Episode 502 || November New Release Rundown
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another New Release Rundown! Annie, Erin, and Olivia are sharing the November releases they’re excited about to help you build your TBR. When you purchase or preorder any of the books they talk about, enter the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order!
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search “Episode 502” to find the books mentioned in this episode), or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie's books:
Lazarus Man by Richard Price (11/12)
Heartbreak Is the National Anthem by Rob Sheffield (11/12)
Pictures of You: A Novel by Emma Grey (11/12)
Olivia's books:
All the Best Dogs by Emily Jenkins (11/5)
Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (11/12)
The Winterton Deception 2: Fault Lines by Janet Sumner Johnson (11/12)
Erin's books:
Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers (11/12)
Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso by Jeremy Egner (11/12)
Time of the Child by Niall Williams (11/19)
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, Tiktok, and Facebook, 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 The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. Olivia is reading Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney. Erin is listening to What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci.
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...Jennifer Bannerton, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Susan Hulings, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, and Amanda Whigham.
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]
“Baby, we're the new romantics Come on, come along with me Heartbreak is the national anthem We sing it proudly We are too busy dancing To get knocked off our feet Baby, we're the new romantics The best people in life are free.” - Taylor Swift, “New Romantics”
[as music fades out] I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. Today I’m joined by Bookshelf operations manager Olivia and online sales manager Erin to give you a rundown of our favorite new books releasing in November. If you’re a new or newish listener, you might not realize that From the Front Porch is a production of The Bookshelf, a small, independently-owned bookstore in rural South Georgia. By listening to our show and recommending it to friends, you’re helping to keep our indie bookstore in business, and if you like what you hear, one way you can financially support us is through Patreon.
[00:01:21] This month, we have officially wrapped up our reading of the classic American novel Lonesome Dove. If you join Patreon at our $5 a month level, you can access our monthly reading recaps there, as well as our porch visits, with our monthly live Q&A is where we talk about everything from pop culture to nail polish to what books you should take on your next vacation. To learn more about our Patreon tiers and benefits, you can visit Patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We are announcing our 2025 classic in a Patreon book club event tonight and then on Instagram tomorrow. So we would absolutely love for you to join us in 2025. It's really been fun this year and we'd love to have you on board for next year. Now back to the show. Hi, Olivia and Erin.
Erin [00:02:10] Hello.
Olivia [00:02:11] Hello.
Annie Jones [00:02:12] Did you guys know this is our last one of these for the year?
Erin [00:02:15] I didn't.
Olivia [00:02:16] I did.
Erin [00:02:17] But I've come to terms with it in the few seconds I have known that, so that's okay.
Annie Jones [00:02:24] Listen, what it should do is fill you with relief that you are done with this responsibility for the year. Congratulations. You did it, Erin. You did it every month this year. Congratulations.
Olivia [00:02:36] You did.
Erin [00:02:36] I know. This is a new thing this year. It's been fun. It's been fun.
Annie Jones [00:02:40] We do not do one of these episodes in December. So if you're listening to this and you're like, wait, why? Well, honestly, there aren't always a ton of books coming out in December first of all-- now this year there are some. But really what it boils down to is we are a bookstore and December is chaos. And so the goal for me is to always have the December episodes recorded in November. So I am trying to record early, obviously, so that we can focus on working the floor and doing online sales in December. And yeah, there's just not a ton of books coming out in December, so we will still have December podcast episodes for you. Don't panic, but you will not have a new release run down in in December. So just a heads up there and honestly, may that be a burden lifted from your shoulders today.
Olivia [00:03:35] I mean, I love doing these, but in December is when I try to read the most backlist. Seem like I don't have a ton to read for the year, I can kind of just like read whatever I missed.
Annie Jones [00:03:45] Yeah. And I think, first of all, I don't read a lot in December. I don't read very much. And then when I do, I'm trying to read first quarter shelf subs is what I'm trying to do. And so this all this just frees up-- and we have really good episodes. I think Erin you and I are going to do an episode about shelf subscriptions. Hunter and I will do our annual Best Books of the year. We'll also ask staffers their favorite books of the year. So you'll still hear from staff, but it is just a reminder that we are an independent bookstore and the podcast is great and we love it and it is a marketing tool and also we're trying to run our independent bookstore in quarter four. And this is the week I got back and I told Olivia I was like, "And here we go."
Erin [00:04:36] Yeah, this makes it more real knowing this is the last one; that really means Christmas is here. It has started here. Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:04:42] Yeah. So if these are new episodes for you, just a reminder or perhaps a new reminder that we are going to talk about November new releases. And Erin has made browsing the podcast book selections so easy on our store website so you can go to Bookshelfthomasville.com and then type episode 5O2 into the search bar where you'll see all of today's books listed ready for you to preorder or purchase. Then you can use the code new release please at checkout and that gets you 10% off your order of any of today's titles. This is also our chance to remind you that every Tuesday-- though question mark, in November are we still doing lives?
Erin [00:05:26] I'm sorry, I have a frog in my throat this morning, which is really not great for podcasting, honestly. But we will still be doing some fun things throughout November and December. But our Tuesday live sales are going to take a pause for the same reason the podcast takes a pause.
Annie Jones [00:05:42] We'll post a reminder to our Instagram about what we're going to be doing on Instagram lives and things like that. But basically we're going to do normal stuff starting in January.
Erin [00:05:54] This is the time of year we start saying 2025. That's a 2025 thing. It's 2025.
