Episode 422 || April Reading Recap
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie recaps the books she read and loved in April. As always, we’re offering a Reading Recap Bundle, which features Annie’s three favorite books she read this past month.
You can get the books mentioned in this episode on our website (type Episode 422 into the search bar to easily find the books mentioned in this episode).
Live Literary Therapy with Annie tickets
April Reading Recap Bundle ($65) includes:
Tinkers
Your Driver is Waiting
In Memoriam
The Second Ending by Michelle Hoffman (out 5/30)
Congratulations, the Best Is Over by R. Eric Thomas (out 8/8)
Tinkers by Paul Harding
Your Driver Is Waiting by Priya Guns
The Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill
In Memoriam by Alice Winn
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Pieces of Blue by Holly Goldberg Sloan (out 5/9)
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
Thank you to this week’s sponsor, the 102nd Annual Rose Show and Festival in Thomasville, Georgia. Come visit us for the weekend of April 28th-29th and experience the flowers, fun, food, and shopping in Beautiful Thomasville. Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGa.com.
This week, Annie is reading Enchantment by Katherine May.
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...Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Donna Hetchler, Kate O’Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.
Transcript:
Annie Jones [squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
“They were not afraid of making something new. They knew that creation, like faith itself, could be perilous, could evanesce in the absence of care. But they believed that the only way to survive was to keep creating.” - R. Eric Thomas, Congratulations, the Best Is Over!
[as music fades out] I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week, I’m recapping the books I read in April. Do you love our Literary Therapy episodes? Well, this May, we’re doing it live. I'll be doing 15-minute literary therapy sessions on Tuesday, May 16, via Zoom. We can chat about reading ruts, book club dilemmas, and what titles to add to your TBR. To book an appointment, you’ll need to purchase a ticket from The Bookshelf website at www.bookshelfthomasville.com; there’s also a link in our show notes. Tickets are $30, and $5 goes toward your future Bookshelf purchase. This would make a great Mother’s Day present or be a fun way to treat yourself this spring. Spots may go quickly, so book or gift your appointment today. I can’t wait to be your very own Fraser Crane live and in-person (well, on Zoom anyway.)
[00:01:42] Anyway, on to my April reading. My April reading month was significantly less prolific, I think, than my March reading month. And that is fine. In March, I wound up reading all total, I think, 15 books, which was remarkable and super fun, and also, quite frankly, too many books for me. There might not be too many books for you, and that's fine, but it was a lot of books. And so, this month there was a lot of life going on and my reading diminished significantly. But that's okay. I'm quite happy with that. And at least one of the books, maybe two of the books I read this month, are going to be in my top 10 of the year. And so, that feels like a pretty good reading month to me. The first book that I want to talk about is actually a book that I finished at the tail end of March, but I finished it after I recorded the last episode and I wanted to let you know just how much I enjoyed it because it's a debut and I'm afraid it may not get some of the attention I think it deserves. So that book is called The Second Ending. This is by Michelle Hoffman. It's a debut novel and a paperback original. I think it was originally scheduled to be a hardback, but this book is releasing in paperback, and it comes out on May 30th. So, you have some time to preorder this one. I wanted to feature it because on an upcoming episode, Olivia and I talk ever so briefly about the fact that a lot of feel good books are really romantic comedies, sometimes romances. And feel good can really encompass so much more than just romantic feelings. And I am very pleased to say that the second ending by Michelle Hoffman is a feel good book. It's a book that I immediately handed to my mom. I also think it's well-written and not all feel good books are well-written. There are some that I've even reviewed on this podcast that I have liked, but they aren't the best written books in the world. I actually think this is a really well-written book.
