The Friendly City Books Podcast

Exodus Oktavia Brownlow is an author and creator from Blackhawk, MS. She is the author of 2 books: I'm Afraid That I Know Too Much About Myself Now, To Go Back To Who I Knew Before, And Oh Lord, Who Will I Be After I've Known All That I Can ( bookshop.org ) Look at All The Little Hurts of These Newly-Broken Lives and The Bitter Sweet, Sweet and Bitter Loves (limited copies available in store) A co...

Rob Renzetti is a multi-talented author and veteran of TV animation whose work on Cartoon Network’s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends earned him an Emmy. He created the Nickelodeon show My Life as a Teenage Robot, acted as the supervising producer for Disney’s Gravity Falls, and served as executive producer on the first two seasons of Disney’s Big City Greens, among other projects. He is the aut...

3 books down, 6 to go! Possible hot take but A Court of Wings and Ruin is my favorite book yet???? - Heads up! This episode contains spoilers for A Court of Wings and Ruin (Book 3). - Read along with us! We'll be reading and discussing one book per month, with a few breaks for series reviews along the way. Each episode will cover a different book (except the review episodes) so spoilers will be co...

We've compiled all of our favorite audiobooks of 2023 in one libro.fm playlist . At the end of each month we'll update the playlist with the audiobooks that we loved listening to that month. - Our favorite audiobooks of June 2023: Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, narrated by Travis Baldree ( libro.fm ) ( bookshop.org ) The Celebrants by Steven Rowley, narrated by Steven Rowley ( libro.fm ) ( bo...

Introducing Rachel's official Hot Possum Horror Meter! - Level 1 - A little scary but mostly fun and occasionally maybe even funny Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Don't Move by James S. Murray and Darren Wheremouth ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) The Employees by Olga Ravn ( bookshop.org ) My Heart is a Ch...

Fantasy aficionados Caroline and Lauren are here to share some of their favorite sapphic fantasy must-reads! - Our recommendations: She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon ( bookshop.org )...

Friendly City Bestsellers is a quarterly deep dive into FCB's bestsellers and customer favorites. - FCB’s Always Bestsellers How to Read - Thomas Richardson ( friendlycitybooks.com ) Stretch Like Scarlet - Emily Liner, Illustrated by John Clark IV ( friendlycitybooks.com ) - April - June 2023 Best Sellers (In alphabetical order) Stalking Shakespeare - Lee Durkee ( bookshop.org )( libro.fm ) Unspea...

Harrison Scott Key is a beloved Mississippi author. Known for his signature wit and vulnerability, his writings have appeared in countless publications, from The New York Times to The Bitter Southerner. He currently lives in Savannah, GA. He is the author of 3 books: How to Stay Married: The Most Insane Love Story Ever Told ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Congratulations, Who Are You Again?: A Memoi...

Patrick Dean is an author and native Mississippian. He currently lives in Sewanee, TN, where he serves as the executive director of the Mountain Goat Trail Alliance , a nonprofit dedicated to creating walking and biking paths on former railway beds. He is the author of 2 books: Nature's Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World ( bookshop.org ) A Window to Heaven: The Daring First...

2 books down, 7 to go! It's time to swoon over A Court of Mist and Fury! - Heads up! This episode contains spoilers for A Court of Mist and Fury (Book 2). - Read along with us! We'll be reading and discussing one book per month, with a few breaks for series reviews along the way. Each episode will cover a different book (except the review episodes) so spoilers will be contained. We will be startin...

We've compiled all of our favorite audiobooks of 2023 in one libro.fm playlist . At the end of each month we'll update the playlist with the audiobooks that we loved listening to that month. - Our favorite audiobooks of May 2023: Out There by Kate Folk, narrated by Sophie Amoss, Hannah Choi, Michael Crouch, Will Damron, Renata Friedman, and Kristen Sieh ( libro.fm ) ( bookshop.org ) Monsters: A Fa...

This episode may contain mild spoilers for Cass Khaw's The Salt Grows Heavy and Nothing But Blackened Teeth. - Cassandra Khaw is a game writer and dark fiction author. Their most recent book, The Salt Grows Heavy, was published on May 2, 2023. - Cass Khaw's books that you should check out: The Salt Grows Heavy ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Nothing But Blackened Teeth ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm )...

