Episode 485 || What Would Susie Read?
This week on From the Front Porch, Annie is chatting with her mom, Susie, about books for readers with PG-13 tastes. You get 10% off the Susie-approved reads mentioned in this episode when you use code SHOPMOMSELECTS at checkout online and in-store!
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (type “Episode 485” 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:
Mostly What God Does by Savannah Guthrie
The Liturgical Home by Ashley Tumlin Wallace (unavailable to order)
Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles
The Last Love Note by Emma Grey
Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor
A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey
A Place in Time by Wendell Berry
The Summer We Started Over by Nancy Thayer
You Never Know by Tom Selleck
The Women by Kristin Hannah
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 Challenger by Adam Higginbotham. Susie is reading Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews.
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]
“Confidence is necessary in life - to leave your parents' home, to begin a new job, to travel. But too much confidence leads to complacency, and to believing that my way is the only way, that my worldview is the view.” ― Janet Skeslien Charles, Miss Morgan's Book Brigade
[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 back talking to my mom about books for readers with PG-13 tastes. Before we get started, a thank you to everyone who’s been leaving reviews for From the Front Porch. iTunes reviews and ratings are how new listeners can best find out about From the Front Porch and — as a result — find out about our indie bookstore, too.
Here’s a recent review: Love this podcast! So enjoy listening to this podcast. Annie and her staff share so much information about books, reading and all things reading related. Also enjoy the episodes with family - her mom, her cousin, March Madness with Jordan - all so much fun. And The Book Shelf is delightful too! Thank you so much! If you haven’t left a review, 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. Your reviews help us spread the word about not only our podcast, but about our small brick-and-mortar business, too. Hi mom!
Susie [00:01:58] Hi, Annie Sue!
Annie Jones [00:01:59] Welcome back.
Susie [00:02:00] Happy to be here.
Annie Jones [00:02:02] You were last on in February, I guess.
Susie [00:02:05] I think so.
Annie Jones [00:02:06] And now it's summer.
Susie [00:02:07] Yes. Time flies.
Annie Jones [00:02:10] Time really does fly. Yes, it does. If you are a new listener of From the Front Porch, this is my mom, Susie. Susie is a retired preschool teacher and a pretty avid reader. She contributes to our Shelf Subscription selections. She and Nancy kind of go back and forth with shelf subscription picks. I know we've decided maybe books for sensitive readers isn't always the best descriptor, but books that are redemptive, and that don't have too much language, sex or violence.
Susie [00:02:45] True. That's good.
[00:02:46] Then these are for you. Mom has been on the podcast many times. If you want to go back and listen to some of her other episodes, they are linked in the show notes. 398, 416, 433, 447, 468. And now it's episode 485.
Susie [00:03:03] Wow!
Annie Jones [00:03:03] So many episodes. Okay, so I see the first book on your list was an Annie recommendation.
Susie [00:03:11] Yes, it was.
Annie Jones [00:03:12] All right. Tell us about it.
Susie [00:03:13] And it was so good. I really enjoyed it. Got a lot of highlights. And it's just a treat.
Annie Jones [00:03:19] Tell them what it is.
Susie [00:03:20] The name of it is Mostly What God Does by Savannah Guthrie, whom I really like.
Annie Jones [00:03:26] Yes, we all love Savannah.
Susie [00:03:27] Yes, I like Savannah. And it's just a collection of-- I call it a collection of essays about finding God in the everyday, and in all aspects of your life. I thought it was wonderful. It was just great, just what I needed. And it was easy.
Annie Jones [00:03:51] I listened to this one. So, I'm looking at your copy.
Susie [00:03:54] How fun to listen to her. Did she narrate it?
Annie Jones [00:03:57] Yeah, she narrated it. And I liked it because I guess in the book, she talks about having moments of pause. But in the audiobook, she literally counts you down.
Susie [00:04:08] Oh, wow!
Annie Jones [00:04:09] And, anyway, so I really like the audiobook, but I probably would like a physical copy for my shelves.
Susie [00:04:14] Yes, you probably would. I was just looking at it on my way up here, and I thought, well, gosh, I could go right back through here and just read my highlights.
Annie Jones [00:04:22] Yes. I really liked it a lot.
Susie [00:04:25] Because I think we have to be reminded to look for his love everywhere. That's what it's called. Reflections on seeking and finding his love everywhere. And I think in our day and time, we do have to be mindful of making ourselves look for that. It is everywhere; we just have to watch for it.
Annie Jones [00:04:46] Yeah. I really liked that book a lot. I thought you would, too.
Susie [00:04:49] I did too, and I was glad you recommended it. It just seemed so authentically her.
Annie Jones [00:04:54] Yes, it did. And I liked it too. I think I said this on the podcast, I read a lot of books that are thoughtfully critical of church and perhaps faith. I appreciate those perspectives. This felt still realistic, did not shy away from hard things, but maybe felt maybe more positive.
Susie [00:05:20] I thought it was too, because she went through her own journey. And she talks about her journey, but she doesn't really pick at her past.
Annie Jones [00:05:31] No. And she's very clear about that. That's not a memoir where she's going to air her dirty laundry.
Susie [00:05:36] She doesn't; and it is a little bit refreshing.
Annie Jones [00:05:39] Yeah, that's how I felt.
Susie [00:05:40] Because I think, honestly, that's how most of us are-- well, maybe not, but a lot of us are going through our own metamorphosis and growth. I don't want to spend a lot of time picking at all of my past because it's who made me what I am today. I think that's how she did it.
Annie Jones [00:06:02] Yes, I really did like that book quite a bit.
