Episode 409 || Reading Resolutions with Hunter McLendon

This week on From the Front Porch, Annie is joined by Hunter McLendon (@shelfbyshelf) to chat about their 2023 reading resolutions!

We’re thrilled that you can now shop for the books mentioned in this episode on our brand-new website:

Annie's reading resolutions last year:

Recitatif by Toni Morrison

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Sula by Toni Morrison

Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Annie's resolutions this year:

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry

Standing by Words by Wendell Berry (unavailable to order)

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

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 Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny. Hunter is reading The Farewell Tour by Stephanie Clifford.

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] "When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water and I feel above me the day blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and I'm free. Wendell Berry. The Peace of Wild Things.  

[00:01:04] I'm Annie B Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, it's time for our Annual Reading Resolutions episode with guest host Hunter McLendon. Before we get started, I wanted to deliver the good news that the Bookshelf website is back up and running. I would love to tell you all the behind the scenes ups and downs it took to get to this point, but I will refrain and instead gently remind you that From the Front Porch is a production of a small, independently owned bookstore, and every purchase you make from our business matters a great deal. Head to Bookshelfthomasville.com to check out the new site to purchase a shelf subscription or a newly released book or two. There's even time to snag tickets to today's Winter Literary Lunch. And if you're listening to this later, that's okay, because the Winter Literary Lunch is recorded and you can watch it any old time. Thank you for your patience while we've been undergoing technical renovations this month. It is so nice to be back. Happy New Year, Hunter!  

Hunter McLendon [00:02:04] Happy New Year.  

Annie Jones [00:02:06] I feel like Seinfeld or somebody said after January 5th you weren't supposed to say Happy New Year anymore, but I reject that.  

Hunter McLendon [00:02:13] Well, I feel like in my head the first two or three months it's still new.  

Annie Jones [00:02:19] Yeah. Until my birthday on February 2nd, I want to tell everyone I know Happy New Year.  

Hunter McLendon [00:02:23] Listen, if we have to refer to babies as like 22 month olds... 

Annie Jones [00:02:29] Right. We can say Happy New Year however long we want.  

Hunter McLendon [00:02:32] Yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:02:33] So Hunter is the mastermind behind the popular Bookstagram account @shelfbyshelf. He's my friend and frequent collaborator. And this week, much like we have done for the past few years, we are sharing our writerly resolutions and intentions. I went back and listened-- not to full episodes because I can't do that. I cannot listen to my voice. But I did go back, I looked at notes from last year, and then I listened to 2021 reading resolutions. And, hey, the audio quality on these episodes has really improved. Shout out to Studio D. We really sound way better. And thank you all for listening even through the hard years where the audio may not have been great. But how do you feel about your 2022 reading resolutions? Do you remember what they were?  

Hunter McLendon [00:03:24] I do not remember what they were. Do you know what they were?  

Annie Jones [00:03:27] The only one that I found from your 2022 had to do with your National Book Award project. Didn't you start that in 2022?  

Hunter McLendon [00:03:35] Yeah. It's so funny because I was so ambitious. I was like I can read more than 450 books in a year. Because here's the thing, is that you see people who I forget don't have jobs, they don't have lives. And I'm like, well, they're doing it. And then I also remember, oh, wait, but they're also reading-- and this is no shade to romances, but it is much easier to take in a romance in three or four hours than it is to take in a catch 22.  

Annie Jones [00:04:01] Well, and it is easier to-- books are their job. And books are my job. That is true, but reading isn't my job. Running a business and a bookstore is my job and reading is a part of that. But there are lots of other parts of that, and I think some people who maybe are reviewers or podcast hosts or-- I'm trying to think who else that would be. But, basically, people who read for their full time job, they are reading like 200 books a year and I cannot fathom it. Good for them, but you have a day job and I have a reading related job, but it is certainly not-- and I don't know if reading is even the main part of my job to be honest with you. It's just a part of it.  

Hunter McLendon [00:04:51] My boss who has, I think, a much more difficult job than I do, she read over 250 books last year. She's listening to audiobooks while she's working. I cannot do that.  

Annie Jones [00:05:07] I can't either. I heard Knox McCoy on the Popcast talk about how he felt seen at some kind of Enneagram conference. He's an Enneagram five; I'm an Enneagram five. And he talked about how when somebody starts talking to him in the middle of a TV show that he's watching, he pauses the TV show. And I was like, yeah, of course, obviously. So do I. But apparently that is very much tied into the Enneagram five, wanting to intake the right amounts of information and being able to take information in as best they can. I was stunned by that. But it explains, I think in part, why I can definitely listen to an audiobook while I wash the dishes, but I cannot listen to an audiobook while I type up notes. I would just transcribe the entire book. That's what I do. I can't do it. And, again, 250 books? Did you watch that Chris Evans, Anna Faris movie What's Your Number? The number was about something different, as you might guess.  

Hunter McLendon [00:06:10] Yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:06:11] But I feel like we could have a Bookstagram version of that, like a new romcom called What's Your Number? And I feel like numbers are great if you care about that. And I find it very fascinating that the year I made my goal to read 100 books, I hated everything. And then I was like I'm never doing that again. And now for the last two years I've read 122 books. And this year, I don't know how you felt and I don't know what your number was, but this year I finished my last book a couple of days before the New Year, and I said, "My brain can't take any more. I cannot read one more thing. I don't want to read one more thing." And I feel like I'm just now kind of getting back into reading because I honestly feel like I might have burned myself out; 122 books is a lot of books.  

