Unabridged: Nonfiction Book Generator - Transcript
In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, Traci wraps up Nonfiction November by pairing audience-submitted books, moods, snacks, TV shows, and songs with 15 nonfiction book recommendations. This episode is packed with fresh titles to add to your TBR and inspire your next great read.
TRANSCRIPT
Traci Thomas 0:00
Hey everybody, it's Traci Thomas, creator and host of the podcast the stacks. I'm here with a bonus episode of the stacks unabridged today I am doing a fun little game. It is a non fiction book generator. You all have asked me for book recommendations based on your moods, your favorite shows, your favorite candies, TV. And I am delivering non fiction books to go with those things. Okay, let's get to the episode.
Welcome to another bonus episode of the stacks on a bridge. It's me, Traci Thomas, your host. Today we're trying something new. It's the non fiction generator game, but it's in audio form. I asked folks to submit their moods, songs, movies, whatever I'm doing great. I asked them to submit these things, and then I'm gonna pair them with a non fiction book. I did this once over on my sub stack. People loved it. I thought it would be fun as a bonus episode, I've gotta give credit to NYC book girl Morgan Hoyt, because this is really her game, and I basically stole it and made it non fiction only because it's non fiction November. So listen, if you get these bonus episodes all the time, you're probably thinking, this is sort of an underperforming episode. Traci, what's going on? And you know what? You're not wrong. I am exhausted, and I could not find the right guest for this month. And I thought, Well, I'm not gonna do an episode. And then at the last minute, I thought, You know what, I'm gonna do an episode. That being said, there's actually two bonus episodes coming in January, and they are both out of this world, fantastic. So please accept this sort of middling bonus episode for November, and just know that in January, I've like, super duper got you I picked 15 of the moon songs, foods, TV shows that you all submitted to pair with non fiction books. And we're gonna get started. First up, this person asked for quote, any captivating true crime story where you find out, in the end who the killer is. I went with a non fiction book that I read in 2019 called people who eat darkness by Richard Lloyd Perry. The book is about the murder of an American girl in Japan. She works at a bar. She's not a sex worker, but the vibes are similar, and she's murdered, and nobody knows what happens to her. And now that I'm saying that she's American, I'm actually remembering that she's British, and it's about trying to figure out what happened to her, but it's also about Japan and their criminal system, or criminal justice system, or maybe criminal legal system is more accurate. Since there's no justice in our criminal justice system, I'm not going to say there's any in theirs, but the book is really captivating. You don't exactly know what's going on. Who did it? Maybe you think you know, then you kind of figure it out, but then you don't really understand why, and it sort of takes you all the way to the end before you really get what's going on. And then you have to figure out, Is this person going to be convicted of this crime? Is this person even still alive? What happens? That's the wreck. Number two, this person asked for an intriguing read as a distraction from the political mess we are experiencing. Okay, I wanted to go with something fun. I wanted to go with something you know, that you could talk about with your family over the holiday season. I'm going with ladies who punch by. Ramin satuda, for those of you who've been listening to the show for a long time, Ramin did come on the podcast in 2019 to talk about this book that is all about the view. It's about the TV show, the view, which I love. It is about Barbara Walters. It is about Whoopi Goldberg. It takes you through all the iterations of the cast. The drama, The Rosie O'Donnell sections are fantastic. It is such a fun book. It is such a distraction from everything that's going on, while still also remaining somewhat relevant. Because, yes, of course, Donald Trump makes an appearance in the book, Hillary Clinton makes an appearance in the book, because the truth is, the view is actually an extremely political show and really shapes the way that we think and talk about politics in America, especially in the mid 2000s early 2000s when the show was at the height of its power. So my recommendation for intriguing distraction is ladies who punch by Ramin satuda, of course, because you all are my people, many of you asked for recommendations for either not like us, or just the new Kendrick album in general. So I've combined those two. I am giving you my favorite book. Diss track ever, which is