Unabridged: Ask Me Anything, Hosted by Mr. Stacks - Transcript
This episode of The Stacks Unabridged is a special AMA session with your host in the hot seat. We collected questions from social media and our Patreon and Substack communities, and Mr. Stacks asked Traci everything you wanted to know. You’ll hear about how Traci reads for work versus pleasure, her favorite musicals, 2024 baseball predictions, and much more.
TRANSCRIPT
Traci Thomas 0:01
Hi, it's Traci Thomas and this is another episode of The Stacks Unabridged. That is our subscriber-exclusive podcast. It is only for the folks in the Stacks Pack or now, folks who subscribe to my Substack called Unstacked. On today's episode, we are doing a fun little Ask Me Anything. I solicited questions from y'all on Substack, Patreon, The Stacks Pack Discord and Instagram, and I'm answering your questions. Oh, and my cohost slash interviewer, the person asking your questions is my lovely husband, Mr. Stacks. Okay, enough for me. Let's get into this ask me anything. Y'all had some really great questions a few of you stumped me so I'm really excited for you to hear.
Okay, everybody, The Stacks Unabridged, you know the vibes. It's an Ask me anything. So I collected questions from all of you on the substack. Hey, substackers. On the stacks back from Patreon, my OG homies on Instagram. And one other place. Oh, on the discord for the stacks pack. Anyways, so I collect all those questions, but you all know how much I hate talking to myself. So I brought in a special guest slash the only person I could make do this on last minute notice, Mr. Stacks.
Mr. Stacks 1:32
That's me. Okay.
Traci Thomas 1:35
Here we are. That's Mr. Stacks. For those of you who don't know, that's my husband.
Mr. Stacks 1:39
Hi, everybody. Glad to be here.
Traci Thomas 1:42
So he so we, what we did is I pulled together all these questions, and then he's gonna read them. So I have seen them, but I don't know which ones he's going to do. He's going to do as many as we can do in the amount of time that we have. And I now relinquish my hosting duties for at least a little bit, unless things get off the rails.
Mr. Stacks 2:00
Alrighty. Let's just get right into it. Unless Do you have any disclaimers or anything? No? Okay, first one from Talia. Now that you have a podcast dedicated to books, how do you distinguish what you read for pleasure versus what you read for The Stacks?
Traci Thomas 2:21
You know, that's such a good question. Because I don't have really clear delineations on that. Everything that I read sort of becomes for work in a lot of ways, because I review everything that I've read on my Instagram page, and anything that I read that is really exciting to me, I will try if I can to get the guest on the show, or maybe you know, talk about it in some way. Maybe I write about it in my column. So I think as far as like, what is for work and what isn't, everything is up for grabs. But a lot of times, I will pick up a book that I have no obligation to and just read that. And that's like for fun. Like I consider that for fun. But sometimes if it's really good, it turns into for work.
Mr. Stacks 3:07
Do you have any examples for fun?
Traci Thomas 3:09
That's turned into for work? Probably one of the more recent, like famous examples would be We Were Once a Family. I read that book first. I loved it so much. I reached out to Roxanna Asgarian team, but that happens. I mean, it happens a lot. I would say like when I'm putting together the show 50% of what I booked on the show, I sort of know that I want to read for the show. And then maybe maybe like 65% and then the remaining 35%. This is a math podcast, I would say comes to me throughout the year. So definitely we were once a family was one of those. I feel like we just had one oh like the unclaimed. That one is one that most recently. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do on the show. I knew I wanted to read the book. I was really excited about it. But I read it with no pressure because I also sometimes when I read something knowing it's for the show up puts a lot of pressure on the book. So I prefer if I have the time to read things and then reach out. But that gets complicated because sometimes I have to do that before the book comes out. And I'm reading for other things for the show.
Mr. Stacks 4:16
Okay, Cristiana. What is your podcast origin story? And how do you measure slash celebrate your successes?
Traci Thomas 4:29
Oh, Cristiana, you must be new here. Welcome. I feel like I tell this story all the time, but I'm excited to tell it again because I personally love this story. Here we go. I used to read a ton when I lived in New York. I used to read a ton of time Mr. Stacks lived in the Bronx. I lived in the financial district that is a long commute. It's a long distance relationship. So I used to read a lot on the subway. When we moved to LA in 2012. I basically stopped reading I read like maybe two or three books a year, and then in 2016, I was like, I'm gonna read more books. So I set a goal to read 12 books that year, I read 12 books, I think I finished the 12 book on like December 29, and was like doing a happy dance in my house and I took a picture and I posted on Instagram. The next year, I was like, I'm gonna read 13 books, I ended up reading 24 books. And in that year, I read this book called blood in the water by Heather and Thompson about the Attica prison uprising. And I wanted to talk about that book. And nobody that I knew had really talked about nobody that I knew really knew anything about the book or had like any my mom, like didn't really remember it, because we're from California. So I was like, let me go see if I can find a podcast that talks about this book. And there were two podcasts one was I can ever remember. It was like the New Yorker. And they were talking about it in that like a really smart way that the New Yorker does that makes you feel like a fucking idiot. Yeah, the worst. And then the other podcast was like a law podcast. So they were talking about all the legalities of the case. And neither of those conversations were like what I was looking for. And so I was like, Oh, I could start a podcast and talk about the books I want to talk about and the way I want to talk about them. And so I reached out to some of my friends who I was like, Oh, these people probably could talk about books with me, because the truth is, I did not know if I was going to be able to talk about books. So my first guest was a friend of mine named Dallas, who is an English teacher. So I was like, let me have Dallas Come on, because he'll know how to talk about books. And my second guest was my sister in law. And she's a, she at the time was a PhD candidate and ethnic studies. Now she's a full professor are now she's a professor, assistant professor, I don't know. Anyway, she has her PhD. So I had all these people come on, and it was all my friends and people I knew. And I remember in the very beginning, I wrote a list of like, who I would want to come on the show. And I remember thinking, wouldn't it be so cool if like authors came on the podcast, which of course now feels silly and naive, but also very sweet. So yeah, that's the origin story. So the show ended up starting in 2018.
Mr. Stacks 6:55
And then how do you measure or celebrate your successes?
