Episode 471 || New Release Rundown: April 2024
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another New Release Rundown! Annie, Erin, and Olivia are sharing the April 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 (type “Episode 471” into the search bar and tap enter to find the books mentioned in this episode), or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie's books:
Clear by Carys Davies
Colton Gentry’s Third Act by Jeff Zentner (releases 4/30)
Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols (releases 4/30)
Olivia's books:
The Wrong Way Home by Kate O’Shaughnessy
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr (releases 4/9)
The Night War by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (releases 4/9)
Erin's books:
Table for Two by Amor Towles
Begin Again by Helly Acton
Honey by Victor Lodato (releases 4/16)
Thank you to this week’s sponsor, the 103rd Annual Rose Show and Festival here in Thomasville, Georgia. Held in historic Downtown Thomasville, the Rose Show & Festival is sponsored by the City of Thomasville and has been a southwest Georgia tradition since 1922. Enjoy rose and flower shows, live music, an artisan market, an antique car show, a parade and fantastic shopping and dining in Downtown Thomasville. This year’s 103rd annual event is April 26-27. Plan your visit at thomasvillega.com.
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 Hunter by Tana French. Olivia is reading The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton. Erin is listening to Worry by Alexandra Tanner.
If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Our Executive Producers are...Ashley Ferrell, Cammy Tidwell, Chanta Combs, Chantalle C, Kate O’Connell, Kristin May, Laurie Johnson, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Stacy Laue, Stephanie Dean, Susan Hulings, and Wendi Jenkins.
Transcript:
[squeaky porch swing]
[00:00:02] Annie Jones: Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
“I have the cliffs and the skerries and the birds. I have the white hill and the round hill and the peaked hill. I have the clear spring water and the rich good pasture that covers the tilted top of the island like a blanket. I have the old black cow and the sweet grass that grows between the rocks, I have my great chair and my sturdy house. I have my spinning wheel and I have the teapot and I have Pegi, and now, amazingly, I have John Ferguson, too.” - Carys Davies, Clear
[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 April. Every year, at exactly this time, I get Martina McBride’s Independence Day stuck in my head, only instead of singing the actual lyrics, I find myself belting “it’s Indie Bookstore Day”! That’s right: Saturday, April 27 is Indie Bookstore Day, and if you don’t have an indie bookstore near you, we’d love for you to come see ours. This year, Indie Bookstore Day lands smack dab in the middle of two local annual festivals, Thomasville’s Rose Show and Festival and Tallahassee’s Word of South festival, which means if you come for Indie Bookstore Day, you’ll get to do a whole bunch of other fun stuff, too. In-store, we’ll be doing our annual scavenger hunt, a special story time with a visiting author, free tea and donuts, and a bake-off among staffers. If you can’t come see us in-person, we’re doing special online promos, too, plus we’ll be launching new merch in-store and online. We hope you’ll make plans to join us at Indie Bookstore Day on April 27, then stick around for Rose Show and Word of South.
Now, back to the show! As we go through our April new releases, keep in mind Erin has made browsing our podcast book selections so easy. Just go to bookshelfthomasville.com and type Episode 471 into the search bar, and you’ll see all of today’s books listed, ready for you to preorder or purchase. You can use code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order of today’s titles.
[00:02:46] Hi, Erin?
Erin [00:02:48] Hello.
Annie Jones [00:02:49] And hi, Olivia.
Olivia [00:02:50] Hey.
Annie Jones [00:02:51] Welcome, everybody. Olivia, we missed you last month.
Olivia [00:02:54] It feels like it's been a year since I've been here on the podcast-- not in-store.
Annie Jones [00:02:59] In-store you're there all the time.
Olivia [00:03:01] All day, every day. Everyone.
Annie Jones [00:03:05] Who can believe it's April? It's time to talk Indie Bookstore Day. It's time to talk about late spring releases. I just cannot believe we're already here.
Olivia [00:03:15] April's always a good month, though. It's always really fun.
Annie Jones [00:03:18] It's fun. I think March and April are two of my favorite months at the Bookshelf. We'll see. Because we are recording this early, obviously, and this weekend is Reader Retreat. And I love Reader Retreats, but they do take up a lot of like mental and emotional energy. But typically I love March because it's like March Madness and that's it. That's all the fun we're having.
Olivia [00:03:45] Yeah, well, and you have to wait for it too. It's called March Madness, but it's not until the end of the month and then you're just like--.
Erin [00:03:52] Right, it's true.
Olivia [00:03:52] Yeah, it's very suspenseful.
Annie Jones [00:03:55] It is. But it's a good time. I like that it'll go into April and then April will be Indie Bookstore Day, Word of South, Roadshow all at once.
Erin [00:04:06] Not even spread, all the same day.
Olivia [00:04:07] Let's do it.
