Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. So, Some people can't see softness without wanting to hurt it.

Aquequake Amezi, the death of Vivek Ojai.

I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf,

an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia,

and today I'm recapping the books I read in July.

Recording this episode has been a journey through no one's faults, no technical difficulties, no issues, just me,

unable to determine what I want to say about the books I read in July. So in May and June, as many of you

listeners know, I've wound up reading an exorbitant amount of books, a

ridiculous number of books, at least for my personal reading life. I think I

read between 12 and 15 books for each of those months. This month I'm a little bit back to my normal

reading rhythm and yet it felt not at all normal. I read about eight books

that includes two Babysitters club books and the truth is I looked

back over my list and they were good books and really enjoyable reads but for some reason I just

find myself struggling to like a lot of things right now.

I don't know if anybody else feels that way.

And I want to be clear, the books I'm about to share with you, I really did like.

But it was also a month in which I put down a lot of books.

Again, not perhaps because of dislike so much as because I couldn't wrap my brain around them

or they just didn't meet me where I am right now or whatever. They just an odd, a little bit of an odd reading month or it felt odd to me while it was happening now that I'm looking back. It looks like a totally

normal month for me but this has been a season in which the things I typically

enjoy don't necessarily hold the same magic for me and I know that that will

probably change but that's just where I am right now so keeping that in mind let's

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