Hunter McLendon [00:07:03] Oh, yeah. I did not keep track of my books last year because I knew that seeing the number and just seeing it in comparison with everyone else's was driving me wild. I can't think about it.  

Annie Jones [00:07:16] Yeah. To each their own. I feel like there's some people for whom tracking numbers is probably like, I don't know, tracking habits. And so, you do you. And I did it for my job. I did it for my job. But it is funny to me that-- it's not funny like haha funny, but it is entertaining to me that this time last year you were like, "Yeah, I can read all the National Book Award longlist finalists. Absolutely." But it was a lot of books. And you covered a lot of books last year.  

Hunter McLendon [00:07:47] Yeah, I covered all of the fifties and the first third of the sixties because there were some years that had like 17 books from the longlist.  

Annie Jones [00:08:00] Yes, it's ridiculous.  

Hunter McLendon [00:08:01] And the thing is, I was not just reading National Book Award books, I was also reading a lot of new releases. I was reading a lot of other random books that people were like, oh, you have to read this.  

Annie Jones [00:08:12] You read a lot of Booker finalists, you read for this podcast, you read a lot of books last year and not easy books to read either. Those are very difficult works.  

Hunter McLendon [00:08:22] Also, it's so funny because I was thinking I was [Inaudible], I felt so depressed at multiple points throughout last year and I wonder why. And I realized most of the books-- and I've talked about this, but most of the books from the fifties are about World War Two. And surprise, surprise, reading a lot of books about World War Two is very depressing.  

Annie Jones [00:08:42] Yeah. So for new people listening, can you tell them about your National Book Award project? And then I want to know is this something you're going to continue in 2023?  

Hunter McLendon [00:08:52] Yeah. So at the beginning of 2022, I started this project where I decided I was going to read every single National Book Award fiction longlist from the beginning of the award until now. And throughout last year, I read all of the fiction books from 1950 until I think I got to 1963. And as of right now I'm still continuing on the project, but I'm taking a break from reading it in order. And I've been kind of covering the last couple of years and also just reading some of the books that I missed in the last couple of years. Like this upcoming newsletter is going to cover the five books that were on the longlist from 2017 because I just covered the five books that were on the shortlist.  

Annie Jones [00:09:35] Okay.  

Hunter McLendon [00:09:36] And also, here's the thing too, I started reading these award books because I thought it's going to help me read the best books ever written, it's going to do all these things. And then when I slowly realized was how political all of these decisions were, how so many other books were overlooked because of this reason or that, I realized how American centric my reading had become. Actually, I had really great friends who are really great readers kind of like-- I won't say calling me out, but they were just kind of like being like, hey, heads up. They knew I was taking this very seriously as a project. And so a lot of these people who are very scholarly minded were like have these things in the back of your mind when you're approaching this project. And it helped me. That's part of the reason why I've been reading a lot of translated lit lately, I've been reading a lot of books that are written from just in other areas of the world. And it's definitely helping my reading. And that's the thing, too. It's so funny we talk about reading diversely all the time. Everyone's like, "Oh, I want to read diversely." And people think that means let me read like a book about some like horrific thing by one marginalized group and that's got to be enough. But it's not just about that, right? It's about truly reading diversely as far as reading from different points of view, reading from different places, reading poetry or nonfiction, whatever that means. 

Annie Jones [00:10:51] Yeah, that's what I'm saying, reading different genres.  

Hunter McLendon [00:10:53] Yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:10:53] Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Well, I was really curious what you were going to do with the project in 2023 because I've loved following along with your newsletter, you do approach it so thoughtfully. But it's also a daunting project. It's a lot of books and I wondered if you were burnt out, but it sounds like you're not burnt out, but you are just kind of mixing it up a little bit in 2023.  

Hunter McLendon [00:11:13] Yeah, I'm definitely reconfiguring it for January and February. I think I'm going to keep going back until I reach probably about 2010 and then I'll switch back to doing the rest of the sixties for March and April. Because that's the thing, I don't want to get burnt out. And there were times where I would even write about I'm feeling kind of burnt out and I don't want to because I want to give these books the respect and the time they deserve. And it's really funny because I had some people who were like, oh, I don't really like-- some people don't like hearing that, but I think you should be honest with your audience if you're talking about books, about your personal feelings about reading.  

Annie Jones [00:11:49] Yes, because people have asked before and I'm sure they've asked you too, like, "Do you still like to read if it's something that is part of your job?" Speaking of people who are reviewers or podcast host or whatever, is it still something you enjoy? And I always want my answer to be yes. And so if I want it to be yes, then I have to figure out what boundaries I need to set or what things I need to do to ensure that reading is still an enjoyable activity and not just something I'm checking off a giant to do list. And I like your reading project especially because I tend to read by nature of my work contemporary lit, and even if I know I cannot read these books right now, but there will come a time in my life where I will not be consumed by contemporary lit. And now I have some books that I have read about through your newsletter where I'm like, oh, I really want to read that. There were a couple of books, I think, in the fifties where I was like, oh, these sound like books I would really enjoy and I would write you, I'd shoot you an email back and say, "Hey, is this something for me?" Because it may not be something I can make time for in my current reading life, but there will come a time when I can. And so I like that nature of your National Book Award project because it's inspiring me to read older titles that otherwise I would never have heard of at all. Unless a book was actually the winner of the National Book Award, there are times where I wouldn't have heard of it. So I'm grateful for your project for that.  

