Book Talk - The Stacks | Traci Thomas

The Best Things We Read in 2025

Stacks Assistant — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 08:03:16 +0000

I love a tradition. I love a list. I love smart people recommending book. It is no wonder that The Stacks annual Best Things We Read This Year list is one of my favorite things I release into the world each year.

Every November, I shyly crawl into the inbox of every guest of The Stacks from that year, and try to be chill when I ask them to write me a few sentences in support of the best book they read that year and the one book they’re looking forward to in the next year.

Every year, I am stunned at how many of them find/make/take the time to do it. What I am not surprised about is how this list is always the best list of must-read books. Last year, two people said Frankenstein was the best thing they read, and honestly, this year, same!

J. Wortham
Journalist, culture writer, and co-author of Black Futures

The most enjoyable book that I read this year was The Compound by Aisling Rawle. I studied a lot of non-fiction books this year, for research and to get a grip on what the hell is happening in the world, and I really needed something dishy to wind down the evenings with, and this one kept me hooked from start to finish. It’s about a contestant playing a reality TV show game that’s a cross between Love Island and Survivor, that somehow didn’t further depress me about the state of the world. I also spent a lot of time with Good Things by Samin Nosrat. Samin’s accessible recipes are invocations to invite people over to cook for them, but also to care for them, and yourself. She shares so much about her own personal difficulties and navigating through them by tapping into the pleasure centers of flavor and taste. Lately, I’ve become consumed with the quality of my life, and inviting in beauty and intention into every area, and Samin makes that so easy with her incredible thoughtfulness. Like, I might only have the energy to make a Japanese sweet potato for dinner, but at least I can smother it in her banging tahini sbagliato, you know?

Books I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, and The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri.

J was our guest for Episode 352, where we discussed the relationship between reading comprehension and social media, their evolving relationship with their name, and what they look for in a great book; and Episode 356, where we discussed The Ministry of Time by Kailene Bradley.

Michael Waters
Author of The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports

Opening up Margery Kempe by Robert Glück is like entering into a literary fever dream. Somehow, the story of a real-life 15th-century Catholic mystic who has a quasi-sexual love for Jesus Christ collapses into the tangled relationship between our contemporary narrator, Bob, and another man, L. And when I say “collapses,” I choose that word intentionally: at times Bob, on the page, becomes Margery. This book demands patience, or maybe just that you let go of trying to decode its secrets—you won’t succeed—but once you lean in, you’ll find yourself in the thrall of one of the most gorgeously written novels I’ve ever encountered.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: I will admit that I’ve already gotten a glimpse of this one, but The Absent Woman: The Genius of Janet Malcolm by Eve Sneider promises to be an intimate and carefully studied portrait of one of our most complicated, and perhaps intentionally inscrutable, nonfiction writers.

Michael was our guest for Episode 355, where we discussed his book, The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports.

Ira Madison III
Author of Pure, Innocent Fun

The best thing I read this year was Robert Glück’s Jack the Modernist, which has long been out of print until this year. I struggled to get into another iconic queer author from this era — I tried Edmund White’s Nocturnes for the King of Naples after his death and felt unmoved! I’m sad that I was, but I’ll explore his other books next year. But this story felt so contemporary with its hilarious repartee between its gay lovers, compassionate rendering of the narrator’s neuroses, and delving into film criticism by way of analyzing An American Werewolf in London. I’m so glad the cover caught my eye at McNally Jackson one rainy afternoon.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: No God But Us by Bobuq Sayed.

Ira was our guest for Episode 357, where we discussed his book, Pure, Innocent Fun.

Brian Goldstone
Author of There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America

The best book I read this year was Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing. This is an extraordinary, essential work: a beautifully crafted, wholly absorbing examination of how American schools were built to uphold racial hierarchy, legitimize dispossession, and entrench an exploitative economic order. Everyone—not just educators but everyone—should read this book. It has a wonderful pedagogical quality, as if Ewing is enacting, in the writing itself, the sort of counter-curriculum the book ultimately calls for. On each page, you’re in the room with her as she walks you through how America’s architecture of inequality was constructed, and how its pernicious logics were embedded, layer by layer, in the nation’s educational system.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: The Overseer Class: A Manifesto by Steven W. Thrasher.

Brian was our guest for Episode 368, where we discussed his book There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America.

Kara Brown
Screenwriter & Producer

The Deluge by Stephen Markley was both the best and most terrifying book I read this year. It was also the longest, which is probably just a coincidence. It really is one of those epics spanning something like fifty years with an extensive cast of characters that feels daunting in the beginning but comes together, dare I say, perfectly? It’s also a pretty horrifying look at what might happen if we don’t curb climate change and fascism, so, you know, not a light read, but an excellent one.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: This year I read the first three installments (out of what will be seven books) of Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume and I can’t wait to read the fourth next year.

Kara was our guest for Episode 370, where we discussed book adaptations and the writers who inspire her, and Episode 373, where we discussed Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley.

Frederick Joseph
Author of This Thing of Ours

My favorite read of 2025 was Truth Is by Hannah V. Sawyerr, which I finished just a couple of days ago. It’s a novel in verse about a Black teen who has an abortion and after people find out, she has to figure out family, friendships, romance, and what it means to carry truths that feel too heavy to say out loud. The book moves through moments with a beautifully raw honesty, showing how much of growing up is shaped by what we are taught to keep to ourselves. It’s one of the best verse novels I’ve read in a long time, and the kind of book that sits with you after you close it. Truly loved it.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: In 2026, I will be spending my time working on my debut adult novel, and I plan to return to reading a lot of Toni Morrison and N. K. Jemisin in the process.

Frederick was our guest for Episode 372, where we discussed his book This Thing of Ours.

Ceara O’Sullivan
Host of the Petty Crimes podcast and Writer at Saturday Night Live

The book I loved reading most this year was Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (which I think The Stacks covered in August!!). I don’t usually read nonfiction books about botany (lol), but I completely fell in love with this one. I learned so much about plants and the natural world, and loved how Kimmerer balances logic and reverence in her work as an Indigenous scientist. I haven’t convinced anyone else to read it yet, so clearly my sales pitch needs some work — but they’re definitely missing out.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: The book I’m most looking forward to reading next year is The Wedding People by Alison Espach. I read the first chapter and thought it was really sharp and funny, but I haven’t had time to keep going. I’m looking forward to finally giving it the attention it deserves in 2026.

Ceara was our guest for Episode 374, where we discussed her TV writing career, and Episode 377, where we discussed The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel.

Dana Williams
Author of Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship

The best book I read in 2025 was Howard French’s The Second Emancipation: Nkrumah, Pan-Africanism, and Global Blackness at High Tide. French is a consummate scholar in the guise of a journalist/author. The book’s prose is lovely, and his centering of Kwame Nkrumah (and Africa) in any serious understanding of the modern world is powerful.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: The book I’m most looking forward to reading in 2026 is Grown Women by Sarai Johnson. Who doesn’t love an acclaimed debut novel that you’ve long wanted to read but hadn’t yet made time for? Before the end of the first quarter of the new year, I’m finishing Grown Women!

Megan was our guest for Episode 378, where we discussed her book Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship.

Megan Greenwell
Author of Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream

The best thing I read in 2025 was Walter Kempowski’s final novel, All for Nothing. I stopped reading nonfiction for a solid half of this year, needing to immerse myself in worlds that were not our own. Kempowski’s book, which tells the stories of a string of visitors to an East Prussian estate in the final days of World War II, isn’t light fare. But nor is it a simple tragedy. Kempowski is too singular a writer for that.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: Effingers by Gabriele Tergit

Megan was our guest for Episode 380, where she discussed her book Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream.

Haley Cohen Gilliland
Author of A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children

After several years of reading mostly for research, falling asleep under a flurry of court documents and interview transcripts, I finally returned to pleasure reading in 2025, and what a pleasure it was! I read many excellent books, but perhaps my favorite was Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin. Rob’s descriptions are deeply original and often bitingly funny; he weaves incisive commentary on race and class through his narrative with remarkable grace. One of his blurbers, Kaveh Akbar, said it best: Great Black Hope is “full of sentences I want to cut out and glue to my forehead.”

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: A book I’m looking forward to in 2026 is London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe. (As a narrative nonfiction person, is there another answer?)

Haley was our guest for Episode 381, where we discussed her book A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children.

Tre Johnson
Author of Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy

My favorite thing I read this year was Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, an author I’d always assumed had a writing orientation too far afield of what I’d ever be interested in. But I bought Demon last minute on the way to CDMX and enjoyed the surreality of Demon’s voice feeling so present, real, and natural. Demon Copperhead is epic in nearly every form—time, characters, locations, depth of emotion, and a truly lived-in experience in rural, poor America. Astonishing stuff.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: In 2026, I want to return to my shelved practice of an annual read. I’m looking forward to starting 2026 re-reading John Gardner’s Grendel; the philosophical, humorous, painful, and humanizing retelling of Beowulf from the voice and POV of the ‘monster’ Grendel.

Tre was our guest for Episode 384, where we discussed her book Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy.

Cleyvis Natera
Author of The Great Paloma Resort

The best thing I read in 2025 was Lauren Francis-Sharma’s Casualties of Truth. The novel kicks off on a night when the protagonist, Prudence, and her husband, Davis, are heading into a stormy DC night to meet Davis’ new colleague. But when they arrive, Prudence recognizes Matshediso, who she knew decades earlier when she spent time in South Africa as a law student and attended the 1996 truth and reconciliation hearings. The secrets these two share threaten to bring Prudence’s entire life crumbling down. As we visit the past and learn the details of what binds these two together, it’s impossible not to ponder some big questions. Can a country move forward toward forgiveness and repair after unforgivable acts of the past? What happens to the festering nucleus of rage and helplessness when injustices are systemically accepted by a society? And more critically, what is Prudence willing to do to safeguard the life she so treasures? This book is INCREDIBLE. I loved it. A brilliant story.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: Xochitl Gonzalez’s Last Night in Brooklyn.

Cleyvis was our guest for Episode 389, where we discussed her book The Great Paloma Resort.

Jordan Thomas
Author of When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World

The best book I read this year was Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy. It’s so difficult to capture a lived experience of environmental collapse, especially the ways it becomes entangled in people’s bodies, emotions, and relationships. McConaghy manages to do this while telling a brilliant story.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: In 2026, I’m most looking forward to reading Days of Love and Rage by Anand Gopal.

Jordan was our guest for Episode 394, where we discussed his book When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World.

Jade Chang
Author of What a Time to Be Alive

I have loved a lot of books this year, but my most singular reading experience was definitely Stay Dead by Natalie Shapero. I generally have a hard time reading books of poetry, but I loved this one from the very first line. So funny, so dumb, so gorgeous, so dirty, so profound—it’s everything I want from a reading experience.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: I’m starting the year with Carl Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections, which feels daunting and exciting. Will I ever finish? Who knows!

Jade was our guest for Episode 395, where we discussed her book What a Time to Be Alive.

Mikey Friedman
Founder of Page Break

The best thing I read this year was We the Animals by Justin Torres. And I promise I’m NOT just choosing this because Traci and I read it together for The Stacks Book Club! I’m choosing it because this book is a TRIUMPH. Every single word is meticulously placed in this 144-page novel. Every scene is so full of life, every chapter left me wanting more. It’s a sensory novel that I felt physically in my bones, I literally have chills writing this...

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: Waiting on a Friend by Natalie Adler.

Mikey was our guest for Episode 397, where we discussed all things Page Break and Mikey’s favorite books.

Quiara Alegría Hudes
Author of The White Hot

Many great reads this year, including Misunderstood, Allen Iverson’s gut-punch of a memoir of basketball, inner city family, coming-of-manhood, wrongful incarceration, and being a once-in-a-generation talent. My husband, Ray Beauchamp, co-wrote it with Iverson, so I suppose I’m biased, but my heart was in my throat seeing how Iverson first discovered his talent, and how racial politics played into his media reception. I also really loved This Is the Only Kingdom by Jaquira Díaz, a novel of queer Puerto Rican girlhood in the height of the AIDS crisis; Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, a searing novel taking ableism to task; and the creepy dystopian novel Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata, in which men can finally get pregnant and sex is vestigial of a world when pleasure mattered.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: Next up for me is There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib. It’s been out for a bit, but I’m always slow on the uptake.

Quiara was our guest for Episode 399, where she discussed her book The White Hot.

Joel Anderson
Senior staff writer at The Ringer and co-host of The Press Box

After years of dawdling, I finally downloaded the audio version of Dream City: Race, Power, and the Revival of Washington, D.C. when President Trump deployed the National Guard to the nation’s capital over the summer. I had always planned to read Harry Jaffee and Tom Sherwood’s voluminous history of Washington, D.C, told through the rise and fall of Mayor Marion Barry. But it seemed so much more urgent to grapple with now, as the same fight that has defined D.C. for decades once again flared up with total GOP control of the federal government: Will the (formerly) majority Black city ever truly be able to govern itself? The answer might be discouraging but the truth of the seeds of that fight come through in the book.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power. Just seems apropos given our present circumstances, plus I want to read and learn more about our aging and beloved Black Baby Boomers.

Joel was our guest for Episode 401, where we discussed whether we’re freaking out enough about the state of media and why he loves books on place.

Alejandro Varela
Author of Middle Spoon

The best thing I read this year, apart from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center’s Red Cards about knowing your rights and the transcript of the Mamdani-Trump meeting, was Jane Austen’s epistolary novella Lady Susan. Apparently, Austen wrote it at the worldly, enlightened age of... 18. She truly was the Alicia Keys of her era. With the pitch-perfect humor one comes to expect from genteel oppression, Austen throws us into the precarious life of the recently widowed Lady Susan Vernon, whose take-no-prisoners, hate-the-game-not-the-player approach to survival upsets not only every single person she meets, but also the natural order of the times. Apparently, no one likes a mirror held up to their hypocrisies. I can pay this classic book—did I mention it was written in 1794 and published posthumously in 1871?—no greater compliment than that, immediately after finishing it, I sat down to write.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: As for next year, I’m waiting anxiously (please, Goddess, please!) to read more impeachment transcripts. It’s been too long since the last editions. Am I right? I’m also looking forward to welcoming Julián Delgado Lopera’s gorgeous, quite funny novel about love, loss, queerness, intergenerational trauma, and the power of liberation, Pretend You’re Dead and I Carry You. (Full disclosure: I might have given it a sneak peek. Hashtag sue me.)

Alejandro was our guest for Episode 402, where we discussed his book Middle Spoon.

MJ Franklin
Editor at The New York Times Book Review

The best thing I read this year, THE book of the year in my opinion, is We Do Not Part by Han Kang, translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris. This book is so many things: It’s about the weight of history; it’s about how we recover from tragedy; it’s about care, friendship, and family; it’s about how we have to feel pain to get through it; and more. It’s a challenging book, but dear god, what Han Kang is about to do with an image or a metaphor!! Incredible. We Do Not Part is wholly original and powerfully haunting. Don’t miss out on this one.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: Kin by Tayari Jones

MJ Franklin was our guest for Episode 404, where we discussed our favorite books of the year.

