Episode 497 || October New Release Rundown
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another New Release Rundown! Annie, Erin, and Olivia are sharing the September 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 493” on our website to find the books mentioned in this episode), or shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie's books:
The Book of George by Kate Greathead (10/8)
Even After Everything by Stephanie Duncan Smith (10/15)
What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci (10/15)
Olivia's books:
The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen (10/1)
And He Shall Appear by Kate Van Der Borgh (10/1)
The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak (10/8)
Erin's books:
The Undercurrent by Sarah Sawyer (10/8)
The President’s Lawyer by Lawrence Robbins (10/8)
Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery (10/15)
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 X-Files: Perihelion by Claudia Gray. Olivia is reading The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents by Nicki Pau Preto. Erin is listening to Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
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.
“You think you're too good to be anything short of exceptional. And maybe you could have been exceptional, if you had the humility and discipline to commit to whatever it was you decided to do and really go for it, which is scary because what if you were just okay or merely competent…”
- Kate Greathead. The Book of George. [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 bookshop operations manager Olivia and online sales manager Erin to give you a rundown of our favorite new books releasing in October.
If you are new or a 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 your friends, you are helping keep our indie bookstore in business. And if you like what you hear, one way that you can financially support us is through Patreon. This month, we are wrapping up our reading of the classic American novel, Lonesome Dove ☹. For $5 a month, you can access those monthly recaps, including back episodes. So if you want to listen to Lonesome Dove later, you totally can. Plus, you get access to our Porch Visits, which are our monthly live Q&As 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. There's also a link in the show notes. And now would be a good time to join because we are announcing our 2025 classic for Conquer a Classic next month. We'd love for you to join us there!
[00:02:10] Now, back to the show. As we go through October releases, keep in mind Erin has made browsing our podcast book selections so easy. Just go to Bookshelfthomasville.com and type episode 497 into the search bar and you'll see all of today's books listed ready for you to preorder or purchase. You can use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout to get 10% off your order of today's titles. Also, this isn't in my notes, but before we get started, I do want to remind folks that if you like what you hear on these New Release Roundup episodes, you can also listen to us every Tuesday live on Instagram, on Facebook, where we talk about New Release Tuesday. Where we each talk about two new books releasing that week. So if you have the app, if you have the Instagram app, if you have Facebook, you might want to join us live on Tuesdays at 1:00 O'clock Eastern. We would love to see you there. Hi, everybody!
Olivia [00:03:09] Hello.
Erin [00:03:11] Hello.
Annie Jones [00:03:13] Welcome back. It is not October, but it's October when people are listening to this.
Erin [00:03:20] I was going to say, wow, it feels like September has flown by because by the time people hear this, September will have flown by. Because it feels like we just did this for September and now here we are again. And truly September is flying by.
Annie Jones [00:03:35] Yeah, it is. And I recorded previously the September reading recaps. So always when I sit down to talk to you guys, I'm so confused as to what month it is. Because I've just finished recapping the books of the previous month. We're talking about the books coming out next month. Olivia knows we're also going through catalogs for spring. So I'm reading books that don't come out until April. There's a lot going on.
Erin [00:03:58] Mentally.
Olivia [00:03:59] I couldn't even tell you what catalog I was supposed to look at. I was like, Is it spring, summer, fall? It won't feel like any of those seasons when I get around to it.
Annie Jones [00:04:09] Who knows? And so even maybe after doing like Literary First Look and things like that, I had to really think about what is coming out in October. And the good news is so many things.
Erin [00:04:24] A myriad of choices. All good.
Annie Jones [00:04:26] Yeah, it is a good publishing month. And as we talked about, I think last month, it is fascinating to look at publishers who really tried to frontload their selections. So we had a huge September release month and now we're getting a really equally large October release month, which is with just lots of books dropping every month. We're here to talk about three apiece. Shall we get started? Okay. My first book is the book I quoted at the top of the episode. It is the Book of George. This is by Kate Greathead. It releases next week on October 8th. Look, this book will not be for everyone. I think I said this during Literary First Look because it is very character driven. It's really a character study of a man named George. We are introduced to George when he is like 12 or 14 and we get to follow George through life till about 40 years of age. And I think this is a fascinating look at masculinity, particularly white masculinity, millennial masculinity.
[00:05:37] I love coming of age books. I loved the book Sam, which was released a couple of years ago, and it followed a young girl as she grew up and into early adulthood, maybe close to middle age. And so I love a book that kind of follows a person through their different stages of life. This just happens to be a book about a man. And at first we meet him as a as an early adolescent. And you really get to see George in all of his flaws and complications. He is not always the world's most likable guy. In fact, sometimes he's downright irritating. But somehow Kate Greathead also writes him with really with a lot of tenderness, with some grace, because George is just a person and he is a person who is liable to succumb to the ways in which he was raised. And so we really get to see what happens. And the quote that I made at the top of the page is not maybe a typical quote I would open a podcast with, but it really speaks to George.
[00:06:45] He's kind of been told that he is special and unique and he's super smart and he has all these skills and abilities. And he really struggles through life because he feels like he's supposed to do something great and instead he's just normal. He's just average. And what is somebody supposed to do when they've been told they're made for greatness, but instead they're just average? And I think millennials especially might relate to that, whatever gender you are. I think that that is a familiar thing that we are still grappling with as we grow up and into ourselves. We also get to meet Jenny, who is George's on again off again love interest. The biggest title to this, I would say, is Good Material by Dolly Alderton, which released earlier this year. I loved that book.
[00:07:38] That was another book where we were kind of led through a romantic storyline with the male perspective. I think it was billed as like When Harry Met Sally from Harry's perspective. I loved Good Material, and I do love Book of George. This is not plot driven. This is character driven. It's told in vignettes of his different ages. I really liked it. The book cover is great. Here's the good news. If you liked the first couple of pages, you'll like the whole thing. I was hooked from page one. I had no trouble really loving it, getting to know George even when George got on my last nerve. So that is the Book of George by Kate Greathead out on October 8th.
Erin [00:08:26] The quote that you read at the top of the podcast I was personally offended. As a millennial, I was like, wait, the thought of being average and normal does not ever occur to me.