Traci Thomas 6:58
Oh, cupcakes. Usually, Mr. Sacks is really good about getting me cupcakes when I do good things, or like when I'm proud of things. And also, I usually just am really excited. And I tell everybody in my life, like, Oh, my God, this exciting things coming, but sometimes it sucks because I do have to keep things secret. Like, like, for example, I knew that I was gonna get Angelina Jolie on the podcast for like months, but I didn't know when for sure. But I knew it was like an option. And then I knew we recorded it in like, October or something, but we couldn't release it until December. So like, that kind of thing really sucked because I had to like sit on that exciting thing. And by the time thing came out, I like had kind of forgotten about it. But I'm sure at the time we celebrate it. I mean, it's usually cupcakes from Susie cakes.
Mr. Stacks 7:45
Yeah. Next Giles. Very, very interesting question, who's an author you read in high school and absolutely hated, yet today you have great respect for or even enjoy their writing?
Traci Thomas 7:59
Okay, this is a really good question for a different kind of person. Because anybody I hated in high school, I don't think I've revisited I did not like the Great Gatsby. I've never reread it. I did not like the awakening by like the Chopin, one of the Chopin sisters did not reread it. I did not like To Kill a Mockingbird never revisited. I liked Shakespeare I have since revisited many times anytime. I'm the one that I remember not really liking in high school. But I didn't chalk it up to not liking the author. But I sort of was just like, I don't really care about this, but it's probably just taught badly that I do want to revisit is The Color Purple by Alice Walker. That being said, I hate the musical. And I did not care for the movie musical either. So I also sort of feel like I might just not like that book that much or like that story. So I do really want to revisit it, just to see if I if I like it again. But I can tell you who I read in high school for the first time, who I still love deeply. And that is Jon Krakauer. I read John Krakauer in earth science class, my senior year, my teacher had a list, Mr. Tyler, he had a list of books that you could read as extra credit for extra credit. There was like a bunch of extra credit things you could do, you could go on an extra hike, or like you could like I don't know, look at a bird or something. Or you could read these like science specific books. And one of the books was into the wild or into thin air. And I picked it up and I read it and like five seconds and was like this is on believable, what is this book? So then I also read into the wild for extra credit did not like it as much. And then I had to wait until I think under the banner of Heaven came out maybe when I was in college, and I read that and then had to wait again and bought the hard copy of the Pat Tillman book, where Medwin glory, and then I had to wait again to get Missoula I just I love him so much. And so, and he is my white whale on this podcast. He is like the one guest, who I think that I should be able to get that I've not been able to get on the show. He doesn't like to do interviews, but he's the one. You know, obviously, Barack and Michelle and Oprah are like the tip top of the list, but as far as like, authors who I think should like be relatively accessible to me, he's the one so I'm hoping.
Mr. Stacks 10:29
Does he round out the Mount Rushmore of authors? Because he said three obvious and then-
Traci Thomas 10:38
No, that would be the route Mount Rushmore of guests I'd want to write but I don't like I wouldn't put Baroque or Michelle or Oprah on my Mount Rushmore of best authors.
Mr. Stacks 10:46
No but I'm saying for who you want to interview?
Traci Thomas 10:49
Oh, sure. I think that's who's left from like the original list. You know, there might be people like there are people who have been added since I started the show that I really wanted to interview that I've been able to interview, but like I didn't even know who Jesmyn Ward was when I started the show. On your boy, Columbine. Dave Cullen, I had him on. So he's crossed off the list. He was on the original list, but he's crossed off. Like, again, like Tommy orange. I got to have him on the show this year. He wasn't on the original list because his book hadn't come out yet. But like as soon as I read there, there he went on the running list.
Mr. Stacks 11:24
Alrighty. Making our way.
Traci Thomas 11:27
See? Transitions are hard on podcasts. Huh?
Mr. Stacks 11:29
Let's see. So Lee, as four separate questions. Lots of words. So let's go with the shortest question first. Who are some of your favorite podcasts or radio hosts?
Traci Thomas 11:43
I think I love Juliet Lippmann who does The Bachelor podcast. She also does a bunch of other podcasts at the ringer but Bachelor Party is one of my OG faves. I used to love the Tony Kornheiser show, but that sort of jumped the shark. Covid was not kind to the people on that show. i Who else do I like I'm like blanking out on podcasts. And I love Chelsea Devontez, I love the girls of 2 Black Girls, 1 Rose. I think they're great. I mean, I think Sam Sanders is just such a fantastic host. But these are all people you will know that I love and listen to. I sometimes listen to Ezra Klein, but I actually don't really care for him. Which is I think that I do. I do sort of sometimes listen to shows that I don't really like the host. I just am curious. I'm curious about how people make their shows. But the longer I do this show, the harder it is for me to listen to interview shows. So a lot of the podcasts I listen to are like two hosts who converse with each other. Or people who maybe have like like panels. Interviews are a little harder for me, because I listen to a lot of interview show shows us like research so they're not as like enjoyable. Oh, hello, Van Van and Rachel Higher Learning, I'm sorry, I'm just going through in my mind my favorite shows I mean, higher learning is can't miss I listened to it the day it releases. I listen to Vibe Check the day it releases with Sam and Zach and Saeed. Like you guys know that about me. Those are all my go-tos. But yeah.
Mr. Stacks 13:17
All right, Lee, let's keep it moving. So how did you develop your skills as an interviewer?
