Let’s talk summer books! – Modern Mrs Darcy

[00:00:00] ANNE BOGEL: My Kindle’s always going, “Anne, read me! Read me!”

Hey readers, I’m Anne Bogel and this is What Should I Read Next?. Welcome to the show that’s dedicated to answering the question that plagues every reader, what should I read next? We don’t get bossy on this show. What we will do here is give you the information you need to choose your next read.

This week I’m talking books and reading at one of my favorite independent bookstores, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia. In today’s conversation, we are talking all things summer reading, which is a great reminder that you can still get your 2024 Summer Reading Guide.

We had the best time at our two live unboxing events last week. And even if you didn’t join us live, when you grab your guide, you’ll also get access to our video replays. I’m already hearing so many kind comments from readers who are enjoying paging through this year’s guide and choosing which books to place on their summer TBRs, or that they can’t wait for their library holds to come through on those books that really jumped out to them.

Get your guide today at modernmrsdarcy.com/srg. That’s for Summer Reading Guide. Modernmrsdarcy.com/srg.

[00:01:23] Readers, today we are back with the second in a series of three live events from my recent trip to Tallahassee and surrounds. While I was on the road, I had the opportunity to stop by a fantastic independent bookstore that I hadn’t been to since, we had to do the math, 2018. That is The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia.

The Bookshelf is a destination for a reason. Host and owner Annie B. Jones and I had so much fun talking about summer reading there in the store amidst the books with a crowd of friendly and enthusiastic readers.

I want to say a special hello to those of you that I got to meet in person that night. If I didn’t get to meet you in person on this trip, well, that is too bad for me. But I’m thrilled we can invite you to listen in on our live conversation from The Bookshelf about incredible books that feel just right for summer.

Annie and I discussed perennial summer favorites and newer titles that took us by surprise. Plus, I talk a bit about what goes into creating our annual Summer Reading Guide that came out last week. Our conversation today will whet your appetite for summer reading of any flavor. Let’s get to it.

[00:02:29] ANNIE B. JONES: Welcome, welcome everybody. We knew tonight would be standing room only, so we’re going to make our conversation together short so that you can keep visiting so that you can talk to Anne.

But I wanted to welcome you. I’m Annie B. Jones. I am the owner of The Bookshelf here in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. It is beautiful today. And I hope it continues all roadshow weekend long.

We wanted to kick off… really we kicked off Independent Bookstore Week with a midnight release party of Emily Henry’s latest book, Funny Story. We did not know how a midnight release party would go in Thomasville, Georgia, but 25 people came, which we were thrilled by.

Then when we found out our friend and writer and podcast host Anne Bogel was going to be in Tallahassee for Word of South, Tallahassee’s Literary Festival, we thought, “Oh, could she please come here on her way?” So thank you for making a pit stop.

ANNE: I was so happy to get that email.

ANNIE B: I told Caroline, I said, “See if Anne could come.” Because we were just talking and the last time Anne was here was, we think, summer of 2018, which has now been a long time. That feels like another life.

ANNE: Too long.

[00:03:37] ANNIE B: That was pre-pandemic. That was another life. So we are thrilled to welcome Anne back to the store. We’re so glad all of you are here. We are going to talk a little bit about summer reading. You do Summer Reading Guides, it’s one of your claims to fame. So I’m curious… We’ll do cheers. So when we talk about summer reading, what does that mean to you?

ANNE: Oh gosh. I mean it used to mean something more specific. Like a book that you could read while things were happening nearby. Like you could make sure somebody didn’t drown in the pool and read your book. It couldn’t be something really esoteric or philosophical or you needed a family tree to keep the character straight.

But more and more, I think a summer reading book is like, don’t tell, but the same as any other book. And that’s just like, whatever you’re excited about reading right now. But there are certain things that some of us crave in the summer. So the Summer Reading Guide is books I love. So this really represents what I’m interested in.

[00:04:36] ANNIE B: What Anne is excited about.

ANNE: Right, right, right.

ANNIE B: Well, it’s funny you say that because I had a publisher call this morning, and we were talking about summer books. And the publisher was like, “That doesn’t mean anything anymore. Summer reading doesn’t mean anything anymore.”

And I will say as a bookseller, I’m going to push back on that just a little, because we do see an uptick in genre books, mystery books, rom-coms, romances, paperbacks sell better than hardbacks, that kind of thing. Like as a bookseller. But I also think as a bookseller we all know what people want to read is what we’re excited to tell them about reading. So people want to read what you’re excited to talk about.

