We're at the end of 2025 and this year we're looking back, not at the best of the year, but at the worst, most hatable moments. To break it all down, Traci teamed up with friend of the pod, Nora McInerny, for a crossover bonus episode between The Stacks and Nora's show, Thanks for Asking. From Taylor Swift to AI slop and so much more, get ready for a whole lot of hot takes and disgruntled energy.

This episode is a collaboration with Nora’s podcast Thanks for Asking.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the links below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Thanks for Asking (Feelings & Co.)

• Feelings & Co. (Substack)

• Unstacked (Substack)

• Wicked (Jon M. Chu, 2024)

• Wicked: For Good (Jon M. Chu, 2025)

• “Kendrick vs. Drake to Wicked: 2024 Unpacked” (The Sam Sanders Show, KCRW)

• “Show & Tell: I Saw Wicked. I Have Notes.” (Traci Thomas, Unstacked)

• The Hobbit (Film series)

• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Jon M. Chu

• Paul Tazewell

• Tom Ford

• Cynthia Erivo

• Ariana Grande

• Lindsay Lohan

• Paris Hilton

• Nicole Richie

• Rachel Zoe

• Pantone Color of the Year 2025

• Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

• Urban Outfitters x Wicked

• PUMA x Wicked

• Abercrombie and Fitch x Wicked

• Ruggable x Wicked

• Owala x Wicked

• Five Below x Wicked

• Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023)

• Absolut x Wicked

• Conair x Wicked

• Wicked Tarot Deck and Guidebook by Casey Gilly

• Dawn x Wicked

• Swiffer x Wicked

• Yeti x Wicked

• Pillsbury x Wicked

• General Mills x Wicked

• Gain x Wicked

• McDonald’s

• Zootopia 2 (Jared Bush, 2025)

• Olay x Wicked

• Stanley x Wicked

• Hamnet (Chloé Zhao, 2025)

• One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2025)

• Buck Mason

• Barbie

• Ezra Klein

• Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

• President Obama’s favorite books of the summer

• “Opinion | Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way” (Ezra Klein, The New York Times)

• “Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines” (The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times)

• “The Contradictions of Gavin Newsom” (The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times)

• “Jon Favreau on Where the Democrats Went Right” (The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times)

• “The THR Roundtable: America’s Top Podcasters Like You’ve Never Heard Them” (Julian Sancton, The Hollywood Reporter)

• 2026 Golden Globes’ Nominees for Best Podcast

• Good Hang with Amy Poehler (The Ringer)

• SmartLess (SiriumXM Podcasts)

• Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard (Wondery)

• “My Unofficial Investigation of Male Podcasters (Monthly Solo)” (Pulling the Thread with Elise Loehnen)

• Taylor Swift

• Travis Kelce

• The Life of a Showgirl by Taylor Swift

• “The Fate of Ophelia” (Taylor Swift, 2025)

• Charli XCX

• Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party by Hayley Williams

• Meghan Markle

• Prince Harry

• Beyoncé

• Oprah Winfrey

• Dua Lipa

• Jessica Simpson

• “I Think I’m in Love With You” (Jessica Simpson, 2000)

• “Jack & Diane” (John Mellencamp, 1982)

• 1989 by Taylor Swift

• Reputation by Taylor Swift

• The Eras Tour

• Olivia Rodrigo

• MacKenzie Scott

• Sean Combs

• “Honey” (Mariah Carey, 1997)

• “Shake Ya Tailfeather (ft. Nelly & Murphy Lee)” (Diddy, 2005)

• Cassie

• Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix)

• “Surveillance video shows Sean 'Diddy' Combs physically assaulting former girlfriend in 2016” (CNN)

• It Was All a Dream: Biggie and the World That Made Him by Justin Tinsley

• Olivia Dean

• “What My Daughter Told ChatGPT Before She Took Her Life” (Laura Reiley, The New York Times)

• Kim Kardashian

• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

• “Ep. 360 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov — The Stacks Book Club (Ira Madison III)”

• Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)

• David Schweikert

• Zibby Owens

• Stephen A. Schwarzman

• Blackstone

• Totally Booked with Zibby (Zibby Owens)

• Zibby’s Bookshop

• Zibby Books

• Zohran Mamdani

• Leopard OG Sambas

• Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) Wireless Headphones

• Department 56 Miniature Christmas Village

• Marie Kondo

• Olivia Nuzzi

• “TRUMP IS A LAME DUCK NOW - AND THE (LATEST) OLIVIA NUZZI STORY - 11.20.25” (Countdown with Keith Olbermann)

• Katy Tur

• “WHO YOU GONNA BELIEVE? TRUMP? OR TRUMP? 12.6.22” (Countdown with Keith Olbermann)

• Staples

• Barnes & Noble

• Labubu

• Benson Boone

• “Leave Me Alone” (Reneé Rapp, 2025)

• Dessa

• Davina McCall

  
  Connect with Nora: Website | Instagram | TikTok | Threads | YouTube
  Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Threads | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Youtube | Subscribe
  
  To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Ever wondered who else brings The Stacks to life? Well, lucky for you, you’re about to meet them. For the first time ever, I bring you behind the scenes to introduce you to the team that helps make this podcast happen. Join me as I chat with Sahara Clement, Cherie Marquez, and Christian Dueñas about who they are, what they do, the biggest surprises and hardest parts of their jobs, and the things I do that annoy them. This podcast wouldn’t be what it is without their hard work, and you can support that by joining The Stacks Pack on Patreon and subscribing to our Substack.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the links below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

SAHARA

• The Stacks Pack (Patreon)

• Unstacked (Substack)

• Black Genius by Tre Johnson

• “Ep. 384. Black Genius Is Not an Outlier with Tre Johnson” (The Stacks)

• Dreams of Wakanda: Creators, Writers, and Comics Legends on the Impact of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther Edited by Sahara Clement, Foreword by Nic Stone

• Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser and Robyn Smith

• Who What Wear

• Marie Claire

• Bookshop

• Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

• Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

• A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara

• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

• Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

• Bojack Horseman (Netflix)

• Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg

• In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

• Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

• Traci’s Goodreads Review of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

• Malcolm Gladwell

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

• Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

CHERIE

• “Live in The Stacks Tour”

• Stack the Shelves

• The Mega Challenge

• cMedia Collective

• Chelsea Devantez

• Los Angeles Lakers

• Los Angeles Dodgers

• “The Nonfiction Files 9: Nonfiction November Book Generator” (Traci Thomas, Substack)

• “Ep. 390 What Happened in Those 107 Days with Kamala Harris” (The Stacks)

• Understanding Shakespeare Course

• There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

• We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian

• Colored Television by Danzy Senna

• “Ep. 336 Blackness is the Ingredient with Danzy Senna” (The Stacks)

• New People by Danzy Senna

• Firestorm by Jacob Soboroff

• The Bachelor (ABC)

• Glamorous Trash: A Celebrity Memoir Podcast

• “Who Is Taylor Frankie Paul? What to Know About the 'Bachelorette' and 'The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' Star” (Quincy Legardye, Marie Claire)