Traci Thomas 13:23
From 37 years of being the most nosy person in the room, I just am curious. I just am nosy. I also really like talking. I like talking to people. When we go to things like when we do social stuff. I'm usually the one who's like talking to one's ear off in the corner, and asking them a ton of questions. So I think that that's just generally me. I also grew up loving. OPRAH And Barbara Walters like a lot like I watched 2020 Every Friday night with my mom. So I think I was also just observing, and I don't think I was like, Oh, I'm researching for a future career. Like, I never thought I would be an interviewer. But I do like the format. And I did like the way that they do it. I mean, I think Oprah is the queen of the kind of interview where she makes people feel like they're her best friend. She's just so casual. And her questions are so like, they're seamless and a conversation she'll be talking and then you know, someone else isn't like blah, blah, blah, blah, and then she'll be like, okay, but like, you gotta tell me more about like, just the way she does. It is so enjoyable to watch and listen to. And she really I think like of all the people I'm probably the most inspired by her and I think I like I don't know that I emulate her. But I definitely I definitely like think about her and what she dies, and it's the most enjoyable thing to me. I do listen to a lot of like other book podcasts and I do listen to those people. Interviewer And a lot of the times how I kind of have honed my own skills is by hearing what other people do that I don't like and trying to avoid those things. I'm not gonna like name names, but there's some very famous interviewers who talk to book people who I think ask weird offensive questions and really like other the author, and I really try to like, bring people in and make it feel like we're friends. So one of the highest compliments is when you all tell me like, Oh my God, it was just like sitting down with friends. And I'm like, that was the first time I talked to that person. Like we did it. So yeah.
Mr. Stacks 15:34
Okay. Lee rounding it out. As a baseball fan. What are your 2024 predictions? I can't wait to hear this answer.
Traci Thomas 15:46
Let's be really upfront. Here's the thing about me in sports. I'm never going to know what's coming in the following season. Like I basically pick up every sport that I follow at the All Star break mid season is when I come in, because like, I cannot start thinking about baseball in February and March when basketball is just getting good. And I'm certainly not going to be paying attention to football in detail when baseball is in like September October baseball. That being said, I have one and only one prediction. And it comes from a very special place in my heart as a Giants fan. And my prediction is that the Dodgers will not win at all. My prediction is that Otani will get injured and save us all. And then my second prediction is that Mike Trout and the angels will not make the playoffs. That's a consistent, that's a pretty much evergreen prediction for me, and I'm 99.9% of the time Correct?
Mr. Stacks 16:45
Okay. Deondra. Yes. This is a children's- she has a new baby question. Yeah, brand new baby. She wants to know, how do you deal with censorship and kids, specifically, music and movies. My mom exposed me to everything as a kid and let me ask questions. But now that I have my own baby, I wonder if he should be allowed to listen and watch anything as long as I'm with him to explain. Or if I should follow what most other parents do, and have age specific boundaries. I would love to hear your thoughts.
Traci Thomas 17:22
Well, Deondra, congratulations on the baby. I think this will come as a surprise to many people. I actually don't care what my kids watch. Or listen to, except for I don't like them watching Paw Patrol and other propaganda, children's programming. But as far as like swearing goes, I we do it a lot in front of our kids. I do it a lot in front of our kids. I just don't I don't really think that there's anything that my kids can't learn about. I mean, I'm not like putting on like, a porn or something like that for them. But like, if they wanted to watch something, I think I would let them watch it. I think you'd have to talk about it, though. So I think, for me, I'm probably more inclined to be like, let's not watch an adult thing. Because that I have to explain it. But I'm not. I don't really care. I don't think I would put up a big fight about it. But also, like, my kids are really big scaredy cat. So sometimes they'll want to watch things and I'll be like, don't you don't want to watch that it's gonna make you scared. And then they want to watch it. And then we start watching it, and then it's scary. And by scary, I'm literally talking about 101 Dalmatians. But they were like, we really want to watch it as dogs. And I was like, No, it's kind of like a scary woman. And then and like, it's kind of it's kind of scary. And they were like, no, we want to watch it. And I was like, okay, so I put it on. And then I went, the other room came back. And they were both sitting, like up under the covers. And I was like, how's it going? And they're like, it's very scary. And then we turned it off and put on whatever. So like, I don't I mean, I don't know, what do you think?
Mr. Stacks 18:54
Oh, it's so fun. And because scar is one of their favorite characters of all time. Yeah, they do love Scar.
Traci Thomas 19:01
Scar is less scary to me than Cruella de Vil because of the way the animation is and she's like always driving that car and how so it's like scary eyes. I feel like Scar's like charming, scary.
Mr. Stacks 19:13
Oh, how does the youngest kid like she's the new she got a newborn. So I mean, it is very responsible. You're already thinking about this. But I think one of the things you learn as a parent is your kid starts to go out to take care of preschool, whatever it is, you have zero control of what they're exposed to. So even if you do your best at home, they're still gonna come home saying wild stuff.
Traci Thomas 19:39
Yeah. Like I really didn't want our kids to watch PAW Patrol. And then the next thing I know my kids are telling me about Chase the police dog and I was like, cut the shit. We're done with this. So like, we don't do Paw Patrol at our house, but other kids love it and their parents don't seem to care that it's wild police dog shit.
Mr. Stacks 19:58
Okay, so I don't know what this is. Kim, I'm so excited. How do you prep for a chunking doorstop level read? I buy them and then feel overwhelmed. Seems like a big book.
Traci Thomas 20:15
Well, Kim, I have read quite a few of my day. I think the biggest that's coming to mind currently is execution or song. That was a real chunker. I do do the thing where like, I think about how many pages a day, you know, like, I'm like, oh, I want to read this book in a month or whatever. And then I see the pages and I divide it by 30 days. And so I kind of give myself those little those little benchmarks. But I also think it really depends, like, before I started doing this, I really liked reading big, thick books, because it was really enjoyable. And you got to be with a thick book for a long time. Now the pistols history. Yeah, Howard Zinn. That's not as big as execution. So but yeah, I did read that. So I feel like I used to really enjoy it. And it was like, Oh, if it's a good book, it's like you get to be with a good story, good writing for a long time. Whereas sometimes it's like, you pick up five books in a row, and they all suck. And I would much rather have spent that amount of time on something like big and good. But I don't really prepare, I think, you know, I just I really go by like, when do I have to have this read by and I try to start with enough time like when we did Anna Karenina, I gave myself I think two weeks, and I divided the pages and it was like 40 pages a day or something. And I did that, but also like, I would try if I had extra time. I'm like, Oh, I'm gonna get to 60 pages. So I'm a little ahead of the curve. But I do think I finished Anna Karenina, and like seven days.
Mr. Stacks 21:43
What was the book that gave you a physical injury executioner song? In Hamilton?
Traci Thomas 21:49
No, Hamilton? No, no. Fuck Lin-Manuel Miranda, though. Just while we're here.
