Ep. 252 Begging to Go to the Library with Mina Kimes

Award-winning ESPN reporter Mina Kimes joins the show to share her love of reading and the one book that inspired her career. Mina reveals how she ended up in sports journalism, how she handles online harassment, and what she would change if she were suddenly appointed NFL commissioner.

The Stacks Book Club selection for February is The Round House by Louise Erdrich. We will discuss the book on February 22nd with Mina Kimes.

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

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Mina: Instagram | Twitter | The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny 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.

Unabridged: The Best of Mariah Carey

January was Mariah Month at The Stacks! This Unabridged episode is dedicated to the pop icon and author of our Book Club pick The Meaning of Mariah Carey. To celebrate, we brought back some friends of the podcast to share their favorite Mariah moments and songs. Plus, Traci shares her own faves.

*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.

JOIN THE STACKS PACK 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 Amazon.

Pictured clockwise from top left: Cree Myles, Brandon Kyle Goodman, Mariah Carey, Chelsea Devantez, Hanif Abdurraqib, Vella Lovell, Dawnie Walton.

Connect with Chelsea:  Instagram | Twitter | Website | Celebrity Book Club
Connect with Brandon: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with Vella: Instagram | Twitter
Connect with Hanif: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Object of Sound
Connect with Cree: Instagram | TwitterAll Ways Black
Connect with Dawnie: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Ursa
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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. 251 The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey — The Stacks Book Club (Chelsea Devantez)

Chelsea Devantez, host of the Celebrity Book Club podcast, returns to discuss our January Book Club pick The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis. In breaking down her memoir, we get into Mariah’s relationships, her experience of race and her dynamic with her parents. We also couldn’t help but compare aspects of Mariah’s story to what Prince Harry shares in his new memoir Spare.

Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our book club pick will be in February 2023.

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

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Chelsea: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Celebrity Book Club
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.

Ep. 250 A Litany of Abuses with Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham

Today we’re joined by two award-winning journalists from the field of criminal justice and police misconduct. Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham have coauthored the book The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland, an exposé following many years of investigation of The Oakland Police Department. We get into why they wanted to write about the OPD in the first place, and ask whether the police can be reformed. We also discuss how the authors feel their own identities played into their writing of the book.

The Stacks Book Club selection for January is The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis. We will discuss the book on January 25th with Chelsea Devantez.

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

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Ali: Twitter Connect with Darwin: 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,

Ep. 249 The Vibe is Really Gnarly with Aubrey Gordon

Author, activist and podcaster Aubrey Gordon talks to us today about her brand new second book – “You Just Need to Lose Weight”: And 19 Other Myths about Fat People. She addresses the challenge of writing a book for both fat and thin people, and explains why she was initially apprehensive about “myth-busting.” We also discuss what’s wrong with how we frame fatness, why BMI is unreliable, and the problem with body positivity.

The Stacks Book Club selection for January is The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis. We will discuss the book on January 25th with Chelsea Devantez.

LISTEN NOW

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher | Transcript

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

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Aubrey: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Maintenance Phase
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.

Ep. 248 For the Love of Celebrity Memoirs with Chelsea Devantez

Comedian and Emmy-nominated TV and film writer Chelsea Devantez joins our first Stacks episode of 2023. Her Celebrity Book Club podcast breaks down celeb memoirs with a roster of Chelsea’s funniest friends. We get into how Chelsea started the show, and why she wants to spend time lifting up the stories of the rich and famous. We also ask ourselves why we love to hate these books so much.

The Stacks Book Club selection for January is The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey with Michaela Angela Davis. We will discuss the book on January 25th with Chelsea Devantez.

LISTEN NOW

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher | Transcript

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

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Chelsea: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Celebrity Book Club
Connect with The Stacks: 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.

The Stacks Book Club – January 2023

Our first Stacks Book Club selection of the year is the 2020 autobiography The Meaning of Mariah Carey, by Mariah Carey written along with Michaela Angela Davis. Mariah is a global icon in pop and R&B music. In this memoir, the artist and legendary vocalist recounts the many highs and lows of her personal and professional struggles – the triumphs and traumas that had thus far been reported on by everyone but Mariah herself, on her own terms. Mariah on her book: “I let the abandoned and ambitious adolescent have her say, and the betrayed and triumphant woman I became tell her side. Writing this memoir was incredibly hard, humbling and healing. My sincere hope is that you are moved to a new understanding, not only about me, but also about the resilience of the human spirit.”

We will discuss The Meaning of Mariah Carey by Mariah Carey on Wednesday, January 25th. You can find out who our guest will be by listening to the podcast on January 4th. 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 January book on Bookshop.org and Amazon, or listen to the audiobook.


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.

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. For more information click here.