Annie Jones [00:05:59] Yes. How often have I sat in a meeting with Olivia and said, "This is a 2025 problem but…"
Olivia [00:06:04] I said it this morning to Erin.
Erin [00:06:07] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:06:10] This is not a now problem.
Olivia [00:06:12] I have a whole spreadsheet that's just 2025.
Annie Jones [00:06:16] So anyway, we talk about new books all the time is what I'm trying to say. You can find us on Instagram talking about them or obviously you can listen to the show. Today we each are going to talk about three books apiece. I'll kick us off with the book Lazarus Man. This is by Richard Price. It releases on November 12th. This is a book that I've downloaded to my Kindle, but I have not read it yet. But the premise has me super intrigued, and I think James McBride fans are going to be curious about this one. So first of all, Richard Price was a writer for the HBO show The Wire. So if you are familiar with that show, you might be interested in his work. Lazarus Man is set in Harlem circa 2008. Basically, there's this five story tenement building and it collapses and chaos ensues. And what unfolds is a series of different perspectives across a set timeline after that building collapse.
[00:07:12] So Richard Price takes a look at the impact of the building collapse on different characters, including a funeral home owner in Harlem, a city detective, somebody who lived in the building. And so I think this almost sounds like, ooh, I am not prepared. This almost sounds like a historical fiction book, The House on Fire. So it sounds a little bit like that in that the House on Fire was rooted in an actual historical event. This one, I do not believe, is rooted in a historical event, but it is really a character study about what happens after this, like in the aftermath of this chaotic building collapse. And I love a character driven book. I'm very intrigued by the premise of this one where he takes a look at different characters, which is something I think James McBride does really well. That's why I was like James McBride writes about neighborhoods so well.
[00:08:09] And so Richard Price has written about Harlem and the different people and the impact of the building collapse on them. So the funeral home owner and now the different arrangements he has to make for the various people in the building, the city detective who's trying to uncover or discover why the building collapsed. Like was it natural causes? Did something else more nefarious happen, etc.. So I'm curious about this. I download it to my Kindle. I will give it a go and see what it is like. But it is Lazarus Man by Richard Price again set in Harlem 2008, releases November 12th. I think this will be good for fans of The Heaven and Earth grocery store, etc.
Olivia [00:08:57] Speaking of the building collapsing, when I was at the Taylor concert, I don't know why, but I've been having worst case scenario fears recently. I was on the plane and I was like I think this could crash.
Annie Jones [00:09:06] Isn't that just who you are?
Olivia [00:09:07] Well, I'm normally not scared of it. I feel more prepared.
Annie Jones [00:09:14] Okay.
Olivia [00:09:14] My brain goes there, but I'm just like, this is what I would do. But I was in the very back of the plane and I was like, surely I'll die. I would die. There's no way.
Erin [00:09:22] Statistically, yes.
Annie Jones [00:09:24] Statistically, everybody dies, though.
Erin [00:09:26] Well, yeah.
Olivia [00:09:26] No, but if I'm at a fire exit, I can get out.
Erin [00:09:29] You have a better chance.
Annie Jones [00:09:29] Yeah.
Erin [00:09:30] I'll be fine.
Annie Jones [00:09:31] If you're in a plane?
Olivia [00:09:33] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:09:34] Where would you be?
Olivia [00:09:35] If I'm at the exit sit, I'm fine.
Annie Jones [00:09:38] I mean, a lot of people die in plane crashes.
Olivia [00:09:43] No, but I feel certain that I'd be okay.
Annie Jones [00:09:45] Yeah, that's interesting. We'll see what happens when your plane crashes and you're on a exist--
Olivia [00:09:50] Hopefully not.
Annie Jones [00:09:50] Well, do you sit on exit rows for real? You strike me. You could sit in exit row.
Olivia [00:09:54] Yeah. If they're available when I'm checking in, I'll go to that one.
Erin [00:09:57] She's ready for the responsibility.
Olivia [00:09:59] Again, yes. I feel like I would be able to open that door as fast as possible, jump out, no hesitation, and then hopefully everybody follows suit.
Annie Jones [00:10:09] Big Pennsylvania Dad energy, Olivia. I think that's right.
Olivia [00:10:17] But I was at the Taylor Swift concert recently.
Annie Jones [00:10:19] Flex.
Erin [00:10:20] I know. I was like, wow.
Annie Jones [00:10:22] Lowkey she's been twice. Lowkey I believe one and a half years ago she was like, Taylor's overrated. Who even likes Taylor? I told Ashley and the look on Ashley Sherlock's face was-- I wish I'd taken a picture. She was appalled.
Olivia [00:10:41] I am too privileged, but I understand that. It should not have been me. But people keep inviting me and you don't say no.
Erin [00:10:50] No, you don't. Some of us just have to watch it at home on Disney plus. I'm just saying.
Olivia [00:10:56] Well, when I was there my worst case scenario fears came in because I was standing at one point and you could feel the stadium move. And I'm like, this is concrete. This doesn't have a big flex. I was in a top row, so I do feel like I might be okay, but I was just also like this could fall. This could fall and kill so many people.
Erin [00:11:19] That's why I always when I go, really, I whenever I go to see things, I have to sit on the ground floor. It's a fear of mine. I sit on the ground floor, which is not great because if it collapses we all died, but you know what, at least I'll just be down there secure in the meantime.
Annie Jones [00:11:34] You don't have to feel it shaking. I mean, I do.
Erin [00:11:38] This is very dark [crosstalk].
Olivia [00:11:43] Sorry guys.
