Unabridged: Our Most Anticipated Books of 2025 with Sara Hildreth and Cree Myles - Transcript
In this episode of The Stacks Unabridged, Cree Myles (All Ways Black) and Sara Hildreth (Fiction Matters) are back to reflect on 2024 as a year in books and share the titles they’re most excited to read in the first half of 2025. From last year’s standouts to exciting new releases, this conversation is a must-listen for book lovers updating their TBRs.
TRANSCRIPT
Traci Thomas 0:00
Hello, Hello. It's me. Traci Thomas, host of the stacks, and I'm here with another bonus episode of the show. And today it is January. It is new book season, and I brought back two of my favorite book people, Sarah Hildreth, the creator of fiction matters, and Cree miles, the genius behind always black, to talk about our most anticipated reads of the month. Okay, enough of that. Now it is time for my conversation with Sarah Hildreth and Cree miles about our most anticipated books of 2025
I'm right, everybody. Best bonus episode of the year, though, this year, this might actually be on the main feed, so it'll be a surprise to us too, so we'll see. So don't say anything that's gonna get you fired. This might end up on the main so those giggles and voices you're hearing. One is Sarah Hildreth. She's the creator of fiction matters empire. It's a substack. It's an Instagram. You might know her voice from her podcast that she co hosts, calls novel pairings. You also just might know her from being around here and telling us what books to read. So that's Sarah. And then on the other side of the giggles is another friend of the pod, Cree Myles, who is the creator of the always black book content machine I don't know. And she's also one of the or the host of the Baldwin 100 podcast, which you might know. You might know her from being here talking about all sorts of shit. But also I'm acting like you might not know them, and I know you know them. So ladies, welcome back. So yeah, that's what we're gonna do today. We did this in 2024 it was so much fun. It sparked our friendship, of the three of us. And obviously, instead of being like, Who could I talk to in 2025 about books. I was like, Great Cree and Sarah will be back. So Cree and Sarah are back, and before we even dive into 2025 I want to start with a quick little like post mortem on 2024 What did you make of it as a year in books? How do you feel like your reading was anything you are excited to be rid of from that year. Talk
Sara Hildreth 2:25
about it. I felt like it was a good, but not great reading year for me, when I looked back at especially the new releases I read, there were a lot I had a lot of disappointments in my new release reading, but I think part of that was because I read James and martyr at the beginning of the year, and then nothing else really held a candle to them all year. And so it was just a strange reading year to read like two excellent books so early on, and then kind of be like chasing that high. And I don't know, it's not really a fair way to approach books, but we can't help it. We can't help but compare them, especially when we like talk about them for a living. So I'm, I don't know, I'm excited for maybe a little bit more variety in my reading life. In 2025 I think even before I read James, I just knew it was going to be my favorite book of the year. Yeah, yeah. And there's not one book looming over 2025 in the same way. And so I'm excited to define like I 2024 was the year of James. It was the best. It was the book of the year. I'm excited this year to find, like, my Book of the Year. Ooh, more parody.
Traci Thomas 3:49
We're looking for parody. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I can
Cree Myles 3:53
say like, and I think one before we got this is just like a love on you guys. Like before our group chat started and everything, I was very disillusioned by this space, like I was just tired of it. I do think a lot of times I am, I was feeling like pressure to read things that I didn't want to read because of my job. And so last year, I worked really hard to not do that. And usually I'm like, a romantic around consuming books, like, I just wanted to linger and, like, sit in it. And because of y'all, I was like, No, I'm going to just read shit. Like, I'm just gonna, like, pick it up, read it, give it a go, because you're right. Nothing. I finished martyr. I swear to God, this is so dramatic. I finished martyr on my couch. I was by myself, somehow, with all of these children I have, and just sobbed. And I was like, I want to feel that all the time, but I can't, and so I'm just going to keep reading. So I grew a lot last year, for the better. I'm and I'm super. I came into this year like, New Year's don't always like matter to. Me. But this year, I really was like, I'm very excited about what I am going to accomplish in the book world this year, because of all of that was laid out last year. Thanks to you guys. I
Traci Thomas 5:10
love this I can tell you are because you have been posting reels every day, which is and not just reels fully made up. Thank you. Looking beautiful as always, but you know the lip gloss is popping. You're doing minutes on books, minutes had a full
Sara Hildreth 5:29
like real deal review of a January release in your in your newsletter, ahead of pub. Date like you are.
Cree Myles 5:39
No you're doing even, am I everyone? We're only, like, eight days in, so don't get too excited. This could go left. By the time this airs, people
Traci Thomas 5:49
are going to be like, What are
Sara Hildreth 5:53
they talking about? It's true. Oh, well, I also, I feel like through our group chat and then getting to, like, actually hang out in real life last year and talk so much about books and criticism, I feel like we're all kind of like narrowing in on our or sharpening our critical voices and how we want to talk about books, and it's just that discussion has been really helpful for me in terms of getting more out of every book I read without feeling like I have to love every book.
Traci Thomas 6:24
Oh yeah, oh yeah. I'm doubling down on hating books in 2025 for real, for real,
Cree Myles 6:31
I'm publishing 2028
Traci Thomas 6:35
I feel like, for me, 2024 was a weird year as well. I think because of the election, so many things got pushed earlier in this in the year for publishing. So so many of my favorites, I think of my top 10 of the year, eight of them I read may or earlier. Um, there were things I read later in the year that I really liked. They just didn't quite like, crack my top 10 or whatever. I think one of the things I hope doesn't carry over into 2025 which I feel like I've seen a lot this year, and maybe already a little bit in 2025 is like this identity politics reading, because I'm so thrilled by you know, last year, Sarah, I read True Grit because you said that I should or like you said that You loved it. I don't even think you said I should. You just gush about it. And I was like, let me try. And I loved it. And like, if I read identity politics, reading which is like only reading books by like, black and mixed women, and like only reading books that need attention or whatever, I would have missed out on a book that I just found delightful and lovely. And that's not to say that I'm not going to continue to read what I want to read, which is mostly, you know, books by black people and etc, but I do think that, like, there was discourse on threads already that was about, like, this book is this history book about a black person is by a white person, and so I'm not going to read it. And, like, I just really want to leave that behind, because I don't think it's useful. And I think that, like as I feel a responsibility to read those books even more so that I can have a way in. You know, you all know, I read the Reagan book at the end of last year, and like, I liked it. By the time I got to the end, I had a lot of criticism for it, but if I had not read it, I feel like a lot of people would have been like, oh, this book is great. It was in the New York Times list. And I think people have since, like, thought more critically about it, because I was, like, willing to spend 32 hours listening to the audiobook and have an opinion. And, like, I think that that's what matters. Is like, if I want, if, I want to be a critic in the book space? Like, I want to be able to impact the books that are coming out across the spectrum, and also, especially because, like, I like those fucking dad books, you know, like, there's not a lot of like, black millennial women, I don't think who are like, as deep in fucking Reagan biography. So, like, let me tell you what I thought about it. So that's definitely something that I'm like, already, can we not do that this year? And I felt like that was really big in 2024, of like, we're reading, you know, only books by people that look like us. And I'm just like, that's great, and I don't knock you if you do it, but I want to leave that behind and that pressure behind, because I don't think it's useful, and I also don't think it informs the other books, the books that I am reading, like to not be able to speak to the past of literature, and like, the past of history, or whatever it is anyways. So that's like, one of the things that I'm I guess that's sort of more like a reading goal, or like both leaving behind and keeping in?
