Episode 333 || Literary Therapy, Vol. 8
This week Annie is back to answer listeners' literary conundrums in round eight of Literary Therapy.
To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, visit our new website:
Falling by TJ Newman
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Wreckage of My Presence by Casey Wilson
Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly
Brood by Jackie Polzin
I Have Been Assigned the Single Bird by Sue Cerulean
Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo
What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer
My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten
84, Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler by E.L. Konigsburg
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found below.
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
This week, Annie is reading When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough by Taylor S. Schumann.
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Episode Transcript:
Annie: Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. [music plays out]
[as music fades out]
“When I was a girl with a book in my hand I could go to a place so deep no one could follow.” - Beth Ann Fennelly, Heating & Cooling
I’m Annie Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and today, I’m answering listeners’ literary conundrums and quandaries like a less pretentious Frasier Crane. I love these episodes so much, we’re making them a regular part of our From the Front Porch schedule, so if you have an issue you’d like to bring to therapy, leave me a voicemail. Just visit fromthefrontporchpodcast.com/contact, then scroll to the middle of the page to leave a message. No microphone necessary, just tell me your name, where you’re from, and your literary problem, and you may be featured on an upcoming episode of From the Front Porch.
All of this information is in the show notes. So if you don't remember no problem, you can go back and click the link and leave me a voicemail. If you've left me a voicemail and you don't hear your literary conundrum today, that's because we're saving it for an upcoming episode. So never fear. I love hearing from each and every one of you.
In fact, before we get started today, I want to hear an update from listener Elizabeth. Back in episode 3 21, Elizabeth talked about rereading some of her favorite books this summer. Here's how her experiment went.
[00:01:53] Elizabeth: Hi Annie, it's Elizabeth in Kansas city. Calling to follow up with you about my summer of rereading. [00:02:00] Overall, I really enjoyed it. I decided to reread five titles and then read a new one, which I think was sort of great motivation for me and also made me a little more selective about what new titles I was going to be reading. I think the biggest thing that I learned was that the books I had read most recently and loved that I chose to reread, I found myself loving even more and the books that I remember loving as a child or a young adult and rereading now didn't hold up as well.
I think in the future, I will definitely be rereading more, maybe not five in a row, but more. Sometimes when you finish a book and you think I just am in the mood for something that made me feel like Song of Achilles made me feel. I think in the future, I will just reread whatever book it is that I am thinking about. Thank you so much for the push. I really enjoyed the challenge and I hope you have a great rest of your [00:03:00] summer. Thanks.
[00:03:01] Annie: I loved this idea so much back when Elizabeth first brought it to my attention and I'm thrilled, it worked for you, Elizabeth. You've inspired me to consider a project like this in the future. One that kind of combines both a love for backless titles and for rereading, which is something I do not always make time for, but also still allows time in your reading life to tackle a new book or two so I'm so glad this worked for you. I really am considering it for my own future reading project. So thank you for sharing that with us and thanks for reporting back. That was really fun.
Her reading project does feel like the perfect segue to our first literary dilemma for this week brought to us by Megan.
[00:03:38] Megan: Hi, Annie. It's Megan from Portland, Oregon calling to ask about the ability to focus in a post pandemic world and will my attention span ever return? Thanks.
[00:03:50] Annie: Megan. First of all, I want you to know you are not alone and the reason I feel like this is important to say is because this was the number one, [00:04:00] literary conundrum mentioned to me on Instagram, this idea that our reading tastes have either changed, which we'll get to in an upcoming conundrum or that our attention spans have just been altered seemingly forever by the pandemic and the repercussions of the pandemic.
So I guess the first thing, and I think this is important in real therapy, right, is to know that you're not alone. So you're not alone in having this issue. It doesn't mean you're failing at reading. It doesn't mean you'll never read for fun again. It just means life is hard and your brain is full of lots of other information. I do have a few tips for you, but I also want you to know, not only are you not alone with other readers, you're not alone with me.
