Episode 457 || Staff's Favorite Books of the Year

This week on From the Front Porch, The Bookshelf staff share their favorite books of 2023!

To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our website (type “Episode 457” into the search bar and tap enter to find the books mentioned in this episode) or or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:

Olivia's favorite:

The Widely Unknown Myth of Apple and Dorothy by Corey Ann Haydu

Erin's favorite:

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

Kyndall's favorite:

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Felicia's favorite:

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin

Michelle's favorite:

You Are My Sunshine by Sean Dietrich

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 Mercury by Amy Jo Burns.

If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. 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...Ashley Ferrell, Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Kate O’Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.

Transcript:

[squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business and life in the South. [music plays out] 

“There is no explaining this simple truth about life. You will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you'd never be able to let go. Now you're not entirely sure when they happened. While the thrilling parts, the heart stopping joys splintered and scattered and became something else, memories are then replaced by different joys and larger sorrows. And unbelievably, those things get knocked aside as well. And so one morning you're picking cherries with your three grown daughters, and your husband goes by on the gator and you are positive that this is all you've ever wanted in the world.” - Ann Patchett, Tom Lake. 

[as music fades out] I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, I wanted to close out the year by allowing you to hear directly from Bookshelf staff members about their favorite books of 2023. We are finishing the year with a very fun goal, Matt. As you might remember, we've been working toward 1000 reviews on iTunes. And thanks to all of you, we have officially reached that goal. Thank you for telling friends and family about our show. Your support this year has meant our indie bookstore in rural South Georgia reached an even wider audience. And we are so grateful. Now, as I said, I wanted to close out the year with, of course, our list of our favorite books of 2023. You've heard me and Hunter discuss our favorites in detail in a previous episode. But this week, I wanted you to hear directly from some of our Bookshelf staffers. Their favorites reflect a wide range of genres and a look at their own personal tastes. I hope hearing their voices is a reminder of how much work and how many people go into helping our small business exist in the world. The reason we can do a weekly podcast is because of their constant behind the scenes support at our local bookstore. Inside the Bookshelf Walls, the bookshelf is the bookshelf because of their hard work and ingenuity and creativity. And I am so glad to know them. I want you to know them, too. Of course, by the end of today's episode, big fans of the bookshelf might notice not every Bookshelf staffer is featured today. It is the most wonderfully chaotic time of year in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and staffers are rarely required to participate in the podcast because they have a lot of other things to do. 

Annie Jones [00:02:48] They have a lot of other things keeping them busy. So Esmee, Nancy, Caroline and Ella are exceptionally thoughtful readers, and you can find their favorite 2023 reads on Instagram. Just make sure you're following the bookshelf at Bookshelf T-Ville. First, a voice I know you will recognize. Operations Manager, Olivia. Olivia runs our in-store floor operations, manages our bookselling team, functions as our children's book buyer and contributes frequently to from the front porch. Her descriptions of books blow me away every time. She is beloved on bookshelf staff for her plot descriptions. You have seen them or heard them often from the front porch. New Release Roundup episodes. And while listening to her beautiful quote from the book she picked, I nearly wept. So enjoy. 