Greta Johnsen
Host of Happy to Be Here podcast

One of the best things I read this year was Kristen Arnett’s Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One. It’s a deeply strange story about a woman who isn’t exactly living her best life, but she wants to be a professional clown, and she has absolutely no qualms about how totally weird that is. This book is written in bright hues. It’s funny, and it’s also very sad. It’s perfect for people who like Annie Hartnett, Kevin Wilson, and Jess Walter.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConigley.

Greta Johnsen was our guest for Episode 404, where we discussed our favorite books of the year.

Traci Thomas
Host and creator of The Stacks

I am breaking with my own tradition of picking a book published this year, but I can’t deny the greatness of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It was the best thing I read. It led to some of my favorite conversations, both on the podcast and with my friends offline. It has been in my mind at every turn for every book I’ve read since. Mary Shelley managed to drag men, call out colonialism, give me scene on top of scene of drama, craft allegory for damn near everything, and do it all in 200 pages. Mary Shelley is the teenaged dream, Katy Perry sang about. I stan.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2026: This feels like a trick question, because I have to say London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe, because what kind of girlfriend would I be if I said anything else. But also, we’re getting so many books from so many legends2 there is no acceptable answer. I’m most looking forward to ALL OF THE BOOKS!

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The 2025 Stacks Battle of the Books

Cherie Marquez — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:06:01 +0000

It’s year eight of The Stacks Battle of the Books!

That’s our annual March Madness style book bracket, in December, to crown the best Stacks book club pick from the year.

I feel like I say this every year, but this might be the best year of book club picks we’ve ever had. Which means it is going to be a particularly challenging year to predict a winner and I love that for all of us!

And just like March Madness. This isn’t only about crowning a winner. This is also about YOU tapping into your competitive impulses and filling out a TSBC bracket to predict the winner and win a book!

To enter fill out a bracket at Challonge. You create your account put your predictions in for who you think will win. Then on The Stacks Instagram Stories, you’ll vote (starting 12/26) for your favorite books in head to head battles, until we crown one winner, The Stacks Book Club Book of the Year. The results of each round will be updated over on Challonge (our bracket site) and on our Instagram @thestackspod.

You have until Friday, December 26rd at 12:00am PST to put in your predictions. Be sure your bracket name is easily identifiable so you can be contacted if you win! We will announce the winner of the tournament and the winner of the giveaway on Tuesday, December 30th once all the results are in.

Here is the important stuff.

Make sure you’re following The Stacks on Instagram @thestackspod.
Register for the bracket if you want to be part of the giveaway CLICK HERE. Be sure to pick a winner at the bottom of the page.
Vote in each round on our Insta Stories daily, starting Friday December 26th.

That feels like a lot, trust me, it’ll be fun and worth it. For now, just fill out your bracket.

Now for all the nerds…

Below are the gory details of how the seeding was figured out. I came up with my own calculations to rank the books based on many arbitrary (and a few quantifiable) factors. The rankings are full of biases and assumptions, and honestly, that is what makes this fun.

Podcast Downloads– Raw number of downloads that an episode received. I excluded Friday Night Lights from this calculation since that episode has not aired.
iTunes Episode Popularity– iTunes lets me see how popular each episode is in the first 60 days. Again, Friday Night Lights was excluded from this category.
Goodreads Scores– I looked up each book on Goodreads and took that score.
Goodreads Reviews– I took the total number of Goodreads reviews for each book.
Test of Time– The older a book is, the more credit it got, because it has withstood the “test of time”.
Social Media Input– I’ve asked The Stacks Instagram followers to tell me their favorite book we read this year, and those responses are incorporated.
Traci’s Personal Ranking– Thats right, I’m influencing this competition a little. It’s my podcast, ain’t it?

There are 12 books in the competition, so in each of those categories the books are rated on a scale of 1-12. Each book receives a score from each category, 1 being the best, 12 the worst. I then added all the scores and divided by 7 (except in the case of Friday Night Lights which was divided by 5).

That sounds like a lot, I’m bad at math, but trust me, it checks out. Here are the rankings based on these calculations, and their total overall raw scores, remember lower is better. Where there was a tie, I broke the tie based on my preference.

Here is our 2025 Bracket

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - 2.28
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - 4.71
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - 4.85
Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger - 5.2
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel - 5.85
They Were Her Property by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers - 7
We the Animals by Justin Torres - 7.14
Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton - 7.28
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley - 7.28
God Help the Child by Toni Morrison - 7.42
The Lilac People by Milo Todd - 7.71
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley - 7.85

For those of you curious who won in previous years,

2018 - The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
2019 - Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson
2020 - The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
2021 - Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
2022 - Passing by Nella Larsen
2023 - Tar Baby by Toni Morrison
2024 - The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Now go fill out your bracket and let’s get this party started!!!

The Stackies 2025 Finalists

Stacks Assistant — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 13:03:00 +0000

The nominations have been tallied and your 2025 finalists for The Stackies are here. Thanks to everyone who nominated books, we had our largest turnout for nominations ever, and that is reflected in the wide ranging list of books below. The finalists are the five books that received the most votes in each category.

Voting will open up on January 6th for all paid subscribers to Unstacked and run through January 12th. The winners of this year’s Stackies will be announced on Friday, January 16th.

Without further ado, the nominees are…

Dominion by Addie C. Citchens
The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne
The Lilac People by Milo Todd
Woodworking by Emily St. James

A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children by Haley Cohen Gilliland
Black in Blues: How a Color Tells a Story of My People by Imani Perry
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing
There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone

Audition by Katie Kitamura
Dominion by Addie C. Citchens
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy
These Heathens Mia McKenzie

Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success by Jeff Hiller
Matriarch: A Memoir by Tina Knowles
Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything: A Memoir by Alyson Stoner
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir by Martha S. Jones

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil V.E. Schwab
Death of the Author Nnedi Okafor
Sunrise on the Reaping Suzanne Collins
The River Has Roots Amal El-Mohtar

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera
A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping Sangu Mandanna
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins-Reid
Back After This by Linda Holmes
Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan

The Bewitching by Silvia Morena Garcia
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
The Grand Paloma Resort by Cleyvis Natera
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe by Mahogany L. Browne
Exit Zero: Stories by Marie Helene-Bertino
Show Don’t Tell: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld
Stag Dance: A Novel & Stories by Torrey Peters
Where Are You Really From: Stories by Elaine Hsieh Chou

Dead and Alive: Essays by Zadie Smith
Misbehaving at the Crossroads: Essays & Writings by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
The People’s Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Forward by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith
Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service by Michael Lewis
You Didn’t Hear This from Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip by Kelsey McKinney

City Summer, Country Summer by Kiese Laymon
Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming
Oathbound by Tracy Deonn
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
This Thing of Ours by Frederick Joseph

Gaysians by Michael Curato
Defiant: The Story of Robert Smalls by Rob Edwards
It Rhymes with Takei by George Takei, Steven Scott, and Justin Eisinger
Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology: A Graphic Novel by Angela Hseih
Spent: A Comic Novel by Alison Bechdel

Doggerel: Poems by Reginald Dwayne Betts
Helen of Troy, 1993: Poems by Maria Zoccola
The Idea of an Entire Life: Poems by Billy-Ray Belcourt
The People’s Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Forward by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith
Scorched Earth: Poems by Tiana Clark

Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno
Solitaria by Eliana Alves Cruz
The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica
We Do Not Part by Han Kang

Audition by Katie Kitamura
The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry
Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky
Moderation by Elaine Castillo
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
Stag Dance: A Novel & Stories by Torrey Peters

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
These Heathens by Mia McKenzie
Woodworking by Emily St. James

Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success by Jeff Hiller
Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart
Woodworking by Emily St. James

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Antidote by Karen Russell
The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad 16
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing 5
The People’s Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Forward by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith 3
There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone 5
Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service 7 by Michael Lewis

Christopher’s Books (San Francisco, CA)
Loyalty Bookstores (Washington DC)
Resist Booksellers (Petersburg, VA)
Shop at MATTER (Denver, CO)
Women & Children First (Chicago, IL)

That’s it, that’s the list. You’ve got one month to read the books and form your opinions. Voting for the winners in all categories starts for subscribers of Unstacked on January 6th.

Remember, only members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and Substack subscribers can vote on The Stackies.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

2025 Gift Guide: Traci’s Favorite Things

Stacks Assistant — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 21:09:34 +0000

It is gift guide season. Again. Somehow. This year, I am keeping it simple and sharing my favorite things, à la Oprah. Because she is, in fact, one of my favorite things.

What you’ll find out about me and my gift-giving style is that I love a subscription, and I love a gift that disappears. Subscriptions are perfect because they last beyond the season, so you get to treat your recipient long after everyone has moved on from holiday cheer. And gifts that disappear (things you use up — treats, candles, lotion, etc.), because you’re not saddling your recipient with stuff that takes up space in their lives.

It has been a hard year financially for many of us, so I am keeping that in mind here. Not too many big-ticket items. Likewise, many of these gifts are appropriate for casual and intimate relationships. Gifts that work for anyone, from coworker to bestie1.

I didn’t include any books this year, because this whole newsletter is just me recommending books like crazy, so it felt like we’ve been there and done that. Check the archive, or ask in the comments, if you’re looking for book recs.

Before we get to this year’s list, I did want to share a few things, especially if you’re inclined to gift books this year.

You can gift subscriptions to Unstacked and The Stacks Pack (on Patreon) to the bookish people in your life. I even have printable gift cards (Substack | Patreon) for gift subscriptions if you like to have something to physically give people. This is by no means the most urgent work of the moment, but paying for the things your favorite creators make does make it possible for us to keep bringing you new stuff, like this gift guide.

If you have a favorite indie bookstore, plan ahead and order from them. Indie bookstores rely on holiday book sales to stay afloat — around 2/3 of their sales come in the last three months of the year. Show some love to the businesses in your community that pay taxes, employ your neighbors, and create safe spaces for authors and readers to gush over books! I am personally a huge fan of Reparations Club in LA and Loyalty Bookstores in DC (both Black, woman, and LGBTQIA+ owned stores).

Libro.FM is an audiobook company that supports indie bookstores (you get to pick which store gets a percentage of your purchase) and offers audiobook bundles to gift. They offer a bunch of sales (a big one December 9-11) throughout the holiday season.
If you want to buy your books from an online retailer, check out bookshop.org which donates a percentage of their sales to indie bookstores and your favorite book influencers (like, I dunno, me). They likely will have holiday sales launching soon.
I especially want to remind folks that after Black Friday and Cyber Monday (or whatever the fuck) there is Giving Tuesday, and lots of donations made that day are matched or tripled. So you could get ahead on your holiday gifting and make a bigger impact. Set an alarm in your phone for Tuesday, December 2nd.

Okay, now let’s get into the 2025 gift guide:

Brick

This little contraption allows you to block apps on your smartphone, effectually making it dumb until you physically tap your phone on the Brick again. Which means you can listen to music you love while reading a book without feeling the urge to check Instagram 500 times. Having to physically tap your phone makes it a lot harder to override, which makes the Brick super effective. I am so much happier on days I Brick3. Two things worth noting, the app that goes along with the device is free and anyone with the app on their phone can Brick and unBrick on any Brick. So you only need one per household. And now, Brick is for both android and Apple phones. This is a game changer.

Code: THESTACKS gets you 10% off.

Bokksu Snack Box

It would not be me if I was not recommending snacks, because let’s be real, more than books or sports, snacks are my one true love. I have been the recipient of a Bokksu subscription twice in my life and both times, it was a damn delight. These snack boxes come from Japan and are filled with delicious treats that you can’t get here in the States — fun flavors of staple snacks and Japanese treats you’ve likely never heard of. Plus, they all have a guide to teach you about what’s in the box.

Leopard Sneakers

I love a leopard print moment and I love a sneaker moment, so what is not to love about these Sambas? I wear them as much as I can and get lots of compliments.

Travel Organizer

I was introduced to the concept of a travel cord organizer by Nora McInerny, and I have never looked back. This is the one I like and use. But there are a lot. In addition to giving Bricks to everyone in my life last year, they all also got a travel organizer. And I would suggest getting these to allow for extreme type A behavior.

Print Magazine Subscription

I am sorry, but there is nothing better than getting an actual magazine in the mail. The way I salivated over the Thanksgiving issue of Bon Appétit this year. It is sort of luxurious to get a magazine these days, and they really are super affordable, which makes them a perfect gift — maximum impact, minimal expense.4 The magazines I currently get are Bon Appétit, New York Magazine, and The Atlantic. Worth noting, these subscriptions all come with a slew of online content on top of the print goodness. And, some magazines are running sales and/or gifts with purchase deals right now.

Clare V. Purse

I am not a person who invests in too many nice things to wear. That is especially true for purses. All my bags and totes are from cheap retailers, but this year I got a nice bag from Clare V., and honestly, I have never felt like a fancier bitch. This is for sure a big splurge, but just know the quality is off the charts. There are so many cute bags. The charms and swappable straps give the bags a little fresh which makes them more dynamic and versatile.

Local Restaurant Gift Card

I do not generally ascribe to gift cards as gifts for people you know. However, I have been gifted gift cards to restaurants over the years and think it is a really stellar present. You can do anything from a fancy date-night spot to a fast-casual go-to. The more specific you can make it to the person (a place they keep saying they want to try, for example), the better.

Duvet Cover

This might seem like a very personal gift, and it is. But if you have a partner and you want to do something nice for them (and you), upgrade your duvet cover. I’ve had my Quince Linen Duvet since November of last year, and I still am thrilled to climb into bed every night.

The Stacks Merch

I would be a crazy person not to remind you of all the cute merch we have going on over here at The Stacks. I also will just say, I have seeds of a plan to completely overhaul the merch situation here for 2026, so if you like anything in the shop right now, you should get it, because it will be gone come this time next year.

Salt Bowls

Damn, this one sounds bougie AF, but whenever I see folks with cute salt bowls (that also are perfect for sauces, olives, nuts, toppings, etc.) I get so jealous. Then I visited Big Night in NYC (they ship, don’t worry) last fall and I bought a grip of salt bowls in different colors. And now I’m so cool and I love it. This year, I will be giving the gift of bougie to all my beloveds. If you have people in your life who host the Big Night website is 1000% worth perusing because they have the best gifts — like this, and this, and this, and this.

Nuuly

This clothing rental company is a game-changer. I love Nuuly, it’s no secret. If you’ve seen me at bookish event9, I am liking wearing something I rented from Nuuly. They’ve got casual to formal to seasonal and more. And you can get $30 off a first order with this link.