Annie Jones [00:04:09] All the same week. It's fine. Yeah, not even the same week. Same day. Literally same day. It'll be great. I do think it'll be really fun. So we have three books each that we're going to talk about today. I will kick us off with the book that I started the episode with. So Clear by Chris Davies comes out on April 2nd or came out on Tuesday. This book is historical fiction, and I am discovering that, you know what, I don't hate historical fiction. I like historical fiction, but I like certain kinds of historical fiction. And so this book is set in the 1800s on this really remote island between Scotland and Norway. One of our main characters is, Ivar, or Ivar. I'm not really sure. And then our other main character is John Ferguson. This book is based on a real life occurrence called The Clearances, which is when many of the rural poor in Scotland were removed from their homes in the Scottish Highlands and on the kind of rural islands, and they were removed by the people of Scotland to expand their government and things like that. So John Ferguson is a Presbyterian minister and for whatever reason, he has been sent to clear the last inhabitant off of this tiny remote island between Norway and Scotland. So John arrives and tries to find-- we're going to say, Ivar. Ivar has been living on this island forever. It's all he's ever known. And John is hardly prepared for what life is like on a remote Scottish island. He's like the definition of a bookish minister. And so what ensues is sort of partly a survival story. I don't think this is any spoilers, but pretty much John sets foot on the island and immediately falls and gets injured. He can't take care of himself. And Ivar finds him and Ivar doesn't know why he's here. They can't speak the same language. And so what unfolds is this really tender, beautiful story about these two men and one of them who has been living alone for decades and who does not want to leave his home, and then one who is not in any condition to do the mission he has been called to do, which is to clear this island and to clear this inhabitant.
[00:06:51] And then the longer that Ivar takes care of him, the less John wants to do the job that's been given to him. I found this book reminded me a little bit of maybe Lauren Groff, the Vaster Wilds. I read it months ago, and even now I can taste the sea salt air; it's just very visceral in its descriptions of the land, of how remote it is. I would love to see this depicted on film. I just thought it was so beautiful. And then the friendship that unfolds between our two main characters is so unexpected. And I did not know anything about this period in history. And that, I think, is what I love about certain types of historical fiction. I had no idea that this was a thing, and that this man was then kind of moved off of his land. I read it right around the time Caroline and I went and worked at John Cable's book events. And his book-- I think it was called Southern Enclosure. But it's about this kind of same type of phenomenon that happened in America and in the American South. I love when books kind of meet you right at just the right time. And so realizing that this thing that happened in Scotland in the 1800s, also happened in America a little bit later. And so, anyway, I thought it was outstanding. It also reminded me of Burial Rites, by Hannah Kent. So it's like burial rites meets the vaster wilds. It's part survival story, part really tender friendship story. I loved it, the writing is outstanding, and it's a thin little book. It's so thin. It's so easy to read. You'll read it in one sitting- I did. And that is Clear by Chris Davies and out this week.
Olivia [00:08:34] I just feel like you can't go wrong when you have a book set in Scotland. It's hard to read a bad book about a beautiful place.
Annie Jones [00:08:42] Yeah. And something about that remote setting, I don't know, it kind of just is so wild seeming to me. Like even, I was watching Somebody Feed Phil, and his last episode is about Scotland. Yeah, it's such a beautiful, wild looking country. I'd love to live there. I'll move to Scotland.
Olivia [00:09:07] Hopefully, not soon.
Erin [00:09:10] Maybe just try visiting first and then you can come back.
Annie Jones [00:09:13] Yeah, maybe I'll go visit. Okay. Yeah, fine.
Olivia [00:09:16] That'll do. The Book of Doors was partially set in Scotland.
Annie Jones [00:09:20] That's right.
Olivia [00:09:23] Okay. My next book is not set in Scotland. It's set in America. But it's the Wrong Way Home by Kate O'Shaughnessy. And this was also out April 2nd. I love this author. I think I've talked about every book that she's read on the road. She probably also read her own books as well. To be perfectly honest. I would be surprised if she didn't. But she wrote Lasagna Means I love you. She wrote The Lonely Heart of Mabel Lane. I think I've picked both of those for middle grade Shelf Subscriptions as well. They're excellent. She's like the new upcoming Kate DiCamillo. The way she writes is just really well done. This one is about this little girl named Fern. And Fern, when we meet her, she lives on the East Coast in this off the grid community where no one really leaves. All the food that they eat is food that they have grown themselves. They make their own clothing. It is very, very isolated. I'm going to go with that. And then one night, her mom wakes her up and is like, "Hey, we're going on a trip." Because there's a leader of this community, his name is Doctor Ben, and she was like, "Doctor Ben is sending us on this trip. We're going to get out of here." And so they leave and they go all the way to coastal California. And that's when Fern realizes that her mom has just taken her away from her home, essentially.
Annie Jones [00:10:49] I'm sorry, wait. Is doctor Ben a cult leader?
Erin [00:10:52] Kind of sounds like it.
Olivia [00:10:53] Yeah, I was getting there.
Annie Jones [00:10:55] Okay. I'm sorry. I was like, Doctor Ben? I am immediately suspicious.
Olivia [00:11:02] I expected you guys to say something about Doctor Ben when I said his name, but it was crickets.
Erin [00:11:09] Well, I raised my eyebrows since I was like, I know where this is going.
Annie Jones [00:11:12] I don't trust anybody whose doctor first name. No, thank you.
Olivia [00:11:18] And he's not even a doctor.
Annie Jones [00:11:20] Yeah, not shocked.
Erin [00:11:21] What?
Olivia [00:11:25] Yeah. So she gets taken to coastal California by her mom, to this little place where her mother grew up. And she starts to realize that a lot of the stuff that Doctor Ben has told her isn't necessarily true. And then she starts to put together with the help from a friend that she was living in a cult and her mom just got her out of it.
Annie Jones [00:11:45] Oh, jeez. Is this middle grade?
Olivia [00:11:48] Yes, but it was really well done. Was so cute, though. So really cute. No, but it was so good because it was also just like her confronting all of these ideas. At first you're like, wow, this kid is slightly hard to handle because she's just really hard on herself and she's really stubborn. And then she slowly comes around to like these ideas, like, sugar isn't a bad thing. And little things like that are what really impacted her like that. She can wear clothing that has dye in it, that's not natural, and it won't harm her. It's like little things like that that stuck with her, not like maybe cult stuff that we think of.
