read this much. I don't need to read this many books. My brain just felt like I had overloaded it by the end of 2022. Now that may not be entirely due to reading, that may be due to things going on in work and life. But it was interesting to hear your perspective and how I started my reading year thinking, oh, phew, back to ground zero. But you started your reading year feeling a little bummed out by being back down to zero. So this was an interesting reading conundrum for me to think about. So you've already heard me recommend to carry some short reads books that you can finish in one or two sittings. I suspect those would be great for you to kind of "juice your reading stats" or just to get back in the reading rhythm, because I do think after December a lot of us feel like where am I supposed to start? What am I supposed to start the year reading? There's almost a little bit of pressure with January and with what we're supposed to read this month. So those short books might work for you. But you specifically said something about short story collections, and I will agree with you here. Sometimes my reading life in January feels like it's time to refocus. Like December I was a little bit all over the place, and now it's time to center myself and to refocus. I've not had a ton of luck with books in this new year. I've read a couple that I really love, and then I've read some that I'm like, meh, that's fine.  

[00:28:57] But I picked up Katherine Heiny's upcoming short story collection called Games and Rituals. This releases in April, and I am loving it. I love it because it's short stories, I can read one and then put it down to go do laundry, to finish a work task. It is great for reading throughout a day, for picking up and putting down, but all of the stories thus far have been very compelling. So I think you're on to something with incorporating short story collections into your reading life in the early part of this year. So I have some recommendations for you. Of course, Games and Rituals doesn't release until April. But Katherine Heiny, people may not be familiar, she started in short stories. So one of my favorite collections of last few years is a book called Single, Carefree and Mellow. This is a book by Katherine Heiny that I absolutely loved. I do want you to know all of the characters in the book are single, carefree and mellow. They're not mellow, they're not all carefree, but they are all single. And so this is a book that deals a lot with marital relationships, with finding love, if I recall there is perhaps some infidelity with figuring out who you are. So that is kind of the title of that collection really does encapsulate what the collection is about. I also love-- and I've recommended it many times before on the podcast, but I stand by my appreciation for it, and it's One More Thing by BJ Novak. Great backlist title. I think people might think, oh, he's a TV writer (The Office)  that's the reason he's famous. Well, sure, but The Office was a really great show and he wrote for it. And so I think we can kind of trust what's coming out of his pen. And I really loved this short story collection. So that's a good backlist title as well as Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close. I like Jennifer Close a lot, but again perhaps she's an author where you've read her fiction or her novels but you've not read her short stories. And so Girls in White Dresses would be a great place to start. One of my other favorite collections of the last few years is My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson. This book would be such a fast read, but it is so good because I think that's what I want to remember when we talk about short books. When we talk about short books, we're not talking about short books that aren't good, we're talking about excellent short books. These authors who are somehow able to pack a punch to utilize beautiful prose without an increased page count. So My Monticello certainly falls in that category. I loved this book. It will leave you thinking about a lot of things.  