[00:03:34] It is about a woman named Prudence. Prudence was a child prodigy in piano. She was a classical pianist, and now she is all grown up. She is middle aged. Her daughters have just gone off to college and she's an empty nester. She still plays the piano, but not like you would imagine a child prodigy might. In fact, you might say she's kind of hidden that talent. It has kind of been buried. Through a series of truly bizarre, hilarious events, Prudence winds up receiving an invitation to appear on I pictured like an American Idol-esque talent show, television show that has become popular on TV, and it has highlighted classical pianists and kind of pitted them against each other. So, almost this competition style classical piano show. It's taken America by storm. It's taken the country by storm. People really enjoy it. It's made classical piano music popular again. And now prudence is going to appear as a competitor to the show's host, who is in his own right a really talented pianist and kind of a child prodigy himself. He's a young man, and Prudence is going to go up against him in this showcase. That is the main premise and plot of this book. The plot, though, really is about Prudence and her coming to terms with middle age, with being an empty nester, with her daughters being all grown up, her coming to terms with her marriage and her also reflecting back on why she left piano behind. And you kind of get to learn how prudence was raised, some of why she became a child prodigy and the ups and downs and pros and cons of that. I fell in love with her character so much. There are also really richly developed side characters, including Prudence's husband, including the young man who is the kind of host of this TV show. All of these side characters are really well developed. There's kind of an antagonist in the form of a nosy homeowners association president. It is laugh out loud funny with serious depth.
[00:05:51] And I love a paperback debut. Don't get me wrong, I like a paperback original. But I think sometimes I, as a book buyer, can ignore them because at the Bookshelf, frequently hardback debuts do better for us. Those are the books that sell better for us. Paperback debut seem to be a harder sell. I think this book could certainly have debuted in hardback. But because it is debut in paperback, how lucky for you. Because it is at a lower price point and it's a book that you can take on vacation, take on a plane. I frequently say that paperback books are better for travel purposes. So, this book is perfect for that. It releases on May 30th. If you're wondering about comp titles, the whole time I was reading, I felt like I was reading a mash up between Where'd You Go Bernadette? Remember that book? I feel like for a while that's the only book anyone ever talked about. And I mean that with love. I really enjoyed that book. But Where'd You Go Bernadette where you've got a woman in midlife crisis, and then there is a very obscure-- I am sure it is out of print. Erin is listening to this and cringing because we can sell out of print books, but really not through our website, really just for our in-person customers. But the book is called The Trouble with Jenny's Ear. Maybe you can find it at your local library. I found it in an antique store, and the reason I picked it up is because the author's last name is Butterworth. That's the only reason I picked this book up. But it's an old children's book about a little girl named Jenny, who she realizes she can hear what people are saying. And so, she winds up going on this game show where she competes and her ear helps her cheat. And she is filled with so much guilt and remorse, but people keep telling her, no, it's okay. It's just part of the game; keep playing. Just a delightful book. I have not touched it in years. I still have my copy somewhere in this house. But the whole time I was reading, I thought, "Oh, this would be like if Jenny grew up." This is Where'd You Go Bernadette meets the Trouble with Jenny's Ear, which is a book that most of you will probably never have heard of. But I finished this book with a giant smile on my face. I immediately passed it along to Susie. I'll let you know what she thinks of it, or she will probably on an upcoming episode. But I really like this one and I wanted to highlight it in case it kind of flies under the radar this season. It is The Second Ending by Michele Hoffman.
[00:08:08] Then I had the privilege of reading quite early a copy of Congratulations the Best Is Over. This is a new essay collection by R. Eric Thomas. It releases on August 8th. If you have not heard, R. Eric Thomas is going to be a guest at our June Reader Retreat this summer. I am thrilled. He will be joined by Carrie Winfrey. I cannot believe these are the words that I am saying to you. I'm so thrilled. It is an honor to host R. Eric Thomas and Carrie Winfrey at this upcoming retreat. We are also doing a live podcast. And if you are local or regionally local and you want to come to the live podcast, there are tickets available so that you could come see me and R. Eric Thomas and Carrie Winfrey and of course, probably Hunter McLendon. And so, we'll all be together talking about romantic comedies and I would love for you to join us. You can find those tickets on the store website. I read Congratulations the Best Is Over in preparation for Eric's upcoming visit. I read his first essay collection; his debut collection called Here for It Back in early 2020. Do you guys remember what it was like in pre-pandemic times? And I loved the book so much because it had been a long time since a book had made me laugh and cry. And I am very pleased to say that I sat in a chair in my front yard and read Congratulations the Best Is Over while absolutely genuinely laughing out loud and then tearing up. Because the way that Eric writes about his life, his town, his home, his husband, their life and where they're from and their livelihoods is so very authentic and real to me.