Olivia [00:03:37] Hi, I'm Olivia, and I am the operations manager here at the bookshelf. My favorite book of the year ended up being a middle grade novel for the second year in a row. My favorite book is The widely Unknown Myth of Apple and Dorothy by Corey. And he do. I know I talked about it on the new released episode I was in, and I probably have talked about it again in person to many of you who stop by the store. This book was released back in September, and I read it in August, a fairly quiet month, which is maybe why I got to sit down and really love this book so much. The widely unknown myth of Apple and Dorothy is based in Greek mythology, but not in the way that, like a Percy Jackson novel is based. It's more learning from the examples of the Greek mythology. So Apple, her ancestor is Hera, and Dorothy comes from the goddess Pandora, and they both live on Earth. Their mothers are best friends and they live on Earth amongst all of these other people who have ancestors who are these amazing Greek mythology heroes, all of which assume that they follow in those same footsteps. And every year everyone on this hill climbs a ladder. They pay their respects to the gods and they come back down and spend another year in mortal all until Dorothy's mother, Penny, decides she doesn't want to. Penny loves humanity. She loves being on earth. She loves the imperfect myths of who humans are, and she wants to experience it herself. And so she decides not to climb the ladder and in turn starts a whole series of events that she did not plan. When penny passes away from a car accident, the whole hill is left reeling because they've never experienced death before. This is a first for them. Dorothy especially is is kind of reeling from all this because she just lost her mother and she doesn't really know her place in the world. And everyone keeps saying it's just because Penny is from Pandora. So of course this would happen. But Dorothy doesn't believe that she believes the pennies from Pandora, but not that that's why this happened. And then everyone is left with a choice. They either climb the ladder one last time and they live out the rest of their lives as gods forever immortal, or they stay on the hill and they become mortal and they live the rest of their lives as humans. And through this choice that the gods have given them. Dorothy and Apple form this beautiful friendship and start to really see the beauty of humanity. I have a quote that I want to read from the book. It's it's a bit long, but I think it sums up the moment where Dorothy really realized what it means to be human, why her mother loved it so much, and why Dorothy herself loves being human and the ability to be human. So here's the quote. I would say that humans wear clothes that don't fit and they look in the mirror and they feel all wrong, but also feel alive, because being alive is also that is the way things can feel wrong. Your whole body can feel wrong even though it's your body and it's always been your body and always will be. And there's something alive and real and true in that wrongness. There's the promise that another day you will feel right, or that you'll keep feeling wrong. But you'll learn that someone else feels wrong too. And then your body will still feel wrong. But your heart, your heart will feel right. I would say if I could talk. If Shadow's had mouth and breath and throat squeezing with tears for how desperately I want things to be different, that I know all of this because I knew Mama who was human for a short while, but also for the whole time she was here on Earth. I would say I know this because the way I miss her is the worst and most beautiful feeling in the same ragged breath. The missing hurts and hugs. It is the wanting her here more than anything, and the gratefulness that I got to love someone so much and have them love me too. I would miss the missing is the Korean hate who is a force to be reckoned with in the middle. Great world. Please check out this book. It is beautiful and I think you'll love it as well. The widely unknown myth of Apple and birthday. 

Annie Jones [00:07:52] Next is online sales manager, Erin. Another very familiar and recognizable bookshop voice. Long distance customers love Erin, and so do I. She handles each and every customer service issue with kindness and grace manages our website and processes. All of your online sales interacts with our growing list of loyal long distance customers and helps market and monitor our shelf subscription program. 

Erin [00:08:17] Hi, my name is Erin Fielding and I'm the online sales manager here at the bookshelf. My favorite book of 2023 was very hard to pick. I went back and forth and back and forth so many times. Until I landed on my favorite for several reasons, which is Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. It was released August 1st in 2023 and I also read it in August of 2023. Why I liked it. First of all, I love the close family dynamic of Laura and her husband and their three grown children. I think my husband and I also aspire to have that kind of closeness with our children. And I love seeing that in a book because it's something I hope for my future, that when my kids are grown, they will come back and we will all just have a great time sitting around telling stories about their childhood. I love the dynamic between the three sisters and how they loved each other, yet they were also very different. I also loved it because it really featured live theater, which was so much of what the story was about Laura being an actress when she was younger and sharing those stories with her girls. I myself have recently gotten back into acting, you know, after having many children and not being able to do it. It's been so nice to get back into acting here in Thomasville on the live theater stage. It brings me so much joy, and I hope that when I'm older, my kids will have memories of coming to see me in these plays. I also love this book because it introduced me to the play Our Town. I had heard of our town, but I couldn't tell you what it was about. And after this, after I read Tom Lake, I immediately went and read Our Town. And then I immediately went and watched a YouTube production of Our Town with Paul Newman, which is amazing. Go look for it yourself. But our town is a gorgeous, simple, heartbreaking play. And I just feel like that whole time when I read Tom Lake and then I read Our Town and then I watched our Town. To me, it's something I'll never forget, the feelings it brought up and definitely gave me a book, Hangover that I Will Never forget. And so I just want to thank Ann Patchett for writing such a beautiful book and for sharing it with the world. And if you haven't read it, you should absolutely go read Tom Lake and then you should absolutely read Our Town and then you should absolutely go watch the YouTube version of it. 