Hunter McLendon [00:13:13] Yeah. And I will also just very quickly say there are several people who follow along with this podcast who were very lovely to kind of follow along the newsletter. One person is Dusty[sp], who we've both met in person 

Annie Jones [00:13:24] Dusty. Yes.  

Hunter McLendon [00:13:25] And I always love any time that she responds. And that's one thing too, I think sometimes people get this idea that there's this weird inaccessibility with people, but any time that anyone messages me and is like, "Hey, I like these types of books. Would I like any of these?" I'm always more than willing to say, "Yes, here are the ones I think you might actually like and here's the ones to avoid."  

Annie Jones [00:13:44] Hunter is so good at that. I mean, he is like my personal bookseller sometimes because I know he will tell me, "Absolutely not."  

Hunter McLendon [00:13:53] Oh, yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:13:54] He will tell me, "No, you don't need to read that." And I like that because you are sometimes more respectful of my time than I am. You will guard my time for me, which I really appreciate.  

Hunter McLendon [00:14:05] I try.  

Annie Jones [00:14:06] Okay, so your New Year's resolution last year reading resolution was to read through the National Book Award lists. We've talked about the ways in which you're tweaking that for 2023. My reading resolutions were threefold. One was that I was going to make it my Toni Morrison year. The previous year had been my Jane Austen year. This was an idea I actually got from a bookstore, like at a book conference I went to where they picked an author every year and kind of lauded that author's work and hosted book clubs around that author's work. And so, anyway, in 2021 I did Jane Austen; 2022 I did Toni Morrison. I read three of her works, which I'm really happy about. Recitative, Beloved, and Sula. And then so many kind readers were like, oh my gosh, but you missed Song of Solomon, or you missed The Bluest Eye. Here is the wonderful thing about these projects. I didn't read all of Jane Austen's works either, but it helped me get over the hump of either not having read any or just having read Pride and Prejudice, for example. And it gave me a better view of their work and I think allowed for future accessibility. So the listeners cannot see this, but I have on my shelf two other Toni Morrison works that I have bought that I fully intend to read. And I believe that I will read them outside of my 'Toni Morrison year'. One thing I also like about setting aside these years is it's not just about reading the works themselves, but it's like stumbling upon works about these people. So like in 2021 I wound up listening to a really great podcast about Jane Austen, I think it was called Jesus and Jane or Jane and Jesus. Anyway, it was lovely.  

[00:15:44] And then in 2022 I wound up reading a really good I want to say it was a New Yorker article about Sula.  it's almost like last year also it was my Beatles year and so everywhere I went-- I mean, and the Beatles are like their own thing. But everywhere I went I felt like, oh, there was a Beatles lyric I saw or some article popped up. And so that's the great news too, is it almost becomes like where I'm making my own curriculum, where I'm not only reading Toni Morrison's work, but I'm reading about Toni Morrison or I'm watching documentaries about Toni Morrison. So that's what I did in 2022. I also read The Count of Monte Cristo. That was our Conquer a Classic for 2022. That felt like a very big accomplishment. Every time we finish one of those, I just feel like it's not a burden. It's not like a weight, but it does feel like, oh my gosh, we did it. We did it. We finished it. It's a big deal. So that was my second reading resolution. And then my third was to track my books on StoryGraph. And I did not do that until January 1st when Jordan had COVID. I sat down and put all 122 books into StoryGraph, and I did not necessarily track like how long it took me to read them because I do not remember, but I did know which books I had read and which month. And so I tracked them all that way and was able to get them the stats that I was really interested in because the stats are what I was most interested in. And so I got those cool charts and graphs. I do recommend the StoryGraph app. I have just decided whoops turns out I cannot keep track of more than one thing. And so the thing that I can keep track of is tracking my books on Instagram and that is what I do, but then at the end of the year if I want to put it all in StoryGraph I can. And it didn't take too long. It took me a couple of hours, I think. And so anyway, those were my reading resolutions. I feel like two out of three is not bad. And StoryGraph did what I needed it to do even if I didn't keep track all year long.  

Hunter McLendon [00:17:45] You have a new thing you're doing this year with your reading.  

Annie Jones [00:17:47] Yes. It's not really my reading resolution for 2023, but one thing I'm doing in 2023 is I moved my book reviews from my personal Instagram to a private Instagram account called Annies Five Star Books. Almost like your National Book Award project, I wanted a way to communicate with readers. There's a handful of readers who are following me there and where I can kind of communicate with them and to kind of start separating out a little bit Annie B Jones the person versus Annie B Jones the reader, the bookstore owner, whatever. I don't know if that will be successful. I feel like my brain is always trying to set these boundaries that may or may not need to be set, but I kind of wanted a home for those. And so, full disclosure, it is a paid for Instagram account because at some point you realize, wow, I am doing a lot of free labor.  