Salt & Stone

Salt & Stone is so reasonably priced and feels so luxurious. My sister gifted me their hand cream, because she knows how I’m always on the hunt for good — not too floral — rose-scented items. Their Black Rose & Oud is some of the best. I currently use their body wash, hand cream, and lotion. The packaging is chic, the price tag is very reasonable, and the quality is great. If you use this link you get $15 off your order.

Floral Delivery

I was the recipient of a monthly floral delivery, an extremely luxurious gift, for my birthday a few years back and Whit Hazen (my local and favorite florist) did not disappoint. This one will require a little more legwork to find the right florist in your recipients area, but truly it is worth it. Here is a Black Florist directory to get you started on your search.

Athleta Sweatsuit

I sorta hate to admit this, but my mom turned me on to this one. But, don’t worry my mom is more fashionable than I am, so you’re in good hands. Anyway this super soft, mix-and-match sweatsuit situation is perfect for travel and just hanging out. I have these pants and this top.

Loam Candle

I love a candle, and I always have one burning in my office while I work. The Midnight Moon candle from Loam is perfect because it has rosy notes and some earthiness to it, too. Loam is also Black-owned and based in LA.

Custom Tony’s Chocolate Bars

Did you know you could order custom Tony’s chocolate bars? I love their chocolate bars so much, I order them by the boxful (for myself all year long). They are a perfect higher-end treat, and with the added personalization, they would make for a super cute gift for teachers, hosts, newspaper delivery folks, and even as a part of the wrapping for a larger gift or gift card. The personalized bars do need a three-week lead time, so get on it now.

Check out my Substack, Unstacked, for even more resources and gift recommendations in the comments.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Announcing the Winners of the 2024 Stackies

Stacks Assistant — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 08:00:00 +0000

The votes have been tallied and the best books of 2024 according to you all have been decided. I have to say, The Stacks Pack has great taste and I put these books up against any list or award in the literary game. Congrats to all the winners.

If you want to be a part of nominating and voting on The Stackies in 2025 be sure you join as a paid subscriber on Substack or Patreon.

Best Debut

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: (But I’m Going to Anyway) by Chelsea Devantez
Oye by Melissa Mogollon
Piglet by Lottie Hazel
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Best Fiction

Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
James by Percival Everett
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Best Nonfiction

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels by Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans

Best Memoir

Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
Coming Home by Brittney Griner
I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: (But I’m Going to Anyway) by Chelsea Devantez
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
The Ministry of Time by Kalaine Bradley
Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

Best Romance

Funny Story by Emily Henry
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan

Best Thriller/Mystery/Horror

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Guide Me Home by Attica Locke
Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra

Best Short Story Collection

Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi
Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda
Neighbors by Diane Oliver
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
Table for Two by Amor Towles

Best Poetry Collection

[...] by Fady Joudah
Bluff by Danez Smith
Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha
The Moon that Turns You Back by Hala Alyan
We Alive, Beloved by Frederick Joseph

Best Translated Lit

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton
The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
A Long Walk from Gaza by Asmaa Alatawna, translated by Michelle Hartman & Caline Nasrallah
Mina's Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen B. Snyder
A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, translated Megan McDowell

Best Cookbook

Big Night: Dinners, Parties & Dinner Parties by Katherine Lewin
Big Vegan Flavor: Techniques and 150 Recipes to Master Vegan Cooking by Nisha Vora
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson
What Goes with What: 100 Recipes, 20 Charts, Endless Possibilities by Julia Turshen
What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers

Best Book Not on the Stacks

All Fours by Miranda July
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
James by Percival Everett
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood by Gretchen Sisson

Best Cover

Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Piglet by Lottie Hazel
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Best Main Character

All Fours by Miranda July
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
James by Percival Everett
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Funniest Book

Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
Joyful Recollections of Trauma by Paul Scheer
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Oye by Melissa Mogollon

Most Hated

All Fours by Miranda July
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
Melania by Melania Trump
The Women by Kristin Hannah

Book for President Biden

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle
James by Percival Everett
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling by Jason De León
What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Best Pick for The Stacks Book Club

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Best Stacks Episode

Ep. 350 The Best Books of 2024 with Greta Johnsen & MJ Franklin

Best Bookstore

Book & Bottle (St. Petersburg, FL)
Call & Response Books (Chicago, IL)
Lemuria Books (Jackson, MS)
Loyalty Bookstores (Washington, DC)
Reparations Club (Los Angeles, CA)

Thank you all so much for being part of the second annual Stackies. I look forward to more books to gush over and to hate in 2025.

The Best Things We Read in 2024

Stacks Assistant — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:09:00 +0000

At the end of the year, we always get so many lists of “best” and “top” and “favorite” books of the year, and we even get lists that round up all of those lists. And while I do love all of these lists, this list is by far my favorite. This list is the best things the guests of The Stacks read this year. It can be a book from any year and about anything. Each guest also provided one book they’re looking forward to reading in 2025 (though it doesn’t have to be a 2025 release). Why is this my most favorite list? Well, obviously because guests of The Stacks have the best taste, and every year this list gives range.

Carolina Ixta
Author of Shut Up, This Is Serious

The best book I read in 2024 was Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration by Alejandra Oliva. I have never read a memoir that is so expository, nor an expository text that is so personal. Oliva demonstrates poetic and narrative dexterity around complicated topics without sacrificing the heartbeat of her own experiences. She brings hidden voices and hidden histories out of the shadows and to center stage where they belong. Truly a masterful text.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: I am most excited to read The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley!

Carolina was our guest for Episode 302, where she discussed her book Shut Up, This Is Serious.

Lauren Markham
Author of A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging

I finally read Shirley Hazzard's The Transit of Venus. (I'd tried several times before, but I believe that some books find you at just the right moment.) It's the story of two orphaned sisters who move from Australia to England in the 1950s--a transporting, altering novel of manners that also feels like a two-headed epic. Hazzard uses such a fine-tipped pen to render her characters' consciousnesses and longing situated within a larger social order. Her prose is incantatory. I've never read anything like it and will recommend it endlessly to everyone--including you!

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: I can't wait to read Rabih Alameddine's An Unnecessary Woman in 2025.

Lauren was our guest for Episode 307, where she discussed her book A Map of Future Ruins.

Elise Hu
Author of Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital

The best thing I read this year was I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy. Usually, I don't love memoirs, and I know I'm late to this mega-bestseller. I'm glad I finally got to it because man, it hit me right in the gut. I listened to the audiobook, gripped, with my jaw open for a good chunk of it. McCurdy, a former child star, is so unflinching in plumbing her own memories and interiority as she explores the relentless and fearsome control of her mother. The story is also one of resilience and grace and the people along the way who helped her, and I can't stop thinking about it.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: You Didn't Hear This From Me by Kelsey McKinney, the host of Normal Gossip.

Elise was our guest for Episode 309 where she discussed her book Flawless, and Episode 312, where she discussed the book Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu.

Andrew Boryga
Author of Victim

Julius Caesar by Shakespeare. I was never all that into Shakespeare in school, but this year I randomly decided, yo, I should really see what this dude is all about. And I’m so glad I did. Julius Caesar was the first play I started with and it absolutely blew me away. These lines in particular were the hardest I’ve ever read in print, and I’ll be thinking about them for some time: “Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.”

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: I’m very excited to read Glass Century by Ross Barkan, which is coming out in May of 2025. Ross is an excellent journalist and essayist and I’ve long enjoyed his musings in the New York Times, New York Magazine, and other mainstream outlets—as well as his dope Substack. I’m very anxious to see how his immense talents in the non-fiction realm translate to the fictional realm.

Andrew was our guest for Episode 314, where he discussed his book Victim.

Keith O'Brien
Author of Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball

The best thing I read this year was James (obviously). But since that's the easy answer, I'll offer a different one: The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka. This book is short; you can read it in a day or two. But it packs a powerful punch. Otsuka paints a stunning portrait of Japanese women who came to America in the 20th century, detailing the indignities they endured and the tragedies they overcame. It's a fictional account, written in a creative way. There's no main character here, no single protagonist. And yet it's all too real—a story built with detailed reporting and understanding about what these women faced. I simply can't stop thinking about The Buddha in the Attic.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: The book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: The Boy From the Sea by Garrett Carr.

Keith was our guest for Episode 315, where he discussed his book Charlie Hustle.

Carvell Wallace
Author of Another Word for Love

Not to be weird but the best thing I read in 2024 was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818). I read it once before, and I think I sort of missed it. But I randomly picked it up again this year and it's so fascinating how at 17 she's inventing horror that is very patient and deeply unsettling, changing points of view, telling stories within stories within stories, roasting men simply by imitating them, and offering layered and complicated philosophical questions in the creepiest way possible. I just fucking love a brilliant goth teen going tf off. Highly recommend.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: The book I'm looking forward to reading is We Will Rest!: The Art of Escape by Tricia Hersey. I read it once and will continue to read it because it's a handbook as far as I'm concerned, and as our mutual friend George McCalman says: "This is a very Black conversation." I don't think this book is for everyone, but it is most definitely exactly for me, right here and right now.

Carvell was our guest for Episode 319, where he discussed his book Another Word for Love.

Sierra Greer
Author of Annie Bot

Like so many others this year, I was captivated by Kristin Hannah’s The Women with its visceral and disturbing depictions of nurses during the Vietnam War. My uncle was lost in that war, so this novel hit home for me. I appreciate Hannah’s storytelling, her believable characters, and her shining a light on the military women who serve our country.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: For next year, I’m looking forward to reading Billy Collins’s latest collection: Water, Water: Poems. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at the Miami Book Fair, and I love how his crafty mind works.

Sierra was our guest for Episode 320, where she discussed her book Annie Bot.

Melissa Mogollon
Author of Oye

It's so hard to pick ONE "best" book I've read all year! But I have to say that Victim by Andrew Boryga had me thinking and returning to it for a long time. To me, it explores humor in all the ways I admire and adore: from the perspective of immigrants, as a response to trauma, and through the scathing and blistering minds of teenagers...The first chapter of the novel is a masterclass in openings. Enticing, warm, determined, revelatory. I wanted to listen to it on audio over and over, for hours.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: One book I'm extremely looking forward to in 2025 is Ruben Reyes Jr.'s Archive of Unknown Universes. A genre-bending book about two families in alternative timelines of the Salvadoran Civil War where one member uses an experimental device to peek into alternate versions of their lives.

Melissa was our guest for Episode 322, where she discussed her book Oye, and Episode 325, where she discussed It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover.

Adam Higginbotham
Author of Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

The best thing I read this year was Ian Fleming: The Complete Man by Nicholas Shakespeare. It’s a masterful, page-turning biography that unearths not just the truth of Fleming’s extraordinary work during the Second World War but also his tortured personality—and how his most famous creation made his fortune, then sent him to his grave. An ultimately tragic and often unbelievable story of a man who often trod a Zelig-like path through history, it also forms a fascinating snapshot of the last days of the British Empire.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Adam was our guest for Episode 328, where he discussed his book Challenger.

Mateo Askaripour
Author of This Great Hemisphere

Not to do the whole author flex, but I read Colored Television at the end of 2023 before it came out in 2024, and it's still my favorite read of the year. Works that are at once funny, tender, and all-too-real, especially when they concern creative spaces––and even more so when they focus on writing––always appeal to me, and Colored Television was no exception. Danzy Senna did her thing with this one! The twists, the turns, and the everyday tedium of trying to maintain sanity despite 21st-century American angst were gold. I've said it once and I'll say it again: I adore this novel.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: In terms of 2025, Jason Mott's People Like Us is at the top of my list. And, yes, I've already read some other 2025 novels, so shout out to The Grand Scheme of Things by Warona Jay. Happy reading, homies.

Mateo was our guest for Episode 329, where he discussed his book This Great Hemisphere.

Regina Porter
Author of The Rich People Have Gone Away

I have to say that my favorite book of the year was rereading Frankenstein. It seems appropriate somehow for this moment as the book is about, at its heart, human’s individual and collective responsibility for each other. The monsters people sometimes not only are but become and make. The story centers on a scientist who plays God and creates a human monster, only to freak out and abandon his creation. But the monster won’t go away.

Regina was our guest for Episode 333, where she discussed her book The Rich People Have Gone Away.

Eve Dunbar
Author of Monstrous Work and Radical Satisfaction: Black Women Writing under Segregation

The best thing I read this year was Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. The novel's premise hooked me, but Kuang's investment in a compelling, unreliable narrator made me think about the book anytime I wasn't reading it. Torn between wanting to see June "Juniper" Song brought down for stealing a dead woman's manuscript and wanting to see her get away with it, I found the question of who owns any story, especially one of trauma and pain that isn't one's own, muddied in the best way.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: City Summer, Country Summer by Kiese Laymon

Eve was our guest for Episode 335 where she discussed her book Monstrous Work and Radical Satisfaction, and Episode 338, where she discussed Jazz by Toni Morrison.

Danzy Senna
Author of Colored Television

The best book I read this year was Being There, a novel from 1971 by Polish-American writer Jerzy Kosinski. It tells the story of a man, Chance Gardener, a neurodivergent gardener who leaves the safety of his home one day and through a series of strange events, gets claimed as a kind of guru and pundit by the world of politics. Powerful people project onto him all sorts of meanings he didn't intend. Absurd and painful, poignant and strange, this book exhilarated me with its brilliance but also filled me with existential dread as it touches so deeply on our modern world - the cult of personality, the emptiness of modern life, the failure of any of us to truly connect. It's also a great movie starring Peter Sellers.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: Get ready for the first spate of what I imagine will be decades of books about Gaza. In fiction, film, essays, and non-fiction, we are going to have to process what we've witnessed and are still witnessing - the crime against humanity that has been done on our watch, using our funding - for a long time to come. I had the chance to read one excellent book in Galley that will be coming out next year and everyone and their mama should read: Omar El Akkad's One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. It is intimate, furious, vulnerable, and deep - a kind of Between the World and Me about the international calamity. Also, Pankaj Mishra is an incredibly incisive and deep thinker and I am looking forward to his forthcoming book The World After Gaza: A History.

Danzy was our guest for Episode 336, where she discussed her book Colored Television.

Jason De León
Author of Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling

The best thing I read this year was The Horse by Willy Vlautin. He's one of my favorite storytellers and someone who always amazes me with his ability to capture the working-class American experience. The Horse chronicles the troubled journey of a grizzled musician trying to make it despite a life characterized by bad luck, crippling anxiety, and a tortured relationship with booze. Willy always breaks my heart with his books but this one left me feeling ok about the world.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: The book I am most looking forward to next year is The Antidote by Karen Rusell. I got to read excerpts a while back and loved it!

Jason was our guest for Episode 341, where he discussed his book Soldiers and Kings.

Jason Reynolds
Author of Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .: A Love Story

There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraquib is an example of everything I love about Hanif's work. It's experimental - the language, the perspective, the courage - and it's thought provoking, all while being incredibly entertaining.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: No Sense in Wishing by Lawrence Burney

Jason was our guest for Episode 345, where he discussed his book Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . ..