Sara Hildreth 9:41
Yeah, that makes so much sense, because, I mean, all of these, like books are in conversation with each other, and authors like reading each other and building off of each other and pushing back. And so if we silo our reading, we don't get that full experience. And I also think it's just. Yeah, like the lens that we as individuals can bring to the books we read is so important for all of the books we read. So I think that's a great goal, and I'm curious to see what you pick up because of that. Well,
Traci Thomas 10:14
I don't think I'm gonna pick up anything differently, yeah, yeah. I've always read a super diverse group of books. I just feel like I'm not going to feel as guilty about it. Yeah, before we dive in, Cree, we just talked about how you're bringing reviews back. Yes, you're bringing your reviews back. Sarah, you've got a new thing coming this year. Your readers almanac. Do you want to just tell people a little bit about it? Yeah,
Sara Hildreth 10:37
I'm so I'm I'm working on it now, and it will be out mid January, so probably, or before
Traci Thomas 10:46
this will be out in mid January, could be out now. It could be out after wait and see. I don't even know where this is airing, because I don't know if this is on the main feed or not. I know nothing. So vibes.
Sara Hildreth 10:59
Well, vibes is a good way to describe my my mood readers Almanac is what I'm calling it, and it's been a really fun project for me, because what I'm doing, it's a reading guide, basically, but instead of reading books to vet them for a guide, which I have learned recently that I I really don't like doing, even though there are lots of there and there are lots of readers who are doing it and are great at it, And that's just not what I like doing. So I'm looking back at all the books I read in 2024 and putting them into this almanac divided by like reading mood. So like, what to read if you need a quick win, I'm doing some seasonal reading stuff. I'm doing some fun things, like, there's a world map, and you can find books from all over the world. There's a little flow chart for 20th century classics. So if you want to find like, a great 20th century classic for you, there's a flow chart to help you. It's very fun. I think it's supposed to just be a way for readers to like, you know, discover new things, but also be like, Oh, I loved that book. And it's like sitting next to this other book. So maybe I'll pick that up, and it's just
Traci Thomas 12:10
only books for 24 that you read in 2020 I read
Sara Hildreth 12:13
in 2024 so I'm limiting myself. So I'm like, I'm not saying, Oh, this is a great category. I'm gonna try to find more books for that category. If the category didn't arise naturally from my reading, it's just, it's not in there. So,
Traci Thomas 12:26
so on the flow chart, though, like, it'll only be the classics you read. Yes, you're not adding anything in. You're not saying, like, also Jane Eyre whatever, even though I know you read that, like, every week, but whatever,
Sara Hildreth 12:38
my weekly Jane Eyre reading, yeah, only ones that I read in 2024 because otherwise it gets just too much pressure on myself to add add things in. So it's tempting to add things in. Since it's the first year I'm doing it, I'm like, Oh, I can pull from like, two years ago, three years ago, yeah, but I'm really forcing myself not to.
Traci Thomas 12:59
I cannot wait to see this. It's gonna really
Cree Myles 13:04
my friend. I got to give a I'm sorry I was the really excited to see the um, lame. Is flow, honestly. Oh
Sara Hildreth 13:10
yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, it's gonna be so fun. And my friend Katie, I don't know if you guys follow her on Instagram at clumsy words, she's my in real life friend. She lives in Denver, and she did the design for it, and it's so good because she's so good at that.
Traci Thomas 13:32
Awesome. Yeah, it looks
Sara Hildreth 13:34
it looks beautiful because of her, not because of me. So I'm very excited about it. I
Traci Thomas 13:39
can't wait to see it. Awesome. See it.
Okay.
Let's dive into the books. I want to start with, any books you've already read from 2025 that you've loved. So we can get those out of the way so we're not like, Oh, these are our most anticipated, but we already know about No need to talk about 2025 that have been mid or just okay. But if there's anything you've really been impressed by, that's all I want to hear about. Cree
Cree Myles 14:02
Play World by Adam Ross is so good. Sorry everybody. He's white and a man. Oh my gosh. It's so beautiful. And I like, I feel like, Y'all know because in the in our text that I was like, trying to put together the books for my always black Rex, and so I picked him up on a whim, honestly, because of Brandon Taylor, because he blurbed it. And I feel like Brandon doesn't blurb anything, either because he's not asked, or because he doesn't like the things that he's reading. I don't know, also, I don't know Brandon's life, so I could be just, I hope he doesn't see this, and it turns into a thing anyway. So that's why I picked it up. And literally, from the very first scene, I was locked. I was locked in Adam. He's masterful,
Traci Thomas 14:58
Master do things. How? Happen in this book, because I put it on my most anticipated list, and I've had it sitting next to me for a few months, and I keep thinking I'm interested in it, but then you really liked it, and you sort of like vibey shit. So now I'm like, will I? Will I like this? It sounds like there's plot. I
Sara Hildreth 15:15
mean, there's there's plot. It's
Cree Myles 15:17
a year. So it's a 523 pages of a year, and it's his 14th year of life. So, like, just to like that the the mundane every day a family is happening, but also he's getting groomed by an adult woman, you know. So, like, he's a child actor. He's a child actor. And you'd think that that would carry the majority of the book, but it does not like, it like, that's just like an aside that comes up ever so often. But yeah, that's how I want all my books.