Introducing The Stackies

The Stacks Pack is The Stacks community on Patreon. They are the most ardent fans of the show, and they believe in putting their money behind this little indie book podcast. I am forever grateful for this generous community. This year, as all the book awards and best of lists were coming out, The Stacks Pack was not into what they were seeing. There were lively debates happening on The Stacks discord channel, and one TSP member decided we should have our own awards. And thus, The Stackies were born.

Before I get to the awards themselves I have to say thank you to Elisah who put together the form and ran ran all the rounds of voting. She is a rock star and I am so grateful she took the reins when I simply could not.

The nominations and voting was open only to members of The Stacks Pack. There was one round of nominations, one round of general voting, and one round for finalists. Then we arrived at the below winners. I have included the winners and the finalists in each category. The winners are in bold. They are also all hyperlinked to bookshop.org so you can shop while you read.

If you want to join all the fun of The Stacks Pack please head to patreon.com/thestacks to join in. You earn awesome perks (bonus episodes, the aforementioned discord, virtual book club, reading tracker, and more) and you get to know your money (only $5 a month) is going toward a Black woman run independent book podcast. C’mon, that’s five dollars well spent.

Without further ado, here are the winners of the first ever The Stackies.

Best Debut

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo

Best Literary/Contemporary Fiction

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

Best Nonfiction

Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones
Shine Bright by Danyel Smith
South to America by Imani Perry
The Viral Underclass by Steven W. Thrasher

Best Memoir

Finding Me by Viola Davis
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jenette McCurdy
Solito by Javier Zamora
The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

Best Romance

Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola
You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Babel by R. F. Kuang
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Best Short Story Collection

Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana

Best Essay Collection

How to Read Now by Elaine Castillo
Son of Elsewhere by Elamin Abdelmahmoud
Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong

Best Young Adult

Bitter by Alkwaeke Emezi
Kings of B’More by R. Eric Thomas
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes

Best Graphic Memoir or Novel

A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings by Will Betke-Brunswick
Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin
Ducks by Kate Beaton

Best Cover

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
Shine Bright by Danyel Smith
What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo
You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Best Main Character

Bloodmarked by Tracy Deon
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz
The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

Best Representation

The Town of Babylon by Alejandro Varela
Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong
You Made a Fool of Death with your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

Best The Stacks Book Club Book

Passing by Nella Larsen
Shine Bright by Danyel Smith
The Trees by Percival Everett

Best Bookstore

Green Apple Books – San Francisco, CA
Loyalty Bookstores – Washington DC
Reparations Club – Los Angeles, CA
Uncle Bobbie’s – Philadelphia, PA

Funniest Book

Allow Me to Retort by Elie Mystal
Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou
I Was Better Last Night by Harvey Fierstein

Book That Made You The Angriest

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
The Viral Underclass by Steven W. Thrasher
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Most Hated Book

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman


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.

The Best Things We Read in 2022

Dear Listeners,

Of all the lists and awards that are reigned down on books at the end of the year, this list is my most favorite. I have reached out to past guests from The Stacks in 2022 and asked them to share with us their favorite book they read this year, and the one book in 2023 they’re looking forward to. I love the list because, as you know, The Stacks’ guests have the best taste in books, and the list is unlike what you get in every other publication. My guests have range.

I hope you enjoy reconnecting with the many voices from our 2022 season.


Cree Myles
Curator behind Penguin Random House’s All Ways Black

The best book I read in 2022 was Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin. As a lover of Jordan Peele I wanted to make sure I spent some time with the OG and Levin didn’t disappoint. A masterclass in social commentary, Levin uses the genre of horror to explore how little control women had over their bodies in the 1960s.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

Cree was our guest for Episode 197, where she discussed her project All Ways Black, and for Episode 200, where she discussed our book club pick Passing by Nella Larsen.


Tessa Miller
Author of What Doesn’t Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness – Lessons from a Body in Revolt 

As a composition professor, the best thing I read in 2022 was Other People’s English by Vershawn Ashanti Young. It’s a strong rebuke of code-switching ideology and an endorsement of code-meshing, which encourages speakers and writers to draw on their entire linguistic repertoires (even, and especially, in academic settings where language standards are steeped in racism). 

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Year of the Tiger by Alice Wong. 

Tessa was our guest for Episode 201, where she discussed her book What Doesn’t Kill You and Episode 203, where she discussed our book club pick I Live a Life Like Yours by Jan Grue.


Katrina Stokes
Director of the Warren County – Vicksburg Public Library

I had the pleasure of reading the Graphic Adaptation of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower this year. This book holds special distinction for me because the artist of this fantastic adaptation is John Jennings, who grew up not far from where I live in Mississippi. This novel is a Hugo Award Winner for Best Graphic Story. Octavia Butler’s novel is one of the most realistic and believable works of dystopian fiction I’ve ever read. It’s compelling and detailed, with exceptional character and plot development. It pulls you so far into the story that you can’t stop turning the pages until you’ve reached the end. I highly recommend it!