Susie [00:06:05] Well, my next book was also a little, spiritually driven. I read The Liturgical Home. This was a book about lent, by Ashley Tumlin Wallace. I don't know, maybe you've told me about her on Instagram.
Annie Jones [00:06:23] Yes, I follow her there.
Susie [00:06:24] I love her. Yeah, I do too. I love her practicality. I hope she's listening. I love all of her advice. We didn't grow up in a liturgical home.
Annie Jones [00:06:38] Yeah.
Susie [00:06:39] And so, this is all a new experience for me. And I wanted a book that helped me understand lent, and she just does a great job. And so, I'm going to get her book on advent when time comes.
Annie Jones [00:06:55] Because it is kind of part of a-- she's done a lot of these, right?
Susie [00:06:59] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:06:59] For each season.
Susie [00:07:00] Yeah. I hope she's got them for each season. So, I know she has one for advent and I'm going to get that. And I just think she writes super practically. But she explains everything really, really well. And this is a book I'll go back to next spring as well because it's got recipes...
Annie Jones [00:07:20] I follow her on Instagram and she does a really good job, I'm sure, of highlighting some of the things like she talks about in the book on her Instagram feed. But I'm curious, from your perspective as an empty nester, did you find-- I've kind of associated her with talking to young parents who try to implement these things in their home. But how did you find it applicable?
Susie [00:07:44] I still wanted to implement things in my home. it made me really wish I knew this while raising you and your brother. But now I'm still raising myself.
Annie Jones [00:07:57] Yeah, that's right.
Susie [00:07:58] So, I found it fascinating. I read stuff to dad, and there are a lot of feast days and things that I've not heard of. And even the church we're attending does not talk about all of these days. She's Anglican church like you are, so it even me more following it through the church that you go to. I loved it. It's even home decor, cooking. And it's a little art projects you can do with your kids, but you can also do it for yourself and have lot of fun.
Annie Jones [00:08:34] Yeah, I guess that's what I was wondering.
Susie [00:08:37] So I kind of followed it through and allowed myself to make my home, help me go through the season. And so, I felt like it was perfectly fine for an empty nester.
Annie Jones [00:08:49] Okay, good. And sounds like it's good whether you've practiced the liturgical calendar for years or whether you're a newbie.
Susie [00:08:57] That's right. And I have reached out to her on Instagram, asked her questions. She's very approachable. I think I'd be friends with her.
Annie Jones [00:09:05] I think you would, too.
Susie [00:09:07] Hi Ashley, if you're listening...
Annie Jones [00:09:10] That's fun.
Susie [00:09:10] Okay, so my next book I'm going to talk about is one of my Shelf Subscriptions.
Annie Jones [00:09:15] Yes.
Susie [00:09:15] And so, I hope everybody liked it. It's Miss Morgan's Book brigade. I loved this book. I thought it was so fascinating. Historical fiction about a woman who leaves her job in the New York Public Library and goes to France, where it has been devastated by the war, and helps bring back books back into the communities where they were just devastated. And this whole kind of thing is led by Anne Morgan of JP Morgan. And so, if you read The Librarian years ago, one of my Shelf Subscriptions about the JP Morgan library-- have you been to that?
Annie Jones [00:10:10] No, I'm so mad. Ashley went. My flight left earlier than hers did, and so I did not get to do that because our last visit to New York, we were right near there.
Susie [00:10:20] Oh my word, it so you wish.
Annie Jones [00:10:21] I know. I was so mad.
Susie [00:10:24] Anyway, and then so it's also-- which I love books like this, where it's books from long ago but it has a tie to- this one particular is 1987.
Annie Jones [00:10:35] Okay.
Susie [00:10:35] We got another New York Public Library worker who discovers some of this in the archives while working in the archives. And she actually, in the end, gets to meet one of the survivors in 1987, from 1918. This is World War One, and also a pandemic.
Annie Jones [00:10:58] Yes.
Susie [00:11:00] So it was fascinating. I loved it. I thought she was a great writer. And I hope everybody that got this as their Shelf subscription enjoyed it.
Annie Jones [00:11:11] And she wrote the Paris Library essay, too.
Susie [00:11:14] Yes, I know. I'm kind of curious about that.
Annie Jones [00:11:16] Yeah. That's what's kind of fun sometimes when you miss their first book.
Susie [00:11:19] Yeah, when I find an author that I really liked, it makes me want to go back. And I did that with one of my Shelf Subscriptions. I can't remember the name of it, but it was like book three. And when I picked it up, I was nervous about that but they said, no, it stands alone. And it did.
Annie Jones [00:11:37] Yes. Mrs. Bird [sp] or something.
Susie [00:11:38] It was something about Mrs. Bird. And so, I went back and read the other two and loved all of them.
Annie Jones [00:11:44] Good. Well, this one has a great cover, too.
Susie [00:11:47] I know I should have gotten the hardback in this one because I love it. So that was my next read. I meant to ask you this before we got on the air. This was recommended by someone I'd met at the last Reader Retreat. I kind of want to think her name is like mine.
Annie Jones [00:12:07] Was it Carrie's mom?
Susie [00:12:09] What's her name?
Annie Jones [00:12:10] I can't remember Carrie's mom's name off the top of my head, which is going to be bothersome.
Susie [00:12:14] It is going to make me so mad because she is so delightful.
Annie Jones [00:12:18] Was it similar to your name?
Susie [00:12:20] I thought maybe it was Sue. I could be so wrong.
Annie Jones [00:12:22] Maybe it is.
Susie [00:12:23] We got our picture made together and everything.