Traci Thomas 15:47
Okay, okay, Sarah, anything you've read and loved, I have two. One
Sara Hildreth 15:53
is the favorites by Lane Fargo, totally not my type of book. I'm a hardcore literary fiction reader. This is not that, but it is a retelling of Wuthering Heights set in the world of elite ice dancing. And it is bonkers. So wild. I know I feel like this factory made in a lab for me. And it was, it was so fun. And, I mean, I was a nice dancer, and I was, I mean, I was never going to go to the Olympics, but I trained with people who did go to the Olympics, yeah. So, like, being in that world, I was always like, I don't understand why there isn't a reality show about this, or, like, some really just, like, juicy dramatic show or book or something, like, there's just really nothing has captured it. I'm not saying the Favorites perfectly captures it, but it captures the dramatic spirit of the world of elite figure skating. Really well, very fun. It's not great literature, but it also it knows that it's not great literature, and I like that. It's like, it's all about self awareness, exactly. It's fun and campy and juicy and moves at a really fast pace. The book is best when it when you hit the chapters that are like, like an oral history, like the script of a documentary, and she captured all of the voices really well, very fun. So that's out, January 14. And then the other one I read and loved was, couldn't be more different. Audition by Katie kitamara, yeah. So good it is. It's short, it's experimental, it's very literary. You have to kind of like, pour over this book with a fine tooth comb, because if you miss certain details, it just like, won't click, it won't come together. In the end, she forces you to really slow down and close read. It's set. It's also set in the world of theater. I feel like that might be kind of like a theme of the year. I've seen a few books that are doing that, and we love performance, yes, and that's what this book is about. It's about performance and how we perform different roles in our own lives. I mean, I would give a setup, but it's not. It's not a plot driven story. It's a structure driven story.
Cree Myles 18:32
Honestly, that's this exact same thing that play World is about. So that's funny.
Sara Hildreth 18:36
Okay, well, I'm definitely gonna read play world, then I'm definitely
Traci Thomas 18:41
gonna read none of those books. So the three of you recommend nothing that I want.
Sara Hildreth 18:48
If you need a beach read, you might enjoy the favorites. Stuff happens. Okay,
Traci Thomas 18:53
well, that's it. That's it. For me, I've never read weathering, weathering, weather.
Cree Myles 19:00
That word with a
Traci Thomas 19:02
re height.
Sara Hildreth 19:05
I like, I like that way,
Traci Thomas 19:07
three heights, ring heights. I sub offering height. Okay, yeah, I guess. Why not? Like is you turn to do cockney erasure? Those people read too. Okay,
Cree Myles 19:21
what is
Traci Thomas 19:27
okay. So my book that I have loved so far in 2025 not finished with actually only 20 pages in. It's the new Imani Perry. I don't know what she's gonna do with the next 200 pages, but if they're anything like the first 20, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, she is unreal. Like, it's sick. She's sick because she's so good. Like, what I read, like the first two chapters immediately tagged someone and was like, if it continues like this, it's Pulitzer. Yeah, okay, that's what it is. If it continues on this path, it's the it's the only option for this book in that new memoir category. I just, I can't imagine that it's not right the fuck in there, just right in there. I'm 20 pages in. So when I get to the end, I will update, obviously, but, but at this point in time, it's about the history of black people told through the lens of the color blue. So she's talking, she's like, constantly coming back, circling back to the color blue in these different ways. So like, we're in West Africa and we're with the Indigo plant, and talking about, like, how that plant dyes things blue, and like, what the fabric that the people there like, what they were making and dying and like, it's just, it's really incredible. I don't, I can't explain it. It is vibes for sure. Like, it's really vibey, but it works because she's smart, right? Like, it's not just like, just like words, like she's actually doing something. It appears from 20 pages and and she writes beautifully, like the rhythm, I feel like it's like she's writing in iambic pentameter. She's not, but it's so tight the rhythm of the sentences that you can just like, hear them coming out, but you're like, This is prose. How is she doing this? And then she has something to say. Because I feel like some authors, like, write beautiful sentences, they have nothing to say, or some people have a lot to say, but the sentences are middling, and I'm like, and some people can't do either, and she's out here just like, let me do both. I'm I'm all in. That is my love. The other book I want to quickly update people on, because I talked about it in the 2024 year end episode. Is hot air by Marcy durmansky. This is the book that I invented this year for no reason others
Sara Hildreth 22:00
designed the cover too. Because I might
Traci Thomas 22:03
have, I might as well have, because that's what brought me in. It is, I still can't decide how I feel about it. I enjoyed it. It's about a woman who goes on a first date with her neighbor who's rich at his house. It's like, right? It's like 2021 like post COVID lockdown, but still, COVID times, and while they're in their backyard having their first kiss. A hot air balloon lands in the rich guy's pool. Out come a billionaire and his wife, and the woman who's on the first date, her first kiss at summer camp happens to have been with the billionaire, I don't know. And then chaos ensues. It's like a 72 hours kind of book, like, it takes place in 72 hours. Knopf, okay, and it is good, and I enjoyed it. I just can't tell if it's satire, in which case I loved it, or if it's straight comedy, in which case it's not very good. Like, it's like, fine, they're gonna get satire. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think they have to Yeah, I liked it. I enjoyed it. It's short and it was just long enough. It's definitely not a book I'm gonna champion for the rest of this year, like I was hoping I had invented this book based off the cover alone. But I do think a lot of people will like it, and it's a fun little ride. So, yeah, I just wanted to give people an update on that. Okay, 2025, books. What are we looking forward to?
Sara Hildreth 23:25
I don't have anything for January. So Cree, do you have anything for January?
Cree Myles 23:29
Do I have anything for January? Yes,
Traci Thomas 23:31
out of order.
Sara Hildreth 23:34
Great. That's fine with me.
Cree Myles 23:36
My January one is we do not part. By Han Kang, literally, just because they won the Nobel. So I'm just after they won last year, I was like, definitely have to dive in next year. And so there's also a new release. So I'm hoping, like, I'll pick a good back list, and then I'll cross reference with the newest pros. That's my plan. I have heard people say that HUMAN ACTS is their best. I have not read that one. Okay, all right, I'm I'm okay, that's good to know. I'm gonna write that
Traci Thomas 24:11
now. Okay, so nobody else says January. Well, Imani Perry was January, and so is the favorites, and so is play world. So we sort of did January, even though we didn't mean to. Okay, moving on. I guess in February, February anyone? Okay,
Sara Hildreth 24:27
I wasn't necessarily going to bring this one, but since you made fun of me for my love of Jane Eyre, I now feel like I must.
Traci Thomas 24:35
Here we go. This
Sara Hildreth 24:36
book called Victorian psycho by Virginia Fido fietto, I'm not sure how you pronounce her last name. She wrote this book a couple years ago called Mrs. March that was a very like literary book about an unhinged woman who like she goes she her husband's an author, and she starts to suspect that. Like one of the characters is based on her, and that he sees her in this way that she does not like, and it drives her crazy. And it was so good.