notes on a native son by James Baldwin. This book is a short essay collection. The first essay is basically James Baldwin, just ethering Native Son the book. It's not just why the book sucks to James Baldwin, it's also why Richard Wright ain't shit. It is old school beef. It is like high brow infighting, and I love it. It reminds me of the Drake Kendrick beef. It reminds me that books and authors should, for sure, be talking shit to each other all the fucking time, and the fact that they're being nice to each other on the internet like book people, is not in the tradition of the literary community. So my Kendrick beef book recommendation is notes on the native son. Okay, next up is a recommendation for the Americans the TV show with Carrie Russell and Matthew Reese. It's about a couple in the United States where they are spies. They're like in the CIA under Ronald Reagan in 1981 the show concludes in 1987 it's all about them being spies and like, what's going on and trying to, like, find stuff out in DC. And the book I'm pairing with this is one day in September by Simon Reeves, which is all about the Palestinian terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Because the book starts there, but then it also goes into this entire like government retaliation plan against Palestine and Palestinian organizations from Israel to, sort of, you know, avenge this, this major public kidnapping and murder of Olympic Israeli is Olympic athletes. So the books have a lot in common, because it's sort of this spy thriller murder thing. And also, they're both, you know, historical works, the Americans takes place in the early to mid 80s. This takes place starting in 1972 but the Israelis were doing their thing for a long time after because they had found these targets and they were trying to murder them. And the book is a wild ride. It's a crazy story. I didn't know a lot about it. And also, I also recommend it to folks who are like, I want to understand what's happening in Gaza now a little bit better. And I think this book helps to sort of contextualize a lot of the like, history of the violence back and forth. Okay, next up, number five is people asked for a recommendation for bad faith, which is a documentary. I'm not familiar with this documentary, but in the request they put down, like evangelicals trying to seize political power. And obviously I was like, Well, I know a book that's perfect for that. It's called the kingdom the power and the glory, by Tim Alberta. It is all about the evangelical movement towards political influence. Tim Alberta's dad was a pastor who passed away. There was some tension there after his death about who would take over and what direction the church would go, because Tim Alberta's dad was sort of resistant to a lot of the religious political mixing. However, when he dies, there's this opening. So that's sort of Tim Alberta's entry point into the book. But Tim Alberta is a serious journalist, so he is giving you reporting about all the major churches and how they got involved, and he's taking you back in history, and it's so smart and good. It gave me such a good understanding of how these Christian groups be. You know how we went from separation of church and state to whatever the fuck is going on now, which is for sure, the opposite of that. Next up, someone asked for a financial crime thriller. So I took this as you wanted something that was a good pairing or similar to a financial crime thriller. I This one is it's not a thriller, because, you know, the end thing, but I went with Madoff by Richard Behar. It's this new book about Bernie Madoff. I'm highly recommending the audiobook, because in the audiobook, you get to hear the conversations and interviews between Madoff and Behar, and they were talking for like, 11 years. It took Behar a long time to write this one. It's all about Bernie. Madoff. He explains everything, and I think he explains it well, but I'm so financially illiterate that I have no fucking clue what Behar is talking about, because he'll be like, Oh, then he put it in his chase checking account, and I'm like, I have a chase checking account. Could I run a Ponzi scheme? And he keeps calling it just like a regular Chase checking account, and I just don't understand what that means. So I want to just recommend this book slightly with a grain of salt, because I have no fucking clue what. Any of this means. Okay. Next up, the mood is cozy, comforting, light, okay. Why was this the hardest one for me to come up with? I did come up with something because I took the word cozy and comforting really seriously. I'm going with taste by Stanley Tucci. I love that book. It is so cozy and comforting. It's a celebrity memoir with recipes and food. And Stanley Tucci is so lovely. His voice is so lovely. So definitely do the audio. I don't know. There's no real drama in this book.
