Episode 487 || July Reading Recap
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie recaps the books she read and loved in July. You get 10% off your books when you order your July 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 487” 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:
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty (releases 9/10)
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors (releases 9/3)
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynnexth Jones
Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotugno (releases 8/20)
Annie's July Reading Recap Bundle - $77
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
This week, Annie is reading Entitlement by Rumaan Alam.
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We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Our Executive Producers are...Jennifer Bannerton, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Susan Hulings, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, and Amanda Whigham.
Transcript:
[squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
“Who cared about sex, really? When what you needed was someone to talk to in the dark.” ― Rufi Thorpe, Margo's Got Money Troubles
[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 July. I know I say this every few months. It’s not too late to join Annie’s Five-Star books on Instagram. For $50 a year, you can become a part of this bookish community online. Through the private Instagram account, you’ll get access to my five-star book reviews, backlist and frontlist titles. I host monthly Instagram story Q&As and share about the books I start but never finish. If you follow me personally on Instagram, you’ve seen my reviews for years, and of course, From the Front Porch listeners will always have access to these free monthly Reading Recap episodes. The private Instagram is a place where I get to be more detailed with my reviews, and Five-Star Book Club members can also choose if they want my five-star reads mailed to them each month from The Bookshelf. For more information or to sign up for our 2024 group, visit https://anniebjoneswrites.com/fivestar-book-club. (There’s also a link in the show notes.) I’d love to have you following along this year. Now, back to the show!
[00:01:47] Well, it's July. And here is some behind the scenes inside baseball. I'm recording this way earlier than I usually do, because Jordan and I are doing some traveling this summer, and I am batch recording earlier in the month than I would typically be batch recording. The good news is I read a ton of books in June, and I have a couple of June reviews that I did not get to in the June reading recap episode. And in July I've already read, I don't know, three or four. I'm looking at my list. I read four books. So, the episode won't feel abnormal to you, but it does feel a little disingenuous to not tell you that I'm recording earlier. I'm recording much earlier. Even Jordan today was so confused when he left the house. He said, "I didn't know today was a podcast day." Well, it's normally not, but now it is. So, I wrapped up a few extra books in June. By extra, I mean I read 13 books in June, which for me and for this year, that's a very high number.
[00:02:47] And I really liked, I think, almost all of the books I read in June, including Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty. I am never 100% sure how to pronounce her name. Liane Moriarty. Anyway, I have read her for years, as I'm sure many of you have as well. I think I first fell in love with her With What Alice Forgot. But I have been on board through the Big Little Lies era. I read her most recent one, I think, that was called When Apples Fall. This is her latest. It releases on September 10th, so you do have to wait a little bit. And I have a couple of things to say. The first is this cover, not great. Not great. And I say that with hesitation in my heart because I know somebody approved that book cover, but it is not good. The book, though, is fantastic. I loved this book. It felt a little bit like The Measure, which is a book I admittedly did not read, but lots of customers read it. Local book clubs read it. I believe Olivia read that one.
[00:03:54] And as we have discussed on the podcast before, Olivia does a great job of giving the staff rundowns of her reads. And so sometimes I feel like I've read a book because Olivia has described it to me. So, this reminds me a lot of The Measure. Basically, what happens is on a brief flight in Australia, like an hour and a half long flight. This airplane full of people, their flight has been delayed. They're grouchy, they're a little bit irritable. They're just settling into their flight when an older, kind of elegant woman gets up out of her seat and proceeds to walk down the aisle of the plane, and she points at each person in their seat and says something like, "I predict 40 heart attack." And she looks at each person on the plane, and all she says is this age prediction and this description. And soon it becomes very apparent that she is predicting or telling people the day of their death or how old-- not the day of their deaths, but how old they will be when they die and what they will die from.
