Episode 443 || Off the Shelf with Annie & Ashley: Fall
This week on From the Front Porch, it's an episode of Off the Shelf with Annie & Ashley! Annie is joined by friend, cousin, and former colleague, Ashley Sherlock, to chat about what they’re reading – but also what they’re watching, listening to, and buying.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our website:
For more information on One Book Thomas County, please visit their website here. Get your $10 ticket to the interactive talk with author Kate Murphy here. The talk, featuring our very own Annie B. Jones, will take place at the Thomas County Board of Education Auditorium on Thursday, September 28 at 7 p.m.
You don’t have to read Kate’s book, You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters, before the talk to gain deep insight and practical tools for listening that you can use in your community leadership, work, and relationships. Annie and other community leaders will discuss the power of listening with Kate, and you'll have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss. Get your tickets here.
Annie is reading:
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Distant Sons by Tim Johnston
Ashley is reading:
The Gulf by Rachel Cochran
Paper Names by Susie Luo
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 Happiness Falls by Angie Kim. Erin is reading The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters.
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]
“She had known nothing at all of the natural world when she was raised in the city and yet felt herself very wise in its ways. And now, after having faced it in all her extremity, and after having learned so much, she sensed how deep her ignorance ran and felt dizzy by all that remained to be learned.”
- Lauren Groff, The Vaster Wilds
[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 joined by my cousin and friend Ashley Sherlock to talk about what we’re reading, watching, listening to, and buying this fall.
September is a big month for The Bookshelf, and for Thomasville. This month, we’re helping the Thomas County Library re-launch our area One Book program. For 10 years, the Thomas County Library has hosted South Georgia’s first (and only!) One Book program, where our entire community reads the same book together and celebrates that book with a variety of literary events.
This year, we’re reading You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy, and our celebration of Murphy’s book will culminate in a visit from the author at the Thomas County BOE auditorium on Thursday, September 28. Tickets are just $10 and can be found in-store at The Bookshelf or online at www.onebookthomascounty.org.
You have plenty of time to get tickets and to read You’re Not Listening along with us! Grab your copy at The Bookshelf, the library, or read along with us from far away by snagging a copy at your own local indie. Visit onebookthomascounty.org for more details about this year’s event; we hope to see you there!
Annie Jones [00:02:08] Now back to the show! Hi, Ashley.
Ashley [00:02:10] Hello.
Annie Jones [00:02:11] Man, it's been a long time.
Ashley [00:02:13] It really has. I mean, an entire quarter since we've done this. But also maybe that same amount of time since I have seen you in person.
Annie Jones [00:02:21] I think we saw each other-- Caroline, our cousin, your sister, my cousin, she plans these get together(s) with us every month, and I think we did one in July, but I don't think we did one in August. And I think that's why we're thrown off.
Ashley [00:02:35] We definitely missed August. We had a good stride. We really did. But then once you miss it, it feels like you've missed a lot.
Annie Jones [00:02:41] Yes. So this will be in real time catch up. If you are new to the podcast, Ashley is a former Bookshelf staffer and she'll still pop in the shop from time to time. She and I run the store. What is that? Holiday Open House together?
Ashley [00:02:57] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:02:58] So you'll see her at the shop. She also runs her own communications firm. What do you call that? What do you call what you do?
Ashley [00:03:05] No, please don't call me a firm.
Annie Jones [00:03:08] I think we should. A one person firm. She runs a communications firm. I could be a PR person.
Ashley [00:03:15] You totally could. But it's content management/creative direction.
Annie Jones [00:03:20] There we go. So that's what she does in her "spare time". We'll put a link in the show notes if you want more info. But we get together every quarter to talk about what we're reading, watching, listening to and buying. It's just kind of check in. And I do want to just acknowledge the elephant in the room. Whenever I watch some of my favorite TV shows, I always try to guess if somebody is sick because their voice is different. And I just want to acknowledge that my voice is different because I am, in fact, sick. I feel okay, but I'm on day six, I believe, of this cold that will not go away. According to all tests I have taken, it is not COVID, it is not strep, it is not the flu. But it's also something that could not be killed by a steroid shot. So I don't know. Somebody figure out what's in a cold and channel that because it's undefeated. I also just read a news article that said Sudafed is useless. Did you know that?
Ashley [00:04:17] Listen, I saw that you posted on Instagram and I did not click through because I used Sudafed.
Annie Jones [00:04:22] You know why? Because it's what our mothers say. Our mothers say Zyrtec at night, Sudafed during the day.
Ashley [00:04:28] Yeah. And if it's a placebo, I can't do any research because it works for me. Makes me feel good.
