Episode 479 || May Reading Recap
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie recaps the books she read and loved in May. You get 10% off your books when you order your May Reading Recap Bundle. Each month, we offer a Reading Recap bundle, which features Annie’s favorite books she read that month.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (type “Episode 479” 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:
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee
The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell
Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (releases 7/9)
Pearce Oysters by Joselyn Takacs (releases 6/25)
Swift River by Essie Chambers (releases 6/4)
This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
Devil Is Fine by John Vercher (releases 6/18)
Annie's May Reading Recap Bundle - $53
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell
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 listening to This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune.
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Our Executive Producers are...Jennifer Bannerton, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Susan Hulings, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, and Amanda Whigham.
Transcript:
[squeaky porch swing]
Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
“The world can be so humbling, but only if you let it humble you.” Amanda Montell, The Age of Magical Overthinking
[as music fades out] I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and this week, I’m recapping the books I read in April.
[00:00:46] It’s not too late to join Annie's five Star Books on Instagram. For $50 a year, you can become a part of my bookish community online. Through the private Instagram account, you'll get access to my five-star book reviews, both backlist and front list titles. I also host monthly Instagram Story Q&A and share about the books I start but never finish.
[00:01:06] If you follow me personally on Instagram, you've probably seen my book reviews in the past, but now I've moved them to a private Instagram account that gives me a little bit more freedom and a little bit of structure. So, From the Front Porch listeners, you will always have access to my free monthly reading recap episodes. That's these. But the private Instagram is a place where I get to be more detailed with my reviews. And Five-Star Book Club members also choose if they want my five-star books mailed to them each month from The Bookshelf. For more information, or to sign up for our 2024 group-- it's not too late, I promise—visit https://anniebjoneswrites.com/fivestar-book-club. (There’s also a link in the show notes.) There's also a link in the show notes. I'd love to have you following along this year!
[00:01:54] Now back to the show. Wow! It's spring. April and May, they are the November and December of spring. And we know that. We know that every year. But, man, I feel like I've lived a million lives in the last two months, and my reading has, I think, been relatively consistent considering the chaos. I'm really pleased this month I had-- let me look real quick. Yeah, I had two five-star books and I think a couple of for Starbucks. It was overall a really good reading month for me, even though May was chaotic in the store, personally, and as we all know, our reading lives are definitely affected by our regular lives. That being said, the first book that I was able to finish in May was an Anne Bogel recommendation.
[00:02:48] So by now you have listened probably, hopefully, two my conversation with Modern Mrs. Darcy herself, Anne Bogel. She was in town for Word of South in Tallahassee, and we were able to get her to The Bookshelf for a visit and a summer reading guide preview. Many of you I know are listeners of Anne's, and so it was really fun to host her in the store. While she was there, she talked about a lot of different summer reading books that were going to be featured in her summer reading guide. We talked about even the definition of summer reading, but I think the first book she named was The Husbands by Holly Gramazio. This is a book we received an ARC of. I'm pretty sure it wound up in Nancy's hands, and I think it became a Jenna Bush Hager pick, if I'm not mistaken. A read with Jenna book.
[00:03:38] So this was certainly on my radar, and perhaps if you're a bookseller or librarian, you understand this. It was one that I was familiar with, but because I didn't get to read it in advance reader copy format, I just didn't know if I was ever going to get to this one. But then Anne just really sold it. She did the bookseller's job, which is she sat and gave a synopsis and talked about how the book made her feel and what it made her think. And I thought, well, that sounds even better than I thought it would. So, by now, perhaps, you're familiar with the premise of this book, but the main character is Lauren. She is coming home late one night from a hen party. This book is written by a British author. Lauren's coming home from a hen party, and a man greets her at her door, which, of course, is terrifying. We all would be terrified. And I think Holly Gramazio acknowledges that, actually acknowledges a lot of the ways in which women have been harmed.