Like I have really struggled this summer in particular with my reading life and my quantity of books is the same, but I am not, or is about the same, but I'm not sure I am fully processing all the things I'm reading. I am really having a hard time so I'm going to share with you some things that I have tried and that [00:05:00] have helped me this summer and I also think you should just know it's okay if it takes you a little while to kind of get back into your former reading rhythm and if you don't get back to your former reading rhythm, I think that's okay as long as you're still finding time to enjoy this thing that I think you still probably really love.
So first up, I wanted to touch on what Elizabeth has already so beautifully mentioned, which is rereading. So one thing that really saved my reading life in 2020 was rereading or revisiting some children's books I really loved. I talked about reading Bloomability again by Sharon Creech. We're going to mention Sharon Creech a little later, but that is a book that I'm so glad I made the time to reread. One thing Jordan and I are doing this summer is rereading aloud together the Harry Potterbooks. So something that kind of takes you back, thanks to nostalgia kind of takes you back to maybe an easier time in your literal life and your reading life, I think that those could be worth revisiting, and I think Elizabeth has really shown that rereading might be a way to breathe new [00:06:00] life into your reading habits and I think sometimes there's this pressure to read the hot new titles and the best new things and while obviously, as a bookseller, I advocate that, and I certainly want people discovering new authors and new titles, I don't think there's anything wrong with rereading, particularly when we're struggling to get back into a reading rhythm.
I think about this the way I think about TV, honestly. There are shows that Jordan and I just constantly kind of fall back on for when we need a little bit of comfort. Sometimes that's the Office. Sometimes it's the Mindy project for me, like the first couple of seasons, just kind of bring me back to something I really enjoy and so I think rereading or revisiting books from your past could be a fun way to do that. So that's one suggestion I have. It worked for me really in 2020 in particular.
The second suggestion I have, and this has been weird for me this summer, but if you've been listening to my reading recaps, you know, that I've done a few more audio books than I normally do and so I wanted to mention audio books, but again, I don't know if you [00:07:00] are an audio or an auditory learner, or if you're a visual learner, I am a visual learner and so audio books are not always the best solution for me but this summer, I have really found myself kind of gravitating towards them and I wanted to mention it here as a possibility again, to breathe new life into your reading habits into what you are reading.
Here are some audio books that have worked for me. I've been re reading or reading for the first time actually some Jane Austen works. I've also really loved Falling by TJ Newman. It's a really great thriller, but it feels almost acted out. Lincoln in the Bardo is highly literary fiction, but the way that the audio book is conducted makes it feel like you're listening to a play. It really does. I, in fact, I hope they turn it into a stage production. I think there was rumors. There were rumors of that back when that book first came out but I think that could be fun for listening and just kind of being immersed in it. Maybe even let the language wash over you instead of maybe analyzing it word for [00:08:00] word like you might, if you were literally reading it.
I've also heard wonderful things about the audio book Clap When You Land. It's one that I've downloaded to read, but I have not yet read it. That's by Elizabeth Acevedo. I loved The Wreckage of My Presence. That's a kind of celebrity memoir by Casey Wilson. I imagine A Very Punchable Face by Colin Joest would fall into the same category of being a really great audio book and back in the day, I, I feel like it's been years since I've mentioned this, but one of my very first memorable audio book, listening experiences was the book Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett. I also think that one's worth mentioning because it deals with grief and I think we all are still grieving a lot of what we lost literally and metaphorically in 2020 and I think we are grieving currently how the state of the world looks, I think a lot different than we thought it would. So I think that could be worth trying as well.
I have also heard nothing but good things about the audio book edition of [00:09:00] Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I think that book has some components that almost would translate better into an audio book version. So I wanted to mention those for you, even if you're not typically an audio book listener, all of those books have been really enjoyable to me in audio book format, and here's the thing. When we are struggling to read or when we're struggling to find time to read, or even to want to read, because it sounds Megan, like that's what you're dealing with. It's certainly what I have been dealing with. It's not so much the time issue it's I don't want to, I don't have the attention span. So I think trying books in a new format and then helping us just get back into the flow of reading, because what happens to me is I'll be almost on this great, like almost a binge of books.