Annie Jones [00:08:39] What if you were just competent and that's it?
Erin [00:08:42] I know. That's not in my vocabulary. I'm sorry.
Olivia [00:08:45] That doesn't resonate with Enneagram ones, so sorry. But I loved the spirit.
Annie Jones [00:08:52] Yeah. And you understand then George's plight. He's walking around thinking, wait a minute, I'm made for greatness. I do not want to spoil anything, but there is a storyline that has to do with a Super Bowl ad that had me rolling. And so I think even though George is a man and all three of us are female readers, I think there was a lot to relate to about George. Particularly again I think if you're a millennial, there's a lot to relate to.
Erin [00:09:22] It's a struggle. Our parents made us feel too good about ourselves.
Annie Jones [00:09:27] Too much self-esteem. The pendulum swung too far.
Olivia [00:09:31] I was also going to comment on the quote at the top because I really liked it. But then I'm always like, are we allowed to comment on the quote or do people think that's prerecorded and that we're not just sitting there staring at you and you're saying all of that.
Annie Jones [00:09:45] Yeah, I have you guys off screen so that I can just do my intro. I've recorded the intro. I think people might assume the intro is prerecorded. No, I say beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia every time.
Olivia [00:09:58] Every time.
Erin [00:09:59] Every time while we just silently wait here for you.
Olivia [00:10:03] But you do it so well that I understand that people could think that that's prerecorded every time.
Annie Jones [00:10:10] No, not prerecorded. And those quotes I read them in front of these two faces every month. Just pretended like I'm in an audiobook recording session, only I have an audience.
Erin [00:10:22] And we can't react at the time. So we have to remember later to tell you what I feel about the quote, which I always feel a way about the quotes you choose. So they're so good.
Annie Jones [00:10:30] Well, thanks.
Olivia [00:10:31] So, listeners, please, just next time you hear the opening intro, imagine Annie staring at Erin and I who are just smiling at her or sipping coffee or our coughs out before everything starts.
Annie Jones [00:10:45] Yes. Everybody's muted and I can see the slurping, but I can't hear it. And I'm like, let me just read this. It's like live story time.
Olivia [00:10:54] Yeah. Okay. My first book I'm very excited about this. I really try to convince Kyndall to read this book. I don't think it's going to happen, but that's okay. It's called The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen, and it's out October 1st. So by the time this podcast airs, it is already out. Great. This is about a kid-- now, and.
Erin [00:11:18] It is some slurping of her own now.
Olivia [00:11:21] If you want the visual for what just happened, Annie was off screen sipping water as I was trying to confirm the date that this podcast comes out.
Erin [00:11:26] You are nodding your head.
Annie Jones [00:11:29] My head is just going up and down. Yes, that's right. Time travel.
Olivia [00:11:33] If only you all could see what we see.
Annie Jones [00:11:37] Should we start our own YouTube channel? Caroline would love it.
Olivia [00:11:41] Yeah.
Erin [00:11:43] Just the faces sometimes that we're making silently while the other person is talking because we don't want to be too loud is hilarious enough on its own.
Olivia [00:11:51] That alone is worth it. Okay. This is about a kid named Lunar Jones, and he lives on the planet Mars, which is currently dying. In this book every planet, every moon and every star has its own dragon that takes care of that planet. So Earth had a dragon, but she sacrificed herself to save humanity and make earth habitable for humans and people. And so humanity, as one does, decided that we would then kill Mars's Dragon in hopes that we would then make Mars habitable. That is not how it works, everyone. So we're all clear.
Annie Jones [00:12:34] Are you telling me retaliation doesn't work? Is that what you're saying to me?
Olivia [00:12:38] It's wild, but hear me out. No. So now people do live on Mars. But basically it's like this planet is fighting back against the people who live there. So any animal that lives on Mars tries to attack humans and they live in this very guarded city. And when you leave, you're just exposed to Mars and it trying to take over. So Lunar goes outside the city lines on a salvaging trip, which is how he makes money and gets by in life when he gets attacked by other salvagers and he ends up finding shelter in an underground restricted zone that he had no idea was there. And then no spoiler because it's the title, he finds a dragon. The last dragon on Mars. And from there he goes on a wild adventure. This book was so fun and so good. If you get the first edition copy, it will have sprayed edges, which is very exciting. They're red. They look so great. It's the first in a series. There's going to definitely be a bunch more, I would think, because he doesn't even end on Mars. He's on another planet entirely. And every planet in the solar system and their moons have dragons. So there's so much you could do with this book.
Erin [00:14:03] That sounds like a series to me.
Annie Jones [00:14:05] You could keep going.
Olivia [00:14:07] There's literally infinite-- and things just get bigger and bigger. He has so many possibilities that he could do with this series, which is probably why I am so excited for this series. I'm also excited because it was PG in the way that I could hand this book to an eight year old and they would love it. But it was written well enough and had a good enough storyline that I could also hand this book to a 15 year old boy, and he would also love it.
Annie Jones [00:14:37] How nice.
Erin [00:14:37] There's so few of those.
Olivia [00:14:38] So nice.
Annie Jones [00:14:39] There are so few of those. It's ridiculous.
Olivia [00:14:42] Yeah. And this is perfect.
Annie Jones [00:14:45] Yeah, we get so many parents and grandparents of particularly-- Olivia, correct me if I'm wrong, but particularly of young male readers. And it's like they age out of Dog Man and chapter books. And Olivia does a good job of recommending a chapter books, but eventually they're technically YA readers. And so much YA a is romantasy or with female centered characters. And look, of course, boys can read books about girls and vice versa. I'm not saying they can't, but representation matters for everybody. And it's nice that this could be a book with a male protagonist, an adventure story that any gender reader could enjoy.
Olivia [00:15:31] Yes. And I think publishing in years past for middle grade books especially, has skewed with the female protagonist. I think because there was such a lack of it when we were growing up.
Annie Jones [00:15:42] Yeah, it's that pendulum, truly.
Olivia [00:15:44] Yes. They swung too far and now they are definitely trying to correct it. But what I see coming out-- if we have to put gender on a book-- for boy readers, is either fantasy novels, which is great, but they're coming from Percy Jackson and that is hard to top, everybody.