[00:04:37] I think she alludes to that in this book where the main character shows up, sees a man at her door, is terrified. And the man tells her, "I'm your husband," and just assumes that she's a little bit drunk from her party. And so, Lauren comes in the house and is very shaken up. She can't figure out is she drunk or what happened? Anyway, the husband goes up the stairs to the attic to check on something. When he comes back down, it's not him at all, but it's another husband. And so, the book progresses pretty rapidly through different husbands options for Lauren. I read somewhere that this book is kind of a play on what happens with online dating, which is a really interesting way to read it. It's a really fun book. I was taken aback by how fun the concept was and the way Holly Grandma Marcio continues to approach the concept.
[00:05:38] I really thought this would be almost a what if I had married x person? Which I feel like I've read a lot of books like that recently. Like, what if my life had turned out this way? Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Begin again by Helly Acton. I thought this would live in that same vein. And partly it does, but it's almost a little bit sci-fi, and maybe that's not entirely true if you're a sci fi reader. But to me it felt a little bit sci-fi, where husbands are just coming in and out of her house and certainly, I think Holly Gramazio is trying to tell us a little bit about, yes, online dating or having so many options or how do we know when somebody is right for us? But the premise itself and the husband is going back and forth from the attic, I thought was really the most interesting part.
[00:06:31] And then this was a book that I was concerned was not going to end well. I was concerned how is she going to wrap this up? Because it wasn't just three husbands. I just thought this is probably going to be a book where it's, like, these are the top three husbands and now I have to pick one or something like that. But the book is really about Lauren. It's less about the husbands and more about Lauren herself and the different relationships. Lauren is the common denominator. And so, the book is Lauren's, despite the title being The Husbands. The book is Lauren's. And the way that the author tied everything up, I just really liked. I loved how this book ended. I think this would make a great book club selection, especially for summer, because it's fast.
[00:07:12] I had no problem finishing it. I think this came for me at the end of a reading slump. This kind of broke a reading slump. So, if you are experiencing, I guess by the time you listen to this-- I'm recording this at the end of May. If you're listening to this and you're still in recovery from end of school year stuff, that sort of thing, I think this one would be worth trying. And then discussing with a friend like it's a buddy read or in a book club conversation. There's just lots to think about. I really liked this book a lot, and I thought it was the best mixture of fun, zany high jinks, but also pretty well written, all things considered, and just really compelling storytelling and really thoughtful storytelling. So that is The Husbands by Holly Gramazio. It is already out.
[00:08:01] I wanted to continue reading things that I thought I could finish quickly, and so I purchased at Barnes and Noble. That's right. Sometimes things happen and were desperate. And I was desperate at the end of April, and I was in Tallahassee for an appointment and stopped at Barnes Noble, which I do often. And I have no guilt or shame about that. And, anyway, I stumbled across a copy of The Idea of You by Robinne Lee. This is a book I missed when I believe it released back in 2016. I didn't miss it. I knew all about it. it was the rage. People were talking about it. It was Harry styles fan fiction. But I believed it would be too steamy for me. And you know what? I wasn't wrong. Past Annie wasn't wrong about that. But because it was being turned into a movie, because Anne Hathaway is in the movie, I thought, I'm going to read this this week, and then I'm going to watch the movie.
[00:08:57] And it was kind of a fun experience that way. I think my personality loves pop cultural experiences, and as a bookseller, I don't always get to have those with the readers. So, for example, probably the last time I could experience something like this was when I was reading Fourth Wing, because typically as booksellers and again, or librarians, or maybe even educators, basically if you have early access to books, you're reading them in a vacuum. You're reading them before they become part of the zeitgeist, you're reading them before the hype. And I like that because I get a little wary of things that are too hyped. But my personality loves big pop cultural experiences. I love watching the Oscars together. You've Got Mail would come on TBS and I would watch it and my dad would be like, "Why are you watching this? You own it on DVD." And I would say, "Because now we're all watching it together." Like we're all watching it on TBS together.