Annie Jones [00:11:45] I can understand this fears because in Miami in particular, within the last couple of years, like that apartment building collapsed there--
Olivia [00:11:55] Yeah, that sinkhole.
Annie Jones [00:11:57] There's a lot of conversation, especially in Florida, about climate change and the buildings that are especially along the coast. So, yeah, I get that. I don't think about things the way you guys do, but I'm glad we have people who are really hyper alert and hyper vigilant.
Olivia [00:12:15] So that would never cross your mind or you're just kind of like, meh, whatever.
Annie Jones [00:12:19] That a building would collapse on me? No, I don't.
Olivia [00:12:23] That you can feel it shaking, that was what triggered me.
Annie Jones [00:12:26] Yeah. I think I would think, wow, there's a lot of people in here for this to be shaking. And that would be the extent of my thought process. I have other worst case. I'm not an idiot. I go into a movie theater and check where my exits are. I do stuff like that.
Erin [00:12:45] For sure.
Annie Jones [00:12:45] But I think especially on I think a plane is a great example, I think a crowded concert is a good example. When we left the Taylor concert in Atlanta, have you seen those crowds where crowds compact in on each other, I had a moment where I was like, well, this is it.
Erin [00:13:06] This is how I'm dying.
Annie Jones [00:13:08] Just because I was like, I'm not going to be able to withstand the crush of people. So I have moments like that, but where you're just a little bit like I've already made a decision to be here, I got a ticket for this flight. You have those moments where you're just like this is the risk you take. Taylor's worth it.
Erin [00:13:32] It's worth it.
Olivia [00:13:34] It was a good show, and I didn't die.
Annie Jones [00:13:38] Here you are alive to tell the tale.
Erin [00:13:40] Exactly.
Olivia [00:13:41] I'm still here. I survived the plane and the concert.
Annie Jones [00:13:47] For a while you would read T.J. Newman books on the plane to offset your chances.
Olivia [00:13:53] Yes. She needs to write one every time I have a ride.
Annie Jones [00:13:55] You should just take one of the books and just insist on-- although that sounds like OCD then. So don't do that. Don't lean into it your [crosstalk].
Olivia [00:14:09] No, I would never. So my first book is a chapter book for children.
Annie Jones [00:14:18] Does a building collapse in yours?
Olivia [00:14:20] This already might not be a great introduction Olivia episode. I'm just going to say with like the list of books that I have going here.
Annie Jones [00:14:28] I do see the name of this one. No wonder we just talked about trauma for five minutes.
Olivia [00:14:37] Okay, so this first book is called All the Best Dogs by Emily Jenkins. If you have a best dog, you're going to love this book. I personally have a best dog, so I loved this book. But this is about like a group of kids. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the kids and then it rotates around. They all go to the same school and they're within the same classes and whatnot, but they're not friends. They become friends because each of them has a dog that they take to the same dog park. The dog park is adorable. It's got like all the amenities. The dogs love it, but one of the kid’s dogs runs away. And so everyone kind of comes together to figure out where this dog went. Spoiler alert, the dog is fine. Please don't worry about that.
Annie Jones [00:15:28] The dog is fine.
Olivia [00:15:29] The dog is fine.
Annie Jones [00:15:30] Nobody panic.
Olivia [00:15:30] This is a highly illustrated chapter book.
Erin [00:15:33] We needed that.
Olivia [00:15:33] The dog is found. But within like each chapter you get like the kid's point of view and then you get their dogs point of view of going to meet its friends and being at the dog park, how they perceive human interactions versus how we perceive dog interactions, which is really cute. It was just adorable. And the voice of the dogs is absolutely delightful. The kids are going through very real things. One of them just had like a friendship break up. They just got a new puppy. There's stuff going on at home. It's nothing that needs to be a more mature reader, but it's real life. Things the kids are going through. And then they have their best friend sidekick, their little dog. It's really cute. I loved it a lot. It was great. It comes out this week.
Annie Jones [00:16:28] It released two days ago. You can get it right now. What age did you say?
Olivia [00:16:37] I would say if you have a good reader on your hands or you do read aloud, I think you could do anywhere from 6 to 10.
Erin [00:16:46] It sounds very cute. And I'm glad the dogs okay. Glad nothing happened to the dog.
Annie Jones [00:16:50] We always like that disclaimer.
Erin [00:16:53] Yes. Okay. My first book is so good. It's called Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers. It comes out November 12th, so next week. And maybe the authors name sounds familiar to you. It's because she wrote Small Pleasures back in October 2021, which was, I think, one of Nancy's shelf sub picks. I had to go back and check because I was like, that book sounds so familiar. And yes it was just the shelf sub pick back in 2021. This book is about Helen Hansford. She's an art therapist at a psychiatric hospital in England in like 1964. When the book opens, it's really just about Helen. And she's having an affair with a married doctor there at the psychiatric hospital. And so at first I was like I don't know about this book because I don't love books about infidelity, but I was drawn in. So I was like I'm going to see where this goes. But shortly into this book a more interesting thing happens, which is the Doctor and Helen are both called to this old, decaying home in England and they find a incredibly old woman and a man who appears to be in his 30s but has a long beard, long nails, is disheveled, and it's evident he hasn't been out outside in like 20 years. And so the police, of course, they take him to the psychiatric hospital and his name is William Tapping.