Annie Jones [00:16:02] Yeah.
Olivia [00:16:04] Or you have books about boys going through hardships. You have this in the female genre as well. And that is for a very specific reader. And then you have silly books, and that's great for the younger groups. But what I wanted and what this book gave me was sci-fi, not fantasy. It gave me sci-fi. So they can sit there and actually picture this happening. It's why when a 13, 14 year old boy comes in and they're reading above their level already, I'll hand them Project Hail Mary because I know it's a good book and I know they're going to love it. And there's nothing that I have found-- there's probably something out there-- like that for their age group. And now there is.
Annie Jones [00:16:50] This is great.
Olivia [00:16:54] That's The Last Drag on Mars.
Erin [00:16:54] My son is just getting into Percy Jackson for school, like they're reading it at school. But I always know he likes a book if I go past his room at night and he's sitting there reading. I know he has to, but he's not putting it off. I don't have to remind him. So I'm looking for other books like that. Like you said, once you've moved on from Percy Jackson or from Dog Man or whatever, what do you read next? And this sounds so exciting. I can't wait. I'm going to get this for my son.
Olivia [00:17:21] It's so good. I can't wait for number two, and then three, and then probably infinite.
Annie Jones [00:17:26] Infinity.
Olivia [00:17:27] Because it's the universe.
Erin [00:17:28] There's so many galaxies. I mean, this could go anywhere honestly.
Olivia [00:17:34] Yeah. Galaxies. There's so much. Supernova dragon?
Annie Jones [00:17:38] Can I ask, will the dragon readers who liked Fourth Wing like this?
Olivia [00:17:43] I liked it. There is no sort of romance in it. It's purely platonic friendship that happens. So if that's why you liked Fourth Wing? I don't think so. But if you liked Fourth Wing for the Hunger Games style world, then you will like this.
Annie Jones [00:18:01] Okay, great.
Erin [00:18:03] That's so exciting. I'm looking forward to that. Yay! It's already out now. I'm going to "go downstairs" and buy it. Here I go.
Annie Jones [00:18:12] Right this moment. Wink, wink.
Erin [00:18:16] Okay, my first book is The Undercurrent by Sarah Sawyer. It releases October the 8th. This is crazy to me. Sarah's a debut author. I had to look it up to be sure, but this is her debut book. Again, it makes me so angry. What am I doing with my life that people can write this well? But this book is attractive to me from the get go. Even the cover itself is beautiful. It really hints to a little bit of the darkness that's in this book. But it focuses really on the relationship between parents and their children. We meet Bee, she's a new mom. She's just had a little baby. She's happily married to a doctor and she's struggling with new motherhood. She's really struggling. And it hints that she has a little bit of unresolved issues in her past with her twin brother, Gus, and their neighbor friend when they were growing up, Leo. And so Bee gets a surprise visit from Leo. She lives in Maine. I thought it was the other coast.
Annie Jones [00:19:28] Never forget. Maine.
Erin [00:19:29] Never forget. Annie has a list of books set in Maine.
Annie Jones [00:19:33] My future home, Maine.
Erin [00:19:37] She's from Texas. So now she's living, I guess, in Maine. She gets a surprise visit from Leo, who is also her childhood crush. So there's a little bit of sexual tension between them, even though she's married. So you're like, what's going on with that? And then Leo really spurs her to take her new baby and go visit her mom in Texas. We know that her father has passed away. I don't think that's a spoiler. That happens. You kind of find that out pretty early in the book. So she's going to visit her mom. So before she goes and while she's there, she gets sort of weirdly hyper focused on this case of a missing girl that went missing while she was a child and it sort of had ripple effects throughout the community. But she gets obsessed with this. And her obsession with the case is sort of tied in with her obsession of trying to find her brother, Gus, who she hasn't heard from in years. So in her mind, they're a little bit tied.
[00:20:42] She thinks if I can find out more about this case, maybe I can find out more about Gus. Maybe I can reconnect with him. So she goes to visit her mom and a lot happens. There's a lot of secrets that come out. There's a lot of reconnections that happen. And you do kind of bounce back and forth between the current timeline and back when they were children. So you kind of get alternating chapters from when Bee was a kid, and then in adulthood. There are a few darker things here at work. It wasn't enough to make me not want to read the book or not recommend the book, but they do find out things about their family and some people in the community that they didn't know about before. All in their search of trying to find this missing girl. So I loved this one. Annie you've also read this one, too. Have you read this one?
Annie Jones [00:21:39] Yes, I mentioned it on last week's reading recap. And I did mention on there that Erin made me aware of triggers and content warnings that I had blacked out about. I don't know. I don't know what happens to me when I read a book, but I was like, wait, really? And so I made sure to put those content warning on the podcast episode. But, yeah, I really liked this book. And like you, I found it hard to believe that she's a debut writer because she's going back and forth in time and then alternating in voices, which I think is hard to do without sometimes muddying the waters. But I really liked this book a lot.
Erin [00:22:17] It's so good. And to me, it has both elements of a thriller. It was a page turner for me because once you get into it, you're like, what happened to Gus? What happened to this girl? What is the secret that everybody is sort of trying to hide? And so you really are trying to figure that out. But at the same time, it's just a beautiful story about motherhood, about parenting, about being a failure, feeling like a failure as a parent, and also feeling like you're doing a good job as a parent. It was so good. And I just loved how well she developed Bee and her brother and the mom. There’re just several characters on the periphery that I just felt were written so well and I loved it. It was such a good book. So that's The Undercurrent by Sarah Sawyer coming out October 8th.
Annie Jones [00:23:08] I know Olivia that you, like the rest of us, once two or three of us have read a book we kind of remove it from our own TBR; but one day, Olivia--
Erin [00:23:19] You should read this.
Annie Jones [00:23:20] I think you'd like this book.
Olivia [00:23:23] I was just looking at it because I feel like I just got an email--
Annie Jones [00:23:28] From Ciba [sp]. You did.
Olivia [00:23:30] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:23:31] I did, too.
Olivia [00:23:31] That's what it was. Good job Ciba [sp] because you put that on my radar. But I was just looking at it and the cover gives Peter Keller and I love Petter Keller.