Katrina was our guest for Day 1 of Banned Books Week, where she talked about curating a collection and the process of banning a book in public libraries.


Stephanie Foo
Author of What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

I read a lot of great books this year, but perhaps the most worldview-altering was Disability Visibilityedited by Alice Wong, which provided such a nuanced and diverse understanding of what it means to be disabled today. It was by turns enraging, optimistic and empowering, and even convinced me to self-identify as disabled, a terminology I had previously rejected because of its stigma.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: I have bell hooks’ All About Love on my shelf and I haven’t started it yet, but am very excited to finally get to a timeless classic.

Stephanie was our guest on Episode 205, where she discussed her book What My Bones Know.


Danny Pellegrino
Author of How Do I Un-Remember This?: Unfortunately True Stories

My favorite read of 2022 was Delia Ephron’s Left on Tenth. It’s such a beautiful story about finding love and strength later in life.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: I have a pile of frothy, unread rom-coms on my nightstand waiting to be read on holiday, and I’m especially excited to sip some bed-wine and tackle The Rewind during the first few days of the new year before work starts up again. 

Danny was our guest on Episode 210, where he discussed his memoir How Do I Un-Remember This?


Danyel Smith
Author of Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop

Best book I read in 2022 is a re-read. 1992’s The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes from the late Janet Malcolm. I’m writing a lot right now, and Malcolm, who was deeply cognizant of biography as a “flawed genre,” inspires me with her ability to investigate, to tell a person’s story, tell her story, and tell the big story— all at once. 
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Well, I’m hearing Bernice McFadden is releasing a memoir next autumn called First Born Girls. As a first born girl myself, I will be first in line. 

Danyel was our guest on Episode 215, where she discussed her book Shine Bright.


Kate Schatz
Author of Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book

The best book of non-fiction I read in 2022 was How To Read Now by Elaine Castillo. A trenchant and sly and super-readable, super-smart collection of essays that lays bare how much white supremacy fucks up all aspects of literature, from the reader’s experience with language and story and the page to the limits of the captalist publishing imagination. I will read anything that Castillo writes, and this book is no exception. The best book of fiction was Mecca by Susan Straight. I absolutely love everything about this sprawling, ambitious novel set in California’s Inland Empire, and I can’t think of another white author I would trust to explore the experiences and identities of a multiethnic cast of characters than Straight. She writes with respect, compassion, clarity, and depth, especially when she goes in on the twin traumas of police violence and COVID on Black, Latinx, and undocumented folks. The best book of poetry was Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong because, seriously, everything that Ocean writes and says is just beyond brilliant and gorgeous. I can go into these poems again and again and always find something new. And I’m really not an avid reader of cookbooks or food writing but special shoutout to Simply Julia by Julia Turshen. Sure, the recipes are really fantastic, but what got me is how quietly radical the book is: sandwiched between a chicken cutlet recipe and one for a baked spinach and artichoke dip is a short essay titled “On the Worthiness Of Our Bodies.” It’s a deeply personal and powerful rejection of diet culture, internalized fatphobia and how the culture of “healthy eating” culture too often functions as a front for disordered eating. I can’t think of any other cookbook that includes lines like “There is nothing wrong with being fat. The only thing wrong is thinking that any person, living in any type of body, is less valuable than someone else.”

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille Dungy. I’ve had the honor of reading this in ARC form and cannot wait for the final, glorious book. To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness by Robin Coste Lewis. I bought this “film for the hands,” as Lewis describes it, for my wife for Christmas, but really I got it so we can read it together. 

Kate was our guest on Episode 227, where she discussed her book Do the Work!


Anthony Christian Ocampo
Author of Brown and Gay in LA: The Lives of Immigrant Sons

The best book I read in 2022 was Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe [by Benjamin Alire Sáenz], a YA novel about two Mexican-American teenagers coming into their queerness in the late 1980s. I love this book because I get to vicariously experience the queer adolescence I should’ve been able to have, but never did.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Chasing Pacquiao by Rod Pulido.

Anthony was our guest on Episode 235, where he discussed his book Brown and Gay in LA, and on Episode 238, where he discussed our book club pick Fairest by Meredith Talusan.


Brandon Kyle Goodman
Author of You Gotta Be You: How to Embrace This Messy Life and Step Into Who You Really Are

So many great books  I read this year, but my favorite was Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson PsyD. As jarring as that title can be, it actually helped me develop even more empathy for the adults that raised me, seeing more of their humanity in the decisions they made. The book does a great job of helping readers hold accountability and create steps to move forward without blame or shame. I highly recommend it for anyone who is on the journey of healing their childhood wounds, especially anyone who has or is interested in having kids of their own one day.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: I’m truly most looking forward to reading South to America by Imani Perry. 