[00:09:58] I guess we'll put this to the test in June, but every time I read his work, I think, "Oh, I would love to talk to you," because so much of what he's writing about, I have felt or I have endured and then so much of it I have not. I am a straight white lady and Eric is a gay black man, and so we are very different. But we also have endured some of the same things, the way that he writes about where he lives in his hometown, the way that he writes about his faith, the way that he writes about his husband. All of that feels like talking to a good friend. In my reading life currently, I read very many books that make me laugh out loud, like they're genuinely hilarious and funny, and then also make me think and make me underline and make me ask her questions and make me want to have better conversations. And I think that that is the work that Eric Thomas is doing. I should say not only in his books that are being published, but also I subscribe to his Substack. I subscribe to his newsletter. And I just love what he's doing. His books and his work, they're filled with pop culture references. You feel like you're a genius for figuring it out, for catching a reference. It's a little bit like reading Amy Sherman-Palladino scripts or something where you're catching these references and you're so proud of yourself for knowing what he's talking about. I just think his books are such a comfort. And in the world that we currently live in, I think that is really some of the best praise I can give. And it's not comforting in the fact that it makes you bury your head in the sand from the current culture or the current world, but instead it makes you pay better attention. And that is high praise. I just I mean it with the utmost praise. So, Congratulations the Best Is Over by R. Eric Thomas. This does not release until August 8th. So, here's what you can do in between. You can read Here For It. If you've not read that yet, please do yourself a favor and read his first book, Here For It. And then last year, Eric put out a young adult novel called Kings of Be More, which is a very funny, heartfelt tribute to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It's kind of an homage to Ferris Bueller, which is a movie that I love, and this is really a tribute to Ferris Bueller and also to the city of Baltimore. If you're in Baltimore, I think you absolutely have to read this book. And that would be a great time to kind of prep you for Eric's visit to Thomasville in June and also his upcoming book that releases on August eight. You can, of course, preorder the book. It is Congratulations the Best Is Over by R. Eric Thomas.
[00:12:33] Next, I read Tinkers. This is the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Paul Harding. We did an entire episode about this book called Bookmarked with Annie and Hunter. That's the name of our new series that kind of is the same thing as Backlist Book Club, but we're kind of rebranding it, reconfiguring it because we didn't want people to think that they had to do homework to listen to the podcasts. So, you can listen to those episodes having never read the book or you can listen to them after reading the book and you want to have some company in digesting it together. Either way, Tinkers is the book that we selected for this past quarter. I gave this five stars. It was in my mind like Annie Dillard meets Marilynne Robinson. The book is about George Washington Crosby. It's really about three generations of New England men. But the book opens with George Washington Crosby on his deathbed, and he is a man who has been devoted to clocks. He has devoted his life to clocks. So much of Tinkers is about timekeeping-- literal timekeeping, but also metaphorical timekeeping. The book goes back and forth between George on his deathbed and then also him maybe hallucinating or thinking about or revisiting his father, Howard, and the role that Howard played in his life. You could slot this in the category of father son stories. This is definitely a story about men and about masculinity, I suppose, but also about coming to terms with the end of our lives and the legacies that we want to leave. I love books about that. You know that I love books about that. I like books that deal deeply and interestingly with the things that we encounter at the end of our lives. And this book does a beautiful job of that. This was a debut. It came out in 2009, so it doesn't feel like a debut, but it was a debut novel that won the Pulitzer, which is unbelievable. But reading it, you completely see why. I loved this book. I loved talking to Hunter about it. I hope you will go back to listen to that episode if you haven't already. That is Tinkers by Paul Harding. Five stars. Just a really great book that I am so glad to have finally read.
[00:14:50] Before I tell you about my next book, I want to say that about mid-April I was having a little bit of a reading crisis where I just felt like I was reading so much for work, including Tinkers, which I read and loved, but I was reading so much work. And I very much missed the serendipity that occurs when you just wander a bookstore or wander a library. You've heard me mention this on previous episodes in other conversations that we've had where sometimes a bookseller just wants to buy a book or just wants to read a random book that they picked out. And so, a few Saturdays ago, I had the opportunity to work in the store for a full Saturday. I worked alongside Keila and Kendall. And while I was there I told them, I said, "I am on a mission to find some books to read this weekend." I need some books to read. I don't want to read any of my ARCs and even though many of them were appealing to me. I just was in a headspace where I wanted to read something that I discovered all by myself just by wandering. And so, Keila and Kendall and I wandered the shelves, and when it was all said and done, I had quite the stack. And I took some pictures of books I wanted to read in the future, including Paul Harding's new book. He has a new book that came out this spring. And so, I made a little stack, but I finally narrowed it down to three books. And those three books are the next three books that I'm going to talk about.