Annie Jones [00:12:31] Okay, thanks. I was just like, oh, this is dark.
Olivia [00:12:36] Think of like middle grade cult.
Annie Jones [00:12:38] Okay. Got it.
Olivia [00:12:40] No sugar, no dyes.
Annie Jones [00:12:43] All right. Got it.
Erin [00:12:44] It's like Kimmy Schmidt for kids.
Olivia [00:12:48] Okay, good. Sorry, I probably could have gone into that a little bit better.
Annie Jones [00:12:53] I mean, it sounded good. I was just like, man, this is dark.
Olivia [00:12:57] It is really good. It is action packed. And it's just really well done. Kate O'Shaughnessy is an amazing writer, and she did a great job with this topic as well. I didn't see it coming, to be perfectly honest with you. And it was great. So, yeah, that's the Wrong Way Home by Kate O'Shaughnessy.
Erin [00:13:14] Okay. My first book is Table for Two by Amor Towles. I always I'm self-conscious that I'm saying that incorrectly, but I think I've heard other people say Amor Towles. That's his name.
Annie Jones [00:13:26] I think that's right.
Erin [00:13:28] Yeah, I think that's correct. And this book came out April 2nd, and it is part of a sequel to his previous work, Rules of Civility. And and then the rest of it is part short story collection. So there there's a little novella inside, and it follows Evelyn Ross, who was a character in Rules of Civility. We meet her on a train to Los Angeles, where she meets the starlet Olivia de Havilland, who is being blackmailed for some racy photos. And that is one part of Table for Two. So if you love Rules of Civility, and you're looking forward to these characters who are follow up, you will enjoy that part of the book. I read Rules of Civility, but it's been a long time. I mean, it came out in 2011, I think, and I'm pretty sure I read it around that time. I know that's like a long time ago.
Annie Jones [00:14:24] That's a lifetime ago. That's why I was like, so is that okay? Do you have to revisit it?
Erin [00:14:33] I was going to say that part of the book was not my favorite because I felt like I did not remember these characters. So I think if you had just read it or you want to go back and read Rules of Civility or you have a better memory than me, then maybe you would enjoy the novella part of Rules of Civility. But, for me, the standouts were the short stories that were a part of this collection. So they include a story about a Russian peasant who makes a living standing in line for people in the bread lines. He sort of starts it as a goodwill thing just to help people out. And then he kind of turns it into like an empire where he has all these urchin boys standing in lines for different people all over the city. And that to me was such a heartwarming and moving story. There's an aspiring author who gets more than he bargained for when he begins to forge the signatures of other famous authors in a used bookstore. They come up [inaudible]. It's crazy. And then there is some people that meet in a taxi from the airport on their way to a hotel, and it's just starts out as this convivial friendship. And it turns out that one of the people is an alcoholic, and he turns into a raging, meanie, I guess, and this other guy's wife calls him and is trying to ask him to help this man not go on an alcoholic binge. Anyway, I know that' sounds crazy, but I love his short stories. You really just get a slice of the lives of these people, but you feel like you know them already, like you know their backstory. And I think he does a fantastic job of weaving in humor and sadness and the human experience that we can all sort of relate to. But in a very surprising way, every story at the end for me felt like a twist. Like it felt very like-- what's that story? That O. Henry story.
Annie Jones [00:16:33] Gift of the Magi.
Erin [00:16:35] Yeah, Gift of the Magi where at the end you're just like, oh my gosh. And so that's how these stories feel. It just feels like he puts the perfect amount of empathy, but also people to root for or people that you're rooting against. But it's such a special little short story. So if you like short stories, or if you just need a little bit of humor and a little slice of life, I would pick up this book, Table for Two by Amor Towles.
Annie Jones [00:17:03] I am going to be so curious. Locals love Amor Towles. I mean, long distance customers do too, I'm sure. But I just remember Gentlemen in Moscow, it felt like we could not-- like, it just stayed on the best... It was almost like a Delia Owens. Like it just stayed on the shelf forever, on the bestseller list forever. And so I'm going to be so curious if his fans will buy in to a short story collection.
Erin [00:17:26] Yeah, I'm interested too.
Annie Jones [00:17:26] So I'm curious about it, and I'm excited to read it. But, like you, it has been years. I loved Rules of Civility. I still have not read Gentlemen in Moscow.
Olivia [00:17:38] I didn't either. I was told not to actually. My husband started to read it and he was like, it's not that good.
Annie Jones [00:17:43] Hey, some people love it. Like my dad loved it. But, anyway, I loved Rules of Civility. I read it like you did, when it first came out. So I don't I know how familiar I would be at all with any of those characters anymore.
Erin [00:17:59] I think you can still enjoy the story. But because I know it's a follow up, I feel like I should know more than I do. So it leaves me feeling a little confused like I'm missing something. But I think if you don't want to go back and read Rules of Civility, I think you could still enjoy that part of this work.