[00:31:36] And then Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King, which is a great book to start your winter with. I adored this book when it came out a year or two ago, and I think it makes for lovely January, February reading. And, Chrisse, I feel like perhaps you are a children's librarian. Is that creepy? Maybe that's not even true. I don't know. So I wanted to suggest kid lit. That's not something you mentioned in your voicemail, but I do think kid Lit is a great way to couch your reading stats if you're trying to get your numbers up. Read kid lit because kid lit is great. Good kid lit is just as great and just as meaningful and just as powerful as adult literature. And you can probably-- because you're an adult reader-- read it more quickly. So two that were best sellers for the BBookshelf this past year and that Olivia read and loved and that I have added to my own TBR are a Rovers Story by Jasmine Warga and Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee. Those were two of our middle grade bestsellers at the Bookshelf this year. They're books Olivia read and loved, our Dumbledore's Army Group read and loved. And of the books that were in our best seller list, these are the two that I've added to my TBR. You also mentioned poetry, and one thing I wanted to suggest to you is because you are new to poetry-- and look, not all poetry is for me. I am not the world's best poetry reader. Sometimes I just miss a classroom setting and reading poetry is when I often miss a teacher. But I think you could take Kate Baer, for example-- probably somebody you're very familiar with. But Kate Baer's poetry or Wendell Berry's poetry. And what if you read a poem a day? Look, this won't necessarily immediately juice your reading stats, but what it will do is in a couple of months, you'll all of a sudden get to add a book to your finished pile because you were reading it steadily, one poem at a time. I will give the example I finished this month. Margaret Wrinkle's most recent essay collection or her collection of her newspaper columns, and I think it's called Grace Landed Last. And I finished it. I'm counting it obviously as a book that I read this month, but I read 98 percent of it in 2021. I just had like three columns that I hadn't finished and I was going through books on my shelf and pulled that one and realized, oh my gosh, I never finished this, pulled it, read the last three essays and bada bing bada boom, a book added to my 2023 stats. So if you want to boost those stats, maybe read a poem every day and by the end of January, or by the end of February, you'll have finished a book that you kind of weren't even considering counting. Do you know what I mean? So this was super fun to think about and a very different way for me to think about reading. So I loved answering this question, and I hope you found these tips helpful.  

Hallie [00:34:36] Hi, Annie. This is Hallie in North Carolina. Last year you very kindly helped me solve a reading conundrum, and I'm hoping you will do the same for me this year. I have discovered I generally love books that win or are shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and have decided to attempt to read them all. So here is my dilemma. Do I start from the very beginning and read them all in order or do I skip around based on what my mood is? And then the other question is what if I've already read a title? Do I reread it? Do I skip the ones that I read in a recent time frame? I just don't know what to do. And I would love your help. Thanks so much.  

Annie Jones [00:35:22] Hallie this is so fun. And it, of course, reminds me of my friend Hunter's project where he's reading, as most of you listeners know by now, the National Book Award longlist. And he really did start from the beginning, and he's been chronicling his reading and his thoughts on his readings through a Substack newsletter, which I do highly recommend. And I'm not just saying that because he's my friend, he's an excellent writer. And the way Hunter thinks about books is so complex and so interesting and so humble. And I love reading his thoughts on these books especially. So he's doing the NBA version of what it sounds like you want to do. So he's reading the National Book Award longlist. He started from the beginning. I sense it sounds like you are reading not just the winners, but you're reading the short lists. Then here's what I would do, I would start from the beginning. That's how my brain works. That would make me feel like I've actually embarked on a project because there's a starting point and an ending point. And so if you are like me, Hallie, I would start from the beginning. And because you're reading the short list and not just the winners, you can add serendipity back in by not caring what order you read the shortlist in. Okay. So for example, let's say you read the 1996 short list, like that's what you're going to read in January or February. That's what's going to read first. I would say, yes, that's the year you're going to start with. You're going to start with the first year the award was out there, but you have four or five or six books to kind of choose from and so that allows for some mood reading to me because the great thing about the women's prize for fiction is there are a lot of different books, a lot of different styles. There's fantasy. There's historical fiction. There's literary fiction. There's a wide range of genres on this list. And so if you're reading the short list, that gives you room for serendipity, but you can add structure by reading in order of the year. So you're reading in order by year, but you're mixing it up by letting your mood guide you in your reading life, so you're still adding serendipity and structure.  