Annie Jones [00:12:26] Hold on. I'm going to look it up while we're talking.
Susie [00:12:28] Okay. I'll keep talking about. Anyway, so when I got to come to do your shopping event at The Bookshelf, I got to actually meet some people who-- and I think she's a Sue.
Annie Jones [00:12:40] Sue!
Susie [00:12:41] I was right. Hi, Sue! Yay! I was right. So, just delightful mother and daughter.
Annie Jones [00:12:48] Yes. Very fun.
Susie [00:12:49] And so, anyway, she recommended a book to me.
Annie Jones [00:12:53] Okay. Oh, that's the best.
Susie [00:12:55] It is because I think she is a Susie and Nancy shelf subscriber.
Annie Jones [00:12:58] Yes, she is.
Susie [00:12:59] So we met, got our picture made together, and she said, let me tell you a book you need to go read. And this was called The Last Love Note. And this, I believe, is Emma Gray's debut novel.
Annie Jones [00:13:12] Yes, I read this one too, actually.
Susie [00:13:14] You did?
Annie Jones [00:13:15] Yeah, I really liked it.
Susie [00:13:16] Well, I did too, and I had to go back this morning and go, no, wait a minute. Because, look, that's how my brain is- I have to refresh.
Annie Jones [00:13:24] Yes. Well, if you're reading a lot.
Susie [00:13:27] Because things start to run together, I'm like, wait a minute, [crosstalk] this book? So, it's a really great story about-- kind of a sad story.
Annie Jones [00:13:37] It is. I think the cover makes you feel like it's going to be some kind of romcom. It's not.
Susie [00:13:41] Yeah, and people say in their reviews about it, they mention romcom.
Annie Jones [00:13:46] I don't think so.
Susie [00:13:47] I would not call this a romcom.
Annie Jones [00:13:49] No. We've talked about this on the podcast before. I wish there was a better descriptor, but to me it's women's fiction. There is a romantic element, but I didn't think that was the main-- No, it's not. There's no com here.
Susie [00:14:04] There's rom.
Annie Jones [00:14:05] Yes.
Susie [00:14:06] But there's not com.
Annie Jones [00:14:06] That's right. Yeah.
Susie [00:14:08] So, anyway, it's about her. She's got a happy marriage. She's got a little boy and her husband gets early onset Alzheimer's.
Annie Jones [00:14:19] Yes. It's brutal to read about.
Susie [00:14:22] As a matter of fact, after I got into it, Sue, I thought, whoa, wait a minute. Because you're right, the cover is a little bit deceiving.
Annie Jones [00:14:31] Yeah, almost looks beachy vibes.
Susie [00:14:33] It looks like a beach read. And it could be a beach read.
Annie Jones [00:14:36] Sure.
Susie [00:14:37] But it's not super funny, but it's so well written.
Annie Jones [00:14:43] It is.
Susie [00:14:43] So she loves her husband, which I love. And they were in a car accident and that's how his-- he's a professor, I think, if I remember correctly.
Annie Jones [00:14:57] I think that might be right.
Susie [00:14:57] And they get into a car accident. He bumps his head and they think it's a concussion, but it's not. It's much more. And then he leaves her sticky notes. He leaves sticky notes everywhere for himself to help himself. But then he leaves her sticky notes, too. Okay, sidebar, she has an awesome boss. He's amazing. He's almost like, wow. But he is friends with her husband. They become friends. And then, anyway, the romance comes slowly but surely with her boss who is always there. He is always there for her. He was honestly just the best friend.
Annie Jones [00:15:44] He's a great character in the book because I think you could think, oh, boss and employee feels a little sticky. But the way that Emma Gray writes it-- and really, the book is so much about Kate's character development. It's really more her story. And then the romance winds up feeling really sweet and genuine and earned.
Susie [00:16:11] Yes. And like I said, it was slow.
Annie Jones [00:16:13] Yes, very slow.
[00:16:14] And he was a friend of her husband's. So, it really made it-- I don't know. I just thought it was so--
Annie Jones [00:16:22] I liked it a lot too.
Susie [00:16:22] I went back and looking at it again this morning, I thought I really loved this. I think a lot of people who like Susie/Nancy books would really love this one by Emma Grey.
Annie Jones [00:16:35] Maybe this is just my bookseller opinion, but I think it got a little lost because it released, I believe, in December. And that can be hard because it's not a Christmas book. It's not a holiday book. And at the bookshelf, anyway, when people are buying not for holiday gifts, when they're buying for themselves, they're buying like a Christmas romcom or something like that. So, I do think that book kind of got lost in the holiday shuffle.
Susie [00:16:59] We're bringing it back to the forefront today.
Annie Jones [00:17:01] And as much as we said, it's not maybe your typical "beach read" there is a beach element.
Susie [00:17:06] Yes, and it would be a great summer read.
Annie Jones [00:17:09] Yes, I agree. I think it would be a good summer book. So, if you missed it, I would encourage you picking it up.
Susie [00:17:16] Order it online.
Annie Jones [00:17:16] That's right. So that's The Last Love Note. I really liked that.
Susie [00:17:19] And I did too. Okay. My next book is a book we read, dad and I did, in our small group at our church, called Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others by Barbara Brown Taylor. Okay, I do her name wrong all the time, but that's correct. Barbara Brown Taylor.
Annie Jones [00:17:40] Do you normally say Barbara Taylor Brown?
Susie [00:17:41] Always. When I said it right, I was like, oops, that doesn't sound right. Okay. This is, I think, my fourth book by her. Always because of you. You introduced me.
