Episode 488 || August New Release Rundown
This week on From the Front Porch, it’s another New Release Rundown! Annie, Erin, and Olivia are sharing the August 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 488” into the search bar and tap enter to find the books mentioned in this episode), or shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:
Annie's books:
Five-Star Stranger by Kat Tang (8/6)
Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotungo (8/20)
That Librarian by Amanda Jones (8/27)
Olivia's books:
I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell (8/13)
Not Nothing by Gayle Forman (8/27)
The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs (8/27)
Erin's books:
Hum by Helen Phillips (8/6)
Highway Thirteen: Stories by Fiona McFarlane (8/13)
What’s Next? by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack (8/13)
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 Playworld by Adam Ross. Olivia is reading Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman. Erin is listening to The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella.
If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.
We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.
Our Executive Producers are...Jennifer Bannerton, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Susan Hulings, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, and Amanda Whigham.
Transcript:
[squeaky porch swing] Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
“This is her superpower, she reminds herself firmly: her insatiable hunger for every crumb of meanness anyone has ever flung in her direction, the knowledge that there is nothing anyone can say about her, no matter how cutting or poisonous or untrue, that she doesn’t want to hear. All of it is data, and data is power.” - Katie Cotugno, Heavy Hitter
[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 August. If you’re a new or newish listener, you might not realize that From the Front Porch is a production of The Bookshelf, a small, independently-owned bookstore in rural South Georgia. By listening to our show and recommending it to friends, you’re helping to keep our indie bookstore in business, and if you like what you hear, one way you can financially support us is through Patreon. In 2024, we’re conquering the classic American novel Lonesome Dove together with monthly recap episodes. Guys, it's so good. It's going to be one of my favorite books of all time. For $5 a month, you can access these conversations as well as our porch visits, which are monthly. Live Q&A is where we talk about everything from pop culture to nail polish, to what books you should take on your next vacation. To learn more about Patreon tiers and benefits, just visit Patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. I'd love for you to join us there. I also just quickly want to put in a note that we are recording a bonus podcast episode about Jaws comparing the book to the film, and that will drop in Patreon as well. Now, back to the show! Hello, Olivia. Hello, Erin.
Erin [00:02:18] Hello.
Olivia [00:02:19] Hi.
Annie Jones [00:02:21] Welcome back. It's August.
Olivia [00:02:23] Everyone's favorite month, as we discussed last time.
Annie Jones [00:02:33] I love it so much. Olivia, so maybe the world of thrillers or kid lit is different, but I do feel like August is a little bit of a no man's land in publishing. I don't know if that's true, but it feels like it's not yet big fall releases like all of these, I don't know, big books coming out in September. You're Sally Rooney's, Liane Moriarty's, etc. And then it feels like the beach reads are dying down. Like we're not really getting the Riley Sager's. I don't know, maybe we're getting a few of those in August. But for me, it was tough to find August releases that I was excited about. And I kept reading books, it's not that I haven't been reading, but I looked at the release dates and I thought, I haven't read anything for August. Did you guys have any trouble with this month's picks?
Erin [00:03:19] I had trouble deciding. I had to run all of my books past Kyndall and Mallory yesterday.
Annie Jones [00:03:25] Okay.
Erin [00:03:26] So they actually decided my list for me.
Olivia [00:03:29] Nice.
Annie Jones [00:03:31] Great. Mallory and Kyndall approved.
Olivia [00:03:33] Yes, mine are great. Like I said, I found some great ones, but I feel like I really had to scrabble hard. Like, I had to really dig down deep and search really hard to find these good books.
Annie Jones [00:03:46] Well, and it may have to do with the genres I normally gravitate toward. The reality just might be that the Claire Lombardo's and Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s, their books already came out. Elizabeth Strout, she's coming in the fall. You know what I mean? I think it might just be that my genre is more fall, I guess, or, I don't know, big spring books. But I did find three that I'm excited to talk about. I'll go ahead and kick us off with Five-Star Stranger. This is by Kat Tang. It releases on August 6th, and I am in the middle of this book right now. I picked it back up last night. I really do like it. If you like or are looking for quirky lit, I think this will be for you. So, I think about I Hope This Finds You Well, which is a book I read last month and really liked. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead. If you like books like that, I think you're going to like this. And also, this book plays a lot with the things plaguing the modern era. So, I think about technology, AI, I don't know, star ratings, things like that.
[00:05:01] So Five-Star Stranger is about an as yet unnamed. So, I believe he remains unnamed. But it is this man who works for an app. Think like Uber or TaskRabbit, one of those kinds of apps. Only this is Rental Stranger. That's the name of the app. Rental stranger you can contract with them and be a person who people rent for dates that they need. Or maybe they need help, like a TaskRabbit, like putting something together. Maybe they need to fake date somebody in front of their strict parents. Or maybe they want to test out a breakup with somebody, and so they test the breakup with their rental stranger before they go on to break up with their significant other. So, I thought this concept was interesting. Honestly, I'm shocked this doesn't already really exist in the world. And maybe it does and I just am naive and don't know about it. But it felt like a real service that would actually exist in our current culture and world.