Annie Jones [00:04:35] Okay. It works for me typically; however, this season, this this cold that I've had, doctor that I went to-- not my personal doctor, but the doctor I went to at the walk in clinic was like Mucinex, baby, use Mucinex. So I have been taking Mucinex, which newsflash everybody, that's a horse pill. That's a giant horse pill that you have to swallow. And I've been doing that for six days and I feel worse than the day I began. And then I posted that to Instagram. That thing about Sudafed, do you know how many DMs I got that were like, yeah, you're supposed to be going behind the counter? I said, "Excuse me, What? Without a prescription? Can you do that?" Did you know this?
Ashley [00:05:14] Wait, what are you talking about? Sudafed is always behind the counter.
Annie Jones [00:05:17] No Sudafed's over the counter. You can get that at the drugstore, like out on the shelves.
Ashley [00:05:22] Really? Maybe I'm thinking-- oh, no, that's a [inaudible] that's behind the counter.
Annie Jones [00:05:28] But so there's stuff you can buy behind the counter. I didn't know this. I thought behind the counter was for prescriptions.
Ashley [00:05:34] Oh, okay. You just have to show your ID for Sudafed so you don't make meth.
Annie Jones [00:05:39] Yes, but you can still buy it. Like off the shelves. Off the rack?
Ashley [00:05:44] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:05:45] No one needs to know any of this. I'm just here to say if I sound like that episode of Friends where Phoebe Buffay has a sexy voice, that's because I'm sick.
Ashley [00:05:56] You don't sound that different to me.
Annie Jones [00:05:57] Okay, That's what Erin and Olivia said today. So maybe it's that my ears are clogged. I sound terrible to me. Let's talk about what we're reading, which is an interesting thing to talk about on this mostly book-oriented podcast. But I'll be real. I've just had a cold for six days, and so the reading has been limited. But I will start because I want to tell you about the Lauren Groff book because I think you are going to like it.
Ashley [00:06:24] Please do. I just downloaded it from Libro.fm.
Annie Jones [00:06:26] Okay, I'll be very curious to know about the listening experience, but I actually think you might prefer the listening experience because I loved it. I was very reluctant only because I loved Matrix so much. I fell in love with that medieval nun story so hard, and I just wasn't sure how she was going to follow it up with this story about a young girl who's surviving in the wilderness in a 1609 landscape. I just thought, do I care about this era in history. Which have we talked about Roanoke on this podcast before?
Ashley [00:07:01] Not you and me.
Annie Jones [00:07:02] Okay. Do you know about Roanoke? How interested are you in Roanoke Croatoan?
Ashley [00:07:09] What are you saying? I feel dumb. I feel like there are two types of people in this world. This could be a personality quiz. Like, do you know what Croatoan is or do you not?
Ashley [00:07:20] Wait, we did. We did not talk about this on the podcast. We talked about it at the store a long time ago. Continue.
Annie Jones [00:07:27] Okay. So this book that Lauren Groff has written is perfect if you know what Croatoan is. And basically that is what propelled me to. I was always going to try it because I love Lauren Groff, but I just wasn't sure I was going to fall in love with it-- and then I did. It's a survivalist story. I think she's kind of turning the genre a little bit up on its head because typically, at least growing up, the survival stories that I got felt very masculine and male driven. And so this is a young girl. She has fleed.
Ashley [00:08:03] Fled.
Annie Jones [00:08:04] Sorry y'all, that's the Mucinex talking. She's fled the Jamestown settlement because there is a famine and she thinks she can survive in the wilderness on her own. My understanding is that Lauren Groff was inspired a little bit by Robinson Crusoe. So it's a great survival story. When Hunter and I were talking about it, he said, "I really don't know how Lauren Groff made a book essentially where nothing happens so compelling." I think the chapters are short. The book itself is not very long. And Hunter's right, nothing happens. Maybe it's hugely climactic or bombastic, but stuff is happening all the time because she's surviving in the wilderness and it's what is happening to her. The reason I think you might enjoy the audiobook experience is because Lauren Groff is playing a lot with language and a lot of the writing. Maybe you could even tell in the quote that I said at the top of the episode. But a lot of the language feels very intentionally rooted in like Elizabethan 1600s language. It's never hard to read. I never found it difficult. But she is being true to the time. Which if you read Matrix, she did kind of a similar thing there with this story about a medieval man. So basically I just trust Lauren Groff forever, and always the fact that she writes these books that are all so completely different from each other is astounding to me. She's incredibly talented. I think she's one of the great novelists of our time, and I think you'll really like it. Please report back on the audiobook version.
Ashley [00:09:37] Okay, now I'm super excited because I also like Lauren Groff. But since you said it's about her surviving in the wilderness, which is essentially nothing but also a lot. I've just been thinking a lot lately about how really just staying alive is a full time job and nobody ever taught us about that. Like, staying healthy, listening to your body, getting the right form of exercise and eating the right diet for what you need, that is a lot of work. So seemingly nothing is happening and yet everything is.