Annie Jones [00:17:53] Chet introduced me.
Susie [00:17:54] Well, thanks, Chet.
Annie Jones [00:17:56] Chet introduced me to Leaving Church and Altar in the World.
Susie [00:18:00] I read both of those.
Annie Jones [00:18:02] I have a copy of Holy Envy and have not read it. What's her other one you've read?
Susie [00:18:07] I'd have to look and see, because I've got one more.
Annie Jones [00:18:12] Yeah, well, and she has written one more. There it is. Learning to Walk in the Dark. Which I also own. And it may be actually I have read that one.
Susie [00:18:19] Well, this one I just gifted Chat while we were at the beach together.
Annie Jones [00:18:24] Yeah, he'll like it.
Susie [00:18:26] Teaches world religions at his school in Tennessee. And so, dad and I found this very enlightening. Look, we can bury our head in the sand. I've done that for my whole life and just be in my zone. And it keeps me busy enough. But I didn't want to stay there. I wanted to know and understand a little bit better about we don't live in a hole and Tallahassee. We don't. We're very diverse. And I didn't want to live in this little teeny bubble. I think it helps us when we understand someone else's beliefs, even if they seem out there. It made me examine my own and go, okay, Christianity is pretty out there.
Annie Jones [00:19:14] It is pretty out there.
Susie [00:19:15] It's pretty out there. So, I thought, and we had the most lovely discussions in our small group.
Annie Jones [00:19:21] So in this book, she is basically-- because she's a professor.
Susie [00:19:25] She was a professor at a smaller university, North Georgia, and she taught world religions. And she actually took her students on field trips, we'll call it, to visit and see the way other people worship.
Annie Jones [00:19:44] That's really special.
Susie [00:19:45] And she's sharing all of that with all of us. All of her experiences and her kids, her students, come to her just like we come to this table. We are either stubborn and obstinate. Some kids walk out and they're like, nope, not going to do that. But what it did for Dad and I is we had, as I said, beautiful conversations with our small group, but also with each other. And also asking Chet questions because-- and hers is the Holy Envious. Kind of what can you find that's beautiful in these other religions? And it doesn't mean losing your own faith. So, you don't need to be afraid of that if you see this book. It's not about that. As matter of fact, it can make yours even better.
Annie Jones [00:20:32] Better, richer.
Susie [00:20:33] Richer because you understand other people and their beliefs. And we're always more tolerant if we can understand people where they're coming from.
Annie Jones [00:20:44] I think now that I look, this is the only one of hers I haven't read, and I have a copy on the shelf, so I need to pull it out [crosstalk].
Annie Jones [00:20:51] My spiritual director has mentioned it to me before as well.
Susie [00:20:54] You'll love it, and you'll breeze right through it. We took it very slow because we were talking about a chapter every week. And what I really loved is some of the people in our small group have traveled all over the world to India.
Annie Jones [00:21:05] And seeing some of this.
Susie [00:21:07] And brought things back. Brought a Buddhist statue back. And so, I think it's important to note there are beautiful parts of other people's belief systems.
Annie Jones [00:21:19] Of course, yeah.
Susie [00:21:19] And when you're open to that, it'll make it easier for you to love other people. And that's what I want to do. I'm getting older. And my mother said that on her very last breath was just go love people. Just go love everybody. And I think we'd do a better job at it if we understood people's backgrounds.
Annie Jones [00:21:40] Absolutely. Well, that's great.
Susie [00:21:42] So I loved that book and I love all of her books.
Annie Jones [00:21:45] I do too. I really like her as a writer.
Susie [00:21:47] And now I'm trying to remember what's this My Subscription as well for--?
Annie Jones [00:21:53] And this next one was your July Shelf Subscription. So just went out in the mail last week, maybe two weeks ago.
Susie [00:22:00] Well, hooray! I hope everybody loves it. This is a great summer beach read. That's why I picked it.
Annie Jones [00:22:04] And what is it?
Susie [00:22:04] A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey.
Annie Jones [00:22:09] Yes, you wanted people to have a traditional Summer beach book.
Susie [00:22:14] I did. I just felt like it's July and everybody's flocking to the lakes and to the beaches.
Annie Jones [00:22:21] And I think you were picking this or you were in the middle of reading this. And what was so funny is you came to the Mary Kay Andrews event.
Susie [00:22:28] That is what I was about to tell. And so, I came to see Mary Kay Andrews in person and she mentioned this author.
Annie Jones [00:22:35] Yes.
Susie [00:22:36] So I think they must be buds.
Annie Jones [00:22:38] Yeah.
Susie [00:22:38] I was really tickled. I was like, hotdog! I picked a good one. And it is a good one. It's a great beach read. Now, here's another book I told you I love this, where they kind of go back and forth to another time. So, this is about a young woman who has now ended her job, her New York job. She's living with her parents, and her mother and her uncle mentioned that they want her to go get their parents (so her grandparents) house ready to sell in Beaufort, South Carolina.
Annie Jones [00:23:17] Okay.
Susie [00:23:18] And so she takes them up on it and she's like, okay, I don't have anything else to do.
Annie Jones [00:23:23] That sounds like a great gig
Susie [00:23:25] She didn't even know about her grandparents because they never talked about them. So she goes down to Beaufort, goes to the house, it looks exactly like it did the day they died in the 70s. Nothing has been done to the house except upkeep. I mean, literally dishes out and exactly the same. It was like stepping back in a time warp.
Annie Jones [00:23:56] Yeah.