[00:06:11] So this particular rental stranger has a five-star rating on the app. He's extremely popular. He's well-liked. What I thought was kind of humorous and funny, as the book begins to kind of build this character for you, is he changes costume. Like he has wigs, he has outfits that he like changes into based on who he needs to be for a particular person. It reminded me a little bit of the Glen Powell movie we just watched called The Hitman, where he's changing into who somebody needs him to be. That is exactly what's happening here only nobody's dying. There's no killing involved. So, we meet the five-star stranger when he is-- it's kind of a funny, introduction to him. He is walking a little girl to school, and so you the reader think, oh, he's her dad. And she calls him dad, but turns out he is just somebody this woman rents to help her raise her child, to be a father-like influence on her daughter. But she's a single mom. She's unmarried. This little girl doesn't really know who her father is. So, the five-star stranger stands in as her father.
[00:07:25] That's as far as I've gotten, but I think the premise is there. It's a thin book. It's not super long. So, I think this is going to continue playing with the realities of our world and our culture. And as convenient as a five-star rental stranger might be, I do think perhaps there will be consequences of renting a stranger to help raise your child. And it sounds like some things come out of the rental stranger's past that maybe led him to this career. So, I'm intrigued. It's short. I think I'll finish it in a flash. It is Five-Star Stranger by Kat Tang, out on August 6th.
Erin [00:08:06] That is a really interesting premise.
Annie Jones [00:08:09] Yeah, I think so too.
Olivia [00:08:10] Yeah, I picked it up to start reading it too, and then saw Annie was going to read it. So, I was like, I'll wait on it, but I think I might go back to it and finish it.
Annie Jones [00:08:18] Yeah, I'm intrigued enough that am like, I think I'll finish this. Because like you said, the premise is original and it feels of our time. Like, I don't know, feels interesting to think about those consequences.
Erin [00:08:34] Because surely that app is coming.
Olivia [00:08:39] Not already here.
Annie Jones [00:08:39] Like I said, yeah. It's not already here. Something that could be a catchall; it's not just, for example, like an escort service or something like that. It's something that you might need for other things entirely. I think one of the scenarios was a woman needed to make her partner jealous. So, he came to the restaurant and pretended to be her date kind of thing. So, anyway, he's being rented for all of these needs. It's fascinating.
Erin [00:09:10] I would be interested in in how much they get paid. If they talk about hourly wages at all in the book, let me know.
Olivia [00:09:18] I'll report back [crosstalk].
Erin [00:09:21] [Inaudible] how much is my time worth?
Annie Jones [00:09:23] Yes.
Erin [00:09:25] That's a good question.
Annie Jones [00:09:28] I believe the implication is he makes quite a bit of money. I'll also tell you, in American tipping culture, he's tipped quite well. So, there's also tips involved, which I thought was interesting.
Olivia [00:09:42] Okay.
Erin [00:09:45] My next book, I think you actually both would like, it's the new Jessa Maxwell. She wrote the Golden Spoon. This is her newest book, I Need You to Read This. And it's about an advice columnist. A murder mystery involving an advice columnist. I thought you guys would like that one.
Olivia [00:10:04] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:10:05] I want it to be an advice columnist.
Erin [00:10:07] I somehow think I knew that.
Annie Jones [00:10:11] I would have loved that.
Olivia [00:10:12] You still can. You still can, friend. You can.
Annie Jones [00:10:15] Yeah, maybe.
Erin [00:10:17] But this girl, Alex, has read this Dear Constance advice column her whole life. She loves it. Even if the advice doesn't really pertain to her, she still loves the writer who does it, and she thinks she does a great way of incorporating every everyone's lives into someone's specific advice. But when that advice columnist gets murdered, Alex, drunkenly decides that she's just going on a whim, apply for the job. And she gets it. And then she realizes that as an advice columnist, your life isn't as private as you think it is. Because you are writing for a newspaper, your name is out there. And the letters she starts receiving just are pretty sinister.
[00:11:08] They're angry that she took over for this woman. There's an idea that maybe this woman was murdered by someone in the company. And so, she starts to, in her own way, investigate it. I didn't think she went too far, which is one of the tropes that I hate. But I thought it was a really good mystery. I think Jessa Maxwell does these mysteries where you might see the end coming. I saw the end coming, but that didn't deter from my enjoyment in the novel. And you can also tell-- she has a forward. I hope she puts it in her actual book. But she has always loved advice columns. And you can tell that in this book because she will put in her own advice as Alex's first advice column, like, this is what it was. And like, it's good advice.
Annie Jones [00:12:12] Fun.
Erin [00:12:12] Yeah. So, you can tell that she already loves that, and then she added a mystery element on top of it, which is something that also brings her joy. So it was really fun. I Need You to Read This, it's out August 13th, By Jessa Maxwell.