Annie Jones [00:10:08] Oh, that's so true. I preach it. and I went got a mammogram yesterday and I left and thought-- which, go get your mammograms. That's my PSA. But I did think to myself, I got home and I looked at Jordan, I said, "Having a body is hard work."
Ashley [00:10:22] Yes. Why don't we talk about that?
Annie Jones [00:10:24] It's such hard work.
Ashley [00:10:25] Why don't they teach that in school?
Annie Jones [00:10:27] I think it's one of the revelations of the Barbie film. I mean, I don't want to commandeer anybody's time with Barbie, but...
Ashley [00:10:33] I do have a Barbie reference later too.
Annie Jones [00:10:38] Have you been reading anything? What are you reading?
Ashley [00:10:40] Okay, so not a ton, but I've been doing some traveling in the past month and a half. And there's a book called The Gulf by Rachel Cochran, and that has been my companion for most of it. It's an ARC that you gave me. Did you read it or no?
Annie Jones [00:10:57] No, I gave it. I hope it was good.
Ashley [00:10:59] Okay. I think it was good. It's a small town drama. There's queerness and Jehovah's Witnesses, Southern Gothic more, a flawed heroine. And she's the one who's trying to figure out what happened in the death of a local matriarch who she loved deeply. I was engulfed, if you will.
Annie Jones [00:11:29] We love it. We love a pun..
Ashley [00:11:31] I took this book to a restaurant a couple of times and ate dinner and read by myself, and it was very lovely. And I forgot to pay attention to anything that was happening in the restaurant because I was paying attention to this book.
Annie Jones [00:11:44] Oh, that's a good sign.
Ashley [00:11:45] I enjoyed it.
Annie Jones [00:11:47] Oh, well, I was very curious about that one. And so I'm thrilled to hear the report back. The only other one I really think I'll talk about today is a kind of quiet mystery suspense that does not come out until later this fall, because really that's what I've been reading. I've been reading in preparation for all of the fall literary lunches, the fall shelf subscriptions, that kind of thing. And so I read Tim Johnston's latest book called Distant Suns. I'm pretty sure Olivia and I will be talking about this on a future podcast episode because after I read it, I lend it to her and we just both really like Tim Johnston. He is right up there with, I don't know, maybe Peter Heller. Or if you like literary-driven suspense books, I think he's fantastic and I don't feel like people talk about him enough. But I loved his first book, Descent, which I think came out in 2015. So I've been a fan of his for a long time. This is his latest. Feels very reminiscent of, say, Cosby. Oh dear, or is it Crosby? I don't know. It's the cold. Give me grace. But this is about to down on their luck men who their paths cross at the same time in this tiny Midwestern town. And they do some work on the town recluses house. And as they do that, they realize that back in the day this man whose house they're working on, he was accused of of killing some children in the area. He was never found guilty. It's kind of one of those small town rumor mill type of things. And just a quiet, really well done suspense unfolds. When I say quiet, some people might be thinking, oh, she must mean boring. But I don't mean boring at all. It is very perfectly plotted. But I was never bored. I just think he's a master of the literary suspense novel. And his new one is really great that you could preorder now. So that's Distant Sons by Tim Johnston. In fall I'm always looking for a hunker down with a mystery that is going to-- summer I feel like I want to fly through one, but in the fall I want to kind of get sucked in and spend a little more time. And I think this would fit the bill.
Ashley [00:13:54] Okay. I have one more that I can talk about that I hope I didn't talk about before, but I don't think I did. Please tell me if you remember, but it's called Paper Names by Susie Luo, I believe. I looked at it before and I can't remember the pronunciation. Did you read this one?
Annie Jones [00:14:11] Yeah.
Ashley [00:14:12] Okay. Really? I'm surprised by that because I thought it might not be enough for you.
Annie Jones [00:14:17] Yes. I loved this book.
Ashley [00:14:19] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:14:20] I loved it. I thought it was so good. I think it was one of my Shelf Subscriptions, actually.
Ashley [00:14:23] Really? Well, then I don't need to tell you, but for the listeners, it's a debut novel with multiple points of view. It's the immigrant story of a man named Tony and his daughter Tami, who are a Chinese-American family getting by in life in Manhattan. Plus a wealthy character named Oliver, for whom Tony was the doorman. I listened again to the audiobook, and it was it was just an easy read for me, I feel like, and quick but engaging.
Annie Jones [00:14:57] Yes. That's such a good way to put it, because to me it has a lot of depth. But it is a short book and I don't know, I think there's something to be said for an author who can put a lot of depth in a story that doesn't have a large page count. And I liked all the characters. I was very invested. Okay, let's talk about watching. What are we watching?