[00:37:36] I also would say, do not read books you've already read unless you actually want to. I don't see the need for it. Unless you just loved a book and you want to read it again, you've already read it, you've already done it, you've already checked it off your list. In fact, if I were you, I'd have a giant list or spreadsheet or planner page, something that I was working off of, and I'd literally go ahead and like highlight those, checkbox those, you've already read those. Good job, you did it. If you want to reread it just because, fine. But there is no need to reread them because your goal is just to read the Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist titles, which you've already done some of. So I would not personally read books you've already read unless you really want to revisit them. And if you want to revisit them, go for it. And then if you do choose to skip around-- like I like having that structure of I'm going to read in order by year. I like that. I think that's what Hunter's doing for his National Book Award. He may have skipped around a little bit, but I think he mostly has kept to that structure of year by year. If you don't want to read in order by year, the other thing that could be fun is to tell yourself what are some significant years? So I don't know. For example, maybe you got married in the year 2000, so you start there. Or maybe you got your first job in 2004 and so you're going to start there. I think that could be really fun, like picking years that are meaningful to you personally and then reading through that year. If you want to mix it up a little bit, that could be something that you do. But if I were in your shoes and I do think this is such a fun-- I love this project. I love projects, and if this were my project, I would read an order by year, leave some mood reading and some reading up to chance by letting my mood guide me through the short list but reading year by year and then not rereading books I've already read. That's how I would do it. This sounds delightful and fun. The books you're going to read, I mean, these books are so good. I think that's the great part about reading through-- I mean, you're going to occasionally find a dud, I'm sure. But reading through these award winning books, I think you're going to be disappointed only rarely, right? And so what a beautiful reading year you're about to have. A few years, right? This looks like a lengthy project to me. I could be wrong, but I hope you have the best time. That's how I would do it if I were doing it.  

Lisa [00:39:59] Hi, Annie, this is Lisa. I'm calling from the middle of North Carolina. Here is my dilemma for the New Year. So in the end of last year, I discovered that I really like graphic novels. However, as a middle aged woman, I found that a lot of the graphic novels are geared toward young adults. So specifically, I liked the graphic novel Ducks by Kate Beaton, and I liked another novel called A Career in Books. So I'm wondering what else is out there that might be appealing to me as someone who is in the middle of life and enjoys graphic novels, not always with folks in their twenties, but maybe a little bit older. Thanks so much. I really enjoy your podcast.  

Annie Jones [00:40:43] Lisa, this is also very fun. I love incorporating graphic novels into your reading. Chrisse, I think this could be helpful for you too. But you are right, Lisa. A lot of graphic novels-- no, not all, but a lot of graphic novels are dealing with coming of age stories. Of course, we get a lot of young adult and middle grade kind of kid lit written in graphic novel format. But there are also a lot of beautiful graphic novels. But you're right, they're just dealing with themes that are, yeah, coming of age, for lack of a better term. I think about Blankets by Craig Thomson. Like these are just really beautiful works, but they're not dealing with older protagonists. And so I really thought a lot about this. I did some research because this is outside my comfort zone. I read the occasional graphic novel, but it is not my wheelhouse per se. However, there are a few that we have either done well with at the Bookshelf or I've heard wonderful things about, and I thought I would recommend them here. So the first is quite obvious, and the reason I'm recommending it is because it's a banned book (insert thoughts and opinions about that here) and it is Maus by Art Spiegelman. If you've not read it yet, I do think it would be a great place to start to remind yourself about supporting banned literature and to ask yourself why are certain books banned and certain books aren't? Because this book it's been on the banned books list for a long time in various parts of the country. But it made news, I think, most recently because of some censoring of it that was occurring in schools in Tennessee. So Maus by Art Spiegelman. One of our staffers, Caroline, just read this, and if you've never read it, I think now would be a great time to do so.  