[00:18:27] The rest of the book is just Helen and Gil trying to figure out what happened. What happened in this family? Why is he in this home? Why hasn't he been out? What happened to his aunts? He was living with his elderly aunts. Why was he living with them? Where's his family? Because he's not telling them anything. He's mute. He's not talking at first, so they don't know anything. So they're having to try to contact people and get context clues. But as the reader, we are getting glimpses into the past of William's life from childhood and on. And so we're getting little snippets, little answers of all these questions that the present is building in us. We're getting answers as we go back and see William's life. The action really picks up. For me, it was a page turner, which is not usual for sort of what I would call literary fiction with a mystery, honestly. It was I even felt like something Olivia would like. And I think Annie I told you I think you would like it. It's so good. The author is just so good at weaving in these little teasers because again, as a reader, you're like why is this man in this home? I need to know what's going on here. And if you just wait, the author will give you these little snippets and keep you wondering what's going on.
[00:19:50] But as we flashback to these different times then in the present, you can tell that Helen and Gil (Gil is the doctor she's having an affair with) their relationship is starting to fall apart for various reasons. And so as their relationship starts to change, it sort of puts them in conflict with what's happening in William's life. It's just really, really good. I just finished it and I hardly ever get to finish books. I read it on my Kindle app. I hardly ever can stay attuned to a book on my Kindle app for very long. And so I know that it was pretty good, but it's fantastic. It has a gorgeous cover. It's got like a cover that looks like a tin and it's got a badger on it. And so you're like, why is there a badger? And you'll find out in the book why there's a badger. It's just beautiful. I do think besides the fact that these people are having an affair, it's pretty PG. So I would even say, yeah, I think a Sussie/Nancy reader would like it. If you like sort of almost a cozy mystery, I think you would like it just because it's set in Britain and it doesn't go into really very sordid details of anything. So it's so good. It's coming out next week, November 12th. It's called Shy Creatures by Clare Chambers. Olivia, you would love this book.
Annie Jones [00:21:15] I'm going to download this one. I have been on-- I wouldn't call it a reading slump. I've consistently been reading, but it feels like not much is holding my attention right now, if that makes sense. I'm finishing stuff, but very rarely am I like, oh, I loved what I just read. You know what I mean? I'm like, yeah, I liked that book. But that one looks good, so maybe I'll download it. Okay. Well, I treated everyone to basically spoken word poetry at the beginning of this podcast by reading lyrics from Taylor Swift, because my next book is Heartbreak is the National Anthem. This is by Rob Sheffield. It releases next week. I have said what feels like a million times that this fall there are so many Taylor Swift books coming out. And I have done buying for Spring; there are not a lot of Taylor Swift coming out in the spring. I'm telling you, publishing is always like 6 to 12 months behind. And the Eras tour, obviously hugely successful last year. And I think publishing was like we need some Taylor content, what are we going to do?
[00:22:22] And now this fall-- and we've talked about some of them on new release Tuesdays on Instagram, there's like a really great Taylor Swift style coffee table book that I think would be great for gifting this holiday season. But one of our jobs as book buyers-- Olivia, does our kids book buying. I focus on our adult buying. One of our jobs is to narrow down. If you all knew how many books-- I think I opened, I haven't done it yet, but the Hachette catalog for spring 2025 is 16 pages, 50 books a page. Okay, so y'all do that math. That's just one publisher. So many books are coming out, and part of a bookseller or a book buyer's job is to narrow that scope because we're supposed to help with that. We're supposed to curate for you what gets based on our shelves, what we think you should read, etc.. So there are a lot of Taylor books coming out. And in another time, would it be fun to just order all of them for the store and to have like a Taylor Swift theme store? Sure, that'll be fun.
Erin [00:23:26] There's still time.
Annie Jones [00:23:28] But we have limited shelf space. Not everybody's a Taylor fan. So the big question for me-- and this is how it always is, specifically with romantasy books and romcoms because there is a huge influx in those genres right now. But the question becomes which of these do I get? I can't get all the Taylor books, so which of the Taylor books do we stock this fall? And which do we buy cartons of? And the one where I was like, okay, this I'm intrigued by is Heartbreak Is the National Anthem. Rob Sheffield is a well-respected Rolling Stone journalist, and he has written actually a book that I read a couple of years ago called Dreaming the Beatles. And it was a fantastic book about the Beatles and their careers. And I really like Rob Sheffield. He's written a lot of Taylor Swift cover stories for Rolling Stone. I think he's a great reporter. And so this is his biography of Taylor Swift and then specifically her music career. So not necessarily like Taylor's growing up or something like that, but it's really specifically about her music genius and her career and how she has transformed over the last few years and the kind of the genius of Taylor.
[00:24:51] And Rob Sheffield frequently and compares Taylor Swift to Paul McCartney. So I think this is going to be super interesting for music fans, whether you're a Taylor fan or not. I think this is just going to be interesting. He is a self-described Swifty. So don't go into this thinking it's going to be a totally unbiased look. But I think the good news is that means for the Swifties who I think are constantly looking for a Taylor book, I think this will be both well-written, well-researched and then also I think it'll be fun for the fandom. I think was it last week, as of this recording, where Taylor announced a book coming out and it's like a Target exclusive and a bunch of specifically perhaps the bookselling Internet was furious. Look, I'm not furious. Mindy Kaling does the same thing. I love Mindy Kaling. I think she's a great writer. She publishes almost exclusively through Amazon, and we can't get her books other than like her first couple of memoirs that came out. People do this all the time. They go where the money is. Would I have loved her to make a different decision? Sure.