Traci Thomas 25:08
Oh, this is the previous one. I was like, Is the previous? Jane Eyre, no,
Sara Hildreth 25:12
this one, Victorian Psycho is about a psychopathic governess who is named Winifred naughty, and she lives at this estate, taking care of these children, and the husband is gross and always leering at her, and the wife doesn't like that, and so she's always cruel to Winifred. And Winifred is a psychopath, so I believe she is plotting their demise, and it's 200 pages long, and I feel like that probably should have been the direction that Jane Eyre went, but it did not spoiler alert, so I'm excited what this book does with it. And the cover is so good and creepy. It's like a, like a porcelain doll face. That's it's good say what
Traci Thomas 26:00
it's called One more time, Victorian
Sara Hildreth 26:02
psycho by Virginia. Fato, okay. Cree,
Traci Thomas 26:07
do you have any February?
Cree Myles 26:09
Yeah, so there are two things on my list that are solely based on the fact that it's published by Knopf and the covers are acrylic or watercolor. I'm such a sucker. The echoes of Evie wild, I
Sara Hildreth 26:26
that cover is so good, so good.
Cree Myles 26:30
Not even because, like, I'm going to be honest you guys, the premise is not even remotely interesting to me, a man who got, like, it's about a ghost, like, I'm not, I'm good, but I'm going to pick it up and I'm going to give it 50 because, because of the cover, yeah.
Traci Thomas 26:44
Okay, great. And then what's the other one? The
Cree Myles 26:48
other one is ordinary love by Marie Rutkowski. That one is interesting to me, because it's like a failing marriage on the East Coast, and she ends up finding her like high school sweetheart who's a woman, and that's, that's my vibe, but also, but literally, picked it up because the cover and cut off. Okay,
Traci Thomas 27:11
I've got two that are sort of tied together, and then one that I'm like, super hyped on. The two that are tied together is Ira Madison, the third. The host of keep it has a book of essays coming out called Pure innocent fun, which is like pop culture essays. And then another of my favorite podcast hosts, Kelsey McKinney, from normal gossip, has a book called, people are saying things. What is it called? It's called, you didn't hear this from me, and those both come out in February, and I'm just excited about those because I like them, but I have not super high hopes. Though. I read the first essay in the IRA book, and I liked it a lot.
Sara Hildreth 27:43
Is same Kelsey McKinney who wrote, God spare the girls, that novel about evangelicals in Texas. I'm gonna look it up.
Traci Thomas 27:54
I don't know. Look it up, okay, I don't know. Then the other two books, I'm like, Well, there's a few, but one that I'm well, Cree, you read original sins. What did you think the E viewing? Loved it. I loved it. That's on my list. Okay, I think a
Cree Myles 28:09
lot of like, the not like non fiction that I feel like I've seen, try to do is take the subject and then parse it apart and but like, keep the line going through, and it just always gets muddy. But Eve keeps the line through like, Yes, I really want to hear what you think, really, really, really, badly, and I'm really nervous that you're going to be reading it after Imani Perry, so that's
Traci Thomas 28:33
fine. I'm not going to read it after Imani Perry. I will give myself a second to regroup and read something like the favorites. Perfect. I'm not reading the favorites, but thank you. Okay, the other book that I'm really excited about in February is one day everyone will have always been against this by Omar El akhd, which is a collection of essays, I believe, about empire and how fucked up shit is. And I think it's talking about, I mean, I think it's going to talk about like Gaza. I think it's talking about, like, black lives matter, and how all of these movements, people who are, like, vehemently against, then sort of like, rally behind. And I'm assuming it's going to be some cultural criticism, and that cover also is geeking out. It's intense. Also, Kanom, this is, like, extremely knob centric, but I gotta say Knopf is one of my favorites, and the fact that we all sort of agree on that is interesting, because I do think we have pretty different reading tastes, but they deliver on fiction and non fiction. So shout out to them, I guess.
Sara Hildreth 29:42
March March is looking very good.
Traci Thomas 29:45
Yeah, my March list is so my my March on my spreadsheet is like 20 books long for reference, February or January is set seven. February is like 10. So. And march is 22
Sara Hildreth 30:02
Yeah, my March is my March is like 20 and so is my April.
Traci Thomas 30:06
Oh, my April is not my June. March and June are looking the most percolating for me. But okay, what do we have?
Sara Hildreth 30:15
Okay, my first one that I'm super excited about is universality. Oh, good. That's on my list. Okay, yes, yes, yeah, I love her. Well, I loved her debut assembly. And then universality is about a man who, like outside of a club in England, gets bludgeoned to death with a solid gold bar. And the cover is just like matte black with a shiny, solid gold bar on it, like stamped with universality. It's so good. This is also an episode a lot about cover design. Covers matter. Covers matter. They matter big time. And it's about the journalist who's trying to uncover what happened. This is 176 pages dream. Assembly was also that short, and like the way she builds tension, and assembly doesn't have like a twist but, but it's building to a climax, and it just her pacing in that was excellent. So I anticipate the same from from this one, I just, I can't I can't wait.
Traci Thomas 31:27
I can't wait. I can't wait. Cree, what do you have in March? Or what's your first march?