Mr. Stacks 21:56
Okay, transition. Amy wants to know, I've heard you talk about some of your favorite playwrights. I've also heard your take on Hamilton. Besides that take and we all network very well. Do you like musicals generally in which are your faves?
Traci Thomas 22:15
Yes, I love musicals. That is how I got started in the theater. I love a musical. So here's what you need to know about me when it comes to musicals. I personally love a dance musical. So all of your favorite musicals like lame is or whatever. I don't like that show. I don't like Phantom of the Opera. I don't like anything like that. I don't really like Sondheim that much. I know you asked me what I do, like and I'm gonna get there. But I just want you to know what I don't like because I am who I am. My favorite musical of all time is A Chorus Line. I love it. I played Val tits and asked in high school. Thank you very much. I was amazing. We had to put like four bras on me and stuff them really big because I did not have breast augmentation surgery like wow, so I had to just figure out another way. I love chorus line. I love Oklahoma, which I know is very problematic. I did not like the revival where they stripped it down nearly as much as I just like all the racism and shit thrown in with pancakes as you know, I just I like Gone With the Wind. I like a racist musicals are like I know not that that's a musical but like, I think some things just are horrible and racist and just be what they are. That being said, My other favorite musical is called passing strange. It is not horrible and racist. It's fucking amazing. I saw Colman Domingo in it back in his hay day as a Broadway guy, and it's the story of this musician named Stu. And it's a four, five person cast plus the music people and it's basically like about his life in LA and then he goes to Europe because he's like doing the artists journey. And he comes back but what's really cool is like it's an all black cast, but when he's in Europe, all the black people are playing White people but you don't really realize that until you like kind of think about the whole thing and it's just like a really cool smart musical and Spike Lee did film it and kind of release a movie version in the theater. So if I can find that a link to it in the show notes. But I love it so much. The music is so good. What else do I love? I love wicked. I do love wicked. I do love rent. I love Legally Blonde. The musical is such a good musical is such a fun time. I saw it three times. One of my other favorites is moving out which is the Billy Joel dance. Twyla Tharp dance musical, which is there's only one person who sings and plays music. There's a band and then one person who sings all the words, but then it's a ballet on the stage. It's one of the most amazing dancing I've ever seen in my life. I loved it so much. Another musical. Oh, well, another musical that I don't love is dear Evan Hanson. I really hate that one. I love Ragtime. Some I love parts of Ragtime. I love the idea of Ragtime. You know, like Ragtime is really good the opening so good that you forget like the rest of the musical and then you get wheels of a dream, which is so good. And then like what happens? You know, it sort of just falls apart in the second act. But that opening number is one of the most iconic in Broadway history. So those are some of my favorite musicals.
Mr. Stacks 25:17
Now from I love this, Sara, aka FictionMatters. Oh, hi, Sara. Does your reading process differ? For fiction versus nonfiction?
Traci Thomas 25:29
No, my process does not differ. But my I do. I guess my Note taking is a little bit different. I'm assuming this is like for the show. I don't I don't take notes when I read if it's not for the show. I guess that kind of answers that first question about work and not work when it's work. I take notes when it's not work, I don't. But when I read fiction, I'm generally like, writing down a little bit more like plot stuff, like what's happening in the book to take note of like, if I have a suspicion about something that's going to happen, or like a word that keeps coming up, or like a theme or something. And then I also write down questions that I have if I'm interviewing the author, or if it's for book club, I write down like things that we should talk about, like ideas or again, questions. For nonfiction. I don't do as much writing down of length themes. I do write down a lot more questions. I also write down more processed questions for nonfiction like how did the person find this? Or like, when did they know that they wanted to write about this? But I don't know that my process is any like I read them the same. I don't treat them any differently as far as like how I approach them or when I approach them.
Mr. Stacks 26:42
Okay. Rapid fire. Favorite Olympic sports Summer and Winter?
Traci Thomas 26:47
Gymnastics and figure skating.
Mr. Stacks 26:52
author who is the one that you want to get in the future
Traci Thomas 26:55
Jon Krakauer Obama. Obama one only Well, Brock Oprah Well, I don't know I'm in case they're listening in case they subscribe to the stacks pack or unstacked
Mr. Stacks 27:04
thoughts on William Kent Krueger, he feels wildly problematic. To me. It's so many revere him. Is he? Founder of Kruger coffee machine.
Traci Thomas 27:14
I literally have no clue that I've never heard about Ray
Mr. Stacks 27:17
Shannon. How do you finish a book that you don't love? You don't Karan that's how you finish it. Don't feel bad if you don't finish a book that you don't love.
Traci Thomas 27:27
I think she's asking me because I'm a person who has to finish books.
Mr. Stacks 27:30
I don't let me just finish a book you don't love.
Traci Thomas 27:35
I curse a lot to Mr. Sacks and tell him how much I'm ducking. Hate it.
Mr. Stacks 27:42
You get in the bath. And again, threaten yourself with drowning.
Traci Thomas 27:46
I get in the bath so that I don't have any distractions. That's true. When I really don't like a book. I get in the bath. But I also get the bath when I really liked the book and I want to read and be left alone by you. But yeah, I just I don't know I just finished relaxing bath or a waterboarding bath. Yeah. And also, I think like, I will try to make time to read in the daytime when I don't like a book. Because that's like when I'm most awake.
Mr. Stacks 28:14
Okay, Amy Jo, is there a genre used to not like that has grown on you over the years.