[00:05:05] And I'll be honest, when I picked up this book, I thought it was all going to take place on the plane, but it doesn't. That plane scene that I just described takes up the first-- oh, I don't know, first couple of chapters of the book. And then what happens is everybody gets off the plane, they're disgruntled. They are a little bit distraught, confused at the least. They're confused. At the most, they're concerned because who is this woman? Is she right? Is she just a little bit loony? Is this something that they should take seriously? So, a lot of the people on the plane kind of chat with each other, they form a camaraderie. And then months or weeks after the flight, nothing has really happened. Except then one of the deaths becomes true. And members of this flight, people who were on this flight, discover that one of the predictions came true. A passenger on that plane has died.
[00:06:08] And now the rest of the novel focuses on several of the plane's passengers as they grapple with the fact that this prediction or this premonition that this woman shared with them could in fact be reality. And so, it's less someone choosing to find out the day of their death or when they might die, and it's more what happens if somebody predicts your death? You think they might be right. How would you change your life? I thought this was such a-- fun is going to seem like the wrong word, but I thought this was such a fun premise of a book. Obviously, we get this genre of book a lot. And I admit that I am drawn to some of them. Like I said, I did not read The Measure, and we've teased before these are great types of books to read a book club because we've talked about as a staff, like, would you want to find out? My answer is always absolutely not.
[00:07:08] But what I liked about this book was it then delved into each of the characters thoughts, feelings, and the ways they changed their lives. So, it is plot-driven. Lots happens. I think plot-driven readers will find plenty to appreciate about this book, but it is also character driven and you really get to know each of the characters. And perhaps even more surprisingly and pleasantly, you also get the perspective of the elegant old woman who did the predicting. And that was an aspect of the book that I could not tell from the blurbs that we were going to get that perspective, and I wound up loving that perspective. So, lots of going back and forth among characters, lots of different perspectives in this book. I was never confused by that. I never was irritated by going from one character to the other. I really liked this.
[00:08:00] I'm going to give an example. One of the characters in the book at the time of the plane ride, she's holding her baby in her arms and this old woman points at her, offers her a prediction-- or gives her a prediction. Nobody's asking for this. Gives her a prediction and then predicts for her baby despite the pleas of this woman, please don't. Please don't do this. Please don't predict my baby's future death. Please don't do that. But the woman does. She's kind of in this trance, and she predicts that the baby will die as a child of drowning. And so, we watch this mother enroll her child in every possible swim lesson. And so, this is what I mean by once they receive this prediction that they begin to suspect is true, what do these people do with that information and how does it affect and impact their lives?
[00:09:01] This could be cheesy. I think there's a world in which this becomes almost a hallmark movie or a morality tale, but it never felt cheesy to me. I was extremely invested. I'm trying to remember on my Instagram-- I think I did four or four and a half stars for this book. I really did like it. And once I finished, it was one of those books I wanted to talk to Jordan about. If you're a Liane Moriarty fan, I think there is plenty to like here. I think you will not be disappointed. I think this is more of her kind of storytelling. I think she really does a good job of balancing plot-driven and character-driven. So, if you like her, you'll find plenty to like in this book. And if you've never tried her, this doesn't feel like a departure, but the subject matter feels different for her. And this type of book does feel a little bit different for her.
[00:09:51] And so, if you are looking to perhaps try Liane Moriarty for the first time, I think this would be a great place to start. The insight we get into that older woman character, the older woman who makes all of the predictions, that feels like a Liane Moriarty novel. I think if you read her, you know she does a good job of bringing all of her characters together almost like a Love Actually situation. Except in this case, we know how all of these characters know each other. They're all on the plane, and so she really starts with all of them together and then watches them disperse. I hope you can tell I really liked this book. It releases September 10th. It's called Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty. She's an auto buy for a lot of people, so I feel like this isn't a book I have to really try hard to hand sell. Except that cover is not going to be great. You guys look it up. Tell me if I'm wrong. I don't love it. I know what they were doing, still don't love it. And so, I feel like I do have to sell this book to tell you that it's really good. It's really excellent. Here One moment by Liane Moriarty.