Erin [00:23:44] Yes. It has a water color house on the front.
Olivia [00:23:46] Yeah.
Erin [00:23:48] It was good. It has just enough darkness. That sounds bad, but it has just enough--
Olivia [00:23:53] I need some dark.
Erin [00:23:53] You do need a little dark. Yes, I know. And so I think you would like this. There's enough proportion of plot that I think you would still enjoy it.
Olivia [00:24:02] Okay. How long is it? How many pages are we looking at?
Erin [00:24:06] It didn't feel long.
Annie Jones [00:24:10] It was not long. It reminded me of Long Bright River. Like Long Bright River is to Sisters as The Undercurrent is to Mothers, I think.
Olivia [00:24:18] Okay.
Erin [00:24:19] Olivia's like, wait, okay, I'm doing the S.A.T. math here.
Olivia [00:24:24] Yeah. All right.
Annie Jones [00:24:25] I loved that part of the essay.
Erin [00:24:29] You do it for fun now. You just go Google those on the internet just to do them for fun.
Annie Jones [00:24:37] Yeah. Okay. My book actually also is a little bit about motherhood, though not in a suspense thriller kind of way. This is Even After Everything by Stephanie Duncan Smith. This releases on October 15th. I have talked about this book on the podcast, I think at least once before, when I mentioned it on an episode with Hunter of Best Books of the Year so far. So this is one of those books that I will think Kindle-- not Kyndall the bookseller. My Kindle e-reader. Because I saw this book on I assume the fall catalog earlier this summer, I want to say May or June, and immediately downloaded a copy, which was novel to me at the time, pun intended, because I rarely get to do that. We have to wait for ARCs. I especially had to wait for physical ARCs. And this is a book that I might not have ever gotten a physical ARC of, and so I got to download the digital copy. Stephanie Duncan Smith is a book editor. I actually met with Stephanie when I was shopping my book last fall, and so I was able to meet Stephanie that way, but I followed her on the internet for years. I think she's a really fantastic writer, fantastic editor, and this is her first book that is, I'm going to say, memoir nonfiction.
[00:25:57] So Even After Everything, much like Book of George, is going to be for a specific kind of reader. This definitely falls into the category of Christian nonfiction. But hear me out and let me explain what exactly it entails. So Stephanie writes really honestly and openly about pregnancy loss and miscarriage, and she ties it into the liturgical church calendar and she kind of ties in the rhythms of a woman's body to the rhythms of the liturgical church calendar. This is speaking my language. This book was deeply meaningful to me. I thought it was incredibly beautifully written. I am fascinated by the church calendar. It's one of the reasons I kind of changed the way I practice my faith years ago. And so I love talking about the rhythms of church like Advent and Lent and Easter and ordinary time and all of those things. And Stephanie writes about them so beautifully while also talking about women's biology and also her own personal experiences.
[00:27:09] Think this book would also be appealing to folks who are going through seasons of grief, regardless of what kind of grief or what kind of loss because she writes really redemptively about the joy that comes after loss. I just I loved this book. I think I would put it into the hands of readers who like Barbara Brown Taylor, readers who enjoy Joan Didion, though this is more Christian skewing, Shauna Niequist, particularly her book Bittersweet. But again, there's also an element here of really well-researched nonfiction where she's talking about the history of the church and the church calendar. I read parts out loud to Jordan.
[00:27:58] I will be buying a physical copy of this when it comes out so that I can go back through and underline. Highlighting in the Kindle is fine, but that is where I do prefer a physical book. But I'm so glad I got the opportunity to early read this and now I'm just hopeful it will find just the right kind of reader. I think at our store we talk frequently about how one of the categories of nonfiction that typically does pretty well for us is curious Christian reading and books for the curious Christian customer. And I think this definitely applies to that. If you liked the liturgy books by Elizabeth Moore and Audrey Elledge, I think you'll like Even After Everything by Stephanie Duncan Smith releases on October 15th.
Olivia [00:28:41] Liturgical church calendar is very satisfying to say.
Annie Jones [00:28:49] You just say it as you drift off to sleep every night.
Olivia [00:28:52] Liturgical church calendar.
Annie Jones [00:28:54] Let me tell you Olivia, it's as peaceful as the phrase would suggest.
Erin [00:28:58] Yes, it's true.
Annie Jones [00:29:02] It really brings some peace and grounding to my life. So just saying it it's also peaceful and grounding
Olivia [00:29:09] The shape that your mouth has to make, the amount of syllables that are in it, it is very satisfying.
Annie Jones [00:29:16] Yeah.
Olivia [00:29:17] So my next book is not about the liturgical church calendar. I'm so sorry. My next book is And He Shall Appear by Kate van der Borgh. And this is out already out. It was out October 1st and it's set at Cambridge. It's a dark university novel. When I read it, I was like, this feels like the toxicness of The Secret History meets The Prestige. Anyone see that movie and loved that movie?
Annie Jones [00:29:50] I know I did because of Jordan.
Olivia [00:29:51] I have also seen and enjoyed that movie. So this is set at Cambridge University. You have an unnamed narrator the entire time, which I did really like because it added to the mysteriousness of what was happening. But the unnamed narrator, I wish I did have a name for him just so I could say it right now instead of having to say unnamed narrator which is not as satisfying to say as liturgical church calendar. He goes to university. He's a musician at Cambridge. That's what he's going to school for, where he meets this guy, this really charismatic character, Bryn Cavendish. And as the name sounds, Bryn is from an upper class family. He's one of those people where everyone just gravitates to him and they want to be close to him. But he is toxic in himself where he just uses people and wields them however he needs them to get ahead. Bryn's father is not in the picture anymore. He doesn't really want anything to do with Bryn, but he was this infamous magician who was kind of blacklisted from the magicians.
[00:31:12] But Bryn loves magic, and so whenever he's at these big parties, he'll pull out these magic tricks to kind of draw back the attention to himself. And our unnamed narrator, who is obsessed with Bryn, he goes to these parties and he kind of starts to see a side of Bryn that I think is a little bit darker than what everybody else is seeing, even though what they're seeing is already dark. Where he thinks Bryn is wielding these party tricks, but actually underneath there is some dark magic happening. Some ghosts being brought back to life. Dark, dark, harrowing things start happening and people around Bryn start leaving individually. There is one girl who lived below him who basically had la panic attack and left school. And the narrator tries to figure out what's going on. He goes into her apartment to help her one night. And even he feels like this eerie presence there. She's added an extra bolt to her door. There's a handprint on the outside of her window. Odd things are happening and she leaves school and just doesn't keep in touch with anybody.