• The Stacks (Youtube)

CHRISTIAN

• “Ep. 363 Gender and Genre Are the Same Word with Torrey Peters” (The Stacks)

• “Ep. 393 A Guilty Man Is More Interesting with John J. Lennon” (The Stacks)

• “Unabridged: The Best of Mariah Carey” (The Stacks)

• “Unabridged: Kendrick’s ‘Great American Game’ with David Dennis Jr.” (The Stacks)

• “Fantasy (feat. O.D.B.)” by Mariah Carey

• Primer (Maximum Fun)

• “I Thought It Was You” by Herbie Hancock

• @buttsonabutt (Christian’s Instagram)

• Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer

• It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

• “Ep. 325 It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover — The Stacks Book Club (Melissa Mogollon)”

• Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover

• Ellen DeGeneres

• “Day 1 -- Banned Books in The Stacks with Katrina Stokes and Thursday Williams” (The Stacks)

• “Diaspora Problems” by Soul Glo

• I Am Your Sister by Audre Lorde

• The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde

• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

• “Ep. 102 Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde -- The Stacks Book Club (Asha Grant)”

• The Stacks Merch Shop

• Maximum Fun Podcast Network

• Christian Dueñas on Letterboxd

• Christian Dueñas on Goodreads

• Christian Dueñas on The StoryGraph

• Yo Is This Racist?

  
  Connect with Sahara: Website | Instagram 
  Connect with Cherie: Website | Instagram
  Connect with Christian: Instagram
  Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Threads | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Youtube | Subscribe
  
  To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

In this bonus episode, I chat with author Kiley Reid for the inside scoop on the Booker Prize, an annual literary award given to the best fiction book written in English and published in the UK and Ireland. As a 2025 judge—and the author of a 2020 Booker Prize–longlisted book—Kiley offers insider knowledge on everything from what makes a "Booker book" to the process of narrowing down the list from 153 titles to one winner.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the links below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• The Booker Prize

• “Unabridged: No One Wants to Talk About the Sex with Kiley Reid” (The Stacks)

• Sara Collins

• Gaby Wood

• Center Stage (Nicholas Hytner, 2000)

• Donna Murphy

• Roddy Doyle

• Neurofeedback Therapy

• Bertold Brecht

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt

• Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin

• A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

• The Sellout by Paul Beatty

• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

• Flashlight by Susan Choi

• Flesh by David Szalay

• Chris Power

• Sarah Jessica Parker

• Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀

• Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

• Endling by Maria Reva

• The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

• Come & Get It by Kiley Reid

• The Man Booker Prize

• Reese’s Book Club

• The Unveiling by Quan Barry

• Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

  
  Connect with Kiley: Website | Instagram | Twitter
  Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Threads | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Youtube | Subscribe
  
  To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the links below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

Twenty Four Seconds from Now… by Jason Reynolds

• Coach by Jason Reynolds

• Ghost by Jason Reynolds

• Lu by Jason Reynolds

• Patina by Jason Reynolds

• Sunny by Jason Reynolds

• There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib

• A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib

• Michael Jordan

• Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)

• Carl Lewis

• A Fortune for Your Disaster by Hanif Abdurraqib

• Stags Leap by Sharon Olds

• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

• The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds

• As Brave as You by Jason Reynolds

• Maya Millet

• Random House

• Go Ahead in the Rain by Hanif Abdurraqib

• The Sixth Sense (M. Night Shyamalan, 1999)

• The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

• Ross Gay

• “Gimme Shelter” (The Rolling Stones, 1969)

• Whitney Houston

• “My Girl” (The Temptations, 1965)

• Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds

• The Isley Brothers

• Earth, Wind & Fire

• Ohio Players

• Stevie Wonder

• “So What the Fuss” (Stevie Wonder, 2005)

• Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder

• “Jungle Fever” (Stevie Wonder, 2005)

• Prince

• Lovesexy by Prince

• Harvest for the World by The Isley Brothers

• The Emancipation of Mimi by Mariah Carey

• Butterfly by Mariah Carey

• To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar

• DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar

• LeBron James

• Stephen Curry

• Andre Iguodala

• Kalefa Sanneh reel on music criticism (New Yorker Magazine Instagram)

• “How Music Criticism Lost Its Edge” (Kalefa Sanneh, The New Yorker)

• Lester Bangs

• “Astral Weeks” (Lester Bangs, Stranded)

• Van Morrison

• “Chance the Rapper Got MTV News to Remove a Critical Concert Review” (Jackson McHenry, Vulture)

• Coloring Book by Chance the Rapper

• Taylor Swift

• Ben Brantley

• Lin-Manuel Miranda

• “20 Years Later: Little Brother, ‘The Minstrel Show’” (Hanif Abdurraqib, Longreads)

• Drake

• “Fewer People Are Reading for Fun, Study Finds” (Maggie Astor, The New York Times)

• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

• The White Lotus (HBO)

• Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants by Stevie Wonder

• They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib

• Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (Food Network)

• Guy Fieri

• Aracelis Girmay

• Soul Train (WCIU-TV)

• Rhythm Nation World Tour 1990

• Daydream World Tour

• Selena

• “Phyllis Hyman: This Lady's Got Star Karma” (David Nathan, Blues & Soul)

• Tales from the Hood (Rusty Cundieff, 1995)

• Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

• Waiting to Exhale (Forest Whitaker, 1995)

• Loewe (clothing brand)

• “There Are More Ways to Show Devotion” (Excerpt from I’m Always Looking Up and You’re Jumping by Hanif Abdurraqib, Harper’s Magazine)

• “Brave Faces, Everyone” by Spanish Love Songs

• Nina Simone

  
  Connect with Jason: Website | Instagram | Twitter
  Connect with Hanif: Website | Twitter | Facebook
  Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Threads | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe
  
  To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Another bonus episode this month? Heck yes! We're doing a deep dive into oral history with friend of the pod, journalist, and oral historian, Garrett M. Graff. He has written three stellar books of oral history: The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb, When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day, and The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11. Today we get Garrett's insights into the key characteristics and importance of oral history, and the challenges that come with the form. We also spend some time on the decision to drop the atomic bomb, and workshop future oral history projects for Garrett.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the links below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• The Devil Reached Toward the Sky by Garrett M. Graff

• The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett M. Graff

• “The Short Stacks 21: Garrett M. Graff// Only Plane in the Sky” (The Stacks)

• Watergate by Garrett M. Graff

• UFO by Garrett M. Graff

• Washingtonian

• Politico

• Pamela Colloff

• Texas Monthly

• “96 Minutes” (Pamela Colloff, Texas Monthly)

• From a Taller Tower by Seamus McGraw

• Studs Terkel

• The Boston Globe

• Ted Kennedy

• “We’re the Only Plane in the Sky” (Garrett M. Graff, Politico)

• Andy Card

• Carl Rove

• Ari Fleischer

• When the Sea Came Alive by Garrett M. Graff

• “The Malice at the Palace” (Jonathan Abrams, Grantland)

• “Rocked” (Bryan Curtis and Patricia Lee, Grantland)

• The National WWII Museum (New Orleans, LA)

