Episode 600 || Reading Recap: September
From the Front Porch
Host Annie B. Jones celebrates the 600th episode of From the Front Porch by recapping her favorite book reads from September. The episode fe
Key takeaways
- John Green's 'Hollywood Ending' is a highly anticipated adult fiction debut focused on the artistry of filmmaking.
- The Thoroughbreds by Ellen Hildebrand and Shelby Cunningham is a sequel that requires reading 'The Academy' first.
Main topics
- September Book Reviews
- John Green's Adult Fiction Debut
Notable quotes
I am a John Green completionist.
Conclusion
A high-value guide for readers seeking diverse, well-crafted literatur
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:01) Welcome to From the Front Porch, a conversational podcast about books, small business, and life in the South. My entire life's assignment is to ask questions. Why else are we even here? Katherine Stockett, The Calamity Club. I'm Annie B. Jones, owner of The Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in beautiful downtown Thomasville, Georgia. And this week, I'm recapping the best books I read in September. Speaker 1 (0:46) If you like my book reviews here on the podcast, you might be interested in joining my private Instagram account, Annie's Five Star Books. For $50 for the year, you can become a part of my bookish community online. Through the private Instagram account, you'll get access to my book reviews, backlist, and frontlist titles. I host monthly Instagram story Q &As and share about the books I start but never finish. If you follow me personally online, you've seen my reviews for years. And of course, From the Front Porch listeners will always have access to these monthly reading recap episodes. The private Instagram is just a place apart from the bookshelf where I get to be more detailed with my reviews. And Five Star Book Club members can also choose if they want to order those five star books each month from the bookshelf. There's a quarterly newsletter option too this year for the social media averse. This is the last time to join before we switch gears and start talking about 2027. So for more information and to sign up for the 2026 group, visit anniebjoneswrites.com forward slash five star dash book dash club. There's a link in the show notes. Speaker 1 (1:57) Guys, this is episode 600. You might not know that. I don't know how you would know that unless I told you. But it is episode 600 of From the Front Porch. And perhaps today's episode should have been some kind of milestone episode, some kind of honoring of this passing, some kind of celebration of the hours, hours, so many hours of work. that go into this podcast. But instead, it's just a just a read and recap, just a reading recap episode of the books I read in September, but it is the 600th episode and I cannot believe it. I could not have imagined back in 2013 that I would still be podcasting 13 years later. Speaker 1 (2:45) If I think about it too much, it is too much. It is a lot of content. It is a lot of my voice. It is a lot of my opinions out in the world. And that always makes me feel a little scratchy. But it's also a privilege to get to talk with you every week, although it's a little one-sided, but to get to share every week new books, old books, books I love, books I'm confused by, books I want to talk more about. the conversations I've gotten to have on the podcast over the years have been such a gift and it is a privilege and who knows how long we'll keep doing this thing. 600 more episodes sounds like a promise I am not willing to make, but here's to the next episodes of From the Front Porch. And if you have been around, I don't think anybody's been around since episode one, that would probably just be Susie Butterworth. And I don't even think she listens anymore. So I don't think anybody's been around since episode one, but I know a lot of you have been around for a long time. And I want to thank you for that. And thank you for your support of From the Front Porch, Conquer a Classic, and of course, The Bookshelf. So thanks for listening for 600 episodes. All right, let's dive in. Back to normal. First up, Hollywood Ending. This is by John Green. I am delighted to say we got an ARC of this book, which I was not expecting. Typically, and I assume this is true for other bookstores, but typically we don't get arcs or galleys of really popular, highly anticipated books. It's just not. I don't know. I think the publisher has the same assumption we probably do, which is this book is going to sell itself. They don't need a copy of this. But Olivia received a copy of Hollywood Ending. And the reason I am outing Olivia is because on the printed arc, her name is on every page. Her name is watermarked on every page. And I assume this was the publisher's way of ensuring that these arcs did not get out into the general public. What a fascinating move. And I would assume an expensive one, but I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe not. So the arc I read literally had Olivia's name watermarked on every page. But that's okay because the book was excellent and it was relatively easy to ignore the watermark. I did not realize, but I am a John Green completionist. I have read everything