
Today marks the start of our third year here at The Stacks, and there is no better way to celebrate than by talking a whole lot about books! Thank you to all our listeners for their love and support, we can’t wait for year three! Make sure to listen to the introduction today to hear about some exciting changes to the podcast.
Our Guest today is Brandon Taylor, debut author of one of 2020’s buzziest books, Real Life. We talk today about releasing a book into the world, the similarities between science and art, and much more.
The Stacks Book Club selection for April is Trust Exercise by Susan Choi, we will discuss the book with Brandon Taylor on April 29th.
LISTEN NOW
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher
Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.
Books
- Real Life by Brandon Taylor
- Alexander Chee
- A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
- Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl by Jeannie Vanasco
- In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado
- Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel
- The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood
- The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith
- The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
- Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman
- Cleanness by Garth Greenwell

- Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
- Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
- How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang
- To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
- Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
- Severance by Ling Ma
- False Papers by André Aciman
- Blue Nights by Joan Didion
- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
- Agnes Martin by Nancy Princenthal
- Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
- Henry James
- The White Album by Joan Didion
- Lancaster and York by Alison Weir
- William Shakespeare
- Little by Edward Carry
- Another Country by James Baldwin
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville
- The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
- My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard
- In West Mills by De’Shawn Charles Winslow
- How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee
- Hannah Arendt
- Rebecca Solnit
Everything Else
- Libro.Fm Playlist
- “Ep. 89 Staying True to Yourself with Jason Reynolds” (The Stacks)
- Electric Literartue Recommended Reading
- Brandon Taylor at Literary Hub
- University of Wisconsin at Madison
- The University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop
- The Crane Wife by CJ Hauser
- “Working In Science Was A Brutal Education. That’s Why I Left.” (Brandon Taylor, Buzzfeed News)
- “Black Gay Writers Deserve to Tell Our Stories. Brandon Taylor’s Real Life Achieves That and More” (Michael Arceneaux, Time)
- Carol (Todd Haynes, 2015)
- Cate Blanchet
- Riverhead
- #Bookstagram
- TikTok
- Vine
Connect with Brandon: Twitter | Instagram | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe
To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.
To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. We are beyond grateful for anything you’re able to give to support the production of this show. If you prefer to do 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.