• Manhattan Project

• Albert Einstein

• The Devil Reached Toward the Sky by Garrett M. Graff (audiobook)

• American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

• Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023)

• The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

• The Come Up by Jonathan Abrams

• World War Z by Max Brooks

• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

• Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Hiroshima, Japan)

• Hiroshima Nagasaki by Paul Ham

• Dachau Concentration Camp

• Paul Tibbets

• Enola Gay

• Titanic

• My Soul Is Rested by Howell Raines

• Enron

• Bernie Madoff

• The Gods of New York by Jonathan Mahler

• Rudy Giuliani

• Larry Kramer

• Al Sharpton

• 30 for 30 (ESPN)

• Murder Trial of O.J. Simpson

• 1992 Los Angeles Riots

• Twilight by Anna Deavere Smith

• The Central Park Five

• The World Only Spins Forward by Isaac Butler and Dan Kois

• “Ep. 54 The World Only Spins Forward by Isaac Butler and Dan Kois -- The Stacks Book Club (Ben Blacker)” (The Stacks)

• “An Oral History of the Day Everything Changed” (Garret M. Graff, Wired)

• Rudy Gobert

• Tom Hanks

• 24 Hours in Charlottesville by Nora Neus

• “Ep. 279 Inaction Is a Form of Police Brutality with Nora Neus” (The Stacks)

• 24 Hours at the Capitol by Nora Neus

• Storm at the Capitol by Mary Clare Jalonick

• Mississippi Book Festival (Jackson, MS)

  
  Connect with Garrett: Website | Twitter | Facebook
  Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe
  
  To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the links below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

To access the full show notes for this episode, join the our Patreon or Substack.

• Fiction Matters Substack

• Fiction Matters Patreon

• 2025 Paperback Summer Reading Guide (Sara Hildreth, Fiction Matters)

• 2025 Nonfiction Reading Guide (Unstacked)

• Summer Reading Guide Chat with Sara Hildreth (Substack Live)

  
  Connect with Sara: Instagram | Fiction Matters | Novel Pairings | Substack
  Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe
  
  To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

For this month’s bonus episode, we’re mixing things up a little—this time, Traci is the one being interviewed! The fine folks at LARB Radio Hour, Medaya Ocher and Eric Newman, speak with Traci to discuss the impact of social media on publishing, the content creator life, and the way readers discover books today. At the end of the episode, Medaya, Eric, and Traci offer readers a rundown of recommendations for the books getting us through 2025.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

The Stacks

• Here & Now (NPR)

• One for the Books (LAist)

• Unstacked

• The French Open

• The Sellout by James Beatty

• Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson

• “Heather Ann Thompson, ‘Blood in the Water:  Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (Pantheon, 2016)” (New Books in Law, NBn)

• It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

• “Ep. 325 It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover — The Stacks Book Club (Melissa Mogollon)” (The Stacks)

• The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland

• All Fours by Miranda July

• James by Percival

• Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

• The Stacks Patreon

• “The Nonfiction Files 3: Can a Memoir Be Bad?” (Traci Thomas, Substack)

• So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo

• “Ep. 141 White Male Mediocrity with Ijeoma Oluo” (The Stacks)

• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

• Stag Dance by Torrey Peters

• Toni Morrison

• Andrea Long Chu

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

• “Ep. 118 Living the Revision with Kiese Laymon” (The Stacks)

• Challenger by Adam Higginbotham

• Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams

• Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton

• Beyoncé

• “blessing the boats” (Lucille Clifton, 2000)

• The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

• Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

• “A Propulsive, Brutal ‘Hunger Games’ Prequel Is Here. And It’s Great.” (Jennifer Harlan, The New York Times)

• Oprah’s Book Club

• The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

• The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity by Sarah Schulman

• The Lilac People by Milo Todd

• Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

Connect with LARB Radio: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Youtube | Podcast
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Fiction Matters Substack

• Fiction Matters Instagram

• Fiction Matters Patreon

• All Ways Black

• Underwhelmed Substack

• Novel Pairings Podcast

• James by Percival Everett

• Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

• Dracula by Bram Stoker

• Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan

• Audition by Katie Kitamura

• Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

• Original Sins by Eve L. Ewing

• The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley

• Flashlight by Susan Choi

• Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa

• The International Booker Prize 2025

• Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

• A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney

• These Heathens by Mia McKenzie

• Tilt by Emma Pattee

• Sunrise on the Reaping (a Hunger Games Novel) by Suzanne Collins

• The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

• Murderland by Caroline Fraser

• “The Best Books of the Year (So Far)” (The New York Times)

• The Nonfiction Files 1: Nonfiction Taxonomy

• Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

• The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger

• The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger

• “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (Nicholas Carr, The Atlantic)

• Dominion by Addie E. Citchens

• Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

• Kiese Laymon

• King of Kings by Scott Anderson

• Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson

• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

• Moderation by Elaine Castillo

• Solitaria by Eliana Alvez Cruz translated by Benjamin Brooks

• Positive Obsession by Susana M. Morris

• A Handful of Earth, a Handful of Sky by Lynell George

• Jonathan Eig

• The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

• The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

• The Supremes at Earls All-You-Can-Eat (Tina Mabry, 2024)

• Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan

• Ripeness by Sarah Moss

• Sarah J. Maas

• Nobody Can Give You Freedom by Kehinde Andrews

• Penile E. Joseph

• Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa

• Little, Brown and Company

• How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa

• Shot Ready by Stephen Curry

• Truly by Lionel Richie

• We the People by Jill Lepore

• These Truths by Jill Lepore

• Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor

• Coach by Jason Reynolds

• The Unveiling by Quan Barry

• The Devil Is a South Paw by Brandon Hobson

• The Removed by Brandon Hobson

• Vladimir Nabokov

• The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

• Real Life by Brandon Taylor

• Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor

• Palaver by Bryan Washington

• Lot by Bryan Washington

• Memorial by Bryan Washington

• Family Meal by Bryan Washington

• Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

• Riverhead Books

• The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes

• All Fours by Miranda July

• Right by My Side by David Haynes

• The Original by Nell Stevens

• Shade by Sam Bloch

• Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar

• Whites by Mark Doten

• Graywolf Press

• It Was the Way She Said It by Terry McMillan

• Trigger Warning by Jacinda Townsend

• The Street by Ann Petry

• What a Time to Be Alive by Jade Chang

• The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang

• We Love You Bunny by Mona Awad

• Bunny by Mona Awad

• Katabasis by R. F. Kuang

• The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

• The Devil Reached Toward the Sky by Garrett M. Graff

• The Grand Paloma Resort by Cleyvis Natera

• Cleyvis Natera Book Launch in LA

• Front Street by Brian Barth

• Empire of Orgasm by Ellen Huet

• Intemperance by Sonora Jha

• Black in Blues by Imani Perry

• The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey

• Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor

• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

• Paradise Lost by John Milton

• Our Pure and Radiant Hearts by Lydia Millet

• Kaliane Bradley

• Challenger by Adam Higginbotham

• Lonesome Dove by Larry Dove

• Animal Farm by George Orwell

• 1984 by George Orwell

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne

• Glory by Noviolet Bulawayo

• Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih

Connect with Cree: Instagram | Twitter | All Ways Black | Substack
Connect with Sara: Instagram | Fiction Matters | Novel Pairings | Substack
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

