
To celebrate the one year anniversary of The Stacks Unabridged, brilliant author and friend of the pod Kiese Laymon is back to interview Traci! We debate the merits of talking bad about books, and explain why a little hate is a good thing for books. We also touch on politics, overrated book club picks, and name the Splash Brothers of writing.
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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.

- “Unabridged: Kiese Laymon Asks the Best Questions (Episode 1)” (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)
- Breathe by Imani Perry
- Looking for Lorraine by Imani Perry
- Vexy Thing by Imani Perry
- South to America by Imani Perry
- The 2022 Primetime Emmys
- Jennifer Coolidge
- The White Lotus (HBO)
- Dopesick (Hulu)
- Beth Macy
- Michael Keaton
- Rosario Dawson
- Heavy by Kiese Laymon
- LeBron James
- Goodreads
- Damon Young
- Washington Post Book Review
- New York Times Book Review
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Spiegel & Grau
- Chris Jackson
- Renaissance (Beyoncé, 2022)
- Yelp
- The Infatuation
- The New York Times Restaurant Review
- Eater
- The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
- Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
- “Ep. 231 At the End of Every Day There’s a Book with Lisa Lucas” (The Stacks)
- Long Division by Kiese Laymon
- The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
- The Stacks’ Instagram Post on Book Reviews (October 12, 2021)
- The Little Mermaid (2023)
- The Starry Night by Van Gogh
- Pablo Picasso
- Musée d’Orsay
- Louvre
- Quentin Tarantino
- Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012)
- Gladys Knight & the Pips
- Pardon the Interruption (ESPN)
- At the Movies with Siskel & Ebert (ABC)
- The Sopranos (HBO)
- Stakes is High by Mychal Denzel Smith
- “Ep. 166 Who Do We Want to Be with Mychal Denzel Smith” (The Stacks)
- White Negroes by Lauren Michele Jackson
- “Ep. 221 White Negroes by Lauren Michele Jackson — The Stacks Book Club (David Dennis Jr.)” (The Stacks)
- Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
- “Ep. 100 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo — The Stacks Book Club (August McLaughlin)” (The Stacks)
- Educated by Tara Westover
- “Ep. 78 Educated by Tara Westover — The Stacks Book Club (Sarah Enni)” (The Stacks)
- The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander
- “Ep. 72 The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander — The Stacks Book Club (Dani McClain)” (The Stacks)
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018)
- Ryan Coogler
- Pineapple tidbits
- “Ep. 193 Betting on the Kids with Angelina Jolie and Tokata Iron Eyes” (The Stacks)
- “Ep. 172 The Art vs. The Artist with Quentin Tarantino” (The Stacks)
- “Ep. 176 Leaving a Record of History with Adam Serwer” (The Stacks)
- David Dennis Jr.
- “Ep. 217 Surviving in the Face of Death with David Dennis Jr.” (The Stacks)
- “The Short Stacks 22: Ibram X. Kendi//How to be an Antiracist” (The Stacks)
- “Ep. 220 Spread Love It’s the Brooklyn Way with Justin Tinsley” (The Stacks)
- Los Angeles Festival of Books
- Derecka Purnell
- Andscape
- It Was All a Dream by Justin Tinsley
- Splash Brothers
- Steph Curry
- Klay Thompson
- Around the Horn (ESPN)
- “The Mississippi welfare fraud involving Brett Favre, explained” (Jack Meserve, Vox)
- “In Jackson, Mississippi, a water crisis of unparalleled scale” (Emmanuel Felton, Washington Post)
- Check your voter registration status here
- Baby Orca: Finger Puppet Book
Connect with Kiese: Twitter | Instagram | Website
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