Cree Myles 31:32
I've got stag dance. By Tory Peter, Oh, good. Me too. Very, very excited. I know the transition baby was all the rave. So I didn't, I didn't read the transition baby, but I know bellichers picked it up. And anytime I've just jumped into the belcher's life, like on a whim, and did the read with Him, they never miss. Shout out to Kara. So I'm, I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to preview it pretty soon. Actually, I think it's, it's high on my list,
Traci Thomas 31:59
amazing. I have I'll do a one that is unlike probably anything else I'll do on my list, which is a book called World Without End by Christophe Blaine and Jean Marc, Jane COVID Chi. It is a French translation graphic non fiction about climate change. And as you all know, I was inspired last year a lot by Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson, and I want to read more books about climate and I am always really curious about graphic non fiction. I really like graphic non fiction, so I'm just really excited about this book. It's already out in Europe, I believe, in a few countries, and it's coming to the states in March, but it's already like a best seller other places. So I know that it's like been received well. And so I'm just really curious about it. I don't know a ton. The cover is yellow and red, sort of striking. And so I'm curious to sort of see what, what they've got to say, what, what they've got to say about all this. So that's, that's one, and then I'll do another one, which I know nothing about but COVID. Akbar, friend of the show and book lover, DMed me yesterday. So I added this to the list. And said, What do you know about the antidote? By KAREN RUSSELL, ooh, this is on my list. Okay, okay, I don't know very much. And I said to Kaveh, I don't know anything except for that. It was in your you know, last year when we did the best books that everyone read in 2024 this was one of the books. This was the book that COVID talked about, I believe. And he was like, well, it's about, it's a historical fiction about this, and then there's a witch, and also it's great. And he was like, listing all these things that I just wrote back COVID. This does not sound like me, but because you love this book so much, I will read it. So I grabbed it on neck Thali, and I plan to read it, I don't know. But the weird thing is, while COVID and I have extremely different taste, like we like very different things. Any book I've suggested that he's read, He's liked, and any book that he's suggested that I've read, I've liked, but most of the things he talks about on the internet I just never even gravitate towards. So like, one of the books he's really excited about this year, that I'm really excited about this year is authority by Andrea long Chu, and like, it's sort of, you know, which we'll talk about, like, we can talk about later, but that's one of my most, most, most anticipated. So I'm reaching out, and I'm gonna try the antidote. I said I'd give it a good 50, maybe 30, if it's not working for me, I'm gonna put it down, because I have a feeling it's not for me, but I'm excited about it. Okay,
Sara Hildreth 34:43
this, here's a fun connection, because KAREN RUSSELL wrote swamp Landia. Exclamation point. Oh martyr, exclamation exclamation point. Yeah. And both of those, I feel the exclamation point is doing a lot of work, so they're
Traci Thomas 34:59
both. From Knopf.
Sara Hildreth 35:00
There you go. I
Cree Myles 35:03
took this out of my good girl review, but I picked up good girl because COVID blurbed it, and then I because I didn't want people to get weird. But I said I think that I would do anything that COVID told me to do. That's right, so I sure would, yeah, but like, I didn't want to get weird, so I took it out. But you guys, you
Traci Thomas 35:19
get now it's weird here, but COVID also, the reason that he sold me on it is he's like, because he and I both read that book, The barn last year by Wright Thompson, and we both loved it. And he's like, it's sort of like the barn in fiction. It's like, it shouldn't work, and there's all these moving parts. And it like 100 times out of 100 it doesn't work. But for some reason this 101st time it does. And so I was like, Okay, I'll fucking try that. So I don't know. I don't know much about it. Do you know more about it? Sarah, besides witches and historical fiction and a lot going on?
Sara Hildreth 35:51
No, I just, I love Karen Russell's writing. And swamplandia was weird and then verges into the very dark, but she pulls it off. And so I she writes books that like, I mean, at least what I've read before, there's like allusions to magic, and some of the characters think that magic exists, but you as the reader aren't fully sure if they are kind of otherworldly or not. And I like that tonally, I think it's really hard to do, and also really interesting.
Traci Thomas 36:27
Okay, who else has March? I have
Sara Hildreth 36:29
two more that I'm gonna do quickly, because both of these are hard to summarize. So my first is, madam, so So stress and the festival for the brokenhearted. By Ben Okri, it's being described as a modern fable, in the style of A Midsummer Night's Dream, I know Hello, and it is about a wealthy woman who throws a ball for all of her broken hearted friends in the the forests of France, and she invites this, like this clairvoyant, like woman who can see the future, to tell them all about their futures. And then, apparently, things go off the rails. It sounds very interesting. And Ben Okri is like prolific. He won the Booker Prize for something, so I am very interested in that. And then the other one is sister Europe by Nell Zink, which I requested from, I think, Knopf, yep, solely for the cover. And then what's it called Sister Sister Europe by Nell Zink. And then, as more like preview lists from professional critics have been coming out, I've been seeing everybody be like, we're getting a new Nell zinc novel this year. And I have never read Nell zinc. I don't know anything about her, but people who I trust are very excited that she's written another book, and I already was excited about it because of the cover and seems to be also about a like dinner party gone wild. So I'm gonna be partying in March.
Traci Thomas 38:20
We love this. We love this. For you. Thank you. Cree, what else March? Do you
Cree Myles 38:23
have anything? I only have one more March. It's called theft by Abdul Razak Guna,
Traci Thomas 38:31
yeah, he's another, another Nobel Ian, another
Cree Myles 38:35
nobelian. But it really is rooted in last year, I spent a lot of time in Nigeria. Like all of my African lit seem to center around Nigeria. This book takes place in Tanzania, and I'm really excited to see, like, somebody's in university and they are friends with someone who is of a different class as them. So I'm, I'm excited to get into that one.
Traci Thomas 38:57
Okay, I got non fiction left. There is no place for us. By Brian Goldstone from Crown coming out at the end of March, and it is about the working, homeless, my sense, based off the cover and the way that it is sort of being positioned is that it's going to be like evicted. He goes to Atlanta, and he sort of embeds himself with a few different families who are working homeless, which means they're people who have full time jobs but still cannot afford housing, which is this growing class in America, if you can call it a class, I don't know, growing group so, so I'm just really interested. I've heard it's quite good. I'm pretty sure Roxanna is Gary and who wrote one of my favorite books. We were once a family. She read it, and I think maybe blurbed it, and was like, You should read she was like, this is very much you. So anytime I get that kind of recommendation from someone who knows what is very much me, I'm like, excited, but it's, it's death. Definitely giving Traci is kind of book, so I hope he can pull it off, because I have high, high hopes. And then one other one I have is I'll love you forever. By Jay Kwan, which is, she's a bookstagrammer who I love, and she's written this book about k pop. And I know nothing about K Pop, but I know that her Instagram writing is, like, some of my favorite and so I'm just really excited, because I don't know, I wouldn't read just any book about K Pop, but I trust her as a writer, and I know her passion for the genre is, like there. So I'm sort of excited. And I know she's so smart and, like, such a good, like, cultural thinker, so I'm really excited to kind of like, dip my toe into k pop through the lens of someone who, like, really loves it and is, like, really smart and critical. So that's one that is, like, definitely outside of my wheelhouse, that I'm real hyped about
April.
I'll start with authority, because I already talked about that, but that's cultural criticism from Andrea long Chu who won the Pulitzer Prize for her criticism, famously, including talking shit about Hannah yani gahara and her new book, Paradise, or to Paradise, and also a little life and was just really she, I mean, she, like, constantly takes people down 1000 pegs, including, I think, didn't she write the scather on Zadie Smith too last year? I'm pretty sure that was her. So I love, love her. Yeah, just a good criticism, sharp criticism, and someone who's not afraid to be like, this fucking sucked. Like, whether it sucked or not does not matter to me. It matters that someone is willing to say this fucking suck and then write beautifully about it, and then, like, back it up. And this book is about, like, who has the authority to have an opinion, which is something that I'm of course interested in, because I sometimes feel like I do, and then a lot of times I feel like, Who the fuck am I? So I'm just excited because it's a writer that I like, and it's a topic I'm really interested in so and the cover is also very cool, but this one is from FSG, famous for great covers, famous, shout out to piglet.