It's Cowboy Carter SZN and we're breaking down Beyoncé's latest tour with friend of the pod and podcast host extraordinaire Sam Sanders. We talk about Queen Bey's latest tour, the good and the not so good, plus our thoughts on Blue Ivy's exposure and the future of stadium tours. We also quickly gab about the Pulitzer drama, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Lionel Richie.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Beyoncé

• Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé

• Vibe Check (SiriusXM Podcasts)

• The Sam Sanders Show (KCRW & Sam Sanders)

• Tribeca Film Festival

• “Yesterday’s Price Isn’t Today’s Price featuring Lena Waithe” (Vibe Check, SiriusXM Podcasts)

• Robert De Niro

• The Pulitzer Prize

• James by Percival Everett

• Columbia University (New York, NY)

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

• Trust by Hernan Diaz

• Merve Emre

• Sara Hildreth

• “Did the Pulitzer Board just overrule the Jury to give Percival Everett the prize?” (Drew Broussard, LitHub)

• Colson Whitehead

• Jonathan Franzen

• Headshot by Rita Bulwinkel

• Mice 1961 by Stacey Levine

• The Unicorn Woman by Gayl Jones

• All Fours by Miranda July

• Danzy Senna

• The Critic and Her Publics (Merve Emre)

• “American writer Percival Everett” (The Arts Hour, BBC)

• American Fiction (Cord Jefferson, 2023)

• Cord Jefferson

• Erasure by Percival Everett

• “Ep. 304 Erasure by Percival Everett — The Stacks Book Club (Zach Stafford)” (The Stacks)

• Renaissance by Beyoncé

• Michael Jackson

• Taylor Swift

• Kendrick Lamar

• Drake

• “Jada & Will Deserve an Oscar for Their Marriage Performance” (Into It, Vulture)

• Frank Ocean

• Channel Orange by Frank Ocean

• Blond by Frank Ocean

• Voodoo by D’Angelo

• Stevie Wonder

• “Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ Is a Vivid Mission Statement. Let’s Discuss.” (The New York Times)

• “ALLIIGATOR TEARS” (Beyoncé, 2024)

• MTV Unplugged

• “AMERIICAN REQUIEM” (Beyoncé, 2024)

• “Freedom (feat. Kendrick Lamar)” (Beyoncé, 2016)

• “BLACKBIIRD” (Beyoncé, 2024)

• “YAYA"” (Beyoncé, 2024)

• “Why Don’t You Love Me” (Beyoncé, 2008)

• “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” (Beyoncé, 2024)

• “If I Were a Boy”(Beyoncé, 2008)

• “Irreplaceable” (Beyoncé, 2006)

• The Grand Ole Opry (Nashville, TN)

• The Sphere (Las Vegas, NV)

• Inside Beyoncé’s Historic 2018 Coachella Performance (Rachel Chang, Biography.com)

• “Get Me Bodied - Homecoming Live” by Beyoncé

• “Daddy Lessons” (Beyoncé, 2024)

• P!nk

• Clairo at Coachella (@coachella)

• Silk Sonic

• U2

• Usher

• Blue Ivy Carter

• Beyoncé - Run the World (Girls) (Official Video)

• Kieran Culkin

• Jeremey Strong

• Rumi Carter in Cowboy Carter (@stuartbrazell)

• empathogen (WILLOW, 2024)

• Will Smith

• Jada Pinkett Smith

• “Whip My Hair” (WILLOW, 2011)

• Blue Ivy doing the Deja Vu at the Cowboy Carter Tour (@stuartbrazell)

• “BODYGUARD” (Beyoncé, 2024)

• “16 CARRIAGES” (Beyoncé, 2024)

• Beyoncé’s light up dress (@bellabell8862)

• “DAUGHTER” (Beyoncé, 2024)

• Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)

• “Is Pop Culture in a Recession? Hottakes Round 2” (The Sam Sanders Show, KCRW & Sam Sanders)

• “Gwyneth Paltrow has started eating carbs and cheese again” (Amarachi Orie, CNN.com)

• The Old Spaghetti Factory

• Spaghetti Warehouse

• “How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow’s Company Worth $250 Million” (Taffy Brodesser-Akner, The New York Times)

• “Cruisin’” (Huey Lewis & Gwyneth Paltrow, 2006)

• “Cruisin’” (D’angelo, 1995)

• “Cruisin’” (Smokey Robinson, 1979)

• “The Greatest Night in Pop” (Bao Nguyen, 2024)

• “We Are the World” (U.S.A. for Africa, 1985)

• Lionel Richie

• “A Good Sermon featuring Senator Elizabeth Warren” (Vibe Check, SiriusXM Podcasts)

• “Kendrick vs. Drake to Wicked: 2024 Unpacked” (The Sam Sanders Show)

• John M. Chu

Connect with Sam: Twitter | Instagram
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, we are joined once again by author Kiese Laymon, to discuss his first children’s book, City Summer, Country Summer, and the emotional resonance of sports narratives. We also share how we’re staying human in the midst of so much inhumanity.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• City Summer, Country Summer by Kiese Laymon illustrated by Alexis Franklin

• Unabridged: The NYC Early Show with Kiese Laymon (The Stacks)

• Ep. 118 Living the Revision with Kiese Laymon (The Stacks)

• Ep. 122 Breathe by Imani Perry -- The Stacks Book Club (Kiese Laymon) (The Stacks)

• Alexis Franklin

• “City Summer, Country Summer” (Kiese Laymon, The New York Times)

• Namrata Tripathi

• Long Division by Kiese Laymon

• Heavy by Kiese Laymon

• How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America by Kiese Laymon

• Heavy by Kiese Laymon (audiobook)

• Patrick Radden Keefe

• Kathy Belden

• Ep. 358 The Purpose of Schools with Eve L. Ewing (The Stacks)

• Darnell Moore

• Lebron James

• Dawn Staley

• “Paige Bueckers embraces Geno Auriemma after checking out for final time at UConn ❤️” (ESPN, Youtube)

• Juju Watkins

• Angel Reese

• Caitlin Clark

• The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

• Daniil Medvedev

• Novak Djokovic

• Frances Tiafoe

• Colin Kaepernick

• James Baldwin

• Toni Morrison

• The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

• “The First White President” (Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic)

• Thanos

• Sesame Street

• Mark Zuckerberg

• “Donald Trump and the Last-Ditch Effort of a Dying Empire With Michael Harriot” (Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay, The Ringer)

• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

• “Huge crowds gather in 'Hands Off' rallies nationwide in protest of Trump administration” (Ivan Pereira, Christiane Cordero, and Noah Minnie, ABC News)

• Hello, My Name Is Octicorn by Kevin Diller and Justin Lowe illustrated by Binny Talib