Traci Thomas 28:20
You know, I'm romances growing on me. I used to say I didn't like romance. And I don't know that I'm a full blown romance girl because I haven't read that many romances. But sometimes I'm like, Gosh, I really just want to read like a fun little rom com and shout out to the statspack for making my rom com TBR massive because I asked about it in the discord and I got so many options. And now I'm like, I'll never read all these books. But I used to really be like, sort of snobby about it and Roman's but I think that I just didn't understand what it was like, I don't think I understood that like some of that cheesiness that I was, you know, that sort of like, revolting to me in general fiction is sort of the point. And I think also, I wasn't thinking about romance, like as a genre, in the same way that I think about genres and film or like, I know if I'm gonna watch a rom com, that it's like a different vibe. And it's maybe not going to be like the same as watching. I don't know, like a cinematic drama or something. And like, I can enjoy those two things for what they are. And I was having a hard time kind of figuring that out in my brain. And I think since I've started to think about romance as a genre as like something that's fun and like different and breaks up my reading life. I think I liked it a lot more. I know for some people romance is their thing, and they break it up with like, serious nonfiction. So I'm not saying that like I'm not shitting on romance by saying that I'm just saying My preference is like heavy nonfiction, but inserting romance actually makes me like have more fun with my reading. So I would say that shout
Mr. Stacks 29:57
out Stacey Abrams. You also flirted with Why and graphic novels? I
Traci Thomas 30:02
do like graphic novels. I, I do it's just harder. I mean, I read a little bit of everything why AI read too, but I just, I find that cheesiness and why a little more annoying because I just I'm, I'm sometimes really irritated by the lessons and why and like, the way that the author is really like, explain everything cuz I'm just like, I don't know the kids. 16 They're not like, you don't need to be like, Oh, then her dad was really mad at her. She could tell because his brow was furrowed, like, yeah, either say The brow was furrowed or say the dad was mad, like the third 1618 They're not like to
Mr. Stacks 30:41
Jason. Yeah, Jason.
Traci Thomas 30:45
God who let that guy be a writer.
Mr. Stacks 30:47
Next Sharda wants to know, what's your favorite vacation you have ever been on? And what are the dream destinations you have yet to visit?
Traci Thomas 30:59
Um, okay, gosh, I think it's got to be Japan. 2019. So good. What's your favorite?
Mr. Stacks 31:07
I mean, Italy was pretty awesome. That was my second.
Traci Thomas 31:11
I think Japan is my first and then Italy. We went to Japan. We went to Tokyo, a mountain town outside of Mount Fuji, Kyoto day trip to Hiroshima, and then back to Tokyo. And it was amazing. I ate so much delicious food, go into the a bomb museum or whatever, the Hiroshima Hiroshima museum that commemorates the dropping of the bomb. And the people who were killed and what it was like to be on the receiving end of America, some of America's favorite propaganda was unreal, life changing moment, right? Like, I think the Ottoman
Mr. Stacks 31:52
the experience of the museum is on you always hear about people talking about the Holocaust Museum in DC. This is on that level? For sure. For sure. And, you know, unfortunately, you don't really hear people talk about that. But I think less
Traci Thomas 32:05
people probably go to Japan and Washington DC that we talked to right. But yeah, that is definitely like a highlight of my travel was going to that museum. I was reading the book, Hiroshima Nagasaki at the time. So I was like, we were both we were both reading it on the trip. And so that also added to it and I read that book that people who eat darkness on that trip, and we were staying in the same neighborhood where like the murders took place in that so that was so scary. That was scary and really cool. So that trip, definitely. And then the Italy trip, we went for my 30th birthday, we went to Venice, we went to Florence, we went to the gym with Tara and we went to Rome. Again. I ate a lot of food. I love us. I love a history, you know, it's cool. I'm like going to Italy is cool, because all the history is there. I'm not so much an art girl, but I even like some of the art there. We did the Vesper tour, which was so fun. And Tuscany. I don't know, we've had some good vacations
Mr. Stacks 33:06
and why don't you talk a little bit about the strategy as far as packing books for long trips. What's the strategy? Well, like we are always into reading about where we're going. Yeah. And so we'll kind of talk about it and we'll pick books that we both want to read. Yeah,
Traci Thomas 33:23
we do. We try to try to maximize our books situation. So like for like a long trip, we might take four books, but our books that we both want to read like in Japan, we took people who eat darkness and Hiroshima, Nagasaki is our Japan books. I had to read a SATA for work purposes or book club, a book club that I was not really a book club, but I was reading a buddy read and then you wanted to be The Sympathizer and I wanted to read The Sympathizer. So we took that and you started with it. And I think I just never got to it. In Italy. I don't think I read an Italian book. You read the Pope and Mussolini as I say the Pope and Nagasaki opened the Pope and Mussolini. I don't remember what else I read there. Oh, I read. I know what I read that trip. I read A Brief History of Seven Killings. And I read the Martin and Malcolm book. Blood Brothers. Yeah.
Mr. Stacks 34:14
Chris wants to know what is your skincare regimen? And what did that do to your I
Traci Thomas 34:20
know what they're talking about? Remember when I had the rash on my face? They were saying what's your skincare regimen and what did that to your eye? What products Yikes. I don't remember the name of the it's like called like La Familia or something. I'll link to it in the show notes. I think I just have really sensitive skin. And so when I try new products, there's always a risk that it will ruin my life like how my eye was swollen that day on Instagram, but my skincare regimen is like extremely minimal. I wash my face in the shower and I put on Sephora is like under eye Firming Cream in the morning at night. I use supergroups sunscreen in the daytime and then I use like well I I was using a face lotion and it ran out and I went to Sephora to get a new one. And I wanted to try something new and I got the stuff that made my face fucked up. So now I'm back to my original like Garni a fruit teas rose like cream. And that's it. I don't do a lot of skincare stuff. I'm not that into it. And I feel like my skin is like pretty good. And so I try not to fuck with it because it's so sensitive. Anytime I try a new product, I run the risk of getting a rash or whatever and it's pretty uncomfortable. So I try not to fuck with it and I should have known not to try something new. But I do like going to Sephora and trying new things. Lesson learned. Okie
Mr. Stacks 35:40
dokie so another question I don't really understand from Shelley. Okay, is it ever okay to put ketchup on hotdogs? Or is this verboten? In just Chicago?
Traci Thomas 35:53
Yeah, this is just a stupid Chicago thing. Shelly I absolutely despise this the only way I eat a hot dog with ketchup only. I am an exclusively catch up on a hot dog person. I don't like anything else on my hot dog. When we did the tour. We went to Chicago apparently I didn't know you weren't supposed to put ketchup on our dog. I don't I don't know. What do you guys do at Costco? What do you just put mustard on like Ha. So it might be verboten other verboten other places. But here at stacks headquarters, it's a catch up or die situation.