Annie Jones [00:18:17] I'm excited. The short story is so good. Okay, my next book is Colton Gentry's Third Act. This is by Jeff Zentner. Jeff Zentner is a pretty well known, I think, young adult author. So I have not read him, but he wrote a book a few years ago called The Serpent King, which I think did pretty well for us. But he's a Southern writer, and this is his new work of adult fiction. The reason I wanted to highlight it in our episode today, is because I think this one is going to get a little miss build perhaps. And so I want to tell people what I think it is most like, which I think it is most like a southern version of J. Ryan's Stradal and what he does with Midwestern fiction. I think Jeff Zentner is doing that with some Southern fiction. So our main character is Colton Gentry, which I do think is a great character name. Colton is a country music star. He is drunkenly performing at this outdoor music festival. And he winds up going off on this Duncan tirade and diatribe about gun violence, because his friend was recently murdered in an act of gun violence. And so he talks about gun violence and his desire for gun control, and that does not go over very well for the audience that he is singing to. And so he is immediately pulled from the stage, his career tanks, and he winds up going home to Venice, Kentucky, to kind of lick his wounds and recover. And he's losing a lot of money, so he's got to find a job. And once there, we entertain and see this wide cast of characters, many of whom were friends with Colton when he was in high school. So we get some flashbacks to how Colton was raised, how he grew up, what led him to become a country music star. And then a good portion of this book is spent with Colton working at a farm to table restaurant in Venice, Kentucky. It's run by his high school girlfriend, his high school sweetheart.
[00:20:26] So there is, like, a slight romantic element to this book. But I think the ARC at least had a blurb on the front cover by Emily Henry. And so I thought I was reading a romcom, and I just want people to know that's not what this is. And, in fact, I think I liked it better that it was not a romcom. There certainly is like a slight romantic element maybe regarding Colton and his high school sweetheart. But it is mostly about Colton discovering himself, and finding his third act, as the book suggests. He winds up working at the restaurant, and the book then becomes a real love story to southern food, which is why it reminds me of J. J Ryan Stradal and Lager Queen of Minnesota. Maybe Nicholas Butler's Shotgun Lovesongs. Great food writing. There's a dog character in this book that is charming. Maybe not quite as charming as 630 in Lessons in Chemistry, but pretty charming. And there are two footnotes in the book assuring us that the dog doesn't die. So Jeff Zentner very clearly up front says, don't you worry, this is a feel good book. This dog is not going to die. I liked this book a lot. It reminded me, like I said, of Shotgun Lovesongs by Nicholas Butler, a little bit of When in Rome by Sarah Adams. But mostly J. Ryan Stradal for Southern readers. I think it's a feel good book. I think my mom would really like it. If you're a Susie or Nancy reader, I think this could be for you. Fun Spring Southern book, Colton Gentry's Third Act by Jeff Zentner.
Olivia [00:22:00] That is a really good protagonist name. And I'm a little bit jealous because I was thinking, as I was writing notes for this one, I was like, oh, what good protagonist names are in this good book? So the next book that I'm talking about is The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr, and this is out April 9th. And the main character's name is Clayton Stumper.
Annie Jones [00:22:21] Okay.
Erin [00:22:21] Clayton Stumper. Okay.
Annie Jones [00:22:23] That is a good name.
Olivia [00:22:24] Yeah, because as a baby he was left on a stump, and so they named him Clayton Stumper.
Annie Jones [00:22:30] Okay. That's cute.
Olivia [00:22:31] His mom's name is Pippa Allsbrooke.
Annie Jones [00:22:34] Also good.
Olivia [00:22:36] I know.
Annie Jones [00:22:37] Also a great name.
Olivia [00:22:38] So, April, good month for book names. Both people names.
Annie Jones [00:22:42] Yeah.
Olivia [00:22:46] So Clayton's Stumper was left on the stoop of this fellowship of puzzle makers, as the title says. Pippa was the one who put this together way back in the day where she started these meetings where puzzle makers could come together. And every month they met, a different puzzle maker would bring forth a new puzzle. They would work it out on their own, and they just have a lot of fun puzzling together. Which sounds like a delightful group that myself and or Jordan would be a part of.
Annie Jones [00:23:15] Yeah, I could see you going to those meetings. For sure.
Olivia [00:23:17] I love it.
Erin [00:23:19] So are these actual puzzles or tabletop puzzles?
Olivia [00:23:24] All kinds, Erin. All kinds.
Annie Jones [00:23:27] All kinds of puzzles.
Olivia [00:23:28] Thank you for asking. They do crosswords. They do acrostics, Sudoku, jigsaw puzzles, everything. All puzzles are welcome here.
Annie Jones [00:23:38] Do you have to like all kinds of puzzles or can you just sit in the corner and do crosswords?
Olivia [00:23:43] As long as you love puzzles, you can do whatever you want in this club.
Annie Jones [00:23:47] I want to go to there.
Olivia [00:23:48] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:23:49] I'd come. I'd just do crossword puzzle.
Olivia [00:23:51] We're starting it today.
Annie Jones [00:23:55] Wait till the audience knows that we've started a monthly event at the Bookshelf and then they're like, oh, yeah, we heard it happening on the podcast.
Erin [00:24:03] A fellowship of puzzle makers at The Bookshelf.
Olivia [00:24:07] Free to attend.
Erin [00:24:09] Bring your puzzles.
Olivia [00:24:11] Yeah, but also sounds like such a quiet, introverted group. I mean, you're just given a puzzle and you're just like, you have 30 minutes to solve it. And then we'll talk about how fun it was to solve it.
Annie Jones [00:24:21] Sounds great.
Olivia [00:24:23] I'd love that.
Annie Jones [00:24:24] Yeah.