[00:32:31] And so he's pretty sure something dark is happening with Bryn. The whole time this is happening, you're getting this story of how he met Bryn, how he got into his inner circle. You know that the narrator is back at Cambridge after years later. Bryn has died somehow. You don't know until the very end. And he's been invited back by Byrn's mother who is basically holding this scholarship party for the Music College of Cambridge. And that's the only reason why he's been invited there. But he starts to see other friends outside of Bryn that he was close with at college and starts to try to piece together what happened the night Bryn died, what his relationship looked like from the inside, but also from the outside. It was dark. It was eerie. It was so well done. I loved it. I think it's a perfect October book. If you want that dark academia feel for October, I think this is the book for you. The cover is stunning. I'm pretty sure it's like a snake with a guy's face behind.
Annie Jones [00:33:38] So creepy.
Olivia [00:33:40] It is so good. The cover gives it a more literary feel and it does feel a little bit more literary when you're reading it, But I think you just get so absorbed into that world that you just fly through it. It was great. And He Shall Appear. What a great title.
Annie Jones [00:33:58] It is a great title. I want to know; would this be a comp to Katherine House?
Olivia [00:34:08] Yeah, I think this would be a great comp to Katherine House.
Annie Jones [00:34:11] Would I like that? Meaning sometimes where you and I where our paths diverge does have to with magic, would I still like this?
Olivia [00:34:20] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:34:21] Okay. I'm looking for creepy October books. I don't actually remember a whole lot of details about this movie, but you guys remember Skulls? Did anybody watch Skulls?
Olivia [00:34:34] No
Annie Jones [00:34:36] With Joshua Jackson?
Olivia [00:34:39] I don't know who that is.
Annie Jones [00:34:40] Pacey from Dawson's Creek.
Erin [00:34:41] Olivia's like, go back a step.
Olivia [00:34:43] I didn't watch Dawson's Creek.
Erin [00:34:44] I didn't watch it either, but I do know who Joshua Jackson is.
Annie Jones [00:34:48] So Skulls was about one of those private clubs on campus.
Olivia [00:34:54] Like secret societies?
Annie Jones [00:34:55] Yes. Like a secret society. I think it's time to rewatch Skulls and I think it's time to read And He Shall Appear. So, thank you.
Olivia [00:35:05] Yeah, it was great. I think you'd really like it.
Erin [00:35:08] I do find it funny that magicians seem to be the only group of people that are often blacklisting each other from things.
Olivia [00:35:20] I can tell you why, Erin.
Erin [00:35:22] I would like to know if you have an answer.
Olivia [00:35:25] Well, I think because if we're talking about secret societies, being a magician is almost like being in one because you know exactly how things happen. But you also know you are not allowed to spill that information.
Erin [00:35:38] So they're blacklisted when they tell the secrets.
Olivia [00:35:41] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:35:44] Like a cone-- is it cone or code of silence? A cone of silence? Code of silence.
Erin [00:35:53] I just think about them all wearing cones, like little dog cones or something.
Annie Jones [00:35:55] Yeah, nobody share our secrets.
Erin [00:35:59] It just makes you think of Arrested Development.
Olivia [00:36:02] But I think they might also get blacklisted if-- was it in the Prestige or that other magic movie where they actually get shot? [crosstalk].
Erin [00:36:13] When they're using real stuff.
Annie Jones [00:36:14] Yes.
Olivia [00:36:16] Using real birds. Don't squash a bird, come on. Sort of thing.
Erin [00:36:22] It just made me think. I was like, what other group of people are just so often blacklisting each other? But I guess--
Annie Jones [00:36:28] Congress.
Olivia [00:36:30] FBI. CIA.
Annie Jones [00:36:33] Yeah. American government.
Erin [00:36:34] All secret societies? I don't know. Are we going down a rabbit hole here? I should quickly pivot to my next book.
Annie Jones [00:36:45] Actually, what a great segue.
Erin [00:36:46] Speaking of the American government and the executive powers, my next book is called The President's Lawyer by Lawrence Robbins. It comes out October the 8th. I've been in slump, guys. I've been in a two month long slump. And I blame my kids starting school back because I have zero time to read and zero attention span for anything. So I just picked this book up because I thought, I do love a good legal thriller and maybe this will get me out of my slump. And while I have not finished it yet, it got me out of my slump. So I always appreciate a book that gets me out of my slump. This is about an ex-president and he's sort of young. He's not JFK, but I think age wise is sort of compared. He's a young president and he is now not the president anymore. And a woman is found murdered in D.C. And it turns out this girl was his mistress. And so he is being accused of murdering her. And he says he's not guilty. Of course, he calls his old childhood best friend, Rob Jacobson, who is now a lawyer and he wants him to defend him.
[00:38:00] And, of course, at first the guy's like, this is not a good idea. We are friends. I'm biased for you and I don't know if I can really defend you well. And plus, turns out the girl who was murdered has a past with this lawyer as well. So he's like, I think I'm too tangled up in this. But for better or for worse, he decides to defend this ex-president friend of his. So what I've read so far is that there's a lot about that. And you kind of go back and forth and you learn about the childhood of this guy who I can't remember his name, the guy who was president. I looked and looked; I couldn't find it this morning. But you learn about Rob's childhood. It's basically showing you, I think, how all of this past is leading up to this present trial. So then I think it does actually go through the trial and it goes through all the witnesses and all that stuff, too. And from what I've heard, there is a twist at the end, which I'm looking forward to. But as you can imagine, there's a lot of resentment and love between the two of them because this guy who was president has led this very rich, charmed life from the outside. He's very charismatic, but he also has anger issues.