Ashley [00:15:21] Well, I'm in the season of comfort shows, so really the only thing that I can remember watching is Superstore.
Annie Jones [00:15:31] Oh, okay. Was that your show that you picked to kind of watch during this difficult season?
Ashley [00:15:36] Yes. So I asked my Instagram followers for comedy recommendations because I needed something different than my go to, but I also needed help picking something new. And I had seen part of Superstore before, but I don't think I ever finished it. I'm on season three and I think I'm past wherever I left off before. But it's just so dumb and so nice. I don't know how this is going to go. I have some ideas, but it's just easy peasy. And then earlier, maybe last week, one episode in season three, America Ferrera referenced Margot Robbie.
Annie Jones [00:16:17] Oh, how funny.
Ashley [00:16:20] I don't remember the context, but I just remember pausing and being like, she talked about Margot Robbie. Did she know then what we know now? And it just made me happy for no reason.
Annie Jones [00:16:30] I love when that happens. Jordan and I watched Superstore a few years ago. I can't remember. It was fun. And I think even obviously small business retail is different from big box business retail, but there's still some crossover. If you've worked retail, you definitely see some similarities. I also am in my comfort watching era. I started my annual-- is it annual? I don't even know. But I started a rewatch of Gilmore Girls. I don't know that it has been every era. I feel like post the podcast Gilmore Guys, I didn't do a ton of Gilmore Girls re-watching, but I watched some of it last year and it does feel very fall to me and is a fun thing to have on in the background while like decorating my house or cleaning my house. And it feels a little bit like coming home. I don't know. So I'm in re-watching Gilmore Girls. I'm back watching Friends while I cook my dinner. I say that because Jordan and I traveled a lot this summer and I didn't cook very much. So it's nice to have my evening routine back. And then everybody who follows me on Instagram-- I feel like I've talked about this a lot. We just finished the last episode ever of X-Files. And Ashley, we watched nine seasons of X-Files since May.
Ashley [00:17:50] Wait, how many months is that? That's a quarter, right?
Annie Jones [00:17:53] Yeah. Sure. It is too many episodes, but we just had the best time and we still get cable because I guess we're old. And also in Thomasville, all of your stuff is kind of wrapped up together. So your trash, your water, your TV and your cable. Yeah. So we still get cable. So we realized the other night that there's-- I don't even know if it's the Sci-fi channel. It's called Comet. There's a channel called Comet. And on Comet they do Buffy the Vampire Slayer at eight and nine. And at 10:00 it's X-Files. So we just turn on X-Files at 10:00 again as we go to bed, even though we've seen all the episodes now. There's something comforting and, I don't know, I haven't found a ton new in the last couple of months that I've just been dying to watch. Like post Succession, I just kind of feel like whatever.
Ashley [00:18:49] We're in the writers strike era too, right? Which has something to do with it.
Annie Jones [00:18:54] Right. So Gilmore Girls, X-Files, and then you know what else it is? It's my Go NOLs era. It's my we're ranked number three in the AP era. I watched a lot of college football. I freaking love this time of year.
Ashley [00:19:10] What's the AP?
Annie Jones [00:19:11] The Associated Press.
Ashley [00:19:13] Advanced placement?
Annie Jones [00:19:18] No. Look, the Seminoles have not been good in a really long time. I mean, we had a decent season last year. I'll take that back. But also it was just hard to be a fan of FSU during the Jimbo era. I did not enjoy Jimbo. And so to get to watch the Seminoles and Mike Norvell is delightful and I really, all joking aside, I just love college football season and I love watching with a book in my hand. One of our listeners, I posted that to Instagram and she was appalled. She thought I took books to football games and I just want to say here and now that I am not Rory Gilmore, I do not take books to football games. I watch those games. I know what's happening and I do read a book when the game is on my TV because there's a lot of downtime like when plays are under review.
Ashley [00:20:06] That's true.
Annie Jones [00:20:07] Yeah, when there's a commercial. So I love reading during college football season and it's probably the one spot on our Venn diagram where there is no overlap.
Ashley [00:20:16] Well, can you tell me if I am correct in this assessment? I think Mike Norvell is Ted Lasso.
Annie Jones [00:20:24] I hope so.
Ashley [00:20:25] He gives me Ted lasso vibes. I mean, so far it's going well.
Annie Jones [00:20:29] So far it's going well. I think because he throws the game ball to the band, that feels like a Ted Lasso move. Like, he throws the game ball to the marching chiefs.
Ashley [00:20:38] That's cute.