[00:42:29] The first book I thought of for you that I've read myself is Displacements by Lucy Knisley. I love her a lot, but you are correct in that a lot of her graphic novels are dealing with her growing up, figuring out who she wants to become, figuring out who she is. They're really gorgeous graphic novels, but they're written about her time in her early, mid, and late twenties. Or then she's written books about having children. And so we kind of are following along with Lucy as she's growing up, which I do think is really lovely. But I wanted to recommend displacement because this is about Lucy. These are really graphic memoirs more than they are graphic novels, but she is writing and drawing about herself, but she's also writing and drawing about her grandparents. So she goes on this cruise with her grandparents. And I love this book. As you have heard me mention earlier in today's episode, I love books dealing with grandparents. I had really special relationships with my grandparents. And so any books that touch on those themes I really love. And so although, yes, Lucy in the book is figuring out who she is and there is some of that kind of coming of age, figuring out who you are in your twenties and thirties kind of stuff, there is also a lot in here about growing older and familial relationships, and it's also very funny. Set on a cruise, I really love this book. Okay. And then this book sounds so good. I read an article about it in the L.A. Times. It's called Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto. And this is a book about a woman whose children put her in an assisted living facility. She's in her, I think, seventies and she's put in this assisted living facility. But she goes rogue. She kind of goes on the lam. And I think this is so clever. Olivia and I, during the pandemic, read a book-- and this is not in my notes, and so I am not going to be able to remember the name of it. But we read a book that was outside really especially Olivia's genre, but outside mine as well, about a man living in an assisted living facility. And we adored it. This sounds a little bit like that and also a little bit of killers of a certain age sort of where we're finally getting some older protagonists and we're treating them like people instead of invalids. And so I really like the sounds of this book. It is called Shadow Life by Hiromi Gotoh. I think it was up for some awards in 2022 as well.  

[00:45:08] Okay. Then this is another book that I have not read, but I am really curious about. It is called and Now I Spill the Family Secrets. This is by Margaret Kimball. She wrote this book-- if she didn't write it in her mid-thirties, it is looking back on her mid thirties we'll put it that way-- where she first goes back in time to I think like 1988 and kind of uncovers this family secret, this kind of thing that happened in her family's history. I don't really want to spoil it, but she uncovers this thing and then she kind of looks at how this one pivotal moment made an impact on the rest of her family's life. And she is looking at it not from a teenager's perspective or a young adult's perspective, but really from a middle aged adult's perspective. And so, Lisa, I thought this might fit your criteria. And then this is the one I'm most excited about-- well, other than Shadow Life. I'm very excited about Shadow Life. I'm adding to my own TBR while I did research for this. But this is called Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, and it's by Rebecca Hall. Rebecca's ancestors were enslaved peoples and she wanted to do some history and some looking into her ancestry. And she discovered that this kind of idea she had about how enslaved women were treated and maybe their limited power, she discovered that there were these women warriors who kind of planned and led revolts on slave ships during the Middle Passage. And so she delves into these women's lives and these women's histories, while also incorporating her own personal history and her own personal memoir. So this is part memoir, part history lesson, and it sounds fascinating. I love the historic element. You're probably listening to this and thinking, Annie, you recommend a mostly graphic memoir. That is my personal favorite. When I do read graphic work, I prefer a graphic memoir. I don't really know why I have not examined that, but Shadow Life is a graphic novel. But Displacement, Now I Spilled the Family Secrets, and Wake are all dealing with a woman's personal history and ancestry and growing up and figuring out who she is and where she's come from, but not from a 20 somethings perspective, but from a more middle age perspective. And so I hope, Lisa, that these might fit the bill. I'd love if you report back. I'm so curious what you end up reading and if in your own hunt for books or talking to booksellers or talking to librarians, you find some other works. But these were ones that I thought could fit this kind of reading challenge and add to your reading life this year.  

Jennifer [00:47:49] Hi, Annie. This is Jennifer in Indiana. And my New Year's reading conundrum is I am a mood reader, and every time I start a book I get just a little ways into it, and then something new and shiny comes along and I want to pick it up and read it instead. And so I end up starting all of the books and finishing none of the books. Do you have any tips for sticking with the book until I finish it and then moving on to something new? Thanks so much.  