[00:11:00] Also at the end of June, I wrapped up All the Colors of the Dark. This is by Chris Whitaker. I loved this book. I think it's the Jenna Bush Hager pick, or it was the Jenna Bush Hager pick for June. Olivia read it. It had been sitting-- no, I know what happened. I sent my dad several ARCs including this one. He wound up not picking this for his Shelf Subscription, so he gave it back to me after Olivia told me how much she read and loved it. So, I picked it up off of my stack of books kind of given back to me by my dad. I was initially not going to read this because-- and I don't know why I keep saying this when over and over again it proves to not be true, but I was intimidated by the length and I felt like I didn't have time. And then Olivia loved it, and she loved it so much that she cried at the end. And I was like, okay, I think I need to give this one a go.
[00:11:57] And she's not the only one. I follow what Sherry reads. Sherry is, a staffer at Zibby Books or works with Zibby books, and I really trust her taste. She and I have followed each other on the internet for years, and she posted a rave of this one. So, it was in the back of my mind. Then Jenna picked it. And as we know, of all the celebrity book selectors, I feel like Jenna is my book whisperer. And so, I thought, well, maybe I'll give this one a go. I started it, could not put it down. Took it with me everywhere. Everywhere I went, every appointment. It was in my car. So that if I had to wait on somebody or something like that, I had this book with me.
[00:12:45] Basically, this book is about Patch and Saint. These are two young kids. We immediately are introduced to Patch. He's kind of this awkward 13-year-old on the cusp of adulthood. He wears an eye patch, hence his nickname. And he loves to play being a pirate because of this eye patch. You can tell that there's an innocence about Patch and his best friend is Saint. Saint is a young woman living with her grandmother. She also is 13, on the cusp of adulthood. She's also a little quirky and odd, and so she and Patch have become friends, partly because of proximity, like we often do in childhood, but also partly because they're both a little odd and they find themselves drawn to each other in this small town.
[00:13:39] We begin the book and immediately know something is going to go wrong. I think Chris Whitaker does a beautiful job of laying this book out. The chapters are super short, which is probably part of the reason I flew through it so quickly despite its length. But basically, you open the book and there's a sentence-- and I wish I had it in front of me. But there's a sentence essentially, like, the town had no idea how this summer would upend all of their lives or something like that. So, you know something's going to happen. And within the first couple of chapters, patch has gone missing. He went to the rescue of this beautiful young woman in their town. She was being accosted by a nefarious looking man. Patch intervened. Now Patch is missing, and Saint is determined that she will be the one to help find Patch and bring him back home.
[00:14:38] I thought when I started this book that this book would take place over the course of a summer and it would be about this missing child. This book is so much more than that. That would have been an interesting book. That could have been like the new Riley Sager. It would have been an interesting book. But instead-- and I hesitate to use this word because I'm often not drawn to these types of books. But this is an epic. It's a sweeping, epic story that spans decades, and we watch Patch and Saint and their lives interact, intersect over and over and over again with the repercussions and the consequences of this one summer where patch goes missing. And I adored this book when I thought, what does this remind me of? I know how this is going to sound. Baby Driver meets My Girl meets Room. I mean, these are the types of books and stories and movies that this book reminded me of.
[00:15:35] I loved it. The friendship between Patch and Saint is so innocent, so sweet, so pure. There's a Baby Driver element to this book. Their childhood friendship reminds me of My Girl, Room. Patch's disappearance, his kidnaping reminded me of room. There's also because we get to watch Saint grow up and into adulthood she becomes a law enforcement officer. And I don't know if it's me still thinking about the X-Files after watching the entirety of the X-Files last year, but this also reminded me a lot of the X-Files where you've got kind of a tormented law enforcement officer trying to make sense of their life because of something that happened to them in childhood.
[00:16:27] I love this book. I can't say enough good things about it. I think this is going to be our book club selection for our Patreon book club in September. So, if you want to read it in advance of our bonus podcast episode, our conversation, I would encourage you to read it. Olivia read it and loved it. I read it and loved it. Keila read it and loved it. Erin read it and loved it. So, there is a lot of staff love for this book, but I know sometimes overhyped books can be off-putting to people. But I will just tell you, this one isn't overhyped. This is a really good book. I really like it. I think if my dad had picked it up, he probably would have made it his Shelf Subscription. It's great. So that is All the Colors of The Dark by Chris Whitaker. It's out now.