Olivia [00:24:25] So this group, eventually Pippa introduced the idea of like-- because they were all masters at a specific type of puzzling and together they were making this income, and she was like, if we all put part of our income together, we can buy this big house and live all together and kind of support one another in this really niche job market. And they loved that idea. So they bought this big mansion. I think it was Pippa inherited it, but it needed a lot of work. So they all just came together to build this building back up and make it what they wanted. And then one day this baby was left on their stoop. And then you meet Clayton when he's 26 and Pippa has just passed away. And Clayton still knows nothing about his biological mother and father. And right before she was passing, in the months before she was passing, Clayton had just kept talking to her about he's ready to know now, he wants to find who they are. And so Pippa left him this puzzle, and when he solves this puzzle, he finds his mother and father. And so you also get the puzzles. It's like a crossword puzzle, but then there's different pieces to it that are also other puzzles.
Annie Jones [00:25:44] Erin's true delight.
Erin [00:25:45] Like in the book, on the pages there's the puzzle?
Olivia [00:25:50] Yes. And then in each chapter that you use have Clayton as the protagonist, he solves one way of the puzzle. But they give you a chance to solve it beforehand. But it goes back and forth in time from Clayton in present day, working through this puzzle, meeting all these different people that Pippa planned. And then Pippa back in the day, starting the fellowship of Puzzlemakers and what that looked like meeting all of the puzzle makers that Clayton now grew up with. It was so good.
Annie Jones [00:26:20] This is a grown up book.
Olivia [00:26:22] Yes. I'm sorry, this is an adult book..
Annie Jones [00:26:23] Okay. Well, that's what I figured. But also it sounds like it could be a promise of a children's novel.
Olivia [00:26:30] Yeah, fair.
Annie Jones [00:26:33] Okay. All right.
Olivia [00:26:34] But, yeah, that was The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr. It was excellent; I loved it.
Annie Jones [00:26:39] That sounds very fun.
Olivia [00:26:41] It was really fun. Very classic mystery meets modern day puzzler.
Annie Jones [00:26:45] Yeah. That's nice.
Olivia [00:26:47] Yeah. Which maybe should be a Batman villain. And I'll stop there.
Erin [00:26:50] A puzzler.
Annie Jones [00:26:52] Yeah. Just write a comic book in your spare time. Just see. I think that could go great.
Olivia [00:26:57] You got it. Getting on it tonight.
Erin [00:27:01] See, I feel like puzzling is something that can either bring you so much joy and so much calm, or it can be used for evil. I feel like you're right there on the fence and you can be creating all these cruel puzzles, or you can like have all this amazing...
Annie Jones [00:27:17] Yes. Well, I think the puzzler, the antagonist that Olivia just came up with would be a cruel puzzler.
Olivia [00:27:23] Sure. Yeah. Although now I'm just like, how would I be a cruel puzzler? Puzzles are so fun.
Erin [00:27:29] Puzzles are fun.
Annie Jones [00:27:31] Making puzzles that lead to bombs.
Olivia [00:27:36] Or if you don't solve it in time, the bomb will explode.
Erin [00:27:38] Exactly.
Annie Jones [00:27:39] Yes, that's what I mean.
Erin [00:27:40] It's like the worst escape game ever. Like escape room.
Olivia [00:27:44] Yeah, it's a real life escape game.
Erin [00:27:48] That sounds terrifying. That sounds like a nightmare.
Annie Jones [00:27:52] Wow. We've come up with so many great things today. Store events, Batman villain.
Olivia [00:27:59] It's going to be great, guys. We just need this to go viral and someone's going to run away with it.
Erin [00:28:07] Okay, wow! Well, turning to this new release of mine. Mine is called Begin Again by Helly Acton. Was out on April 2nd. It follows Frankie. She's a Londoner. She writes, like, I would call it a clickbaity sort of one of those things you see on the website that are like, look at these five celebrities who've aged poorly. And like it's for a tabloid, like, you see that kind of stuff. So she's writing that, she's dissatisfied with her life. She doesn't really like what she does. She doesn't think it's important. She is living alone. She has parents that are divorced, that have gone on to live other lives without her and aren't really involved in her life anymore. And that makes her sad. But we meet her when she's on a blind date with this man who's a friend of her brother-in-law. And it's going great, but she is a classic self-sabotager. And so she thinks I got to get out of here before it starts going bad. So she does-- I've never done this, but she leaves the date via the back door and decides on her way home, she's just going to go get a kebab. Did I say this is in London? Yeah, I feel like I'm saying kebab wrong. The people in London are like, that's not how you say a kebab. She goes and gets one. And on her way out, she slips on the sidewalk and falls and hits her head and dies. Not a spoiler. That's what the whole book is about.
Annie Jones [00:29:31] Olivia's face. But Olivia, it's so funny though.
Olivia [00:29:34] I'm sorry, what?
Annie Jones [00:29:37] Death by kebab. I don't know.
Erin [00:29:41] Yes. Death by slipping on the sidewalk. And she goes up to this chaotic sort of train station place, which is a little bit like purgatory/heaven. Not really sure.
Olivia [00:29:55] Like in Harry Potter?
Erin [00:29:57] Yes. It feels pretty much like like the train station in Harry Potter. Absolutely. People are going everywhere. There's trains everywhere. There's people everywhere. There's a schedule on the wall. And she is given like an agent. I would consider it sort of like an angel, but not really. She's giving this agent that she is sort of her guide through this part of her life. And I love the agent. The agent was a great character too. Very funny, very dry humor. It's a lady. So she basically tells her, hey, you have two choices. You can go back and go live these five different lives for 24 hours each. And if at the end of it you don't want to live any of those lives, then you can just kind of move on to the afterlife and you can be done. Or I think even she's given the choice to go back to her normal life. And so not everyone gets this chance. And so she's like, okay, I feel like I got to take it even though she doesn't want to. So we see her go to these five different lives, which to me was so fascinating. We all kind of had those thoughts like, well, what if I stay with that guy? Or what if I left that job? Or what if I did that thing? And she gets to explore that. What if I moved to this place? And so, as with life, each time she's given a chance to relive these things, she experiences joys that she thought she would never get to experience.