[00:16:12] The first is Your Driver is Waiting. This is by Priya Guns. I pulled this off of Keila's [inaudible] that she had done in the store. She did this really creative [inaudible] where it was books that you would read based on their first sentence. So, she had all of these books displayed, and then she covered the front of each book stack with a piece of paper with the first sentence from the book. And so, Priya Gun's book opens with this great opening sentence: If you're going to be a driver, you'd better hide at least one weapon in your car. So, that immediately grabbed me and I took the book off the shelf and added it to my stack. And it was the first of the three books that I read when I got home. And I was led to this book, yes, because of that opening sentence and because the blurbs, the description of the book literally say this is a one sit read, which is what I wanted. I wanted a book that I could kind of fly through while I was at the Bookshelf. I flipped through the pages. I saw that the chapters were short and I thought, "Yes, this is the book for me." So, opens with that great sentence. And our main character is Damani. Damani is a Rideshare driver and she drives throughout the city. The book, I believe, is an homage to Taxi Driver, but that is a movie I have never seen. And I am pleased to tell you that if you have no concept or understanding of the movie Taxi Driver-- and I have very little, like, I have the most basic of understandings about that movie-- you will still, I think, really appreciate and enjoy this book and be taken along for the metaphorical ride. So, Damani is our main character. She's Rideshare driver. She drives around her city and makes all kinds of observations about her home life, her family, capitalism, systems that kind of way us down, and you as the reader, get to hear all of that. We hear all of these things from Damani's perspective.
[00:18:06] And then one day, when picking up somebody for a ride, she winds up running into-- literally her car physically runs into a woman named Jolene. And Jolene is a white woman who is kind of the stereotypical, maybe woke white liberal woman who maybe has the best of intentions, believes she can fix the world. And Damani is decidedly more cynical. Damani also walks through life in brown skin, and so her experience of life is very different from Jolene's. Jolene feels like she leads kind of a charmed life. And Jolene and Damani have kind of some sexual tension and romantic and sexual encounters. And so, Damani kind of falls for Jolene. I do not really want to give you any more information than that. That is the basic premise of the book, is you've got the Damani the Rideshare driver who feels a little bit beaten down by the world and the systems holding her back. And then she runs into Jolene, who feels like in a lot of ways her opposite. And something happens that kind of makes their relationship come to a head. And that is all I want to say because the book is truly a one sit read. I finished this in one sitting. I read it in my chair and I started it and couldn't finish. Not necessarily because it's the most plot driven book I've ever read, because I hesitate to describe this book in that way. It is not necessarily plot driven. It's just that you are along for the ride with Damani and you want to know where she's going to take you. That's really what it is. You're reading and you desperately want to know what happens next. The book kind of reminds me of The Dinner by Herman Koch. I don't know if y’all read that, but that is a great backlist title. And one thing I loved about it was it just built slowly and steadily to this incident. And then the book kind of comes to a quiet end after that. That is the way I think that Priya Guns built this book, where it's kind of a slow burn. I was never bored. Don't mistake slow burn with being bored. This book is not boring, but it's this slow burn that kind of leads to this climactic moment. And then the book kind of quietly shudders to an end. I really liked it. I thought it was original. I haven't read much like it, which was refreshing to me. That is Your Driver is waiting by Priya Guns. And it is out now.
[00:20:40] The second book in that stack of three that I picked up from the Bookshelf that day was The Crane Husband. This is by Kelly Barnhill. I had heard rave reviews of this book from Erin, our online sales manager, and from Keila, our bookseller. They both read it and loved it. And when Keila knew that I was looking for books that I could finish easily in a weekend, she picked this for me. And I don't know how you all choose books when you goes to libraries or when you go to the bookstore. But I really do look at that first sentence, first page or two, and I see if it grabs me because I need a book that's going to grab me pretty quickly. And so, even though the Crane Husband is really essentially a novella, it's quite short. I wanted to make sure I was going to be hooked. Before I took it home, I opened it there at the Bookshelf and I started reading and Lo and Behold, it hooked me immediately. The premise is weird in the best possible way. You know I love a well-done, weird book. So, this is a play on the-- I believe it is a Japanese folktale about the Crane Wife. That is where the Crane Wife, the essay collection by C.J Hauser gets its name. This is not that. The Crane Husband is not that. Although, I would love to see the two of them placed together on a shelf. The Crane Husband is essentially a fairy tale; although, I would argue it's a fairy tale for those of us who don't really read fairy tales. We have a young woman, unnamed, who lives in a house with her little brother and her mother. And her mother is a free spirited artist. And one day her mother brings home her new love interest, who's an abusive crane. And the abuse becomes evident throughout the novel. And he is a literal crane. Sharp, pointy beak. The way that Kelly Barnhill describes this crane is hair raising. I could picture it so easily. This would make a really compelling horror movie. I just could picture it so vividly.