[00:39:25] He was pretty much verbally abused by his father when he was growing up. And so he has all of these daddy issues and rage issues. But he was the president, so he's a charismatic person. He draws people in. And Rob feels like he's always just kind of gotten everything handed to him and Rob hasn't. So there's a lot of issues between them as friendships. I think this is comp obviously, if you like John Grisham you probably would like this. I've even heard it if you like Stacey Abrams legal thrillers, you would like this as well. It definitely has a thriller aspect to it. There's a murder. Of course, there's a trial. It's very like leading up to a climax of the ending. But I think what people said is that it's very also realistic. Like when it gets into the court case, it's written in a way that you can understand. The person who wrote this has a good understanding of how the legal system works. So again, if you're looking to get out of a slump like me or you just love a good legal thriller, a good murder mystery sort of, then you'll like The President's Lawyer by Lawrence Robbins comes out October 8th.
Annie Jones [00:40:37] I downloaded that one to my Kindle, and I think I'm going to read that one as well. Can you spoil your own podcast? I don't know. But an upcoming episode of From the Front Porch is going to be a backlist look at the book Defending Jacob, which is another legal thriller. And I really do love a legal thriller. As you were talking, I thought, if people have a scandal [crosstalk]. I think this would work for them. And sometimes I do miss those early, early seasons of Scandal.
Erin [00:41:10] Yeah, before things really went off the rails.
Annie Jones [00:41:12] Yeah, before things went off the rails.
Olivia [00:41:15] I didn't know you were talking about a show named Scandal. I thought you were just saying, like, if you miss scandal happening in your life.
Annie Jones [00:41:22] Sandals are happening every day.
Erin [00:41:25] Nobody has an actual scandal cycle in their heart.
Annie Jones [00:41:29] No, the fictional scandal is the hole that I have. I feel like every day we're living a real life presidential scheme.
Erin [00:41:38] What I just love is that you said that, and then I was like, absolutely. And Olivia is thinking we're talking about actual scandals for a few minutes there.
Olivia [00:41:47] Me often in my own little bubble.
Annie Jones [00:41:49] Okay, my last book I have said for weeks is the easiest book I will hand sell, I think, in 2024. It is What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci. This releases on October 15th. If you are not familiar with Stanley Tucci-- yes you are. You saw Devil Wears Prada.
Erin [00:42:08] What are you doing? You know him.
Annie Jones [00:42:10] You know who he is.
Olivia [00:42:12] Bless your heart.
Annie Jones [00:42:13] Bless your heart. I had not been following him on Instagram. I think sometimes the way he just looks into your soul is too much for me while he cooks pasta, it's just too much. But I did. I think I got over that and I started following him recently and it is delightful. Listen, Stanley Tucci is an Academy Award nominated, I believe, actor. He has been in dozens upon dozens of films. But I think that might make you think a celebrity book, depending on how you feel about a celebrity. Maybe an eyeroll, maybe you think it's ghostwritten, whatever. His book, Taste, which released a couple of years ago, was fantastic. I both read it and listened to it. He does narrate the audiobook versions of his books, and that book was all about his love of food and also how his cancer diagnosis-- he had tongue cancer, and how that made an impact on the things that he could taste and how food became maybe not as enjoyable as it once was. That was a fantastic memoir. My book club read it together. We had a dinner party to celebrate. It was a really fun, vibrant memory for me. So this is his latest. It is literally exactly what it says, What I Ate in One Year. It takes place from January 2023 to December 2023. It's essentially diary entries of what he ate, where he traveled, who he ate with. So it winds up just being a really interesting look at his life. Certainly a fun glimpse at celebrity life. He makes references, of course, to his brother in law, who is John Krasinski. Jim from The Office.
Erin [00:43:57] Olivia.
Olivia [00:43:57] I'm sorry, what?
Erin [00:43:59] Olivia, they are [inaudible]. That is not to be messed with.
Olivia [00:44:04] His brother in law?
Annie Jones [00:44:06] Yes.
Olivia [00:44:08] Who is his sister?
Annie Jones [00:44:08] His wife's sister is Emily Blunt. Emily Blunt also was in The Devil Wears Prada.
Olivia [00:44:16] Yeah. Wow. Okay.
Erin [00:44:17] Emily's married to John and Emily's sister is married to...
Olivia [00:44:19] I had no idea.
Annie Jones [00:44:21] Yeah. And Emily's sister, Felicity, is like a literary agent.
Olivia [00:44:26] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:44:28] They're truly a fascinating foursome. And they're, as Erin said, very powerful.
Erin [00:44:34] Can you just imagine Thanksgiving at their house? I do often imagine Thanksgiving at their house. I'm jealous.
Olivia [00:44:41] I wouldn't do well there. I don't think.
Annie Jones [00:44:42] I was going to say, I'll tell you what, it doesn't look like mine. Guaranteed they're not playing croquet on the front [crosstalk].
Erin [00:44:49] Maybe they are.
Olivia [00:44:50] As a picky eater, thanksgiving is one of my least favorite holiday.
Erin [00:44:54] Well, I think they would make you very delicious food.
Annie Jones [00:44:58] I bet their food is delicious. Anyway, I like Stanley Tucci a lot. I like him because I think he is pretty authentic. He is not afraid of being ever so slightly curmudgeonly. He has a lot of opinions. He's not afraid to share them. They do seem like they would be fun to be a fly on the wall at their home. They travel a lot. His job obviously requires that he travels a lot. I just think this is a great time. An easy book to gift this holiday season. I mentioned this on the virtual Literary First Look. Olivia will remember this. I don't remember when that book was released.
Erin [00:45:39] I've been here.
Annie Jones [00:45:40] Okay. Do you guys remember Taste went out of print? It sold so many copies that by the time Christmas rolled around, we could not keep that book in stock. And it was one of those books that at first just sold, as I recall, a few at a time. And then it's like it took off November, December, and we could not keep it in stock, nor could the publisher. And so I'm sure that the publisher has learned its lesson. But in case they haven't, I have never tried to use fear tactics to sell books, but I will tell you this releases October 15th. If you want it for the holiday seasons, I would order early. It's what I would do because I suspect this has a chance of going to a reprint. So that is What I Ate in One Year by Stanley Tucci. Releases October 15th.
Erin [00:46:33] We still have a hard time keeping his first book in stock. I mean, it feels like for me we sell a lot of it still even a year and a half after it came out or whatever.