Susie [00:23:56] And so, she goes down and she gets ready to get this house for sale but finds journals, her grandfather's journal right in the middle of writing it. All of these notes from her grandmother. I think the grandfather was a doctor and the grandmother was, Becks. That's her nickname for Rebecca. She did a ton of entertaining, just entertained all the time. So now Keaton goes down and meets all of these old ladies that are left.
Annie Jones [00:24:33] I see, who are friends with her grandparents.
Susie [00:24:35] It's a very small community. This beach community's very small, so she meets her grandmother's friends. She's not getting the house ready. She doesn't want to touch anything. It's like stepping back into time and discovering who her grandparents were. And then there's mystery involved with their death that everybody thinks they had been in a car crash and went into the water and blah, blah, blah.
Annie Jones [00:25:04] Sounds like a Mary Kay Andrews where there's this slight mystery because that's how hers are, too.
Susie [00:25:09] There is. And so, it's real. And, of course, summer beach read, cutie patootie boy next door.
Annie Jones [00:25:16] There's always one.
Susie [00:25:17] There's always got to be one. So, it's a little bit for everybody.
Annie Jones [00:25:21] Have you read Christy Woodson Harvey before? No, I haven't. She really is great. We recommend her a lot for people who come in, and like Ellen Hildebrand and Nancy Thayer and Mary Kay Andrews. And she came to The Bookshelf, probably 2015 early in her career. And she was wonderful in person, and she's had quite a bit of success since then. It'd be fun to get her back.
Susie [00:25:47] It would be fun.
Annie Jones [00:25:48] We like to hand sell her because I think some people are looking for a book-- or maybe like a Lauren Kay Denton.
Susie [00:25:55] That's who I was about to mention because you know I love her books. I've read multiple. And in the summertime is when I feel like I really love to read those kinds of books that are a little bit lighter. That would be super fun for her to come back.
Annie Jones [00:26:11] Yeah, it'd be fun to have her back.
Susie [00:26:12] Because this was great. Look, if you are a Susie/Nancy shelf subscriber and you're living in the July 2024, you're going to love this book. There's nothing in there that you need to worry about. And it's light, but it's fascinating. And, of course, being a child of the 70s-- well, I should say an older teen. I loved going backwards and thinking about the colors, the avocados, the harvest golds, all of those. So, anyway, I think everybody's going to love this book, and I hope you do. And it's also got a very pretty summer cover.
Annie Jones [00:26:52] It does.
Susie [00:26:54] Okay. So then after that I went backwards and got myself some Wendell Berry out. Sometimes when I'm through doing a Shelf Subscription in particular, I'm like, oh, what am I going to read next? So, I picked this up.
Annie Jones [00:27:08] And sometimes it's nice to read what you want. A Shelf Subscription is good but it can feel like homework a little bit.
Susie [00:27:13] Yes. And so, I picked this up-- dad and I did in November when we went to see the Eagles in Lexington. We found the Wendell Berry Library and we bought a bunch books there and gave them to people. And this is just a bunch of short essays all about the people of Port William. And if you've ever read, Hannah Colter, Jayber Crow, then you'll love this one.
Annie Jones [00:27:45] And this is short stories.
Susie [00:27:47] These are short stories. Pick them up. Put them down.
Annie Jones [00:27:48] You don't read a ton of short stories. So that's different for you, too.
Susie [00:27:52] No. And you can pick this one up and put it down and come back to it. And it's fun to do that with Wendell Berry, because Wendell Berry's writing needs to be slowly read.
Annie Jones [00:28:04] That was part of my I gave up on my Wendell Berry year last year because I was having trouble reading that slowly, along with Bleak House and then all the other things that I have to read because I really liked-- I started, I believe, Jayber Crow. Whichever book Chat told me to read first, I think it's Jayber Crow. And I started reading it and I really liked it, but it's the kind of book almost like Marilynne Robinson. Or you just want to sit and nestle in for a bit. It. And I really struggled with that because I was reading dozens of other books at the same time.
Susie [00:28:41] He's a great Winter read.
Annie Jones [00:28:44] Yeah, that's a good idea.
Susie [00:28:46] Sitting by your little faux fireplace and nestled up.
Annie Jones [00:28:50] Yes. Maybe in January.
Susie [00:28:53] And I love to go back to him, but you're naming authors and whenever I read him, I'm thinking, the apostle Paul.
Annie Jones [00:29:00] Oh, yeah!
Susie [00:29:01] Because it's very upside down sometimes.
Annie Jones [00:29:06] Let me ask this, before you read-- what is this called again?
Susie [00:29:10] A Place in Time.
Annie Jones [00:29:11] Before you read A Place in Time, which is short stories about that fictional community? Should you read Jayber Crow or Hannah Colter first?
Susie [00:29:18] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:29:18] Okay.
Susie [00:29:19] Me, personally, they are easier reads because these are just like snippets from different people.
[00:29:25] Like vignettes. And when I read Hannah Colter, I just fell in love with that book. And you totally get into the characters. And, to me, then you can go to this book-- and I don't have any idea what timeline this is compared to those two. But when you go to this book, then all of those little characters that creep in in the essays means something to you. So, I always love some Wendell Berry.
Annie Jones [00:29:52] Nice palate cleanser, too.
Susie [00:29:54] Yes. You do need to go slow when you read that.
[00:29:57] Yeah, I get that.
Susie [00:29:58] Okay, so now we're back to another summer.
Annie Jones [00:30:00] Nancy Thayer.
Susie [00:30:04] This was on your Instagram post.
Annie Jones [00:30:06] Oh, look at you.
Susie [00:30:07] I thought, oh, well, that's a cute cover.