Sara Hildreth 42:12
Yes, all right, my two April books that I wanted to talk about are also both from FSG. One is perspectives where the S is in parentheses. I like I like punctuation in a title. This is by Laurent Benet, and it's translated from the French, and it's a murder mystery set in 16th century Florence and involves the art world, and I
Cree Myles 42:49
what I know. No, this sounds
Traci Thomas 42:51
so good.
It's the whitest shit I've ever heard, labyrinthine
Sara Hildreth 42:55
murder mystery. Here's what I need to know, I need to know why those parentheses around the s, okay, that's what I've got to figure out. The perspective. Is it singular? Is it plural? What's happening? You know, I love a structural, driven novel, and if that parentheses is misleading, I'm going to be pissed. But that is telling me that this book is doing something interesting with perspective that I must discover. Okay, neither of you have to read that, but I think we will be interested in my next one, which is this on your list, Fish Tales by Nettie Jones,
Cree Myles 43:33
oh, I've heard i It's not on my list, but I saw it. Okay, never heard of
Sara Hildreth 43:37
it. This is a reissued, forgotten, modern classic. And this is the kicker. This is the last book that Toni Morrison acquired before she left Random House to do her own writing. And then now it's at FSG. Now it's at FSG, I don't know how that wow happens. Yeah. That's where I
Traci Thomas 43:59
need the perspectives on Yeah, give me those parentheses.
Sara Hildreth 44:03
But this book, it's set in the 1970s and it is about Louis Jones, who's described as a party girl for the ages. She has this husband who's very supportive of her, like, like, promiscuity. She's having all these affairs. This is, this is a sentence from the back cover. She soaks in baths of champagne, powders her nose with cocaine, wakes up on silk sheets with a variety of lovers. And then this is me. She meets a man who will not let her have the control that she is used to having. Short, it is action packed. It sounds dramatic and juicy. And I like the fact that Toni Morrison acquired it is just makes me so interested in it. So I am very excited about this one, and I love that the cover like it looks, it looks. Dated is not the right word, but it but you can tell that it's retro. Retro, exactly so Fish Tales by Nettie Jones,
Cree Myles 45:08
I have so many questions
Traci Thomas 45:10
like, I'm hyped off,
Cree Myles 45:11
like pottering with cocaine. Yeah, I
Traci Thomas 45:16
have questions about why you would say perspectives when fishtails is right there. I said both. I
Sara Hildreth 45:22
did both. Those are my two for April. I had to slip one really, like Sarah's giving you
Traci Thomas 45:30
a hard time. I'm just giving you a hard time. Cree,
Cree Myles 45:34
okay, I have one for April. I do have a casual side quest in 2025 of discovering the next great writer. Okay, so this is a debut from Knopf, like, can we go wrong? I don't like that. I don't like the cover. Open heaven, by Sean Hewitt. It takes place in like, I think, takes place in London. Let me see, oh no, England said in a remote village in North England. It's like a queer love story coming of age. Those you're just talking dirty to me. So I really hope that he gives us what I desire. I'm gonna give it a go.
Traci Thomas 46:14
Okay? And he's got a great little curly hair situation. Um Sean does, yeah, yeah. I like it. I like it. I haven't. I want to just, I'm not gonna, like, put this on the list, but I do want to throw out that a quick em as he has a new book coming out. Oh, I forgot 2025 that's like, YA fantasy that they talked about when they're on the podcast. Okay, I don't, I'm not gonna. I have some other ones in April, but I'm not gonna do they're, they're not really thrilling me. They are. They'll be red. But, you know, anyways, May, we're only gonna go through June, by the way, yeah, just FYI. Everybody who cares. We'll do the second half of the year later. May. What do we have? Anybody I
Cree Myles 46:59
only I have one for May, and it's about the finest man who's ever lived to
Traci Thomas 47:03
pass. Okay, I knew you were gonna do this. So no, I thought you were gonna do the ocean Vong, that's coming out the emperor of gladness. I thought you were gonna do that because I know you think he's, like, funky fresh. I don't know if he's the finest man to ever live, but I know that, yeah, just
Cree Myles 47:17
to be clear everyone, so just that we can clear this up. Ocean Bong is not the finest man who's ever lived, but the swag is on a million Okay? Swaggiest, yeah, the bowl cut, I mean, like the mushroom cut with the deadly earring, like, what? And if he puts on a crew neck, like a cable knit. Anyway, it's crazy. Anyway.
Traci Thomas 47:39
Okay? Tupac, go ahead, one
Cree Myles 47:41
way. Words for my comrades, a political history of Tupac Shakur, by Dean van Noir. It's out May 6. I'm just interested in any political history surrounding Tupac, really. We
Traci Thomas 47:55
love it. We love it. I've got love in exile. By shown Faye, which is a essay collection shown Fei is a trans writer, and it's about love and the loneliness with love, and like, the ways that we think love is gonna do some shit for us, but really, like, it's just a thing, I guess. I don't know. It sort of sounds like it's like a cynical love take and through a trans lens, but also not explicitly, like, it's like, what I like to call second generation, right where, like, it's not just like, This is my experience as this person dealing with this thing, but like, sort of complicates it. And the editor on this is a guy named Jackson, and he Jackson Howard, and he was the editor also on the other Olympians that I loved, and and he's the editor on in tongues, which I know a lot of people loved, and also open throat, which I know a lot of people loved, also at FSG. So I'm as excited about the book as I am is to read another thing that Jackson has edited. Because I'm your your goal, Cree, is to find the next great new literary voice. And I'm kind of obsessed with editors in recent years, and so he's he's one that I'm super hyped about. Sarah, do you have May?