[00:22:39] So, the mom brings home this crane who winds up being abusive and the mom and crane disappear at all hours of the night. They're having this relationship, but this young woman who's our main character is watching her mother kind of disappear into herself. And at the same time, this young woman is trying to take care of her brother to kind of elude the government and the law, who are noticing that maybe this young woman and her brother are not being cared for well. And the entire story is told so succinctly, so beautifully, so weirdly. It is so bizarre. This is what I like about weird books, though. And part of the reason I think when I say I love weird books, what I really mean is I love weird short books because I only could take weirdness for so long. And I think that's my weakness perhaps as a reader, but I'm just being honest. I can handle weird as long as it's really well told. This story is so compact and so well told. It reminds me a lot of a book I loved a few years ago called The Harpy. And so, if you can handle weird and sort of fairy tale stories, I think you would love this. And you'll blink and it's over. I mean, like I said, it's really more of a novella than it is a novel. And yet the story is so utterly complete. It doesn't end in a way that makes you think, "What was that?" The story completely makes sense, even though it sounds so weird to talk about a book where a mom brings home a crane for a boyfriend. I just love this book. I really, really loved it. It's a backlist title. It's out now. I think it's technically a backlist title. I don't really know. Maybe it's a frontlist because it's hardback. I'm saying backlist because it came out last year, and so I'm not sure if it will qualify for my top 10 because I typically do books published this year. But I really loved it. I suspect you will too, especially if you like The Harpy, Our Wives Under the Sea, Hurricane Girl. Any of those other kind of weird books that I have named over the last few years. I think you'll like this one. That's the Crane Husband by Kelly Barnhill. It's out now.
[00:25:10] And then the third and final book that I picked from that stack was In Memoriam by Alice Winn. So, I picked up these three books. The Crane Husband and Your Driver Is Waiting were both really short books that I knew I could finish quickly. In Memoriam felt a little bit like an outlier. When I was going through the Bookshelf and I was trying to pick a book, Hunter had mentioned In Memoriam to me. He posted about it on his Instagram, but he'd also mentioned it to me specifically, which always makes me think maybe I should read it because Hunter feels like my own personal book whisperer. He knows what I like and what I don't. And then one of our long distance customers and friends, Jennifer, she messaged me and said, "Hey, I'm at a bookstore. I need to know if you've read this, should I buy it?" And I told her, I said, "I haven't read it, but Hunter's read it and loved it. I think you should go for it." She did buy it. And then when I that same day was walking around the Bookshelf, I saw In Memoriam, and I thought, "Is this a sign?" I had seen it on Hunter's Instagram. I had been texted about it. And so, I wondered, is this a sign that I need to read it? I picked it up and I thought, it's a little thick for my current criteria, but I took it. I took this big stack back to the register with me and it was [inaudible] in the bookstore. Nobody panic. I proceeded to flip through the pages and read the first sentence and the first couple of paragraphs and thought, "Oh, I think I'm going to love this." This was the third book that I brought home. Again, different from the Crane Husband, different from Your Driver is Waiting. This is a World War Two novel. It begins at a British boarding school, and Gaunt and Ellwood are the two young men that we are immediately introduced to. But we're also introduced to just a wonderful, raucous cast of characters of these young men at this boarding school. And they all are on the cusp of manhood. Of course, you, the reader, know that it is 1914 and it is only a matter of time until these men are at the center of a world war. And Gaunt and Ellwood not only are inching closer toward battle, but they are also slowly or perhaps very quickly falling in love with one another. And they are obviously hiding that from the rest of their classmates and the rest of their friends. And it's kind of this unspoken relationship.