[00:09:54] And that is how I feel sometimes about reading a book alongside everybody else. So, Fourth Wing is a great example. But The Idea of You was in the Zeitgeist. It was something people were talking about. And so, despite, yes, it being probably a little too steamy for me, a little too romance for me, not enough com in the rom, I still picked it up. I have no regrets about picking it up. I think I could be in the minority here. My friends who read the book back in 2016 loved the movie, or at least enjoyed the movie. I read the book I think over Wednesday-Thursday, a two-day period and then watched the movie Friday or Saturday. And really, that was probably too close. It was fun to get to do that. I can't even remember the last time I was so intentional about reading the book before seeing the movie. And so, back-to-back. I don't even know the last time I did that. And probably I did the movie a bit of disservice by doing that.
[00:10:55] The book and the movie are fairly different-- actually really different. And I probably would have enjoyed the movie more. I did not particularly enjoy the movie, even though I love Anne. But I think I would have enjoyed the movie more had I not read the book, actually. So, if you are not familiar. If you have not seen this movie, if you have no idea what I'm talking about. The Idea of You is a book by Robinne Lee, came out back in 2016. It features Solene. Solene is a middle-aged woman, I believe in her late 30s, early 40s, and she has a young daughter who is a huge fan of this boy band, August Moon. And one of the singers in the boy band is named Hayes. At this kind of meet and greet situation, Solene and Hayes meet, sparks fly.
[00:11:47] I actually think the chemistry in the book is far more convincing than the movie chemistry. There were some choices made that I do not understand. There's a scene in the movie where Hayes comes into Solene's art gallery. She owns an art gallery in both the book and the movie. And in the movie, Hayes comes to the art gallery and buys all of the art out of the gallery so that they can spend the afternoon together. And I just thought, this is icky. And in the book, I think it's handled with a little more panache. Is that the right word? It's handled with a little more finesse. So, basically, this is what if Harry styles fell in love with Olivia Wilde, but Olivia Wilde wasn't a famous director? That's kind of what's happening here. It's really ahead of its time. I think it's fun. I think it's fun. If you're listening to this, the fun may have passed. There may be no real reason to come to this.
[00:12:41] But I had a good time. I enjoyed my reading experience. I enjoyed my reading and then watching experience. It was very funny to compare the two. Jordan watched the movie with me. We had a good time kind of giggling and occasionally snarking about the movie. I think both are fine. I think both are fine and enjoyable. I will tell you, though, what The Idea of You reminded me of was a great book that I read several summers ago called The View was exhausting. It's by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta I loved that book and instead of a normal dates a famous person, it's about two famous people dating. It's definitely felt Ben Affleck-J. Lo to me-- R.I.P. once again to them. But if you're looking for something in the same vein as The Idea of You, but you've already read that, or maybe you feel like the moment has passed, you should try The View is Exhausting, which, of course, is now out in paperback because, it's a backlist title. So, The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clemens, and Onjuli Datta would be a title that I think you might really enjoy. So that was the idea of You by Robinne Lee.
[00:13:50] While I was trying to get out of my reading slump and reading some of those books that were more lighthearted in tone, I was listening to The Age of Magical Overthinking. This is by Amanda Montell. I read a quote from the book at the top of the episode. I was never going to pick this book up. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I did not love the title. Or it's not that I didn't love the title, but I made assumptions about the title. I assumed this book was about anxiety. The cover to me is also confusing. It's a cool cover, but I didn't quite understand what the book was about. And because the title is a play on the Year of Magical Thinking, which is a deeply felt book about grief, I wonder if maybe this title wasn't focus grouped enough. That being said, I saw Kelly Hampton post about this book. I saw maybe a couple of my other readerly friends post about this one, particularly in audiobook format.
[00:15:01] And so, I thought, well, if I'm going to try this, I might as well try it in audiobook format. I did not read Amanda Mantel's previous book, Cultish, but it was very popular at The Bookshelf, both with our online customers and some of our in-store customers. So, I was familiar with her. This is her latest. And like I said, I think the title makes it sound like this is a book about our anxious society, that's what it sounds like to me. Instead, this is a book where each chapter is a different essay about a different cognitive bias, meaning there is a chapter about the halo effect, which is something you learn about in psychology 101. And I was fascinated. There's a great chapter about Taylor Swift and fandom. There's a chapter about the sunk cost fallacy, which is something Jordan and I have talked about at length when it comes to finishing books.