[00:31:16] And she also experiences disappointment. Of course, the grass is always greener on the other side. And even though she's having a great time living these other lives, she finds that even in the midst of it, she's disappointed with that life and doesn't really want to choose it. So I won't spoil the ending and what she chooses. But along the way, I love how in one life experiment she gets to reconnect with her mom, and in one she gets to reconnect with her dad, and she gets to try out these things. And as she's doing it, you can see her becoming more sure of who she is and of what she wants. So I would call this-- I don't know, it's not really like a romcom. It's really just like women's lit. I don't know, like women's fiction. She's a really fun protagonist to follow. You kind of want to root for her, but she's also making poor decisions sometimes. It kind of reminds me of The Good Place. You get a chance to relive your life, but it's fun because when she goes back to these other lives, she kind of already has the future knowledge. So it's just fine. It's not like she's going back and she's a completely different person. She's going back knowing everything she knows about her life and about her death. And so that's a kind of a fun plot device to watch her go back and live these knowing what she knows. So it was just a fun, but also a very thought provoking book. I loved it. So it's Begin Again by Helly Acton. It's out now.
Olivia [00:32:42] It sounds like the Midnight Library.
Annie Jones [00:32:44] Yes.
Erin [00:32:45] Yeah, I did not read that, but I have heard comparisons to that for sure.
Annie Jones [00:32:48] I loved it. I thought it was so feel good funny. But also, like you said, really thoughtful. I left it thinking, what would my five life decisions or turning points be? I loved it and I thought it was pretty well written too, really.
Erin [00:33:06] Yeah, it was humorous.
Annie Jones [00:33:08] Okay. My last book is a book that I want Olivia to read, and it is called Granite Harbor. Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols. It released this on April 30th. I picked this book up because Peter Nichols wrote a book a few years ago called The Rocks that I recall liking. I don't know that I loved it, but I really liked it. And this book looked like such a departure. And so I thought, well, let me give it a try because I'm always impressed by authors who bounce around genres. I thought this Granite Harbor was the outlier, but then I looked at his past books he's written, and he really is a guy who just writes. And sometimes it's a mystery, sometimes it's literary fiction. He just kind of bounces around from genre which I am really amazed by. So anyway, Granite Harbor is a suspense thriller book. It's really a serial killer book. It's about a serial killer.
Olivia [00:34:10] I do love a good serial killer.
Annie Jones [00:34:12] It doesn't center the serial serial killer. But it is a serial killer book. And it's set in small town coastal Maine. I am a sucker for a Maine book. The book opens with a pretty, graphic, detailing of a violent crime. And the small town detective in this Maine town is a former writer turned detective. So he was like a Booker finalist. He's British man who has moved to Maine, with his American wife. Only then they get divorced, so he's single dadding [sp] it. And he becomes a detective partly because of this experience he has with writing. And as a detective, what he brings to the table is like imagining things, and his kind of writerly sensibilities. So he kind of more or less functions as our main character. However, there's a wide cast of characters. This is a small town story. The whole town is in uproar because nothing really happens here. And so the fact that this really violent crime has happened here is scary to everybody, the opening pages detail like this-- I almost picture when Jordan and I drive to Alabama, we always pass by like this pioneer village, which I've never stopped at it, but I've always been curious about it. And so the first crime that is committed, the body is left at this reenactment village. And so then all the re-enactors are kind of sort of suspects or witnesses and kind of treated as such, including a woman who used to date our detective, Alex. So the killer keeps killing and we, the reader, are trying desperately to figure out who did it alongside Alex. Now, I loved this book. The reason I want Olivia to read it is because I had serious qualms with the end.
[00:36:14] So this book should have been a four and a half or five star book for me. And instead it is not because of the ending and because of the last, like, 50 pages. And so I'm dying for people to read it. Because I think the writing is great. I think the story is great. I think the setting is great. I think the characters are interesting. It is extremely violent. This is not a, like, PG cozy mystery. I am not a super sensitive reader. The crimes are relatively detailed. And so I think it's been compared to Silence of the Lambs is what I'm seeing critics compare it to. I didn't feel that. I really compared it to a book called The Midcoast, which I read last summer or two summers ago, set in Maine. It also reminded me of Tana French, if Tana French were an American man. And so to me, that's the best comparison. It's definitely a detective book about a detective trying to solve this small town crime before the killer kills more people. Some of the murders do remind me of Criminal Minds. Remember Criminal Minds? I don't know if you guys watched that. Anyway, it was real dark. If Keila were here, she would understand. And so just really dark, kind of gruesome crimes. I liked this one a lot. There's so much to like about it, but I have so many questions about the reading post finishing it. So that is Granite Harbor by Peter Nichols, and it comes out on April 30th.
Olivia [00:37:43] Is it a fast read?
Annie Jones [00:37:45] Yes, it was my plain book. I read it on an airplane.
Olivia [00:37:50] Well, you read fast in general, so....
Annie Jones [00:37:53] Well that is true. But I do think it's pretty propulsive, because the book opens with the crime and so you immediately are like what happened? Did I bring it to you? Did I leave it for you?
Olivia [00:38:07] You did not.
Annie Jones [00:38:09] I bet it's in my little free library. I'll bring it to you. I just need somebody to read it because of the ending. I just want to talk to somebody.