[00:27:33] And indeed, it is not the only gay relationship in the book or at their school, but it is just kind of this unspoken thing that maybe we know about, but we don't talk about. And Gaunt and Ellwood don't even engage in a relationship. They don't even really know that one is in love with the other. They kind of think they have this unrequited love affair going on where Gaunt thinks he's in love with Ellwood, but Ellwood is not in love with him. And Ellwood thinks he's in love with Gaunt and Gaunt is not in love with him. These characters will stay with me for such a long time. I love Gaunt despite his name. That's his last name. And the boyish, the roguish nature of these characters I just fell in love with. All of these men kind of go by their last names. It's very much this British boarding school and this very masculine environment. And Gaunt, despite maybe how his last name sounds, is actually this really robust-- kind of I pictured this ruddy, muscular character who also is deeply wise and deeply smart. And in another point in history, he might have been a conscientious objector, but he can't quite bring himself to not go to war. He has German family members. His mother is German. And so, he has real qualms and real issues with the war that has just begun. Gaunt is who I fell in love with first. I just loved his character. And then Ellwood almost reminds me of a golden retriever type personality. Everybody loves him. He's beloved by every classmate, by every friend, loves a good time, very much enneagram seven energy. And war to him feels like an adventure he'll get to have. And what Alice Winn has created here is just-- I wish you could see my face. This is just one of the most beautiful works of fiction I've read in a really long time, and I think it's because it completely surprised me, almost like Hello Beautiful surprised me earlier this year. I just went into In Memoriam not really knowing anything, just with the recommendation of Hunter. And I'm so glad that I kind of went in not knowing much else. And so I'm going to leave you with that basic description, which is this is an epic war novel that feels in the same vein as some of those war novels we read in high school.
[00:30:03] I think about Hemingway a lot when I think about war novels. This is an epic war novel, and it's also a romance book, and it's also a coming of age story. And I love every bit of it, every piece and every plot line. And I'll also tell you this, I was a little bit daunted by the size. It's not that thick. It's just I was looking for a weekend read, but this book is weirdly propulsive. You would think perhaps based on how I'm describing it, because it reads like a classic work of literature to me, again, like a book that you might have read in high school. But I could not put it down. I was not feeling well last week and I read it in bed, got up, got in the chair, kept reading it, like could not put it down. I was completely hooked from page one and I'm so, so glad I read it. I just really liked it. It's going to be in my top 10 of the year, maybe even top five, because so far it's so memorable. The book gets its title from a Tennyson poem, and a lot of poetry is kind of woven throughout the book. I think it's so smart. I can't wait to see what Alice Winn writes next, because I think this was so whole and beautiful and original. Even though we all know we've read romances before, we've read war novels before, but I felt like I hadn't read this before. We've read campus novels before, but this felt different. This felt a lot like separate piece or like, again, just some of those classic books that we've read while growing up. I just thought it was excellent. In Memoriam by Alice Winn. I can't say enough good things about it. It's out now.
[00:31:42] Okay. All while I was reading those things, I was listening to Happy Place by Emily Henry. This was available as an ALC, an advance listening copy through Libro.fm. So, I got to listen to it throughout the month. It's narrated by Julia Whalen, and that's part of the reason I picked it up. So here's my history with Emily Henry. I read physical copies of Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation. And then I listened to Book Lovers, which was the book that released last year. And then I listened to Happy Place. My current ranking of Emily Henry books prior to reading Happy Place was Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation, and book lovers. I'm not sure where Happy Place falls-- if it falls at three or four. Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation are still my two favorites. Here is the good news. I love Emily Henry. I think she is totally reliable. If you love Emily Henry books, you will love this book. I think this book is getting mixed reviews. I thought if you like Emily Henry books, you'll like this. I'm not quite sure why you wouldn't. It's very much in the same vein as those other novels. However, I do think I am discovering that I, as a reader-- and you heard me talk about this a little bit with Ashley last week, I think I prefer to read Emily Henry's novels instead of listen to them. It may have to do with the entire romance or romantic comedy genre. I'm not 100% sure. But something about the banter being narrated was very difficult for me in this book. And I love banter, and that is why I think this might have more to do with my audiobook experience than it has to do with the book itself. So, if you're not familiar, Happy Place is set in Maine. I love that Maine setting. I just love that beachy lobster eating setting. Especially now that I've been there, I feel like I can picture it so well. So, it's set on Maine. That is Harriet's happy place. Harriet is our main character, and the main trope that is seen throughout this novel is fake relationship. That's kind of the trope that's at the heart of the book, because Harriet has been engaged to win for a really long time. They've been together a long time, but they just broke up a few months ago but their friends don't now. And so, when they all gather for their annual summer vacation together at Sabrina's home (it's one of the friends characters) in Maine, her dad's place where they all have stayed for years, and they get there and they find out that the house, of course, is not going to be theirs forever.
