Welcome to episode 55 of From the Front Porch, a collection of conversations on books, small business, and life in the South.

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

And today I'll be recapping the books I read in January.

Before we get started, just a reminder that you can follow

the bookshelf on all kinds of social media platforms, including Instagram and Twitter,

at Bookshelf T-Ville. You can find full show notes at www.w.com. And if you are a faraway

listener, but you do follow our Instagram or Twitter

accounts and you ever see something in the shop that you wish you could purchase, you can do so

on our online store again at www.bookshelfthththomasville.com. Or you can call and place a phone order,

or just let us know on Instagram what you're looking for,

and we will be happy to ship to you.

So if you would like to support us that way, we'd love to help you out.

All right, let's go ahead and get started.

I read nine books in January that is due in part to January being a slower month in the store,

and it's also due in part to me following through on one of my New Year's reading resolutions,

which was to read more advanced reader copies.

So advanced reader copies, for those of you who don't know,

are books that are coming out and publishers send them to

bookstore owners, booksellers, librarians, all kinds of folks, book bloggers to get their

advanced reviews and it helps generate buzz about a new title, helps get the word out about new books that are coming

out. And so we at the bookshelf get a ton of advanced reader copies every so often. They come

in boxes from the publisher or from the independent booksellers association, that kind of thing.

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