Today
Beloved by Toni Morrison - rerun
Beloved by Toni Morrison was first published in 1987 by Knopf, it went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988, among many other prizes. In 2006, the New York Times declared Beloved the best work of American fiction of the previous twenty-five years. and more recently it ... Show More
1h 6m
May 11
Springs of Affection by Maeve Brennan - rerun
There can be few writers more deserving of Backlisted’s attention than the Irish writer, Maeve Brennan. An adopted New Yorker, Brennan died there in 1993 and was by that time so thoroughly forgotten in her native land, that she received no obituaries in any Irish papers. We are j ... Show More
1h 17m
Apr 27
De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
Back in 2022, our guest was Stephen Fry, writer, actor and polymath, who joined John and Andy to discuss Oscar Wilde's De Profundis, the essay addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas in 1897 'from the depths' of Wilde's incarceration in Reading Gaol. It has been described by Colm Tóibín ... Show More
1h 20m
Sep 2025
731 The Brothers Karamazov Reclaimed (#19 Greatest Book of All Time)
Responding to a special request from a listener, Jacke discusses Fyodor Dostoevsky, his novel The Brothers Karamazov, and the search for meaning in a meaningless world. This episode was originally released as episode #250 on October 7, 2020. For reasons Jacke discusses, it has no ... Show More
1h 21m
Dec 2024
Episode 509 || Best Books of the Year with Hunter Mclendon
<p>This week on From the Front Porch, Annie and Hunter (<a href='https://www.instagram.com/shelfbyshelf/'>@shelfbyshelf</a>) discuss their top 10 favorite books of 2024.</p>
<p>To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, <a href='https:/ ... Show More
57m 36s
Oct 2025
743 Fairy Tales (with Jack Zipes) [RECLAIMED] | Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (#11 GBOAT) | Chaucer News
An early encounter with one of the most famous people in the world initiated Jack Zipes into the world of fairy tales - and he never looked back. In this episode, Jacke talks to the fairy tale expert about his book Buried Treasures: The Power of Political Fairy Tales, which profi ... Show More
1h 2m
Nov 2025
746 Wild Jane Austen (with Devoney Looser) | #9 Greatest Book of All Time
Author Devoney Looser may be a mild-mannered English professor to most people, but roller derby fans know her as Stone Cold Jane Austen, her smashmouth alter ego. In this episode, Devoney tells Jacke about her new book Wild for Austen: A Rebellious, Subversive, and Untamed Jane, ... Show More
1h 4m
Oct 2025
744 Love, Sex, and Frankenstein (with Caroline Lea) | #10 Greatest Book of All Time | My Last Book with Geoffrey Turnovsky | A Letter from a Middle School Teacher and Mom
The year is 1816, and 18-year-old Mary Shelley has fled London with her lover, Percy Shelley, and her sister, Claire. They're on their way to visit Lord Byron's villa in Lake Geneva, Switzerland - and to change the course of literary history. In this episode, Jacke talks to Carol ... Show More
1h 26m
Dec 2024
Episode 506 || Staff's Favorite Books of 2024
<p>This week on From the Front Porch, The Bookshelf staff share their favorite books of 2024!</p>
<p>To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, <a href='https://www.bookshelfthomasville.com/'>visit our website</a> (search “Episode 506” ... Show More
26m 25s
This week John and Andy are joined by super-librarian Nancy Pearl, possibly the only librarian in the world to have their own action figure, to discuss Rose Macaulay's gloriously eccentric family saga Told by an Idiot. John has been reading Sally Bayley's acclaimed bibliomemoir Girl With Dove, while Andy waxes lyrical over Andrew Sean Greer's Pulitzer-winnin ... Show More
<p>It's episode 25 of Season 11 - Our Season 11 finale. We have three tales about vexing vagrants, horrifying heritage, and lethal literati.</p>
<p><strong>"The Boy in the Alley"‡</strong> written by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ck.walker00">C.K. Walker</a> and performed b ... Show More