[00:17:13] All June long I was listening to I Hope This Finds You well. This is by Natalie Sue. The audiobook was narrated by Nasim Pedrad. This was a delightful, surprising, charming book. I downloaded the audiobook because I had seen the physical book come in at The Bookshelf. Maybe Erin talked about it on a New Release Rundown episode of From the Front Porch. But somebody had previewed this-- I think it was Erin-- and I was intrigued. Its premise reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Everybody in This Room Will Someday Be Dead. I think that's the name of that book. It reminded me of those kinds of books where there's some workplace elements. And then at the center is this quirky, offbeat woman who's trying to navigate the workplace and her way in the world.
[00:18:07] So in this case, the main character is working in this office, this kind of stereotypical office. It reminded me of The Office, like the show. And to make do with her days, to make do with some of the awkward relationships she has in the office and some of these kind of office nemeses, in the bottom of her email she will type not nice sentences, not nice phrases, but then she makes them white text so you can't see them. And this trick of hers is discovered. She gets in trouble with HR. And HR kind of puts her on notice and tells her, we're going to monitor your emails so that you can stay employed here, but also you need to be punished for this cruelty, this cruel trick you've been playing on your officemates.
[00:19:01] And what happens is instead of monitoring her email, her email begins to monitor everyone else's. So much of it really did remind me of the sitcom The Office. There's this episode in The Office where Michael becomes privy to the entire organization's or the entire team's emails, and he finds out like there's a barbecue he hasn't been invited to. You guys know. Anyway, so she becomes aware of all of these different relationships going on in the office, all of the deepest, darkest secrets of her fellow employees. At the same time, she's dealing with kind of an overbearing Persian mother. She's trying to organize and figure out her dating life. The audiobook narration on this is great. So, I really did enjoy the audiobook aspect of this. I wasn't sure I was going to because I thought, well, if this deals a lot with emails, it's that going to be annoying? But, no, this was a great audiobook. If you're looking for an audiobook, I think it's around eight hours long.
[00:20:03] I really liked it. Because I don't drive a ton of places, it did take me all month long to listen to this one, which I always think is a little tough when it takes that long to finish an audiobook. But this one held my attention. I was squirmy and uncomfortable during a few parts of it, because the awkwardness-- kind of like when you watch The Office. Because some of the awkwardness was so awful. I think I've seen this one compared to Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. There is an element of that in this. There is a slight romantic storyline, a small little romance storyline. But this book is not a romcom. This book is Eleanor Oliphant, Everybody in This Room Will Someday Be Dead. Those are the comps. So, if you liked those, I think you'll like this. If you liked The Office, I think you'll like this. There's a lot in here about office life and navigating office life and the personal relationships that come with it. So that is I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
[00:21:02] Then I downloaded the audiobook. Should I have been listening to ALCs, (advanced listening copies)? Maybe. Maybe I should have. But instead, I downloaded Margo's Got Money Troubles. This is by Ruthi Thorpe. The audiobook is narrated by Elle Fanning. I kind of wished I'd read the physical copy of this only because I think I would have flown through it. I think I would have read this so quickly, and instead I was listening to the audiobook. So, it's taken me a couple weeks to listen to it. Elle Fanning does a fantastic job. She's a fabulous narrator. I think she's perfect for narrating this particular book. I had seen this book everywhere. And much like I Hope This Finds You Well, which Erin previewed, Erin actually read and finished Margo's Got Money Troubles.
[00:21:46] She talked about it on a New Release Rundown, and often those episodes become like where fellow staffers hand sells each other books. And so, essentially, Erin hand sold me on Margot's got money troubles. Then I started seeing it everywhere. So, I want to give kudos to Erin because she is who first told me about this book. But then it started popping up everywhere. Our friend and customer Meg, I'm pretty sure she posted about it. My friend Ruth Ann texted me about it. And what I thought was interesting was the people texting me about this book or the people telling me about this book, I would not have thought would pick this up. Because if you are not familiar, this book is about Margo. Margo is a 19, 20-year-old girl, young woman, and she sleeps with her college professor and becomes pregnant and she decides to keep the baby. And in order to financially support her child, she starts an OnlyFans account.