Annie Jones [00:12:28] I do think I'd like to read that. I loved the Dear Prudence columns in Slate. I love an advice column. Shock to no one.
Olivia [00:12:37] I'm so excited that our dear store friend, Eric Thomas, is now doing his own advice column. I need to find it so I can get all of his advice sent to me weekly.
Annie Jones [00:12:50] Yeah, and I think he'd be great at it because I do think it takes this combination of humor because you don't want to be mean in your advice. I mean, maybe some people get a kick out of that, but I don't. And also like actually helpful advice. I would not write an advice column next unless I really wanted advice. And so, anyway, I've long been fascinated. I mean, as a kid, I used to read-- well, Miss Manners was different. But what was the advice column? Dear Abby. I loved the Dear Abby column as a kid?
Olivia [00:13:19] Yeah.
Erin [00:13:19] The boss of the original Dear Constance-- I think her name was Florence or something. But her whole method was she would read a letter, and then the first letter that made her cry was the one that she would respond to.
Olivia [00:13:33] Okay.
Annie Jones [00:13:33] Oh, interesting.
Olivia [00:13:35] So they were always sad questions. Or they were just what moved her.
Erin [00:13:40] No, I think it was what moved her.
Olivia [00:13:43] That makes sense. You probably got a ton of letters [crosstalk].
Annie Jones [00:13:49] I think I'd like to read that. Probably ranging a wide range of issues.
Erin [00:13:53] That sounds fantastic. I can't wait to read that one. My first book is called Hum. I feel like I'm very southern when I say that. Hum By Helen Phillips. It comes out August the 6th. Speaking of what you were talking about how we use AI and ratings and apps, there is sort of a storyline with this too. And this is set in a future where climate change has kind of wreaked havoc on this person's city, our protagonist. Her name is Mae Webb, and she is a married mother of two. Her kids are like elementary age. She has lost her job because of AI. It was able to do her job for her and so she lost her job. There was no more position for her. And her husband is doing these gig-based type jobs. It's sort of like Five-star Stranger rent a stranger. He comes and empties out people's mousetraps, or he helps them build their furniture or whatever they need. He'll go do that. And so, he's not making a lot of money. So they're both stressed about money. And in order to get money, she kind of offers up her body for science.
[00:15:06] There's a company who will basically give you facial reconstruction surgery, but just enough so that you can avoid the facial recognition cameras that are everywhere in the city. And so, she decides like, okay, it's worth it because they pay her a lot of money, as much as she was making at her job previously. So she undergoes that surgery in the very beginning of the book. She's sort of dealing with that for the rest of the book because none of the cameras recognize her, so she has keep using her thumb for things. I guess in this situation you can still use your fingerprints. But it all felt very futuristic yet super relatable. How many of us open things now with our thumb or our phone opens because of our face. It feels very much like we're like, oh yeah, that's the future. And then we're like, oh my gosh, no it's not. It's right now.
Annie Jones [00:16:00] The future's here. The future is now.
Erin [00:16:03] So with all that money, she decides to book three days at this botanical garden in the city where they live. And it's this place that still has dirt and grass and plants and animals and flowers, and they're just not used to that. They don't have access to that where they are in the city, so they go. It cost a lot of money. In order to try to connect with her kids and her husband, she's like, why don't we all leave our devices at home? Why don't we all leave our phones? They all have phones and the kids have these watches that they wear that are called bunnies. And I think it's funny, but it's kind of one of those find me sort of things. Like, she can track her kids, she knows where they are at all times. So she's like, why don't we just try to really disconnect and leave all of our stuff at home? And that becomes a plot line because while they're there, they're enjoying themselves. On one of the last days, the kids go missing and so she's not able to find them. And so, it sort of sets these chain reactions into motion where-- and it's okay. Just to be fair, the kids are fine. They're okay.
[00:17:13] I don't want anyone worrying the two children are going to die in this book. They're okay. But it sets into motion these events that really changes their life and really threatens their ability to stay together as a family. So it's a super short book. It's less than 300 pages. I think it's like 270 pages. And what really struck me is there's a lot going on in this book. I mean, it's futuristic, there's AI, there's climate change, there's robots, there's all these things that you would feel like, oh, that's just too much. That's not for me. But honestly, all that fades into the background. It just feels like a story about a family trying to connect when there are things trying to pull you apart and isolates you. So I think we all have experienced that. Even just in our culture, everything trying to isolate us, we're on our phones at the dinner table or whatever, you know all these things people talk about. So as a mom, it was just good to read and see how this other mother, even a fictional mother, struggles with how to deal with technology as you try to raise a family in a culture that doesn't value being together in real life anymore. So it's called Hum by Helen Phillips, comes out August 6th.
Olivia [00:18:29] I love Helen Phillips. I really liked this one, too. She wrote The Need, which was really good. I think Mary Laura Philpot also really liked it, because she came here and we talked about it together. And they're short chapters. You fly through it.
Erin [00:18:45] Yeah, super short.
