Episode 349 || Best Books of the Year

December is a great time to look back on your reading year. In this episode of From the Front Porch, Annie, Lucy, and Olivia are talking about their favorite books of 2021.

The books mentioned in this episode can be purchased from The Bookshelf:

Annie’s List

• Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann

• Matrix by Lauren Groff

• Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

• Brood by Jackie Polzin

• Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

• Bewilderment by Richard Powers

• The Guncle by Steven Rowley

• Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny

• My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

• Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Lucy’s List

• A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

• Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America by Nicole Eustace

• The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness by Gregory Boyle

• Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

• Zorrie by Laird Hunt (back-ordered)

• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

• The Slaughterman’s Daughter by Yaniv Iczkovits

• Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain

• A Ghost in the Throat by Dioreann Ní Ghríofa (not available)

Olivia’s List

• Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune

• Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

• A Station on the Path to Somewhere Better by Benjamin Wood

• Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

• Pony by R.J. Palacio

• Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka

• The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker

• Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

• The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams by Mindy Thompson

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 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. 

Thank you again to this week’s sponsor, Visit Thomasville. Whether you live close by or are passing through, I hope you'll visit beautiful Thomasville, Georgia: www.thomasvillega.com.

This week, Annie is reading Anastasia’s Chosen Career by Lois Lowry. (not available) Lucy is reading Every Good Boy Does Fine by Jeremy Denk. Olivia is reading The Maid by Nita Prose.

If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on iTunes. Or, if you’re so inclined, support us on Patreon, where you can hear our staff’s weekly New Release Tuesday conversations, read full book reviews in our monthly Shelf Life newsletter and follow along as Hunter and I conquer a classic. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch.

We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week.

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