Annie Jones [00:20:38] Yeah. And I asked Kendall, resident Gen Z member of the Bookshelf staff. But when Caroline and I went to the game, we went to the LSU FSU game and we were kind of adjacent to the student section. And the FSU girls love Mike Norvell. He came on screen on the big Jumbotron and they giggled. They love him. And so I asked Kendall if this is a Gen Z thing, like do people have crushes on Mike Norvell? And she said as a representative of Gen Z, she was like, I don't know, but the student body really likes Mike Norvell, which I always think is a good sign.
Ashley [00:21:17] I love that. See, I like I like the heart behind the game.
Annie Jones [00:21:21] Yeah, I do too. So I don't know. By the time this episode comes out, FSU may have lost. But we are fun to watch right now. And to me it has been a minute. Last season we were fun to watch as well. But, again, the Jimbo era was tough for me as a person and so I just feel like, oh, this is fun again. So it's fun again. I bought an FSU t-shirt.
Ashley [00:21:43] That's how you know it's real.
Annie Jones [00:21:45] Yeah, I have buttons in my cart. Art by Nikki. I don't know if you follow her.
Ashley [00:21:49] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:21:49] What a joy. Yeah. I want some of those buttons. The spear pen. I'm here. I'm ready.
Ashley [00:21:54] Ma'am.
Annie Jones [00:21:55] Do you think it's post Taylor? Did Taylor Swift do this? where now I'm all in on fandoms.
Ashley [00:22:00] Maybe.
Annie Jones [00:22:00] Like I'm reading X-Files fan fiction. I'm wearing clothes to Barbie.
Ashley [00:22:05] That doesn't make a lot of sense. I do feel a little left out. But if I start, then I'm just going to go way too hard and I don't have the capacity to go all in on something like that.
Annie Jones [00:22:17] I don't think you would go all in. But I do think you could go to a game and eat some nachos and have a good time. Let me tell you this, if Caroline (cousin, friend, sister, Caroline) gets tickets like she did last year to the boogie to the-- what is that called?
Ashley [00:22:34] The box.
Annie Jones [00:22:34] Yeah. If she gets those, you got to do that. That's when you should get in.
Ashley [00:22:38] Will you come too?
Annie Jones [00:22:39] Yeah, of course. You bet. That food was amazing.
Ashley [00:22:45] I just don't know what to do. I'll go for the food, but also I'll feel bad if I just sit there and eat the whole time.
Annie Jones [00:22:51] Oh, you should. And I think that's what a lot of people do. I'll cheer hard enough for all of us. That's what I do when Caroline and I go. Caroline has a great time, but she does not cheer. And did she tell you at the game, the LSU game, somebody turned around and made her high five him every time we scored a touchdown.
Ashley [00:23:11] No, she didn't.
Annie Jones [00:23:12] It was hilarious.
Annie Jones [00:23:15] He turned around. He was like, "Smile, we just scored." Which Caroline Sherlock told me later, she said, "I just wish people knew that you can be happy without showing it on your face." And I thought, that is so true Caroline. But she also was a good sport and gave him a high five every time we scored a touchdown.
Ashley [00:23:32] Oh, good for her.
Annie Jones [00:23:33] Yeah, which was very sweet of her. Anyway, she goes and she watches. But you can just go and enjoy the food. I do all the chants for us. I'm Chris Butterworth's daughter and I Can do that.
Ashley [00:23:45] I can participate in a chant. I do have all those memorized.
Annie Jones [00:23:48] Okay, then you'll be fine. Also, I'm convinced. And we're going to get emails about this, and that's fine. I'm convinced we have some of the best pre-game in the country.
Ashley [00:24:01] Oh, absolutely. You know what? I didn't even think about that. I'll go for Chief Osceola and Renegade and the Marching Chiefs all day long.
Annie Jones [00:24:09] The Marching Chiefs. Did Caroline tell you the Marching Chiefs set for halftime was Disney themed?
Ashley [00:24:18] She did..
Annie Jones [00:24:20] It was so good. They did all the Friends songs from Disney because they were like, this goes out to our friends in Orlando and on the LSU team, which I thought was so sweet.
Ashley [00:24:31] I have goose bumps right now.
Annie Jones [00:24:33] Okay. They did so many things. I couldn't even take video. It was so amazing. But they marched into formation to spell out Pixar.
Ashley [00:24:41] Yeah. .
Annie Jones [00:24:42] And then they became the lamp in Pixar. Do you know?
Ashley [00:24:46] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:24:46] And then they smooshed the eye with the lamp.
Ashley [00:24:49] Oh, my goodness. That's awesome.
Annie Jones [00:24:55] You should have heard the millennials and student section screaming while the sweet old man next to me-- he really did look like Santa. He looked at me, he said, "What are they doing?" And I was like, "The Pixar logo. The jumping lamp!" I was so excited. It was wild.