[00:34:21] And so, they decide we're having one last great vacation together, one last hurrah as friends. And therefore, Harriet does not want to confess to everyone that she and Winn have actually broken up. And so chaos, of course, ensues from there and romantic antics ensue from there. Harriet is a really great protagonist. I really do like her. And this is why I like Emily Henry. I think she writes really smart female protagonists, and Harriet is in med school-- she's actually finished med school. She's completing her residency out in San Francisco. Her friends are all eclectic and interesting. That is another thing that I like about Emily Henry's books, is I feel like she treats her side characters with respect, much like our beloved Nora Ephron did. I just feel like those side characters played just as important a role in the book, and their friendship is really lovely to watch. And I also like that she deals with friendship tension because any adult-- nay, any teenager or I think any pre-teen knows friendship isn't perfect and friends are not perfect. And so, no matter how much you love a person, there's going to occasionally be tension and there's going to occasionally be maybe not drama, but just there's going to be pain points in any relationship. And I like that. Emily Henry did not shy away from that in this book. If Book Lovers, which came out last year, was about sisters, (and I think that it was) then Happy Place is about friends. And I think the Harriet and Winn relationship is compelling and fun like all of the romantic relationships in Henry's novels are. But I really think where the book got most of its heart and drive from is the friendship between Harriet and her college friends and what their lives look like, and trying to remain friends in adulthood, trying to hold on to this beautiful relationship that you had as a young twentysomething and now you're in your thirties and you're trying to figure out how do we stay in touch when we live cross-country for one another?
[00:36:29] How do we stay in touch when we have jobs that pull us to the very brink of ourselves? And that's what I thought the book really wound up being about. So, Happy Place releases-- actually, by the time you listen to this, it might already be out, but it releases on April 25th. And this is interesting, it's out in hardback. So, all of her previous works have been released in paperback. This is her first hardback release. Do I think it's worth reading in hardback? Yes, I absolutely do. I really liked this one. And I do think even though Julia Whalen narrates and we all love Julia Whalen; I actually think for me reading the book would have been a better experience. I don't know if that would be the case for you, but if you have only listened to Emily Henry's books and you have felt meh about them, then I would encourage you to try the physical books. Because I think the bantryness [sp] of it can feel cringe when somebody is reading it to you. I don't know why this is, but when you're reading the physical book, it just feels a little more authentic. And that could be something that's just completely in my head. But I wanted to mention it. I really liked this. I think Emily Henry is a consistent writer and I will read probably everything she writes. This is Happy Place by Emily Henry out on April 25th.
[00:37:45] The last book that I read this month was Pieces of Blue. This is by Holly Goldberg Sloan. You might recognize Holly Goldberg's Sloan's name from her children's lit. She wrote a book called Counting by Sevens. I wish that you could see my face. I was reading off my notes because I wanted to make sure I got the name of her children's literature correct. And now I am reading her bio and I'm realizing that she wrote the screenplay for Angels in the Outfield, and she was the first woman to direct a live action film for Disney with the Big Green. I am stunned. I had no idea. Well, now I just have so much more respect for somebody I already liked. Her Kid Lit does really well at The Bookshelf. Angels in the Outfield was a great movie. This woman wrote Angels in the Outfield. I'm stunned. I'm very distracted. I'm so sorry. Okay. This book, Pieces of Blue, is her adult debut. She's written Kid Lit. She's written middle grade literature, really well recognized and often awarded children's lit. And now she has written a work of adult fiction. So, I'm closing out my month with this book. It doesn't release until May 9th. And the book is about Lindsey Hill and her three children. And they move to Hawaii after the death of Lindsay's husband, their father. So, it's Lindsay and then the three children are Olivia-- she's the oldest kind of teenager, very techie teen. The dad was a big guy in tech. And Carlos, who is the really just quiet middle child who now that he has moved to Hawaii wants to go by the name Carl, but he feels like you're stereotypical middle child. And then the third child is a little girl named Cena. And Cena is really the more precocious kind of what you might expect out of a kid in literature. Do you know what I mean? Really kind of smart, quirky, keeps the family on their toes. After Paul's death, Lindsay decides to move her family to Hawaii. Did you all ever see that British TV show where the family goes to Corfu? I think it was called the Durrells. I'm not even sure how to pronounce the name. Anyway, that's what this kind of reminds me of, because this whole family moves from the Pacific Northwest to Hawaii and they buy a motel. Like a kind of rundown resort-esq. It's not even a resort. It's like a motel with different cabins.