• Crab Cake by Andrea Tsurumi

Connect with Kiese: Twitter | Instagram | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, we’re joined by author and critic Emily St. James to discuss her new book, Woodworking. We explore the recent evolution of anti-trans legislation, what it tells us about the current political moment, and trans rep in pop culture. Plus, Emily offers us her entries into the trans literary canon.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Woodworking by Emily St. James

• The Corn Palace (Mitchell, KS)

• Ms. Rachel (Youtube)

• We Can Do Hard Things by Glennon Doyle, Amanda Doyle, and Abby Wambach

• “It’s a Baby Race” (Bluey, Season 2)

• The Big Bang Theory (CBS)

• Community (NBC)

• Mad Men (AMC)

• Game of Thrones (HBO)

• Yellowjackets (Showtime)

• Taylor Swift

• Mitski

• “Better Off Dead” by Elton John

• “Denial Is a River” by Doechii

• Fly by The Chicks

• The A.V. Club

• Obergefell v. Hodges

• Serena Williams

• Kristen Stewart

• Blaire White

• Assigned Media

• They Were Her Property by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

• “How History Classes on the Women’s Suffrage Movement Leave Out the Work of Black Voting Rights Activists” (Olivia B. Waxman, Time)

• Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s cancel culture screed is a dangerous distraction” (Aja Romano, Vox)

• “Show & Tell: Transphobia Amnesia, Meghan Shouldn't Relate, and a Haunting Denzel Interview” (Traci Thomas, Unstacked)

• “A timeline of JK Rowling's transphobic shift” (Brendan Morrow, The Week)

• “And, This is Charlie Kirk” (This is Gavin Newsom, iHeartPodcasts)

• “Gavin Newsom breaks with Democrats on trans athletes in sports” (Christopher Cadelago, Politico)

• Emmanuel Acho

• “And, This is Steve Bannon” (This is Gavin Newsom, iHeartPodcasts)

• Ladybugs (Sidney J. Furie, 1992)

• The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1993)

• Ace Ventura Pet Detective (Tom Shadyac, 1994)

• “Queer Literature Top Five” (Sassafras Lowrey, The Center for Fiction)

• Pose (FX)

• P-Valley (STARZ)

• We See Each Other by Tre’vell Anderson

• “Ep. 271 The Paradox of Visibility with Tre’vell Anderson” (The Stacks)

• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

• Stag Dance by Torrey Peters

• “Ep. 363 Gender and Genre Are the Same Word with Torrey Peters” (The Stacks)

• Nevada by Imogen Binnie

• A/S/L by Jeanne Thorton

• Little Fish by Casey Plett

• Girlfriends by Emily Zhou

• Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

• Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin

• Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

• Alyson Greaves

• Charlie Jane Anders

• Little Blue Encyclopedia for (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante

Connect with Emily: Instagram | Bluesky
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, author and ESPN writer David Dennis Jr. joins us to break down Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show. We get into the performance itself, the layers behind it, and how it fits into his ongoing beef with Drake. Plus, we discuss the reaction to the show and what it says about Kendrick’s place in music and culture.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show (NFL, Youtube)

• The Movement Made Us by David Dennis Jr. and David Dennis Sr.

• “The subversive genius of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance” (David Dennis Jr., Andscape)

• “Taylor Swift booed at Super Bowl 2025 — watch her reaction” (Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly)

• Philadelphia Eagles Santa Claus incident

• “What Does 'Trust the Process' Mean?” (Khadrice Rollins, Sports Illustrated)

• “Trump was both cheered and booed at 2025 Super Bowl” (Jack Izzo, Snopes)

• “Photo of man giving 2 middle fingers to Trump wasn't taken at 2025 Super Bowl” (Jordan Liles, Snopes)

• “Show & Tell: Kendrick is Super(Bowl)” (Unstacked)

• “Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s Beef, Explained” (Josh Rosenberg, Esquire)

• The Pop Out: Ken & Friends

• “Poetic Justice” by Kendrick Lamar, Drake

• “Wacced Out Murals” by Kendrick Lamar

• Lil Wayne

• “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar

• Samuel L. Jackson

• GNX (Kendrick Lamar, 2024)

• GNX commercial (Kendrick Lamar, Youtube)

• Prince’s Halftime Show (Music Entertainment, Youtube)

• “Squabble Up” by Kendrick Lamar

• “Humble” by Kendrick Lamar

• “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar

• Rihanna’s Halftime Show (NFL, Youtube)

• Usher’s Halftime Show (NFL, Youtube)

• “peekaboo” by Kendrick Lamar

• “All of the Stars” by Kendrick Lamar ft. SZA

• SZA

• “DNA.” by Kendrick Lamar

• Megan Thee Stallion

• Cardi B

• “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar (with SZA)

• “man at the garden” by Kendrick Lamar

• Kevin Gates meme

• Jay-Z

• “Pushups” by Drake

• “Euphoria” by Kendrick Lamar

• “gloria” by Kendrick Lamar

• Cole Cuchna

• pgLang

• “A Break Down Of Everything Kendrick Lamar Wore During The Super Bowl Halftime Show” (Jessica Bennett, Vibe)

• Duck Hunt

• To Pimp a Butterly (Kendrick Lamar, 2015)

• Justin Tinsley

• “dodger blue” by Kendrick Lamar

• Doechii

• Future

• “Jada & Will Deserve an Oscar for Their Marriage Performance” (Into It, Vulture)

• Jonathan Zaslow

• Patrick Mahomes

• Serena Williams

• “Here's the Real Story Behind Serena Williams Crip Walking With Kendrick at the 2025 Super Bowl...and it's Messy” (Shanelle Genai, The Root)

• “CBS Radio Fires Don Imus in Fallout over Remarks” (Robert Smith, NPR)

• “tv off” by Kendrick Lamar

• “6:16 in LA” by Kendrick Lamar

• “Family Matters” by Drake

• “meet the grahams” by Kendrick Lamar

• Game of Thrones (HBO)

• “Kendrick Lamar's background performer's flag leads to lifetime NFL ban” (CNN)

• Black Panther (Soundtrack) (Kendrick Lamar, 2018)

• John Legend

• 2002 AFC Title Game Halftime Show- LLCool J and Amerie (Raiders 247TV, Youtube)

• Tressie McMillian Cottom

• Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers (Kendrick Lamar, 2022)

• “Does Drake’s Lawsuit Over Kendrick Lamar’s Diss Track Stand a Chance? A Lawyer Explains.” (Nadira Goffe, Slate)

• Lucian Grainge

• Dr. Dre

• The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) (Eminem, 2024)

• Eminem - Somebody Save Me & Houdini (Live from the MTV VMA’s 2024) (EminemMusic, Youtube)

• “Started from the Bottom” by Drake

• “The Motto” by Drake

• “The Heart Part 6” by Drake

• “Taylor Made Freestyle” by Drake

• Flo Rida

• Toni Morrison

• Beyoncé

• Carrie Underwood

• Kid Rock

• Travis Tritt

• Snoop Dogg

• Travis Kelce

Connect with David: Instagram | Twitter
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Fiction Matters Substack