ANNE: And really this time of year, I want a really good story that maybe doesn’t make me work super hard.

ANNIE B: Yes, that still maybe has some meaning and depth. I love a summer reading book, but they don’t all have to be fluff. And I don’t mind fluff, but they don’t all have to be fluff. They could be a story with a little depth. I think about — probably because it just re-released as this beautiful new edition, which has a better cover — Lessons in Chemistry.

[00:05:40] ANNE: I saw it for the first time when I walked in. It’s so beautiful.

ANNIE B: I am not a special editions girl, but I’m like, “I’m going to buy that.”

ANNE: I’d make an exception for that one.

ANNIE B: I hated the original cover, so much. I just felt like it was such a disservice to that book, because that book definitely was fast-paced, a quick book. Like, you loved the characters, it was propulsive, but it also had a lot of depth. So to me, that is a book that I would be like, Yeah, I could read that in the summer. Like, it’s got a little bit best of both worlds.

ANNE: We’re both nerds like that.

ANNIE B: So you have been doing Summer Reading Guides for how long? So many-

ANNE: Oh gosh, I have to look it up every time. I think it’s 13. I think it’s 13. I’m not positive it’s not 14.

ANNIE B: And you’ve been running your popular blog, Modern Mrs. Darcy, the host of the podcast, What Should I Read Next?. I see a T-shirt. You have so many listeners all over the country. Is Summer Reading Guide what you find like most of your readers… like is that what they get most excited about is your Summer Reading Guide? We heard cheers. Do you think that’s what…?

[00:06:42] ANNE: I don’t know. Maybe we should ask you all.

ANNIE B: Is that what you guys are excited about? Do you like Summer Reading…? I see odds. Yeah, Summer Reading Guide.

ANNE: Okay. That’s actually really good to hear because it’s the thing we work the hardest on.

ANNIE B: I’m really curious, because y’all’s Summer Reading Guide is long. It is lengthy. I always look at the short one, because I like a short list. But that’s a ton of work. When do you start working on it?

ANNE: You don’t want to know. You might want to know. You run a business. You don’t want to…

ANNIE B: Because for… I don’t know. How often are you reading in advance? Meaning like, I don’t know, like we read three months in advance, I feel like.

ANNE: I’m always reading early. But the Summer Reading Guide is different from other things that we do in that there’s 42 books in it. I’ve read them all cover to cover and probably twice as many that I didn’t like as much. So I start in like November.

Something that’s really changed since COVID is that publishers are more reliant on e-galleys, and they’re getting them out a little earlier. So the good and the bad of it is that there’s more to read sooner, which means my Kindle’s always going, “Anne, read me! Read me!” And read this book that comes out in nine months, not, you know, 30 years ago or tomorrow. So, I mean, it’s great in some ways and also-

[00:07:53] ANNIE B: I think as a fellow reader, podcast host, that’s one of my downfalls is that I don’t read electronically. So I am still relying on physical galleys. And they are not what they once were because of the pandemic. So I probably am doing myself a disservice by not just sucking it up and doing a Kindle.

ANNE: Did you talk about that in therapy? I think I would.

ANNIE B: Maybe there’s other things to talk about in therapy as well. I feel like I’m bigger fish to fry.

ANNE: That sounds healthy.

ANNIE B: Yeah, totally. Okay, so we have a stack of books here that we… We went back and forth via email about what books we wanted to talk about today. Are these all books in your Summer Reading Guide?

ANNE: No.

ANNIE B: Okay.

ANNE: Okay, y’all, I can’t give too much away.

ANNIE B: When does the Summer Reading Guide release?

ANNE: May 16th.

ANNIE B: Okay, May 16th.

ANNE: But I do really love to share things, so I’m not saying I won’t whisper a title or two to you in the signing line.

ANNIE B: So these are just Anne’s favorites?

ANNE: These are all summer-themed, though.

ANNIE B: Okay.

[00:08:52] ANNE: Because we also have our Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club, and we… There’s no, like, read to not share here, or to bury. We’re reading some of these this summer. Oh, the first three! We’re reading the first three of the book club this summer. And they all have ties to, I think, the summer season, and that I think they would be…

If I hadn’t featured the new one from Xochitl in the Spring Book Preview, I absolutely would have put it in the Summer Reading Guide, because it’s so smart and so fun. Both and, which is what I wanna read in the summertime.