Like I really will find myself reading book after book, after book and loving them and then all of a sudden I will find a book that is a good book, but yeah reading, it stops me in my tracks and I, and most of the time that happens to me with nonfiction. Like, I'll start reading a [00:10:00] memoir or a non-fiction title, and I kind of get not bogged down in it because that's a different problem, but it will affect my reading rhythm. It will prevent me from moving forward and from reading the next thing. So I think an audio book could be a great way to get back in the habit of reading, to try a new format, to kind of spark new life into your reading. I also wanna encourage you, as I hope I always do on this podcast to give grace to yourself. It's okay if you're reading at a different pace than you were a year ago and so I don't know what your typical reading pace was. Mine because of my job is I would say two books a week, give or take. If I read one book a week instead, I think that's okay.
So I think maybe set realistic expectations for yourself. So maybe you were reading a book a week for a total of four a month. Well, what have you told yourself? Hey, if I finish one book this month, one really good book that I really love, that would be enough and anything else is bonus. Jordan is constantly telling me [00:11:00] to lower my expectations and sometimes I get irritated with him for it but other times I think he's right. Like what if I lower those expectations and then I exceed them and that gives me maybe, maybe I'm an overachiever as the problem, but that gives me like this high of, Hey, I did it. I tackled it. I conquered it. I completed the task I set for myself. So anything extra is just bonus. So give grace to yourself, maybe set a more realistic or lower the expectations of your reading pace and try audio books. Those are my suggestions for you, Megan. I hope that helps just know you are not alone. I think we all are struggling with this, especially right now.
[00:11:35] Allison: Hi, Annie, Alison, the pandemic created kind of a weird reading situation for me so I was wondering if you had any practical advice I could implement into my reading life to kind of help it out. Before the pandemic, I was pretty exclusively into historical fiction, literary fiction, contemporary fiction. I was sprinkled in every once in awhile poetry, some memoir, some YA, but those are my big three, really.
[00:12:00] And during the pandemic, I fell in love with romance and fantasy, which were not genres I ever leaned to before. Uh, so now I'm here with all of these genres I love and want to give time to, but I haven't figured out how to balance all of the specific different types of books I want to read and then I also have the problem if I read too many of one specific genre, I feel like I'm kind of in a rut. So I didn't know if you had ever had to balance genres or types of books in your own life. And if you had any advice for me there? Thank you.
[00:12:32] Annie: Alison, you have a slightly different problem than Megan, or even than myself, it sounds like you are still reading. Your pace has not really changed. You're still reading, but the kinds of books you're reading are different, which Olivia and I have talked about this a lot in the span of the last year and a half, how our reading tastes have changed, what we are seeking out, looks a little different right now. I think I am more in a reading slump, maybe a little bit like Megan, but it sounds like [00:13:00] you have rediscovered or discovered for the first time, these great genres that you really like, but now you're struggling to find room in your reading life for the genres that you used to love and you're ready. You want to incorporate those two things into your reading life, which I think is great. Grateful that you have the bandwidth for that.
So I wish I knew a little bit more about your personnel. I think we have established that I'm an Enneagram five, IMTJ. Love me some data, a little bit Monica Geller. Like there's a lot going on here that really values organization and rhythm. You might be different from me, but I'm going to tell you the first thing that came to my mind when I listened to your conundrum and I think, um, even the rhythm of how this podcast is going to work for the rest of the year, I find myself gravitating towards establishing rhythms and I think it's because the rest of the world feels like and so I'm trying to implement organizational tactics and tools in my own life, too, for some semblance of control but this isn't my therapy [00:14:00] session.