[00:15:54] And so, I really thought, overall, this was a fantastic listen. The audiobook is narrated by the author, and kudos to Amanda Montell. Not every author is a great narrator of their own work, but I think she is. And each essay was entertaining. It felt a little bit pop psychology and then also personal essay because she would bring in her own personal life. There's an essay-- and now I'm forgetting the cognitive bias it's associated with. But there's an essay about a dating experience she had as a young woman. And so, she brings in some personal anecdotes, and personal storytelling, I think, to great effect. I really liked this book despite it being different from The Husbands or The Idea of You. Those are obviously fiction. Maybe even the idea of you is certainly a romance novel. The Husbands is not. The Husbands, I guess, is more "women's fiction.".
[00:16:50] But the Age of Magical Overthinking is an easy read. It was easy to listen to, and each essay felt like listening to a little podcast episode. That's really what it was. Because she goes just deep enough. If you are like me and you're not a scientist and you're not a psychologist, and so you just want a thoughtful essay collection that deals with, yes, cognitive bias, but also personal storytelling a little bit vaguely, I would recommend this to somebody who liked the Anthropocene Reviewed. Now, I'd like to be clear, I think The Anthropocene Reviewed is a five- star book by John Green. I do not think The Age of Magical Overthinking is a five-star book. I think it is a solid four-star book. It did what I needed it to do. I loved the audiobook experience. I also think this one would do well in print. Because you might want to underline or mark-- I typed out on my phone the quote that I read at the beginning of the episode.
[00:17:56] Because there were multiple points where I was like, oh, that's really good. And I was listening to it. And I've still not quite figured out the best way to keep track of quotes in the audiobooks I'm listening to. So, anyway, might do well for you in print as well. But if you maybe put off reading this because of the title, or maybe you did not read cultish, so you thought, oh, I don't know if this one would be for me. I think this is great and I think it is worth trying. And now I am curious and would like to go back and read Cultish. I'd actually like to read that one. And so, maybe one day I'll pick that one up as well. But The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell. Great nonfiction. Thoughtful fun. The kind of nonfiction you could put in your beach bag and be totally satisfied. So, the Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell.
[00:18:44] Now, we're getting in where I got out of my reading slump, and I read more perhaps literary fiction or certainly dysfunctional family fiction, which is my sweet spot, but has not always worked for me lately. I was going to say since the pandemic, but that's like four years ago. So, you start to wonder, what do I like anymore? I don't know. So, I picked up Long Island Compromise. This is by Taffy Brodesser-akner. She, you might recognize from her book, Fleishman Is in Trouble, which became a, TV adaptation, I believe. I've not seen the TV adaptation, but I loved Fleishman Is in Trouble. If you're a long-time listener of the podcast, you might remember that Fleishman Is in Trouble is one of those books that I picked up. I found it a little too crass for my taste. Fleishman is a middle-aged man who has just broken up with his wife, and the very first, oh, I don't know, 50 to 100 pages of the book are basically Fleishman online dating for the first time, and there's just a lot of sexual encounters and descriptions that I personally did not need. And so, I was like, I'm not sure this book is for me. So, I put it down.
[00:19:58] And then I'm not even sure what prompted it. I don't know if I read a review or kept seeing it pop up, but I had saved it. I hadn't gotten rid of it. I hadn't taken it to a little Free Library or anything like that. So, I still had it around the house, picked it back up and loved it. I absolutely loved it. I think I wound up giving it at one of our reader retreats. I think it may be released in 2019. And so, I gave it to one of our readers at Reader Retreat. Highly recommended it to her. So, when I saw Long Island Compromise was coming out and I'd received an ARC, I was super excited. And then I was like, oh my gosh, 500 pages? Which I'd like to be clear, wouldn't be daunting to me if I was just a reader and I could take however long I wanted with however many books I wanted every year, I would have no problem picking up a 500-page book.