ANNIE B: Did you read this first? Did you read Olga first?

ANNE: No. So I read… Can we just jump in?

ANNIE B: Yeah, let’s do it.

ANNE: Okay.

ANNIE B: If that’s okay with you guys.

ANNE: I love how you put the books we’re talking about in a stack, so I can’t just pull extra titles out of my head-

ANNIE B: That was Caroline.

ANNE: …and start rattling them off.

ANNIE B: A visual. This is to help us both.

ANNE: It’s like you talk to book lovers and see what can happen. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so we’re not gonna be here till midnight.

ANNIE B: That’s right.

ANNE: I read Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xóchitl González probably last winter. And we do seasonal book previews too, and that’s not all titles I’ve read. Those are ones that I’ve read and loved, that I’m really excited about reading, but like might let me down. Just like sometimes books you’re looking forward to reading aren’t what you hoped they would be sometimes, and also ones that are significant in the industry for various reasons.

[00:10:09] Like the single something that like for whatever reason or having like the full weight of the publisher-

ANNIE B: Like you can’t just ignore those.

ANNE: That’s interesting. Because I like to understand how it works, because whether you realize it or not, things coming down from the industry are impacting you and your choices as readers.

ANNIE B: It’s like Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada.

ANNE: It really is. Cerulean?

ANNIE B: It’s cerulean, yeah. That’s exactly right.

ANNE: I read Anita de Monte Laughs Last, and I loved it.

ANNIE B: It’s so good.

ANNE: This book had been on my bookshelf since probably six months before it came out. And I don’t know, it just didn’t… There are so many good books that I don’t pick up. It’s just a factor of time. I mean, like, there’s so many books in this store that we could all read and love and we haven’t yet. So then I picked it up right away and loved it.

Something that I try to do, and I know many of you try to do, is not read all new all the time, right? Or some of us need to be reminded to, you know, take a chance on something that was published this decade, like, maybe it’ll be okay. So we can all, you know, branch out a little bit and read from different eras.

[00:11:12] ANNIE B: And I think that’s so important because as booksellers, we can’t always do that, right? Like, we have to constantly be talking about what’s the newest, latest, greatest, because that’s literally our bread and butter. I mean, Olivia could probably help me with stats, but I think, like, 90% of our book sales, 80% of our book sales are front lists.

ANNE: Wow. Like, we do well with backlists, but frontlists is… I think frontlist is why people keep coming to bookstores. Because backlist, you go to your local library or your used bookstore, or maybe sometimes you’re digging in our shelves and finding Annie’s favorite paperback from 20 years ago.

But I do like that about book bloggers and podcasters because I feel like y’all have a little bit more freedom to play with release dates and talking about backlists than we do. It’s why you can do something like Olga, whereas I’m really focused right now on still talking about Anita. You know?

ANNE: I loved Anita.

ANNIE B: I loved Anita.

ANNE: That doesn’t sound that bad. But in Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club this summer, we’re reading some new and some old. And we’re reading Olga. And I love that people will be reading Anita or they’ll read Olga with us and then they can go to Anita. But I love… Are we going to talk about plots?

[00:12:22] ANNIE B: We said before this, do we have to talk character names? Because we read a lot of books.

ANNE: Right, right, right. And I just read this at like Christmas time. I can’t tell you. It’s about Olga and her brother, her mom, her boyfriend. They all matter deeply. I can’t remember their names.

ANNIE B: Okay, let me ask this about your book club. Will you guys get to talk to Xóchitl González? Will she…?

ANNE: Yes. If the author is alive, we’d really like to talk to them.

ANNIE B: Which, I don’t know, you could, I don’t know, get like a third party involved and talk to the dead as well. I don’t know. Should I talk about that in therapy?

ANNE: That’s a major theme in reading right now. There’s lots of spiritists and mediums.

ANNIE B: Yes!

ANNE: What’s happening? I don’t know. But this is on trend. We’ll probably talk about that at the Summer Reading Guide Unboxing.

ANNIE B: I totally planned it that way.

ANNE: I know. I know. She’s so smart. I just read this really fun piece in Lit Hub that said, why don’t authors write about money anymore? Like the way Jane Austen did. She was very specific and that meant something to people back then. And it was interesting.