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Author of What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futurism

Loving Corrections by adrienne maree brown struck me, above all, as a necessary cultural intervention. It opens with a "Dear Men" letter on relinquishing patriarchy, arcs through ways of being in the right relationship (with family, ego, weed, abundance, etc.), explores the imperative of accountability (there's certainly not enough of that going around right now) and how we move from fragility to fortitude, to being able to actually hear the truth. Goodness, there is a lot of loving correction needed right now! I'm grateful for this calling-in guide.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: Human Nature: Nine Ways to Feel About Our Changing Planet by Kate Marvel

Ayana was our guest for Episode 346, where she discussed her book What If We Get It Right?.

Greta Johnsen
Author of GRETAGRAM

The best thing I read this year is Marie-Helene Bertino's Beautyland. I'm usually a plot person -- I love when absolutely unhinged shit goes down, when I stay up late reading because I have to know what's next. This is not that kind of book, but it's perfect. It's a novel that fully embraces a broad, beautiful spectrum of what it means to be human. It's full of gorgeous sentences and it made me look at daily life with a fuller heart.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: I can’t wait for Kevin Wilson’s newest book, Run for the Hills. All I know is that it’s a cross-country road trip novel, but honestly, I don’t need a premise to be convinced to read a Kevin Wilson book. I will follow that lovely human anywhere. I’m also extra excited for the audiobook, which is read by my favorite narrator, Marin Ireland!

Greta was our guest for Episode 350, where we discussed The Best Books of 2024.

MJ Franklin
Editor at The New York Times Book Review

The best thing I read this year was, easily, James by Percival Everett. This is not a surprise pick because James has been on just about every year-end best-of list, it was shortlisted for the Booker, it won the National Book Award, and for good reason — it’s an ambitious work of fiction, written by one of America’s greatest novelists, that reshapes our existing cultural narratives while also standing on its own as a bold, original story. The novel is cerebral, adventuresome, funny, harrowing, challenging, and accessible, all at once. It’s a masterpiece.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: Stag Dance by Torrey Peters

MJ was our guest for Episode 350, where we discussed The Best Books of 2024.

Traci Thomas
Host and creator of The Stacks

The best thing I read this year was Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham. I went back and forth between this book and James (because James is so incredibly good) but I had to stay true to myself, and a work of investigative journalism about a major disaster that came out of human failing is just too me to not be my favorite. Higginbotham turned an event I knew all about into a damn thriller. I still can’t believe they launched that shuttle. The science, the institutional failings, the people involved, and the aftermath were all rendered perfectly on the page.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2025: Authority by Andrea Long Chu

The 2024 Stacks Battle of the Books

Cherie Marquez — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 17:32:00 +0000

It’s year seven of The Stacks Battle of the Books. What is that you ask? It is our annual March Madness style book bracket to crown the best Stacks book club pick from the year.

I don’t like to pick favorites, but I think this is one of the best slates of book club picks we’ve ever had on the show. All twelve books were ripe for discussion and a lot of them were as chaotic as a book club pick should be.

The battle of the books has easily become my favorite annual tradition we do at The Stacks. We did it in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 and now 2024 steps to the plate.

In addition to crowning a best book club pick you also get to fill out your own predictions for who will win and if you’re right you’ll win a TSBC book!

To enter fill out a bracket at Challonge. You create your account put your predictions in for who you think will win. Then on The Stacks Instagram Stories, you’ll vote (starting 12/23) for your favorite books in head to head battles, until we crown one winner, The Stacks Book Club Book of the Year. The results of each round will be updated over on Challonge (our bracket site) and on our Instagram @thestackspod.

In addition to crowning a best book club pick you also get to fill out your own predictions for who will win and if you’re right you’ll win a TSBC book!

To enter fill out a bracket at Challonge. You create your account put your predictions in for who you think will win. Then on The Stacks Instagram Stories, you’ll vote (starting 12/23) for your favorite books in head to head battles, until we crown one winner, The Stacks Book Club Book of the Year. The results of each round will be updated over on Challonge (our bracket site) and on our Instagram @thestackspod.

You have until Friday, December 23rd at 6:00am PST to put in your predictions. Be sure your bracket name is your IG handle, email, or name, so you are easy to find upon completion of the tournament. We will announce the winner of the tournament and the winner of the giveaway on Tuesday, December 31st once all the results are in.

Here is the important stuff.

Make sure you’re following The Stacks on Instagram @thestackspod.
Register for the bracket if you want to be part of the giveaway CLICK HERE. Be sure to pick a winner at the bottom of the page4.
Vote in each round on our Insta Stories, starting Friday December 23rd . All voting on Instagram!

Voting begins the morning of Friday December 23rd for the first round, and will follow the schedule below.

Round 1 – December 23rd – Play in Games

Round 2 – December 26th – Elite 8

Round 3 – December 28th – Final 4

Round 4 – December 30th – Championship

That feels like a lot, trust me, it’ll be fun and worth it. Get started now.

Now for all the nerds…

Podcast Downloads– Raw number of downloads that an episode received. I excluded Tacky from this calculation since that episode is not out yet.
iTunes Episode Popularity– iTunes lets me see how popular each episode is. It is slight different than raw downloads, because they take into account listeners at the time of recording, but they also only include people listening through iTunes. Again, Tacky was excluded from this category.
Goodreads Scores– I looked up each book on Goodreads and took that score.
Goodreads Reviews– I took the raw number of Goodreads reviews for each book.
Test of Time– The older a book is, the more credit it got, because it has withstood the “test of time”.
Social Media Input– I’ve asked The Stacks Instagram followers to tell me their favorite book we read this year, and those responses are incorporated.
Traci’s Personal Ranking– Thats right, I’m influencing this competition a little. It’s my podcast, so why not?

There are 12 books in the competition, so in each of those categories the books are rated on a scale of 1-12. Each book received a score from each category, 1 being the best, 12 the worst. I then tallied all the scores and divided by 7 (except in the case of Tacky which was divided by 5).

That sounds like a lot, but trust me, it makes sense. Here are the rankings based on these calculations, and their total overall raw scores, remember lower is better. Where there was a tie, I broke the tie based on my preference.

Here is our 2024 bracket on Challonge

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler - 3.57
Erasure by Percival Everett - 3.85
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead - 4.28
It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover - 4.85
No Name in the Street by James Baldwin - 6.14
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu - 6.57
Jazz by Toni Morrison - 7.28
The January Children by Safia Elhillo - 7.28
Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo - 7.57
Luster by Raven Leilani - 7.7
Viral Justice by Ruha Benjamin -8.28
Tacky by Rax King– 10.0

For those of you curious who won in previous years,

Now go fill out your bracket and let’s get this party started!!!

The Stackies 2024 Finalists

Stacks Assistant — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 13:03:00 +0000

Over 100 ballots were submitted to nominate books for the 2024 Stackies. I tallied them up, and the top five vote-getters in each category are below as the finalists for the 2024 Stackies. Voting will open up on January 13th for all paid subscribers to Unstacked and run through January 17th. The winners of this year’s Stackies will be announced on Friday, January 24th.

I have to say I am obsessed with the list you all came up with. Y’all have range. Seriously. I’ve added a bunch I haven’t read (or heard of) to my TBR already. I love it here.

Without further ado, the nominees are…

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: (But I’m Going to Anyway) by Chelsea Devantez
Oye by Melissa Mogollon
Piglet by Lottie Hazel
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham
Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels by Pamela Prickett and Stefan Timmermans

Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
James by Percival Everett
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace
Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten
Coming Home by Brittney Griner
I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: (But I’m Going to Anyway) by Chelsea Devantez
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
The Ministry of Time by Kalaine Bradley
Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell

Funny Story by Emily Henry
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
This Could Be Us by Kennedy Ryan

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Guide Me Home by Attica Locke
Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra

Convergence Problems by Wole Talabi
Ghostroots by ‘Pemi Aguda
Neighbors by Diane Oliver
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
Table for Two by Amor Towles

How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom by Johanna Hedva
Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse" by Emily Raboteau
Magical/Realism: Essays on Music, Memory, Fantasy, and Borders by Vanessa Angélica Villarreal
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Thunder Song by Sasha Lapointe

Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan
Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell illustrated by Ashley MacKenzie
Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire by Paula Yoo
Twenty-four Seconds from Now… by Jason Reynolds

The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag
I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together by Maurice Vellekoop
Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang illustrated by Leuyen Pham
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States adapted by Paul Peart-Smith
Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love by Sarah Leavitt

[...] by Fady Joudah
Bluff by Danez Smith
Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha
The Moon that Turns You Back by Hala Alyan
We Alive, Beloved by Frederick Joseph

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton
The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
A Long Walk from Gaza by Asmaa Alatawna, translated by Michelle Hartman & Caline Nasrallah
Mina's Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen B. Snyder
A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, translated Megan McDowell

Big Night: Dinners, Parties & Dinner Parties by Katherine Lewin
Big Vegan Flavor: Techniques and 150 Recipes to Master Vegan Cooking by Nisha Vora
Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks Ghosts by Crystal Wilkinson
What Goes with What: 100 Recipes, 20 Charts, Endless Possibilities by Julia Turshen
What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking by Caroline Chambers

All Fours by Miranda July
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
James by Percival Everett
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood by Gretchen Sisson

Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Piglet by Lottie Hazel
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

All Fours by Miranda July
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
Colored Television by Danzy Senna
James by Percival Everett
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Colored Television by Danzy Senna
Come & Get It by Kiley Reid
Joyful Recollections of Trauma by Paul Scheer
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe
Oye by Melissa Mogollon

All Fours by Miranda July
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie
Melania by Melania Trump
The Women by Kristin Hannah

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle
James by Percival Everett
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling by Jason De León
What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Book & Bottle (St. Petersburg, FL)
Call & Response Books (Chicago, IL)
Lemuria Books (Jackson, MS)
Loyalty Bookstores (Washington, DC)
Reparations Club (Los Angeles, CA)

And those are your finalists for The Stackies! Read up and be sure to subscribe to Unstacked so you can vote starting January 13th.

Remember, only members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and Substack subscribers can vote on The Stackies.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

The Stacks 2024 Gift Guide

Stacks Assistant — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 01:27:00 +0000

In the past, I have made gift guides for the book lovers in your life that aren’t books, and this year I was planning to do the same thing, but after the election, I just felt like I couldn’t. But, after a good talk with my pal Ashley Garland, I decided to remix the gift guide into something actionable and bookish.

Since 2016 my family has done a Secret Santa where we donate money to a nonprofit organization and gift a book to whoever we drew in the gift exchange. We don’t need a ton of stuff so giving a little something back and getting a little something to enjoy feels like more than enough. So I’m using this idea as the framework for the guide.

Each section of the guide focuses on an issue that feels urgent. I have paired each issue with at least one nonprofit to donate to1 and two books, in some cases I have also thrown in a gift item that supports the issue at hand. Since I’m only giving four recommendations per issue, know there are hundreds of national and local organizations that could use your help, if you don’t like the ones I suggested I encourage you to google your city and the issue you’re (they’re) more passionate about. I also encourage you to find your own local mutual aid groups to get connected with. My hope is that this guide is the start of thinking about the people in your life, the things they are passionate about, and the ways you can contribute to their passions that feel impactful.

Before I dive in I have a few little things to keep in mind:

If you have a favorite indie bookstore plan ahead and order books from them. Indie bookstores rely on holiday book sales to stay afloat, around 2/3 of their sales come in just the last three months of the year. Show some love to the businesses in your community that pay taxes, employ your neighbors, and create safe spaces for authors and readers to gush over books! I am personally a huge fan of Reparations Club in LA and Loyalty Bookstores in DC (both Black, woman, and LGBBTQIA+ owned stores), and here is a list of even more Black-owned shops to check out.
Libro.FM is an audiobook company that supports indie bookstores (you get to pick which one your money goes to) and offers audiobook bundles to gift. This is a perfect present for any book lover in your life. They are offering 5-10% off on all their book bundles until the end of the year. And, if you’re last minute this is a perfect virtual gift that can get there ASAP or you can plan ahead and schedule send your gift. Keep an eye out for upcoming holiday sales, too.
If you want to buy your books from an online retailer, check out bookshop.org which donates a percentage of their sales to indie bookstores and your favorite book influencers (like, I dunno, me). Again keep an eye out, because they likely will have holiday sales launching soon.
I especially want to remind folks that after Black Friday and Cyber Monday (or whatever the fuck) there is Giving Tuesday, and lots of donations made that day are matched or tripled. So you could get ahead on your holiday gifting and make a bigger impact. Plan ahead, people!
If you like this gift guide and the work I do broadly you can now gift subscriptions to Unstacked and The Stacks Pack (on Patreon) to the bookish people in your life. This is by no means the most urgent work of the moment, but paying for the things I create does make it possible for me to keep bringing you new stuff, like this gift guide.

OK, let’s dive into The Stacks 2024 Holiday Gift Guide.

Two Causes

Donate to a local abortion fund, and help fight the good fight near you.

Sister Song sets out to strengthen and amplify the collective voices of indigenous women and women of color to achieve reproductive justice by eradicating reproductive oppression and securing human rights.

Two Books

Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win by Jessica Valenti
Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty by Dorothy Roberts

Jessica Valenti’s amazing Abortion, Everyday newsletter has an entire resources section so go nuts there people.

A Cause

Farm Sanctuary was founded in 1986 to combat the abuses of factory farming, advocate for institutional reforms, and encourage a new awareness and understanding of farm animals and the benefits of plant-based living.

A Gift

The bees need our help, not ready to commit to a full hive and beekeeper fit? Try a bee hotel to hang on a tree and host those lovable pollinators.

Two Books

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

Open Throat by Henry Hoke

A Cause

Earthjustice. A group that wields the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people’s health, preserve magnificent places and wildlife, advance clean energy, and combat climate change.

Want more organizations to support? Check out this list from Vox.

A Gift

Try anything from Patagonia, like their iconic puffer jacket to stay warm. Their CEO recently donated the company to fight climate change, so any purchase there will have some impact.

Two Books

What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells

A Cause

#PoliceFreeSchools is a National Campaign for Police Free Schools co-convened by the Advancement Project National Office and Alliance for Educational Justice and includes dozens of organizations from across the country.

A Gift

Who doesn’t want flawless skin? Well, Tatcha can give you that (allegedly) while simultaneously donating a portion of your purchase to bringing diverse books into underserved communities and funding education worldwide. Everyone is winning here.

Two Books

The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers by Josh Cowen

Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal by Bettina L. Love

You may want to go hyperlocal for this one, find schools to support on Donor’s Choose lists, or search for local initiatives that need your support. Also, consider supporting certain kinds of school programs like the arts or STEM. Here is a previous list I made for literacy organizations as well.

A Cause

World Central Kitchen is first to the frontlines, providing fresh meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises.

A Gift

Support farmers and the consumption of local seasonal foods by gifting a subscription to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box. Find one near you/your recipient here.