[00:20:52] But because I am a bookseller who is constantly-- I feel like I am juggling three books at a time, trying to finish for Shelf Subscriptions, trying to finish for summer literary first look, trying to read for the podcast. I see a 500-page book and I think, I don't know, I could read three books in as much time it will take me to read that 500-page book. So, I put this one. I left this one on my shelf. And then as I was preparing for summer literary lunch, summer literary first look, I picked this one up and could not put it down. Absolutely could not put it down. It opens in 1980 when Carl Fletcher, the patriarch of this Jewish family living in Long Island, is kidnaped from his home. And his family immediately is sent into upheaval, including his wife Ruth and his two sons, Nathan and Beamer. His wife is pregnant. And so, Carl is taken from his home. He's kidnaped for a week.
[00:21:52] The family is distraught. They're trying to satisfy ransom requests. They've reached out to the police. The FBI gets involved. And that is all within the first, again, probably 50 or so pages. That's how the book opens. And at the end of a week, Carl is returned home. He's battered, he's bruised, he's clearly traumatized, but he's alive and no one knows what happened to him. He can't articulate what happened to him. Nobody knows who kidnaped him. Though those kidnapers are never really found, never fully brought to justice. And so, the Fletcher family kind of lives with this traumatic event. And one of my favorite moments in the book is when Carl's mother, who is definitely like Jewish mom energy, she comes into Carl-- again, he is battered and bruised. Clearly traumatized may never be the same kind of thing.
[00:22:49] And she walks into his room. She grabs him by the shoulders and she looks him in the eye and she says, "Carl, this happened to your body. It didn't happen to you." And I thought this was so fascinating because then what unfolds-- that's just like the introduction of the book. And then what unfolds is the fallout for the Fletcher family. And it's told in three parts. This is not a book with short chapters. So, this is something that held my attention from page one. Maybe this is just me as a reader, but lately when I read books, I think, well, that was great, but it could have been 100 pages shorter. Or a movie, I'm watching a movie and I'm like, well, that was nice, but it could have been 30 minutes shorter. I even felt that about the fall guy. I was like, this is good, but it could have been shorter. Long Island Compromised is exactly the right length that it should be. I really thought for a 500-page book it's pretty tight.
[00:23:48] So the book is told in three lengthy sections, one for each child belonging to Carl and Ruth. So, Nathan, who is the eldest son, Beamer, the middle son, and Jenny, the daughter. And this isn't to say those sections are narrated by them. That's not true, but you just get a little bit more of their perspective. Now, the whole book belongs to the whole Fletcher family. So, it's not like in one section you only get beamers perspective. You get the full storytelling of the Fletcher family. But each section emphasizes one of the siblings more than the others. So first we get Beamer, the middle son. The way that he has been affected by his dad's kidnaping experience, is that Beamer is kind of like the wild child. He became a screenwriter, wrote an action film that ironically had a kidnaping scene. So, he becomes this famous screenwriter. He lives in LA. And speaking of Fleishman is in trouble, his section is full of sexual escapades that were a lot to read about. But you know exactly why Beamer is participating in those acts in this way. And it is because he is affected by this traumatic event in his family's history.
[00:25:08] Nathan, the eldest brother, is, straitlaced, a rule follower, does everything right, a highly anxious attorney. And then Jenny has kind of stewed her family's wealth. They're a quite wealthy family living in Long Island. They run a Styrofoam factory. And Jenny has kind of tried to distance herself from her family's wealth. She runs a union organization in Connecticut, and all three of them clearly are affected. And they have been impacted by Carl's kidnaping. The book is fantastic. My other favorite moment is when someone-- and I cannot remember who. Maybe it's just kind of the omniscient narrator, says, every family is its own Bible story. And this is the book of Fletcher Long Island Compromise is the book of Fletcher and I could not stop thinking about that the whole time I read the book, because it does feel like the book of Genesis but for the Fletcher's.
