Unabridged: Talking HBO’s Watchmen Series with David Dennis Jr.

Friend of The Stacks David Dennis Jr. is back to help us break down the 2019 HBO limited series Watchmen, in honor of our July book club episode about Alan Moore’s iconic graphic novel. We discuss David’s obsession with the show, its pivotal race moments and one special ingredient that the series added to its source material.

*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.

Connect with David: Instagram | Twitter
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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. 271 The Paradox of Visibility with Tre’vell Anderson

Award-winning journalist, podcaster, and author Tre’vell Anderson joins The Stacks to discuss their new book We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film. We talk about how the media portrayal of trans people impacts individuals and the conversation around trans rights, and the relationship between trans women and drag queens on screen. We also discuss the types of trans stories that have deemed acceptable for audiences.

The Stacks Book Club selection for June is Oreo by Fran Ross. We will discuss the book on June 28th with Hannah Oliver Depp.

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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 Tre’vell: Instagram | Twitter | Website | FANTI 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.

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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: 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. 95 Keeping it Positive with Jordan Moblo

We’ve got a real life, professional reader on the podcast today. TV executive Jordan Moblo has made a career of reading books in order to turn them into TV shows. He also runs a very popular #bookstagram account, @jordys.book.club, dedicated to celebrating the books he loves. Today we talk negative reviews, social media book clubs, and some of Jordan’s favorite books of the last year.

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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.

Books

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Everything Else

Connect with Jordan: Instagram | Goodreads
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

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. We are beyond grateful for anything you’re able to give to support the production of this show. If you prefer to do 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.

Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of “The View” by Ramin Setoodeh

Ladies Who Punch is great fun. Its the kind of book that takes on pop culture in a smart way, but doesn’t take itself too seriously. The author, Ramin Setoodeh, is a journalist and a fan of The View and it comes through in the way the book is crafted and the details he shares with the reader.

As fan of The View myself, getting to revisit the history of the show I loved for years was a joy. Hearing how and why Barbara Walters started the show, and how it was cast was interesting and added so much to my understanding of the show itself. I also loved thinking back on major moments like Rosie O’Donnell’s take down of Donald Trump, and her fight with Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Not to mention Whoopi and her own dramatic moments. There is so much history from the show crammed into this book.

What impressed me most about this book is how Ladies Who Punch also is a commentary about women in entertainment. The View has been a staple of daytime TV for over 20 seasons and doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Setoodeh looks at how the lack of respect given to The View comes from a sexist media that covers the co-hosts and their “cat fights” as something less than the arguments we might see on CNN or MSNBC.

The main frame for the book is the 2016 election, not only because of what a shock it was and how incredibly transformative that moment was in America. But more because both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump were recurring guests on The View and their stories are deeply rooted in the success of the show, just as the show’s success is connected to them. The use of this event as a catalyst to tell the story roots Ladies Who Punch in something more than just a behind the scenes look at a successful TV program, but rather cements it in the moment of American culture.

If you’re not a fan of The View this book might not be as resonant for you, though I think it is still a good book. But if you identify as a fan of the show, this book is a must read. It gets into the nitty gritty of famous moments and feuds and spotlights all the ladies you love to hate.

To hear more about this Ladies Who Punch from the author himself, check out Ramin Setoodeh on The Short Stacks.

  • Hardcover: 336
  • PublisherThomas Dunne Books; April 2, 2019
  • 4/5 stars
  • Buy Ladies Who Punch Amazon or IndieBound

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 here. For more information click here.

The Short Stacks 19: Ramin Setoodeh//Ladies Who Punch

Ramin Setoodeh is the author of The New York Times Bestseller, Ladies Who Punch: The Explosive Inside Story of “The View”. Ramin joins The Short Stacks to discuss this iconic TV show, how the 2016 election impacted the writing of this book, and which co-hosts make his “The View” Mount Rushmore.
There are no spoilers on this episode.

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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.

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Connect with Ramin: Twitter | Instagram
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

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. We are beyond grateful for anything you’re able to give to support the production of this show. If you prefer to do 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. 53 Writing is Writing with Ben Blacker

Today marks one full year of The Stacks, and what an amazing year it has been. The Stacks has every intention of making year two even better. To kick it off we have a real life renaissance man; author, comedian, and podcaster, Ben Blacker. We talk today about the importance of literature as a way to see the humanity in others, the types of anger you can feel toward books, and about Ben’s life as a writer of many different mediums, from comic books to teen movies.

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Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher

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

Books

Everything Else

Connect with Ben: Twitter | Instagram | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

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. We are beyond grateful for anything you’re able to give to support the production of this show. If you prefer to do 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. 47 Reading, Writing, and Representation with Wade Allain-Marcus

Its time for another episode of The Stacks. Today our guest is actor (Insecure, Snowfall), director (French Dirty), and writer (Grown-ish) Wade Allain-Marcus. We talk about how TV shows are written, white savior narratives, and connecting with the emotional truth of a story. Plus, we’re joined by Wade’s chatty dog Tika.

LISTEN NOW

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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.

Books

Everything Else

Connect with Wade: Instagram | Twitter | Website
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

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. We are beyond grateful for anything you’re able to give to support the production of this show. If you prefer to do 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. 44 Rap Dad by Juan Vidal — The Stacks Books Club (Josh Segarra)

We are joined again today by actor, Josh Segarra (Arrow, Sirens, Orange is the New Black) to discuss Rap Dad by Juan Vidal. A sort of a coming of age story rooted in becoming a parent in the hip-hop culture, Rap Dad is part memoir and part commentary on society. We talk redefining success in relationship to parenthood, intellectualizing religion, and Rap music as teacher. There isn’t a lot to spoil this week, so listen and enjoy. You can also hear Juan Vidal talk about writing Rap Dad on The Short Stacks Episode 4.

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 and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

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. We are beyond grateful for anything you’re able to give to support the production of this show. If you prefer to do 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. Shopping through these links helps support the show, but does not effect opinions on books and products. For more information click here.

The Stacks received Rap Dad from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. For more information click here.

Ep. 21 Talking Fiction & Hollywood with Becca Tobin

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Our guest this week is Becca Tobin. Becca is most well known as an actress and a co-host of the podcast, The LadyGang. Today we walk  about Becca’s podcast becoming a TV show, how reading helped her deal with grief, and her love of fiction that feels a little like a rom-com.

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 and on Bookshop.org and Amazon.

BOOKS

EVERYTHING ELSE

Connect with Becca: Becca’s Instagram | Lady Gang Instagram | Lady Gang Podcast
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Subscribe

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. We are beyond grateful for anything you’re able to give to support the production of this show. If you prefer to do a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs in which we receive a small commission when products are purchased through some links on this website. This does not effect my opinions on books and products. For more information click here.