[00:22:48] So let me be very clear, there is sexual content in this book. Now, I found it incredibly funny and a real eye-opening look into sex work and I guess the sex industry. Is that a phrase we use? I don't know. Anyway, because of this description, because particularly of this OnlyFans part of the plot, the fact that Erin was handselling me this book and talking about this book, but she said, "Trust me, trust me." And I now join the masses in saying, "Trust me, trust me. This book is so good." It reminds me of Little Miss Sunshine because this is a wide-ranging cast of characters. Our main character is Margo, and she is going to all kinds of lengths to be a good mom for Bodie. And that phrase 'good mom' or that word 'good' play such an important role in Margo's character development and in why she makes the decisions that she makes.
[00:23:58] Throughout the book, we're introduced to a couple of Margo's fellow OnlyFans creators. I'm sure that's it. We are also introduced to Margo's mother, Cheyenne, and Margo's dad, Jinx, who is a retired WWE wrestler. He had been absent from Margo's life. He had had an affair with Margo's mother, Cheyenne, and then kind of went back to his family. And so, Margo was essentially raised by single mom Cheyenne. Jinx reenters the picture after getting out of rehab for an opiate addiction or a heroin addiction from all this pain, he's in back pain from his WWE years. Anyway, there's a lot happening in this book. I promise it's a wild ride. At one point I was like, can I listen to this any faster? This is why I said I almost wish I'd had the physical copy instead, because so much is happening.
[00:25:07] Even though Elle Fanning is a fantastic narrator, so much is happening. The book moves at the perfect pace, and it is extremely heartwarming because Margo just keeps making horrible decisions. Just the worst decisions. Multiple times I was talking out loud to Margo, wondering, why are you doing this? But Rufi Thorpe tells us exactly why Margo is doing it. So, on top of this quirky, dysfunctional family story with all of these interesting, complex characters that feel like straight out of an indie movie or sitcom, Rufi Thorpe is doing something truly inventive, amazing, awe-inspiring with perspective. I don't even know how to explain it, except the book plays with perspective in a way that at one point I paused it. I was listening to it. Jordan was like, what are you listening to? Because like I said, there is some pretty explicit sexual content in this book.
[00:26:19] It all feels quite clinical because we're getting it mostly from Margo's perspective. And so, she is trying to figure out like what works on OnlyFans and why, and what can get her more fans and help her make more money for Bodie. But I paused it at one point and I looked at Jordan and I said, "I think this book is genius." Like the way that this book is playing with perspective. And then there are also themes about money, class, addiction. But also, this book is just fun. Look, I adored this book. Five stars. Margo's Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe. You've seen it a ton of places. I'm just here to join the voices of the masses and say, this book is great.
[00:27:03] And you know I'm a pretty prudish reader. I hate using that word for myself, but it's pretty accurate. I like closed door scenes in my romance novels or in my romcoms. This is not that. I mean, this is explicit "open door" content, but at the same time, the way it's handled is so interesting because it's clinical. It's Rufi Thorpe playing with sex and Margo figuring out the human psyche and what we're actually looking for, what we're actually looking for, what we actually want. I thought this book was brilliant. I don't. I don't know anything else to say. It's Margo's got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe.
[00:27:55] Then I read-- or kind of while I was listening to that, I suppose, I was reading the physical copy of Blues Sisters. This is by Coco Mellors. This releases on September 3rd. But I have seen it a ton of places, and I think that's because it's out in the UK already. I did not read Coco Mellor's first book, Cleo and Frankenstein, although now I'd really like to because I loved Blue Sisters and I suspected I would. I got an ARC y'all months ago. And I put it to the side because it didn't release until September, and I thought, let me read that closer to when I actually need to read it. The cover is beautiful. I think a lot of people-- maybe even I read reviews like this. I think a lot of people will make the Little Women comparison. It's about four sisters the Blue Sisters, Avery, Bonnie, Nicky and Lucky.