[00:40:26] And now this single mom is going to bring this motel back to life with the help of her three teenagers. Three? Well, one of them is a teenager. The others are, I think, in middle school and elementary school. And somehow she's going to raise her family, cope with her husband's death and the loss of her husband, while also bringing this motel back to life. So, this book is what I'm reading right now. I am enjoying it. I think it is a solid pick for vacation reading and we get all the time requests from podcast listeners. I say all the time pretty frequently through Patreon or through just podcasts emails, requests for books to take on vacation, especially maybe a Hawaiian vacation or beach vacation. This will probably do the trick. I suspect this will be another book that I pass along to Susie. I am really liking it so far. It feels a little unrealistic. You just are kind of scratching your head wondering how this family is going to do this, how this mom is going to do this. But you know what? I like it so far. I'm enjoying it. And sometimes it's okay to read books that are a little bit unbelievable. I'll finish this one up before the month is over. And I suspect I will enjoy it, but I'll try to report back. That comes out on May 9th. Again, it is Pieces of Blue by Holly Goldberg Sloan, the writer of Angels in the Outfield. Who knew?
[00:41:55] Those are the books I read in April. As usual, with our Reading Recap episodes, we have a reading recap bundle for this month. I love putting these together. I always like to think hard about which three books should be grouped together and shipped to you. So, our April reading Recap bundle is $65 and it includes Tinkers, (that's the Pulitzer Prize winning novel) Your Driver Is Waiting and In Memoriam. You can find more details and the April bundle online through the link in our show notes or go to Bookshelfthomasville.com and take today's episode number, that's 422, into the search bar.
[00:42:34] This week, what I am reading is brought to you once again by the 102nd Annual Rose Show and Festival here in Thomasville, Georgia. Y'all, this weekend is Rose Show. I am so excited. You have heard throughout the last few weeks the various things that I enjoy about Rose Show and Festival. You've heard me talk about the high school marching band that comes down and opens the rose tent. You've heard me talk about being a parade judge for the Rose Show Parade. You've heard staffers talk about how much they love the window decorating contest. Our windows are decorated and they are so pretty. I'm so proud of my mom and the work that she and my aunt do. The windows look fantastic and so do windows throughout the rest of downtown. I would be remiss if I did not mention Liam's amazing windows. Liam's is a local restaurant in Thomasville. And then Spence and Lane is a local boutique who I am pretty sure has a giant almost Jack and the Beanstalk level rose growing out of a pot in their front. I mean, it's fake, but you know what I'm saying. Like, it is a beautiful kind of 3D element. Blake Candle Company has a beautiful window. Amy at The Hare & The Hart has a beautiful. Anyway, so many gorgeous windows for the window decorating contest. There's also the street dance. I don't even know if we've talked about how fun the street dance is during Rose Show and Festival on Friday night after the parade. That is when they kind of clear the streets and the Swing and Medallions are a swing band that come every year. Thomasville loves them. And I took my mom and dad one year for my mom's birthday. And it is just such a delight to see Thomasville vibrant. It's exactly what you picture when you picture a small town. And so, this is my last push and plea for you to come join us for Rose Show and Festival. You can come visit us this weekend, April 28th and 29th, and experience the flowers, fun food and shopping in beautiful Thomasville. Plan your visit at ThomasvilleGA.com.
[00:44:32] This week. In addition to the new Holly Goldberg Sloan book, I am also reading Enchantment by Katherine May. Thank you again to our sponsor, the 102nd Annual Rose Show and Festival here in Thomasville. Plan your upcoming visit at ThomasvilleGA.com.
Annie Jones: 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 at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website: bookshelfthomasville.com A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at: fromthefrontporchpodcast.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 are…
Donna Hetchler, Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle C, Kate O'Connell
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