[00:26:01] But honestly, not shocking to me. And she has had a longstanding partnership with Target. All of her exclusive bonus, like all these things come out through Target. So that was not shocking information to me. And I'll also be very real with you. The thought of the preorder campaign, I just thought it'd be fourth wing all over again. And so what I will happily do is stock what I think are really great, well-written books about Taylor, books about her style, this particular biography. And I do think Taylor Swift fans will like them. I think they're going to be great and easy for gift giving this holiday season. I just automatically know I could buy this for-- I'm not going to name them, but I could buy this for this person and they would really like it. And I like that Rob Sheffield, again, yes, he's a self-described swifty, but he also is a legitimate Rolling Stone journalist and writes pretty prolifically about music and the industry. And so I think this will be interesting. It is one of the Taylor Swift books that I am personally most excited about. And so I wanted to mention it here because there will be a lot of Taylor books coming out and I think this one would be worth your time. So again, that is called Heartbreak Is the National Anthem. It's by Rob Sheffield and it comes out next week. And we do hope you buy it. I'm pretty sure I preordered a boatload of these, so fingers crossed. Fingers crossed I guessed correctly.
Olivia [00:27:30] You preordered enough that I think we're getting a Taylor Standee-- not life-sized.
Erin [00:27:36] It's okay [inaudible]
Olivia [00:27:39] It comes with a metallic sharpie where you can write your favorite lyrical.
Erin [00:27:42] That's fun.
Annie Jones [00:27:43] That's cute. Listen, you really had to arrow down. There's like one other Taylor book. It might have been the Taylor Swift style book. There was one other one that I think I ordered plenty of. The others, I was just like some of them are cheesy looking. I don't know. And maybe I'm just a snob, but this one I was like, no, this is legit. I really would want to read this. So that's what we ordered. Fingers crossed we did the right thing.
Olivia [00:28:11] Here goes.
Annie Jones [00:28:12] Here goes.
Olivia [00:28:13] Okay. My next book is Middle grade. We're just going to go up in age as I keep going. It's the Winterton Deception second book. It's called Fault Lines by Janet Sumner Johnson. I just recently read the first one in this series which is now considered a backlist title, but it was so good. I absolutely loved it. It was about a spelling bee and I thought I wouldn't like it because many of you might know I'm not actually great at spelling and I did not do well in my fourth grade spelling bee so [crosstalk]. But you meet the family in that one, so you do have to read the first one to go on to this one. It is also like it does follow the very end of the first one where the main girl that we were following, Hope, finds out a big family secret. And now in this one she has to figure out how best to handle said secret. But what you should know is that the Winterton family is a big wealthy family who produces a dictionary, which is why they host a spelling bee that Hope and her twin brother, Gordon, enter and try to win because it's like the last spelling bee that the Winterton family is going to host.
[00:29:34] The matriarch has just recently passed away, and so this is like her final instructions to give away almost like all of the family's savings to the winner of this last spelling bee. And so she enters, but the Winterton family have no idea that she's actually a part of their family because her mother was dating a Winterton and he passed away but she didn't have a chance to tell him that she was pregnant when it happened. So Hope and her brother Gordon, it's like the introduction to their family that they are now meeting for the first time. They find out more about their father. They are a part of the spelling bee, and they're in a really cool house with hidden tunnels and passageways. And it was right up my personal alley. I would hope a lot of other people's personal allies. I think it's like if you liked the Swifts, if you like the Winterbourne Home Series, which I mostly talk about I think to inspire people who I'm selling books to because it is an older title, but if you like that sort of murder mystery, middle grade genre, I think this is perfect for you. And I am excited to start this next one because I loved the family, I loved the twins, the writing was really well done. And that one's out November 12th.
Erin [00:30:55] Okay. My next one is a nonfiction book; it's called Believe: The Untold Story Behind Ted Lasso, the show that kicked its way into our hearts, by Jeremy Eichner. This comes out November the 12th. It's out next week. Like you said, Annie, about the Taylor Swift books, I feel like people are always trying to capitalize now on shows that are on the air, off the air. There's podcast recapping now every old episode of every TV show. So you never know what you're going to get when you kind of pick up one of these 'the untold story of' or 'the story behind', but I'm about halfway through this and I'm loving it. If you love the show, Ted Lasso-- who doesn't. Maybe some people don't. But if you love this show, you will love this book. It does have interviews. Jeremy is The New York Times TV editor, so he knows of what he writes. He's watched a lot of TV. And this book is exactly what you would imagine. It's sort of an oral history of interviews and information that Jeremy has gathered. And he talks to everyone. He talks to Jason Sudeikis. He talks to Brett Goldstein He talks to all these other people that created the show, that were in the show, that wrote the show.
[00:32:19] And what I love is they go way back to even before the show was even a thought. You guys may know this, but it really started out as NBC had just gotten the rights to start airing Premier League soccer games. This was like I want to say maybe 2019 or 2018 when soccer hasn't really grown in popularity in the U.S. But back then no one was interested in watching soccer games and NBC was trying to drum up interest in Premier League games because they just paid a lot of money for the rights to air them. So they were looking for big names to star in basically just commercials. And they made this commercial with Jason Sudeikis, who plays this coach who goes to the U.K. And that was it. There was just two commercials and that was it. And that's all they wanted, but Jason kept being like I feel like there's something there. There's something there and it took years for it to really come to pass. And the right people had to be in place on the writing staff. And they didn't even end up putting it on NBC. They shopped around. And of course, as we know, it's on Apple Plus, which was at that time not even really a streaming service that anyone had at that time.