Olivia [00:18:46] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:18:47] Yeah, I think I saw the physical ARC at the store yesterday. So I think I'd like to take this one. I want to know Erin-- or Olivia, since you read it too-- after reading it, did it make you stressed or want to quit everything and move to the middle of the woods? Sometimes I read books like this and I'm like, I can't believe it's here.
Erin [00:19:09] Olivia is like, I would never. Nothing would make me want to do that.
Olivia [00:19:13] No.
Annie Jones [00:19:13] She lives in the middle of the woods right now.
Olivia [00:19:16] [Inaudible] and I have technologies. As Erin said, it did feel really based in reality. Bunnies are essentially like our AI Apple Watches. We're already there. It's just the biggest part was the climate change for me, then that was just kind of sad. This was like the last remaining garden that people now like go to like touristy visits.
Annie Jones [00:19:41] I just sometimes read these "post-apocalyptic" novels, but part of me reads them and I'm like, oh, is this like in five years? I feel like I used to read books like that and would think, yeah, yeah, but I don't have to worry about that. But AI taking people's jobs, that's happening right now.
Olivia [00:20:02] Yeah. I think they are called Clify [sp] the climate [crosstalk].
Annie Jones [00:20:10] Yes, that's right. Clify.
Erin [00:20:11] It made me think about how we use technology. But I feel like it's here to stay. And for all of the chatter about, like, let's go back to dumb phones, I don't think that's going to happen. And it does a good balance of like, let's try to see where we can connect while also acknowledging that technology is here and does have its merits. So it didn't make me feel like I wanted to run away. As a mom, you're always like, dang those phones, dang technology. But it's here to stay. So it's like, how can we work it into our family life and not just try to get rid of it altogether?
Annie Jones [00:20:54] My next book is really, really lightweight, too light hearted. If you need something light and fun to kind of close out your summer, you could try Heavy Hitter. This is by Katie Cotungo No. Did I pronounce that right? Anyway, this book releases on August 20th. I pick this up at first purely because I was headed out of town for the July 4th weekend and it was red, white and blue. And I was like, this looks fun. It was red, white and blue and it released in August. We were recording this podcast, so I was like, this sounds fun. Basically, this is a romcom romance novel. To me, it is fan fiction. Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift. That is what this is. Only our main characters names are Lacy and Jimmy. Lacy is a billionaire pop star. She does have brown hair, so that part is different. And Jimmy is a baseball player on his way to retirement, so he's kind of aging out. He's a catcher. His body is really sore. And so, he's headed toward retirement. The two have a funny, sweet meet cute.
[00:22:08] This book is open door. Although, there are a ton of romance scenes or sex scenes because Lacey and Jimmy have two very huge careers and they kind of live them far apart. She is touring. He plays for the Baltimore Orioles. And so he is, hopefully, making his way to potentially the World Series. I love the baseball parts of this book. I love a sports adjacent book. This kind of scratched that itch. And, look, I'm as invested in Taylor and Travis's relationship as the rest of the world. My explore page on Instagram is full of that. And tips about Paris pickpockets. That's what's currently my explore page. I like Travis and Taylor. I've enjoyed following their love story. If you like that, this really is so very clearly based on that. I think Katie Cotungo is a really good writer. I read her first book called Birds of California-- not her first book ever. I think she was a young adult author, but I think that was her first book for grownups. She also wrote Meet the Benedettos, which I did not read but heard good things about.
[00:23:17] So this is her latest. I will just say this is-- talk about short, this is a short little book. And if you can go into it knowing you're just getting a snapshot of a relationship because there were so much here that I felt like I wanted more of. I wanted more about what it's like to be a billionaire pop star, and how to navigate paparazzi and who to trust in relationships and things like that. And a lot of those things were hinted to, but nothing was ever resolved or fully discussed. Jimmy has a really interesting familial back story. He lost his brother to addiction. That is something, again, that is kind of hinted to and briefly mentioned, but I don't know if it was the author's desire to keep things light and fun, or if it was the publisher's desire to get this book out in time. Get this book out before Taylor and Travis [crosstalk] break up. And so, anyway, parts of it felt a little rushed. But if you go into it just knowing this is fun; I watched a Taylor-Travis clip on Instagram, and now I'm going to read this, then I think this will be absolutely fine for those purposes. It releases on August 20th. It is very fun. Loved the baseball parts. It's Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotungo.
Erin [00:24:39] Do you think we're going to see more Taylor-Travis fanfiction?
Annie Jones [00:24:43] Yes, I can tell you 100%. As somebody who just went through all the adult fall catalogs, so many romcoms with a pop star and a sports star. So many romance romcoms. I think some are out already. This is the only one I have read thus far. I would not be opposed to reading another one. I mean, like I said, I like sports books. I also think we will soon have fatigue, because I think there's a lot of these coming down the pipe.
Olivia [00:25:11] Well, you got to weed out which ones are worth your time, too.
Annie Jones [00:25:14] Yeah, you got to find the good ones. You got to dig.