he's written and I have really liked everything he has written. I've talked recently about Turtles All the Way Down. I think as I have compared, well, you'll hear me later, talk about Switzy by Emma Klein. And how Turtles All the Way Down weirdly reminded me a bit of Switzy. But recently we've all fallen in love, I think, with John Green's nonfiction and his deep dive into tuberculosis. I think he got a lot of us through the pandemic with the Anthropocene Reviewed and his reflections on, you know, everyday life phenomena. So I really like John Green. And so I was predisposed to liking this book, but I really did love it. And if you were kind of on pins and needles, because this is his adult fiction debut. So he's been doing nonfiction for the last couple of years. Then previously, of course, he was most recognizable as a young adult author for Looking for Alaska, perhaps most famously The Fault in Our Stars. So this is his adult debut. I think he will retain those young adult fans. First of all, those young adult fans are like me and they are full, they're fully into adulthood now. And so he will retain those readers. But I actually think young adult readers, this is, to me, this was pretty accessible to them as well. There is maybe a slight, maybe a slight romantic plot line that that is not the point of this book. The book is about Kai and Juniper. They meet on the film set of a movie called Andy Warhol, Never Gets Old. Great title. Would love to see that film. And the book is really a look into filmmaking and artistry. I mean, there are some really beautiful lines about art and artists and what it takes to make great works of art. I really like this in a world that is moving toward the inhuman. Speaker 1 (6:53) in a world that is moving toward the more efficient, the better. It's no surprise that he would have kind of deeper things to say about art, artists and artistry as it relates specifically to filmmaking. But of course, I think you could apply those lessons to plenty of mediums. Weirdly, this book most reminded me of, well, perhaps obviously, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. So Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is to video games as Hollywood ending is to film. But also very much reminded me of Jeanette McCurdy's bestselling memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died. Because the two characters, and this is why I think this could have crossover YA appeal. Publishers frequently want there to be crossover YA appeal. And as a bookseller, I can tell you that is often not true. I think this one actually is. I think a young adult reader could read this. Speaker 1 (7:44) The characters at the heart of the book are young adults entering the film world. Maybe one of them, I think one of them is a child star. And then one of them, I think is not. I read this at the beginning of the month. So there is a lot about what do we lose when we cast children in film? Is it worth the cost? Is it worth their sacrifice? Gosh, I read another book right around. Speaker 1 (8:12) the Jeanette McCurdy memoir coming out. Let me think about the title. Okay, it was by Sarah Polly, who I knew from like Ellen Montgomery adaptations. Like, oh, what was that show called? Not Anne of Avonlea, something like that. Anyway, she wrote a book called Run Towards the Danger, which was also a memoir. So I do think John Green has, I assume on purpose, paid homage to these child stars. And I wonder... partly if that's because his films have been cast with teenage actors and actresses, and if he is maybe reckoning with that a little bit in this book. So as I said, there's maybe a slight romantic element, but it's really about the making of this movie, Andy Warhol Never Gets Old. There's like a dash of Taylor Jenkins Reid in this book, in my opinion, where you're kind of learning the... behind the scenes or the inside baseball to how a thing gets made and gets created. I loved this. I believe I'm looking at when this episode releases. Okay. This week, this, this book came out into the world, so you can order it now. I think it is very easily readable. I want to say I gave this five stars. Um, I loved it. I had no complaints except maybe it could have been longer. which is not something I often say, but I think I'm going to say it twice in this episode. I think this could have been longer. I would have actually liked more with these characters. But one thing I think young adult literature is good at is being a snapshot, a picture in time, you know. senior year of high school or that great summer between junior and senior year or whatever. And so I do wonder if John Green's sensibilities wanted this to be a snapshot rather than a, you know, some kind of epic. So this book does not span decades like I think it could have, but instead functions as a snapshot, a relatively compact. period of time. I loved it. The cover's great. The writing is great. If you like John Green, you will like this book. If you don't like John Green, I have questions. I got questions, though everybody's entitled to their opinion. But then you probably wouldn't like this, would be my guess. But I think this is great. I think people will be talking about it this fall. And I admittedly, I