Annie Jones [00:48:23] Jennifer, there are lots of mood readers. In fact, I think many of us, most of us are mood readers and I think we're all struggling to focus. I really do think that that is something that the pandemic affected. Obviously, I think our phones and media play a part of that, but I also just think our brains are in kind of a weird space. So if you were on my literal couch, one of the follow up questions I would have for you is define new and shiny. So when you say you're distracted by something new and shiny, is that a book that you saw on your phone because you're scrolling through Instagram or a Booksagram? Is it a book a friend texted you about? Is it the latest Jenna Bush Hager pick? Or is it in your home you're looking around and you're distracted by other books on your shelf? Because then there are a couple of different solutions. So if you're being distracted by books you want to add to your TBR after scrolling Instagram, well then the answer is-- as it was for someone else-- to put your phone on airplane mode when you're reading. And that can be nerve wracking because you want to be accessible. I think we really want to be accessible particularly to our loved ones. I think there's a way when let's say you don't want to put your form airplane mode because airplane mode seems too drastic. You can put your phone on do not disturb. And when you put your phone on do not disturb, if somebody texts you they can see that your phone is on do not disturb and they can notify you anyway. So if it's urgent, they can notify you. So set your phone on do not disturb, put on on airplane mode, do something while you're reading so that there aren't distractions. Limit your access to the new and shiny thing. Look, I hate to say it, maybe the new and shiny thing is listening to a podcast where you're like, oh no, I just quadrupled my TBR list. Okay, I don't want to contribute to that. I want you to read a book and finish a book because that's your goal. And so if you need to, don't listen to podcasts for a couple of days, a couple of weeks, right? Let yourself just get immersed in a book for a change.  

[00:50:34] And so that might mean limiting your access to things that might deter you from the book you're currently reading. So that is kind of the technology piece, right? Like turning off notifications or putting your phone in another room. I mean, that is so weird. Maybe I'm addicted to my phone, but this isn't my therapy session. This is your therapy session, Jennifer. And so put your phone in a different room because maybe you're sitting in your cozy reading chair and you're like, oh, I don't want to get up. So don't get up, instead, sit. Isn't that something people talk about with habit building? Were like just put your butt in the chair. Writing. That's what people do with writing. Put your butt in the chair. It can be true for reading as well. Keep your butt in the chair. Don't get up until you're done. Don't get up until you finish a chapter. Don't get up until you've read for 20 minutes. Set timers. I am living by timers right now, which makes me sound like a certain kind of person. And that's fine. Timers are helping me get more done, but more importantly, they're helping me rest better. They're helping me notice, oh, I haven't gotten up from my chair in an hour. It's time for me to walk around the block. And so the same could be true of your reading life. Set a timer 20 minutes, 30 minutes. Turn off your phone. Do something so that your distractions are limited. Now, if you are distracted by books in your own home, I have another tip for you. This is something I started doing a couple of years ago. Only one book gets to stay on my nightstand. One book. Right now, that book is Little Women. That is the book I'm reading before bed. And so that is the book on my nightstand. One book finds its home in my purse or bag that I take everywhere-- or my car. One book. One audiobook has been downloaded. Limit yourself because there's nothing wrong with jumping from like fiction and nonfiction or physical book to digital book or physical book to audiobook. There's nothing wrong with that, but it sounds like it's preventing you from finishing things. And so our goal is to help you finish something. And so I think we can help with that if we limit your access to the other things.  

[00:52:46] So if I only have one book on my nightstand, that's the book I'm reading right now and I don't get to read anything else until I finished it. Again, to keep kind of maybe some serendipity into your reading life, because maybe you're thinking to yourself, oh, no, but Annie I'm bored. Okay, well, that sounds to me like you picked the wrong book, first of all. But maybe you are doing what we talked about the top of the episode where you're reading one book in the morning and one book in the evening. So you still get to add a new shiny thing each day, but you're going to finish something. You're going to finish something because you've limited your access. So keep one book on your nightstand. One book in your car. One book in your purse. One audiobook or one book on your Kindle. Limit yourself to what you have access to and then utilize the reward system. Remember, book it. Remember Pizza Hut. Look, give yourself a reward. If you finish a book, you're going to take yourself out on a reading lunch and you're going to treat yourself to starting a brand new shiny book that you get to read while you eat your lunch and that's your reward. Or when you finish a book, you get to go to the library and pick out a brand new one, or you get to go to the local bookstore and pick out a brand new one, or shop your own shelves, if you're on a budget. You finish a book, but you get to go shop your shelves for something new and fun to read. So the reward system, I think, works. You don't have to reward yourself just with books, you can reward yourself with, like I said, a walk around the block or an episode of your favorite TV show, or a lunch out. But reward yourself with something because I think our brains aren't used to focusing for long periods of time anymore. And I think we're going to have to retrain our brains a little bit. And I'm not saying, Jennifer, that this is your problem. I think part of the problem is just that we have an abundance of really great literature, and so it's hard to know, wait, what if I'm missing something? What if I'm missing something by reading this thing? And so we need to turn off the part of our brains that thinks we're missing something. We need to turn off FOMO. And I think we can do that by limiting access, whether it's access to the physical books we have in our home, and so we just keep one in our reading chair, or one on our nightstand, or limiting access to what we're seeing on Instagram or Bookstagram. And so putting our phone on airplane mode, putting our phone in a different room, etc., I hope that helps.  