Olivia [00:25:18] My next book is middle grade. This is by an author that I do really like. It's Gayle Forman. She wrote Frankie and Bug and a couple other books a while back. I loved Frankie and Bug, and so I picked up this one because I thought it'd be great, and it was. This is out August 27th. Whoo! Glad I had that tab up, everybody. It's called Not Nothing. And it's about Alex. He's 12 years old, and a while back he did something really bad. You do find out what it is at the very end of the book. But, when it's referenced in the beginning, in the middle, you just know that it was something he's ashamed of and that it was really bad. It was bad enough that a judge has sentenced him to spend his summer volunteering at a retirement home where he meets a great group of characters, one of them being this man named Josey. His full name is Joseph, but he goes by Josey. He's 107. He's a Holocaust survivor, and he has been refusing to speak ever since he's gotten to this retirement home. And when he meets Alex, Alex is in his room kind of tidying things up, dropping off a meal, and he accidentally bump into the portrait of his wife and it falls to the floor. And Alex just casually asks him who the portrait is, and Josey decides to start telling him the story of how he met his wife and how they got through the Holocaust.
Erin [00:26:56] Wow
Olivia [00:26:57] It is a beautiful story. The story is actually told almost exclusively from Josey's point of view. It's Josey writing this book about meeting Alex, Alex's summer at this retirement home, and how Alex really turned himself around to redeem himself for his court date at the end of the summer. Because you do learn that Alex has a negligent mom. She is not in the picture. He hasn't seen her for months, and he's living with an aunt and uncle who don't want him. So there's a lot of angst and anger there that is actually sadness, but comes out as anger. And it's Josey's story of connecting with Alex and changing his life. It was so sweet and so beautiful. And I think it'll catch the middle grade audience that is interested in World War Two, because here's a story of someone who survived it. But also you have this really great boy protagonist who isn't perfect, and really isn't trying to be perfect either. He finally found something he's interested in and can do well. It was such a great story. It's out at the end of August the 27th. Not Nothing by Gayle Forman.
Annie Jones [00:28:23] That sounds really good.
Olivia [00:28:24] It was so good.
Erin [00:28:29] I think that's me next, sorry. I'm so sorry, I'm just thinking about that book.
Olivia [00:28:35] I know. Josey was just one of my favorite characters. And I love that it was told from his perspective because middle grade you normally get from the child's perspective, but this was like a 107-year-old telling his story.
Erin [00:28:50] I was just thinking about how they kind of, like, saved each other a little bit. He helped him to talk again and he probably-- I haven't read the book, but probably has some sort of impact on Alex. I just love those kinds of stories. Thank you. Alright. I was lost in my reverie there. Okay. My next book is called Highway Thirteen: Stories by Fiona McFarlane. It comes out August 13th. Do you like that?
Olivia [00:29:19] I like “colon stories.”
Erin [00:29:24] That's how it's listed. I feel like it has to be read that way because it is a collection of 12 short stories by Fiona McFarlane. Listen, she wrote The Sun Waltz Down, which was one of my favorite books of 2023. She's an Australian author. I think I'm just here to say that I have an obsession with Australian authors, Australian books. I don't know what it is, but it keeps coming up. So thank you, Australia, for sending us such good authors and who keep writing books that I love. This is a collection of 12 short stories, like I said, and the thread that ties them together is there's a serial killer or serial killings. And so, this is actually based on true killings that happened in the 1990s in Australia. But these are all fictional. This is fictional characters, fictional people. All the protagonists are connected to the killings in some way.
[00:30:18] So it starts in the 1950s with the future serial killer's mother, as a child. And it goes all the way to 2028 in the future where they're doing a true crime podcast about these killings. And so, all mixed in, just all times, all ages, all connections from a neighbor of the killer who is being interviewed by this publication. And it is really more reminiscent of like a lost love she had when she was young rather than whatever her connection is to the serial killer. The focus is never on the murders. It's just how did the murders affect people who knew about them or were somehow in the circle of this killer? One of the funnier ones is there's a girl who's suspicious that her boyfriend is the serial killer. All the clues seem to line up, but he's not. Don't worry. He's not the serial killer. There's a politician who's running for office at the same time as the killings are happening. He has the same last name as the killer, and he's forced to deal with the backlash of having the same last name. So they range from heartbreaking, to moving, to a little bit scary/spooky to funny. I read a review that called her an unappreciated master, and I'm just here to keep singing the praises of Fiona McFarlane because to me she's a great author as she's not one I hear a lot about. So, it's called Highway Thirteen: Stories and it comes out August 13th.
Annie Jones [00:31:58] All of these sounds so good. I wasn't sure about August, but you guys are changing my mind.
Erin [00:32:01] It's turning around.
Annie Jones [00:32:04] Did you listen to this one and or read it?
Erin [00:32:05] And reading, yeah.