[00:26:11] So much is happening. So much weird stuff happens. All the different ways the characters interact and are affected. I loved this book. I loved it so, so much. Five stars for me. The good news bad news is I loved it. It releases on July 9th, so it does not come out until July 9th. You've got some time. Preorder this one. If you liked Fleishman Is in Trouble, you will like this. If you liked-- this is going to sound weird, but if you like Greek Tragedies, I think you will like this. I mean, this definitely feels like an Old Testament story or a Greek tragedy because this family is so messy. Oh, it's so messy. But I really, really liked it. That is Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-akner releases on July 9th. It's got a great kind of 70s style cover, too, or 60s style cover too.
[00:27:03] Okay. And then I didn't mean to do this, but I picked up another dysfunctional family story. I admit that I picked this off of my TBR shelf, like my ARC shelf, because of the cover. So, Pearce Oysters is the name of the book. This is by Joselyn Takacs. This book releases on June 25th, so you've got a little bit of time to wait for this one. Pearce Oysters is Joselyn's debut novel, and it is about the Pearce family. And the reason I was drawn to it is the cover reminds me so, so much of, like, a classic Florida novel. I'm particularly thinking about something like the Lions, Paw, if you grew up in Florida. Even something like The Land Remembered or a book like that. So, Pierce oysters, kudos, great cover design. All the applause for the cover designers at Zibby Books. This is a book published by Zibby. And it is about the Pearce family, living on the Gulf Coast in Louisiana during the 2010 horizon oil spill.
[00:28:12] So as a girl who grew up relatively close to the coast, that oil spill was devastating to watch unfold in a neighboring state. And the impacts were felt, obviously, all over the Gulf. And I've never read a book about it. Not nonfiction or fiction, I've never read a book about it. And so, when I saw that that's when this book was set, I was immediately intrigued. So, I picked this one up because of the cover and because of its relationship to the 2010 oil spill. The Pearce family is a family of oystermen. They have oystered in Louisiana for 90 plus years. This is a work of fiction, but I was so curious about Joselyn Takacs because I thought, if this book is not written by a Southerner, I am not interested. I was being a little snotty about it. And then I realized Joselyn Takacs, I think, currently lives in Portland, Oregon. So, I was like, hmm. But then I read that she lived in New Orleans for a time, and she did her graduate work on the oral histories of the Oystermen in Louisiana. And so, she knows about what she writes.
[00:29:17] The nature writing in this book is stunning. All about the marshland, the egrets. If you've watched the movie The Pelican Brief, that opening scene, if you've ever been to New Orleans, if you've ever been on the Gulf Coast, this is such a good book about the Gulf. I particularly like this book because I think when we talk about beach reads, most of what we mean and what I mean to is light, fluffy, fun romcoms or family stories set at the coast- any coast, New England, Gulf Coast, off the shores of Savannah, Tybee Island. That is what I think when I think of beach reads. Rarely do I think about, well, what about the people that live at the beach year-round? What about the service workers, the people in the service industries? What about the fishermen? What about the oystermen? And when I go to the beach, I think about those people all of the time. When you drive to Saint George Island and you go through Carrabelle and you see all the fishing boats.
[00:30:15] Or you're going to Saint George Island and you see the oyster shacks and things like that, and you see signs about legislation that is impacting the Gulf Coast and the people whose livelihoods are affected by the Gulf Coast. I find all of that fascinating. But, again, I've rarely read a book about it. And so, to read a book about this family, I loved it so much. So, Jordan is kind of our main character. He is the good son. He is the son who has inherited the family business. His father has died, so he is the reigning Pearce Oysterman. He loves what he does. But also, was never really given an option. Like, he was always just going to grow up and farm oysters. His mother is May. She is the matriarch. She is still clearly dealing with the loss of her husband and his pretty sudden death.
