Episode 536 || Best Books of the Year (So Far) with Hunter Mclendon

From the Front Porch

The Bookshelf Thomasville

Arts:books, Arts, Books, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on From the Front Porch, Annie and Hunter discuss the best books of 2025 (so far)! To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 536) or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app: Annie's books: First five-star read: Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld Most surprising: Blessings and Disasters by Alexis Okeowo (releases August 5th)Least favorite: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne CollinsNext on your TBR: The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley, The Names by Florence KnappMost anticipated fall release: Same by Hannah Rosenberg (releases October 21st), Heart the Lover by Lily King (releases October 7th) Annie's Top Ten (So Far):1. Tilt by Emma Pattee2. Flashlight by Susan Choi3. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans4. Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li5. Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld6. Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks7. Everything Is Tuberculosis by John Green8. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett9. Lucky Night by Eliza Kennedy 10. Playworld by Adam Ross Hunter's books: First five-star read: Mothers and Sons by Adam HaslettMost surprising: Exit Zero by Marie-Helene BertinoLeast favorite: When The Harvest Comes by Denne Michele NorrisNext on your TBR: Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley Hunter's Top Ten (So Far): 1 Audition by Katie Kitamura2. Ordinary Time by Annie B. Jones3. Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett4. Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez5. Among Friends by Hal Ebbott6. The Wilderness by Angela Flourney (releases September 16th)7. Open Heaven by Sean Hewitt8. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett9. Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico10. Exit Zero by Marie-Helene Bertino From the Front Porch is a weekly podcast production of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in South Georgia. You can follow The Bookshelf’s daily happenings on Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook, and all the books from today’s episode can be purchased online through our store website, www.bookshelfthomasville.com. A full transcript of today’s episode can be found here. Special thanks to Dylan and his team at Studio D Podcast Production for sound and editing and for our theme music, which sets the perfect warm and friendly tone for our Thursday conversations. This week, Annie is reading A Change of Habit by Sister Monica Clare. Hunter is reading The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong. If you liked what you heard in today’s episode, tell us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. You can also support us on Patreon, where you can access bonus content, monthly live Porch Visits with Annie, our monthly live Patreon Book Club with Bookshelf staffers, Conquer a Classic episodes with Hunter, and more. Just go to patreon.com/fromthefrontporch. We’re so grateful for you, and we look forward to meeting back here next week. Our Executive Producers are...Beth, Stephanie Dean, Linda Lee Drozt, Ashley Ferrell, Wendi Jenkins, Martha, Nicole Marsee, Gene Queens, Cammy Tidwell, Jammie Treadwell, and Amanda Whigham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. Isn't the best any of us can hope for is to be endearingly hypocritical?
0:29.8	Curtis Sittenfeld, show, don't tell.
0:34.0	I'm Annie Jones, owner of the bookshelf and independent bookstore in beautiful downtown
0:38.4	Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, I'm joined by my friend and frequent co-host Hunter
0:43.3	McClendon to talk about our reading years so far. Do you like listening to From the Front Porch
0:49.5	every week? Well, you can spread the word by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. All you have to do is open up the podcast app on your phone, look for From the Front Porch, scroll down until you see write a review, then tell us what you think. Here's a recent review. Can't wait for Thursdays. I love from the front porch.
1:11.5	I count down the days every week and Thursday doesn't come fast enough.
1:15.6	Annie, Aaron, Olivia feel like friends with the best book talk.
1:19.2	I enjoy everyone that comes on the show to talk books.
1:22.4	Shop Mom Susie, Hunter, Cousin Ashley, etc.
1:25.9	I only wish I lived closer to beautiful Thomasville, Georgia, so I could
1:29.7	visit the bookshelf, life goals. Thank you so much, and thank you to all of the reviewers who have
1:36.2	left kind words and thoughtful reviews about the show. We are so grateful. Anytime you share
1:41.8	from the front porch with your friends, and it helps us spread the word
1:45.2	about our podcast and our independent bookstore. Now, back to the show. Hi, Hunter. Hello.
1:54.2	Can you believe it's already time to talk about 2025 reading? Um, no. I feel like this year has been such a blur we are also i could pretend that we are
2:09.5	not time traveling but we are time traveling we're recording this mid-May so a little earlier than we
2:15.7	normally maybe would touch base about what our reading years have looked like.
2:19.6	And that is my fault and my future offspring's fault.
2:23.0	But we are trying to kind of pre-record some things.
2:25.3	So it is a little early.
2:26.9	That being said, how has your reading year been so far?
	...

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