Two Books

Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land by Leah Penniman

How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America by Priya Fielding-Singh PhD

Two Causes

Guns Down America is focused on fewer guns, safer communities, and prioritizing public safety, not gun industry profits.

Advance Peace is dedicated to ending cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in American urban neighborhoods. They invest in the development, health, and well-being of those at the center of this crisis.

Two Books

Another Day in the Death of America: A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives by Gary Younge

One Nation Under Guns: How Gun Culture Distorts Our History and Threatens Our Democracy by Dominic Erdozain

A Cause

Covenant House is the largest, primarily privately funded charity in North and Central America providing immediate and long-term support for young people facing homelessness and survivors of trafficking.

A Gift

Who doesn’t want delicious baked goods? Check out the brownies from Greyston Bakery, who not only create meaningful job opportunities for those who have experienced barriers to employment, but also offer their employees low-cost housing, community gardens, and childcare. You might know their brownies because they’re the brownies in the Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream.

Two Books

Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O'Connell's Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People by Tracy Kidder

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

A Cause

RAICES defends the rights of immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking people and families, empowers communities, and advocates for liberty and justice.

African Communities Together is an organization of African immigrants fighting for civil rights, opportunity, and a better life for our families here in the U.S. and worldwide.

Two Books

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Johnathan Blitzer

Beautiful Country: A Read with Jenna Pick: A Memoir of an Undocumented Childhood by Qian Julie Wang

Two Causes

Freedom Reads. Founded in 2020, Freedom Reads builds and places libraries in prisons to create transformative experiences and elevate the dignity of the millions of people in this country touched by the criminal legal system.

The Bail Project, provides free bail assistance to those in need, restoring the presumption of innocence, reuniting families, and gathering evidence for change.

Two Books

Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom by Derecka Purnell

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

A Cause

Doctors Without Borders provides medical and psychological assistance to people affected by the long-term conflict and occupation.

A Gift

Nöl collective works with family-owned businesses, artisan workshops, and women's cooperatives throughout Palestine to produce beautiful clothing, accessories, and more.

Two Books

The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey by Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi

A Cause

Transanta delivers gifts to trans youth in need, safely and anonymously.

A Gift

Atomic Gold is a genderless, affordable, and locally sourced fine jewelry brand founded by AL Sandimirova, a nonbinary Indigenous entrepreneur.

Two Books

American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era by Nico Lang

The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports by Michael Waters

I would love to hear from you about the organizations, books, and gifts you’re gifting this year that speak to these issues or anything else that feels particularly urgent to you this holiday season. I’ll also leave this list from Oprah about gifts that give back, just in case.

Check out my Substack, Unstacked, for even more resources and gift reccomemendations in the comments.

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

Announcing the Winners of the 2023 Stackies

Cherie Marquez — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 18:15:00 +0000

The Stacks' annual book awards are voted on exclusively by members of The Stacks Pack, so if you want to weigh in on the best of the best, talk books all year long, and meet your new bookish besties, join us! Check out our picks for the best books of 2023 here below.

Best Debut

The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland
Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H
Maame by Jessica George
We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian
When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramsey

Best Nonfiction Book

The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland
The People's Hospital by Ricardo Nuila
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian
When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramsey
"You Just Need to Lose Weight" by Aubrey Gordon

Best Novel

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

Best Memoir

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H
A Living Remedy by Nicole Chung
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
You Could Make this Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
They Called Us Exceptional by Prachi Gupta

Best Science Fiction Fantasy

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei
Flux by Jinwoo Chong
The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane

Best Romance

Elysium by DL White
Power Forward by Nicole Falls
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Best Thriller

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns
Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

Best Short Story Collection

Call and Response by Gothataone Moeng
Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele
The People Who Report More Stress by Alejandro Varela
White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link
Witness by Jamel Brinkley

Best Essay Collection

Congratulations, the Best Is Over! by R. Eric Thomas
Creep by Myriam Gurba
Monsters by Claire Dederer
Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

Best Young Adult Book

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa
The Davenports by Krystal Marquis
The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
Promise Boys by Nick Brooks

The Best Graphic Book

Dreamer by Akim Aliu
Something Is Killing the Children Vol 6 by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell'edera, Miguel Muerto
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi & Joel Christian Gill
Superman: The Harvests of Youth by Sina Grace
The Talk by Darrin Bell

Best Poetry Collection

Above Ground by Clint Smith
The Ferguson Report by Nicole Sealey
The Kingdom of Surfaces by Sally Wen Mao
Promises of Gold by José Olivarez
So to Speak by Terrance Hayes

Best Book in Translation

Blaze Me A Sun by Christoffer Carlsson
Dandelion Daughter by Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
Liliana's Invincible Summer by Cristina Rivera Garza
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
The Postcard by Anne Berest

Best Cover

American Gun by Cameron McWhirter & Zusha Elinson
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H
Monsters by Claire Dederer
Promises of Gold by José Olivarez

Best Main Character

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson
The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

Book That Made Me Laugh

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Congratulations, the Best Is Over! by R. Eric Thomas
How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key
Is It Hot in Here? by Zach Zimmerman
Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

Books I Hate

Everything's Fine by Cecilia Rabess
Monsters by Claire Dederer
Night Watch by Jayne Allen Phillips
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus

Favorite Bookstore

Loudmouth Books, Indianapolis, IN
Loyalty Bookstores, Washington D.C.
Parnassus Books, Nashville, TN
Reparations Club, Los Angeles, CA
Semicolon Bookstore, Chicago, IL

Books I'd Recommend to the President

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
The People's Hospital by Ricardo Nuila
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
Punished for Dreaming by Bettina L. Love
We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian

Best Pick for The Stacks Book Club

Tar Baby by Toni Morrison

Best Episode of The Stacks

Ep. 292 Writing Toward Beauty with Jesmyn Ward
Jesmyn Ward on her novel Let Us Descend

The Best Things We Read in 2023

Cherie Marquez — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 08:15:00 +0000

Dear Listeners,

Of all the lists and awards that are reigned down on books at the end of the year, this list is my most favorite. I have reached out to past guests from The Stacks in 2023 and asked them to share with us their favorite book they read this year, and the one book in 2024 they're looking forward to. I love the list because, as you know, The Stacks' guests have the best taste in books, and the list is unlike what you get in every other publication. My guests have range.

I hope you enjoy reconnecting with the many voices from our 2023 season.

Chelsea Devantez
Host of Glamorous Trash with Chelsea Devantez

The best books I read this year were almost entirely recommended by Traci! The Other Side and We Were Once Family are massive highlights for me. But there is one memoir that I found via my podcast which I cannot stop thinking about and that is Joyce Maynard's 1998 memoir At Home In The World. Joyce is a voracious writer and I almost felt the book had me in an emotional chokehold as I read about her relationship with JD Salinger when he was 53 and she was just eighteen. I would describe the book as haunting, both as a piece of writing, and in the book's place in culture. In 1998 she was shunned and decried by Marureen Dowd as a 'leech woman' by daring to speak against Salinger, and even after such bravery it would be eighteen more years till we saw a movement like 'me too.'

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: RuPaul's memoir! This is maybe his 5th book, but my fingers are crossed that this time he will finally give us all the wonderful gnarly details of his life story without a filter.

Chelsea was our guest for Episode 248, and Episode 251, where she discussed The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

Lamya H
Author of Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir

The best book I read this year was Bushra Rehman's Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion. It's a beautiful book about a Pakistani girl coming of age in immigrant New York in the 80s, and weaves queerness, Islam and community into a lush, intimate story about friendship.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: Linda Villarosa's Under the Skin. I've read a lot of her brilliant essays about race and health in the US, blending statistics and personal stories, and am looking forward to reading more of her analysis.

Lamya was our guest for Episode 253, where they discussed their book Hijab Butch Blues.

José Olivarez
Author of Promises of Gold

The best book I read in 2023 was Teeth by Aracelis Girmay. Aracelis is one of my favorite poets, so I regularly return to her books. Teeth is her first book of poems, and maybe it's something about where I am or where the world is, but cracking Teeth open felt revelatory. I love these poems. Go read this poem for a sample.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: Say Hello To My Little Friend by Jennine Capo Crucet. I got to read an ARC of this book and it is even more wild, absurd, and incredible than a book set around a Pitbull impersonator turned Scarface protégé promises to be.

José was our guest for Episode 258, where he discussed his book Promises of Gold.

Ari Shapiro
Author of The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening

The best book I read this year was Blackouts, by Justin Torres (and that was before it won the National Book Award, thank you very much). It elegantly blurs the lines between fiction and history to excavate queer stories that have been forgotten or buried. The novel is a multimedia experience, and as soon as I finished the book I wanted to return to the beginning and read it again.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: Next year my colleague Sarah McCammon is coming out with her first book, The Exvangelicals. It combines memoir with reportage, tying her own story of leaving the Evangelical church with a larger social trend of others who have done the same.

Ari was our guest for Episode 262, where he discussed his book The Best Strangers in the World.

Nicole Chung
Author of A Living Remedy: A Memoir

I loved Bryan Washington's Family Meal for many reasons, but what made me cry was the book's exploration of how wrenching and also how bewildering grief can be. We feel Cam's loss, and we also witness how hard and confusing it is for those who care about him—who don't always know what to do or how to help, even though they want to—and this felt so resonant for me, especially after the last few years we've all experienced. I also appreciate how the novel made me consider what it means to have really important history with someone, and how that can shape what we think of as their "truth" without always being 100% true—we often tell ourselves the same stories about people in our lives, and then find out we have much more to learn.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: I recently received a galley of Crystal Hana Kim's The Stone Home, a Drop Everything And Read moment for me. She's a profoundly beautiful writer and I'm loving it so far.

Nicole was our guest for Episode 265, where she discussed her book A Living Remedy, and Episode 269, where she discussed This Boy We Made by Taylor Harris.

Roxana Asgarian
Author of We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America

The best thing I read in 2023 was Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. I read it during the worst part of a hellish Texas summer, and was swept up and swept into the human-feeling characters and the visceral depictions of the natural world. It’s the perfect read for when you need a good long epic to fall all the way into.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: The book I can’t wait for next year is Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange. I loved There, There and I heard this one is about Indian residential schools and intergenerational trauma — touching on some themes that have been part of my work reporting on the child welfare system.

Roxanna was our guest for Episode 268, where she discussed her book We Were Once a Family.

Tre'vell Anderson
Author of We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir shifted something in me when I first read it on assignment to interview author Akwaeke Emezi (for the cover of TIME, shameless plug) back in 2021. "Frank and flat-footed, like a soul singer who commands attention without backup dancers and light shows.... 'Dear Senthuran' is a brutally honest and vulnerable testimony of survival, of the rejuvenating variety that inspires and activates; if it had a soundtrack, the timeless Clara Ward gospel hymn 'How I Got Over' might be on loop" is how I described it then. It was a further clarifying revisit for me this year — in the midst of the publication of my own book(s) — helping me think differently, more clearly about serving audiences beyond the all-consuming white gaze and centering Blackness and queerness and transness along the way. I think all Black creatives -- writers, musicians, artists, balloon animal makers! -- especially those of us navigating less Black spaces, should read this book. Hell, any creative from historically excluded communities!

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: I'm looking forward to reading Raquel Willis' new memoir, The Risk It Takes To Bloom. More Black trans everything, please!

Tre'vell was our guest for Episode 271, where they discussed their book We See Each Other.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
Author of 50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrant's Love Letter to the United States Through Pie

The best thing that I read this year was I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. It is the most beautiful book about how the person that brought you into this world and is supposed to be the person that loves and cares for you most ultimately can be the person that does just the opposite. I read it cover to cover in less than two days, feeling all the feelings, relating to it a little too much but gaining such relief of being understood by a fellow human.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: Tender Heart by Hetty Lui McKinnon. It's a cookbook not only about vegetables but about the unbreakable family bonds forged through food and how by cooking those foods you can stay connected to loved ones who you might have lost.

Stacey was our guest for Episode 272, where she discussed her project 50 Pies, 50 States.

Ricardo Nuila
Author of The People’s Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine

The best book I read in 2023 was The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths by Brad Fox. This book is such a feat. Fox chronicles the descent of a self-taught scientist and explorer into the oceanic abyss, where he discovers never-before-seen species as well as truths about our senses ("the yellow of the sun can never hereafter be as wonderful as blue can be"), all within a four-and-a-half foot steel sphere, the Bathysphere, a marvel of engineering in 1930. With beautiful prose and a restrained voice - like a whisper heard within the Bathysphere - he complicates the whole white male explorer narrative while immersing us in a Jules Verne-slash-The Origin of Species exploration. Plus the book is gorgeously illustrated with paintings of the species he discovers on his voyage. I'm still thinking about this book.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: I've read a ton of nonfiction in 2023, so I'm looking forward to reading fiction in 2024, specifically from some of the masters. I can't wait to read Zadie Smith's The Fraud, Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger and Stella Maris, and I re-read Train Dreams by Denis Johnson every two or three years, so that's due.

Ricardo was our guest for Episode 275, where he discussed his book The People’s Hospital.

Donovan X. Ramsey
Author of When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era

I finally got around to Ring Shout, a novella by P. Djèlí Clark this year. The story is a dark, historical, Southern Gothic fantasy set in 1920s Macon, Georgia, about a band of Black women warriors on a quest to hunt "Ku Kluxes," and destroy demons summoned by the Ku Klux Klan. It's a mix of so many things I love—history; fantasy; Black culture, spirituality, and dialect. Plus, it's short. The perfect read for a long plane ride or an afternoon to yourself.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: James from Percival Everett. It's a reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of "Nigger Jim," a runaway enslaved man and Huck's travel companion. Like many American children, I was forced to read Huckleberry Finn in school. I wanted Jim's perspective then and I'm happy we're hearing from him now by way of Everett, one of our most thoughtful and original novelists.

Donovan was our guest for Episode 276, where he discussed his book When Crack Was King.

Nora Neus
Author of 24 Hours in Charlottesville: An Oral History of the Stand Against White Supremacy

The best book I read in 2023 was When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan, who is a phenomenal historian and storyteller of early queer life in America. The book is fascinating, with so many nuggets of little-known history, but also just a page-turner with beautiful sentences. Hard to get all of that in one book!

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: ...on a totally different wavelength, is one of my favorite novelist's new book, Meet The Benedettos by Katie Cotugno. It just came out and is an Italian-American family retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and looks like a romp!

Nora was our guest for Episode 279, where she discussed her book 24 Hours in Charlottesville.