[00:13:21] So Xóchitl González writes about money in a way that’s really interesting. So she used to work as a wedding planner to the super wealthy and she used that information to write about Olga, her wedding planner, who’s 40.

Midlife reckonings is also a real theme in this publishing season. So Olga’s looking around at her life going like, what am I doing? Because she’s like facilitating million-dollar weddings but her mother is a revolutionary who abandoned her to fight for Puerto Rican independence. And she is not sure that she can keep doing what she’s doing.

ANNIE B: It’s a real generation gap novel, and it plays a lot with class.

ANNE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

ANNIE B: I think another author who’s doing… I know we weren’t going to spin off too much-

ANNE: Oh, no, no, go for it.

ANNIE B: Another author who’s writing about money so well is Kiley Reid.

ANNE: Oh, I loved that new one.

ANNIE B: Yeah, Come and Get It. To me, I read it and I thought… we talked about like, is it a campus novel? She, I think, refers to it as a dorm novel. It’s not just a campus. It’s more specific in the dorm.

ANNE: I love that.

[00:14:21] ANNIE B: But it’s set at the University of Arkansas. We never get campus novels set on public universities. So that alone is interesting enough. But she’s writing so much about class. I think even when I went to college, that’s when I first started to encounter, Oh right, money means different things to different people, and spending money means different things to different people.

Anyway, Kiley Reid is another. Come and Get It could probably be a sister book on the shelf with Olga.

ANNE: I see that. I see that.

ANNIE B: Okay, ready to talk about the next one.

ANNE: All right, let’s do it. Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club was founded in 2016. And I think since 2016, we’ve been saying we should have Katherine Center. So, this summer we’re having Katherine Center to come talk about The Bodyguard.

We just talked about Olga and her wedding planning. I love a good story of a person at work doing an interesting job that takes me behind the scenes and shows me what it might be like. Because I don’t know, but I would really like to find out.

[00:15:20] In The Bodyguard, the bodyguard is the woman who jokes about looking like a kindergarten teacher on the cover. She is the bodyguard in question to this A-list handsome actor. I don’t know. Is he that handsome on the cover? He is not handsome on the cover.

ANNIE B: I’ll answer that for you. The answer is no.

ANNE: But I just trust the book when they tell us that Jack Stapleton is a handsome man. So he doesn’t want a bodyguard. She’s the one who’s hired. He feels he’s got to prevent his mama’s feelings, which is why, you know, the plot set up, you know. You know how these kind of stories work.

ANNIE B: Big Texas energy.

ANNE: Big Texas energy.

ANNIE B: Big Texas energy.

ANNE: Which I trust she knows what she’s talking about. I’ve been to Texas for like a week put together in my life. I trust her to transport me there. I feel like she knows.

ANNIE B: And she does.

ANNE: She knows.

ANNE: She totally does.

ANNIE B: This might be one of my favorite… I’ve not read all of Katherine Center’s, she’s got quite the backlist, but this is one of my… this is my favorite book of hers, I think. I really love this book.

ANNE: I really liked Happiness Beginners. It’s a favorite for a long time. Y’all Netflix might have ruined me a little bit. Because that was bad. It was not good.

ANNIE B: I stopped watching it.

[00:16:23] ANNE: That was a good choice. Yeah, that was a good choice. But I still really loved that book. And I think about that age gap all the time.

ANNIE B: It feels like this came out the same time as a lot of like… and I know rom-coms play with tropes all the time, but this came out the same time as a lot of like celebrity falls in love with a normal person book.

ANNE: In my head, there’s celebrity normie.

ANNIE B: Yeah, that’s right. You did it. You’re allowed to say that, I think. But it’s kind of a funny story, was one of my favorites. And then Nora Goes Off Script is my favorite favorite. I think this lives happily with those titles as well.

ANNE: And I’m like, why are those so fun to read? I don’t know-

ANNIE B: They’re so fun because don’t we all… I think I’ve said this on the podcast before but I will shamelessly say it again. Don’t we all dream that Seth Meyers will sit next to us on a plane and like gently flirt? I do. That would be a dream come true. It’d be so fun.

ANNE: Am I allowed to tell Annie I don’t think I’d recognize Seth Meyers next to me on a plane? There are definitely people I’d recognize, but he’s not one of them.

ANNIE B: Well, he’s handsome.