Annie Jones [00:30:10] Shout out to The Bookshelf Instagram.
Susie [00:30:12] Absolutely the best Instagram.
Annie Jones [00:30:13] Thank you Caroline and Gabby.
Susie [00:30:16] Yae. So, I called the store and asked if they had it, and they had one more. I said, "Would you put it on hold for me?" And again, this is a great summer read. If you're looking for some books that are just-- I don't know, kind of you can just sort of relax reading them. You don't have to be super thinky [sic].
Annie Jones [00:30:34] Yeah. Have you read her before?
Susie [00:30:36] No, I don't think I had.
Annie Jones [00:30:38] What's the title of this one?
Susie [00:30:39] The Summer We Started Over. It's about two sisters, which I always love sister books since I have three of them. Three real life sisters. And, anyway, this is just a great book about another coming home and helping out their dad. They're adult children. Their mother leaves. Their dad's a professor, but wants to start all over. So, he goes and buys a farmhouse in the northeast.
Annie Jones [00:31:08] Everybody's always buying houses that they got to fix up.
Susie [00:31:11] Yeah. And then the northeast.
Annie Jones [00:31:13] Yeah. Where summer you could wear a sweater.
Susie [00:31:16] The dream.
Annie Jones [00:31:17] How nice.
Susie [00:31:18] It's just the dream of mine to be able to wear sweater in summer. But, anyway, it's how the sisters connect. One sister has stayed. One sister now has come back to help out. The quirky character she works for, a bestselling author in New York, and that author follows her to the North. I wish I could remember the city. Nantucket
Annie Jones [00:31:44] Okay, I was about to say a lot of hers are set in Nantucket.
Susie [00:31:47] Then so follows her there and winds up getting her own house. And anyway, it's about her sister starting up a business. The sister that left home, coming home to help out with their dad who has turned into a total hoarder. And they're trying to bring him back into reality after his wife has left him and so forth. So, anyway, it's another really great summer read. Highly recommend it. It's a perfect Susie/Nancy slot.
Annie Jones [00:32:21] It sounds good. And you're right, lots of good covers.
Susie [00:32:25] This is a beautiful cover.
Annie Jones [00:32:26] I love the two sisters on the front.
Susie [00:32:27] And we just left. We literally just were at a spot that looked just like that.
Annie Jones [00:32:31] Yeah, we were.
Susie [00:32:33] On our beautiful Gulf Coast.
Annie Jones [00:32:34] That's right.
Susie [00:32:35] Okay, next on my stack of books is a Mother's Day gift.
Annie Jones [00:32:41] Yes.
Susie [00:32:42] Oh, Annie, thank you for remembering my-- it's You Never Know. A memoir by Tom Selleck.
Annie Jones [00:32:50] Yes.
Susie [00:32:50] Okay. Confessions. When I met your dad, I had a big old poster, a big, old life-sized poster of Tom Selleck in my closet. I just loved him so much. And I still do. Dad and I are big Blue Bloods fan. And so, I read this at the beach while we were together.
Annie Jones [00:33:12] Look at you reading nonfiction.
Susie [00:33:14] And it was so good.
Annie Jones [00:33:15] Because a lot of the nonfiction you've talked about today is spiritual or personal growth. This is just a memoir.
Susie [00:33:21] This is just a memoir. And it was very good.
Annie Jones [00:33:24] I like a celebrity memoir.
Susie [00:33:25] And it was just about his career. And you know what? He's a nice guy.
Annie Jones [00:33:31] He seems nice. He's down to earth.
Susie [00:33:34] He's Californian.
Annie Jones [00:33:37] Born and raised.
Susie [00:33:39] Well, not born, but raised. I don't know his decisions that he's made.
Annie Jones [00:33:48] Oh, tell the fun fact.
Susie [00:33:50] What you see is what you get. I mean, this is really him. He's just a nice guy.
Annie Jones [00:33:56] Tell the fun fact about the casting decision you were telling us about Indiana Jones.
Susie [00:34:04] Oh, yes. That was a huge part of his career. Because you he's waiting, he's literally waiting to make sure Magnum-- he likes to just call it Magnum. But it was Magnum Pi on TV. The original, everybody. The original is way better. And so, he was waiting. He thought this was going to be-- Magnum was going to be his big.
Annie Jones [00:34:31] Like, his break out.
Susie [00:34:32] And he's done lots of things, even some bit parts in movies.
Annie Jones [00:34:39] Jordan wanted to know if he talked about Three Men and a Baby at all.
[00:34:42] Yes.
[00:34:43] We love that movie.
Susie [00:34:45] He's so wonderful.
Annie Jones [00:34:47] Jordan immediately when he found out you were reading that, he was like, "Do you think he talked about Three Men and a Baby?"
Susie [00:34:51] He didn't. And he did not talk about Friends.
Annie Jones [00:34:53] I know. I was so mad about that.
Susie [00:34:55] He never mentioned it.
Annie Jones [00:34:56] That's so weird.
Susie [00:34:56] But, anyway, so he was up for Indiana Jones.
Annie Jones [00:35:03] I had no idea.
Susie [00:35:05] And didn't get to do it because he was thinking he could do it and CBS would allow him to do that. Nope.
Annie Jones [00:35:13] They wouldn't.
Susie [00:35:14] They didn't. And so, can you imagine? I can't. Now, I love Indiana Jones and I love Harrison Ford. But I love Tom Selleck first.
Annie Jones [00:35:25] I think that's why celebrity memoirs are so interesting. There's just so many what ifs.