Ashley [00:25:09] Oh, you're such a millennial. My goodness. But that's lovely.
Annie Jones [00:25:16] Yeah. So that's what I'm watching on TV. And when Caroline will grant me a ticket in real life, I am watching college football.
Ashley [00:25:24] She invited me to that game, but I declined.
Annie Jones [00:25:26] I know. We did miss you, but it was fun to do two of us trip, because normally you and I do two of us trips.
Ashley [00:25:33] So that's what I told her. I said, "Annie and I always hang out. You can have a turn."
Annie Jones [00:25:37] Yeah, it was fun. I sound like an old lady y'all are babysitting. Annie and I always hang out. You can have a turn. Wow, thanks so much.
Ashley [00:25:44] It feels like the opposite.
Annie Jones [00:25:49] Okay. Any other watching we should know about?
Ashley [00:25:52] I'm trying to think, but no. It's Superstore and TikTok pretty much.
Annie Jones [00:25:57] It is what it is. I just think fall is cozy season and cozy season is to me just comfort stuff.
Ashley [00:26:04] I will say, did I talk about this on the last one? I did watch Beef and I loved Beef.
Annie Jones [00:26:08] Oh, I liked Beef too. I think we did talk about that.
Ashley [00:26:11] It's not fallish, but worth my time.
Annie Jones [00:26:13] It was intense. People should watch it because, you're right, it's not really a fall show, but it was very much a summer road rage show.
Ashley [00:26:21] Oh, man, I was stressed.
Annie Jones [00:26:23] Yeah, I was stressed too.
Ashley [00:26:25] But I had to know what was happening.
Annie Jones [00:26:27] I think that's the thing, is now that it's fall I really don't want to be stressed. It's getting to be busy time at the Bookshelf. So I just want cozy.
Ashley [00:26:34] Cozy.
Annie Jones [00:26:35] All right. What are you listening to?
Ashley [00:26:36] Okay, I really only have one for this. I wish I was listening to Guts by Olivia Rodrigo, but I haven't done that yet.
Annie Jones [00:26:43] I wish I was, too. I haven't either.
Ashley [00:26:46] Okay. I'm going to you today.
Annie Jones [00:26:48] I'm so behind.
Ashley [00:26:50] Okay, good. Maybe we can talk about that next time. But I am listening to Motion Sickness by Phoebe Bridgers. I don't listen to anything by Phoebe Bridgers on purpose, but someone played this for me in the car and now I have it on repeat.
Annie Jones [00:27:05] Oh, okay. I'm starting my fall playlist, so maybe I'll give that a whirl. My summer playlist, I think turned out excellent. Very proud of it. Loved it. Got me through the summer. Lots of great memories, but it's fall now and the vibes are different and it's a shift. I got to figure out what the shift is. I do like Miley Cyrus's new song.
Ashley [00:27:24] When I Was young?
Annie Jones [00:27:25] Yeah, it makes me feel things though.
Ashley [00:27:27] Right? Well, have you seen any of her series? I think, it's a TikTok series of her watching a video from when she was a kid and giving like a commentary about it.
Annie Jones [00:27:35] Yes.
Ashley [00:27:36] Oh, that makes me feel things.
Annie Jones [00:27:38] Yes. Agreed. I like that song, but I definitely want to listen to Olivia Rodrigo. I've seen all the fun memes and stuff about 30 somethings who love her music and makes us feel like angsty teens. And there's a real crossover. I don't know if you've seen the memes that are like Olivia Rodrigo fans, and it's a lot of Freaky Friday content.
Ashley [00:28:01] Oh yeah, I saw a bunch of those today.
Annie Jones [00:28:03] Man, as somebody who tried real hard to find the Freaky Friday soundtrack driving around Tallahassee found it at Borders. Me, Rachel Hartsfield [sp] and Kelsey Burke [sp] drove around and we thought we were going to be the three girls in the band.
Ashley [00:28:16] Yeah, you did?
Annie Jones [00:28:17] Yeah, like we totally did. And so I feel like--
Ashley [00:28:20] Can any of you play an instrument?
Annie Jones [00:28:22] Piano maybe.
Ashley [00:28:23] Oh, yes.
Annie Jones [00:28:25] And Rachel Hartsfield was a-- oh, dear, she's going to get mad. A majorettes.
Ashley [00:28:30] Oh, that's right.
Annie Jones [00:28:32] I thought about baton.
Ashley [00:28:34] I forgot about that.
Annie Jones [00:28:34] Yeah, Rachel was a majorette.
Ashley [00:28:35] You're right.
Annie Jones [00:28:36] Yeah. So, I mean, that's almost like playing an instrument.
Ashley [00:28:38] Sure.