[00:28:51] The books focus on Avery, Bonnie, and Lucky because their sister Nicky died a year ago of an accidental overdose. And that's not a spoiler. You immediately know these three sisters are coping and rearranging themselves around the loss of their sister, and really the sister who was the glue. Avery is a stereotypical eldest daughter. She, by her own admission, kind of went off the rails in her late teens, early 20s, became addicted to I think is heroin. And now is clean; has been sober for a decade, maybe two decades. Bonnie is the next oldest sister. She is an athlete, a boxer. She reminded me so much of the young women I read about in Headshot. And then lucky is the youngest daughter. She feels like the stereotypical youngest daughter. She left home the earliest out of all of her family. Of all of her sisters, she's an aspiring model, fashion model, and kind of a hard partier.
[00:30:02] So this book is being sold as a sister story. And it is. The book focuses on their three perspectives Avery, Bonnie and Lucky. What I want you to know is really this is a book about a family who struggles with addiction and the consequences of addiction. Not only do you have Avery, who is an addict in recovery, but you have Nicky, whose perspective we never receive but we learn a lot about her. We learn her path to addiction. And it was an unusual path. Or perhaps sadly not unusual. But basically, she became addicted to painkillers while struggling with living with endometriosis. And then we have Lucky, who's kind of this hard partier. And we have Bonnie, who might maybe be addicted to pain. Loves working out at the gym. Loves being a boxer.
[00:31:01] Anyway. I loved all of these women. All of these women live incredibly fraught lives. And I don't know what I was expecting-- no, I'll tell you what I was expecting. Because the cover and the blurbs, I was expecting. Hello Beautiful. And that's not what this is. This is not Hello Beautiful. Which I loved Hello Beautiful. I loved Blue Sisters, but these are very different books. So, I guess when you look at this book and you see four watercolors of these beautiful sisters, it's not just that. It is a portrait of those sisters, but it's also a portrait of addiction. I loved this book. It is a gut-wrenching book. This book made me sad. This book was not, "Oh, that was beautiful, I loved it." This was, "Oh, that landed heavily on my chest." And, look, I love books like that. So, I loved Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors. It's out on September 3rd.
[00:32:06] And I hope I haven't deterred anyone from reading it. That's not my intent at all. I just want you to know what it is. It is a portrait of these sisters. It is also, I'll say, like I was talking about the Leone Moriarty book, this is character-driven. The main plot point is that the sisters are trying to clean out the New York apartment where their sister Nicky was living, and it's their childhood apartment. So, they're unpacking, literally and figuratively, a lot of things from their childhood. And they're trying, I think, in their own way, to get closure a year after Nikki's death. Although, it quickly becomes apparent you never fully get closure. What I will say for readers like my mom, is that there are hopeful and redemptive parts of this book. So, it's not all some tragedy. That's not true at all. It's, I think, a very realistic portrayal of life after grief, of a family grappling with the consequences of addiction. And I really did love all four really, all four of these women and all the stories that I heard about them. I felt like I knew them. So Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors releases on September 3rd. So, you do have to wait a little bit for that one.
[00:33:28] Then I read-- I think I've said this before, but I am in a book club with my goddaughter. She is nine years old and we hadn't met in a little bit. The chaos of school ending and then, quite frankly, the chaos of my own life. We had not met since our, I think, February meeting where we read Ballet Shoes together. If you'll recall, neither of us enjoyed Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield. That makes me very sad as you've got me a loving person. So, yeah, we did not like that book. So, we alternate in picking books. I'm sure you're totally shocked. I picked Ballet Shoes. So, my goddaughter picked Howl's Moving Castle. This is by Diana Wynnexth Jones. I was not familiar with this book at all in any way, shape or form. In fact, I misplaced my note with the title of this book and ordered a different book with Castle in the title. Howl's Moving Castle is the name. I'm saying Howl, H-o-w-l. Howl's Moving Castle.