Brandon was our guest on Episode 236, where he discussed his book You Gotta Be You.


Jemele Hill
Author of Uphill: A Memoir

The best book I read in 2022 is Leila Mottley’s Nightcrawling. I am floored and inspired by her tremendous talent. She wrote a raw, honest, emotional fiction novel that is a heartfelt coming of age story that’s based in Oakland. She’s a rare talent and it’s impossible not to be shifted by this book in some way.

Jemele was our guest on Episode 240, where she discussed her book Uphill.


Jonathan Abrams
Author of The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop

My favorite book in 2022 is His Name Is George Floyd by Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa. I love books that explain the whys of situations. It is a gripping look at the macro issues of the racial and systematic mechanisms that shaped George Floyd’s life and death. (Dan Charnas’ memoir on J Dilla and Howard Bryant’s book on Rickey Henderson were close runner-ups among my favs of the the year.)
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Questlove’s Music is History. It’s been on my list for a little while.

Jonathan was our guest on Episode 241, where he discussed his book The Come Up.


Steven Thrasher
Author of The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide

The book I thought with the most this year was Victor Ray’s On Critical Race Theory: Why It Matters & Why You Should Care. The point of theory is to help us think about things, and Dr. Ray gives us a bountiful gift by sharing his own story and breaking down philosophy in a way that helps us to think about the most pressing issues of race and class in our time. This slim volume is also a masterclass in craft, as every sentence is composed in a way that is elegant, compact, illuminating and inviting.
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: The New American Homeless by Brian Goldstone. Dr. Goldstone writes about housing and houselessness with such compassion, rigor and pathos, presenting the moral case for housing as a human right with the urgency it deserves. His writings on Twitter and in The New Republic have deeply informed my own politics and ethics, and his book is going to be a game-changer in American society confronting the scourge of homelessness.

Steven was our guest on Episode 242, where he discussed his book The Viral Underclass.


Toluse Olurunnipa
Co-Author of His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

The best book I read in 2022 was Where the Children Take Us by Zain Asher. What a loving and elegantly written tribute to a mother’s determination to put her children on her back and carry them through the most devastating of storms. It’s a story of tragic loss, triumphant love, extraordinary perseverance and odds-shattering achievement delivered in beautiful prose.  The tough-love parenting strategies, the immigrant come-up, the Nigerian “no carry last” mandate for excellence  – it all hit home for me in such a searing, affirming way.
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: A Coastline is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents by Mary-Alice Daniel

Toluse was our guest on Episode 245, where he discussed his book His Name is George Floyd.


Andrew Limbong
Host of NPR’s Book of the Day podcast

Easily the best book I read in 2022 was Kate Beaton’s DucksTwo Years in the Oil Sands. It’s a graphic novel memoir about Beaton’s time digging for oil in northern Canada. It’s a tough and crappy job in a tough and awful environment. She doesn’t sugarcoat it, but she doesn’t condescend to the (mostly) men who have little choice but to work there. It’s an empathetic, complicated, and beautifully drawn look at labor, class, and the choices we make.

Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America by Abraham Riesman. I’m not even one of those wrestling nerds, but even I can appreciate how uniquely of-the-moment professional wrestling is right now – with its reliance on blending “truth” and “performance.” And what better way to understand all that than an exploration of the guy behind it all.

Andrew was our guest on Episode 246, where he discussed his favorite books of 2022


Traci Thomas
Host and creator of The Stacks

The best thing I read this year was South to America by Imani Perry. Perry does an extraordinary job of making the argument for The American South as the center of The United States .The book is captivating and wide ranging and full of complexities. It is a challenge to read and that is precisely what makes it feel like such an enjoyable read. The writing is unreal. The storytelling is dynamic. This book is easily one of the best things I’ve read in the last five years.
Book I’m looking forward to reading in 2023: Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus, because ya’ll know I love any excuse to talk about glizzies.


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. 247 True Biz by Sara Nović — The Stacks Book Club (Greta Johnsen)

For our final book club pick of 2022, Greta Johnsen is back to discuss True Biz by Sara Nović, a novel about the teachers and students of a boarding school for the Deaf. We ask who the audience is for this book, and whether the Deaf community should have to teach hearing people about themselves. We also get into the topic of consent with children and parents, especially when it comes to medical decisions.

Be sure to listen to then end of today’s episode to find out what our book club pick will be in January 2023.

LISTEN NOW

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher | Transcript

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

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Greta: Instagram | Twitter | Nerdette
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.