Unabridged: The First Ever “Ask Me Anything” with Traci Thomas

March 31, 2022March 30, 2022 ~ TheStacksPodcast ~ Leave a comment

You all asked, and Traci answered. Today’s bonus episode is all the answers to your questions about everything and anything ranging from the new MLB rules, to travel, to episodes of the show. It’s an “ask me anything” mailbag. Enjoy!

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

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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 Amazon.

Hiroshima Nagasaki by Paul Ham
The People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry
The Pope and Mussolini by David I. Ketzer
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum (Hiroshima, Japan)
Musée de l’Armée (Paris, France)
Bryan Stevenson
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice (Montgomery, AL)
The Legacy Museum (Montgomery, AL)
“Ep. 122 Breathe by Imani Perry–The Stacks Book Club (Kiese Laymon)” (The Stacks)
Kiese Laymon
“Ep. 172 The Art vs. The Artist with Quentin Tarantino” (The Stacks)
“Quentin Tarantino – WTF with Marc Maron” (WTF with Marc Maron, Marc Maron)
“#1675 – Quentin Tarantino” (The Joe Rogan Experience, Spotify)
“Quentin Tarantino: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Real Time with Bill Maher, HBO)
Spice Girls
Wannabe by Spice Girls
Spice World (Spice Girls, 1997)
The Lady is a Vamp by Spice Girls
Toni Morrison
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Michelle Obama
Jon Krakauer
“MLB Finalizes Rule Changes for 2022 Regular Season & Beyond” (SI.com)
Shohei Ohtani
Madison Bumgarner
Adele
Dua Lipa
‘The Shady Legal Squatter w/Traci Thomas” (Scam Goddess, Earwof & Laci Mosley)
“Draymond Green Suspended, LeBron James Given Technical Foul for Altercation” (Tyler Conway, Bleacher Report)
Chris Rock
Will Smith
A League of Their Own (Penny Marshall, 1992)
Zendaya
Euphoria (HBO)
Eric Dane
Tom Hanks
Sydney Sweeney
Maude Apatow
Hunter Schafer
Lori Petty
Alexa Demie
Madonna
Barbie Ferreira
Rosie O’Donnell
Dominic Fike
Bill Pullman
Sula by Toni Morrison
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Anne Bogel
“WSIRN Ep 162: The best bad ending you’ll ever read” (What Should I Read Next?, Wondery)
“Book gifts are the BEST gifts” (What Should I Read Next?, Wondery)
“Ep. 77 It’s OK to Hate a Book with Sarah Enni” (The Stacks)
First Draft with Sarah Enni (Sarah Enni)
Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson
The Pulitzer Prizes
National Book Awards
How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraquib
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
“Ep. 109 Trust Exercise by Susan Choi — The Stacks Book Club (Brandon Taylor)” (The Stacks)
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

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.

Ep. 208 A Mercy by Toni Morrison — The Stacks Book Club (Imani Perry)

March 30, 2022September 6, 2022 ~ TheStacksPodcast ~ Leave a comment

Today on The Stacks Book Club we speak again with Imani Perry, author of the New York Times bestselling South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon Line to Understand the Soul of a Nation. In our discussion of Toni Morrison’s novel A Mercy, we talk destroying ourselves over heartbreak, treating people tenderly and the book’s central metaphor of the house. We also touch on the seduction of beauty, and breathlessness.
There are spoilers on this episode.

Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our April book club pick will be!

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. You can also find everything we talked about on Amazon.