Sara Hildreth 49:09
Yeah, I have non fiction called speaking in tongues by JM cozy and Marianna demopoulos, which is a conversation between Cozi, who's like, did
Traci Thomas 49:21
he win? The No, yeah, yeah, I think, I don't know. I don't think he's ever won, but
Sara Hildreth 49:26
may, no, I think maybe not. But like a, you know, he's on the list of the book or contender all that. But, yeah, it's about translation. And it's like, in the form of a conversation between him and they translator. And it just sounds, it sounds really good like and kind of geared more, I think, towards readers, about how we approach reading translated books, like what you should kind of be thinking about and looking, looking for, because I don't know anything about theories of translation. How people might approach translation differently through different lenses. So I'm interested in that. And then the Book of Records by Madeline Tien. Both of these are from Norton. I like, Guess I divided my monthly
Traci Thomas 50:15
you did, yeah, to publishers.
Sara Hildreth 50:18
I haven't read anything by her. Previous book was like 600 pages, which cuts me off, but this one is, like a nice 350 it's a family saga that's just kind of my like, sweet spot summer reading, especially so getting into May. Yeah, I think I'm gonna be ready for a good family saga. And I think Norton puts out really good literary fiction. They're just they're solid, and they're often long, though, so I don't know if their editors are not cutting the way that some imprints are, but this one, this one feels doable. So that's the book of records by Madeline Tien, and the other one was speaking in tongues.
Traci Thomas 50:57
I forgot. I have one more for me that I have to talk about. It's called The Last Supper by Paul Ellie, and it's about, it's the subtitle is, art, faith, sex and controversy in the 1980s Ooh. Okay. And the blurb basically like, listed like three or four or not the blurb, but the like copy, like three or four pop cultural references. It was like Toni Morrison's beloved hallelujah by like, like the remake, or like the Leonard Skynyrd Hall. It's like all of these pieces of like, political art came out in the 1980s like amidst the AIDS crisis and Ronald Reagan. And I was like, Bitch, Sign me up. I don't fucking know, but I know I'm gonna be there. It's my they are. You don't think so? No, I think it is because I think it's more of a history book than, like, cultural criticism. I think he's gonna take us through the 80s and talk about how the art was like in response to these political, like moments. That's what I think, that it is based on what the guy looks like a nerd, and he's like an older, older writer guy. And also the cover is giving me it's like a picture of a aids die in type vibe in front of a church, and then it's all washed red, like it just looks like this. Is non fiction. It doesn't look like cursive. It doesn't look like painting. It looks like this happened in the 1980s and this is why it's important, hopeful. Yeah, it's giving. It's giving journalists. It's not giving opinion. Are
Sara Hildreth 52:30
either of you going to read the Mark Twain biography, the Ron Chernow the journal?
Traci Thomas 52:35
I don't think that I shall, as you as you know, he's not really someone that I'm familiar with. Famously, last year, I thought that Huck and Tom were the same person. And also, yeah, I just No, I don't have the plan.
Sara Hildreth 53:03
I would definitely not be considering it, had I not read James last year. I feel like turnout might like ride that wave for some readers, but it's so long, I just know I don't think I can commit to it, but it I did with Hamilton. I did
Traci Thomas 53:21
read it is years ago. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's, listen, it is dry, straightforward biography. I mean, he, I know Lin Manuel Miranda is a liar, because he said he read that book at the airport or whatever, and instantly thought this is a hip hop musical. I said, No, you didn't, Okay, babe. Yeah, you were looking for material. Okay, you were you went out. You had your eyes open. You weren't just like, oh, because the first section of Hamilton is particularly boring, by the way, but, but if you like a biography, turnout is like one of the best biographers, but it is. He's not, he's not giving a lot of flair. He's giving you straightforward information. I like a biography. So if someone read it and told me, like, if it ends up on the New York Times Best list or whatever, or if it wins the Pulitzer, I will read it, because, like, I like a good biography, but I don't care about Mark Twain enough to quite go there. Yeah, I wouldn't
Cree Myles 54:17
preview it, but yeah, like, I love, I really thought King was solid. Like, is a beautiful book. It won the Pulitzer. Like, if they if it wins, or anything like that. Then I feel like, Traci, I'll be like, Okay, I'll go. I'll give it, I'll try. I'm not pushing through for Sam What's his last name? Samuel Clemens. Yeah, I'm not pushing through for Samuel Clemens. I'm not doing No, that's Mark Twain's real name. Traci says government name. No.
Traci Thomas 54:43
I was like, who's Sam Mark Toni Morrison's government name was Chloe?
Sara Hildreth 54:52
Yeah. No. Could you imagine
Traci Thomas 54:54
if she I just don't even think we could take a Chloe Morrison seriously.
Cree Myles 54:58
It wouldn't have. Been because Morrison was her married name was her, like, Wolford, or something Chloe, something
Traci Thomas 55:04
like that. Chloe Wolf, her confirmation name, right? She picked Saint Anthony, and then her friend started calling her Tony. I'm like, This is wild to me because, like, I went to Catholic school, and I don't know any of my friends confirmation names, let alone, like, except for one person, one fucking boy picked Blaze because there's a saint Blaze, and he wanted to be like, Hi or whatever,
Cree Myles 55:25
childish
Traci Thomas 55:26
boys are so dumb.
Okay, June, June is busting out all over. You're welcome. Cut back. Christian.
Cree Myles 55:41
I only, I mean, on my written down list, I only have my Marie rickowski Because of the watercolor, um, but I will go look on my neck alley and see if I have anything else. I have a few. Sarah, do you have June?
Sara Hildreth 55:53
Yeah. I well, I have flashlight by Susan Choi. I know nothing about it other than that. It's by Susan Choi, and
Traci Thomas 56:00
I like the cover, and it's from FSG, Yep,
Sara Hildreth 56:02
exactly. I also have the Mobius book by Katherine Lacy. She's hit or miss for me, some of her things I've really loved others not. But this is supposed to be a inspired by her relationship with her her past partner, who is Jesse ball, who's another writer. And so I am here for the drama of
Traci Thomas 56:27
that liars round two, exactly,
Sara Hildreth 56:31
um, also you got you might you will hate this Traci, but apparently you can read the book forward or backward, and it will make sense, which makes no sense to me. I'll keep you posted on that one. Um, yeah, that's those are, I think my two most exciting for June, though I have others I could share. Oh, yeah, now that, uh, now that your guy, Adam Higginbotham, said that he's excited for atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins, I'm excited for atmosphere.
