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
124: Kate Schatz
KATE SCHATZ joins us on the front porch for a rollicking and deeply felt conversation about her novel, WHERE THE GIRLS WERE. She's the New York Times-bestselling author of the RAD WOMEN book series; the novel WHERE THE GIRLS WERE; the 33 ⅓ BOOK RID OF ME: A STORY;...
124: Kate Schatz
KATE SCHATZ joins us on the front porch for a rollicking and deeply felt conversation about her novel, WHERE THE GIRLS WERE. She's the New York Times-bestselling author of the RAD WOMEN book series; the novel WHERE THE GIRLS WERE; the 33 ⅓ BOOK RID OF ME: A STORY; and DO THE WORK: AN ANTI-RACIST ACTIVITY BOOK, co-written with “United Shades of America” host W. Kamau Bell. Kate tells us WHERE THE GIRLS WERE was inspired by her mom’s experience of having two unplanned pregnancies in 1960’s San Francisco and being sent to private homes to wait out the pregnancies. Kate had never heard of this practice. Her research eventually led her write this book.
One theme that comes through clearly in WHERE THE GIRLS WERE is the unequal burden women bear from the consequences of unprotected sex. Yet, the book mentions that for as long as there have been sex and babies, women are taking care of each other. Kate did want this truth to be evident in Baker’s story. The care women have taken, has often looked like hiding and secrecy. Kate also didn’t want Wiley to be a jerk. He’s just a dude. But she did want to show he just gets to walk away and continue his life.
Linny also mentions Nancy and her experience in visiting a commune!
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
115: The Giver
It’s December, so we are continuing on with our tradition of doing a kid’s book, but this year, the kids are a little older. This is more like a young adult novel. Our book is THE GIVER written by Lois Lowry. It became an instant classic when it was published in 1993....
114: Holiday Catch-up
This is a short, catch-up episode of the Front Porch Book Club. Nancy admits that she ran out of time finding a guest for Crazy Rich Asians. Kevin Kwan was unavailable (!) as were a number of the experts Nancy contacted. Instead, we catch-up on what is going on in our...
113: Crazy Rich Asians
This month we’re talking about CRAZY RICH ASIANS by Kevin Kwan. This book was published in 2013. This is basically a romantic comedy. In fact, a movie of the same name was released in 2018 based on this book. CRAZY RICH ASIANS is the first book in a trilogy, with the...
112: Taiwo Bello
Today we interview Dr. Taiwo Bello about the historical and contemporary contexts of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's HALF OF A YELLOW SUN. Nancy loves this interview because neither she nor Linda knew anything about the Biafran War. Linny likes that we then talk about...
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.