Olivia [00:38:16] Okay, I'll read it. I'll do it. I'm just sold.
Annie Jones [00:38:20] Olivia's like, okay. Fine. All right.
Olivia [00:38:26] You had me a serial killer, as one does. Okay. My next one, hard pivot back to middle grade, is The Night War by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. What a name. I thought I was going to stumble through that, but I think I nailed it.
Annie Jones [00:38:41] That's good. Another good name.
Olivia [00:38:42] Yeah. This one is out April 9th. I'm doing all of the beginning of the month, so I'm glad Annie that you have covered the back half of this month.
Annie Jones [00:38:49] Got you at the end.
Olivia [00:38:52] Thanks. You might remember Kimberly Brubaker Bradley from The War That Saved My Life, which was a Newbery Award winner, which Annie I think you read.
Annie Jones [00:39:01] Yes. It's been a long time, but yes.
Olivia [00:39:04] And I have heard nothing but amazing things about. And so I was like, well, I'll pick up her newest one because I know she's a great writer. And I was like, wow, she is a really great writer. This is about a little girl, Mary, who is Jewish during World War Two. Kind of the start of it. I think it's towards the beginning of everything. But she lives in this small town in France, where they have now pushed the Jewish population to. And then finally the soldiers are rounding up everybody and getting them sent to-- they're bussing them out of this town. And she and her neighbor Nora, who's like this little two-year-old, run away from the busses and get picked up by this very nice nun who pretends that she's in charge of them when a soldier comes over, and essentially gets them out to a Catholic boarding school where she pretends to be Catholic during the war.
Annie Jones [00:40:05] So excited. I'm already sold. Nuns?
Erin [00:40:08] She's like nuns, orphans?
Annie Jones [00:40:12] Boarding schools? Okay, I can read this.
Olivia [00:40:14] So at this boarding school, she meets these two other girls, and Nora gets taken away from her because a two-year-old should not be in a boarding school for young women. So she gets housed with a family in the village as well. But Mary was asleep when this happened, and all she knows is she wakes up and Nora is not there and she's so upset. She gets put in this boarding school. She's now trying to be pretend to know Catholicism, which feels hard.
Annie Jones [00:40:44] Yeah, it does feel hard. One time I faked kissed the feet of Jesus because I was trying to pretend I was Catholic also. It's hard.
Olivia [00:40:51] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:40:53] A story for another time.
Olivia [00:40:54] I'm sorry, what?
Erin [00:40:59] Put a pin in that. We'll come back to that off the air.
Annie Jones [00:41:05] Yeah. A story for another day.
Olivia [00:41:07] So Mary starts helping one of the nuns in the convent who their job is to usher Jewish refugees over across the border to Switzerland because they live right next to this giant castle, which I guess is like a real place. I did Google it afterwards, and there was a note in the back of the book. But the castle sits over a river that borders France and Switzerland. And the Swiss were, as they are, great.
Annie Jones [00:41:39] I hope we have some Swiss listeners.
Erin [00:41:42] This is a Swiss appreciative podcast.
Olivia [00:41:45] Yeah. If anyone's listening in Switzerland, you are welcome. And so she would help them take these refugees from France and get them through the castle over to a girl on the other side of the border who would then help them assimilate into Switzerland culture. It was so well done. It was so good. It had you on the edge of your seat the whole time. You felt so much for Mary. She was such a good character, so strong willed. And during a time that I think just kind of fascinates everyone because it's so hard to fathom at this point in time, which maybe it shouldn't be but it is. But it was so well done. She continues to produce excellent work. Great job Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Also, great job on your name. That stands out so much.
Annie Jones [00:42:45] Yeah, I thought it was the character name at first, and then I was like, oh, yeah. What a great name.
Olivia [00:42:49] And so that's the Night War.. Coming out, April 9th.
Erin [00:42:52] I do love that. It has a little like Sound of Music vibe to it. There's nuns, like a church helping people.
Olivia [00:42:58] I didn't even put that together. Yeah, that is probably one of the very few musicals that I actually enjoyed.
Annie Jones [00:43:08] How nice that our overlapping Venn diagrams overlap for Sound of Music. We can put that in the circle. How delightful.
Erin [00:43:16] That's it. She's like, don't. There's no more.
Olivia [00:43:19] That's all for musicals for me, guys.
Erin [00:43:23] My last book is Honey by Victor Lodato. It comes out April the 16th. Listen, I did not know what to expect when I started reading this book. Sometimes, if we're just being honest, I've got to read some books for these podcasts and I'm just like, hey, this one comes out in April, let's read it. So sometimes I go in with low expectations and I'm pleasantly surprised. And this was one of those books. First of all, the cover is fantastic. The cover looks like a fur coat with a tag. And the tag is embroidered with the title of the book. I just think that's so smart because once you read the book, you're like, that is chef's kiss. That's a great cover for this book. But the main protagonist is Honey, a singer. She's an 82-year-old woman who comes from a mafia family. She has changed her name. She is not going by the name she was born with. She moved away to study art, and she became like an art auctioneer in Los Angeles. And now for whatever reason, I don't think they ever say, she's back home. She's decided to move back home. And her family is still her family. They have not changed. She is facing all the same struggles she did when she left. Only, of course, now her parents are gone, and it's just her brothers and their kids and their cousins and all that stuff. So in the book we get flashbacks to Honey's past, and it really does help you understand why she is who she is today and maybe why she left to begin with. I will say about this book, there are some trigger. I'm not a very sensitive reader, but I did want to say there are some triggers for sexual assault. There's triggers for suicidal thoughts. So, anyway, just going into that, just know that. But all that being said, I can be a sensitive reader and it did not bother me. It was dealt with in a very great way. So if you can't deal with those things in a great way, sorry.