Alex [00:55:08] Hi, Annie. This is Alex from Huntsville, Alabama. And my literary conundrum for my 2023 reading resolution is I need more memoirs. I fell in love with the genre, memoirs, in 2022. Out of the almost 40 books I read, it was about 54 percent, so I read a large chunk. A couple of my favorites were actually ones that you recommended. The Katie Couric memoir, Crying in H. Mart, and the Delia Ephron memoir Left on Tenth. Those were some of my favorites. And I'm wondering if you have any recommendations for me as I go into the New Year. I specifically love when authors read their memoirs on audio. That is one of my favorite things. I also love a tell-all like the Katie Couric memoir, or beautiful storytelling like Crying in H. Mart, and Left on Tenth just a remembrance of a life or just beautiful, hard, real life happening to people. So I would love your help with some recommendations if you know of any coming in the new year that I could put on my list and also any backlist that I could add that would be so helpful. Thank you so much.  

Annie Jones [00:56:29] Alex, I love how specific the statistic is that 54 percent of your reading life was memoirs. And I love that you found something that works for you. I think this is fabulous. And the good news for you is there are so many well-written, great memoirs out there. So I just want to run through this list. I want to be mindful, so this list is available in show notes or on our transcript. But I'm going to try to go slowly so that you can write these down. But you mentioned Katie Couric, and where would Katie Couric be without Barbara Walters? I could go on and on about Barbara Walters, but she has a great memoir that I read many years ago called Audition. Audition by Barbara Walters I think would be fantastic especially since you, like me, loved the Katie Couric book. Along those same lines, though I have not read it but it is on my giant TBR, or at least on my curious about, may one day investigate list, which is Chasing History by Charles Bernstein. I think that would be so fascinating. It got good reviews when it released last year. So audition by Barbara Walters, Chasing History by Charles Bernstein. Of course I Miss You When I Blink and Bomb Shelter, those are two different memoirs by Mary Laura Philpot that I really, really love. And I think they are beautiful sisters to one another. I Miss You When I Blink and Bomb Shelter. Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethaway. I love this book. She's a Georgia writer. But even if you're not from the South, I think that this is a worthy book to add to your list. That's Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethaway. Beautiful Country by Quian Julie Wang. I started this book, I think it was a Jenna Bush Hager pick a couple of years ago. I really liked what I read and just wound up having to read other things. But I think you will really like it, especially because you mentioned Crying in H. Mart. Know My Name by Chanel Miller, this is a beautiful, heart wrenching, gut wrenching punch in the face kind of memoir. I listened to this one on audiobook. I did put it down at one point because it is intense, but I really think it is important and worthy of a read. That is Know My Name by Chanel Miller. In a very different vein, something a little funnier would be the New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance  by Elna Baker. I discovered Elna Baker on This American Life many years ago and had the opportunity to hear her read from this book or perform actually a piece from this book and I loved it. The book is fantastic. As I recall, it made me laugh out loud. Very fun book. I started the episode with a quote from Becoming by Michelle Obama. Look, not all celebrity memoirs are created equal, and not all political memoirs are created equal.  