Hunter McLendon [00:18:48] Yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:18:49] And being able to charge what I hope is a fair amount-- I think I did the math horribly, but I think it's like $0.50 a book review, essentially. And so for $0.50 a book review, but to get paid for that does matter. I do think getting paid for the work that you do is important. I think it's important for you too. I'm so glad that you took that leap and decided to start that project last year. And there are still other ways. You post book reviews on your public facing Instagram. I will still post book reviews on From the Front Porch, we're still going to do reading recaps here. So there's still a way because obviously I want books and reviews to be accessible, but I also wanted to think creatively about ways to get paid for the work that I could do so that I could keep doing that work. Does that make sense?  

Hunter McLendon [00:19:38] Yes, absolutely. Here's the thing too, I'm going to say I'm not biased. I know that I'm literally on your side no matter what happens. You could murder somebody and I'll be, like, it's fine. However, I think it's accurate to say that you are my favorite reader. Do you know what I mean?  

Annie Jones [00:19:59] I do.  

Hunter McLendon [00:19:59] And so I think that there's tremendous value in what you have to offer. And I think that you could be working for Reese Witherspoon picking out better books than some-- I like some of the ones that she chooses. I do like some of them. Don't come for me.  

Annie Jones [00:20:14] The best celebrity book picker is Jenna Bush Hager, I think. 

Hunter McLendon [00:20:17] That is so true. That is so true. Yes.  

Annie Jones [00:20:22] It's true. Okay. So let's talk about this year's reading resolutions. Again, some of these aren't particularly original, they're just following past years. This is my Wendell Berry year. So Wendell Berry is my brother's favorite author. He is beloved by so many, particularly Southern readers. Olivia and I were talking about Wendell Berry because I was kind of getting my books ready, I was ordering them from the Bookshelf and figuring out what I wanted to read. And I asked her, I said, "Hey, have you ever read any Wendell Berry?" And she said, "I had never even heard of him until I moved to Thomasville." And I thought for a second and I was, like, I'm not sure I had ever heard of him. I'm getting together with my brother this weekend, and I'll ask him how he stumbled upon Wendell Berry's work. Wendell Berry is from Kentucky. My brother went to college in Tennessee, did grad work there, and we have family heritage in Kentucky. So I'm like is that where we kind of came across Wendell Barry's work? But he's very popular in Thomasville. In Southern bookstores, you hear him mentioned a lot. He's particularly known for his nature writing. Last year you and I read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. And I guess I just kept thinking I would love to spend a year with Wendell Berry, like quietly with Wendell Berry. I have friends who love him and adore him and adore his writing. He writes a lot almost about kind of a technology-free kind of life.  

[00:21:43] And so in a year where I am making room for silence and making room for quiet, Wendell Berry came to mind. The books that I know I would like to read are Jayber Crow and Hannah Coulter. So those are two that I have bought and I'm planning to read this year. The only work by Wendell Berry I'd read previously was his poetry. And so I have an idea, after I'm done reading Little Women-- I've been reading Little Women in a book club format in this early part of the year, but that club will end in mid-February. And so I've been reading a chapter of Little Women every night before I go to bed. And so I'd like (fingers crossed) after that little women book club ends, to start reading a Wendell Berry poem before bed every night. I think that could be a lovely way to kind of shut down my day. And then there's a book by him that I think I would love called Standing By Words, but I just can't find it. It is not available to order from the Bookshelf because it looks like it's not available from our distributor. It might be available directly from the publisher. Of course, it's available from [Inaudible], but I'm trying not to do that. So, anyway, it may be where I stumble upon him in a used bookstore. Do you know what I mean?  

Hunter McLendon [00:22:49] Yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:22:50] Then there's the beauty of picking these authors is when you're at a bookstore-- and you know because I've texted you from bookstores before. Because I own a bookstore, sometimes I scratch my head and I'm like, "What am I supposed to buy when I go to bookstores?" And I have to buy something to support a fellow bookstore. But the answer, I think, lies in having these authors that you're kind of reading throughout the year. So Jayber Crow is what I'm going to start with. Hannah Coulter, hopefully some nonfiction in the form of Standing by Words, and then maybe some poetry. So my first reading resolution is to read Wendell Berry throughout this year, to have my Wendell Berry year.  

Hunter McLendon [00:23:23] I love that. I think it's great.  

Annie Jones [00:23:25] Were you familiar with him?  

Hunter McLendon [00:23:27] No.  

Annie Jones [00:23:28] Okay.  

Hunter McLendon [00:23:29] I know nothing.  

Annie Jones [00:23:30] Okay. I'm going to report back. I don't know why he is so much in The Air I Breathe. He is mentioned frequently. But then I was talking to Olivia and she was, like, no. And I don't know that he would have been in The Air I Breathe pre Bookshelf. I don't know-- maybe because of my brother, yes. But you're a prolific reader and Olivia's a prolific reader. And so I don't know if it's a regional thing. I don't know if it's a genre thing. I don't know if he's Christian adjacent. I really don't know. I'm going in knowing next to nothing except the Kentucky and Southern stuff. That's all I know.  

Hunter McLendon [00:24:05]  I think it's exciting. I don't know. Sometimes it's fun to like-- well, you know this. I loved going in knowing nothing.  

Annie Jones [00:24:10] Yes. I think it's fun too.  

Hunter McLendon [00:24:12] Yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:24:14] What's one of your reading resolutions this year?  

Hunter McLendon [00:24:16] I've already have started it. I think I mentioned I've been reading more translated literature lately. I just read The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante.  

Annie Jones [00:24:25] Oh, yes. Wasn't that a movie too?  