[00:45:27] But in an effort to come back and reconcile with her family, she also finds out that they are alienating her grand nephew, Michael. So she's kind of on a quest to find Michael and find out why he's being alienated. And she meets this neighbor that's next door named Jose. And Jose's boyfriend Lee is also abusive. So Honey starts to become friends with Jose and starts to really become like a mother figure to her and really try to free her from this. Just basically say, what are you doing, girl? You need to leave him. You're better than this. They have that kind of relationship. Honey meets this local artist after she's involved in a carjacking, and he finds her, and he helps her and gets her home. And their friendship develops because they both love art. And it kind of turns into a weird like will they, won't they? There's a little bit of chemistry there, but of course he's much younger than her. And so, there's that obstacle. She's like, no, you are way too young for me. This is not happening. It sounds a little chaotic. I did read the Kirkus Review and it called this book a jumble, so I don't know if that's a good thing or not. And as I try to describe it, I'm like, it has a lot of moving parts. But the three story line is how she returns. She faces her demons. She helps to free those around her from their demons. And I think it's great. If you love The Sopranos, and you want to read about a character that's sort of in that setting. One of my favorite books from last year was Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane, and it was more like the Irish Mafia in Boston. So but this gives me the same vibe because the main character in that book was also a very strong female who was just fighting for her family. And this is also what Honey is doing in this book. It's just a great redemption story, and I love that. I was so pleasantly surprised by it. So that's Honey by Victor Ladoto. It comes out April 16th. It makes me want to read his other books, honestly. He's written other books before.
Annie Jones [00:47:37] I'm not going to lie to you. I was hoping for a Michael ARC from The Godfather, where she comes back and just takes over. Maybe the sequel.
Erin [00:47:48] She does kind of come back and she does really kind of start being like, listen, this is how things are going to be. For so long her family has been like this, and we're not going to do this anymore. Like we're going to forgive each other, we're going to make amends. We're going to stop throwing people in the river, things like that.
Annie Jones [00:48:08] You know, your basics.
Erin [00:48:10] Your basic family problem.
Annie Jones [00:48:14] What an eclectic group of books we've reviewed for people here today. Just a wide range of lit. You can find all nine of these books on the store website, Bookshelfthomasville.com. Today's episode number is 471. And you can use code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout for 10% off your order. Thank you guys.
[00:48:39] This week, what I am reading is brought to you by the 103rd annual Rose Show and Festival here in Thomasville, Georgia. Held in historic downtown Thomasville, the Rose Show and Festival is sponsored by the city of Thomasville, and has been a Southwest Georgia tradition since 1922 enjoy rose and flower shows, live music, an artisan market, an antique car show, a parade, and fantastic shopping and dining in downtown Thomasville. This year's 103rd annual event is April 26th through 27th, and you can plan your visit at Thomasvillega.com. I've been trying to highlight different aspects of the festival through each of these ad reads, and so of course, a Rose Show would not be complete without an actual rose show or a floral show or an orchid show. And until a couple years ago, I had never been to this part of the Rose Festival mostly because we are working. So rarely have I been able to enter the rose tent. And a couple years ago I got to go in the rose tent, which is right near The Bookshelf. And it was wonderful. It was like a step back in time. It felt kind of almost Downton Abbey esque. Like walking down the aisles of where these older people-- most of the time older. I won't say everybody is older, but mostly older people who have cultivated these beautiful roses and are showing them.
[00:50:01] And that feels like a tradition and a past time from another time. I know that it is not. I know that many people show flowers, but it is something that I very much associate with my granddad, who grew garden roses and things like that. So it is astounding, these little works of beauty. And it is really fun and kind of Zen to walk through the rose tent. It just felt like my blood pressure immediately dropped. You're just surrounded by maybe increased oxygen from plants. I'm not sure. But it is just really lovely to kind of take an afternoon and walk through the rose tent or go down the street and walk through the orchids show. So I love that aspect of the festival. Obviously, that's what the entire festival is built around. But until a couple years ago, I had not experienced it. And now I'm so glad that I have. So you can visit the rose tent or the other floral tents around downtown at the Rose Show and Festival, April 26th and 27th. This week I'm reading the Hunter by Tana French. Olivia, what are you reading?
Olivia [00:51:04] Okay. I'm reading-- get ready for it, guys. The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton.
Annie Jones [00:51:12] What did Stuart Turton write? He wrote something else.
Olivia [00:51:15] Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and Devil in the Dark Water.
Annie Jones [00:51:19] Thank you. Okay. And Erin, I'm listening to this, too. What are you listening to?
Erin [00:51:25] Well, I'm listening to Worry by Alexandra Tanner.
Annie Jones [00:51:28] Me, too. I mean, I'm reading Tana French, but I'm listening to Worry. It's so good.
Erin [00:51:32] I just started it, so review to come.
Annie Jones [00:51:35] Okay. Well, thank you all. And thank you again to our sponsor, the 103rd Annual Road Show and Festival here in Thomasville, Georgia. Don' forget to plan your visit at Thomasvillega.com.
[00:51: 40] Annie Jones: From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website: bookshelfthomasville.com A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
Our Executive Producers of today’s episode are…
Cammy Tidwell, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Jennifer Bannerton
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: patreon.com/fromthefrontporch We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.