• Fiction Matters Instagram

• Novel Pairings Podcast

• All Ways Black

• “Unabridged: Our Most Anticipated Books of 2024 with Cree Myles and Sara Hildreth” (The Stacks)

• James by Percival Everett

• Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

• Cree’s IG Review of Good Girl

• Cree’s Good Girl Review on Substack

• True Grit by Charles Portis

• Reagan by Max Boot

• The 10 Best Books of 2024 (The New York Times Books Staff, The New York Times)

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

• Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

• @clumsywords

• Playworld by Adam Ross

• Brandon Taylor

• The Favorites by Layne Fargo

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

• Audition by Katie Kitamura

• Black in Blues by Imani Perry

• Hot Air by Marcy Dermansky

• Alfred A. Knopf

• We Do Not Part by Han Kang

• Human Acts by Han Kang

• Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

• Mrs. March by Virginia Feito

• The Echoes by Evie Wyld

• Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski

• Pure Innocent Fun by Ira Madison III

• Keep It! (Crooked Media)

• Normal Gossip (Radiotopia)

• You Didn’t Hear This From Me by Kelsey McKinney

• God Spare the Girls by Kelsey McKinney

• Original Sins by Eve L. Ewing

• One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

• Universality by Natasha Brown

• Assembly by Natasha Brown

• Stag Dance by Torrey Peters

• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

• Belletrist

• World Without End by Christophe Blain & Jean-Marc Jancovici

• “Ep. 346 Curating Climate Conversations with Ayana Elizabeth Johnson” (The Stacks)

• “Ep. 303 The Culmination of My Psycho-Spiritual Self with Kaveh Akbar” (The Stacks)

• The Antidote by Karen Russell

• “The Best Things We Read in 2024” (The Stacks)

• Authority by Andrea Long Chu

• Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

• The Barn by Wright Thompson

• Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Brokenhearted by Ben Okri

• A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

• The Booker Prizes

• Sister Europe by Nell Zink

• Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah

• There Is No Place for Us by Brian Goldstone

• Evicted by Matthew Desmond

• We Were Once a Family by Roxanna Asgarian

• I’ll Love You Forever by Giaae Kwon

• “The Hanya Yanagihara Principle” (Andrea Long Chu, Vulture)

• To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

• “How Zadie Smith Lost Her Teeth” (Andrea Long Chu, Vulture)

• Perspective(s) by Laurent Binet

• Fish Tales by Nettie Jones

• Toni Morrison

• Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt

• Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi

• “Ep. 324 The Psychology of Evil with Akwaeke Emezi” (The Stacks)

• The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong

• Tupac Shakur

• Words for My Comrades by Dean Van Nguyen

• Love in Exile by Shon Faye

• Jackson Howard

• The Other Olympians by Michael Waters

• In Tongues by Thomas Grattan

• Open Throat by Henry Hoke

• Speaking in Tongues by J. M. Coetzee & Mariana Dimópulos

• The Last Supper by Paul Elie

• Beloved by Toni Morrison

• “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen

• Mark Twain by Ron Chernow

• Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

• Lin-Manuel Miranda

• Flashlight by Susan Choi

• The Möbius Book by Catherine Lacey

• Jesse Ball

• Liars by Sarah Manguso

• Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

• I’ll Tell You When I’m Home by Hala Alyan

• The Dry Season by Melissa Febos

• Their Accomplices Wore Robes by Brando Simeo Starkey

• Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin

• Waiting for Britney Spears by Jeff Weiss

• Hunter S. Thompson

• The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley

• Weepers by Peter Mendelsund

• A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge

• The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

• Death Takes Me by Cristina Rivera Garza

• Liliana's Invincible Summer by Cristina Rivera Garza

• Abundance by Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson

• “Burned Out? Start Here” (The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times)

• Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray

• W. E. B. Du Bois

• Claude McKay

• Romance in Marseille by Claude McKay

• Jessie R. Fauset

Connect with Cree: Instagram | Twitter | All Ways Black | Substack
Connect with Sara: Instagram | Fiction Matters | Novel Pairings | Substack
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, we’re closing out 2024 with a lively recap of the year in pop culture. Chelsea Devantez and Sam Sanders join the show to hand out superlatives for this year’s biggest moments—from breakout performances to the villain of the year, and the stories that defined 2024.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Glamorous Trash: A Celebrity Memoir Podcast (Chelsea Devantez)

• The Stackies

• I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This by Chelsea Devantez

• The Sam Sanders Show (KCRW & Sam Sanders)

• Vibe Check (SiriusXM Podcasts)

• “Kendrick vs. Drake to Wicked: 2024 unpacked” (The Sam Sanders Show, KCRW)

• “Ready or Not” by Fugees

• This Is Me... Now (Jennifer Lopez, 2024)

• The Greatest Love Story Never Told (Jennifer Lopez, 2024)

• This Is Me…Now by Jennifer Lopez

• Neil deGrasse Tyson

• Jane Fonda

• Jay Shetty

• “Jennifer Lopez Files for Divorce from Ben Affleck After 2 Years of Marriage” (Tommy McArdle, Elizabeth Leonard, and Daniel S. Levine, People)

• Kendrick Lamar

• Drake

• Cynthia Erivo

• Ariana Grande

• Wicked (John Chu, 2024)

• “The Internet Cannot Get Over Ariana Grande's Strange Finger Hold” (Matt Stopera, Yahoo)

• Sophia La Corte

• Spotify

• Bandcamp

• Joe Rogan

• Call Her Daddy (Alex Cooper)

• Alex Cooper

• “Vice President Kamala Harris” (Call Her Daddy)

• “‘Kamala IS brat’: Harris campaign goes lime-green to embrace the meme of the summer” (Alaina Demopoulos, The Guardian)

• “What to know about Kamala Harris' viral coconut tree meme: "You exist in the context of all in which you live"” (Li Cohen, CBS News)

• Beyoncé

• Megan Thee Stallion

• “Barbara Bush, Scion of Republican Royalty, Knocks on Doors for Kamala Harris” (Tim Balk, The New York Times)

• Read with Jenna

• Chappell Roan

• “Taylor Swift Endorses Kamala Harris” (Nicholas NehamasTheodore Schleifer and Nick Corasaniti, The New York Times)

• “'Our pain matters': Jennifer Lopez endorses Harris at Las Vegas rally” (The Guardian)

• Bernie Sanders

• Sabrina Carpenter

• Richard Gadd

• Baby Reindeer (USA)

• Serena Page

• Love Island USA (CBS)

• Tim Walz

• Moo Deng

• Ina Garten

• The Menedez Brothers

• Ryan Murphy

• Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (Netflix)

• “What we know about Luigi Mangione, suspect charged in UnitedHealthcare CEO's killing” (Alex Sundby, John Doyle, Layla Ferris, Laura Doan, Emma Li, Kerry Breen, CBS News)

• The Menendez Brothers (Netflix)

• Martha Stewart

• Martha (Netflix)

• Ryan Reynolds

• Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar

• GNX by Kendrick Lamar

• Adam Brody

• Nobody Wants This (Netflix)

• Strange Darling (J.T. Mollner, 2024)