Annie Jones [00:32:09] Okay. My last book is That Librarian. This is by Amanda Jones. It releases at the end of the month, August 27th. This is part memoir, part manifesto. You might be familiar with Amanda Jones. I was not, though, of course, I am very familiar with the plight Amanda Jones finds herself in. Basically, she was an educator in Louisiana for 20 plus years. She was a school librarian. She was recognized, I think, by this school library journal as School Librarian of the Year in 2021. This past year, she was recognized at the National Book Awards, as an advocate against book banning. Basically, in her parish in Louisiana, her either school board or community town hall meeting book bans were coming up like they are in so many of our communities around the country, and Amanda took it upon herself to attend that meeting and to state the educators in the librarian's point of view on why books are important, why a diverse range of books are important.
[00:33:16] And she gave her spiel and didn't really think anything of it, like I my understanding is that media. Was relatively calm. And then like two days later, three days later, all hell broke loose. Which, honestly, I'm getting sweaty just talking about this. Basically, people found her on the internet. They started targeting her, calling her a groomer. Calling her a pedophile. I don't know how to word it here on this podcast. But anyway, basically accusing her of all sorts of nefarious things because of her stance against book bans. And so, she found herself in the middle of the culture wars that we all find ourselves in kind of unexpectedly. I don't think this was ever her intent. She just is a school librarian and all of a sudden kind of finds herself in the middle of this firestorm. The thing is, I don't think Amanda Jones is unique. I think a lot of educators and librarians and perhaps even booksellers are finding themselves in these positions where they did not expect to find themselves.
[00:34:21] What's interesting about Amanda is because of the backlash that she faced online, she wound up seeking legal recourse. And she was one of the first librarians-- I don't know if anybody else has done this, but she was one of the first to seek legal recourse. She sued for defamation. I think it's fascinating. The wife of an attorney. She did not win that lawsuit. Basically, the courts said that all that was on the internet was just opinion, and it wasn't anything that affected her profession. I think we're living in a world where what people say about you on the internet matters. I just read a huge--- I don't want to say huge. It was huge to me. But I read a really interesting New York Times story all about this school in Pennsylvania where these middle school kids started creating fake TikTok accounts for their teachers and calling their teachers awful things, claiming their teachers did awful things. And the kids, because they have no prefrontal cortexes, have no idea that what they have done as a joke and a prank on TikTok has now marked these teachers forever. Like, these are not accusations that go away. Anyway, so that is fresh on my mind when reading the description of this book.
[00:35:39] This is Amanda Jones's memoir, so I think it's going to walk you through her life as an educator, and then the day I think she would say her life changed. And then I think it's also going to talk a lot about advocacy and book bans. Banned Books Week is coming up, I think, at the end of September. So this is a good book, I would think, to go ahead and get, check out from your library, buy from us, buy from your local bookstore and maybe read it during Banned Books Week so that we can understand the actual repercussions of banned books. Of course, when we ban books, they have repercussions for readers. But they also have repercussions. I mean, I think this woman is proof of how her profession and how her professional life has totally changed because of some of these things happening in her small southern community. So that is That Librarian by Amanda Jones, releases on August 27th.
Olivia [00:36:34] All right.
Annie Jones [00:36:37] Sorry, everybody doing okay? Vibe check.
Olivia [00:36:47] There's no possible segue for my next book.
Erin [00:36:52] Just clean cut. Moving on.
Olivia [00:36:55] No, I'm sure that's a really fascinating story. A must read. One of those hard but important reasons. The next one isn't hard or important, it's just fun.
Annie Jones [00:37:09] Fun matters.
Erin [00:37:09] Yeah.
Olivia [00:37:17] My next book, out August 27th, is The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry. It's the newest in a brand-new series by Ransom Riggs. He wrote Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. He is sticking with the long titles, and I don't hate it. This one is the start of a new series. The Sunderland volumes, I think, is what he's calling them. The ARC that they sent for this book was so fun. It's shaped like a VHS tape and it has a slipcover for it and everything. So this [inaudible] literally says like Sunderland Volume One. So I can't wait for the rest. This is about a kid, Leopold Berry. When he was young, he got a nickname, Larry. So everyone calls him Larry Berry, which is just a fun little tidbit just so you guys know.
Annie Jones [00:38:13] Be careful what you name your child. Although, if you name your kid Leopold, it's hard to imagine somebody going with Larry. That's not even his parents’ fault.
Olivia [00:38:20] I know. There's no A in Leopold.
Erin [00:38:23] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:38:23] I know.
Olivia [00:38:25] Or R or Y. Anyways.
Annie Jones [00:38:28] Yeah, it came out of nowhere.
Olivia [00:38:30] This is young adult. I don't remember if I've said that. This is not middle grade. This is young adult. Leopold is 18 years old. And he's just kind of one of those kids where he is right down the middle of everything. He doesn't see anything special about himself. When you first meet him, he is doing an interview with a college admissions guy who's going to get him into different universities. And one of those questions is like, what makes you stand out? And Leopold just kind of sits there and stutters and is like, I have no idea. Which I don't know, could resonate, could not. I hope we all know something special about ourselves.
