Nancy and Linny look about over the previous 99 episodes and reminisce about starting the Front Porch Book Club podcast. There are lots of laughs. Linny remembers when Nancy asked her to co-host a podcast with her, her first question was, “What’s a podcast?” Nancy articulates the many reasons she wanted to start a book-focused podcast. Linny observes that Nancy was able to get her to read where their mom had failed in her many schemes. Nancy fell prey to all of their mom’s schemes. Nancy was surprised at how time-consuming the podcast is! It’s not just reading the book, but it’s recruiting guests, editing and uploading the episodes, and so on. She also thought there’d be a ton of listeners, immediately. Not so much! Linny found herself surprised that the authors are so kind, nice, friendly, and fun. Linny’s favorite thing about the podcast is getting together with Nancy! She also has liked talking with our top-notch experts. Linny reflects that becoming a reader has opened up a whole new world to her. She used to say she was not a reader and now she is having to re-evaluate that label and realize that she is a reader. However, now when people recommend a book, she tells them Nancy has a very strict reading schedule, but we will consider the title for next year! Nancy has learned a lot of technology to create the podcast. Nancy reminds Linny that they used to need over an hour to get their technology working prior to recording an episode. Linny observes that tech has been a bit learning experience for both of them! Linny says she has learned that she likes to read lots of types of books. Linny also remembers she was nervous at the beginning. Nancy says she is still a little nervous when there are guests on the podcast. Nancy has prepared a quiz about the podcast for Linny. They have fun with these questions. Linny surprises Nancy with a quiz question of her own. Some of the podcast’s most popular episodes have been those that were still best-sellers when Nancy and Linny selected them. The top ten episodes, by downloads, are: 1. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles 2. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah 3. Where the Crawdads Sing 4. Larry McDaniel on The Lincoln Highway 5. Hidden Valley Road 6. Remarkably Bright Creatures 7. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah 8. Robert Kolker author of Hidden Valley Road 9. Candice Millard author of River of Doubt 10. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie OFarrell Nancy discovers math is hard. Nancy has a hard time identifying a favorite book. She says the most recent book they’ve read always ends up being a favorite. So, right now, she is telling everyone about BLACK WOODS, BLUE SKY. From a pure escapist, delightful read, she loved THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB. She loved the poignancy of it, as well. When she thinks about books that have personally impacted her, they are: EMPIRE OF PAIN and ATOMIC HABITS. Linny also was unable to identify a single favorite book. Her favorite fiction book was THINGS FALL APART (shocking Nancy). Her favorite autobiography was BORN A CRIME (not shocking Nancy). Linny has discovered she loves investigative journalism, including, in no order: EMPIRE OF PAIN, I AM A MAN, and HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD. She also loved self-help books, with ATOMIC HABITS being her favorite, probably because it is the most recent self-help book we did. Subject matter-wise, Nancy enjoyed learning about Cyprus from THE ISLAND OF MISSING TREES expert James Ker-Lindsay. Linny says she has learned so much about so many subjects. She says reading has been a true learning tool for her. Linny and Nancy talk about what they knew from their listeners: what they enjoy about the podcast, what interests them, what they’d like more or less of, what kinds of books they like, would they like more authors or more experts, and how they would like to communicate with us. For our next 100 episodes, Linny would like to learn to market better. She thinks it would be a good idea to have some lunch meetings with some New York publicists which Nancy is in favor of. Nancy would like to figure out a tighter connection with our listeners. Nancy invites listeners to share their favorite episode, book, or guest? Linda wants to know what books have impacted our listeners and what books they would recommend.