Show & Tell: All-Stars, Astronomers, and a Literary Diss Track.
Unstacked Digest for the week of July 14-20
This is Show & Tell where I tell you some things I loved from the week and the one thing I hated, plus round up everything else going on around these parts. The first half of Show & Tell is free to all. The adoration and hateration are for paid subscribers only.
Today kicks off my birthday week. Yes, I am a person who has a whole birthday week. Duh. I don’t have a lot of plans this year, but my family is in town which is the best. I’m going to skip my Friday post so I can enjoy a little extra quality (and reading) time. Consider this my last newsletter as a 38 year old.
This Week in The Stacks
Klay Thompson and Meg Thee Stallion are dating and that is the best thing ever.
This week journalist Megan Greenwell came on The Stacks to explain private equity to all of us and talk about her book Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream.
For The Nonfiction Files this month I answered a bunch of your questions about nonfiction from journalistic integrity to lighter nonfiction recommendations.
Books I Read This Week
The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City by Alexis Madrigal
A sort of history of the city of Oakland, both socially and politically, as told through the center point of one woman and the Port of Oakland. As you know, I am from and deeply love the city of Oakland, so I went into this already bought into the project of the book. It is a truly ambitious work of nonfiction, narrative and historic, many weaving parts, a lot going on. It is one of those books that even after reading I can’t easily explain it to you. I found so much for the research and information compelling but found it went off on tangents that were hard to follow. What I appreciated most was how much the history of Oakland encapsulates so much of the history of The United States for the last century, and how the Port of Oakland and the Pacific Circuit enabled that. If you’re curious about the greatest city and cool with a more winding form of reported journalism, this might be your book. I listened on audio and found Madrigal an enthusiastic and engaging narrator which certainly enhanced the book when some of the clarity was lost.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
I made it to the fifth and final (for now) book in The Hunger Games series. This one follows the 50th Hunger Games featuring Haymitch Abernathy. While I did enjoy this book as I have all the books in the series, it was the slowest and most draggy. I appreciated the winks and nods to previous characters and moments, but found the storytelling to be a little clunkier. What I did appreciate was the clear evolution of thinking from Collins on violence, revolution, and the abuse of children. There were so many moments where the language of abolition rang out clearly on the pages, an advancement of the political mission of the books. Sunrise on the Reaping also read as the bleakest in the quintet, especially highlighting how young these children really are, a statement in and of itself. A solid entry into the series, even if it wasn’t my favorite.
Fave of the week!
Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy by Tre Johnson
An attempt to highlight the extraordinary genius of Black folks in ordinary settings from education to celebration and beyond. This is a formidable debut, and I think Johnson has a real gift for the conversational in his writing tone. I love the concept behind Black Genius, calling to the front the myriad unsung moments of Black genius, and thought some of the essays and examples really lean into that central thesis. There were other parts of the book where he covered well trod cultural territory or din’t fully lock into his main points, and those essays felt flat. More than anything though, this book made me excited for whatever Johnson does next.
Housekeeping
Tonight, July 21st at 6pm PT/9pm ET I get to join my pal
for their Substack live series. We’re going to be talking about pop culture, whatever is occupying our attention, and just having a good time. Come hang.
And we’re getting closer to this event with Cleyvis Natera for her novel The Grand Paloma Resort at Reparations Club on August 28th.
They keep adding names to the Mississippi Book Festival in September. The line up is so dang good. It includes friends of the pod IMANI PERRY, Joseph Earl Thomas, and
. And also, me! So come on down to Mississippi on September 13th. You will not regret it.Things I Love…
Books
So David Brooks wrote this stupid op-ed last week about how novels used to matter. This week Ann Patchett responded. Someone needs to put this over the Ether beat.
Internet Things
I am, like everyone else with a pulse, obsessed with the Astronomer CEO cheating at Coldplay scandal. It is the white mess I needed this week. The online sleuthing, the jokes, the twists and turns, and then the resignation. I mean it was giving three act play. If anyone asks, I think the friend who is also (maybe) and employee of Astronomer needs to sue for hostile work environment and then go on Call Her Daddy1. I think the wife of the CEO needs to start a podcast where she interviews famous people who have been cheated on. And I really hope that at least one enterprising Gen Z employee of Astronomer will get us some fucking BTS content inside the offices. Like, you’re not going to get fired babe, your HR director is part of the internet’s favorite scandal, this is the time to get reckless. Push boundaries.
I also can’t believe Coldplay is going to be relevant again. I don’t know if this is bit was worth it, but here we are.