ANNE: He would probably look recognizable.

[00:17:26] ANNIE B: Yeah.

ANNE: I’d recognize that he’s not like somebody’s mail carrier.

ANNIE B: Yeah, you’d know him. He could carry your mail.

ANNE: What else could he do, Annie? No, no, no. Don’t answer that. One of the reasons we’re reading The Bodyguard is we wanted to go backlist, and Katherine Center certainly has a lot to explore. But also she has a new book coming out this summer that will totally be in the Summer Reading Guide. It’s called The Rom-Commers. So this time we have screenwriters at work.

ANNIE B: It’s excellent. Did you read it?

ANNE: Oh yeah, I did. I loved it.

ANNIE B: I loved it.

ANNE: I even listened to the first hour of the audiobook in the car, because I’m putting together the Awesome on Audio section right now. Fun!

ANNIE B: Who narrates it?

ANNE: I didn’t recognize the voice. There’s two I’s in the first name. Is that it? I can’t remember. That’s all I can do.

ANNIE B: No, I physically read that. I was like, Do I read this one or listen to it? The Rom-Commers was great.

ANNE: I read that in the actual print galley.

ANNIE B: I did too.

ANNE: Are you proud of me?

ANNIE B: I am so proud of you.

ANNE: Yeah, I knew you did.

ANNIE B: I am so proud.

ANNE: But Jack Stapleton is in that one.

ANNIE B: There’s little Easter eggs.

ANNE: Yeah, yeah, yeah. As is Meryl Streep. She makes a cameo, which I thought was super fun. Can’t wait to watch that movie. So yeah, so we did The Bodyguard by Katherine Center.

[00:18:22] ANNIE B: I love that, that both of these then have books by the same author, that you could read the backlist and then move to the front list as well. That’s nice.

ANNE: Because we want in summer, in Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club, it’s the one time we’re like weird, like keying in to the Summer Reading Guide. Sometimes we’ve got to stretch it a little y’all. But yeah.

ANNIE B: I like that. It reminds me of what we try to do with kids’ books as we try to introduce them to authors that they love so they keep reading. And so you’re introducing folks to authors that then they can go down Katherine Center’s whole backlist or they can pre-order her future books or whatever. And so you’re doing the same thing that I think we do with kids all the time. But we need it too sometimes.

ANNE: It’s good to find some favorites.

ANNIE B: Tell me about this, because I just heard it greenlit on The Popcast by Knox McCoy, but I have not read it. Jenna and I read so similarly. So talk to me about The Husbands.

ANNE: Okay, this is The Husbands by Holly Gramazio. Y’all, this is so fun. This is a debut. Holly Gramazio is British. She designs video games. Like, you would never know that reading this book.

[00:19:22] But what I love about this book, and what I love about it for summer, is that it’s just so easy breezy. You fly through it, and then you finish it, and it’s three weeks later, and you find yourself thinking about your life and The Husbands.

ANNIE B: That is the perfect summer book.

ANNE: The meaning of relationships and marriage, and what is love. How do you know if you’re satisfied? What does it mean to be content in a relationship? Anybody who can sneak that in to like a page-turner, like I want to read… I can’t wait to read what she reads next. But first, first you get to enjoy this one. It’s already out.

ANNIE B: Yeah, it’s out.

ANNE: These are all already out, so they’re on that beautiful table that Olivia put together. But the premise here is so fun. Check out the cover.

ANNIE B: The cover’s great.

ANNE: So this British woman, whose life I’m jealous of, her grandmother left her a flat in London, and it’s the only reason she can afford to live there. But I don’t have a grandmother who left me a flat. Okay, so a little vicarious thrill there.

But she’s out with friends, she comes home, a little tipsy, maybe more than a little tipsy, and her husband’s at home to greet her, which is weird because she’s not married. So she’s like, “How much did I drink with my friends?”

[00:20:34] So she tries to get kind of oriented in her new life, and things aren’t quite where she remembered them. And she has different mugs, and the living room’s a different shade, and she might have a cat, and what in the world? And so she’s married now, and she’s just gonna kind of-

ANNIE B: She’s just gonna live with it?

ANNE: Until her husband goes into the attic to change the light bulb, and a different man comes down. So what she realizes over time is her attic now produces Husbands. But just one at a time. And every time the new one comes down, the details of her life have suddenly shifted. Sometimes they shift a lot.