He does. You know, his wife does pass away, which is very sad, but for the most part, this book is cozy and comforting, and he's taking you to Italy and his favorite recipes, and his new wife, who he loves so much, who makes the best roast potatoes. And did you know his wife is Emily Blunt's sister, and also, I think her name is Fiona. She's also like a very famous editor or book agent in in England. I don't know. I liked it. I thought it was a great time, definitely cozy, comforting, so cozy and comforting, I almost forgot it. So I had to go back to my spreadsheet to find a book that fit this prompt, because, as I mentioned, this was by far the hardest one for me. Okay. Next up, someone asked for a pairing for the song, No Woman, No Cry, by Bob Marley and the whalers I picked breathe by Imani Perry, I don't know that this song is about a mother and a son, but I also don't know that it's not about a mother and a son. I feel like he references his childhood and like, you know, I remember when we used to be right? Like, all this, like, memory stuff. It talks about porridge, which I feel like is like what kids eat for breakfast. Not even that. It has to be about a mother and a son. But there's something about, like, taking care of each other and sort of telling this story. It's epistolary in nature. The song and the book is an epistolary non fiction book. She's writing a letter to her two sons, and I just there's something about it. As soon as I saw this recommendation, I thought, Oh, my God, breathe is exactly right for this book. There's that longing and also that sort of nostalgia and passing of time. And I can't say exactly why I think they fit together, but I can say that of all of my recommendations, this one feels the most right in my heart. Okay. Next up, someone asked for inside out, too, the Disney Pixar movie about emotions and anxiety a lot, but I'm gonna stick with sort of just like the feels, because the book gives you all the feels, and the book that I think about so much that gave me all the feels, including sadness, so just Gird your loins. Is seek you by Kirsten Radke, who did come on the podcast, and it's all about loneliness. It's this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, graphic, non fiction book about loneliness and connection, and she's done research, and she takes you to that, like, scopes, no, not the Scopes Monkey Trial. The Monkey Trial where, like, little baby monkeys have to hold on to those sad like wireframe dolls that give them food. And it's like about abuse and stuff. I told you it was sad. Anyways, the book is so gorgeous, and it does make you sort of think about like longing and sadness and joy and what feels good and what hurts, and what it means to connect with other people. And a lot of inside out too. Is about Riley trying to connect with her friends from before and also be cool and hang out with the cool kids and like be herself and to feel fulfilled in those ways. And, yeah, I don't know it works in my brain. Okay, the next one is someone requested a pairing for the Selena song, si una vez. And I picked magical realism by Vanessa and helica via real because she writes so beautifully in this essay collection about Selena and her relationship to her, and I could not get enough of listening to all of my favorite Selena songs as I was reading this book, and for like, the two weeks after, and I'm still, you know, my my Spotify, like most played, still has some Selena on there, because I was going so hard When I finished this book a few months ago. But the book is also about like genre, and it's a little bit of memoir, and it's about sort of how we categorize things in our brains. There's some amazing essays towards the end on fantasy and fiction. There's one on Game of Thrones, a show that I don't even really watch but honestly, the essay is so good, you don't have to watch the show. This was actually my favorite book on the National Book Award long list. It didn't even make the short list, which I do not understand, but that's something to take up with someone else, not me. Next up, whoever requested this has knows me so well, but this was hard. They asked for book pairings for Swedish Fish, my favorite candy. And I thought about it, I thought, wow, why do I love Swedish Fish? Well, because they're sweet and they're delicious, but also they have sticking power. They stick to your teeth a little bit, and flavor is so full, they're so delicious, they don't taste like anything else. They're unlike any other candy. And I thought, who is so unique that I love has staying power, isn't just a flirty, flimsy, like, I don't know, dumb candy, but is like a delicious pairs well with others. And I've decided I shouldn't be telling you this, but I'm going to anyway, by Chelsea devantes, her memoir and essays. It's funny, it's sweet. It's got some like, you know, cuteness to it, not very cute, but, you know, I shouldn't say cute. Chelsea's gonna kill me because it's not cute, but it's got some, like, fun, punchy, just sweet, goodness. But then also, it's got some staying power. This book is about real shit. Okay? This book is about domestic violence, how we treat women, the fucked up ways women have to get ahead, have to work together, have to figure it out. This book pairs well with a lot of things going on in the world. So I'm giving it the Swedish Fish treatment, my favorite candy, one of my favorite people. It's an obvious slam dunk. Okay, another