Front Porch Book Club Podcast
Grab your book and iced tea and join the Front Porch Book Club, your no-commitment, casual, and eclectic podcast about books. We examine the relationship between characters, the worlds they live in, and what that means to us.
Latest Episode
117: Shift
A new year means a Front Porch Book Club book that will help us think about who we want to be in 2026 and give us some idea of how to become that person! This year, we chose SHIFT: MANAGING YOUR EMOTIONS -- SO THEY DON'T MANAGE YOU by Ethan Kross. The book was...
117: Shift
A new year means a Front Porch Book Club book that will help us think about who we want to be in 2026 and give us some idea of how to become that person! This year, we chose SHIFT: MANAGING YOUR EMOTIONS — SO THEY DON'T MANAGE YOU by Ethan Kross.
The book was published just last year in February of 2025, and it was an instant national bestseller. It was one of Oprah's daily best self-help books for personal growth in 2025. And it was a Publishers Weekly best book of the year. Ethan Kross is one of the world's leading experts on emotional regulation. He's an award-winning professor at the University of Michigan's top-ranked psychology department, and its Ross School of Business, and he's the director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory there at the University of Michigan.
Kross begins the book by telling us that what emotions are and that we have the ability to regulate our emotions. We do not have to be just victims of emotions coming and going. You can lead your life feeling very in control of your emotions and regulating them. And that doesn't mean being a robot. It doesn't mean repressing feelings. It doesn't mean wallowing in feelings. And it doesn't even mean, and this was important to Nancy, that there are bad emotions and good emotions. Rather, he says, emotions are data for us to use and regulation is about experiencing them in the proportion that you want to experience them. Leading a happy life is understanding that there's room for grief and anger and sad. A happy life incorporates the range of human emotions, but it is about regulating them. It's about understanding what it is they are telling us. Kross even talks about the wisdom of emotions. Kross tells us we are not prisoners to our emotions that there are these levers or shifters, the book is called Shift. There are shifters that we have that can be very useful.
Throughout the book, Kross reviews internal and external shifters; these are the levers to shift our emotions. He advises us that different shifters work for different people at different times. The challenge for us is to learn what works for us and when. We are all unique individuals. Kross also talks about the important role of emotion in goal setting and achievement.
Both Linny and Nancy really enjoyed this book. Linny already was familiar with the shifters, given her education and experience as a counselor. But she definitely liked the illustrations and appreciated the science-based approach and all the citations. For Nancy, a lot of the concepts were new, but she also appreciated the science-based approach.
In this episode, Linny and Nancy also review their goals from last year's ATOMIC HABITS book. Spoiler: they both report really good results!
The episode ends with Linny and Nancy wrestling over the meaning of the word “peace,” and deciding that would be an excellent next book for Ethan Kross to write!
About Front Porch Book Club
I honestly was blown away by the deep dive Nancy and Linny did into SPARKS LIKE STARS and really appreciated the personal perspectives they brought.
Nadia Hashimi, Author
Every month the Front Porch Book Club features two episodes on our selected book. In the first episode Linda and Nancy introduce the book and discuss their thoughts. In the second episode, Linda and Nancy are joined by the author or an expert to delve deeper into the book. Our book selections are eclectic: fiction, autobiography, history, memoir, investigative journalism, and classics. They are books that give us insights into how we may be more intentional, creative, and loving.
Recent Episodes
69: The Real Work
In his latest book, The Real Work, Adam Gopnik undertakes a George Plimpton-esque journey to master skills as diverse as boxing and drawing, bread baking and driving, dancing and overcoming a mental health illness. Gopnik, along the way, shares three themes of mastery...
68: Year in review and 2024 ahead
Linny and Nancy look back at 2023 and share some of their favorite books, moments, surprises, and behind-the-scenes mix-ups. Looking forward to 2024, they announce the first three book selections for 2024. --- Support this podcast:...
67: Marshmallow Clouds
It's children's book month, and our 2023 is a gem: Marshmallow Clouds, written by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek and illustrated by Richard Jones. The book features 30 poems that celebrate finding wonder through imagination and are loosely categorized by the four...
66: James Ker-Lindsay talks Cyprus
James Ker-Lindsay introduces us to the beautiful and complex island of Cyprus, the setting of Elif Shafak’s The Island of Missing Trees. Ker-Lindsay is a scholar whose research focuses on conflict, and peace and security in South East Europe. He tells us about the...
Meet The Hosts
Growing up, Nancy always had her nose in a book. She never remembers not loving to read books. Linda, on the other hand, hated libraries and spent her childhood trying to lure Nancy away from books into some other activity that she thought would be way more fun. That’s right – we’re sisters. Nancy was more of an introvert and Linda was more of an extrovert. But, somewhere along the way, Linda started loving books and Nancy started loving talking about books. Nancy is a recovering academic in Nebraska who writes and Linda is a licensed counselor in Pennsylvania.