This is yours Allison's so, so the very first thing that came to my mind might be a little bit too Monica Geller for you. I don't know. But the first thing I thought of oh, my gosh. What if Alison had different weeks assigned to different genres? So the first week of the month, she reads a historical fiction. The second week of the month, she reads a nonfiction. The third week of the month, she reads a romcom and the fourth week she reads a fantasy, something like that. Obviously, this will not work for everyone. I think a lot of readers myself included really like to leave room for serendipity in their reading and so I have some other tips for that, but if you are a little bit like Monica Geller, or you're an Enneagram one or a five, and you like regular rhythms and almost a liturgy of reading to borrow a religious phrase, I'm wondering if a pattern of reading might work for you and if setting up different weeks for different genres might be a great way to still cling to these genres that you found a lot of comfort [00:15:00] in the last year, but also reinviting the former genres that you loved back into your reading life.
So that's one tip is to kind of assign a different genre a different week in your reading. That's if you are highly organized and really love the idea of rhythms or liturgies. If you are more spontaneous and you prefer leaving some room for spontaneity in your room, I highly recommend having almost different stacks, or if you, I say different stacks because I'm in a room right at this moment with lots of different stacks of books. For you, it might be different lists so maybe you have a list of historical fiction that you want to tackle in the next six months. Maybe you have a list of romcoms that are kind of stacking up and that you really want to read before Christmas or something like that. Have those stacks or lists available to you and listen, this is going to sound so cheesy, but I think it's true.
Like listen to what you're wanting to, what you're longing for. Are you longing for [00:16:00] comfort? Then scratch a romcom off your list. Are you looking for a little bit of excitement? Like your life is feeling a little mundane and so you need something fun and interesting? Then grab a Sci Fi off your list. I think running off of these different lists might show you, oh, I have plenty of options and sometimes right that can stress people out. So this is really personality based. Too many options might stress somebody else out, but maybe you really like having options to choose from.
I think having lists or stacks of books that you're working from could help you and one really big thing I've noticed for my own reading life in this pandemic is I need to not be stuck with that book. I need to know either what I'm reading next or what possibilities are next and I need that so I don't leave too much lag time between books in order to keep my hobby of reading my rhythm of reading up and running, I need to have something next on the [00:17:00] TBR list. So. If you're like me and you like a little bit of rhythm, I think assigning weeks could be really fun, a really fun practice to try, even if you don't stick with it, like for the rest of the year, maybe you try it for the month of September and you see if that works for you.
Tackling lists or stacks of books, I think is the next option and then, okay. Hear me out. But I think my reading life is highly affected by my literal life so four weeks that you see on your literal calendar that are stressful and busy at your work or in your family life that you just know, oh, I have a lot of appointments this week, or I have a lot of meetings this week, be strategic and say, okay, this week I clearly need Carrie Winfrey in my life. Like I need romcoms. I mean, I need Jasmine Guillory up in my grill. Like I is that, I don't know, is that inappropriate? Um, so invite those books into your life on weeks where you need them the most and then on weeks where you're feeling maybe [00:18:00] good or I say maybe good. My head space is weird um, as we enter like stage five of this pandemic, but if you find yourself having a pretty good week, a pretty reliable week, maybe then you have a little bit more bandwidth for literary fiction.
That is one of my big struggles. If I was giving therapy to myself, my conundrum would be, how do I love literary fiction again? Because that has been really hard for me and that's normally been my go-to genre, but I think I've had a hard time with it because life is really full and I'm accustomed to that every November, December. I'm not accustomed to that for 18 months on end and so maybe I need to start looking at my life and realizing, oh, and I do this a little bit, like this week, I really need to tackle and find a shelf subscription and so that's the goal this week, but next week when I don't have too much going on maybe I could try some literary fiction or a heavier non-fiction book and then weeks where I [00:19:00] know I have a mammogram or a skin check, something stressful, I need those comforting cozy reads so listen to the rhythms of your regular life, set a pattern for your reading and have stacks or lists of books to go off of. Those are my recommendations for you, Alison, I hope that helps.
[00:19:21] Natalie: Hi, Annie, this is Natalie from Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, a little town outside of Philadelphia. You might've heard of it if you've ever watched the Goldbergs. Anyway, I'm a mom of five kids who are all home with me this summer and here in the Philly area, they don't start school until after labor day so we are still in the middle of summer vacation.