And so she realizes, like, “Wait, what’s going on here? Every one of these men is somebody that, based on my past experiences, choices, interests, I could conceivably have chosen to marry at some point.” And, like, really sneakily, it’s just this whole thought experiment about, like, what does it mean to commit to someone? And how do you know?

[00:21:34] ANNIE B: It reminds me of Taylor Jenkins’ Reids, Maybe In Another Life, which my book club read. It was one of those that we thought was going to be… and it was fun and propulsive, but we… I mean, it was a great book club book. We had a great discussion about it.

Or Begin Again, which just came out by Helly Acton, I think is the author’s name. That one’s great because she dies from eating a kebab at the beginning. No spoilers.

Anyway, she winds up kind of going through her… when she goes to the afterlife, she’s living… it’s almost like Christmas Carol-esque. And I do like those kinds of books because they do make you kind of self-analyze and reflect.

ANNE: This goes way back, but it really reminded me of What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.

ANNIE B: That’s great. That’s a good one. Okay, a nonfiction.

ANNE: A nonfiction!

ANNIE B: By a favorite. I love this guy.

ANNE: This is my first one. There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib. I’m 5’9″. People have mostly stopped asking me if I play basketball, but that was like a big feature of my life for many years.

[00:22:36] ANNIE B: I think Olivia understands that totally.

ANNE: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I did play basketball. Did you play basketball?

Olivia: Poorly.

ANNE: Right. See, you shouldn’t ask people that question because they’re tall. But-

ANNIE B: Let me just say as a 5’2 person who wanted to play for the WNBA, I would love for somebody to ask me if I played basketball.

ANNE: You could be a sneaky little point guard.

ANNIE B: I was, for a few years.

ANNE: I haven’t played basketball since I was 14. Y’all, I could not tell you where LeBron James… I mean, I read the book and I… No, I could tell you where LeBron James played.

ANNIE B: You could. I believe in you.

ANNE: What I loved about this book is he took a topic that I didn’t think I was particularly interested in, which was the sport of basketball, and particularly the Cleveland Cavaliers during the LeBron James era, and just pulled me into a world, a meditation. He uses basketball as a way to riff on…

ANNIE B: Yes, that’s exactly what he’s doing. And it’s what he does in his other books. I just finished the one… and now I’m going to blank on the title, but I finished the one… They Can’t Kill Us Till They Kill Us, which has the wolves on the cover.

[00:23:37] ANNE: I’m going to read that next.

ANNIE B: Okay. Well, he’s writing so much about music and hip hop, and I had it on my shelf forever because I thought, “Look at me. Do you think I listen to a lot of hip hop?” I really loved it because indie booksellers went crazy for that book. And so I bought it but didn’t read it.

And then I picked it up in preparation for this and he is writing about music and R&B and hip hop, but in a way that makes you fall in love with it too, even if you’ve never listened to it before, which I think is an incredible… I would love to have dinner with him, because I bet he’s a wonderful conversationalist, because he makes you care about what he cares about, which is an incredible gift.

ANNE: He’s an amazing storyteller. Y’all, also, if you asked me to describe a jump shot from a YouTube clip in a way that was interesting, I don’t know what I could tell you, Annie. But he can go on for five pages and you’re like, what happened next? How did the ball turn? What was going through your mind? But I was Googling Nike commercials and like slam dunks-

ANNIE B: Trying to watch them.

ANNE: …and I’m like, “That warms my heart.” But he’s writing about how ball is life, but also the passage of time, getting older. There’s a lot about prison and pick-up ball and just conversations with friends.

[00:24:53] ANNIE B: And I think about his dad too. He writes a lot about his dad. Maybe I need to gift this book. March Madness is a big deal here at the bookshelf. Maybe I need to gift this to the staff next year and make them care about that.

ANNE: They might not, but they’ll love the book. I mean, I feel like I can’t really do this justice, but this is the kind of thing where you give it five pages, and you’re like, Oh, I want to spend more time with you.

ANNIE B: Yeah. Okay, last one. and this one is near and dear because here we are, we’re at the Florida Georgia Line. Lauren Groff is going to be at Word of South, which is where you are also going to be.

ANNE: I know, I’m so excited.

ANNIE B: I am so excited and jealous and sad I cannot be there to hear this in person. But tell me about Florida and Lauren Groff and what you’re going to talk to her about.