• The Gutter (Yassir Lester & Isaiah Lester, 2024)

• Billy Maddison (Movie)

• Happy Gilmore (movie)

• Susan Sarandon

• My Old Ass (Megan Park, 2024)

• Scrambled (Leah McKendrick, 2024)

• The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024)

• Demi Moore

• Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

• Margaret Qualley

• Wicked by Gregory Maguire

• “The Wizard and I” by Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh

• “J.D. Vance didn’t have sex with a couch. But he’s still extremely weird.” (Rebecca Jennings, Vox)

• West Side Story (Steven Spielberg, 2021)

• West Side Story (Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, 1961)

• Chicago (Rob Marshall, 2002)

• Michelle Yeoh

• “Ariana Grande hosts ‘SNL’ for the first time since the last female presidential nominee” (Andrew Dalton, AP)

• “'Wicked' Stars Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo Break Down Viral 'Holding Space' Interview” (Variety)

• Blake Lively

• Jay-Z

• Diddy

• Jonathan Majors

• “Beyoncé's Mom Tina Knowles Says She Was Hacked After Her Account 'Liked' Post About Jay-Z Rape Allegation: 'That Is Not Me!'“ (Shyla Watson, People)

• “Did Beyoncé Change Her Name? What We Know” (Shannon Power, Newsweek)

• “Beyoncé will perform halftime during NFL Christmas Day Game: Here's what to know” (Caché McClay, USA Today)

• Justin Baldoni

• Boys Will Be Human by Justin Baldoni

• The Man Enough Podcast (Wayfarer Studio, LLC)

• It Ends with Us (Justin Baldoni, 2024)

• It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

• The Age Of Adaline (Lee Toland Krieger, 2015)

• Gossip Girl (USA)

• “Blake Lively’s Preserve: An Obituary” (Josh Duboff, Vanity Fair)

• “Blake Lively has been ‘tone deaf’ since her plantation wedding and promotion of slave owner ‘style’” (Martha Ross, The Mercury News)

• Reese Witherspoon

• “Ep. 325 It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover — The Stacks Book Club (Melissa Mogollon)” (The Stacks)

• Ellen Degeneres

• “Drake alleges Universal falsely inflated popularity of Kendrick Lamar diss track ‘Not Like Us’” (Andrew Dalton, AP)

• “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift

• Travis Kelce

• Ben Shapiro

• America’s Sweethearts (Netflix)

• Love is Blind (Netflix)

• Say Nothing (FX)

• Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

• All Fours by Miranda July

• “Ep. 350 The Best Books of 2024 with Greta Johnsen & MJ Franklin” (The Stacks)

• MJ Franklin

Connect with Sam: Instagram | Twitter | Into It | Vibe Check
Connect with Chelsea: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Glamorous Trash
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, Traci wraps up Nonfiction November by pairing audience-submitted books, moods, snacks, TV shows, and songs with 15 nonfiction book recommendations. This episode is packed with fresh titles to add to your TBR and inspire your next great read.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Nonfiction Book Generator on Substack

• Morgan Hoit Pager (@nycbookgirl)

• People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Llyod Parry

• Ladies Who Punch by Ramin Setoodeh

• “Unabridged: The DC Live Show with Jason Reynolds” (The Stacks)

• The View (ABC)

• Barbara Walters

• Whoopi Goldberg

• Rosie O’Donnell

• Donald Trump on The View

• Hilary Clinton on The View

• “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar

• GNX by Kendrick Lamar

• Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

• Native Son by Richard Wright

• Drake

• The Americans (FX)

• Keri Russell

• Matthew Rhys

• One Day in September by Simon Reeve

• 1972 Munich massacre

• Bad Faith (Stephen Ujlaki and Chris Jones, 2024)

• The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta

• Madoff: The Final Word by Richard Cohen

• Taste by Stanley Tucci

• Emily Blunt

• Felicity Blunt

• “No Woman, No Cry” by Bob Marley and the Wailers

• Breathe by Imani Perry

• Inside Out 2 (Kelsey Mann, 2024)

• Seek You by Kristen Radtke

• “Ep. 194 How We Understand Loneliness with Kristen Radtke” (The Stacks)

• Scopes Monkey Trial

• Harry Harlow’s “Pit of Despair” experiments

• “Si Una Vez” by Selena

• Magical/Realism by Vanessa Angélica Villareal

• Game of Thrones (HBO)

• National Book Award 2024 Longlist in Nonfiction

• I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This by Chelsea Devantez

• Wicked

• Wicked (Jon M. Chu, 2024)

• Wicked by Gregory Maguire

• “Defying Gravity”

• Sometimes I Trip on How Happy We Could Be by Nichole Perkins

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

• Bad Blood by John Carreyou

• Elizabeth Holmes

• “Bad Blood” by Taylor Swift

• The Cult of We by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell

• Adam Neumann

• Philadelphia (Johnathan Demme, 1993)

• Denzel Washington

• Tom Hanks

• Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman

• ACT UP

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

This is an abridged version of Traci’s live show “One for the Books.” This time, she’s joined by two incredible guests, Danzy Senna and Zach Stafford, for a conversation on Danzy's newest book Colored Television, passing narratives, and the word "mulatto". It's an evening filled with big laughs and even bigger questions around what it means to be mixed in America.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Colored Television by Danzy Senna

• LAist

• The Golden Girls (NBC)

• Golden Girls theme song parody

• Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)

• Step by Step (ABC)

• Suzzane Sommers

• Caucasia by Danzy Senna

• New People by Danzy Senna

• University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA )

• Drake

• “Not Like Us” (Kendrick Lamar, 2024)

• Frasier (NBC)

• A Different World (NBC)

• Girlfriends (UPN)

• The Jeffersons (CBS)

• Euphoria (HBO)

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

• “Ep.336 Blackness is the Ingredient with Danzy Senna” (The Stacks)

• A Strange Loop (Michael R. Jackson, 2019)

• Vibe Check (Stitcher)

• Sam Sanders

• Show Boat (George Sidney, 1951)

• Passing (Rebecca Hall, 2021)

• Passing by Nella Larsen

• Walter White

• Breaking Bad (AMC)

• Kamala Harris

• Barack Obama

• The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

• Ta-Nehisi Coates interview on CBS

• Bel Canto Books (Long Beach, CA)

• Ta-Nehisi Coates on The Daily Show

• Michelle Obama

• How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev

• Zoë Kravitz

• Lenny Kravitz

• Lisa Bonet

• Thomas Jefferson

• Steph Curry

• Loving v. Virginia

• The Kardashians

• Zendaya

• Tom Holland

• Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White

• Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

• David Sedaris

• Kerry Washington

• The Secret by Rhonda Byrne

• Mary Oliver

• Beloved by Toni Morrison

• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville

• Muffuletta

• Mocha Moolatte

• Dunkin' Donuts

• Good Morning America Book Club

• Quicksand by Nella Larsen

Connect with Danzy: Facebook | Website
Connect with Zach: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, we’re joined by George M. Johnson, author of Flamboyants, to explore the often-overlooked Black queer icons of the Harlem Renaissance. George discusses why they chose to write about these influential figures and how they used rumors and gossip as historical sources to bring these stories to life. We also dive into the current wave of book banning, exploring what’s truly driving it and the common misconceptions surrounding this troubling trend. It’s a powerful conversation about history, censorship, and resilience.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Flamboyants by George M. Johnson

• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

• Charly Palmer

• Stonewall Riots

• Countee Cullen

• Jimmie Daniels

• Gladys Bentley

• Langston Hughes

• Looking for Langston (Isaac Julien, 1989)

• Zora Neale Hurston

• Patti LaBelle

• Patti LaBelle on Watch What Happens Live

• Luther Vandross

• Bruce Vilanch

• Thomas Jefferson

• W. E. B. Du Bois

• Bessie Smith

• The Life of Herod the Great by Zora Neale Hurston

• Octavia E. Butler

• “Ep. 330 Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler — The Stacks Book Club (Emily Raboteau)” (The Stacks)

• “Years after her death, science-fiction writer Octavia E. Butler lands on bestseller list” (Sarah Laing, The Globe and Mail)

• James Baldwin

• Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

• Their Eyes Were Watching God (Darnell Martin, 2005)

• Passing by Nella Larsen

• Passing (Rebecca Hall, 2021)

• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

• Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson

• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

• Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

• Glenn Youngkin

• Terry McAuliffe

• Moms for Liberty

• “Day 1 -- Banned Books in The Stacks with Katrina Stokes and Thursday Williams” (The Stacks)

• Banned Books Week

• Josephine Baker

• Living Single (Fox)

• Girlfriends (UPN, The CW)

• Catfish (MTV)

• Major Crimes (TNT)

• Rizzoli & Isles (TNT)

• Castle (ABC)

• The Golden Girls (NBC)

• Hot Cheese Popcorn

• Smoke, Lilies and Jade by Richard Bruce Nugent

• The New Negro by Alain Locke

• The New Negro by Jeffrey C. Stewart

• Jeremy Pope

Connect with George: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• I’m Judging You by Luvvie Ajayi Jones

• Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones

• Rising Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones

• Little Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones

• The Book Academy

• Luvvie’s Thread on Book Covers (July 3, 2024)

• I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy

• A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

• The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

• Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

• You’ll Never Believe Me by Kari Ferrell

• Scam Goddess by Laci Mosley

• Scam Goddess (Earwolf)

• American Bulk by Emily Mester

• How to Tell When We Will Die by Johanna Hedva

• “Sick Woman Theory” (Johanna Hedva, Topical Cream)

• Maggie Nelson

• Tiffany Aliche

• Tomi Adeyemi

• “Ep. 231 At the End of Every Day There's a Book with Lisa Lucas” (The Stacks)

• The Stacks Instagram

• Win with Black Women

• Beyoncé

• Mini Stacks reading list (Bookshop)

Connect with Luvvie: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

*This episode is exclusive to members of The Stacks Pack on Patreon and our Substack subscribers. To join a community, get inside access to the show, and listen now, click the link below.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

Gilbert Cruz

• “The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century” (The New York Times Book Review)

• The New York Times Books Review

• The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

• The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen

• The Upshot

• Vulture

• There There by Tommy Orange

• Alice Munro

• Republican National Convention

• Democratic National Convention

• Olympic Games

• Sight and Sound - The Greatest Films of All Time

• NYT Most Notable Books (The New York Times Book Review)

• NYT Top Ten Books of the Year (The New York Times Book Review)

• Pulitzer Prize

• National Book Award

• Booker Prize

• Nobel Prize in Literature

• George Saunders

• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

• My Struggle, Book 1 by Karl Ove Knausgaard

• “Readers Pick Their 100 Best Books of the 21st Century” (The New York Times Book Review)

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

• Amor Towles

• Colleen Hoover

• The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea

• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

• What Is the What by Dave Eggers

• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

• Sally Rooney

• The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

• Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

• 3 Critics + 100 Books = Something to Argue About (The New York Times)

• Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe

• Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

• Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

The Panel Discussion

• Lauren Groff

• “June 2024 Ranked Reading Recap” (Sara Hildreth, Fiction Matters Substack)

• “My June Reads Ranked” (Traci Thomas, Unstacked)

• Usain Bolt

• George Saunders

• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

• “The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century” (The NYT Book Review podcast)

• The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

• The Help by Katherine Stockett

• Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

• “The 10 Best Books of the 21st Century according to…” (The New York Times)

• Marlon James

• On Writing by Stephen King

• “Simply the Best: The New York Times asked, and I answered.” (Jennifer Weiner, The Inevitable Substack)

• Roxana Robinson

• Traci’s Top 10 (@thestackspod)

• Sara’s Top 10 (@fictionmatters)

• “[Lupita's] Best Books of the 21st Century” (Lupita Aquino, Lupita Reads Substack)

• Heavy by Kiese Laymon

• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

• Goodreads

• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

• Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

• Jon Krakauer

• “Reading in Public No. 44: What do we mean when we call a book ‘the best’?” (Sara Hildreth, Fiction Matters Substack)

• Italo Calvino

• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

• Edinburgh by Alexander Chee

• Trust by Hernan Diaz

• Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

• Pastoralia by George Saunders

• Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

• Louise Erdrich

• 3 Critics + 100 Books = Something to Argue About (The New York Times)

• National Book Award

• Bernie Lombardi

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

• There There by Tommy Orange

• In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

• Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

• Bel Canto by Ann Pachett

• A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

• Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

• Stay True by Hua Hsu

• A Mercy by Toni Morrison

• “Ep. 208 A Mercy by Toni Morrison -- The Stacks Book Club (Imani Perry)” (The Stacks)

• Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

• Patrick Radden Keefe

• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

• The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan

• The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

• My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

• We the Animals by Justin Torres

• The LA Times Festival of Books

• Blackouts by Justin Torres

Connect with Gilbert: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with Sara: Instagram | Novel Pairings | Substack
Connect with Hunter: Instagram | Website | Substack
Connect with Lupita: Instagram | Twitter | Substack
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.

Los Angeles photographer Aaron Jay Young visits The Stacks Unabridged to discuss Queen, a portrait book celebrating the art of drag. We learn how his book came to be and what he’s learned about the performance of gender through photographing drag queens. Aaron also reveals how he approaches his subjects to get the right shot.

JOIN PATREON OR SUBSTACK TO LISTEN

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find what we talked about on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

• Queen by Aaron Jay Young

• Aaron Jay Young photographs The Stacks Book Bash (@thestackspod)

• RuPaul’s DragCon

• RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV)

• RuPaul

• Comic-Con

• Glen Alen

• Palm Springs, CA

• Bianca Del Rio

• RuPaul's Drag Race season 6

• Anti-Recidivism Coalition (Los Angeles, CA)

• Richard Avedon

• Annie Leibovitz

• Mark Seliger

• Ruvén Afanador

• Ryan Pfluger

• Book a Shoot with Aaron

Connect with Aaron: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Queen the Book
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. This in no way effects opinions on books and products reviewed here. For more information click here.