[00:59:22] This in my mind is not a political memoir. I understand Michelle Obama and the very nature of her last name makes people have political feelings. But this book is really just a beautiful look at her life. And I like the perspective she was in her mid-fifties when she wrote it. I just really like her perspective. We did a couple of community book clubs on this one. I think it surprised a lot of people. I really liked it. So if you've avoided it for whatever reason, maybe because of the celebrity nature of it, I think it would be well worth your time. Another celebrity memoir that I personally think is well worth your time, not everyone may agree, is Friends, Lovers, and the Big, Terrible Thing. This is by Matthew Perry. I mentioned this last year, but it's a book I'm very glad I read, not because of like the friends of it all, but because it was a really unflinching look. Almost sickening. That sounds negative, but it really did occasionally make me sick to my stomach. A look at addiction. And I think we need to feel that way sometimes when we read books. And so it's not maybe your feel good celebrity book, but it is a deep insight into what it's like to have an addiction and to struggle with addiction. Friends, Lovers and the Big, Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward. And then two other kind of celebrity books. One that constantly got mentioned in people's best of lists last year enough that it made me curious and I may download the audiobook, it's Finding Me by Viola Davis. I just saw so many people rave about this book, and I think I just didn't read it because I thought, oh, celebrity memoir; I'll pick it up if I get a chance. But people really like this book. And then you'll hear me say at the end of today's episode, but I am reading Spare by Prince Harry because of course I am. And what a wild ride. So Audition by Barbara Walters. Chasing History by Charles Bernstein. I Miss You When I Blink and Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott. Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethaway. Beautiful Country by Quian Julie Wong. Know My Name by Chanel Miller. The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker. Becoming by Michelle Obama. Friends, Lovers and The Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward. Finding Me by Viola Davis. And Spare by Prince Harry.  

Chandler [01:01:51] Hey, Annie, this is Chandler. My New Year's reading conundrum is that while on one hand I have a large stack of high quality TBRs, I cannot stop buying new books to read. I don't know what to do about it. I look at my stack and I'm like, why would I ever buy any new books? And then I go into my local bookstore and I can't walk out with less than two books. Help.  

Annie Jones [01:02:26] Chandler, your question made me grin from ear to ear because far be it from me, an indie bookstore owner to prevent you, a customer and consumer from buying books. I don't want to prevent you from supporting your local independent bookstore. However, the struggle is real, right? I say this as someone who is headed to IKEA, I hope, this weekend to buy an additional bookcase because I said to my mother on the phone the books are starting to become a problem. Like, it's starting to be a problem. And I love books. I love filling my house with books. But occasionally it is a problem. And even though there are worse vices out there, I understand wanting to limit how many books you buy because I don't want to get to a point-- and perhaps you don't want to either-- where you have so many books, but you're not reading them. And so here are some tips and tricks. When I buy clothes, I have a one in, one out rule. So if I buy a new T-shirt, I've got to get rid of a T-shirt. If I buy a new pair of shoes, I got to get rid of a pair of shoes. Now, look, book lovers are turning over in their metaphorical graves. I'm not saying you have to get rid of books all the time like every time you buy a book you get rid of a book, but every time you buy a book it might be a good idea to look at your shelves and see, okay, what am I never going to read? Not so you can throw the book away, but so you can put the book in a little free library, in a donation center, in a friend's hands. Put that book somewhere where it's going to be used and loved. Put that book in someone else's hands. So one in, one out is an easy rule to apply to clothing. It may be a little harder to apply to books, but I think it could be worth trying. Where if you go to your local independent bookstore and you buy two books, you know that you're going to have to go home and look at your shelves and see what two books might I need to reevaluate my appreciation for and get rid of. That is one option. The other-- not to sound like some kind of budget guru, but set a book budget. Whether it's a literal monetary amount like $100 a month, $50 a month or maybe it's a book a month or two books a month, and that's what you're going to do. And, to me, you could make it a special occasion. So you mentioned the number two, so let's say you decide I'm going to support my local independent bookstore and I'm going to buy two books a month. Okay. But you start getting stressed because you're like, well, I go in my independent bookstore every week. Okay, well, that's okay. Still go in your bookstore. We love for people to come browse. We love for people to come in the store. So come browse, walk around, make a little list, leave. You don't have to buy anything. But then come back the next week, browse more.  