[00:34:30] You will recognize this book, dear listener, because it was an Academy Award nominated-- winning? I think nominated, film adaptation. So, there was an animated film called Howl's Moving Castle that was either an Academy Award winner or Academy Award nominated. The entire Bookshelf staff loves this book. They loved this book. They love this movie. When I told them I was reading it, they all were absolutely giddy. I had never heard of it, so I was the clueless one. My goddaughter picked it because I'm pretty sure a bookseller recommended it. I'm pretty sure that's what my friend told me. It's a bookseller who recommended it. So, Howl's Moving Castle, a couple of things to say about this. My goddaughter loved it, and she's nine years old. She's extremely, in my very biased opinion, smart. She's an avid reader. She loved this book.
[00:35:24] I, an adult reader, did not enjoy this book. An adult reader who loves realistic magic in books, that doesn't make any sense. My goddaughter is way more comfortable with fantasy than I am. Harry Potter is about the extent of my fantasy reading. I like Ella Enchanted-- like, I don't know, I think it just depends. But I went into this with an open mind. But so much happens in this book. And what I did find out from Keila, Malory [sp], I think maybe even Kyndall, is they all saw the movie first and then read the book. And they told me the book is totally different from the movie. Now my goddaughter and I have a date to watch this movie together. So, I'll report back on that. But I think because they read or they saw the movie first when they read the book, it was easy for them-- they said this themselves, it was easy for them to kind of pull out the major plot points.
[00:36:33] Because what I had a hard time with when I was reading this book, is I just felt like I was being introduced to a new character or a new plot line over and over and over again. And I admit I don't mind magic, but it has to be-- when I say realistic magic, I feel like it has to mirror something in this world. And there was a fire demon in this book. There were witches in this book. There were wizards in this book. The main plot that I know of is Sophie. Sophie has two sisters. Sophie winds up coming under the spell of an older witch. And Sophie is transformed. She is 17, she is transformed into a 90-year-old woman- so an old woman. And she winds up becoming the housekeeper for Howl. Howl is, I believe, a wizard of some kind, and he has a castle that moves around.
[00:37:32] This book was originally published in 1986, which was fascinating to me. I also think it's interesting because although my goddaughter is nine and really enjoyed this book, I started reading it and was surprised because the characters are all teenagers and there's also a slight romantic plotline, and that was surprising to me out of middle grade fiction. And then I realized, oh, there was no such thing as young adult. Young adult books were not a thing in 1986. Young adult books were barely a thing when I graduated high school, that was barely a genre, at least that I can recall. So, what I think is that this book is shelved as middle grade because that's what it was when it was released in 1986. But in my mind, an older reader would get more out of this. Maybe a 12-year-old, a 13-year-old, a 14-year-old. Again, my nine-year-old daughter loved it. So, what do I know?
[00:38:31] But as an adult reader, I thought it was just weird to see a romantic kind of plot line. And I think Diana Wynnexth Jones did a good job, where the romance wasn't the most important thing. The three girls in the book are incredibly self-sufficient. They are adults, but they also-- like one of them wants to get married. And I just was like, what is this book? It's a young adult book, I think. But my goddaughter loved it. She loved the magic parts of it. We had a great book conversation about it. I did not like this book, and I'm going to watch the movie and see if that changes my opinion at all, because I cannot tell you how much the bookshelf staff loves this book and I feel like the odd one out. So that is Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynnexth Jones Next up for our book club together will be, I think, A Rover Story, because Olivia loves that book and my goddaughter loves space. So that is what is up next for us.
[00:39:34] Okay, then on my July 4th little vacation, little trip that we took, I took the book Heavy Hitter. This is by Katie Cotugno. This releases on August 20th. So, you do have to wait a little bit for this one. I specifically took it for two reasons. First of all, I don't know what this says about me as a person, but it was red, white and blue. And I thought, well, that looks fun. I picked it up off the ARC pile at The Bookshelf. It has a red, white and blue cover. I had read Katie Cotugno's book Birds of California, I'm pretty sure, during the pandemic, and I really liked it. I had not read-- though I wish I had-- Meet the Benedetto and that was her latest. I think she's written young adult books as well, but those are her two adult books.
