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
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...
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 other books being CHINA RICH GIRLFRIEND and RICH PEOPLE PROBLEMS.
Rachel is an economics prof and her boyfriend Nick is a history prof at NYU. When Nick invites Rachel to accompany him on a trip back to Singapore where he’ll be best man at his friend’s wedding, Rachel finds out Nick is not just wealthy, but crazy rich. So rich, other rich people haven’t heard about him. Rachel is faced with culture shock, jealousy, prejudice, suspicion, and betrayal as she tries to figure out whether Nick is still the man of her dreams.
Linda says this is definitely a beach read type of book. We get love but we also get a lot of glitz and glamour about how the one-percenters live. In the opening chapter, Nick’s mom impulsively buys a hotel when the staff don’t welcome them.
Nancy asks Linny, since she loves a good romance, whether this is the kind of book she might typically pick up. Linny says, no, because she typically reads boys meets girl and the conclusion is that they get together. In CRAZY RICH ASIANS, Rachel and Nick are already a serious couple when we meet them. Linny said it was an enjoyable book for her to read, especially given we were in the middle of the Biafran War last month!
Linny also tells Nancy about her latest acting gig outside Washington, DC and why she understands the motivation behind arranged marriages.
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
89: Tom Lake
Ann Patchett's 2023 novel, Tom Lake, explores the permeability between past and present. While they are picking cherries to try to save the crop since the normal large migrant laborer crew is absent due to COVID, Lara's adult daughters ask their mom to tell them the...
88: Dr. Thomas Jay Lynn
Penn State Berks professor, Dr. Thomas Jay Lynn, joins us on the front porch to discuss Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Tom's book, Chinua Achebe and the Politics of Narration: Envisioning Language, has been called "a notable contribution to Achebe studies." Tom...
87: Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is the oldest book we've discussed on the front porch; it was published in 1958 just as the European colonization of Africa was being dismantled. The book's setting is the beginning of colonization in the 1880's in what is now...
86: Aneri Pattani
Picking up where Patrick Radden Keefe’s book Empire of Pain left off, journalist Aneri Pattani brings us up to date with the latest developments for Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. Aneri is KFF Health News' award-winning senior correspondent. For the past...
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.