And my reading life has totally taken a hit this summer. I'm in the market for some quick reads, something to keep my attention that's short, maybe under 300 pages. I'd love it if you could give me some suggestions. Thanks so much.
[00:19:54] Annie: Natalie again. I just want to say you are not alone. I hear from a lot of moms, [00:20:00] locally school has started back, but I hear from a lot of moms who want to make sure there's room in their lives for their own reading but I also want to encourage you to incorporate your kids in your reading. So my first suggestion is reading kid lit is a hundred percent okay for grownups to do and in fact might even be good for us. It might even be good for us to read books that remind us of our own childhoods or that help put us back in the skin of our children. There's gotta be a less creepy way to say that, but basically to remind us of what our kids are going through. I think rereading or revisiting children's literature and reading with your kids is just as valuable as reading on your own.
So my first tip for you with your five kids still at home for the summer is to incorporate them into your reading. Maybe read aloud together each night at the end of the day, maybe start your day with a chapter or two or reading a picture book together. I don't know how old your kids are but I do think incorporating reading into your family's life [00:21:00] could be a fun way to end out the summer. One of my favorite things that I've already mentioned is Jordan and I, we've set a rhythm to our days for the summer because summer is not actually where I super thrive and so we've assigned Wednesdays to be Wizarding Wednesdays so we know that we are going to read at least a chapter of Harry Potter every week. If we do more than that, great. If we don't, we don't, but it is a fun thing that we now look forward to and reading aloud together has been really delightful and we don't even have children.
So maybe for you, that could be something that you could incorporate. That's my first suggestion and if you're looking for read aloud suggestions, I think there are all kinds of podcasts and websites out there that could help you. But I will tell you that a couple of books that I have enjoyed revisiting in this latest season have been Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech and as I've mentioned many, many times before From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler by E.L. Konigsburg. Those are two, I think go-to classic works of middle grade fiction that you could read about and I think would be equally [00:22:00] appropriate. Even if your kids are a little bit younger, as young as I would think even six or so.
Now Walk Two Moons is a little sad, but I think you can handle it. So that's a suggestion. What you really were looking for though, was books for your own reading life and I don't think there's anything wrong with that so I do have some suggestions for short books that you can kind of fly through to just, I guess, help you realize that you're accomplishing something and that you still love reading. Books to help you realize this is still something you enjoy. This is something that you do have time for. The key is like you said, books that are fewer than 300 pages. I did you one better. I did even smaller cause I kind of feel like five kids at home,last month of summer, pandemic encroaching on all of our lives. I just feel like you might want to go shorter.
So, so here are some recommendations. The first is Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly. This is a book that came out a few years ago. It's a collection of micro memoirs, micro essays. I adored this book when it came out. When you either check it out from your library or get it from bookstore, you will [00:23:00] get it and you'll be like Annie this book is so small, but it is so good and it is so lovely and I looked back at my copy before I recorded this episode and I love slipping through the pages and seeing my underlinings so even though it's super short, And there are some pages that are just like a paragraph long, she is packing a punch in every paragraph in every sentence. So you're going to get a lot out of it, even though it's short and to the point.
Next up Brood by Jackie Polzin. This is one of my favorite books. Wish I could remember what year? I don't remember if it came up this year. I think it did. I read it in 2020, but I think it came out this year. I love this book. It is a little weird, but you care immensely by the end of it. You care immensely about these check-ins and if they survive. You also care deeply for an unnamed narrator, which I think it's hard to sometimes to care and to have empathy for an unnamed character in a book, but you do, you have no problem with that in this book. I adored [00:24:00] this one and it is very short. You'll fly through it, and it is a little different and it was a piece of literary fiction that I actually liked in the last year, which is saying, something.
Then I've got a memoir for you that I read in 2020. It was one of my favorite books I read last year. I Have Been Assigned the Single Bird by Sue Cerulean. Beautiful nature writing, beautiful writing about caring for an elderly parents. I adored this one and I think it is well worth your time and you will fly through it. Like it is not slow. It, you do not get bogged down and it is not very long at all.