[00:31:15] And then Benny is the younger son. He's a musician. He lives in New Orleans. He's a little bit nomadic, sleeping on people's couches. Doesn't really feel a tie necessarily to his dad's livelihood and the livelihood of the family. He has his own reasons for that. And, anyway, what unfolds is a quiet book. This is not hugely plot-driven. So Long Island compromised is also not incredibly plot-driven. And yet, because of the kind of mystery at the heart of the book, (who took Carl?) it does feel more plot driven. Pearce oysters does not feel plot driven. It is a quiet book about a family. The biggest plot point really is, is this oyster business going to survive the oil spill? That's the biggest kind of plot piece. Everything else is about these characters and how they're affected by the spill. I found it incredibly realistic. It brought back very visceral memories of that time. And I'm not the daughter of a fisherman or an oysterman.
[00:32:17] I just grew up visiting the coast every summer and live relatively close to the Gulf Coast. And so, that disaster coming so quickly after Katrina just sticks out so large in my memory. But we don't really talk about it anymore. We don't really talk about it. And there's no doubt the ecosystem was completely affected and affected for generations from that huge spill. So, if you like well-researched fiction, if you like dysfunctional family stories, if you like books with excellent and beautiful nature writing, I think you will love Pearce Oysters. This is a five-star read for me. It releases on June 25th. The debut novel by Joselyn Takacs. Pearce Oysters. And Pearce is spelled P-e-a-r-c-e, if you're going to search for it after the episode.
[00:33:09] And then I closed the month by reading a solid four, four-and-a-half-star book called Swift River by Essie Chambers. This book releases soon. It releases on June 4th. I really liked this book. I picked this one up because all the blurbs-- I think Rumaan Alam and Napolitano, J. Courtney Sullivan, so many people blurbed this book. And so, I was really curious about it. The book is about diamond. Diamond is a young biracial woman. She's teenager. She's about 16, 17 years old, living in Swift River, which is a former sundown town, with a deeply, deeply racist history. And diamond is coming of age trying to figure out who she is in relationship to her white mother and her black father. And her father disappeared seven years ago. So, the book is partially set in 1987, when diamond is a teenager. There are lots of flashbacks to 1980, when her father went missing or her father disappeared.
[00:34:17] And then Diamond in 1987, her mother is trying to have her father declared dead. They're trying to get a death certificate signed so that they can access his insurance policy. Because he's been missing for seven years, they have been barely living. They have been completely kind of impoverished by the loss of their primary breadwinner. And so, it's 1987, Diamond's mother wants to get the death certificate signed. And that's kind of what's happening in 1987. Because of that, diamond winds up finding out that her father has a family she did not know about. And diamond is struggling with her racial identity. She's the only black person, the only biracial person living in Swift River. And there's a reason for that. That kind of unfolds over the course of the novel. You learn a lot about Swift River's history.
[00:35:15] And you also learn a lot about Diamond's personal history. So, she winds up connecting through letters to her dad's family living in the South. And so, not only do you get 1987 and 1980 from Diamond's view, more or less, you also get these letters partially from 1987, but also from the 1950s and 1916. So, you get to see how Diamond's family lived and kind of settled in this sundown town and how they came to be. And I thought it was such an original story. Now, I read a book that this did remind me of Life and Other Love Songs by Anissa Gray. That book came out a couple years ago. I really liked it. I did have moments where I was like, oh, this book would live well on the shelf with Life and other Love Songs, but I'd never read a book that had such a deeply 80s vibe in Diamond's coming of age storytelling, but then also so successfully went back and forth to other much earlier time periods.
[00:36:24] So this felt like a mixture of coming of age, historical fiction and even a slight mystery element, because we'd never really know. And we desperately want to know what happened to Diamond's death. Is he really dead, or did he just walk off and leave his family? Did he go somewhere where he knew he would be more welcome? And somehow, in a book that I think could have been confusing with all the different kind of flashbacks and flash forwards, it's never confusing. You know who everybody is. And somehow you both get Diamond's 1980s, taking driving lessons, coming of age story, mother-daughter story. But you also get her personal history, the history of her family, and she's uncovering it. She's discovering at the same time we are. And then you also get the history of this town, and why Diamond is the only black woman, young woman living in this town. There's a reason for that. And what is the reason?
