Welcome to From the Front porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South.

I think you actually have to have all of your dreams come true to realize they are the wrong dreams.

Matthew Perry, friends, lovers, and the big, terrible thing.

I'm Annie Jones, owner of the Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia.

And this week, I'm recapping the books I read in November.

As you shop for holiday gifts this season, I'd like to encourage you to think outside the box.

Of course, we love when folks support the bookshelf by shopping with us in-store and online.

That's bookshelfThomasville.com, but another way you can show your support while also giving, I think, a pretty unique gift this holiday season is by gifting a Patreon membership to a friend or loved one.

We offer at the bookshelf and from the front porch three tiers of Patreon support, $5, $20, $50 a month, and you can gift a monthly or annual membership.

We've already announced, as of, I think, this week, our Conquer a Classic selection for 2023, Bleak House by Charles Dickens.

At the $5 a month level, you can read along with me and guest Hunter McClendon as we conquer this classic and recap each section in bonus episodes of From the Front porch.

This week, we wrapped up our 2022 selection, which was the Count of Monte Cristo, and I think the gift of reading along with us would be fun this holiday season.

Visit patreon.com forward slash From the Front porch for more information and to read along with us.

Okay, November is over. It is hard to believe. What a month. This is the month that I, my reading life collapses every November, and that's just the way it is.

It is a rhythm I am very accustomed to. I do not get discouraged by it. It just is what it is.

Every November, I wind up reading a schmorgasbord of maybe possible shelf subscriptions for 2023, but also maybe whatever audiobooks will hold my attention or the occasional nonfiction or something quick.

Young adult cutie, I just feel like November is always the time of the year when my brain really doesn't focus as well on books, and it's because this is the time of year when things are very busy at the bookshelf.

And I do find it ironic that a bookstore owner's reading life kind of diminishes in the waning months of the year, but I also think if you work retail, this makes a lot of sense, and this is familiar.

Also, I don't even think you have to be working retail to understand this. I feel like teachers or people who are trying to get their families festivities in order.

All of us are just hanging on by a thread around this time of year, and so it makes sense that for some of us are reading lives kind of follow suit.

That being said, I sat down on my computer and I thought, well, I'm not going to have much to talk about because I didn't read much in November.

But I read more than I thought I did and we're not fake here from the front porch.

...