[01:05:25] Bookstores are just fun places to browse. And then by the end of the month, you've narrowed down what two books you want. And it's almost like, oh, I'm like [Inaudible]actually, like, I think I'm going to buy something and then I'm like, no, no, I don't need it.  I'm still thinking about it two weeks later, three weeks later, that means I do want it. And so maybe just telling yourself, I'm not going to buy this today, let's see how I feel tomorrow, let's see how I feel in a week. And so it eliminates some impulse buying. But you could also tell yourself once a month, I'm going to take myself-- I don't know, does it sound fun to you? I'm going to take myself on a date to the bookstore and I'm going to go to lunch. I'd like to incorporate food in my reading life. I'm going to treat myself to lunch, and I'm going to go browse the store for an hour, for a glorious hour, for a glorious 30 minutes. I'm going to go on my lunch break and I'm going to enjoy the bookstore. And as a reward, I get to buy two books. And so, like, it's a thing you do, it's an event. Make it an event. Make it special. I think that could be really fun. And make it feel less like you're just buying books to buy them and instead you're buying books because it's your monthly thing you do. I think about when I do like a local art event. Like last night I went to a local concert; that felt like such a treat. And to get to do that once a month is so valuable to my life, It adds so much value. Why don't we start adding some value? And so it's not just how many books can I buy. You know, an independent bookstore loves your support, but we would love for you to love coming to the store and to make it feel like a special thing. So maybe you create like a date for yourself or an event for yourself where you're like, oh, today's my day that I get to go to the bookstore and buy some books. And then, of course, treat yourself. Make exceptions for when you travel or discover a new to you store. So you set your book budget. You tell yourself, I'm going to buy two a month or I'm going to spend $100 or I'm going to spend $50 a month. But you know, well, when I go to Nashville and I get to go to Parnassus, I'm going to get to buy however many books I want. Or I'm going to get to buy however many books I want next time I go to Oxford, Mississippi, or whatever. When you've got a place you're going to go and there's a great independent bookstore there you can treat yourself because you've kind of been saving yourself from spending money throughout the year, and now you've saved that money and now you can spend it at this new to you store. So those are some tips I have. One in, one out. Set a book budget, make book shopping an event, make it a special occasion, and then save some of your money for these new experiences, these new to you stores and, of course, shop at your independent bookstore. But I think these are tips to help you if you want to still shop at your independent bookstore. But just eliminate maybe how many books you're bringing into your home, which I get. So I hope that helps.  

[01:08:33] That wound up being like a bonus sized episode. But I hope these answers to your New Year's reading issues, conundrums, dilemmas. I hope that these answers were helpful to you as you begin working on what kind of reading life you want in 2023. Next week, I'll be back with Hunter, where we will talk about our own reading resolutions and intentions, the things that we are thinking about as we embark upon our 2023 reading lives. And I hope we see you back next week.  

[01:09:04] This week, I'm reading Spare by Prince Harry.  

[01:09:08] 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:.  

[01:09:23] Bookshelfthomasville.com.  

[01:09:25] A full transcript of today's episode can be found at Fromthefrontporchpodcast.com.  

[01:09:29] 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.  

[01:09:39] Our executive producers of today's episode are Donna Hechler, Angie Erickson, Cammy Tidwell, Kate O'Connell.  

Executive Producers (Read their own names) [01:09:45] Nicole Marsee. Wendi Jenkins. Laurie Johnson.  

Annie Jones [01:09:48] Thank you all for your support of From the Front Porch. If you'd like to support From the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the podcast app on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see 'Write a Review' and tell us what you think.  

[01:10:06] Or, if you're so inclined, you can support us over on Patreon where we have three levels of support. Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts and giveaways. Just go to Patreon.com/from the front porch.  

[01:10:25] We're so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.