Annie Jones [00:28:41] I have not been listening to a lot, except speaking of audiobooks that we were talking about earlier. I have been listening to one called Land of Milk and Honey. This is by C Pam Zhang. She wrote These Hills is Gold, I believe is the name of it. But what I have to say about this book is it's post-apocalyptic. Did you see the movie The menu? Did we talk about this with Anya Taylor-Joy?
Ashley [00:29:06] Oh, yeah. Yeah, We talked about that.
Annie Jones [00:29:09] Okay. I think this is the literary equivalent where it's set after a climate crisis, and there's a boogie exclusive restaurant in the Italian Alps, and somehow they're still able to grow good food and to take good care of animals, because really we're living in a pretty bleak landscape where there's smog in the air. And so nobody's eating like they used to be eating except at this one exclusive restaurant. And this woman becomes a chef there and she's trying to figure out how they're doing this. Like, are they doing anything nefarious or is it just that they've figured out how to grow things with this new change in the environment? I just have to give a shout out. The narrator is Eunice Wong. The audiobook narration is fantastic. So I'm not done with it. It's super weird. Really good, but I'm not finished yet so I can't attest to it entirely. But I wanted to put it here because the audiobook is so great. The narration is so good.
Ashley [00:30:12] Okay, nice. Scrolled past that one when I was looking at Libro.fm earlier, but now I'm very into it.
Annie Jones [00:30:18] Yeah, it's an ALC. Which you're doing, I think. All right. What are you buying?
Ashley [00:30:25] Okay, I have two things. Number one, Trader Joe's Cacio e Pepe Puffs.
Annie Jones [00:30:34] What? I was just at Trader Joe's, dang it!
Ashley [00:30:36] No, I really think you're going to love these. Have you ever had Cacio e Pepe before?
Annie Jones [00:30:40] Yeah, baby.
Ashley [00:30:41] Okay. They're like Cheetos, but way better because they're smaller. And they taste like real food. Very peppery, obviously, but they'll fit in your mouth and you don't have to take a bit like you have to do a puffy Cheeto. You know what I mean?
Annie Jones [00:30:55] Okay. Yes, I do.
Ashley [00:30:57] I don't know how many servings are in a bag, but I usually finish a bag in two.
Annie Jones [00:31:01] Okay. All right.
Ashley [00:31:03] I highly recommend. They're very delicious.
Annie Jones [00:31:05] Okay. That's so exciting. I was just at Trader Joe's doing my pumpkin rounds, you know?
Ashley [00:31:11] Oh, yeah. You're going to love these.
Annie Jones [00:31:13] Trader Joe's. You follow Christine Rego [sp]? Our friend Christine.
Ashley [00:31:17] Oh, yeah. I'm on her close friends list, baby. Get in those Trader Joe's snacks.
Annie Jones [00:31:21] Yeah, get in those Trader Joe's racks. That's how I know what to buy at Trader Joe's. I did just buy my dark chocolate peanut butter cups from there that I love.
Ashley [00:31:32] Yeah, so good.
Annie Jones [00:31:33] Here's the deal. While I was at home convalescing and couldn't focus on anything, I'm ashamed to say I did a lot of looking at the Explore tab on my Instagram. I know. Normally that is a very bleak place, but I was looking for fall decor, which was really hard to find. It wasn't. What I was looking for was hard to find. People are spending a lot of money on fall decor, to which I say, "Good for you, not for me." I don't know how people are doing it. Just kidding. I do. They're getting paid to do it. But all the fall ladies on Instagram reels, many of them had fake leaf garland. Now, normally I abide by the Nestor and my mother's rules, which are real over fake. But I'm here to tell you, we just don't have that here.
Ashley [00:32:30] It's not an option.
Annie Jones [00:32:31] It's going to be hot here until the end of November. Some Thanksgivings, we are in shorts. Many Thanksgivings we are in shorts. And I found the fake-iest looking fake leaf garland. And I don't want any shame here. I got it from Amazon. Okay, I did. I bought it from Amazon. I was sick with a head cold, and I did it. I bought it. Okay. And you know what? I don't regret it. It came with two strands. I hung one over my sink and one in our bedroom. Could have doubled up to make it look fuller, but it is bringing me so much joy. It's battery powered, light up leaf garland and their bright orange fake looking leaves. And I love it so much. It brings me so much happiness. And it is what it is. That's what I wanted to say. Go buy fake leaves if you want.
Ashley [00:33:22] I saw your Instagram video. It was very cute and I think they look good.
Annie Jones [00:33:25] Is this episode From the Front Porch unhinged?
Ashley [00:33:28] It is. It does feel different. Can I say one more thing?
Annie Jones [00:33:32] Oh, yeah, I've got another one. You go ahead.