Susie [00:35:29] Can you see this face? I am looking at the cover. Can you see this face being Indiana Jones? You can. You can, everybody.
Annie Jones [00:35:37] I do think he could have played a professor.
Susie [00:35:39] Yes. Those dimples. And then I married Tom Selleck.
Annie Jones [00:35:45] Dad does bear resemblance to Tom Selleck.
Susie [00:35:47] Had dark hair, dark blue eyes. Anyway...
Annie Jones [00:35:53] Well, good. I just finished-- I mean, it's way sadder than Tom Selleck, and it's not a memoir. But I just finished the book about the Kennedys, that JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette. And that was hard. But I do sometimes like to intersperse all of my other reading with something-- I'm interested in all the books I read, but something that's just for me. Meaning I'm not going to hand sell necessarily a ton of copies of the Carolyn Bessette book. You might not come in the store and hand sell a bunch of Tom Selleck books.
Susie [00:36:26] [Inaudible]
Annie Jones [00:36:29] But it's fun to read something that's just for you. Like the Carolyn Bessette book sticks out to me because that was a childhood interest of mine. I remember JFK Jr. I thought he was so handsome. And then that plane crash was so sad. And I remember being in our living room and watching that. And you, Tom Selleck is a part of your teenage/early adulthood. There's something fun about reading those kinds of books.
Susie [00:36:54] Yeah. It really is. And it's full of pictures and stuff. And all the people that he met and had relationships with, friendship.
Annie Jones [00:37:01] How old is Tom?
Susie [00:37:02] 79, I think.
Annie Jones [00:37:03] Wow!
Susie [00:37:04] I know. I can't believe it. But in anyhoops, great book if you want to just read a nice memoir about what it was like to come up through the ranks in Hollywood. And so, I loved it. Okay.
Annie Jones [00:37:19] Last book.
Susie [00:37:20] My last book that I have finished is The Women by Kristin Hannah.
Annie Jones [00:37:26] I just finished this last night.
Susie [00:37:28] So you finished it?
Annie Jones [00:37:30] I finished it. It's so good.
Susie [00:37:31] So yesterday when you told me--
Annie Jones [00:37:32] Yes, don't say anything. Don't spoil it.
Susie [00:37:35] Well, why? I mean, this is out.
Annie Jones [00:37:37] No, people will be-- no. Something I have learned through negative reviews is we don't spoil books for people.
[00:37:44] Well, wasn't it good?
[00:37:46] It was so good. You're right.
Susie [00:37:49] Now, look, I wasn't sure about it. This is a funny backstory. Nina. Linda, my oldest sister is--
Annie Jones [00:37:56] My aunt.
Susie [00:37:56] Good grief. She reads.
Annie Jones [00:37:58] She is an avid reader.
Susie [00:37:59] It'll be hard to read more books than her.
Annie Jones [00:38:02] She and I often tease. She also reads high page counts.
Susie [00:38:06] Yes, she does.
Annie Jones [00:38:07] She reads a lot of thick books that I would not or could not.
Susie [00:38:12] And this is a thick book. And so, here's the funny story. She said, "Susie, I'm going to give you this book. I think Chris will love it."
Annie Jones [00:38:22] Did that make you mad?
Susie [00:38:24] I was like, well, what about-- because it's thick.
Annie Jones [00:38:27] Yeah. That's so funny. Well, maybe I will love it. So, I told dad about it, but he's in the middle of a Shelf Subscription.
Susie [00:38:34] Yes.
Annie Jones [00:38:35] And so, I sat down and started reading it and I thought, I'm not sure I'm going to love this because it's heavy. It's war time.
Annie Jones [00:38:45] It's heavy. And I will say, and this might be an unpopular opinion, but I did not like the first 50 to 100 pages.
Susie [00:38:51] I told you to stick with it.
Annie Jones [00:38:52] You did. And I'm glad you did, because you're right, it was totally worth it. But the first 50 to 100 pages, it was almost like too much. The pacing was off.
Susie [00:39:00] It was very...
Annie Jones [00:39:03] It was like a fire hydrant in my face. I felt like her relationship with her brother was not slowly introduced. It was like a glimpse and then tragedy. It felt like a lot of action was packed in two brief a time.
Susie [00:39:21] And it's sad.
Annie Jones [00:39:22] It is sad.
Susie [00:39:22] And it was sad.
Annie Jones [00:39:23] Yes.
Susie [00:39:24] For me, I kept going. I just kept plugging through it. At first, I thought, urgh, this is-- because you know my empathetic side of me. I was like, oh, if this is hard. Had two brothers in this war. And so, I was just a little girl when it started. Just a little girl. I did not think about war, but it lasted so long.
Annie Jones [00:39:49] Which I did not-- I'll be honest, I did not know. I did not understand much about the Vietnam War at all until this book.
Susie [00:39:56] Yeah. And I didn't always watch Walter Cronkite in the evenings. I was outside playing catching fireflies. So, I didn't pay attention to a lot about it until it was just then as I finished elementary school, went to junior high school, it's still going. And all through my high school years still going.
Annie Jones [00:40:18] I wasn't sure how the pacing was going to be in the rest of the book. She does a really good job of showing how the Vietnam War started and the attitudes of Americans at first, and then as it dragged on and on and on. So, obviously, I was not alive for Vietnam. I knew my uncles fought in it, but they never talked about that. And I did not study Vietnam a ton in school. And so, to read this book, I immediately thought about 9/11, and the war on terror, and Iraq and Afghanistan and how the longer that dragged. And so, anyway, I think it's such a good book to read because history does repeat itself. And so, much of it felt very familiar. While at the same time-- I mean, I was in tears at the end because I thought, oh, I've got to go back. I visited there, but I'd like to go back to the Vietnam War Memorial.