ANNE: Oh my gosh. Okay, y’all can tell me in the signing line what, or just mingling, what I should talk to Lauren Groff about, because she’s opening an independent bookstore. I imagine we’re going to talk a lot about that. Or it’s soft launch, and I think it’s opening opening an independent bookstore.

ANNIE B: It is, yeah.

ANNE: Okay, very fun. This is the one book of hers I hadn’t read until I got invited to come down here. So I just finished this, and you know what it reminded me a lot of? Oh my gosh, is this a disservice to Lauren. No disservice to Lauren. But the closest I’ve got to reading something like this is the Emily St. John Mandel novel.

ANNIE B: Oh, which one?

ANNE: Is it the Lola Quartet?

ANNIE B: Okay, yeah.

[00:26:12] ANNE: Thank you so much. Where there’s exotic pets that have been freed to live in the canals that are, you know, just like waiting to get you, basically.

ANNIE B: So Florida, in a nutshell.

ANNE: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Such an interesting short story collection where she examines, I think, her complicated relationship with Florida, which I really enjoyed.

ANNIE B: Which I think any of us who are from states or places… I mean, I don’t know where everybody’s from, but if you’re from the South, isn’t that how we all feel? I mean, don’t we all have complicated relationships about our homes? And even if you’re from the Midwest or California, I just think you have complicated feelings about home.

So I think Lauren writes… I mean, I love her. I think she’s one of the best modern writers. I loved her most recent book, The Vaster Wilds. I just think she’s so great.

ANNE: Which sounded so like…

ANNIE B: That’s why she’s so great.

ANNE: I know.

ANNIE B: You wouldn’t pick it up.

ANNIE B: I told Will, my husband, let me tell you what this book is about in one sentence, and you will say, why did they let her write that? It just sounds awful.

[00:27:24] ANNIE B: Yeah, but it’s not awful. It’s amazing.

ANNE: No, I loved it. It’s so good.

ANNIE B: It’s so good

ANNE: So good.

ANNIE B: And so I think she’s…

ANNE: I think the answer is, like, why? Because she’s Lauren Groff and she’s freaking amazing.

ANNIE B: That’s the answer. She could write about anything. And she almost has. I mean, her backlist runs the gamut. I mean, she’s covered such wide-ranging territory and genres.

ANNE: You know what’s so interesting is the same themes keep coming up. Like, you know what you’ll find in Florida? Nuns. Yeah. But I gotta read you a line from Florida.

ANNIE B: Okay, great.

ANNE: So the very end of the collection, the final story, there’s a woman who goes to France to escape Florida in the summer, because who wants to be in Florida in the summertime.

ANNIE B: Yeah, don’t we all?

ANNE: So she’s gonna go live her best life in France, but she realizes at the end that she doesn’t belong there. She muses to herself at the end, of all the places in the world, she belongs in Florida. How dispiriting to learn this of herself.

ANNIE B: I feel like I could say it about myself.

ANNE: I think Lauren and I got to talk about this.

ANNIE B: Yeah, that’s a great quote. Anne, thank you so much for being here. Thank you guys for being here.

ANNE: Thank you.

[00:28:36] Hey readers, I hope you enjoyed my discussion with Annie B. Jones at our live event at The Bookshelf. Thank you so much to The Bookshelf for having me. Annie, along with Caroline Weeks, were fantastic hosts and I’m so grateful. It was great to see so many of their team that was around.

Find The Bookshelf on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Caroline does an amazing job with their socials. She took a zillion photos while I was there. I was so impressed.

We’ve got those links as well as the full list of the titles we talked about today at our show notes page at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com.

The Bookshelf has its own podcast. Listen to From the Front Porch wherever you get your podcasts.

Make sure you’re following What Should I Read Next? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, wherever you get your podcasts.

And keep up with us on Instagram. We’d love to see what you can’t wait to add to your summer reading list, what you are reading right now. Add the #MMDSummerReading to your posts and stories or tag me when you share. I’m @AnneBogel.

[00:29:37] Sign up for our emails at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/newsletter, and we will keep you in the loop with all the bookish news you need right in your inbox.

Thanks to the people who make this show happen. What Should I Read Next? is created each week by Will Bogel, Holly Wielkoszewski, and Studio D Podcast Production. Readers, that’s it for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. And as Rainer Maria Rilke said, “Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.” Happy reading, everyone.