[00:33:40] So it was just all those things and Covid 19, everyone was stuck at home, looking for things to watch. Hello Tiger King. So it was just really the feel good-- I mean, this was 2020 and it aired. So this was the political year, of course, there was a presidential election. Everyone was just looking for something sweet, something good, something good hearted to watch. And Ted Lasso just really aired at the right time and the right place. And so this book is, again, if you just like behind the scenes nonfiction books about TV or pop culture, you'll love this. If you like soccer, you'll love this. If you love Ted Lasso, you'll love this. So it's just Jeremy has a really good storytelling style. It's not dry. It's not too educational sounding. So you'll love it. It's coming out next week. It's got a great cover with the Ted Lasso glasses and like the British flag on them. So it's called Believe by Jeremy Egner. It's sort of a behind the scenes about Ted lasso.
Annie Jones [00:34:47] I think I'm going to read that. Years ago there was one about The Office. I think it was an oral history and I really liked it. I think you can learn a lot from these books, too. Weirdly, the books wind up being a lot about like creativity and I think even some lessons for like entrepreneurship. And I wind up really liking these kinds of books. I'm curious about it. Especially there's been a conversation and some speculation, I think, that there's going to be a new season of Ted Lasso, and I'm very curious because I feel like they really wrapped it up. So I'll be curious to see what they're going to do. They should take a cue from British TV, I think, and be done. But I am curious about this book, so I'm glad to know you enjoyed it. And I do think the authors of these things matters. Again, like Rob Sheffield being a Rolling Stones writer or this author being a New York Times critic, that is helpful.
Erin [00:35:48] It is really funny. Yeah, absolutely.
Annie Jones [00:35:51] Okay. My last book also releases next week, it is called Pictures of You. This is by Emma Grey. You might be familiar with Emma Grey's name. She wrote the last love note, which came out, I want to say last winter.
Erin [00:36:04] Yeah, I was like didn't that just come out.
Annie Jones [00:36:07] Yeah, I think like last December. And that was a book I'm not even sure why I picked it up to be honest. I think it was one of Zibi publishing's books and again I don't know why I picked it up, but I read it and I really liked it. I think I would classify Emma Grey as only women's fiction. I'm using air quotes. We talk about that phrase on this podcast. I don't know what else to say about it. I don't love that phrase any more than anybody else. And yet at the same time, sometimes it's the best we can do. Because it's not quite to me a full-fledged romance or a romcom. Instead, I think in particular The Last Love Note was really women's fiction and dealt a lot with grief and loss, and I really liked it. So if you've not read it, I think you could go back and read that and really enjoy it. Pictures of You is her newest book. Emma Grey also I should know is Australian. And so her books are set in Australia. This is like a second chance romance. The main characters are Evie. I don't know. How would you guys-- so I grew up with a girl in my class, Evie and I'm pretty sure we pronounce it Evie, but how would you pronounce it?
Erin [00:37:21] Probably Evie, although it really looks like Evie to me.
Annie Jones [00:37:25] Well, growing up, the little girl-- little girl, we grew up. I mean, we graduated high school together. But we called her Evie, so I don't know. We're going to go with Evie. That's what we are going to do. Evie Andrew. Evie wakes up one day in an unfamiliar hospital room, and she thinks she's just left a teenage party with her best friend, Brie. Except, oops, high school was years ago, and Brie isn't around anymore. And instead, Evie has just survived a car crash that killed her husband, Oliver, and she's had a traumatic loss of memory. So she thinks she's-- I thought it's going to be like amnesia. But no, she wasn't in a coma after high school. She just now cannot remember her adult life. She thinks she is a recent high school grad kind of thing. So Drew is a photographer and he kind of has a chance encounter with Evie, that kind of helps her discover what her marriage was like, why she was in a car crash, why her husband died, maybe how her husband died. And so Drew becomes a friend to her as she tries to unravel what happened to her. And so this kind of leads Evie, obviously, because she thinks she's post-high school, is trying to make sense of her adult decision making and her adult life.
[00:38:50] In this way it almost to me sounds like a Taylor Jenkins Reid, early Taylor Jenkins Reid novel. There's a great early Taylor Jenkins Reid book called Maybe in Another Life. Basically the kind of book that makes you the reader also start to unpack maybe your own decisions. I think about earlier this year, Begin Again by Helly Acton. So, yeah, Evie is trying to figure out how did I get to this point? I thought I was this fun high school student and turns out I'm a grown up. My husband has just died. Why did I marry him? What did our love story look like? So I'm intrigued by this. I'll be honest, the descriptions of Emma Grey's books including Last Love Notes sound a little maudlin or maybe too sappy for me. But then I read them and I really liked them. I really liked her last book. So I'm going to give this a try even though I'm like, does that sound like something I would typically like? It sounds a little bit Lifetime movie esque. But I think she's a good writer and so I think that makes a difference. And also we've talked about this, I am super curious always about these books that Zibi Publishing is putting out. It's not just Zibi, there's a new romance imprint called 831. Like just these smaller publishers, I'm curious to see what they're doing and what they're picking and why.