Andrew Leland
Author of The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight

I read Nathan Thrall’s A Day in the Life of Abed Salama in a concentrated burst in early November, in between hours of news reports from Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza. Thrall’s book focuses on a tragic incident in the West Bank in 2012, where a bus carrying Palestinian schoolchildren flipped onto its side and burned for more than half an hour before authorities arrived to extinguish the blaze. Through his meticulous, relentless reporting, Thrall illuminates not just the details of the crash, but the complex web of historical, political, and social relations that comprised the lives of those it affected, and that created the conditions that caused the rescue’s horrible delay (ambulances detained at checkpoints by the IDF; geographical confusion engendered by the ambiguities of Israeli-controlled roads cutting through Palestinian territory to Jewish settlements). Thrall’s sweeping narrative turns what one might gloss as another depressing headline about a terrible but distant accident into an intimate, infuriating epic.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: One of the first books I plan to read in 2024 is Lauren Markham’s A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging, which blends journalism (Markham is an ace reporter, dogged and precise—her beat is immigration, though she’s written beautifully on disability, too) with the more eccentric terrains of philosophy, literature, and memoir. Markham’s new book is—like Thrall’s—about a tragic fire (in this case, the burning of the Moria refugee camp in Greece) that through her burrowing, expansive engagement, promises to elucidate a much larger socio-political situation. Markham strikes me as the ideal guide for such a journey.

Andrew was our guest for Episode 280, where he discussed his book The Country of the Blind.

Jennifer Baker
Author of Forgive Me Not

It's hard to narrow down but one of the best books I read this year, and one I cannot stop talking about, is BIG by Vashti Harrison. This picture book encapsulates so much emotion! The text is sparse while the illustration portrays such a wondrous and deep story, and the use of colors! Watch Vashti discuss a bit of how she came to make her artistic decisions on such a rich book about body consciousness, self-love, and growing up in a Black girl's body. It's a book I think everyone of every age group should read, learn from, and will feel so immersed in.

Book I'm looking forward to reading in 2024: House Gone Quiet by Kelsey Norris and skin & bones by Renée Watson because the first pages of both these books has me hyped!

Jennifer was our guest for Episode 281, where she discussed her book Forgive Me Not.

Myriam Gurba
Author of Creep: Accusations and Confessions

The best thing that I read this year was an advanced review copy of Sarah Manguso's forthcoming novel Liars. It's a work of very subtle horror about one of our creepiest institutions: marriage. I hope that it is widely enjoyed.

Myriam was our guest for Episode 285, where she discussed her book Creep.

Michael Harriot
Author of Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America

Chain-Gang All-Stars was the best thing I read this year. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah manages to make what is essentially the Mass Incarceration Ultimate Fighting Championship so simultaneously hilarious and thrilling. It is a thoughtful exploration of America’s criminal justice system, and a satire of our insatiable bloodlust.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2024: On March 19th, you can find me outside of my local bookstore waiting like I’m trying to get Beyoncé tickets. As a childhood fan of Mark Twain’s social satire, I am thirsting to see how Percival Everett’s James reimagines the story of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved character “N*gger Jim.”

Michael was our guest for Episode 288, where he discussed his book Black AF History.

Jesmyn Ward
Author of Let Us Descend

The best thing I read this year was Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation, by Kris Manjapra. This book details how the process of emancipation varied throughout the world, how it was never as clean or neat as we think, and how it often was a contentious, adversarial process that failed to recognize true freedom for the enslaved. It was riveting and so finely argued, and it changed how I see the world and how I understand our present moment. I highly recommend it.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2024: I’m looking forward to reading Come and Get It, by Kiley Reid, and The Book of Love, by Kelly Link, because I adore both writers’ work.

Jesmyn was our guest for Episode 292, where she discussed her book Let Us Descend.

Farah Karim-Cooper
Author of The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking about Race

My favorite book in 2023 was The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells by Sarah Churchwell. I did not know what to expect when I bought the book at the Bath literary festival, but I went to hear the author speak and was spellbound by her talk and her book. Churchwell bravely traces the role that Gone with the Wind played in creating the myth of white victimhood in America and how that still powerfully shapes current politics. It also convincingly traces a through-line from the Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow to the storming of the Capitol building on January 6th, 2021. Engagingly written and powerfully mindblowing!

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2024: I am looking forward to reading Undying Book 1: The Kinship of Djinns by sisters Ambreen Hameed and Uzma Hameed. I know Uzma really well and am so excited to read a novel that speaks to my own heritage.

Farah was our guest for Episode 296, where she discussed her book The Great White Bard.

Nathan Thrall
Author of A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy

The best book I read this year was Stoner by John Williams. A beautifully written story of an entire life and academic career and tragically unhappy marriage, it is also the most convincing depiction I have come across of what it might actually feel like to die.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2024: The book I most look forward to reading next year is one I have just started: Helen Garner’s This House of Grief, the true story of a father accused of murdering his three children by driving his car into a dam. I am only a third of the way through this brilliant and gripping courtroom drama, re-released in a handsome new hardcover edition by Pantheon last fall, and I can say already that the powerfully restrained writing, the keenness of observation, and the intelligence of the narrator call to mind some of the all-time greatest works of narrative nonfiction, including the three modern classics to which it could be most obviously compared: Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Janet Malcolm’s The Journalist and the Murderer, and Emmanuel Carrère’s The Adversary.

Nathan was our guest for Episode 297, where he discussed his book A Day in the Life of Abed Salama.

Traci Thomas
Host and creator of The Stacks

The best thing I read this year was We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian. I was so impressed by the storytelling, the research, and the sheer force of this book. The story of the Hart Family Murders isn’t an easy one to tell, but Asgarian did it with such a devotion to the humanity of the children and their families. The book evoked so many emotions in me, mostly rage at the system and a sense of sorrow for what could and should have been. Asgarian did right by those children when so many people did not.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2024: There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraquib

The 2023 Stacks Battle of the Books

Cherie Marquez — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 08:07:00 +0000

It’s year six of The Stacks Battle of the Books. I can always tell what kind of year we had for book club when I see the matchups, and judging from these rankings and head-to-heads, 2023 might be our best book club year yet!

We did it in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and it is my favorite tradition.

To refresh your memory, The Battle of The Books is a March Madness style bracket where you vote to pick the book club book of the year. You also get a chance to win one of TSBC books by predicting the most accurate bracket over on https://challonge.com/thestacks2023 or click here. You create your account put your predictions in for who you think will win. Then on The Stacks Instagram Stories, you’ll vote (starting 12/22) for your favorite books in head to head battles, until we crown one winner, The Stacks Book Club Book of the Year. The results of each round will be updated over on Challonge (our bracket site) and on our Instagram @thestackspod.

You have until Friday, December 22st at 6:00am PST to put in your predictions. The winner will be whoever has the most accurate bracket, and they will win one of our TSBC books from 2023 (winner’s choice). Be sure your bracket name is your IG handle, email, or name, so you are easy to find upon completion of the tournament. We will announce the winner of the tournament and the winner of the giveaway on Friday, December 30th once all the results are in.

Here is the important stuff.

Make sure you’re following The Stacks on Instagram @thestackspod.
Register for the bracket if you want to be part of the giveaway CLICK HERE. Be sure to pick a winner at the bottom of the page.
Vote in each round on our Insta Stories, starting Friday December 22st . All voting on Instagram!
Spread the word!

If you want all the nerdy details of how the seeding was figure out, you’ve come to the right place. Mostly I created a bunch of my own calculations to rank the books based on many factors. The rankings are full of biases and assumptions, and honestly, thats what makes this fun. Here is how I ranked these books, and below find a more detailed description of what that means.

Podcast Downloads– Raw number of downloads that an episode received according to my data (I know older episodes will be at a disadvantage as the podcast grew over time, but also newer episodes suffer because they haven’t been up as long, I’m hoping it all evens out). It is worth noting that I excluded Romeo and Juliet from this calculation since that episode is not out yet.
iTunes Episode Popularity– iTunes lets me see how popular each episode is. It is slight different than raw downloads, because they take into account listeners at the time of recording, but they also only include people listening through iTunes. Again, Romeo and Juliet was excluded from this category, see above.
Goodreads Scores– I looked up each book on Goodreads and took that score.
Goodreads Ratings– I took the raw number of Goodreads ratings for each book.
Test of Time– The older a book is, the more credit it got, because it has withstood the test of time.
Social Media Input– I’ve asked The Stacks Instagram followers to tell me their favorite book we read this year, and those responses are incorporated.
Traci’s Personal Ranking– Thats right, I’m influencing this competition a little. Its my podcast, so why not?

I know that sounds like a lot, but just trust me, it makes sense. Here are the rankings based on these calculations, and their total overall raw scores, remember lower is better. Where there was a tie, I broke the tie based on my preferences.

The Meaning of Mariah Carey – 4.42
The Round House – 5
Romeo and Juliet – 5.2
Tar Baby – 5.42
Watchmen – 5.57
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty – 5.85
Monsters – 6
Bad Feminist – 6
Severance – 6.57
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude – 7
Oreo – 8.71
This Boy We Made – 9.28

Voting begins Friday December 22nd, shortly after 7:00am PST for the first round, and will follow the schedule below. Remember you vote on The Stacks Instagram stories. You just click your favorite book in each round’s head to head matchup. Once the results are in, I’ll share the winners with you and we get ready for the next round. The schedule is below.

Round 1 – December 22st – Play in Games

Round 2 – December 24rd – Elite 8

Round 3 – December 26th – Final 4

Round 4 – December 28th – Championship

That feels like a lot, trust me, it’ll be fun and worth it.

Here is the important stuff.

Make sure you’re following The Stacks on Instagram @thestackspod.
Register for the bracket (with a recognizable name) if you want to be part of the giveaway CLICK HERE
Vote in each round on our Insta Stories, starting Friday December 22.
Spread the word!

For those of you curious who won in previous years, 2018 was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, 2019 was Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, 2020 was The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, 2021 was Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, and 2022 was Passing by Nella Larsen. Who will win in 2023?

Announcing the 2023 Finalists for The Stackies

Cherie Marquez — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 08:00:00 +0000

The only literary award that matters is The Stackies. A literary award for listeners of The Stacks, voted on by members of The Stacks Pack to celebrate the best (and worst) books of the year. After our inaugural award season in 2022, we’ve made a few changes. This year, we’re announcing our finalists in November and giving you until January to read from our list before voting in 2024. Remember only members of The Stacks Pack can vote on The Stackies, head over to Patreon to join.

Best Debut

The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H

Maame by Jessica George

We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian

When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramsey

Best Nonfiction Book

The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland

The People’s Hospital by Ricardo Nuila

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian

When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramsey

You Just Need to Lose Weight by Aubrey Gordon

Best Novel

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff

Best Memoir

How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H

A Living Remedy by Nicole Chung

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

They Called Us Exceptional by Prachi Gupta

Best Science Fiction Fantasy

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei

Flux by Jinwoo Chong

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself by Marisa Crane

Best Romance

Elysium by DL White

Power Forward by Nicole Falls

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Best Thriller

All the Sinners Bleed by S. A. Cosby

Bad Cree by Jessica Johns

Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

Lone Women by Victor Lavalle

Best Short Story Collection

Call and Response by Gothataone Moeng

Out There Screaming edited by Jordan Peele

The People Who Report More Stress by Alejandro Varela

White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link

Witness by Jamel Brinkley

Best Essay Collection

Congratulation, the Best Is Over! by R. Eric Thomas

Creep by Myriam Gurba

Monsters by Claire Dederer

Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe

Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

Best Young Adult Book

Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa

The Davenports by Krystal Marquis

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Adiba Jaigirdar

Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert

Promise Boys by Nick Brooks

The Best Graphic Book

Dreamer by Akim Aliu

Something Is Killing the Children Vol 6 by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’edera, Miguel Muerto

Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi & Joel Christian Gill

Superman: The Harvests of Youth by Sina Grace

The Talk by Darrin Bell

Best Poetry Collection

Above Ground by Clint Smith

The Ferguson Report by Nicole Sealey

The Kingdom of Surfaces by Sally Wen Mao

Promises of Gold by José Olivarez

So to Speak by Terrance Hayes

Best Book in Translation

Blaze Me A Sun by Christoffer Carlsson

Dandelion Daughter by Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

Liliana’s Invincible Summer by Cristina Rivera Garza

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

The Postcard by Anne Berest

Best Cover

American Gun by Cameron McWhirter & Zusha Elinson

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H

Monsters by Claire Dederer

Promises of Gold by José Olivarez

Best Main Character

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson

The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley

Book That Made Me Laugh

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

Congratulations, the Best Is Over! by R. Eric Thomas

How to Stay Married by Harrison Scott Key

Is It Hot in Here? by Zach Zimmerman

Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby

Book I Hate

Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess

Monsters by Claire Dederer

Night Watch by Jayne Allen Phillips

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus

Favorite Bookstore

Loudmouth Books, Indianapolis, IN

Loyalty Bookstores, Washington D.C.

Parnassus Books, Nashville, TN

Reparations Club, Los Angeles, CA

Semicolon Bookstore, Chicago, IL

Book I’d Recommend to the President

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

The People’s Hospital by Ricardo Nuila

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond

Punished for Dreaming by Bettina L. Love

We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/thestacks). We are beyond grateful for anything you’re able to give to support the production of The Stacks.

The Stacks 2023 Gift Guide

Cherie Marquez — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 08:00:00 +0000

It’s that time of year again to shop for presents for all the people in your life, and I’m here to help with my 2023 gift guide. I broke it down this year for the kind of people on your shopping list, from homebodies to fashionistas, from food lovers to explorers. I often find lists broken down like “for your husband” or whatever to be reductive by gender stereotypes. I only included a handful of book recommendations here, but if you’re looking for the books I suggest you gift this year you can find that list on bookshop.org and amazon. I hope this takes a little pressure off you this holiday season. Oh, and don’t forget to buy a little something for yourself. Be sure to scroll to the bottom to find The Stacks codes for discounts on many of these great items.

The Book Lover

You know it wouldn’t be a gift guide from The Stacks without a nod to all the book lovers out there. I know it is really hard to shop for book lover because they often have the latest books, so instead of telling you to buy Britney’s memoir (which you should absolutely do) I’ve got a slew of book-adjacent gifts for the readers in your life.

The Foodie

These gifts are perfect for anyone who loves cooking, hosting, or eating. I myself am a snack queen, but also love to take time in the kitchen to cook up a meal for the people I love most. From cookbooks with the best photos and recipes to kitchen gadgets that will make their lives better, this list is for your favorite kitchenista!

The Homebody

If you’re shopping for the stay-at-home type it can get tricky because how many throw blankets does any one person need (the answer is there is no limit), so I’m helping with some sweet gifts for around the house from beautiful puzzles to self-watering planters.

The Explorer

These gifts are for the person who has their next tripped planned and is always on the go. From cosmetic bag accessories to travel-friendly kicks, we’ve got the adventurers in your life covered!

The Workaholic

We all know that person who has no work/life balance, and maybe they like it that way. Those people deserve nice things too, so here is a bunch of goodies for the overachievers in your life.

For the Kids (and the Kids at Heart)

If you’ve got young people on your holiday list, I’ve got you covered. This list ranges from babies to teens, and even includes some activities for a whole family. A lot of the items on this list also work for the adults in your life who don’t ever want to grow up. I don’t blame them.