Hunter McLendon [00:24:27] Yes. It had Olivia Colman in it.  

Annie Jones [00:24:30] Yes.  

Hunter McLendon [00:24:31] So I watched the movie first.  

Annie Jones [00:24:32] Okay.  

Hunter McLendon [00:24:34] Listen, I'm the kind of person where I'll watch a movie and then I'll read the book and have no qualms.  

Annie Jones [00:24:38] I think that's the best way to be. That's really mature of you.  

Hunter McLendon [00:24:41] Thank you.  

Annie Jones [00:24:43] I think you were about to yell at people. I think you're about to be like, "Take that, everybody." But I'm commending you on your maturity.  

Hunter McLendon [00:24:50] Thank you. I appreciate it. So I want to read more translated lit. I want to read more poetry. I do want to read more general nonfiction. I'm really trying just to fill in the gaps of my reading. I did realize, actually, that my reading year so far has kind of felt pretty perfect just in that it feels like I'm capturing everything that I-- like unintentionally I'm reading all of the types of stuff I love because I finished that book Search by Michelle Huneven. I really think that you'd really enjoy it.  

Annie Jones [00:25:20] I think so too.  

Hunter McLendon [00:25:22] I don't want to say five stars because I'm not sure if it was. I think it's maybe four stars for me, but a solid four depending on how much it stays in the top five. And then I read Woman Eating.  

Annie Jones [00:25:34] Oh, yeah. Olivia loved that.  

Hunter McLendon [00:25:35] Oh, so good. I loved that one. I read Lessons Lost.  

Annie Jones [00:25:40] Okay. Do I need to read that? You know, we did Less last year.  

Hunter McLendon [00:25:42] No.  

Annie Jones [00:25:42] Okay.  

Hunter McLendon [00:25:43] I liked it, but I thin if you read the first one, you're fine.  

Annie Jones [00:25:45] Okay.  

Hunter McLendon [00:25:47] And then I read this new book The New Life. It just came out this month. Gray cover with yellow writing.  

Annie Jones [00:25:53] Oh, okay.  

Hunter McLendon [00:25:54] It's like it's set in the late 1800s. It's about these men who are writing about in defense of homosexuality in the late 1800s. It's very good, very steamy for anyone who's like--  

Annie Jones [00:26:08] For anybody with Annie's sensibilities.  

Hunter McLendon [00:26:10] Yeah. It's so funny I was reading this and several times I was, like, wow. Because it is very good, and I would think, 'Annie would like this.' And then there'd be like an explicit scene and I'd be like, 'Oh, maybe not.'  

Annie Jones [00:26:24] It does sound like that's a wide range of genres for the start of the year with only like day 20 or something.  

Hunter McLendon [00:26:29] I know. Yeah. And I'm halfway through several other books. I am reading Tomb of Sand, which is a translated book from Hindi. And I'm reading a lot of Annie Ernaux who I think you would like.  

Annie Jones [00:26:42] Yes. Okay. You're the second person to tell me that. You got to tell me where to start. I'm intrigued by her, but I need to know where to start.  

Hunter McLendon [00:26:49] Well, the good thing is a lot of hers are short.  

Annie Jones [00:26:52] Yes, so short. I feel like I could just dive in, but I need to know where? Are you reading in different formats? What percentage are you listening to versus reading a physical copy?  

Hunter McLendon [00:27:02] I just read The Lost Daughter, but the new Life Lessons Lost, Woman Eating, and Search I all went back and forth between listening and reading.  

Annie Jones [00:27:10] Meaning you listened to some and then you would go to the physical copy.  

Hunter McLendon [00:27:13] Yes. And honestly, listen, I think that if you have the ability to do that and I do think if you get the Libby app-- because I know that a lot of people are like no has the money to get two copies of everything.  

Annie Jones [00:27:27] That's right.  

Hunter McLendon [00:27:28] But if you have the Libby apps, then you can get it from the library. And I do think that if you're struggling with reading, which I think a lot of people are because, I mean, the pandemic. It is still a presence.  

Annie Jones [00:27:42] Yes.  

Hunter McLendon [00:27:42] And I do think it wears on us mentally. And so I think that if you're struggling to-- because I fell out of my reading rhythm for a long time because of it. And I think that incorporating audiobooks and going between listening and reading the same book, it actually did help me a lot in keeping my rhythm up.  

Annie Jones [00:28:01] I love that because thanks to StoryGraph I know that in 2022, 20% of the reading I did was in audiobook format, and I do think there were many instances in which I was able to finish a book because I was listening to it. And it's not the best format for me every time. Like not every book do I enjoy in audiobook format, but there are many times when it helps me move along in a book. I think about most recently I read Prince Harry's memoir, Spare. It's a better audiobook than it is a physical book. I listened to it, but then I also was like I need to finish this and so I listened to some and then I read the physical copy some. And I did both and it enabled me to finish it faster, which is not always the point, but with a book like that, it was the point. And so, anyway, I think you're right, there is value especially if you've lost your reading rhythm. I do think audiobooks can help with that.  

Hunter McLendon [00:29:00] Well, listen, for everyone who's got new reading goals, audiobooks are great for reading classics. They're right for reading classics because you figure out the rhythm of the language. They're great for memoirs, especially if the author of the memoir reads them because you just really kind of get into it and feel it. If the book is poorly written, the audiobooks are great for that because a narrator can really disguise how bad a book is written.  

