
Today we’re joined by musician and DJ Novena Carmel, cohost of KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. We get into our childhood reading habits, Novena’s radio show experience, and curating a playlist for the city. We also discuss finding one’s own rhythm, being the daughter of a music legend, and the power of vibrations.
The Stacks Book Club selection for May is Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop by Danyel Smith. We will discuss the book on May 25th with Novena Carmel.
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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
- The Berenstain Bears by Jan and Stan Berenstain
- Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal
- The Babysitters Club by Ann M. Martin
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
- Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown

- Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward
- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- Stakes Is High by Mychal Denzel Smith
- The Book of Joy by Douglas Carlton Abrams, Desmond Tutu, Dalai Lama
- A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
- The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
- The Mysticism of Sound and Music by Hazrat Inayat Khan
- Aja Monet
- What Do You Do with an Idea? by Kobi Yamada
- Little Monkey Calms Down by Michael Dahl
- Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard on You? by George Clinton
- Toni Morrison
- Sula by Toni Morrison
- Toni Cade Bambara
- Alice Walker
- John Steinbeck
- Octavia E. Butler
- 1984 by George Orwell
- James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
- The Twits by Roald Dahl
- The BFG by Roald Dahl
- The Witches by Roald Dahl
- Matilda by Roald Dahl
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
- The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
- James Baldwin
- Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey
- Shine Bright by Danyel Smith
Everything Else
- Morning Becomes Eclectic (KCRW)
- Anthony Valadez
- I Wish (Stevie Wonder, 1976)
- I Wish (Atomic Forest, 2019)
- Sly Stone
- Sly and the Family Stone
- Summer of Soul (Questlove, 2021)
- “Questlove to Direct Sly Stone Documentary” (Allison Hussey, Pitchfork)
- James Blake
- Rosalía
- Black Coffee
- Kaytranada
- Dawn FM (The Weeknd, 2022)
- Solange Knowles
- Tame Impala
- “Ep. 166 Who Do We Want to Be with Mychal Denzel Smith” (The Stacks)
- Desmond Tutu
- Dalai Lama
- Natasha Diggs
- Dua Lipa
- Eso Won Books (Los Angeles, CA)
- The Salt Eaters Bookshop (Los Angeles, CA)
- Reparations Club (Los Angeles, CA)
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