From the Front Porch

This week on From the Front Porch, it’s a Literary Therapy session! Our literary Frasier Crane, Annie, is back to answer more of your reading questions and dilemmas. If you have a question you would like Annie to answer in a future episode, you can leave us a voicemail here.

To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 564) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app.

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 here.

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 Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven.

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...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.

This week on From the Front Porch, Annie shares the modern books she would recommend to Jane Austen, in honor of Jane’s recent 250th birthday. Listen to find out what books Annie would put in Jane’s hands if she walked into The Bookshelf.

To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 563) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Miracles and Other Reasonable Things by Sarah Bessey

Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs by Heather Lende

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor

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 here.

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 Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser.

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...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.

Happy New Year! This week on From the Front Porch, Annie chats about the unsung books you may not have heard about in 2025.

To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 562) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:

Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Before I Forget by Tory Henwood Hoen

The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley

So Far Gone by Jess Walter

Among Friends by Hal Ebbott

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 here.

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 The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller.

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...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.

This week on From the Front Porch, Annie reads the New York Sun reporter Francis P. Church’s timeless response to eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon’s question: “Is there a Santa Claus?” Read the letter from 1897 and learn about its history here.

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 and Facebook, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, bookshelfthomasville.com. 

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 here.

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 A Bit Much by Lyndsay Rush.

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...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.

This week on From the Front Porch, Annie and Hunter discuss their top 10 favorite books of 2025!

Annie
1. A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
2. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
3. Flashlight by Susan Choi
4. Tilt by Emma Pattee
5. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
6. Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
7. Memorial Days by Geradine Brooks
8. Buckeye by Patrick Ryan
9. Life, and Death, and Giants by Ron Rindo
10. Awake by Jen Hatmaker

Hunter
1. Audition by Katie Kitamura
2. Flashlight by Susan Choi
3. Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones
4. Lightbreakers by Aja Gabel
5. Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor
6. A Guardian and a Thief by  Megha Majumdar
7. Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett
8. Middle Spoon by Alejandro Varela
9. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
10. Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez

Annie - July picks
1. Tilt by Emma Pattee
2. Flashlight by Susan Choi
3. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
4. Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
5. Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
6. Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
7. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green
8. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
9. Lucky Night by Eliza Kennedy
10. Playworld by Adam Ross

Hunter - July picks
1. Audition by Katie Kitamura
2. Ordinary Time by Annie B Jones
3. Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett
4. Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez
5. Among Friends by Hal Ebbott
6. The Wilderness by Angela Flourney
7. Open, Heaven by Sean Hewitt
8. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
9. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico
10. Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino

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 here.

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 Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon. Hunter is reading Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club.

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...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.