Annie Jones [00:29:27] It's so true. They can either disguise it or they can amplify it. It depends on the narrator.  

Hunter McLendon [00:29:32] Oh, yes. And sometimes I wonder if some of these narrators are like, "Oh, this is bad. You need to know it's bad too" kind of thing.  

Annie Jones [00:29:38] Yeah. We need to be in this together. Speaking of classics, my second reading resolution is perhaps an obvious one, which is you and I are Conquering a Classic in 2023. This year we are reading Bleak House by Charles Dickens. We've literally just finished recording our first episode of that. And so if you are new here, we Conquer a Classic every year. We've done it since 2020, and we recap our reading of those classics for the From the Front Porch Patreon. You can find more information at Patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. This year we're doing Bleak House and I am really enjoying it, but I particularly like reading classics like this in community. I think that is something I have noticed not only with our Conquer a Classic, but I mentioned I'm doing that Little Women book club this winter. And I love Little Women, nobody needed to make me love it more. I already love that book. I have a lot of things I want to say about that book and about the history of it and the history of Louisa May Alcott. But it has been such a joy to read it in community with other readers and to read it one chapter at a time. And Bleak House was released serially, and we are reading it more or less how it was serialized. We're combining some so that we can finish in a year. But I think there is something to that. I mentioned last year The Count of Monte Cristo felt like a spiritual reading experience.  

[00:31:06] And what I meant by that wasn't that I entered some spiritual plane by reading Alexandre Dumas. What I meant was I think for a naturally binge reader or a naturally fast reader like I tend to be, and somebody who is reading a lot for work or for goals or for shelf subscriptions, you name it, there is something really beautiful about somebody making me slow down and reading something one chunk at a time.There's nothing wrong with like rushing through and reading a book in a day. Sometimes books are really good and you want to finish them in a day. But I like the self-discipline it feels like it takes to read these classics little by little, and then to unpack them together has been such a joy. And I've always loved unpacking books with you. That is something I've really enjoyed over the years. But getting to do it in community with a group of people has also been really gratifying in a way I don't think I could have known because more people are reading with us I think than ever before. And it was so fun last year to get to clap for everybody and applaud for everybody when they finished The Count. And now we're starting Bleak House and the first few chapters may be a little slow, and we're here to help each other and cheer each other on. And so I really like that. So we're reading Book House and the goal is to be done this year, and I'm really excited about that.  

Hunter McLendon [00:32:31] I think the exciting thing about the whole Conquer a Classic thing, especially now that we're on our fourth year, is that at this point we know we can do it because we've done it three times.  

Annie Jones [00:32:40] Yes, we can do it.  

Hunter McLendon [00:32:42] Yeah. And I think that books with varying struggles-- like it's so funny I always think about how people always say you have to set short term goals and long term goals. And we have our short term goals of little things we want to do in the month of January or for the first six months of the year. And honestly at this point we could just lie and say, "Oh, back in 2020 we had this idea to read five classics in five years and now we're on our fourth." I'll make that up. That's fine.  

Annie Jones [00:33:14] You're right. There's something really special about setting a goal and seeing it through and also just doing it one little bit at a time. And I think over the years we've also increased-- well, I won't speak for you, but for me as a reader, I've increased my stamina of what kind of classics I read. My brother and I were talking because I did great books in undergrad and some of the books I read my brother was like, "You don't read books like that anymore." And I was like, "Yeah, because I'm not in school anymore." And then I realized, but I do kind of miss some of that though actually. Like once he said it to me, I was like, "Oh, I do kind of miss that." And so when we decided to read Anna Karenina in 2020, I found it to be challenging because my brain wasn't used to that style of reading anymore. And I'm not saying it's gotten easier, but I will say there is something about forcing your brain to do something that it is out of the habit of doing that I think is good for us. I don't know. I'm talking to you, CrossFit king, and it feels like there's some kind of athletic comparison there as well. I don't work out, but I work out my brain and so this is what I can do and stretch my brain. And I think to do it with a partner or with a group of people is easier than to do it by yourself.  

Hunter McLendon [00:34:32] Listen, it's so funny because I did not grow up playing sports. I moved schools a lot. I was homeschooled sometimes, my only family was my granny. I did not understand community when I was younger, and I did not understand long term goals either. Those are the two things I didn't get. But as I've gotten older, I have learned that it is really important to set-- I think that reading a book in a year, writing a novel, working out to get what you want out of your fitness or whatever, they're all the same thing. Because the thing is I go to work out with a group of people every day, and it's the same people, it's a community, and we're all building towards the goal. We know that we're not going get there tomorrow, but we'll get there a year from now or two years, five years, whatever. You and I, we show up with a whole slew of people now that's so excited about it and we're slowly getting towards this thing. And you and I've talked a lot about writing and how it's just about learning to show up. And it's okay if it's not great, but as long as you're present.  

Annie Jones [00:35:40] Not every section of Count of Monte Cristo was fun and games.  

Hunter McLendon [00:35:43] Yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:35:43] It wasn't fun. It wasn't always fun, but the end goal sure did feel good. Even though maybe the ending left both of us wanting more, I think we ended that book feeling, yes, really proud of ourselves. But also we read this really great work of world literature. Like, that's important. I think it's important. Can I tell you two other reading resolutions that kind of go together?  