Traci Thomas 57:05
I feel like, literally, the shock of my lifetime. Yeah,
Sara Hildreth 57:10
I need to read this so that I can imagine him reading it. And I just feel like he gave me permission to be excited about this, this little beach read, yeah, I'm sure it's, yeah, very big beach read, actually,
Traci Thomas 57:25
yeah, I can. I'm going to reach out to Adam and be like, did you read it? What we need your review? Yes, please. I need to know what he thinks. Okay, I have a few. Well, Han, who was on the show, is the poet. She's got a book coming, which I believe is maybe her memoir. Melissa fibos has a book called The dry season, also her memoir about sobriety, or a memoir from her about sobriety. I'm quickly going through this list, because there's a lot on here. There's a non fiction book called their accomplices wore robes, which the subtitle is how the Supreme Court chained black America to the bottom of the racial caste system. So I'm very curious about that. It's by Brando simeo Starkey. I don't know this author, and I don't know exactly what this book will be, but I think it might just be something that is interesting informationally to me, just like something I'm curious about. But then I have this novel, The Great Black hope. Have you all heard about this from Rob Franklin? No, I kept seeing it a few months ago, like getting blurbs on Instagram from, like, a lot of writers that I like. Again, I believe COVID was talking about it. I think maybe Hanif or Clint. And it's a debut by a black guy author, and it's about a guy who's like, a black guy who's like, positioned in elite circles, like maybe Ivy League graduate or something like that, who is involved or witnesses some sort of a crime or something, and then is like, realizing, like, oh, actually, I'm fucking black, and like, the cops are after me or something. So it's like, sort of this, like, I don't, I think I'm doing a really bad job explaining it, but it has something to do with a black guy who, like, thought he was above the fray of racism, and then somehow is like, reminded about this, and it feels like maybe he's like, on the like, undercover, like hiding, trying to, like maneuver. Somewhat. I've not done a great job, but I I'm interested in it. I purposely didn't want to read about it, because it feels like one of those books that I might get too much information too early run. Can you tell say the title again, great black hope by Rob Franklin
Sara Hildreth 59:34
and learn by COVID and Roman Alam. So, oh, yeah, that's interesting. Okay,
Traci Thomas 59:39
and then there's a book called waiting for Britney Spears coming out by Jeff Weiss stop. It is a frenetic account of Britney Spears, historic rise, an equally tragic fall from Jeff Weiss, who is considered LA's Hunter. S Thompson, so I think we're gonna get sort of like a stylized Britney Spears. I. No, I don't know that I'll read it. I don't know that I'll like it, but I am sort of curious about it, especially because I am an Angeleno at this point in my life, and I'm very I really like books about LA popular culture, and like the touchstones and all of that. Okay, I've got one more, and then I'm, well, I've got really quickly. Layla Motley has a short story collection coming out called the girls who grew big at the end of June, which I'm curious about. Cover is beautiful Kanom. And then the other book I'm interested in, FSG is called weepers by Peter Mendelsohn. Have you guys heard about this? No speculative fiction and a version of the future where people don't show like, can't show emotion. And so there's other people who are called the weepers, who you hire to, like, go to your funerals and your wakes and like, show emotion in place of like, the regular people, and someone appears who's a regular but can show emotion or something.
Sara Hildreth 1:00:59
Okay, I read a book like this, a YA novel called a face like glass, where nobody can show emotion, and then they have to. You can buy different emotions to, like, teach your face stick on. Anyways, I loved that. That was weird. This sounds good, yeah. So we'll
Traci Thomas 1:01:19
see. I don't know. I don't know anything else, anything else we forgot we want to talk about. I have, like, a list of all these authors that have books coming out this year, but I think we got to most of them. But like Layla lalami has a book coming out this year. And also Christina Rivera Garza, who wrote the memoir that won the Pulitzer, has a crime fiction book. And then Sarah, your boyfriend and my boyfriend, slash enemy. Ezra Klein has a book coming out this year with someone else, with another person, whose name I was quite Derek Thompson, oh, yeah, yeah. I What's this book called Abundance? I don't know abundance. Yeah, I'll read it. Maybe I'll hate it. I'll love it. I hate him and I love him.
Sara Hildreth 1:02:01
I know. Have you listened to his New Year's episode yet?
Traci Thomas 1:02:05
No, not yet. It's good. I heard it was good,
Sara Hildreth 1:02:11
damn it. I know it's a burnout one, right? Reeling me back in. What an ass. I just know that he's everyone's internet boyfriend. I don't I don't know if I want him in? Well, he's my enemy. Boy, no, I can't remember why.
Traci Thomas 1:02:25
I just don't like him, but I do. I like like him, but I don't. I'm not into it.
Cree Myles 1:02:29
I just want, I didn't bring up Harlem rap city, but I have a really, I've have 40 pages left. I have very, very strong feelings about it, like I can't stop and I'm mad, you know, ooh. I mean, I just like, I'm not thrilled about the way that it is written at all. I feel like it's ridiculous that it's reading like this when we're talking about a literary great but the mess and the dysfunction that was just running abound in the Highland Renaissance, and how Jesse and WEB Du Bois, w e Du Bois was just sleeping with anything he wanted to sleep with. Also, also the way that Claude McKay, I don't know if I
Sara Hildreth 1:03:14
love his writing, is there. You can tell me something terrible. No, I don't want to know. Okay, so
Cree Myles 1:03:20
I really love his writing. I I'm just gonna do this. We'll see. If you feel like it can stay in Episode Traci, but in romance and Versailles, there is a character who doesn't have any arms or legs, a black man, and one of his lovers gets mad at him and calls him a black brick. And I was reading that with my father, and we cried laughing, like it was ridiculous, like it was brilliant. Oh my god, I, like, almost peed on myself, and so, like, I just carried that energy is what is brought into the book with Claude McKay, like he is so ridiculous. He's hilarious. He's the only person who gets under WEB Du Bois skin, which I love, because he feels like the worst,
Sara Hildreth 1:04:00
but I just that why his books have been like, may be suppressed, yeah, kind of literally,
Cree Myles 1:04:05
because Jesse Fauci wrote a review. Yes, she wrote a review about it for the crisis and WEB DuBois was mad. Like, why are you reviewing his stuff? Why did you call him a genius? And then she was like, have you read the book? He was like, I have it. And she was like, well, then how do you know it's bad? And he's like, because I hate him. So it's just, um, it's so messy. Give me a
Sara Hildreth 1:04:26
summary of math. I'm gonna give a summary.
Cree Myles 1:04:29
I My feelings are so strong. I just she deserved more, but this is what we got, and I'm glad we got it.
Traci Thomas 1:04:35
Okay, I'm probably still, I think that's it. I'm excited. I'm excited about it. You've got me sparked on it. Okay, we have to go. We're done. That's our preview. Everyone will be back in probably May or June to do the second half of the year, if you'll, if you'll come back. And ladies, thank you so much for doing this. Thank you. Thanks for having us and everyone else. We will see you in The Stacks.