Next up, Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo. I adored this book when it came out a few years ago, it is now a backlist title so it's available in paperback. I love this book. It is about infertility, marriage. Hmm. Just thinking about it. It is so well-told and well-written and so short. Again, again, all of these books [00:25:00] are shorter than your required 300 pages, which I do think is a good kind of marker to set and I think you would fly through it. If you want to tackle some poetry in the season, I think that's another good route to go and I can't stop recommending What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer. I think you in particular will really appreciate her poems about mothers and I think it could really give you some inspiration as well. I think it could really just be a beautiful practice to maybe start your day with a poem from Kate Baer or if you're like me, you'll intend to read a poem a day and instead you'll just read the whole thing. You'll just read the whole thing in one sitting.
Next up My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. I love this book. Now, even if you are not a thriller suspense reader, I do think this one is worth trying, but obviously from the title, I hope you realize it is a thriller suspense book but it is so well-written and so succinct. I'm telling you these books, the beauty of less than 300 pages at this is that these authors are telling [00:26:00] complete and total stories, but they're taking up way fewer pages than maybe some other works of fiction that I still really like but there is something about these authors who are able to tell a complete story in 200 pages that I find really inspiring and really gratifying as a reader.
A book that I have not read, but it does have a SQL coming out this fall and I am curious about it because it is little like Heating and Cooling level little, and we sold a lot of copies of this last year, An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good by Helene Tursten. Again, just a little we're talking, Heating and Cooling level little book made up of short stories that are kind of murder mysteries, cozy mysteries. We sold a ton of this last year and the sequel is coming out this year so it might be a good time to try it. Again, if you are a suspense thriller, cozy mystery fan.
Last, but not least books that I've mentioned a couple of times here on the podcast and I've heard them mention other places before maybe Ann Vogel, 84, Charing Cross Road and The Duchess of Bloomsbury [00:27:00] Street. Those are two separate books by Helene Hanff. They brought me so much comfort in 2019. Great audio books if you think audio books might be something to try. I do think that could be valuable. Erin, who works at the bookshelf, she has three kids who are school aged and she reads so much and I think the way she does it, we've talked about it before is audio books. So you may want to try audio books and if you do, I think 84, Charing Cross Road would really be a lovely place to start and again, that book is super small, which means the audio book is super short.
So I think Natalie, this gives you a place to start. I understand where you're coming from. I don't think you're the only person who really wants shorter books in the season, obviously, yes. Five kids summer vacation. You probably need them more than I do, but I find myself agreeing with you. Like I, maybe it goes back to my attention span that Megan mentioned, like, I just find myself needing succinct books that are to the point, but that still are well-written and still tell really good and powerful stories and I think all of these [00:28:00] books do.
Okay, we're going to close with Beth's question and I just want to preface this question by saying, this is a question that not only made me laugh out loud, but just filled me with a lot of joy because I immediately knew the perfect person to answer this question.
So, Beth, what literary dilemma are you bringing to the table today?
[00:28:22] Beth: My name is Beth. I'm from Smyrna, Georgia, and I'm in the process of adopting my first little kitten. She is a little black and white rescue and I don't know what to name her. I would love to name her something literary, be it an author's name or a character or a cat that's already in a book, but I really just need some help figuring that out. So if you have any suggestions, I'd be great. Thank you.
[00:28:44] Annie: Okay. So we have a new staffer at the bookshelf, Mary Katherine. She's going to be taking over our marketing and events and she immediately was like, oh my aunt and uncle have a dog named Fitz named after Fitzwilliam Darcy. So I think [00:29:00] first of all, best, there are a lots of great literary names for your new kitten and I hope the kitten, by the way, it brings you so much joy. I feel like we need that in this season. I hope she does that for you. So I think there are so many different routes you can go. Mary Katherine had this great suggestion of kind of thinking outside the box instead of maybe Darcy, although Darcy would be perfect for your kitten. I think the name Fitz for a dog is really cute.