Mr. Stacks 36:33
So in all of Chicago, you can Pikachu they thought
Traci Thomas 36:37
yeah, they like our weird too. They'll have signs that are like dumping ketchup on odd. They put just like, like a lot of it's like a salad almost like tomatoes, onions. I think they put lettuce on there. I don't know. I could have made that up relish. Mustard. I don't know maybe sauerkraut? I don't know. They just be putting stuff on their hot dogs. They're just like, Oh, like this is why Chicago is why people are like, oh is a hot dog a hot dog or a sandwich. Well, when you put all that accoutrement, it does become a sandwich but if you just put the hot dog the bun and the ketchup, I got a whole different food group. It's called hot dog. Blizzy season. Let's see seasons coming. I just should they want to baseball's starts Lizzie season. Yeah.
Mr. Stacks 37:20
All righty. So who is your most overrated highly celebrated author? This comes from Dakota. And she wants you to know she's referring specifically to their work, not them as a person. Oh,
Traci Thomas 37:37
yeah. There are some overrated people. Um, I don't know because I don't read a lot of I mean, I'd have to assume Colleen Hoover's overrated not having read any of her work, but it's just feels she's so high. It's gotta be overrated.
Mr. Stacks 37:50
For those of us who don't know who that is. Are
Traci Thomas 37:53
you the only person in the world she sold more copies than the Bible? The other year she had like six books on the New York Times bestseller list. She writes like, kind of like maybe maybe a little somebody thriller romance sci fi kind of books, but she's just like the she's a blonde lady. It's a it's a white thing, I think. But people do love JK Rowling. No, JK Rowling writes like fantasy books and she's a turf. I think that Colleen Hoover, she sort of writes like, sexy. Yeah, like sexy Miss romances with like, a hint of danger would be how it's it. She got really big on tick tock tick tock was like, Oh, we discovered this person. And then now everybody has to read it. Who is overrated? Oh, I know who is overrated. Malcolm fucking Gladwell. He is a hack. Okay,
Mr. Stacks 38:43
this is your Lin Manuel 2.0.
Traci Thomas 38:45
This is my Lin Lin Manuel literary Mei Mei Lin, Mei Lin, literary Manuel Miranda, little literary?
Mr. Stacks 38:53
Because you we used to be into
Traci Thomas 38:54
Yes, until I've got critical thinking skills. Yikes. Um, we used to really like him because he tells like a really good story. Like he tells you like, Okay, this is a book about, you know, strangers, and we're going to talk about and explore how strangers relate to each other. But he never does any of the work of defining any of his points. So he qualifies anything that he wants to fit, like in the strangers book. Because if we're gonna talk about how strangers and like how they just don't communicate well or whatever, but then he refers to people as strangers as like people who have never met before. And, and then also includes people who work together for 10 years in the CIA. I'm like, how can they be strangers like they've been co workers for like a decade. He also refers to Churchill and like Hitler as strangers. I'm like, okay, maybe they only met once or twice, but they have dossiers on each other. They're world leaders. Like they're public figures. They're not strangers. They have an understanding of what's going on here. And so he does this thing where he tells these really compelling like essay narratives on each topic, but it doesn't actually fit his whole thesis and he never explains his thesis or his definitions or like sets his terms. So he kind of just dupes people with like, Bunk science and really good storytelling. I mean, the tipping point is a great example of that. What the fuck is a tipping point? And how do you like how do you do it?
Mr. Stacks 40:21
Yeah. And he makes you feel smart also?
Traci Thomas 40:24
Yeah, because he's a good storyteller. Like, it's it's so manipulative. And it's like, it's his writing is great. He's so enjoyable to read. His audiobooks are so enjoyable to listen to. But the moment you start thinking at all about what he's saying, it just all it falls apart. I mean, I think there was an essay in the Atlantic that was talking about the talking and the stranger talking to strangers book. And they talked about the section on poets. And because he has this whole thing about how like, poets are more likely to, like kill themselves or something I can't exactly remember. And they pull the data of like, different professions and like how likely they are to kill themselves. And he talks about he's like, in in this study, like, 94% of poets kill themselves, but then this data was like, 130 people in Ireland, and it was like, okay, so you asked one poet, and they did kill themselves. So yeah, I'll link to that essay because it was really good, but it just the books are he's so like, everyone's like, Oh, Malcolm Gladwell. And then you get to the reading and you're like, This is bad.
Mr. Stacks 41:27
Alright, next we have Cece, who wants to know what are the mini Stax favorite books right now?
Traci Thomas 41:35
Oh, you can help with this. There's a book by Vietnam in Ponce son and T buoys child called chicken of the sea. And it is the weirdest little like bug about pirate chicken. But the boys really like that book. They like those like smart cookie sour grape books by like I think the guy's name is like John Oswald. It's like a series. And who did you just have on the Oh, Oliver Jeffers? Well, we like Oliver Jeffers. They go in and out. They're not into Oliver Jeffers right now. The thing is like they'll just see a book on the shelf and decides like their favorite book for like a week and then we won't see it again for months. Like that happened with The Giving Tree and I was so glad when that whole thing was over. That's brutal. That book sucks. Um, what else do they like? Oh, they like Jabari jumps. Sometimes that's a book that comes in and out of rotation. And they like that we did that like love every subscription box and they like all the little like love every books like B goes to the doctor and like whatever. There's a book called Good Dog Carl that they're really into it has no word so I have to make up the story. And they like the way that I tell the story. And anytime Mr. Sacks tries to do it, they go No, daddy, those aren't the words. Yeah, but there's no words. I just I'm just such a good storyteller like Malcolm Gladwell. Oh, we just checked out a book from the library called monsters love school that they really like and then we had that that really big dyno book with all the pop ups that they got for Christmas from your dad. They really like that they do they're really into like dinos oh they do like the Oliver Jeffers we are here but because they love the like fish. This the sea page and the animals and stuff. So that's that's a few I'm sure I'm forgetting some also linked to the stacks, the mini stacks, bookshop link because that is where I try to keep up with the books that are into.