Olivia [00:46:44] They're still printing it in hardcover, which I have questions about. I would say, a rule of thumb for the book world is always order sooner rather than later.
Annie Jones [00:46:54] Yes, especially close to the holidays.
Olivia [00:46:56] You've probably talked about this on other podcasts, but they solicit preorders so they know how many to print. And we we do the same thing. We solicit preorders so we know how many to order.
Erin [00:47:07] Yeah.
Olivia [00:47:08] Yeah, and it is very helpful.
Erin [00:47:09] Just a little plug, if you want to come through our virtual adult and kids holiday Literary First Looks, those are great times because at the end of October you can get a great idea of what books you want to buy for gifts, buy them then and have them in plenty of time.
Olivia [00:47:24] Yeah. If you see sprayed edges, you better order that book right away because the second time they print that book, it will not have sprayed edges.
Annie Jones [00:47:31] Unless you want Keila spray paint your book before you get it.
Olivia [00:47:35] And she will!
Annie Jones [00:47:36] We've got her up there and a gas mask and spray paint everywhere. Is that what we should do next, is publish books? That was a joke, everybody. Don't worry.
Erin [00:47:52] Look at Olivia's face.
Olivia [00:47:52] I was like, Annie?
Annie Jones [00:47:55] No, don't worry. I don't have the capital. We're just going to keep selling them.
Olivia [00:48:03] No, that's fine. Whatever you want to do, we'll make it happen.
Erin [00:48:10] That looks very threatening.
Olivia [00:48:15] My next book is The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak. He wrote Hidden Pictures, which came out last year or the year before. Wasn't a huge seller for us, mostly because I meant to read it and then I didn't get around to it. And I feel like I probably could have sold that book. This one I did read. I did get around to reading it. I did really like it. It comes out next week, October 8th. This is about a Father, Frank Szatowski, and he lives in somewhere around the Philadelphia area or like the Poconos, I want to say. Just to give you a general dad vibe of where we're at because I do think Pennsylvania fathers in that region are, in my mind, very specific. But he gets a call from his estranged daughter, Maggie, and she lets them know that she's getting married and that she wants him to attend the wedding. They have not spoken for three years because of a conflict that you don't know what it is until the end that happened between them.
[00:49:18] You know that he lost his wife, her mother, when she was rather young. And from there he tried to do his best, but something went wrong between them that she has not spoken to him for three years. But she calls him. She wants him at her wedding. And he's kind of like, well, can I meet your husband first? And so she invites him over to her apartment. It's like a penthouse in Boston. And she introduced him to this guy named Aidan Gardner, and he is the son of a tech billionaire that Maggie works for. And so her dad who's battling the line of I want to be there to support my daughter because I'm just so grateful for this moment, but also so many red flags keep popping up left and right. Like, do I say something or do I just try my hardest to be a part of her life again? And Aiden shows up to dinner late with a black eye, and she's just like, don't ask him about it. He got mugged. He goes to use the bathroom and the toilets doing that thing where it doesn't stop running. You all know, we've all been there.
Annie Jones [00:50:28] The Bookshelf toilet does that frequently.
Olivia [00:50:32] So as a father does when he goes to his adult apartment, he takes off the lid and there's a black bag taped to the top. And he's just like, something is going on.
Annie Jones [00:50:45] I just want to say, this is where what sounds like an Annie book where a strange dad reconnects with his daughter and goes to the wedding takes a hard Olivia turn. So it's like dysfunctional family turn to something sinister.
Olivia [00:51:04] Red flags. I love a good red flag in a book.
Erin [00:51:09] Not in real life.
Olivia [00:51:11] Not in a real person. I'm not going to go too far into it, but the wedding is at this little summer camp that Aidan Gardner's family owns. And he gets there with his sister, Tammy, who works for the child care foster system and so she just fosters all these children. She's fostered like 20 or so kids. She has her current kid-- I forget the kid's name. The kid is hilarious. Clearly dealing with some stuff, but is not like a reserved child, it's just a very outspoken child. On the way to the wedding, this kid reads a wedding etiquette book because this is the first wedding they've ever attended. She also has lice at the wedding. And so people just remember this kid for being the kid with lice at the wedding. And Frank is just like, why is this kid here? I'll be a good uncle, but why is this child here? It's my daughter's wedding. And his sister, Tammy, is hilarious.
[00:52:12] But they get to the summer camp and he has to sign a waiver to go in. They also download an app to his phone that, like, unlocks the door of the cabin he's staying in. And just all these weird little things happen. It was one of those thrillers where I was hooked every turn. It was it was just really well done. I didn't see the end coming. I loved how it ended. Before he goes to the wedding-- this isn't a big spoiler, but he gets in the mail a picture of Aiden Gardner at the summer camp with another girl and the name of the girl underneath. And that's all that it says. It's just this printout from an unnamed address. And he looks it up and that girl had gone missing the year before. Chaos ensues. It's really good. The plot twist at the end I thought was excellent. The characters, Frank and Tammy were just so good.
Annie Jones [00:53:15] Is it as funny and fun as you are describing?
Olivia [00:53:21] I thought it was. I think it leans more towards the thriller side of things. But then you get these moments with Tammy, with this foster kid, with Frank that are enjoyable between the tense moments.
Annie Jones [00:53:34] Okay. This sounds good. Guys, what am I going to do? I'm going to have a lot of books to read at the end of this podcast.
Erin [00:53:41] It kind of reminds me, did either one of you read The Family Game by Catherine Steadman?
Annie Jones [00:53:45] Yes, I did.
Erin [00:53:46] It reminds me of that. How there's this rich person and then there's and she can't marry into those billionaires’ family. Just can't do it.
Annie Jones [00:53:58] Yeah. You think you want to but you don't. You think you want that. You don't. Let us help you.
Erin [00:54:02] How did I get there? You have to ask yourself that.
Annie Jones [00:54:04] That's right. Don't marry into a billionaire family. You think you might be Robin Hood? You're not. You can't fix them. Don't do that.
