Ep. 269 This Boy We Made by Taylor Harris — The Stacks Book Club (Nicole Chung)

Author Nicole Chung returns to discuss our May book club selection This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown by Taylor Harris. We discuss the importance of specificity in memoir, and how much likability and reliability matter. We also talk about where this book shines and where it falls short.

Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our book club pick will be for June 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 Nicole: Instagram | Twitter | Website
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.

The Stacks Book Club – May 2023

Our May book club selection is This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown by Taylor Harris. It is the debut memoir from Harris, a mother of three in Charlottesville, Virginia whose writing has appeared in many publications, including O Quarterly, Time, Longreads, Parents and The Washington Post. The book is a moving examination of Black motherhood against the odds of generalized anxiety, mystery illness and our flawed, hostile health and education systems. The author recounts her life-changing experience and relentless search for truth and answers with the help of Google, perseverance and lots of prayer. This Boy We Made was released in 2022 and was a finalist for the 2023 Southern Book Prize.

We will discuss This Boy We Made by Taylor Harris on Wednesday, May 31st. You can find out who our guest will be by listening to our May 3rd episode. 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 May book on Bookshop.org and Amazon.


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.

Ep. 264 Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay — The Stacks Book Club (Clint Smith)

Poet and Above Ground author Clint Smith returns to discuss our April book club selection Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, a poetry collection by Ross Gay. We discuss the moment of the book’s release and why it’s important within the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. We also argue that successfully engaging with a poem doesn’t require understanding what a poem is about, and we ask how much the author’s intent actually matters in poetry.

Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our book club pick will be for May 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 Clint: Instagram | Twitter | Website
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.

The Stacks Book Club – April 2023

It’s National Poetry Month! Our April selection for The Stacks Book Club is Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay. It was released in 2015 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the National Book Award and NAACP Image Award in poetry. It’s a meditation on the ephemeral nature of love, life and nature itself, using imagery from gardens and orchards to cultivate wisdom and patience around themes of grief and loss. According to the Paris Review, “Almost no one has the faith Gay seems to have in poetry’s ability to tap grace from the happenings of his life. . . He looks to the act of writing as real alchemy, and death, disappointment, and inequity become honey in his hands.” Ross Gay serves on the board of the Bloomington Community Orchard and is an associate professor of poetry at Indiana University. This is his third collection of poems.

We will discuss Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by Ross Gay on Wednesday, April 26th. You can find out who our guest will be by listening to our April 5th episode. 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 April book on Bookshop.org and Amazon.


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.

Ep. 260 Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay — The Stacks Book Club (Shanita Hubbard)

Professor and Ride or Die author Shanita Hubbard returns to discuss the 2014 book of essays Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay for The Stacks Book Club. We look back at the collection and ask, how did the book hold up? Its mix of personal memoir, political commentary and pop culture references have us examining our relationship to the text from a new perspective in this spoiler-free episode.

Be sure to listen to the end of today’s episode to find out what our book club pick will be for April 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 Shanita: Instagram | Twitter | Website
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.

The Stacks Book Club – March 2023

Our March selection for The Stacks Book Club is Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay. Released in 2014, it’s a New York Times bestselling essay collection offering sharp cultural critique, insight and humor in every piece. Gay explores what it means to be a feminist while also loving things that are decidedly at odds with that ideology. She uses a variety of pop culture references to help tent-post her stories and reflections on being an evolving Black woman in America, countering all of the associated societal strongholds and offering a call-to-arms to readers. An instant classic, Bad Feminist was named Best Book of the Year by NPR, Newsweek, the Boston Globe, Oprah.com, Time Out New York and Book Riot, among others.

We will discuss Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay on Wednesday, March 29th with our guest Shanita Hubbard. 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 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.

Ep. 255 The Round House by Louise Erdrich — The Stacks Book Club (Mina Kimes)

It’s The Stacks Book Club Day, and we’re joined again by Mina Kimes of ESPN, to discuss Louise Erdrich’s novel The Round House. This page-turning coming-of-age story is set in 1988 North Dakota and follows a boy and his friends seeking justice for a horrific crime. Today we talk about the merits of vengeance, the relationship between coming into ones sexuality and understanding consent, and the flaws in the criminal legal system especially in regard to American tribal lands.
There are spoilers in this episode.

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

The Stacks Book Club – February 2023

Our February selection for The Stacks Book Club is The Round House by Louise Erdrich. The thrilling coming-of-age novel set in 1988 centers on a 13 year-old boy named Joe living with his parents on a reservation in North Dakota. After a brutal attack traumatizes his mother into silence and seclusion, and when the authorities fail to take action, Joe is thrust into a complex mystery that sends him on a justice-seeking mission with a trio of friends. Their adventure truly begins when they’re led to the sacred Ojibwe space of The Round House. Released in 2012, The Round House won the National Book Award and was a New York Times Best Book of the Year.

We will discuss The Round House by Louise Erdrich on Wednesday, February 22nd. You can find out who our guest will be by listening to today’s episode. 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 February 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.

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.

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: 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.

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.