Hunter McLendon [00:36:04] Yes.  

Annie Jones [00:36:05] Well let me tell you one frivolous one, which is one of the things I did when I looked at my StoryGraph stats was which genres were kind of at the top? I was thrilled to see in 2022 an increase in literary fiction because it felt like 2020 and 2021 I just worried I had lost that love forever, but I haven't. It's back. But one of the genres, probably third or fourth, was romance-- which surprised me. But I do tend to read commercial romance. I call them romcoms, but a reader and listener reminded me that that's not always the case. Sometimes they're just strict romances. But I also noticed many of the books I rated three stars or fewer were romances, and so it made me think in 2023 it would be great if I could read quality over quantity. I wasn't intentionally reading romances to like up my numeric game, but they are often easy to read. But then I would end and not always really like them. Now there were exceptions and I'd like to be very clear about that. One of my top 10 books of the year was Nora Goes Off Script. I love Funny You Should Ask. I have reread that book twice. I love it so much. I love Carrie Winfrey's books. So there is a place for really well-written romances and romcoms that I really love. But I think in 2023 I would like to be mindful of what I'm reading. And I think I just assumed-- which this is silly as someone who loves the romantic comedy as a film genre, I assumed all rom coms or all romances are created equal when they're published by a certain publishing house or by a certain imprint. And that is not true. Not everybody is Emily Henry, you know what I'm saying?  

Hunter McLendon [00:37:54] Yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:37:55] And I love Emily Henry. And so why don't I save my fun romance reading for authors I know I'm going to like, like Harry Winfrey or Emily Henry or Annabel Monahan has a new book, I think, coming out this year. And so why not save those treats for the authors who I already know I really like? And there's no need to try every romantic comedy that comes across the Bookshelf's desk. I think that's one reason to look at your StoryGraph stats because it could help you see "Oh, I don't know that I really need to read 122 books If 10 of them were these books that I rated under three stars." And then when you look at which genres those books are and you realize, oh, there's a theme, there's a commonality. Maybe I don't actually like these books. Maybe I keep thinking I like them, but I actually don't. So anyway, that's one of the things I'm going to work on this year I think.  

Hunter McLendon [00:38:52] Actually, I read a lot of rom coms. For me, I read like five or six last year.  

Annie Jones [00:38:57] Yeah. Were they good ones?  

Hunter McLendon [00:38:59] Yeah. Here's the thing. One, I listen to them on audiobook, so it was better. But, two, I realized that I'm just a snob and I just don't allow myself-- so I've learned this especially among male-male rom coms, I spend the first 70 or 80 pages going, "Ah, this is disgusting." I'm not homophobic. Well, I guess you can [Inaudible] but because I tell myself I don't like romcoms, and then I'm like, "Oh, but wait, maybe." And then by the end of it, I'm like, "Wow, this is great." But I'm too embarrassed to tell people because I'm a snob.  

Annie Jones [00:39:45] Look, you should own it because there are legitimately really well-written, thoughtful romances. And hey, I'm just here to say even if they're not well-written, if they're fun and bring you joy, that is absolutely fine. I'm just looking at my reading and seeing that I did not get of the level of enjoyment, because when I do star ratings, my star ratings have to do with enjoyment. They don't just have to do with writing. And I was looking at some of the star ratings and realizing, oh, I did not enjoy as many of these as I wanted to.  

Hunter McLendon [00:40:16] Also, I will say this, the romances that you gave lower stars, I read parts of those and was like I can see why.  

Annie Jones [00:40:25] Yeah, there's just one in particular that I was like, "This is not for me." And then I think at Reader Retreat some other readers gently pushed back and they were like, "Oh, I love that book." And I thought that is truly-- and I mean this, that is awesome and that is great for you. But I wound up really not liking it. And so I don't really want to read those in 2023. I want to read books that I like.  

Hunter McLendon [00:40:46] I was there for that.  

Annie Jones [00:40:47] Oh, you were there.  

Hunter McLendon [00:40:48] And then the reaction was so-- I was thinking I was like, "Oh my gosh, we're going to have to get her a bodyguard."  

Annie Jones [00:40:59] It was so visceral. And I stand by my statement that I say on this podcast all the time, which is a book can be good for you and not for me and vice versa. Like, not every book that is good for me is going to be good for somebody else. But I think when I looked at my reading stats and realized what did I rank low? And then I saw that there was a commonality. And then at the same time I read five star rom coms that I absolutely loved, I thought, "Oh, we can do better this year." Just like I curate for customers, I can curate for myself the romantic comedies that I know I'm really going to like. And then my last reading resolution really has to do kind of with Bleak House and kind of this kind of audiobook, physical book reading that we've been alluding to, which is this podcast that I swear I promise I'm not going to talk about it forever, but I listened to this podcast with Ezra Klein and the author Marianne Wolfe. They talked beautifully about the concept of deep reading, and it was interesting, intellectually stimulating, convicting, and it made me think about how I read and in what ways I could be a better reader. Meaning speed reading is great and fine especially for certain books, but are there other books that I really want to take my time with. So when I read Bleak House, maybe I want to underline, maybe I want to take my time with it. Maybe I want to set the stage so that I'm giving myself the attention needed because our attention spans are fried. And you can blame social media. You can blame the pandemic. I mean, any number of things, it's all legitimate. But our attention spans are fried and I don't really want my attention span to be fried. And so I'm trying to think, okay, what books do I want to sit down and read physically and like underline? Is it okay to read Prince Harry's memoir in audiobook format? Yeah, I think that's fine. I think that's fine. I'm listening to Stacy Schiff's new book about Samuel Adams, because I figure it almost sounds like a podcast to me. It's nonfiction, so it listens like a podcast to me. And I really think that's a fine way for me to read that book.  