Susie [00:41:19] Me too.
Annie Jones [00:41:21] I just think it might even mean more now.
Susie [00:41:23] I sat on the porch swing in 90 something degree heat to finish it and cried. It was so good. And I'll tell you what's really-- well, obviously, the title, The Women. Because they were totally, totally forgotten, totally not mentioned. No one.
Annie Jones [00:41:40] I had no idea about that.
Susie [00:41:42] Well, I grew up with my dad loving the TV show Mash.
Annie Jones [00:41:48] Nina also loves Mash.
Susie [00:41:49] She does. And so, kudos to them for portraying women in the Korean War and the importance of the nurses and so forth. And so, in this book, I was thinking that kind of brought back some of those scenes I had seen on television. She's quite graphic.
Annie Jones [00:42:14] Yes.
Susie [00:42:15] And it is poignant. It is sad. But there is a redemptive...
Annie Jones [00:42:22] There is some redemptive elements. And while I was reading, I immediately googled things like Vietnam War nurses and their uniforms. And now I want to go back and watch-- I think Ken Burns did a PBS documentary about Vietnam. I'd like to go back and watch some of that because now it's just the kind of book that makes me want to deep dive after finishing. I think that's what's so important. You and I talk about this all the time on here. When we say PG 13 books, we're just really saying not excessive language, not excessive violence, not excessive sex. It doesn't mean those elements are never in the books you read. That's not true. Because I was reading this and I thought this book is violent. It is war. And she does not shy away from the details of war. But you loved this book.
Susie [00:43:17] I thought everyone should read it, because I think we shouldn't forget. Because these veterans from this war are still here.
Annie Jones [00:43:25] They're here.
Susie [00:43:26] And many of them are begging for money on the street.
Annie Jones [00:43:30] Yeah, they're homeless or they suffer from PTSD.
Susie [00:43:34] Because they're not given the care they needed. Also, I want to skip back to something you said a minute ago. Reading it, sometimes I just feel like the world we're living in is so mean. Everybody's so against each other and so mean. And then I read this, I was like, oh, okay, we were like this in the seventies.
Annie Jones [00:43:52] Yeah, it's been like this forever.
Susie [00:43:55] Yeah. Okay, here we are again. We don't learn. I mean, it was awful how people treated one another.
Annie Jones [00:44:03] I don't think this is spoiling it, but she is dressed in her uniform and gets spit on at the airport. A cab driver refuses to pick her up.
Susie [00:44:14] Nobody would pick up her bag for her.
Annie Jones [00:44:16] And for a generation of people that saw how World War Two vets were treated as heroes, I'm sure that was really confusing and unexpected. And I think Kristin Hannah does a good job of describing the reasons why Americans were against the war. We were doing things that we should not have been doing. And I think Frankie, our main character, is grappling with that, too.
Susie [00:44:45] Yes, she does.
Annie Jones [00:44:46] Trying to figure out, well, yeah, that's not okay. But also, I'm over here risking my life.
Susie [00:44:53] Which she volunteered to do. Yes, but she has very plain spoken about the untrained 18-year-old boys who have been plucked now from their small towns and with very basic training, and shipped over there into something you cannot explain.
Annie Jones [00:45:17] I think this book is one of those that-- I think I said this on a previous podcast episode. But it's one of those books that people have finished and come back in the store to talk about.
Susie [00:45:28] Yes. You want to talk about it. You could do a book club with this one.
Annie Jones [00:45:30] It's a good book club book. It's actually a Sharon Says So book club pick for this month or for this semester. So, I'm going to go back and see if I can watch some of those meetings. Because you do finish it and immediately there's just so much to talk about.
Susie [00:45:45] Yes. I'm so glad we'll talk some more about this.
Annie Jones [00:45:48] Yeah, we'll talk about it at lunch. Well, mom, that was such a fun, eclectic, stack of books.
Susie [00:45:53] I'm very proud of the variety this time, I felt like.
Annie Jones [00:45:55] Yeah, that was a lot of variety. So many good titles. And because there are so many good titles, if you liked what you heard today and you like some of the books that mom talked about, you can use the Code SHOPMOMSELECTS. It's all one word. SHOPMOMSELECTS for 10% off your order of today's books.
Susie [00:46:16] Wow! Yay!
Annie Jones [00:46:16] Yeah, you got your own discount code. You've really made it. This week, I'm listening to Challenger by Adam Higginbotham. Mom, what are you reading?
Susie [00:46:26] Okay, well, now I'm back into a summer beach read again after meeting Mary Kay Andrews in person. I am currently reading, Summers at the Saint.
Annie Jones [00:46:38] Yes.
Susie [00:46:39] And so, I'm just getting started at it, and I think I'm going to love it.
Annie Jones [00:46:42] Good. That sounds fantastic.
[00:46:45] 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, Gene Queens
Executive Producers (Read Their Own Names): Nicole Marsee, Wendi Jenkins, Susan Hulings Annie Jones: If you’d like to support From the Front Porch, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Your input helps us make the show even better and reach new listeners. All you have to do is open up the Podcast App on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see ‘Write a Review’ and tell us what you think. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us over on Patreon, where we have 3 levels of support - Front Porch Friends, Book Club Companions, and Bookshelf Benefactors. Each level has an amazing number of benefits like bonus content, access to live events, discounts, and giveaways. Just go to: patreon.com/fromthefrontporch We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.