A Mercy by Toni Morrison
South to America by Imani Perry
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
“Ep. 34 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison – The Stacks Book Club (Renée Hicks)” (The Stacks)
Beloved by Toni Morrison
“Ep. 60 Beloved by Toni Morrison – The Stacks Book Club (DaMaris B. Hill)” (The Stacks)
Sula by Toni Morrison
“Ep. 126 Sula by Toni Morrison – The Stacks Book Club (Brit Bennett)” (The Stacks)
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
“Ep. 191 Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison – The Stacks Book Club (Dawnie Walton)” (The Stacks)
Passing by Nella Larsen
Dreaming Emmett by Toni Morrison
Desdemona by Toni Morrison
The Century Cycle by August Wilson
DaMaris B. Hill
Joe Rogan
Mama’s Maybe, Papa’s Baby by Hortense Spillers
The Bible
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (David Mallet & Steven Pimlott, 2000)
Roots (ABC)
The Gilded Age (HBO)
Bridgerton (Netflix)
Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)
Vivien Leigh
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
The Lehman Trilogy (Stefano Massini, 2013)
“Ep. 200 Passing by Nella Larsen – The Stacks Book Club (Cree Myles)” (The Stacks)
Join The Stacks virtual book club!
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Jesmyn Ward
James Baldwin
The Case for Rage by Myisha Cherry
Belly of the Beast by Da’Shaun L Harrison
Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)
“Original Sins” (David Gates, The New York Times)
Paradise by Toni Morrison
Doppelgangbanger by Cortney Lamar Charleston

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. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

Ep. 207 Breaking Through the Black/White Binary with Julissa Arce

March 23, 2022September 6, 2022 ~ TheStacksPodcast ~ Leave a comment

Today we’re joined by Julissa Arce, author, and education and immigration activist. On this episode we have a conversation around Julissa’s third book, You Sound Like a White Girl: A Case for Rejecting Assimilation. We talk about the myths around U.S. citizenship, colorism in Latine communities, plus the histories that the Black-white binary excludes.

The Stacks Book Club selection for March is A Mercy by Toni Morrison we will discuss the book on March 30th with Imani Perry.

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. You can also find everything we talked about on Amazon.

You Sound Like a White Girl by Julissa Arce
My (Underground) American Dream by Julissa Arce
Someone Like Me by Julissa Arce
Vicente Guerrero
Ted Cruz
Marco Rubio
Selena Quintanilla
“Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” (Selena Quintanilla, 1994)
Selena Gomez
Rare Beauty
The “One-Drop” Rule
Code Switch (NPR)
“Who You Calling ‘Hispanic’?” (Code Switch, NPR)
Javier Bardem
“Hilaria Baldwin’s Spanish accent and suspect origin story, explained” (Alex Abad-Santos, Vox.com)
South to America by Imani Perry
Watermelon La Croix
Waterloo Sparkling Water
Game of Thrones: Season 8 (Music from the HBO Series) (Ramin Djawadi)
Succession: Season 1 (HBO Original Series Soundtrack) (Nicholas Britell)
Lisa Leshne
Manifest Destinies by Laura E. Gómez
Finding Latinx by Paola Ramos
How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev
Working Toward Whiteness by David R. Roediger
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
A Ballad of Love and Glory by Reyna Grande
An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz

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. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

Ep. 206 Who Are You Loving When You Write with Destiny O. Birdsong

March 16, 2022September 6, 2022 ~ TheStacksPodcast ~ Leave a comment

Our guest today is author and poet Destiny O. Birdsong. Destiny’s debut novel, Nobody’s Magic, is about three Black women with Albinism in Shreveport, LA. We talk about the ways Destiny approached representation and nuance when writing about Albinism, her personal training ground for crafting dialogue, and the pressures people can feel around grief.

The Stacks Book Club selection for March is A Mercy by Toni Morrison we will discuss the book on March 30th with Imani Perry.

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. You can also find everything we talked about on Amazon.

Nobody’s Magic by Destiny O. Birdsong
Leaving Atlanta by Tayari Jones
Negotiations by Destiny O. Birdsong
Thando Hopa
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
Sula by Toni Morrison
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
Lucille Clifton
Harriet Jacobs

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. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

Ep. 205 Finding Ways to Heal with Stephanie Foo

March 9, 2022September 6, 2022 ~ TheStacksPodcast ~ Leave a comment

Stephanie Foo is a writer and radio producer, most recently on This American Life, and she is the author of What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma. Today we talk about Stephanie’s journey toward healing from Complex PTSD , fighting model minority stereotype, and the lasting impact of generational trauma.

The Stacks Book Club selection for March is A Mercy by Toni Morrison we will discuss the book on March 30th with Imani Perry.