Ashley [00:33:34] I just want to talk about something that was bought for me by a very kind someone. She sent me a box of assorted cookies from Spoonful of Comfort. Have you heard of this company?
Annie Jones [00:33:49] No. I'm writing it down.
Ashley [00:33:52] I think this is a fantastic go to if you want to send something to someone who is experiencing something. Can I be more vague? I had a death in the family recently and someone sent me this box of cookies from this company that specializes in just sending you comfort food. They have cookies and I think they have soup and maybe a couple of other things. I did look them up. It seems easy to do. You can pick out the flavors and however many you want to send. And it's just a very, very nice thing to gift to another person.
Annie Jones [00:34:30] Oh, that's so delightful. What a great idea.
Ashley [00:34:34] It's a fantastic idea.
Annie Jones [00:34:35] Well, I like this too because I have a lot of friends all over the country. That sounded like a brag. It's really not. I don't have that many friends. What I really am trying to say is I have a lot of friends who live away from me. You know what I'm trying to say.
Ashley [00:34:53] Your friends are spread out.
Annie Jones [00:34:54] My friends are spread out. And whenever they have a baby or something like that, I always mail flowers. I'll send them flowers. But I like this idea of little comfort food. This is so great.
Ashley [00:35:05] Yeah, right. It's really nice and easy peasy sounding too.
Annie Jones [00:35:09] Okay, I'm going to look that up. We'll put a link in the show notes. The only other thing I wanted to say is it's candle season. I love a candle. I have one now and I think in every room in my home. I don't like them all at once. That would feel excessive and too many scents. There's a scent from the Bookshelf, that brand we found at market.
Ashley [00:35:32] Yes. Which one?
Annie Jones [00:35:35] You know it. It's the one you loved. It's the too mellow cider one.
Ashley [00:35:39] I love that one. And then it was like a mountain man, man in the mountains or something.
Annie Jones [00:35:44] Yes. Mount Bachelor.
Ashley [00:35:46] Mount Bachelor. Will you put one of those on hold for me?
Annie Jones [00:35:49] Yes, I will.
Ashley [00:35:50] Nobody buy it. I got to go up there and get it first.
Annie Jones [00:35:53] I also bought one from there. The honey horchata. It's excellent. Olivia's burning the coffee scented one. I think Erin's going to put some of these online. But that's a great candle. And then I did just buy a couple from Target because we got budgets. I understand how a budget works. So I went to Target and bought myself a few candles. And here where, again, it won't really feel like fall for a really long time. And I don't know if you remember this. I don't know if you realize this, but you and I last year had that [inaudible] on weekend planned and we don't have that this year.
Ashley [00:36:30] Oh, I realized. I know.
Annie Jones [00:36:33] We don't have that this year.
Ashley [00:36:34] I've been thinking about it this whole time.
Annie Jones [00:36:36] We don't have that this year. And I'm really concerned I'm not going to get the fall feelings I need.
Ashley [00:36:42] Wait, can we do that? Can we have a fall tradition? I know we're trying to do like New York as a tradition, but can we also just go to New England in the fall?
Annie Jones [00:36:54] Yeah. Can we look at flights.
Ashley [00:36:56] For my birthday? Can we do something for my birthday every year?
Annie Jones [00:37:00] Ashley's rubbing her face. Okay. That's what we need to do, because I am really missing-- and I loved Cheer Her On. Which if you're listening to this, I think Cheer Her On still has tickets available and you guys should go.
Ashley [00:37:11] I recommend.
Annie Jones [00:37:12] It was so fun last year and it's just a great chance. Now I think you and I could go to New England by ourselves and know what we wanted to do. But it was really fun the first time to go and have somebody [inaudible] knew all the spots to go. Like, it was perfect. So I'm just really sad that we don't have that, which I think is why I bought a fake leaf light up garland. And I think it's also why I have a lot of candles going in my house right now.
Ashley [00:37:41] That makes sense. Let's go.
Annie Jones [00:37:43] Yeah, we cope however we can. Okay. That's what I'm buying. Anything else from you?
Ashley [00:37:49] That's it for me.
Annie Jones [00:37:50] All right. This was Off the Shelf and Off the Cuff with Ashley and Annie. Thank you guys so much for listening. Ashley, we will see you the next time we talk. It'll be time to talk holiday.
Ashley [00:38:03] All right.
Annie Jones [00:38:05] This week, I'm listening to Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang. Ashley, what are you reading?
Ashley [00:38:13] I'm about to start The Farmer's Wife by Helen Rebanks.
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:
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…
Cammy Tidwell, Chantalle Carl, Kate O'Connell, Kristin May, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stacy Laue, Chanta Combs, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, Laurie Johnson, Susan Hulings