very zeitgeisty thing that people ask for. A lot of you asked for pairings for wicked, either the musical, the movie or the book, and defying gravity, the song. So let me start here. The book of wicked is not good. Okay, we need to be honest with the source material. It is weird, it is dark, it is no fun. As of recording, I have not yet seen the movie, which I know, I know, I know, that's how you'd want me to respond. Yes, there's been some confusion. See, see what I did there. Those of you who know wicked, you know what I'm doing. Those of you who don't get it together, so I'm sort of pairing defying gravity, generally, wicked, generally, my idea of what the show is with this book called Surviving the white gaze by Rebecca Carroll. And you might think to yourself, my gosh, Traci, what a random fucking pairing. But hear me out. In wicked, our lead character is Elphaba. She's green. How we don't know why we don't know, but we hate her because she's an outsider. She is taken to shiz, this great school for Smarty smart kids, smarty smart, witchy people. She's an outlier because, again, she's green, but also she's great. Teachers love her, but nobody else does. Sort of a outcast. Cut to the book surviving the white gates. Rebecca Carroll, a black, mixed race child adopted by a white family in a very white area, definitely an outlier. Her parents don't know how to do her hair. She's an outsider, she's smart, she's brilliant, but nobody knows what the fuck to do with her. It's about sort of figuring out how to survive, how to go forth, even though your start wasn't as great as it maybe could be. And to me, that's giving Elphaba vibes. Okay, next up dove promises chocolates, those little chocolate squares. That's what I think that means. I don't know if dove promises is a different kind of chocolate, but that's why I think there's those little foil wrap squares I went with sometimes I trip on how happy we could be. By Nicole Perkins, this book is funny. It's rich. It is black. It is dark chocolate, milk chocolate. It could be either. It's an essay collection about sex and kind of trying to make it in New York and figuring shit out in your 30s, it is that little tiny hit each essay is like a little tiny hit of chocolate that sort of just hits the spot, like those candies. But also you can't just have one. What are you a serial killer? You're just gonna eat one of those things. No, you've gotta read multiple of these essays. And as an addendum this book and this prompt, really, if I was doing it for fiction and non fiction, I would definitely pair this with fucking church ladies, but I can't, but I'm just throwing that out there that I think sometimes I trip on how happy we could be is sort of the non fiction pairing to Secret Life of church ladies as well. Two more bad blood, which is the book, it's not they specifically said not the Taylor Swift song, because they they fucking knew I would be done with you if you picked the Taylor Swift song, because I would pair it with the worst book I've ever read. But we're not doing that right now.
We're doing bad blood, the book about Elizabeth Holmes, written by John Kerry yell. I picked another book about a Silicon Valley startup that was fucking bullshit. I picked the cult of we WeWork. Adam Newman in the great startup delusion. It's by Elliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. It's sort of just a deep dive into how we work. Was a total scam. There's not as much murder, sort of death intrigue in this one. And but there's definitely some high stakes. Adam Newman was a total lack job, just like Elizabeth Holmes. So you're gonna get that CEO that is so crazy and so over the top. You're gonna get the outrageous overspending of Silicon Valley and the startup situation. You're gonna get all of that. And I think you're gonna like it, because I really liked it last one, my 15th one, someone just put the word Philadelphia. I I am assuming that you mean the film with Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks. I am not assuming that you mean the city, because I don't have a pairing for the city of Philadelphia. Broadly, I don't know it well enough, but I do love the movie Philadelphia, and I am going to pair it with the brand new, sort of definitive book about the AIDS crisis. It's called, Let the record show it's all about activism and act up, which was the organization that did all that political activism around the AIDS crisis to make Reagan and Clinton and all those fucking assholes do some shit when it came to AIDS and HIV. So that's my pairing. Okay, that was fun. I really dislike speaking into the microphone by myself, but I'm starting to get better at it, I think. Or maybe worse, it's just so I feel chaotic. So I know it sounds chaotic, but thanks for coming with me on this one, and this is your little mini bonus episode for November. And I promise you again, in January, you're gonna get two bonus episodes. And in December, I'm working on something that I think is gonna be really fun, and I'm excited to do, and it will be chaotic, but I will have a guest. So thank you for being a subscriber to unstacked and slash or being a member of the stacks pack on Patreon. I couldn't make the show without you, and I am so, so so, so grateful that you even care what I have to say. So have a great rest of your November. It's probably like one day left in the month by the time you're listening to this, and I will see you in December in the stacks.