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. You can also find everything we talked about on Amazon.

What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
It’s-It Ice Cream
Mott Haven Academy Charter School
The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang
Katherine Wang
Grace Han
“When your inheritance is to look away” (C Pam Zhang, The New Yorker)
A Mercy by Toni Morrison
The Stacks Book Club
Kat Chow
Milk & Pull (Brooklyn, NY)
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
Seeing Ghosts by Kat Chow
Journey Through Trauma by Gretchen L. Schmelzer
Pema Chodron
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Libro.FM
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo (audiobook)

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. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

Ep. 204 A Journey South with Imani Perry

March 2, 2022September 6, 2022 ~ TheStacksPodcast ~ Leave a comment

Imani Perry is the author of seven books including her latest, the New York Times bestselling, South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon Line to Understand the Soul of a Nation. She is an American interdisciplinary scholar of race, law, literature, and African-American culture, and the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. Imani shares with us today about her writing process, inspirations, and sweet tooth.

The Stacks Book Club selection for March is A Mercy by Toni Morrison. e will discuss the book on March 30th with Imani Perry.

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. You can also find everything we talked about on Amazon.

Books

South to America by Imani Perry
Breathe by Imani Perry
South to America by Imani Perry (audiobook)
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Jorge Luis Borges
The Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall

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The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Nell Painter
A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
The Evidence of Things Not Seen by James Baldwin
Albert Murray
Moses, Man of the Mountain by Zora Neale Hurston
On Beauty and Being Just by Elaine Scarry
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Wench by by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Balm by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Kiese Laymon
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Sarah M. Broom
The Trayvon Generation by Elizabeth Alexander
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Jason Reynolds
May We Forever Stand by Imani Perry
Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou
I’ll Take My Stand introduction by Susan V. Donaldson
Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
A Small Place by Jamaica Kingcaid
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Memoirs by Pablo Neruda
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
A Mercy by Toni Morrison

Everything Else

“Ep. 122 Breathe by Imani Perry — The Stacks Book Club (Kiese Laymon)” (The Stacks)
Family Search
Ancestry.com
23 and Me
Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)
“#VelshiBannedBookClub Reimagines ‘To Kill a Mockingbird'” (MSNBC)
“Why ‘White’ should be capitalized, too” (Nell Irvin Painter, The Washington Post)
Ask the Stacks
Under the Banner of Heaven (Hulu)
Tick Tick…Boom! (Lin Manuel-Miranda, 2021)
Andrew Garfield
“Why Imani Perry doesn’t like Jane Austen novels” (The New York Times)
Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)
Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee and Books (Philadelphia, PA)
Harriett’s Bookshop (Philadelphia, PA)
Charis Books and More (Decatur, GA)
Harvard Book Store (Cambridge, MA)
Women and Children First (Chicago, IL)
Unabridged Bookstore (Chicago, IL)
“Ep. 89 Staying True to Yourself with Jason Reynolds” (The Stacks)
“Ep. 2 Exit West by Mohsin Hamid — The Stacks Book Club (Dallas Lopez)” (The Stacks)

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. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks Book Club — March 2022

March 1, 2022March 1, 2022 ~ TheStacksPodcast ~ Leave a comment

Once a year we read a Toni Morrison novel for The Stacks Book Club, and the time has come in 2022, to take on one of her later works, A Mercy.

Written in 2008, A Mercy is set in late 17th century colonial America and centers the inhabitants of a farm in New York. We meet the European farmer and the wife he purchased, an Indigenous woman, a Black enslaved child, two indentured servants, and more. Morrison explores the complexity of ideas like ownership, community, and the evolution of the systems that have come to define America.

We will be discussing A Mercy by Toni Morrison on Wednesday, March 30th. You can find out who our guest will be for that discussion by listening to the podcast on March 2nd. If you’d like even more discussion around the book consider joining The Stacks Pack on Patreon and participating in The Stacks’ monthly virtual book club.

Order your copy of our March book on Bookshop.org or Amazon. Or listen to it as an audiobook with Libro.FM.

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.