[00:43:06] And if I choose to pick up a physical copy to supplement my reading, I think that's fine too. But to really analyze what I'm reading physical copies of, what I'm listening to in audiobook format, and then how social media plays a role in what I'm reading. Not influencing what I'm reading, like following you or following a Bookstagram account, I mean when do I scroll versus when do I read? And so trying to remind myself, you know what, we can turn the phone off. We can set the phone on airplane mode and really devote yourself to this book and get lost in it, because I don't want to give books the short end of the stick because of my attention span, which I think happened a lot in 2022, where I was like, I didn't really like that book. And it wasn't that I didn't like it, it was that I did not give that book the time or attention it needed or deserved. There's a book right now that I think if I could give it the attention it needed, I think I would love it. It's a book coming out later this month, but I have not been able to sit down and focus on it. And so as a result, I feel like I hate it. And I'm like, I don't think I hate it. I think I would love it. I just need to be able to sit down with it. And so trying to take these things that I kind of learn from this concept of deep reading, Marianne, she talks about what she starts her day with and how she ends her reading day and kind of bookends her day. And so I love some of the principles and I'd really like to apply some of them to my reading life and just see how my reading life and attention span changes this year. Like, can I focus more? What could that look like for me? So that's one thing I'm taking into the year. I haven't nailed down maybe formal goals to deep read as much as I just want to start paying attention to which books I'm reading physical copies of, which books I set aside time for, which I kind of rush through. I kind of want to figure out what am I skimming, what am I reading deeply, that kind of thing.  

Hunter McLendon [00:44:58] No, I love that.  

Annie Jones [00:45:00] I want you to listen to that podcast. We can talk about it.  

Hunter McLendon [00:45:02] I'm excited. Because that's the thing, especially if you're trying to read more challenging books. For me, it's not enough just to read it to check it off my list. You want to read it because you want to get something out of it.  

Annie Jones [00:45:13] You want to remember it.  

Hunter McLendon [00:45:14] Yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:45:14] Or at least I do. But that's the other thing to remember, every reader reads with a different goal and mission in mind. And so for some people, I really do think it's the numerical or it's I want to learn something. My 82-year-old aunt is a huge reader and she comes to the Bookshelf all the time and she'll ask me, "Well, how many books have you read?" And I'll tell her. I think she read about 80 books last year, and she was like, "I can't keep up with you." And then she did like a long pause and she said, "But I'm reading really long books." And she reads like big historical nonfiction. And I was like, "Nina, you definitely are reading more than I am reading. Our numbers are just different." But she is reading to learn. She wants to read big British biographies because she wants to learn something. And so her end goal might be different from mine. Mine is to find shelf subscriptions and to curate a bookstore and to share my love and passion with books to other people, and that means loving the books that I read. And so everybody's kind of goal is different. But as I'm looking at my reading life, I guess, I'm just thinking I really want to make sure I'm giving attention to things. Because to this day some of my favorite books in the last 10 years were books that I read in 2018. That was just a really good reading year, I think, where I was giving books a lot of attention. And so I want to make sure when the year is 2030 and I'm looking back, I think there may be books from 2020 and 2021 that I cannot remember because I think those were hard years on our attentions. And 2023 I would love if it were different. I would love that it were different.  

Hunter McLendon [00:46:49] Yeah, I think that's great.  

Annie Jones [00:46:51] Okay, those are my reading resolutions. Were those yours?  

Hunter McLendon [00:46:53] Yes. I didn't have many because I was like [Inaudible] of the best.  

Annie Jones [00:46:58] To be fair, that National Book Award project just really is quite the feat. So I feel like it covers a multitude of reading resolutions.  

Hunter McLendon [00:47:07] I think so, yeah.  

Annie Jones [00:47:09] Yeah. You're good. Well, we would love to know your reading resolutions. I've seen some of them on Instagram, but you can follow @Bookshelftville and find the Instagram post that has to do with today's episode. If you'd like to leave us your reading resolutions, the Bookshelf staff has also been sharing their reading resolutions on Instagram. It's been very fun to see what the staff wants to read this year and what their goals are for the year. I hope you will feel inspired to share yours.  

[00:47:35] This week, I'm reading Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny. Hunter, what are you reading?  

Hunter McLendon [00:47:41] I'm reading The Farewell Tour by Stephanie Clifford.  

Annie Jones [00:47:46] 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:  

[00:48:00] Bookshelfthomasville.com.  

[00:48:02] A full transcript of today's episode can be found at:  

[00:48:05] Fromthefrontporchpodcast.com.  

[00:48:07] 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.  

[00:48:17] Our executive producers of today's episode are Donna Hetchler, Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle C, Kate O'Connell.  

Executive Producers (Read their own names) [00:48:24] Nicole Marsee. Wendi Jenkins. Laurie Johnson.  

[00:48:28] 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.  

[00:48:46] 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/fromthefrontporch. We're so grateful for you and we look forward to meeting back here next week.