Ordinary Time

“Oh, wow, do I love this book! Annie B. Jones has written something so thoughtful and beautifully earnest in the best way. Ordinary Time wears its earnestness as a well-deserved badge of honor; it's an inspiration to all of us to be true to ourselves, true to what we love, and true to the quiet voice within us. What a gift! This book is an ode to loving where you are, loving the small places, the cracks where the light gets in, the deceptively simple, the small yet impossibly intricate. Ordinary Time is a book for anyone who has wondered about their place in the world. I can't wait to return to it again and again.”   — R. Eric Thomas, bestselling author of Here for It, or How to Save Your Soul in America

“In Ordinary Time, Annie Jones turns mundanity into meaning—giving her readers a beautifully told and deeply considered account of the everyday choices that pile up to become a life. It reads like a soothing conversation with a trustworthy friend.” — Mary Laura Philpott, author of I Miss You When I Blink and Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives

“Thoughtful childhood nostalgia and stories that find the magic in the mundane will be especially touching for millennials.”— Erin Napier, bestselling author of Heirloom Rooms and Make Something Good Today

“Annie B. Jones gently and deftly pushes back on the idea that an interesting life has to be an adventurous one. Through stories of friendship, marriage, and running a small town bookstore, she shares a life rich with beauty and meaning. Ordinary Time will make readers reflect on their seasons of letting go and the merits of staying put.”         — Laura Tremaine, author of The Life Council and Share Your Stuff, I’ll Go First

“Ordinary Time is like a hug from an old friend in sentence form." — Sean Dietrich, columnist, podcaster, and author of Kinfolk and You Are My Sunshine

“I thought I was coming for the book talk, and it didn’t disappoint. But the stories that really captured my imagination and have lived in my head since I first read them are about entirely different things: line dancing in a high school gym, the virtue of affability, a house with a pool. Ordinary Time feels like a long conversation with a good friend about the things in life that matter most, the kind of talk that leaves you feeling both grounded and inspired. Until now, most of us have known Annie B. Jones as a reader and bookstore owner. Now I'm excited for the world to get to know her as a writer as well.” — Anne Bogel, host of What Should I Read Next and the author of I’d Rather Be Reading

“Turns out, our generation’s Kathleen Kelly loves empty churches and The Book of Common Prayer but also Fleabag and dancing something called the Sleazy Slide. This book proves that real life—surprising, heartbreaking, seemingly simple life—will always be better than the movies. Lucky Thomasville that Annie stuck around, and lucky us that she shares her stories.” — Elizabeth Passarella, author of Good Apple and It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway

“Annie writes a love letter to everyone who's ever wondered if they made the right choice to stay, to stick around, to continue on. I absolutely adored the tender way she carries her stories of remaining, and how she shares them to remind us of our long obedience in the same direction.”— Erin Moon, author of I’ve Got Questions and host of the Faith Adjacent podcast

“What a privilege it is to go along with Annie B. Jones on her journey of staying put. Earnest, graceful, and beautifully written, this book is an exquisite reflection on the art of finding enchantment in ordinary time. This is one to treasure and come back to again and again.” — Annabel Monaghan, author of Summer Romance and Nora Goes Off Script

“Annie B. Jones has a gift for putting complicated feelings into words—I lost count of the times I thought, “me too!” as I read these pages. Ordinary Time is a book that will help you appreciate the satisfaction of quiet days, find joy even in complicated community, and see the beauty of ending up in a life you never expected. Annie has written a lovely book about the pain of goodbyes and the surprises that can happen when you choose to stay put.” — Kerry Winfrey, author of Waiting for Tom Hanks and Very Sincerely Yours