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

She was thinking about the way she'd always taken for granted that the world had certain people in it.

Either central to her days were unseen and infrequently thought of.

How without any one of these people, the world is a subtly but unmistakably altered place. The dial turned just one or two degrees.

Emily St. John Mendel Station 11

I'm Annie Jones, owner of the bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia, and Happy New Year.

I am kicking off this new year with a recap of my top 10 or so favorite books.

As 2023 begins, I wanted to remind you about what we're doing over on Patreon.

When you support from the front porch at the $5 level, you receive our monthly conquer a classic recap episodes.

This year we're recapping Charles Dickens Bleak House, reading one section together at a time.

For $5 a month, you also have access to our monthly Q&A sessions designed to fit around your lunch breaks.

We chat about books, small business, nail polish, travel, you name it, we cover it in these 45 minute or so video sessions.

Then for $20 a month, you can join our Patreon book club where various bookshelf staffers host conversations about some of our monthly shelf subscription selections.

We're meeting next week to discuss now is not the time to panic by Kevin Wilson.

We also offer a $50 a month tier where you receive access to all of the above plus discounts and early access to events and special products.

You'll hear the names of those who support us at this level at the end of every episode.

They are our executive producers and our true patrons of the mission of the bookshelf and from the front porch.

To find out more about how you can support us this year on Patreon, there are yearly support levels rather than monthly if you so choose.

Visit www.patreon.com forward slash from the front porch. There's a link in the show notes too.

Now back to the show.

This is an episode I've wanted to do for a very long time because one of the questions I think every reader gets asked, probably more frequently than not,

is what is your favorite book? And maybe if somebody is willing to be generous, they might even ask, what are your 10 favorite books of all time?

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