[00:40:21] So anyway, if you are a fan of early Taylor Jenkins Reid or maybe even-- I can't speak to his late later stuff, but maybe early Nicholas Sparks. If you're a Nancy reader, I think you will like Emma Grey. I would encourage you to give her a try. So Last Love note was her book that released last year. And then this one is called Pictures of You, and it releases next week. It's got a really unique and interesting cover. I don't know what I ordered for the store; it'll be a surprise. But they simultaneously release as hardback and paperback, which I always, again, I have questions. But it's a simultaneous release. So if you like hardback books, you can get this in hardback. If you like paperback, it can function as a paperback original. But I think you should try it. I think folks should try Emma Grey. I'm not sure she's getting the praise that she might deserve here in America. Of course, I do think her books are well-written. And maybe you think they're going to go one direction or you think they're going to make you feel a certain way. And instead, I think she's pretty smart with them. So pictures of you by Emma Grey.
Erin [00:41:29] Well, it's set in Australia, so you know I'm already sold.
Annie Jones [00:41:34] Yeah, download that audiobook Erin.
Erin [00:41:37] I have it download it on my Kindle already, so I'm going to read it for sure.
Annie Jones [00:41:41] Okay. Yeah, let me know.
Olivia [00:41:43] Okay. My next book is called Deadly Animals. It's a debut novel by-- I know, Erin.
Erin [00:41:52] I have my microphone off so no one can hear me laughing.
Olivia [00:41:56] This is one of those books where I'm just like if you take my children's suggestions, just know that I read very differently in my adult life than I do in my in my children's book life.
Annie Jones [00:42:06] Well, to be fair, at first I was like this is going to be interesting. She's going to talk to us about these like who could kill what animal? You know what I mean? That's what it sounds like. Deadly Animals like those kid’s books that we sell so many of.
Erin [00:42:22] Yeah, [inaudible] kids nonfiction book.
Annie Jones [00:42:24] I did, too. So, no.
Olivia [00:42:25] In a really dark, twisted way it might be.
Annie Jones [00:42:30] So this is not a picture book about pythons or something.
Olivia [00:42:35] Unfortunately not.
Annie Jones [00:42:39] This is an adult book called Deadly Animals.
Olivia [00:42:41] Yes, this is adult for adults. It's a debut novel by Marie Tierney. It's about this 14 year old girl. So don't be fooled. This is for adults, but the protagonist is a 14 year old girl. Her name is Ava Barney. And she is compulsively obsessed with the decomposition of animals. So, like, she will--
Annie Jones [00:43:12] Good. I'm sorry. It sounds great. She sounds super healthy.
Olivia [00:43:21] She's really fun.
Annie Jones [00:43:23] Not at all troubled.
Olivia [00:43:25] She will fine roadkill, things like that. And she has the little spot in the forest where she watches how they decompose and she takes notes. She does it in a very scientific way. She loves animals. She would never be the one to kill the animal, but she is interested about the other side of it. And so in her little den that she goes to, she goes to check up on a fox that she had just found and moved and whatnot. And she gets there and a missing boy, Mikey, is found there dead. And so she knows that if she calls the cops, if she is the one to tell them, they're going to have more questions about what she's doing that will deter away from finding out what actually happened to Mikey. So she places an anonymous call so they know where to find Mikey. And then she starts to answer the detective's questions when he comes to the school because Mikey was a bully to her. So she knows the people around Mikey. And it's in a very small town.
[00:44:45] This is very like Chris Whitaker writing like that this is something very dark has happened in this small town. And we're watching kind of the ripple effects of what this means for the town. And we're watching maybe a child's life that is not headed in a great trajectory. But the kids all in this town play this game called Wolf. I don't know if it's a real game. I had never heard of it. But learning about it, it's like the opposite of sardines. Have you played sardines? Okay. So in this one, instead of everyone hides in the same spot when you find them, when the person who's the wolf finds you. You join their pack and now there's two people looking for the missing people.
Annie Jones [00:45:33] I see.
Olivia [00:45:34] And so it just goes like that. But these kids play it outdoors in a huge area. So all of these kids have their own little 'dens' or hideaways where that's where they go to hide and whatnot and they're wolf dens. And they get very into this game. So she knows where like Mikey's den is. So she's like I know I can help these cops. She also knows a lot about decomposition and what that looks like. And so she already has a lot of information about Mikey's death. And so, yeah, Ava is a struggling little girl. Her family's situation is not good. She does live is a fairly verbally, possibly physically, abusive home. So this is for maybe my darker readers out there. But let me tell you, the writing is so, so good. I'm hooked. I'm about halfway through. I know there is a big twist coming. At this point, I'm like it might be supernatural but it might not be. And I think I'm okay either way.
Annie Jones [00:46:47] Okay.
Olivia [00:46:48] Which I normally wouldn't be if it's supernatural. Tell me upfront. But in this case, I think I'd be okay with it. I put the writing akin to a Chris Whitaker style. They're very short chapters. You fly through it and it does feel like little cinematic moments between sets and whatnot. I would say like Tim Johnston, because it is very quiet but it is very dark. And then the other one I'll say is like Cosby. Like all the [inaudible] because trigger warnings abound.
Annie Jones [00:47:25] Sure.
Olivia [00:47:27] But it's so good. It is propelling itself forward. I really don't want to put it down, but I also don't want people to judge me when they read this.
Annie Jones [00:47:37] Did you download it to your Kindle.
Olivia [00:47:39] No, I have an ARC.
Annie Jones [00:47:40] How are you reading it? You have an ARC.
Olivia [00:47:43] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:47:43] It sounds good. I mean, all joking aside, that really does sound quite good.
Olivia [00:47:46] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:47:47] I'm curious about it.
Olivia [00:47:49] Yeah. Kids are into weird things, I guess. So just let Ava be Ava.
Annie Jones [00:47:54] Yeah, we see that.