Annie Jones [00:10:55] Kendall is one of our beloved in-store booksellers. She graduated from Florida State University earlier this year and we are so very glad she stuck around and she is still here selling books and interacting with customers. Together with Keller, Kendall hosts our Children's Review Council, Dumbledore's Army, and this is her favorite book of the year. 

Kyndall [00:11:17] Hi, my name is Kyndall. I am a bookseller at the Bookshelf, and my favorite book this year was Probably A Happy Place by Emily Henry. I believe that I read this book in late April to early to mid May. I love Emily Henry. I have just found such a comfort and familiarity in her writing and I think she does such a good job at placing you in a specific setting with a more dynamic cast of characters. And this book is no different. We get these five friends who, you know, grew up together going to college, and, you know, in this book we find them in their thirties all together again. And what does that look like when you've grown and changed but you're still best friends with one another? How do you reckon your friendships with each other when you're all different people? Emily Henry did such a good job covering that topic. In looking at this dynamic of friendship that I loved, and I remember even finishing this book and not really thinking much about it, but over the year I have just grown such a fondness for it and, you know, I reflect back a lot on it. I read it in May, and that was also the time that I graduated from college. And I was going through a lot of change, just like the main character Harriet in this book. And I think I will often think back on this book and think about that time in my life. And yeah, it was it was a great read. My favorite quote from the book says, Things change, but we stretch and grow and make room for one another. Our love is a place we can always come back to, and it'll be waiting the same as it ever was. You belong here. 

Annie Jones [00:13:05] Next up is our community and public relations liaison, Felicia, who you've heard this year on our from The Bookshelf Files. Episodes are from the front porch. Felicia actually marked her last day at the bookshelf late last month. She's an entrepreneur with a desire to grow her own business. Beautiful healing. And she'll spend 20, 24 doing just that. We can't wait to see what she does next. 

Felicia [00:13:28] This is Felicia Dover from the Community and Public Relations Liaison at The Bookshelf. My favorite book of 2023 is The Many Lives of Mama Love, a memoir written by Laura, Love Harden. Now, this book really caught my eye because it was released on my birthday, and the cover is beautiful, Mike here. I'm going to give that one to try. And I tell you, the first sentence pulled me in. Laura writes, Reading was my first addiction. I mean, come on. I had to know more about this woman's story. God bless the guy who wrote that letter to The New York Times best seller list. This is an incredible, incredible story. This woman was convicted of 32 felonies and became inmate as 32179 in California in prison. She holds nothing back when describing how she went from a doting soccer mom to stealing her neighbors credit cards to a heroin addict man. And regardless of how bad her experience is that, I really, really was rooting for her and wanting to see her win. And it's a tough story because there's so many twists and turns. A woman searching for a better way. But her redemption song was incredible. And she has an incredible ending to her journey and is continuing to blossom as an amazing woman. I would give this a try. If you are interested in a book that's gritty and very, very real, but also that just has a beautiful way of sharing the layered experience of a woman in America that's made some choices that are not so great, but that also finds her way and is living an incredible life now that she's been able to change for herself. It's a wonderful read. 

Annie Jones [00:15:13] Last, but certainly not least, is Michelle, my assistant who works remotely from Minnesota for The Bookshelf. Michelle keeps my calendar straight, helps me respond to emails and functions as our organizational maven. She got to come to our ten year celebration earlier this year and it was such a gift to have her in person because she is such a big part of the bookshelf. She is a very big part of how I am even able to function as a person at all. And so really, Michelle keeps me sane. And for that, I will forever be grateful. Here's her favorite book of the year. 