[00:37:28] And so, anyway, I really liked this book. The storytelling is great. The letters from Diamond's ancestors and from her relatives, really helped shape the novel. But at the same time, the stuff set in 1980 and 1987, an author blurbed it as funny. And I am not going to go that far. I did not find it, like, laugh out loud hilarious. This is not, to me, a funny book, but the section set in 1980, in 1987, there is something-- I don't know if this is the right word. There's something kind of summery about them because Diamond is essentially raising herself. She's a bit of a latchkey kid. She's taking driving lessons behind her mom's back. She's desperate for freedom. It's not necessarily set in the summer, but it felt summery coming of age to me. Like a young woman about to embark on an adventure kind of story. I really, really liked this one. I'll be curious to see what other people think. I think all the blurbs, except the one that said it was funny, were accurate and well deserved. I can see now why those authors blurbed this one. So that is Swift River by Essie Chambers, releases on June 4th. And speaking of beautiful covers, this cover is also gorgeous.
[00:38:54] So those are the books I read in June. I will also tell you, because I am recording this at the end of May. We're not quite done with the month that I am currently listening to two excellent audiobooks. I'm not going to get full reviews of them here, but This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune. I have not loved Carley Fortune's previous books, but I think that's a me problem. I don't think that's a book problem. I'm very particular about which romance novels and which rom coms I gravitate toward. But I picked this one up because it's set on Prince Edward Island, and Jordan and I got to go to Prince Edward Island back in 2019. And I am loving the Prince Edward Island setting. I also love when very different books still relate to each other. So, I was reading Pearce Oysters and then listening while I was in the car to This Summer Will Be Different.
[00:39:44] And that book (This Summer Will Be Different) opens with this great scene where the main character, who's visiting Prince Edward Island for the first time, sits at an oyster bar and eats raw oysters for the first time. And I was I was doing that while also learning a lot about the farming of oysters. I just love bookish serendipity like that. You can't see me, but I have a giant smile on my face because I think that's so fun. I did not plan that. That just happened. And so, I'm listening to This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortunate. I think the audiobook is good. I don't know, star ranking-wise, what I'll rate this one. But of Carley Fortune's books, I think this one is my favorite. Then I'm also listening to a book called Devil Is Fine. This is by John Vercher. I came across this book while doing research for Summer Literary First Look, and the audiobook is excellent.
[00:40:32] So far, the story is being told by an unnamed narrator, talking to his now deceased son. And the book opens with the narrator kind of having a panic attack on the way to his son's funeral. And what unfolds thus far, is a story, I think, about a father's grief over his son. There are, I believe-- because Erin is listening to this as well-- elements of magical realism that are going to be involved. The narrator is biracial and his white great grandfather has just died as well and left his son, who is now deceased, some land. And so, our main character goes to the east coast to, claim the land. And when he arrives, he realizes that the land is where his white ancestors enslaved his black ancestors. And so, the land I think is going to kind of take on a life of its own as well, perhaps. I'm about 20% of-- I think on Libra fam-- this one, but I really do like what I've listened to so far. I think the narration is great. So that is another one I am listening to and hope to be done with by the end of the month. Devil is Fine by John Vercher.
[00:41:55] So those are the books I read in May. I am so proud of myself for reading anything in May. As usual, with our Reading Recap episodes, we are offering a Reading Recap bundle for this month. But things are a little different because a lot of the books I talked about are not out yet. And so, our May Reading Recap bundle is $53, and it just includes two books: The Age of Magical Overthinking, that's the nonfiction collection by Amanda Montell, and The Husbands by Holly Gramazio So two very different books that I think would be great on the beach this summer. You can find more details and the May bundle online through the link in our show notes. Or you can go to Bookshelf thomasville.com and type today's episode number, that's 479, into the search bar. A special thanks to Erin for putting all of these books on our store website. This week, as I mentioned, I'm listening to this Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune.
[00:43:41] 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.