Annie Jones [00:39:13] Thanks, Olivia. That's lovely.
Olivia [00:39:18] It is funny because as I was telling this to Kyndall and Mallory, they're like, yup, same. And then I was like, no, no, no. And then I said nice things about them. Don’t resonate with that part of this book. But Leopold lost his mother a couple months ago. He is now living with his stepdad-- it's his real dad, but they were never together. So he doesn't know his dad that well. They don't get along. He was his mother's child. He got along with his mother. They were best friends. And then in the wake of her death he kind of clung on to this video series called Sunderland. And it got him through a tough period of time. He watched it religiously with his best friend Emmet. And then because he was still kind of going through the waves of depression of his mother leaving, he started hallucinating things from this fantasy world, Sunderland, in real life. And he just tried to ignore it for as long as he could, but they kept coming back worse and worse.
[00:40:28] And there's a kid in Sunderland, Max, who's the main character. And to get into this fantasy world, he's given a token and he goes on this ride. And the one time Leopold was having a really bad vision, his best friend Emmett was there with him, and he got given a token. And Emmett was there, saw the whole thing. Like, he legitimately got a token. And the two of them take this trip to Sunderland. And Emmett's kind of in disbelief because he was just like, I mean, I just thought you were losing it and apparently you were not. Leopold was also feeling the same way. He was like, I also thought I was losing it, and apparently, I am not. But then they end up in Sunderland. Sunderland? I don't know how to say it. I'm just going to keep alternating and everyone just stick with me.
[00:41:18] But basically this magical world is kind of in peril right now because the the magic that keeps them afloat is running low, which then allows these creatures to come in and they're violent. And so, now they find themselves in the middle of this quest to try to help Sunderland. It was so fun. It was so good. I hadn't read YA in a while, so I was nervous because I think the last YA I read I was just like, okay, you have to put yourself in that mindset of being a high schooler. And this didn't feel like that. It didn't feel immature in any way. It just felt like here's this kid who's found himself in the middle of a magical world. Let's follow that, because why not? This is fun. I think the series is going to be really great. I mean, I loved Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I thought it was really fun, and so I'm excited to follow this one. Also, if they do anything like the cover that they sent for the ARC, the series is going to be a great collectible.
Erin [00:42:28] I wonder if The One will come with a sleeve as well to put over the book. That would be awesome.
Olivia [00:42:34] I hope it does. That would be great.
Erin [00:42:36] Yeah. Talk about custom packaging, that's impressive.
Olivia [00:42:42] Yeah.
Annie Jones [00:42:43] You see where Erin's head is at? Interesting.
Erin [00:42:46] Thinking about the [inaudible] of all those little boxes. That's awesome. Okay. My last book it's called What's Next by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack. It comes out August 13th. Listen, this book is about The West Wing, the TV show. And this TV show I was thinking as I was typing in my notes, I think The West Wing has been the most influential TV show in my life. And I don't know, is that sad? I'm not sure, but it is true. The only other person I know that loves it as much as me is one of our long-distance customers Kristen May [sp]. Shout out to Kristen May. We both are [crosstalk] The West Wing. And this show was airing while I was in college. I was a political science major and I was just like, this is what I want to do. I want to graduate. I want to go into politics. I want to be like these people and be optimistic, but also be practical and change the world and all this stuff. I have a Bartlet for America 1988 tee shirt as the president in the show.
[00:43:54] But if you liked Andy Green's oral history of the office and you love that sort of behind the scenes look, then you will love this book. I do think it helps if you have seen the show. Could you appreciate it if you haven't seen it? I think so, because of what I'll say later. But I do think it helps that if you've seen the show. So I guess that's a caveat to this. But I just wanted to talk about it. So it's very niche. But basically Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack are both actors who were on the show. And so, they spent about two to three years interviewing everyone from Aaron Sorkin, who is the creator, to every cast member to producers and people who did the costuming and all that kind of stuff. So I love that. I love seeing a behind the scenes look at my favorite show. And so they have a lot of content. It's kind of a larger book, and there's pictures. It's fantastic.
[00:44:57] But anyway, you're going to learn things you never knew about the cast members, about the process of how the show came to be and how it's changed over the years. The beauty to me of this book is it's not just an oral history. It is actually a lot of the cast members on this show in particular like Martin Sheen, who played the president, and Melissa Fitzgerald who played an assistant to the press secretary to the press secretary, they both in real life, are very civic and service minded. So they have been doing protesting and activism all their life. And it really didn't change when they were on the show. And so, they sort of created this culture at The West Wing of literal service to your country while they were portraying people who were doing that. So every other chapter or so kind of wedged in there, they will interview one of the cast members about their favorite charities they're personally involved in. Not just like, oh, I like to give money to ACLU or whatever. But it's like, these are things I've been personally involved in that I have a heart for.