Olivia [00:47:55] Yeah. It's not like she's killing the animals, she's just interested in the scientific process of what happens afterwards. You do have to get over that mental hump a little bit.
Annie Jones [00:48:07] Well, and then when you know where she comes from and her background, all of that informs that, too.
Olivia [00:48:12] Yeah. She's a good kid. Just trust her, you guys. She's a really good kid. Give her.
Annie Jones [00:48:18] Olivia's like she's amazing.
Olivia [00:48:20] I really think we'd be fine.
Erin [00:48:25] We laugh about dark kids and how they usually grow up to be very well-adjusted people so I don't know that that's the case for this girl, but I think there's something to be said for kids who are a little weird when they're young.
Olivia [00:48:36] We have hope.
Erin [00:48:38] Exactly.
Annie Jones [00:48:39] Well, and kids come in all the time who specifically want to read creepy things. I think also it's a phase. Ava is 14, so she's a little older than our customers who come in. But there's certainly a phase, I think, kids go through, including myself, where you wanted to read creepy, dark stuff. I still like books like that. This is one I'm curious about. I might see if the Kindle version is available.
Erin [00:49:05] Well, I'm going to take a hard turn here. No dead animal in this book. But it's called Time of the Child by Niall Williams. It comes out November 19th. This is a Sussie approved book. Sussie Loved this book, has read it. She said it's PG and so loved it. This is set in the same Irish town of I think it's Farha [sp]. I don't know. I tried to look up how to pronounce this last name. It's not an actual real town, so there is no actual pronunciation guides on the internet. But I'm going to say Farha. But he has written another book called This Is Happiness, and it was set in that same town. So some of the characters may overlap. That feels in a way like Elizabeth Strout sort of where it's like you sort of have a little bit of overlap because they've set this world where these people live. And so it's in the same town of Farha, it's in Ireland. Our main characters are Dr. Jack Troy, who is obviously the town's doctor, this is a small town, and his daughter Ronnie who is single and just lives with him and she's approaching 30 and she just helps him with his practice and everything.
[00:50:19] But it's obvious she's not happy. She is sad that she has not found love in her life. And we come to find out that it's because she was in love at one point when she was young and her father sort of turned the boy away, like told him he wasn't good enough for her and he went on, of course, to marry someone else and move away. And she's never really let that go. She's still in love with that person, basically. And so that's how the book is set up. And then what happens is an abandoned baby is found and brought to the doctor and Ronnie to try to save its life because it's malnutrition. It's not doing well physically, but they save the baby's life. And then Ronnie takes on that role of being a caretaker to the baby. And in a way, as you've seen this kind of stories before, it's like she doesn't want to let anyone know. She doesn't really want to go looking for the mother or any clues because she would like to take care of the baby. But, of course, she knows that there could be a family out there somewhere who's looking for the baby or wants to know what happened to the baby. So she's torn.
[00:51:30] And all the while her father is sort of dealing with feeling like an outsider in the town and also feeling like there's some tension between him and his daughter because of the decisions that he made that led to her being where she is now and her unhappiness. So this book is a lot about second chances, about getting a new chance at a different life or getting a chance at the life you never thought you would have. And I've seen several people mention, even your mom mentioned this when she was talking about the book, that there's a lot of side characters that bring humor to the book. And apparently Niall's writing-- I haven't quite started this yet. I'm going to. But his writing style is apparently very-- one reviewer said it calls for close reading, which I think is almost like how we talked about Women's Hotel by Daniel Lavery.
[00:52:26] It's not a book you can kind of skim through. You do need to sort of sit, pay attention, you know, listen to what the words are saying and really read each one because they each have a point and a meaning. But this looks like a fantastic book. It's also set over four weeks of Advent. So I think it's could not be a better time for the book to come out and for you to read it. I think it'd be fun to read it over Advent. Go ahead and buy it now, read it over Advent because that's exactly how the book is set up. Yeah, so that's a good idea for that one. It's called Time of the Child by Niall Williams, comes out November 19th.
Annie Jones [00:53:03] Ann Patchett loves that author. You know how sometimes on the Parnassus Instagram she'll talk about backlist titles or books you should have read but haven't, I think she talks about Niall Williams fairly frequently. And this one almost sounds-- and I don't think Olivia you read it. Erin, you might have. The Road to Dalton. I read that last year. Anyway, it sounds a little bit like that. The Road to Dalton was set in New England. I think it was set in Maine, but kind of similar where the book is a lot about the community, too. It's not maybe just about those main characters, but it's all about the side town characters and things. But I like the idea of reading it. I love a book that you can read along with the actual timeline. I think it's fun. Okay, so those are our November books. I am laughing that it was like All the Best Dogs and then Deadly Animals. We covered a lot of ground here today.
Erin [00:54:04] We really did. Wow!
Annie Jones [00:54:05] Yeah. Thanks Olivia for helping us cover a variety of genres and territories. It feels like there is something for everybody here in today's episode. So as I said at the top, if you are curious about any of these books, these November new releases, you can go to Bookshelfthomasville.com, type Episode 502 into the search bar and you'll see all of today's books listed. Use the code at checkout to get 10% off your order.
[00:54:35] This week I'm reading The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. Olivia, what are you reading?
Olivia [00:54:41] I am reading Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney.
Annie Jones [00:54:44] And Erin, what are you reading?
Erin [00:54:47] I'm listening to Stanley Tucci himself, What I Ate in One Year.
[00:54:48] 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:
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, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Jennifer Bannerton, Gene Queens
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, Susan Hulings
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