Finding highly discussable books for book clubs often feels like a full-time job, especially if you're a member of multiple long-standing book clubs like today's guest, Lara.
Today, Lara joins Anne to talk about her constant search for fiction that explores the human condition in all its messy glory. She loves these sorts of books because they give her so ... Show More
Jul 8
Ep 485: A midyear reading check-in
A midyear reading check-in has become a small tradition around here, and today Anne is welcoming team member Shannan Malone back to the podcast. Today, you'll hear Anne and Shannan dive into the history of this practice before exploring how this year’s been going so far, what the ... Show More
1 h
Jul 1
Ep 484: A summer to slow down and sink into what you love
Today's guest is looking for ways to slow down and sink into what she loves most as she plans her summer of reading. Chelsea Siler is an early childhood special education teacher in Tacoma, Washington. She's often found reading to be a source of joy, escape, and growth, and she'd ... Show More
49m 11s
Sep 2023
549 Forgotten Women of Literature 7 - Ursula Parrott (with Marsha Gordon)
Hardly anyone knows Ursula Parrott today, but not long ago she was close to being a household name. As a bestselling novelist of the Roaring Twenties and beyond, Parrott's life was filled with literature, celebrity, and scandal. In this episode, Jacke talks to Parrott's biographe ... Show More
1h 3m
Jun 27
Book Club: Let's Talk About 'Mrs. Dalloway" at 100
“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself”: So reads one of the great opening lines in British literature, the first sentence of Virginia Woolf’s classic 1925 novel, “Mrs. Dalloway.”The book tracks one day in the life of an English woman, Clarissa Dalloway, living in ... Show More
42m 38s
Feb 2025
Anne Enright Reads John McGahern
Anne Enright joins Deborah Treisman to read and discuss “Sierra Leone,” by John McGahern, which was published in The New Yorker in 1977. Enright, a winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Man Booker Prize, among others, has published eleven books of fiction ... Show More
1h 7m
Jul 2024
621 War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
For Virginia Woolf, Leo Tolstoy was "the greatest of all novelists," and her argument was simple: "[W]hat else can we call the author of War and Peace?" In this episode, Jacke takes a look at Tolstoy's original plans for the novel; the unusual nature of the book, which Henry Jame ... Show More
1h 30m
Oct 2024
Episode 498 || Annie Recommends: Campus Novels & Spooky Reads
This week on From the Front Porch, we have a new series: Annie Recommends! In this series, Annie curates a stack of books in a certain genre or theme for you – just as if you walked into our brick-and-mortar store, The Bookshelf. Sometimes, you just want a good book list.
This mo ... Show More
50m 2s