Caroline and Aaron are kicking off Pride month with their favorite books that celebrate Queer Joy! To us, books that celebrate queer joy are ones where queer identity is not a primary source of pain, ostracization, or self-hate for its characters. These are books where sexual and/or gender identity is not only an integral part of the characters, but is also something to be celebrated and is deserv...

Lee Durkee is an author and native Mississippian, who currently lives in Oxford. He is the author of 3 books: Stalking Shakespeare ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) The Last Taxi Driver ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Rides of the Midway ( bookshop.org ) Lee's newest book, Stalking Shakespeare, documents his 20 year long search for a portrait of William Shakespeare that was painted from real life. - Tha...

1 book down, at least 8 to go! It's time for an A Court of Thorns and Roses deep dive! - Heads up! This episode contains spoilers for A Court of Thorns and Roses (Book 1). - Read along with us! We'll be reading and discussing one book per month, with a few breaks for series reviews along the way. Each episode will cover a different book (except the review episodes) so spoilers will be contained. W...

This episode may contain mild spoilers for Grady Hendrix's books. - Grady Hendrix - gradyhendrix.com Grady Hendrix is a horror author from Charleston, SC. His newest book is How to Sell a Haunted House. - Grady Hendrix books that you should check out: Horrorstor ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) My Best Friend's Exorcism ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) We Sold our Souls ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) The...

We've compiled all of our favorite audiobooks of 2023 in one libro.fm playlist . At the end of each month we'll update the playlist with the audiobooks that we loved listening to that month. - Our favorite audiobooks of April 2023: The Everlasting by Katy Simpson Smith, narrated by January LaVoy, Jeremy Arthur, Graham Halstead, Bahni Turpin, and Caitlin Kelly ( libro.fm ) ( bookshop.org ) These Im...

FCB's To Be Read stack just keeps growing! Here are the books coming out this summer that we can't wait to read: Caroline's TBR - Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Where Are Your Boys Tonight? by Chris Payne ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Maddelena and the Dark by Julia Fine ( bookshop.org...

Katy Simpson Smith is a historian and author from Jackson, MS. She currently lives in New Orleans, LA. She is the author of 5 books: The Weeds ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) The Everlasting ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) Free Men ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) The Story of Land and Sea ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) We Have Raised All of You ( bookshop.org ) - Katy is one of our favorite authors here...

THIS EPISODE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR KATY SIMPSON SMITH'S THE EVERLASTING (It's not really the kind of book that's ruined by spoilers, but we wanted to give you a heads up in case you care about that sort of thing) - Why We Love - Katy Simpson Smith Katy Simpson Smith is from Jackson, MS and currently lives in New Orleans, LA. She is the author of 5 books: The Weeds ( bookshop.org ) ( libro.fm ) The...

Join Caroline as she reads Sarah J. Maas for the very first time! Reading ACOTAR and Crescent City is a huge undertaking, but thankfully, we have a fantastic  group of Maasholes to guide her through every book. - FYI - This episode is spoiler free! If you've already read or are reading Sarah J. Maas's books, its ok to skip straight to the next episode! - Sarah J. Maas has three fantasy series - Th...

Independent Bookstore Day is Saturday, April 29th! We have tons of fun things planned at Friendly City Books, including some great doorbuster sales and giveaways. Mississippi's own Michael Farris Smith will be joining us to sign his new book Salvage This World at 1pm. Find all of the info on our Facebook and Instagram . - Libro.fm is joining in on the Indie Bookstore Day celebration with a huge sa...

Here at Friendly City Books, we are big believers in the power of audiobooks, and Caroline is an especially big fan. - At the beginning of the year, Caroline started a personal project of documenting her favorite audiobooks from each month, and has complied them into one libro.fm playlist . At the end of the year, she plans to use the playlist as a way to reflect on what she has listened to and fi...

Friendly City Bestsellers is a quarterly deep dive into FCB's bestsellers and customer favorites. - FCB’s Always Bestsellers How to Read - Thomas Richardson Stretch Like Scarlet - Emily Liner, Illustrated by John Clark IV - January - March 2023 Best Sellers (In alphabetical order) Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics - Anastasia C. Curwood The Welcome by Hubert Creekmore, In...

Since 2020, Friendly City Books has served as an independent bookstore and gathering space for book lovers in our hometown of Columbus, Mississippi. At Friendly City Books, we believe books take you places. And now, through our podcasts, we hope to connect our local community with readers and authors around the world. Thank you for supporting Friendly City Books by listening to our podcasts. Shop...