Mr. Stacks 43:37
Ok, from Henny. I know you always say you're not a writer, and you do not like to write this is so true, Annie. But is there a type of writing that you prefer? For example, writing a review for Insta, rather than an article for she reads? Or a type of writing? You think you dislike less?
Traci Thomas 43:58
Okay, so I'm not a writer. Just want to say that, again. I don't like writing reviews on Instagram reviews are my least favorite thing to write. I really like having parameters to my writing. So like, I don't mind, I don't dislike the she reads as much because I know what I have to do, right? It's like, okay, you're writing about this topic, or I really liked reading the advice column because I was just answering a question. So it was really clear what was asked of me. I am not a writer. And I know I said that all the time. People like what you do, right. And it's true that I do write, but I don't know how to write. So that's why I don't write like long, lengthy, like pieces of popular criticism or anything because I don't know how to do that. And that's a real skill and a real art form. And I have been trying to read books about that stuff. So I can try to do it more. But like, like, I'm not a writer, I have to write things. But what I have been loving it's only been two weeks, as I'm kind of obsessed with writing my show Intel piece each week for unstacked The Substack because I have given myself parameter. So it's like nine categories. And I tell you about nine things I loved from the week from those categories. And then the 10 thing is just one thing I hated from the week. And that's been really fun because I can kind of like go long about certain topics. And then some topics like it's not a whole long thing. It's a video of a guy making fun of Hamilton.
Mr. Stacks 45:21
Next, from Rebecca. From listening to your podcast, I know you prefer nonfiction. I don't know if that was always the case, or if that was an evolution. For me. As I've gotten older, I am more and more drawn to non fiction. So my question is, what fiction book did you love in your youth?
Traci Thomas 45:39
Charlotte's Web. I love Charlotte's Web. I also really liked the Peter Rabbit books, but Charlotte's Web I loved the giver. I loved I loved Number the Stars, but then I reread it as an adult and was extremely not into it. No, if I know that one that is the like Holocaust, Lois Lowry book. And I mean, I think it's like kind of like pre Holocaust, but it's definitely like Nazi like anti Jewish, coming to the attics sneaking away on a boat. So yeah, I mean, Charlotte's Web is to Oh, James in the Giant Peach I loved I love James and the Giant Peach. I liked Matilda a lot. I liked all the Roald Dahl books as Roald Dahl books as a kid. Except for I didn't like the BFG I don't know that one was I don't even remember it. I just know I was not into it. I like Matilda James and John pH. Charlie in the Chocolate Factory was okay to me. And I like the witches. That's like, that's what I think of off the top of my head. Oh, I liked the Sweet Valley High thing a little bit. My god sister Ashley. She was four years older than me. And she like had all of them. And I remember going to visit her and like reading one and being like, Oh my God, these white teenagers are so cool.
Mr. Stacks 46:57
Okay, from Laura, this might be off limits. But I'm curious about sponsors of the podcast you actually use and love them? How do you find them? Where do they find you? And do you ever reject potential sponsors?
Traci Thomas 47:11
Okay. Yes, I do use everything that I say that I use on the podcast. So if I say I use this, like athletic greens, I really do do athletic greens every single morning. Some mornings I forget. And I come home I do in the afternoon. I am very obsessed with athletic greens. I think part of it is the ritual. I also think it really does help my bowels. And I know that that sounds like I'm just doing a little ad or whatever. But it's really true. We have a tushy we use our tushy. It's installed in our master toilet. What else do I use? I've tried everything. For the most part, those sheets, what were those sheets called? We love those sheets? I can't remember. But they were so good. I'll find them in link in the show notes. But I did love the sheets there on our bedroom. And they're on our page right now. There so I don't know, I've really loved them. I thought I didn't like them at first. And then after like a week I was like, Oh, wait, these are amazing. So yes, I do use the things that I say that I use. If in the ad. I don't say that I use it. That means that I don't use it. So like if I'm not like, oh, I use a love this or whatever. But I say like check this out. Or here's what it does. Like that's sort of a cue that I don't use it. Sometimes I try it and I say that I've tried it and I'll tell you what I noticed but the ones I just named are definitely ones that I love. Oh, that jewelry. I did a jewelry one that I really loved. So for the most part, yeah, I'm like into the stuff I love. I wish we could get whatever those boxes called not FreshDirect HelloFresh. I love those. That was really fun. And then as far as how do I get them so I work with a company there called gumball. And what they do is they find ads for a bunch of podcasts. It's sort of like a directory. So your podcast is part of the directory. They do sales outreach to brands and then the brand's shot the directory and they decide oh, this is a good fit for us. Or maybe they're gonna say like we're gonna spend XYZ on podcast money and then Gumball we'll divide it among the podcasts. They come to me they say this podcast is interested in buying an ad Do you approve? I always have the ability to approve or not. Those are for the host read ads are ones that I read on the show. And so those are the like the ones you hear me reading those ones, I've approved all of them at the beginning. And sometimes in the middle of episodes you might hurt hear like a pre recorded ad. It's not my voice of someone else. Those ones I have a little bit less say over those come from the hosting platform that I use to put the show up on and sometimes like what they do is they asked me Oh, do you approve this brand and I usually like try to look at it and see but sometimes it's really hard to tell what the brand is. So I don't always know. So if I'm not reading it it, I don't approve of it explicitly. But I do like dislike you won't hear like I do try to look and see if it's like a conservative this or like the LAPD like I'm gonna say no to that. But sometimes it's hard to know what an organization is exactly. And like, it'll be like, Oh, nonprofit, and I'm like, Okay, let's do more. So if you hear my voice saying that I use it, and I like it. That is true. If you hear my voice saying that, I haven't or like, check this out. That means that maybe I haven't actually used it. That's usually for like the CBD stuff, because I don't use CBD. But I have given it to people in my family to try. So I do get authentic feedback on those ones. And then for the non host, red ones, those are just just sponsored ads that I had all the points.
Mr. Stacks 50:51
So she also wants to know more. Do you ever miss teaching spin?
Traci Thomas 50:56
Oh my god. Yes.
Mr. Stacks 50:57
And what were your favorite songs to teach you? And would you ever go back to teach it?