Erin [00:54:12] It's just a little life advice here on the podcast. Well, 'm going to take a hard turn for my next book. It's not anything like that, but it's called Women's Hotel by Danielle M Lavery. It comes out October 15th. I have just started reading this. This was a late addition to my October new releases, but it's so good already. It's based on real life women's hotels, which I did a little bit of research into because I didn't know that was a thing. It is just these hotels, mostly in New York (I'm sure they had them in other places) but they were for women only. Usually, you had to get some sort of recommendation letters to even get a place there. It was sort of a place where rich parents or parents in general could feel good about sending their daughters off to these large cities where it's so dangerous, but they're living in this women's hotels. They're going to be okay. They're going to be sort of surrounded by these motherly people and maybe other women who are in the same stage of life as them. So there are real life women's hotels, and this is based on a fictional one called the Beta Maia Hotel. This is not a plot driven book. This is an [inaudible]. Yeah, you've read it. You do not read this to move from point A to point B.
Annie Jones [00:55:36] No, absolutely not.
Erin [00:55:37] This is a character driven book. It almost reminds me of Table for Two by Amor Towles. It's not broken up like Amor Towles book is, but you get invested in these little stories of the characters and they do overlap in a little bit, but you just get invested in the people. And it's funny. It's funnier than I anticipated it because these characters they're just that. They're characters. They are a little bit over the top. There's Mrs. Mosler. She's the proprietor. There's Katherine. She's a first floor-- like they have directors of each floor, sort of like resident assistants or people who've been chosen to maintain the discipline and help the residents of their floors. There's Stephen, who's the elevator operator who tends to extort people for extra tips on moving day because he won't let them use the moving elevator unless they pay up.
Olivia [00:56:39] They let men work there?
Erin [00:56:40] Yeah, for staff. I think he gets in there. I don't know. I wasn't there, but I'm assuming.
Annie Jones [00:56:50] He's in the book.
Olivia [00:56:52] Red flag.
Annie Jones [00:56:54] Olivia's like, and this could be a thriller, here's how.
Olivia [00:56:57] [Crosstalk] Stephen murdered all of the women on the floor. Okay.
Annie Jones [00:57:02] And now it's an Olivia book.
Erin [00:57:06] That sounds a little darker. The Women's Hotel where the women must die at one time.
Olivia [00:57:12] Every floor, A new time.
Erin [00:57:15] Every floor, that's right. Every book a new floor. But it's smartly funny. To me it's not a book I could probably sit down and binge because he uses turns of phrases and just wording that is so funny. It's like once you get what he's saying, it's so funny and it's so smart. But it's I don't know, that makes it sound bad. Like I'm saying it's not accessible. It's just one of those books where it's like once you realize what he's saying and the way he said it, you're like, that is fantastic.
Annie Jones [00:57:50] I'm reading this one, too. I've not finish it either. I agree totally. And part of the reason I haven't finished it is because it's a book you kind of read little by little.
Erin [00:57:58] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:57:59] But the word I kept coming up with is it's old fashioned. It almost reads like a classic. It feels like it was written a long time ago, but not in a bad way.
Erin [00:58:10] Yes. He uses language and phrases and wording from that time period. This is set in the 1960s, but even the way he describes situations, you're like, wait, what did he just say? And then you read it again and you're like, okay, that's good. I saw another review that said this, you'll read it and you'll want to turn around and read it out loud to someone else. Like just little snippets because it's just funny the way he talks about the people. And it's really just so observational. It's just a book about observing the way that these people interact with each other in this setting of a women's hotel. It's only 272 pages. It's not long. Well, probably hopefully will finish it soon. But it's just a little book to make you look at this little slice of humanity during this time period and what the women were going through. So this is it. I just think it's it's an easy book to pick up. And like you said, maybe not pick up and binge, but pick up and read it little by little. So that's the Women's Hotel. It's coming out October 15th.
Olivia [00:59:18] It does have a really nice cover.
Erin [00:59:21] Doesn't it? It's so cool.
Olivia [00:59:22] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:59:25] It has a great cover. I'm pretty sure I have this correct. I think he used to be an advice columnist on Slate or something like Slate Magazine. And so this observer of people that you're talking about, it totally makes sense that it has translated into this fictional, highly observational kind of historical fiction about this hotel. Anyway, I just think he is an observer of people's behaviors in a way that probably did translate well to fiction.
Erin [00:59:56] And I like that this is one of those books that we often read that causes us to want to take a deep dive into actual history, since this is based on something real. I was like, I got to find out more about this sort of phenomenon of these women's hotels and all the famous people that have lived in these types of hotels and things like that. It's sort of a relic of the past and they don't really have that anymore. So it's fascinating.
Annie Jones [01:00:22] Yeah. If you liked Fiona Davis's The Dollhouse, which was historical fiction about the Barbizon, I'm not sure how you pronounce that, but that would be a good comp. And then earlier this year, I read The Best of Everything, which was a book published in the 60s and all of the women in that book live at a women's hotel. It's super interesting to me, so I'm excited to finish this one. But I'm with you, it's a book that you kind of just savor instead of speed through. So a different kind of fall book.
Erin [01:00:50] Yeah.
Annie Jones [01:00:52] Okay. Those are some-- not all-- of the October new releases that we are looking forward to. Don't forget, you can find us every Tuesday at 1 p.m. Eastern on Instagram and Facebook and on the app talking about some other books that we love throughout the month. If you liked any of the books we talked about on today's episode, you can go to Bookshelfthomas.com, type episode 497 into the search bar and you'll see all of today's books listed ready for you to preorder or purchase. Use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout and you'll get 10% off your order of today's titles. This week I'm reading The X-Files: Perihelion by Claudia Gray. Olivia, what are you reading?
Olivia [01:01:37] I am reading The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents by Nicki Pau Preto.
Annie Jones [01:01:42] Erin, what are you reading?
Erin [01:01:44] Listen, I finally got my Libby hold of The Lonesome Dove on audiobook, so I am blazing through The Lonesome Dove because I'm ready to catch up and see what you guys have to say about it.
Annie Jones [01:01:54] Yay! It's so good.
[01:01:55] 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
Annie Jones: If you’d like to support From the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the Podcast App on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see ‘Write a Review’ and tell us what you think. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us over on Patreon, where we have 3 levels of support - Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions, and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts, and giveaways. Just go to:
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.