The Stacks Deals

Big Night – use code TRACISFAVES to get 10% your order at shopbignight.com

Bookshop.org – use code HOLIDAY23 to get 15% off select titles.

Libro.Fm – use promo code THESTACKS to get 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 and to support your favorite independent bookstore.

Nuuly – go to nuuly.com and use code THESTACKS20 for $20 off your first month.

Uncommon Goods – get 15% off your next gift at uncommongoods.com/thestacks.

The Best Things We Read in 2022

Cherie Marquez — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

Dear Listeners,

Of all the lists and awards that are reigned down on books at the end of the year, this list is my most favorite. I have reached out to past guests from The Stacks in 2022 and asked them to share with us their favorite book they read this year, and the one book in 2023 they’re looking forward to. I love the list because, as you know, The Stacks’ guests have the best taste in books, and the list is unlike what you get in every other publication. My guests have range.

I hope you enjoy reconnecting with the many voices from our 2022 season.

Cree Myles
Curator behind Penguin Random House’s All Ways Black

The best book I read in 2022 was Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin. As a lover of Jordan Peele I wanted to make sure I spent some time with the OG and Levin didn’t disappoint. A masterclass in social commentary, Levin uses the genre of horror to explore how little control women had over their bodies in the 1960s.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

Cree was our guest for Episode 197, where she discussed her project All Ways Black, and for Episode 200, where she discussed our book club pick Passing by Nella Larsen.

Tessa Miller
Author of What Doesn’t Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness – Lessons from a Body in Revolt

As a composition professor, the best thing I read in 2022 was Other People’s English by Vershawn Ashanti Young. It’s a strong rebuke of code-switching ideology and an endorsement of code-meshing, which encourages speakers and writers to draw on their entire linguistic repertoires (even, and especially, in academic settings where language standards are steeped in racism).

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong.

Tessa was our guest for Episode 201, where she discussed her book What Doesn’t Kill You and Episode 203, where she discussed our book club pick I Live a Life Like Yours by Jan Grue.

Katrina Stokes
Director of the Warren County – Vicksburg Public Library

I had the pleasure of reading the Graphic Adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower this year. This book holds special distinction for me because the artist of this fantastic adaptation is John Jennings, who grew up not far from where I live in Mississippi. This novel is a Hugo Award Winner for Best Graphic Story. Octavia Butler’s novel is one of the most realistic and believable works of dystopian fiction I’ve ever read. It’s compelling and detailed, with exceptional character and plot development. It pulls you so far into the story that you can’t stop turning the pages until you’ve reached the end. I highly recommend it!

Katrina was our guest for Day 1 of Banned Books Week, where she talked about curating a collection and the process of banning a book in public libraries.

Stephanie Foo
Author of What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

I read a lot of great books this year, but perhaps the most worldview-altering was Disability Visibility, edited by Alice Wong, which provided such a nuanced and diverse understanding of what it means to be disabled today. It was by turns enraging, optimistic and empowering, and even convinced me to self-identify as disabled, a terminology I had previously rejected because of its stigma.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: I have bell hooks’ All About Love on my shelf and I haven’t started it yet, but am very excited to finally get to a timeless classic.

Stephanie was our guest on Episode 205, where she discussed her book What My Bones Know.

Danny Pellegrino
Author of How Do I Un-Remember This?: Unfortunately True Stories

My favorite read of 2022 was Delia Ephron’s Left on Tenth. It’s such a beautiful story about finding love and strength later in life.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: I have a pile of frothy, unread rom-coms on my nightstand waiting to be read on holiday, and I’m especially excited to sip some bed-wine and tackle The Rewind during the first few days of the new year before work starts up again.

Danny was our guest on Episode 210, where he discussed his memoir How Do I Un-Remember This?

Danyel Smith
Author of Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop

Best book I read in 2022 is a re-read. 1992’s The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes from the late Janet Malcolm. I’m writing a lot right now, and Malcolm, who was deeply cognizant of biography as a “flawed genre,” inspires me with her ability to investigate, to tell a person’s story, tell her story, and tell the big story— all at once.
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Well, I’m hearing Bernice McFadden is releasing a memoir next autumn called First Born Girls. As a first born girl myself, I will be first in line.

Danyel was our guest on Episode 215, where she discussed her book Shine Bright.

Kate Schatz
Author of Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book

The best book of non-fiction I read in 2022 was How To Read Now by Elaine Castillo. A trenchant and sly and super-readable, super-smart collection of essays that lays bare how much white supremacy fucks up all aspects of literature, from the reader’s experience with language and story and the page to the limits of the captalist publishing imagination. I will read anything that Castillo writes, and this book is no exception. The best book of fiction was Mecca by Susan Straight. I absolutely love everything about this sprawling, ambitious novel set in California’s Inland Empire, and I can’t think of another white author I would trust to explore the experiences and identities of a multiethnic cast of characters than Straight. She writes with respect, compassion, clarity, and depth, especially when she goes in on the twin traumas of police violence and COVID on Black, Latinx, and undocumented folks. The best book of poetry was Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong because, seriously, everything that Ocean writes and says is just beyond brilliant and gorgeous. I can go into these poems again and again and always find something new. And I’m really not an avid reader of cookbooks or food writing but special shoutout to Simply Julia by Julia Turshen. Sure, the recipes are really fantastic, but what got me is how quietly radical the book is: sandwiched between a chicken cutlet recipe and one for a baked spinach and artichoke dip is a short essay titled “On the Worthiness Of Our Bodies.” It’s a deeply personal and powerful rejection of diet culture, internalized fatphobia and how the culture of “healthy eating” culture too often functions as a front for disordered eating. I can’t think of any other cookbook that includes lines like “There is nothing wrong with being fat. The only thing wrong is thinking that any person, living in any type of body, is less valuable than someone else.”

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille Dungy. I’ve had the honor of reading this in ARC form and cannot wait for the final, glorious book. To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness by Robin Coste Lewis. I bought this “film for the hands,” as Lewis describes it, for my wife for Christmas, but really I got it so we can read it together.

Kate was our guest on Episode 227, where she discussed her book Do the Work!

Anthony Christian Ocampo
Author of Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons

The best book I read in 2022 was Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe [by Benjamin Alire Sáenz], a YA novel about two Mexican-American teenagers coming into their queerness in the late 1980s. I love this book because I get to vicariously experience the queer adolescence I should’ve been able to have, but never did.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Chasing Pacquiao by Rod Pulido.

Anthony was our guest on Episode 235, where he discussed his book Brown and Gay in LA, and on Episode 238, where he discussed our book club pick Fairest by Meredith Talusan.

Brandon Kyle Goodman
Author of You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are

So many great books I read this year, but my favorite was Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson PsyD. As jarring as that title can be, it actually helped me develop even more empathy for the adults that raised me, seeing more of their humanity in the decisions they made. The book does a great job of helping readers hold accountability and create steps to move forward without blame or shame. I highly recommend it for anyone who is on the journey of healing their childhood wounds, especially anyone who has or is interested in having kids of their own one day.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: I’m truly most looking forward to reading South to America by Imani Perry.

Brandon was our guest on Episode 236, where he discussed his book You Gotta Be You.

Jemele Hill
Author of Uphill: A Memoir

The best book I read in 2022 is Leila Mottley’s Nightcrawling. I am floored and inspired by her tremendous talent. She wrote a raw, honest, emotional fiction novel that is a heartfelt coming of age story that’s based in Oakland. She’s a rare talent and it’s impossible not to be shifted by this book in some way.

Jemele was our guest on Episode 240, where she discussed her book Uphill.

Jonathan Abrams
Author of The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop

My favorite book in 2022 is His Name Is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa. I love books that explain the whys of situations. It is a gripping look at the macro issues of the racial and systematic mechanisms that shaped George Floyd’s life and death. (Dan Charnas’ memoir on J Dilla and Howard Bryant’s book on Rickey Henderson were close runner-ups among my favs of the the year.)
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Questlove’s Music is History. It’s been on my list for a little while.

Jonathan was our guest on Episode 241, where he discussed his book The Come Up.

Steven Thrasher
Author of The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide

The book I thought with the most this year was Victor Ray’s On Critical Race Theory: Why It Matters & Why You Should Care. The point of theory is to help us think about things, and Dr. Ray gives us a bountiful gift by sharing his own story and breaking down philosophy in a way that helps us to think about the most pressing issues of race and class in our time. This slim volume is also a masterclass in craft, as every sentence is composed in a way that is elegant, compact, illuminating and inviting.
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: The New American Homeless by Brian Goldstone. Dr. Goldstone writes about housing and houselessness with such compassion, rigor and pathos, presenting the moral case for housing as a human right with the urgency it deserves. His writings on Twitter and in The New Republic have deeply informed my own politics and ethics, and his book is going to be a game-changer in American society confronting the scourge of homelessness.

Steven was our guest on Episode 242, where he discussed his book The Viral Underclass.

Toluse Olurunnipa
Co-Author of His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

The best book I read in 2022 was Where the Children Take Us by Zain Asher. What a loving and elegantly written tribute to a mother’s determination to put her children on her back and carry them through the most devastating of storms. It’s a story of tragic loss, triumphant love, extraordinary perseverance and odds-shattering achievement delivered in beautiful prose. The tough-love parenting strategies, the immigrant come-up, the Nigerian “no carry last” mandate for excellence – it all hit home for me in such a searing, affirming way.
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: A Coastline is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents by Mary-Alice Daniel

Toluse was our guest on Episode 245, where he discussed his book His Name is George Floyd.

Andrew Limbong
Host of NPR’s Book of the Day podcast

Easily the best book I read in 2022 was Kate Beaton’s Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands. It’s a graphic novel memoir about Beaton’s time digging for oil in northern Canada. It’s a tough and crappy job in a tough and awful environment. She doesn’t sugarcoat it, but she doesn’t condescend to the (mostly) men who have little choice but to work there. It’s an empathetic, complicated, and beautifully drawn look at labor, class, and the choices we make.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America by Abraham Riesman. I’m not even one of those wrestling nerds, but even I can appreciate how uniquely of-the-moment professional wrestling is right now – with its reliance on blending “truth” and “performance.” And what better way to understand all that than an exploration of the guy behind it all.

Andrew was our guest on Episode 246, where he discussed his favorite books of 2022

Traci Thomas
Host and creator of The Stacks

The best thing I read this year was South to America by Imani Perry. Perry does an extraordinary job of making the argument for The American South as the center of The United States .The book is captivating and wide ranging and full of complexities. It is a challenge to read and that is precisely what makes it feel like such an enjoyable read. The writing is unreal. The storytelling is dynamic. This book is easily one of the best things I’ve read in the last five years.
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus, because ya’ll know I love any excuse to talk about glizzies.

The 2022 Stacks Book Club Battle of the Books

Cherie Marquez — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

We’re back for the fifth year of The Stacks Battle of the Books. I can confidently say this year, might be our best ever. That matchups are wild!

We did it in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, and honestly, its the best tradition and I hope you’re all as thrilled for round four as I am.

To refresh your memory, The Battle of The Books is a March Madness style bracket where you vote to pick the book club book of the year. You also get a chance to win one of TSBC books by predicting the most accurate bracket over on https://challonge.com/thestacks2022 or click here. You create your account put your predictions in for who you think will win. Then on The Stacks Instagram Stories, you’ll vote (starting 12/23) for your favorite books in head to head battles, until we crown one winner, The Stacks Book Club Book of the Year. The results of each round will be updated over on Challonge (our bracket site) and on our Instagram @thestackspod.

You have until Wednesday, December 21st at 8:00am PST to put in your predictions. The winner will be whoever has the most accurate bracket, and they will win one of our TSBC books from 2022 (winner’s choice). Be sure your bracket name is your IG handle, email, or name, so you are easy to find upon completion of the tournament. We will announce the winner of the tournament and the winner of the giveaway on Friday, December 30th once all the results are in.

Here is the important stuff.

Make sure you’re following The Stacks on Instagram @thestackspod.
Register for the bracket if you want to be part of the giveaway CLICK HERE. Be sure to pick a winner at the bottom of the page.
Vote in each round on our Insta Stories, starting Wednesday December 21st . All voting on Instagram!
Spread the word!

Podcast Downloads– Raw number of downloads that an episode received according to my data (I know older episodes will be at a disadvantage as the podcast grew over time, but also newer episodes suffer because they haven’t been up as long, I’m hoping it all evens out). It is worth noting that I excluded True Biz from this calculation since that episode is not out yet.
iTunes Episode Popularity– iTunes lets me see how popular each episode is. Its slight different than raw downloads, because they take into account listeners at the time of recording, but they also only include people listening through iTunes. Again, True Biz was excluded from this category, see above.
Goodreads Scores– I looked up each book on Goodreads and took that score.
Goodreads Ratings– I took the raw number of Goodreads ratings for each book.
Test of Time– The older a book is, the more credit it got, because it has withstood the test of time.
Social Media Input– I’ve asked The Stacks Instagram followers to tell me their favorite book we read this year, and those responses are incorporated.
Traci’s Personal Ranking– Thats right, I’m influencing this competition a little. Its my podcast, so why not?

Passing – 3.71
The Trees – 4.28
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel – 4.28
White Negroes – 4.57
A Mercy – 5.28
Prison by Any Other Name – 6
Shine Bright – 7
True Biz – 7.6
Season of Migration to the North – 7.85
I Live a Life Like Yours – 8.42
Fairest – 8.57
Doppelgangbanger – 10

Voting begins Wednesday December 21st, shortly after 8:00am PST for the first round, and will follow the schedule below. Remember you vote on The Stacks Instagram stories. You just click your favorite book in each round’s head to head matchup. Once the results are in, I’ll share the winners with you and we get ready for the next round. The schedule is below.

Round 1 – December 21st – Play in Games

Round 2 – December 23rd – Elite 8

Round 3 – December 26th – Final 4

Round 4 – December 29th – Championship

That feels like a lot, trust me, it’ll be fun and worth it.
Here is the important stuff.

Make sure you’re following The Stacks on Instagram @thestackspod.
Register for the bracket (with a recognizable name) if you want to be part of the giveaway CLICK HERE
Vote in each round on our Insta Stories, starting Wednesday December 21.
Spread the word!

For those of you curious who won in previous years, 2018 was The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, 2019 was Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson, 2020 was The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, and 2021 was Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Who will ascend the throne in 2022?

The Stacks x The Catherine Coleman Foundation Fundraiser

Cherie Marquez — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

It’s Giving Tuesday, so what better day to kick off our annual fundraiser? This year, we’re supporting The Catherine Coleman Foundation, founded by MacArthur Genius Award winner and dear friend of the podcast Kiese Laymon in honor of his grandmother.