Traci Thomas 51:03
How much time do you have? I love teaching spin. I miss it so much. Let me tell you, you don't realize how great it is to get paid to exercise until you have to pay other people to teach you how to exercise. I love teaching Spain it was so much fun. I used to bitch about making playlists all the time. But now I'll get on my Peloton and be so annoyed by their playlists that I started hooking up my Sonos speaker to my old playlists and I just put I go on like a just ride like a scenic route. And I just play my old playlists and get away better workout. Some of my favorite songs I loved. I love Beyonce. So I used to do this thing called best effort Beyonce where once a class at least I played one Beyonce song, we get to that song. That was the cue you have to give it your best effort. It was sort of like a what would Beyonce do but we called it best ever Beyonce. And that was always my favorite. I had this great remix of countdown. Remember that one? So I love that. I just had some I mean, this was like back when we could still listen to Kanye and I had some really great Kanye remixes. Remember that Take Me To Church remix was like a Jose Kanye mashup I love like a remix mashup. Weirdly sneaky good to ride to Mumford and Sons awake my soul. I know you're probably like what the fuck that is a slow, sad song. But when the beat drops, you climb up a nice slow hill and then when the beat drops, you sit down and run as fast as you can. Listen, you might not know but you're gonna learn I used to do a really eclectic playlist so you'd get like hip hop, you get these dance music. I used to play some like weird like no music club. There are no-words club music.
Mr. Stacks 53:50
It's all about the remixes. I love Fleetwood Mac.
Traci Thomas 53:53
Oh my god. Yes. Well, I used to play the chain straight up. But there was some good oh, I had that great. Tracy Chapman revolution that I used to play. Oh my gosh, I should just the thing is that you can't I used to teach my classes from an apple playlist, because a lot of the songs you can't get on Spotify, because they're like, we're remixes. We would like rip off YouTubers. Whatever. I don't know. Don't sue me.
Mr. Stacks 54:20
And then would you ever go back?
Traci Thomas 54:22
Yes. Oh, yeah. If anyone would have you. The problem is that I have this other job called the stacks and it takes a lot of my time. Now at the time I had a better balanced because the show was smaller. It wasn't my only job. And I was getting paid a lot more to do spin than I was to do the show. But I would love to teach like three classes or four classes a week.
Mr. Stacks 54:42
Alrighty. This is the last question from Kara. How do you prepare for author interviews and do you ever practice beforehand?
Traci Thomas 54:53
Practice, practice.
Mr. Stacks 54:55
Practice?!
Traci Thomas 54:58
I prepare so what I do Is I read the book, take notes, as I'm reading, if the book is already out in the world, or if the author is like a more established author, not a debut, I will go and try to listen to some interviews that they've done. Because I want to go through my list of questions and cross off anything that other people have asked or at least like, try to reframe the questions. I also will maybe like read stuff about them or like read articles about them. And then I draft up the questions. And I sort of have like a rubric for like the not for the book club questions. But for the like, you know, author interviewed the straight up ones in the middle of the month, those I sort of have a rubric of questions that I go, and I add to and take away from, but then I also add a lot of like topic specific questions to those episodes, like the first half of the episode is all pretty much unique to that author. But then as we get later, obviously, the snap question is on the rubric, the word you can't spell is on the rubric. You know, what books are in conversation, all of that. I don't ever practice questions. But sometimes I do have to think about a question for a while, because I can't I sometimes know what I want the person to talk about. But I can't think of how to explain how to reverse engineer as a question. You know, so like, I'm sometimes I'm working on something that's going on in the book, or I'm like working on a theme or a topic. And I'm like, right, there's clearly something this person's trying to get at, or I want them like, I don't want to ask them straight up. But I'm like, How can I get them on this topic? And so sometimes I have to reverse engineer that. If I really struggle to do that. I will call KSA or text KSA and be like, how do I ask this question? And then he asked me, well, what are you trying to get at? And then usually, he just says back to me, Okay, well then ask them. What are you doing with XYZ? When I'm trying to be like, okay, X, carry the y and z is like, just ask them. So I don't practice like I never, I don't do like a dress rehearsal. I do have extreme performance, interview anxiety. I do get very nervous before almost all of my interviews, some of them famously, I get extremely, like so nervous. I have to tell you guys about it at the start of the episode, like at the start of the Jasmine ward. I was like, I can't speak to her until I let everybody know that I'm so stressed out right now. But I'm all I always get really nervous. I used to get nervous before every spin class I taught it's just like these little jitters I get and I just part of my process. Probably a therapist would tell me that it's not healthy. And then I don't need to be anxious before everything I do. But at this point, I remember like the first dance recital I ever did, I had this anxiety and it has never gone away before a performance.
Mr. Stacks 57:43
The hard is what makes it good?
Traci Thomas 57:45
Oh, League of Their Own.
Mr. Stacks 57:47
Last one. Favorite book you've read so far this year.
Traci Thomas 57:53
James by Percival Everett, it is so fucking good. I will fight you at read in history. It's it's out. It's out. So go get it. Read it. If you don't like it, you shouldn't tell me because I will find you and fight you. So just lie to me about it. Protect yourselves and your loved ones because I'm coming. Alright, we're done. Mr. Sacks. Thank you. For your incredible line readings of all of those questions. You kind of read them all in like a slightly higher pitched voice to indicate that my audience is women. I felt I don't know if that's what you were going for. But you definitely did it that way.
Mr. Stacks 58:31
I'm just a natural at all this. Just to close the loop. William Kent Krueger is a crime writer. That's all I got.
Traci Thomas 58:40
Here's what I'll say to that question. If you think that he is problematic. He probably is. I don't know anything about this guy. So don't get me cancelled. But if you think he's an asshole, and he's like a bad dude, and ethically something's up, then probably ethically something's up. I don't I don't know. I don't know what the problem is. I couldn't find anything on Google. Shannon, fill me in.
Mr. Stacks 58:59
Shannon we'll do his book next.
Traci Thomas 59:01
Yeah book club. All right, everybody. This has been great. Thank you for being here. We sort of jumped the shark at the end. And thanks for being part of, you know, The Stacks community.
Mr. Stacks 59:13
Thank you guys.
Traci Thomas 59:16
And we will see you in the stacks.
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