Michelle [00:15:48] Hey, everyone. Michelle Here I am, Annie's assistant and work remotely from Minnesota for The Bookshelf. My favorite book I read this year, or I should say listened to this year was You Are My Sunshine, A Story of Love, Promises, and a Really Long Bike Ride by Shawn Dietrich. I chose to listen to the audiobook because it is narrated by Sean himself. And if you have not heard him tell his stories, you really need to. I would highly suggested he just brings them to life like no other. You Are My Sunshine was released in October of 2022 and I listened to it this past summer during a long road trip. The story, if you're not familiar, the premise of the book is Sean and his wife, Jamie. They go on a very long bike ride through the great Allegheny Passage and the Scenic Canal Towpath Trail. I love the book because it was one of encouragement. There was triumph through tribulation and even through all of the obstacles or hard things they ran across. During this trip, Sean and his wife always managed to see the lesson in it all, or the joy in the pain. I love the interest, the depth and compassion that Chance's and the people he meets along their path and how they all have an impact or on the outcome of his journey. And even some of these people have much deeper pain or things that they're going through. And I think this brings to light and Sean's mind that it could always be worse. And again, it just kind of brings him to that point of enlightenment. I've taken some pretty amazing trips over the years, but nothing like this. And I have a goal of conquering some of the Appalachian Trail. I say some of it or something similar to that effect. So this definitely ignited that flame and just kind of brought to light for me, like the passion and the experience that trips like this can bring to our lives. One of my favorite quotes, and I don't know if Sean actually said this in the book, but I read it in an article that he was interviewed about this book, and he says, Along the way, I learned there are, in fact, several valid reasons to break out of your comfort zone and try new things. 

Annie Jones [00:18:03] I won't speak for you because I doubt it was the same experience for you. But when I was putting together this episode, just listening to these women's voices and their voice memos really did move me to tears. I mean, Olivia's quote was gorgeous, and now I definitely need to read that book. But also it was just hearing the passion and excitement and enthusiasm in these women's voices, because at the end of the day, we're all readers. And sometimes when we're working on spreadsheets or processing orders or wrapping presents, overwhelmed by the joy but also the exhaustion of the holiday season, I think it's easy for me to forget why exactly it is we do all of this. And so sitting here today at my desk compiling these voice memos type. Buying up notes and hearing their voices was just such a reminder of the talent that is at the bookshelf and the really wonderful people that I get to interact with on a daily basis. I hope you could hear that. I hope you could hear that in their voices today, too, because I certainly did. It made me very grateful that we get to do any of this. So this is our last episode of the year. This is how we're closing out 2023. We will have, of course, new episodes for you next week, thanks to the beauty of pre-recording and planning ahead so that I also get maybe a little bit of a break in 20 into not in 2024 entirely, but in January. I'll get a little bit of a break, but you listeners will still receive new episodes every Thursday. Thank you. Thank you for listening to From the Front Porch. It's a podcast, but it is very much a part of what we do at the bookshelf. So when I say that you're support your patronage on Patreon, your purchases to our Bookshelf website, just the act of listening itself or sharing about our show with somebody you love, all of that really does grow our business and help us to maintain this talented staff of people that I get to work with. And so if you ever wonder, like, is is a podcast worth listening to. 

Annie Jones [00:20:09] Or, or does my support mean anything? It really, really does. Every podcast is a small business, but our podcast is also in service to another small business. And when you support the show, you're also supporting our indie bookstore. It has been a remarkable year here. I think I speak for our entire staff when I also say it has been an exhausting year, a year where we did three reader retreats. We hosted some big time authors like Anita, Gail Jones, Shawn Dietrich. We got to have our Eric Thomas and Carrie Winfrey and Annabel Monahan. We had our ten year anniversary celebration, which was a huge milestone for me, but also for the Bookshelf staff and for the bookshelf in Thomasville. It's just been a really big year and I'm very excited for what 2024 has in store. I hope you'll still follow along and join us in the New Year because we have lots of fun in store for you. But really today is a thank you. So I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season with your friends, with your family. Thank you for your support this year. Thank you for listening and we will see you in the new year. This week I'm reading Mercury by Amy Jo Burns. 

Annie Jones From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of the Bookshelf and Independent Bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow the bookshelf, the daily happenings on Instagram, at Bookshelf Table, and all the books from today's episode can be purchased online through our store website. Bookshelf Thomasville Dotcom. A full transcript of today's podcast episode can be found at From the Front Porch Podcast dot com. 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. Our executive producers of today's episode are Cami Tidwell, Shantel Karl, Kate O'Connell, Kristen May, Linda Lee Drost, Martha Stacey Lao Chanter Combs, Stephanie Dean. Ashley Ferrell. 

Nicole Marcy. Wendy Jenkins. Ari Johnson. Susan Uelese. 

Annie Jones 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 helps us 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 or if you're so inclined to support us over on Patreon, where we have three levels of support, Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts and giveaways. Just go to Patreon, become forward slash from the front porch. We're so grateful for you and we look forward to meeting back here next week.