This week on From the Front Porch, we have a special treat: a recording of our live show from The Bookshelf’s March 2026 Reader Retreat! In this episode, Annie and Hunter engage in an abbreviated March Madness debate and play the Newlywed Game with help from Ashley. Enjoy!

To purchase the books mentioned in this episode, stop by The Bookshelf in Thomasville, visit our website (search episode 577), or download and shop on The Bookshelf’s official app:

The Liar's Club by Mary Karr vs. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara vs. The Goldfinch by Donna Tart

Edinburgh by Alexander Chee vs. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Fates & Furies by Lauren Groff vs. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates vs. Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout

The Road by Cormac McCarthy 

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.

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...Ashley Ferrell, Beth, Cammy Tidwell, Gene Queens, Jammie Treadwell, Joseph Shorter IV, Kimberly, Linda Lee Drozt, Nicole Marsee, Stephanie Dean, and Wendi Jenkins.