So Mary Catherine went that route, but then I brought this to them, to the person I knew would have opinions, which is resident cat lover, Olivia. Olivia owns four cats. She loves them all equally. She shows videos of them at work. They are delightful and although I am not a huge cat person, I have an appreciation for them now because of Olivia and so not only is Olivia our resident cat lover. She is also really, really good at puns. It's like her spiritual gift is puns [00:30:00] and if you are a shelf subscriber with the books, Every month, Olivia comes up with a discount code. She works with Lucy to come up with a discount code to share with subscribers so you get 10% off your subscription. That's if your subscription is running out, you get 10% off, it's a whole thing but the important part is that Olivia wants to come up with a pun for each month and like it's become a thing where she pulls our staff to get people's input. It is truly something she exceeds that and is really good at it and so I thought, what would Olivia do?
What would Olivia name a cat if she was trying to go the literary route? So I asked her and Beth, you'll be pleased to know there's an entire Google notes devoted to this very question but I went through and picked the ones that I think would be applicable because, um, you are adopting a girl and a little kitten and so here are Olivia's punny suggestions. I hope this is as fun for you as it was for Olivia and [00:31:00] for me upon seeing this list. First up, I hope I can do this with a straight face, first up, Jo Meowch. Um, if you're not, if it's not coming through an audio, Jo March uh, but instead of Jo March, instead of just Jo for your cute little kitten, Jo Meowch, which, which makes me laugh every time I say it.
Okay. Next up, maybe if that's not for you, that's fine. Purmione Granger. Mm, so good. Such a good pun. Okay. I did think the name Jane would be really cute for a cat. I don't know why. I think I like human names for animals. I think there's like, I think that's called something when you prefer human names for animals, but, so I love the name, Jane, but I do appreciate where Olivia went with this because I do think it's important for her animals to have middle names so Jane Pawsten. I just feel like it's really perfect. Purrfect. You're welcome. Um, so I think this would be really great because you could call your cat Jane. You could call your [00:32:00] kitten Jane, but when people come over, you could introduce her as Jane Pawsten, which I just think people would really appreciate.
Of course, you know, I think a lot of cat lovers might go straight to Katniss Everdeen because it's already got cat in the title, but Olivia, did you one better. Cathiss Everdeen is the direction that Olivia went. Okay, next up Pawllette Bronte, which I do think is really great. It brings that I feel like Paul actually goes with a lot of different things. So you can play around with this Beth. My personal favorite though, I saved the best for last. If we had a drum roll sound, um, I would put it right here.
Here's my favorite Anne Purrley. You know, like Anne Shirley, but purr like cat, um, Anne Purrley here's the reason again, why like this Jane, this and Jane Pawsten are my personal favorites because again, you can just call your little kitten Anne, and that's what you call her when she's in your house or when you're calling her to come inside but when you [00:33:00] introduce her, which I think is a really important part of pet ownership. When you introduce her to the world, when you post about her to Instagram, when you introduce her to a house guest, you get to say, this is Anne Purrley and I just feel like you will know who your friends are by whether or not they laugh at that and I think that's an important test. So Beth, I hope that helps. This is really great literary dilemma to close on.
Thank you so much, everyone who contributed your literary, conundrums and quandaries. Again, you are not alone in having every sort of literary dilemma. I think we all are in a little bit of a funk. Well, I won't speak for everyone. Maybe you're doing great. I've been in a little bit of a funk. My own reading life has suffered a little bit or if not suffered certainly changed. So I hope you were able to get some good solutions here today. If you have a literary dilemma that you want to share, please go to from the front porch podcast.com/contact. Scroll to the middle of the page. You'll see an orange button and you can leave me a voicemail there. Your literary conundrum might be featured in an upcoming episode of From the [00:34:00] Front Porch.
From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram at @bookshelftville, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com.
A full transcript of today’s episode can be found at www.fromthefrontporchpodcast.com.
Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations.
This week, I’m reading When Thoughts and Prayers Aren’t Enough by Taylor S. Schumann.
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