The Catherine Coleman Literary Arts, Food and Justice Initiative now permanently resides at the Jackson State University Margaret Walker Center after its start at The University of Mississippi in 2020. It gives emerging Mississippi writers new avenues for creativity along with a renewed connection with their community’s historical social justice movements. The initiative will offer programming and writing seminars led by JSU students, faculty and special guests aimed at honing the skills of its young people as readers, writers and editors.

Kiese explained the program’s mission in announcing its move to JSU: “My grandmama sent all her daughters to Jackson State. This initiative will continue to help young folks in Jackson become the next Danielle Buckingham or Leslie McLemore Jr., two of the greatest young artists in Mississippi… Our hope is to ritualize workshops and incredible food for young folks in our community who might not get a lot of time to write and read ‘creatively.’ We also want young people to consider the creativity that gets food from the land to the table in Mississippi.”

Kiese himself plans to match up to $50,000 in donations to the program for the next month.

Our Stacks community goal is to raise $25,000.

If you’re able, please join The Stacks in raising money toward expanding and supporting the literary arts for Mississippi youths. Consider forgoing one new book this month in favor of making a $25 donation to this incredible organization.

DONATE NOW

New Merch & Black Friday Sale

Cherie Marquez — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

We’ve got new merch here in The Stacks, and to get you started on your holiday shopping you can get 20% off everything in the shop with code READER20. The sale starts at 12.00am PST Friday, November 25th and runs until 11.59pm PST Monday, November 28th.

If you’re looking for other gift ideas for the book lovers in your life, be sure to check out this year’s gift guide, and here is last year’s too, just in case you need more ideas.

That’s it. That’s the message.

CLICK TO SHOP

The Stacks 2022 Gift Guide for the Book Lovers in Your Life

Cherie Marquez — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 08:00:00 +0000

So I’m sharing another gift guide for you this year. Last year we focused all on non-book gifts for the book lovers in your life, and we’ll mostly stay focused there, however this year we’re talking about the different types of readers you may know. I am including a few actual books *gasp* and some things that I have loved this year that maybe aren’t so much in the book world, but are just great gifts. If you want all of the book recs be sure to check our my shop over on bookshop.org, it has books I love, books my kids love, and even books I’m looking forward to reading.

If you’re reading on the go, you need a Kindle, duh.
Any traveler knows they need a good suitcase and as an Away loyalist since 2016, I couldn’t recommend anything better . Well actually, you might need this duffle that fits on the roller bag, while you’re at it.
You can’t read on the go without a book mark, and this wooden Toni Morrison one is perfection.
For all my audiobook people, you know a good set of headphones is key to not missing a moment of the story. These noise canceling ones are what I use for travel and editing the podcast.
This collapsible water bottle is so practical.
A stylish luggage tag is a must for anyone, especially those of you with a black suitcase.
Between Two Kingdoms is the ultimate adventure story but with heart. It would make for a perfect gift for someone who is looking for an unputdowable story of living life to the fullest while they’re out on the road or stuck at home.
You obviously need a bookish tote from your favorite bookish podcast.
If the reader in your life likes to squeeze in pages anywhere and everywhere they might just need this Tushy bidet. You can use code STACKS10 for 10% off.

Sloane Tea is my new tea obsession. My favorite flavor is Heavenly Cream, but they also offer a gorgeous variety set of teas.
This coffee mug will be on every single gift guide I ever do. It keeps your drink warm while you read (or work, of whatever). What else could you possibly need?
I’ve been a loyal Harney & Sons tea drinker since college, and they offer a tea of the month subscription which is a gift I wish someone would give me. They’re also home to one of my favorite rose black teas.
I love this robe. It’s not too heavy but ultra soft. I love it so much I also have the pajama shorts and pants, because I love it. Did I mention that I love this robe?
My favorite hotel chain, The Edition, has the best signature scent ever and now you can get it for your home with this candle.
I’m a cozy in the bathtub kind of gal, and whenever I share my bathroom I get a million questions about this shower curtain.
Cold brew coffee maker that doubles as an ice tea maker, yes please. Perfect for a house divided.
What even is cozy without a blanket? These faux shearling ones are the snuggliest ever.
If you’re spending lots of time curled up at home with a book, you need some gorgeous decor. I mean honestly, have you ever seen a cuter vase?

You might not know them well, but you know they’re into books? Get them the gift of audiobooks from Libro.FM. You can get bundles of credits, and they can pick the titles that suit them.
I’m a big fan of gifting something that disappears, like a treat, and this jam is the perfect tasty and decadent delicious gift.
This cookbook is dedicated to all things snack board. It is a perfect host gift.
You truly can not go wrong with this candle. The smell is divine. It is neuteral with a little aesthetic flair which means it matches any home or office decor. No brainer.
A classy gift for a reader you might not know too well is always bookends, these ceramic ones have style but also go with everything.
“Postcards from Penguin” are so good looking and if you love books you’ll love sending them to your loved ones.
I have yet to suggest this book to a person and them not love it, Tiny Beautiful Things is the perfect gift for a work secret Santa or an in-law and everyone in between.
This snack subscription box gives you your favorite brands international treats and beverages. Like fruit and nut Snickers bars or caramel flavor Corn Pops.
The perfect gift, a personalized stamp, for a generous book lover who can’t keep track of all the books they loan out.

I love these Rayo & Honey pendants. There are so many phrases to chose from and would make a perfect gift for a nursery or playroom.
My kids love their reading chair. It’s also big enough that I can sit on it, too.
Baby Hippo is a fan favorite in our house, and this series has a variety of animal finger puppet books for you to chose from. It is perfect for the tiniest readers you know.
I love my Kibou diaper bag fanny pack so much. It’s great for trips to the park or on the plane, best part is, it fits my Kindle for easy access.
I loved Look Book Ways for middle grade readers so much. The stories are perfect for any school age child and touching enough to resonate with adults, too. You could read them aloud as a family or let each family member read it on their own.
A puzzle is a great family activity and a puzzle dedicated to book nerds is even better.
I assume if you’re a family of readers you’re also a family of snackers and this cute popcorn popper is perfect for snack/reading time!
I was gifted the Lovevery toy subscription for The Mini’s when they were brand new babies and I love the deliveries. The Toys are aesthetically pleasing and are Montessori based to teach them skills for their development. Plus each box comes with a book.
I got this lion bookshelf for the Mini Stacks and every time I see it it brings a smile to my face.

These sunglasses are very stylish and very much my jam. They are a bit of a splurge but totally worth it.
This subtle lip gloss is my obsession and makes a perfect gift for an easy breezy reader out at a cafe getting their pages in.
A cute non-tote to carry your book and whatever else you might need for the day, but mostly your book.
This is the best planner out. It’s perfect for keeping up with a busy schedule.
On the go means athleisure for me and these leggings go with every single book I’ve ever read.
A good hand cream goes a long way, this rose flavored one is my go to.
You know any reader who is going out in the world needs to rep their favorite bookish podcast, this cozy sweatshirt is just the thing.
I have these studded sneakers and they elevate every outfit, from jeans to leggings to a midi skirt. Obsessed.
I never leave home without my Fitbit to count my steps from my house to my favorite reading spot.
If you’re reading on park bench you need SPF, Supergoop is my favorite for all things sun protection. Their products are light without a bunch of grease or scent. My bestie gifted it to me and now I’m paying it forward to you all.

Introducing The Stackies

Cherie Marquez — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000

The Stacks Pack is The Stacks community on Patreon. They are the most ardent fans of the show, and they believe in putting their money behind this little indie book podcast. I am forever grateful for this generous community. This year, as all the book awards and best of lists were coming out, The Stacks Pack was not into what they were seeing. There were lively debates happening on The Stacks discord channel, and one TSP member decided we should have our own awards. And thus, The Stackies were born.

Before I get to the awards themselves I have to say thank you to Elisah who put together the form and ran ran all the rounds of voting. She is a rock star and I am so grateful she took the reins when I simply could not.

The nominations and voting was open only to members of The Stacks Pack. There was one round of nominations, one round of general voting, and one round for finalists. Then we arrived at the below winners. I have included the winners and the finalists in each category. The winners are in bold. They are also all hyperlinked to bookshop.org so you can shop while you read.

If you want to join all the fun of The Stacks Pack please head to patreon.com/thestacks to join in. You earn awesome perks (bonus episodes, the aforementioned discord, virtual book club, reading tracker, and more) and you get to know your money (only $5 a month) is going toward a Black woman run independent book podcast. C’mon, that’s five dollars well spent.

Without further ado, here are the winners of the first ever The Stackies.

Best Debut

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

Best Literary/Contemporary Fiction

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Best Nonfiction

Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones
Shine Bright by Danyel Smith
South to America by Imani Perry
The Viral Underclass by Steven W. Thrasher

Best Memoir

Finding Me by Viola Davis
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy
Solito by Javier Zamora
The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Best Romance

Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola
You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Babel by R. F. Kuang
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Best Short Story Collection

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana

Best Essay Collection

How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo
Son of Elsewhere by Elamin Abdelmahmoud
Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong

Best Young Adult

Bitter by Alkwaeke Emezi
Kings of B’More by R. Eric Thomas
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

Best Graphic Memoir or Novel

A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings by Will Betke-Brunswick
Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin
Ducks by Kate Beaton

Best Cover

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
Shine Bright by Danyel Smith
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Best Main Character

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deon
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Best Representation

The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela
Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong
You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Best The Stacks Book Club Book

Passing by Nella Larsen
Shine Bright by Danyel Smith
The Trees by Percival Everett

Best Bookstore

Green Apple Books – San Francisco, CA
Loyalty Bookstores – Washington DC
Reparations Club – Los Angeles, CA
Uncle Bobbie’s – Philadelphia, PA

Funniest Book

Allow Me to Retort by Elie Mystal
Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou
I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein

Book That Made You The Angriest

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
The Viral Underclass by Steven W. Thrasher
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Most Hated Book

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman

Book Talk - The Stacks | Traci Thomas

The Best Things We Read in 2025

J. WorthamJournalist, culture writer, and co-author of Black Futures

Michael WatersAuthor of The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports

Ira Madison IIIAuthor of Pure, Innocent Fun

Brian GoldstoneAuthor of There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America

Kara BrownScreenwriter & Producer

Frederick JosephAuthor of This Thing of Ours

Ceara O’SullivanHost of the Petty Crimes podcast and Writer at Saturday Night Live

Dana WilliamsAuthor of Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship

Megan GreenwellAuthor of Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream

Haley Cohen GillilandAuthor of A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children

Tre JohnsonAuthor of Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy

Cleyvis NateraAuthor of The Great Paloma Resort

Jordan ThomasAuthor of When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World

Jade ChangAuthor of What a Time to Be Alive

Mikey FriedmanFounder of Page Break

Quiara Alegría HudesAuthor of The White Hot

Joel AndersonSenior staff writer at The Ringer and co-host of The Press Box

Alejandro VarelaAuthor of Middle Spoon

MJ FranklinEditor at The New York Times Book Review

Greta JohnsenHost of Happy to Be Here podcast

Traci ThomasHost and creator of The Stacks

The 2025 Stacks Battle of the Books

Now for all the nerds…

The Stackies 2025 Finalists

2025 Gift Guide: Traci’s Favorite Things

Print Magazine Subscription

Local Restaurant Gift Card

Floral Delivery

Announcing the Winners of the 2024 Stackies

Best Debut

Best Fiction

Best Nonfiction

Best Memoir

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Best Romance

Best Thriller/Mystery/Horror

Best Short Story Collection

Best Essay Collection

Best Young People's Lit

Best Graphic Book

Best Poetry Collection

Best Translated Lit

Best Cookbook

Best Book Not on the Stacks

Best Cover

Best Main Character

Funniest Book

Most Hated

Book for President Biden

Best Pick for The Stacks Book Club

Best Stacks Episode

Best Bookstore

The Best Things We Read in 2024

Carolina IxtaAuthor of Shut Up, This Is Serious

Lauren MarkhamAuthor of A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging

Elise HuAuthor of Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital

Andrew BorygaAuthor of Victim

Keith O'BrienAuthor of Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball

Carvell WallaceAuthor of Another Word for Love

Sierra GreerAuthor of Annie Bot

Melissa MogollonAuthor of Oye

Adam HigginbothamAuthor of Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

Mateo AskaripourAuthor of This Great Hemisphere

Regina PorterAuthor of The Rich People Have Gone Away

Eve DunbarAuthor of Monstrous Work and Radical Satisfaction: Black Women Writing under Segregation

Danzy SennaAuthor of Colored Television

Jason De LeónAuthor of Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling

Jason ReynoldsAuthor of Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .: A Love Story

Ayana Elizabeth JohnsonAuthor of What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futurism

Greta JohnsenAuthor of GRETAGRAM

MJ FranklinEditor at The New York Times Book Review

Traci ThomasHost and creator of The Stacks

The 2024 Stacks Battle of the Books

Now for all the nerds…

The Stackies 2024 Finalists

The Stacks 2024 Gift Guide

Announcing the Winners of the 2023 Stackies

Best Debut

J. Wortham
Journalist, culture writer, and co-author of Black Futures

Michael Waters
Author of The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports

Ira Madison III
Author of Pure, Innocent Fun

Brian Goldstone
Author of There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America

Kara Brown
Screenwriter & Producer

Frederick Joseph
Author of This Thing of Ours

Ceara O’Sullivan
Host of the Petty Crimes podcast and Writer at Saturday Night Live

Dana Williams
Author of Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship

Megan Greenwell
Author of Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream

Haley Cohen Gilliland
Author of A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children

Tre Johnson
Author of Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy

Cleyvis Natera
Author of The Great Paloma Resort

Jordan Thomas
Author of When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World

Jade Chang
Author of What a Time to Be Alive

Mikey Friedman
Founder of Page Break

Quiara Alegría Hudes
Author of The White Hot

Joel Anderson
Senior staff writer at The Ringer and co-host of The Press Box

Alejandro Varela
Author of Middle Spoon

MJ Franklin
Editor at The New York Times Book Review

Greta Johnsen
Host of Happy to Be Here podcast

Traci Thomas
Host and creator of The Stacks

Carolina Ixta
Author of Shut Up, This Is Serious

Lauren Markham
Author of A Map of Future Ruins: On Borders and Belonging

Elise Hu
Author of Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital

Andrew Boryga
Author of Victim

Keith O'Brien
Author of Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball

Carvell Wallace
Author of Another Word for Love

Sierra Greer
Author of Annie Bot

Melissa Mogollon
Author of Oye

Adam Higginbotham
Author of Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space

Mateo Askaripour
Author of This Great Hemisphere

Regina Porter
Author of The Rich People Have Gone Away

Eve Dunbar
Author of Monstrous Work and Radical Satisfaction: Black Women Writing under Segregation

Danzy Senna
Author of Colored Television

Jason De León
Author of Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling

Jason Reynolds
Author of Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .: A Love Story

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Author of What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futurism

Greta Johnsen
Author of GRETAGRAM

MJ Franklin
Editor at The New York Times Book Review

Traci Thomas
Host and creator of The Stacks