[00:40:25] This is a romcom romance novel, and on the back, it tries to tell you it's about all these other-- I mean, it's fiction about all these other types of couples, but it's Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. That's what this book is. Lacey is a pop star, and then Jimmy is a baseball player on the cusp of retirement, so that's the difference. But Lacey and Jimmy are clearly extremely inspired by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. I'm sure many of you could name me other romcoms and romance novels that have also been inspired by Travis and Taylor. This is the one I happen to read. I'm sure there are others. It's cute. It is fast. I flew through it. It is super short-- or it felt super short. Lacey is exactly who you think she is. She is a billionaire. She's a brunette. She's a billionaire brunette pop star. And Jimmy is kind of crotchety. I almost wonder if he-- I don't know, he reminds me ever so slightly of Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own. I mean, he's handsome and young, but he's kind of crotchety, kind of grouchy on the cusp of retirement. He's a major league catcher.
[00:41:45] So here are the things I loved about this book. Look, I don't mind Taylor and Travis fanfiction, so liked that. Liked how fast it was. Liked that I flew through it. Liked that it felt summery because of baseball. I do know that baseball goes into the fall. You don't have to tell me that. I liked the baseball elements, and I liked the behind-the-scenes pop star elements. This is an open-door romance. Although, there are not a ton of romance scenes, but just the ones that there are slightly open door. I loved the length of this book. But I also would have loved more character development. And there were a couple of things that I could not believe were not finally addressed. Like, Lacey has an assistant and an agent who she is talking to a lot throughout the novel. And frequently there are leaks to the press about her and Jimmy.
[00:42:50] And I kept waiting, I just assumed, I was like, oh, somebody on her team is leaking this information. No, we don't know where that leak came from, which maybe is realistic. Maybe that's realistic to what a pop star's life is actually like, but it felt like there were things hinted to that were never addressed. And, anyway, I really liked this book. I think if you just need quick, I mean like by the pool-- I would have taken this down by the beach and had it finished in a couple hours. It is so short. It's so quick. I really did like Lacey and Jimmy. I liked Jimmy a lot better. Now, these are fictional characters. Obviously, yes, they are based on this romance between Travis and Taylor, but these are entirely fictional characters. And I thought Jimmy was a more fleshed out character.
[00:43:38] And perhaps Katie Cotugno was trying to tell us something about how you can never really know a billionaire pop star. I'm not sure. But I really liked the character of Jimmy. But there were things about Lacey's friends and family, and things about Jimmy's family that were hinted to, and we got a little bit of, but we never got more. So, it just felt like a book that even though I loved the length and I loved how quickly I could read it, I would not have minded. Its good writing. I would not have minded more and gotten a little bit more out of these characters. But if you just need a quick romp of a book, this is fine. You will enjoy this. It'll leave a smile on your face. You'll have a good time. That is Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotugno. It is out on August 20th. It's a paperback original.
[00:44:27] So those are the books I read in July. As usual with our reading recap bundles, we are offering a bundle for this month. Our July Reading Recap bundle is $77 and it includes All the Colors of the Dark. That's the Chris Whitaker book about Patch and Saint. I Hope This Finds You Well, which is the book about the office worker. And Margo's got money troubles. You can find more details and the July bundle online through the link in our show notes, or go to Bookshelfthomasville.com and type today's episode number, that's 487 in the search bar.
[00:45:08] This week I'm reading Entitlement by Rumaan Alam.
[00:45:10] Annie Jones: From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Thomasville, Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website:
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at:
Special thanks to Studio D Podcast Production for production of From the Front Porch and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
Our Executive Producers of today’s episode are…
Cammy Tidwell, Linda Lee Drozt, Martha, Stephanie Dean, Ashley Ferrell, Jennifer Bannerton, Gene Queens
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, Susan Hulings
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