[00:46:04] And so to me, they are telling you about The West Wing, but it's also like, hey, if you feel a little bit sad or helpless right now in this political landscape, here are some things that you can do to make the world a better place. Here are some charities you can get involved in that'll help our nation actually maybe become the type of nation you want to see that it can become. So I just loved it. It's fantastic. I read it all in one weekend because I was so excited about it. And it's called What's Next by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack. What's next is a phrase that I frequently say on the show. And just to kind of be like, what's the next thing we're going to do? Let's move on to the next thing. So I love that phrase.
Annie Jones [00:46:50] Did you read this physically?
Erin [00:46:52] Yes, I did. I downloaded an ARC of it.
Annie Jones [00:46:56] Oh, fun! I liked The West Wing a lot, but I have not rewatched it in a long time. I'm think about Inside Out. In my malaise about the current landscape, perhaps this would be a good book to pick up and maybe it's a show I need to rewatch now to remind me of how things could be.
Erin [00:47:19] Yes, of course I started doing a deep dive again. I started rewatching the show while I was reading it. And it also reminded me another book just came out in 1st of July called Democracy in Retrograde, which is one I have not read. I know people tend to avoid political stuff. They're just like, it's too much. I don't want to do that. But I feel like this book about The West Wing and also Democracy in Retrograde is about how can you-- wherever you live maybe you can't affect national policy. But wherever you live, what can you do to do small things to get involved with the capabilities you have and the gifts you have and the time and energy you have? Just like Mick McMahan is always telling us on the internet, like, how can we do what we can, where we can with what we've got? And so, to me that's inspiring. So that's a good book for that.
Annie Jones [00:48:10] Do you listen to The West Wing podcast?
Erin [00:48:12] I used to and then I had so many other things to listen to that I just sort of stopped listening to it.
Annie Jones [00:48:19] I wondered if it was good. I went for a while on a kick where I was listening to shows that recaps. Like, I loved Gilmore guys, but I don't think I could go back and listen to it now. They've since finished that show. But I liked it at that time I was in, and so I wondered if The West Wing one was worth. What is the guy's name? Is it Josh? What's his name.
Erin [00:48:38] Josh Malina. Yeah, it's very good. It's a good podcast. But like you said, if you don't say caught up, you tend to get behind on the podcast and then you just can't ever catch up.
Annie Jones [00:48:49] Okay. We did it. Those were the books.
Olivia [00:48:51] I've never seen The West Wing, but I'm 98% certain that Martin Sheen is in The Departed.
Erin [00:49:04] Yeah. Our Venn diagram just crossed each other. [crosstalk].
Annie Jones [00:49:08] Olivia's been being so quiet in the background.
Erin [00:49:10] She was just like, I can't wait to mention The Departed, The Departed, The Departed.
Annie Jones [00:49:14] Just waiting. While I was out of town, my goddaughter and I watched The Parent Trap. And there's a scene where Lindsay Lohan has a crush on Leonardo DiCaprio, and she talks about him. And I filmed it, and I was like, Olivia, look, somebody else. I wonder if she's seen The Departed.
Olivia [00:49:32] Probably. If not, she should watch it. Leonardo's best performance.
Erin [00:49:41] This is about to become a Leonardo DiCaprio podcast.
Olivia [00:49:44] That's the only thing I like him in.
Annie Jones [00:49:48] Olivia wants to be sure everyone knows.
Olivia [00:49:50] I'm not like a Leonardo superfan. I know he's a little bit weird, but oh my goodness, he was incredible in The Departed.
Annie Jones [00:49:58] A great actor in The Departed.
Olivia [00:49:59] What an amazing actor, who knew?
Annie Jones [00:50:03] Olivia, I am a little surprised you've never seen The West Wing. It seems like something you might like.
Olivia [00:50:07] I did watch Veep. That feels similar in a humorous way.
Annie Jones [00:50:12] I don't know if you heard the whole thing… What do people say? People say politics in America wishes it was The West Wing, but really it's Veep. And it might even be House of Cards. Or maybe you think it's House of cards. Maybe that's what it is. Politicians think it's House of Cards. Americans thinks it's The West Wing. And reality it's Veep.
Olivia [00:50:38] That feels accurate.
Annie Jones [00:50:40] It hurts me, but it's true. Okay. Well, thank you guys. As usual, you can purchase any of the books we talked about today or preorder them by browsing our podcast book selections on the website. Just go to Bookshelfthomasville.com. Today's episode number is 488. You can type that into the search bar and see all of today's books listed ready for you to preorder or purchase. Use the code NEWRELEASEPLEASE at checkout and you'll get 10% off your order of any of today's books. This week I'm reading Playworld by Adam Ross. Olivia, what are you reading?
Olivia [00:51:18] What I will be reading is Worst Case Scenario by TJ Newman as soon as the USPS drops off.
Annie Jones [00:51:29] As you wait so patiently.
Olivia [00:51:33] Please give us our mail. Just deliver our mail.
Annie Jones [00:51:34] Erin, what are you reading?
Erin [00:51:35] I am listening to The Same Bright Stars by Ethan Joella.
[00:51:36] 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:
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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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