Show & Tell: Electability, The National Anthem, and Another K Dot Win.
Unstacked Digest for the week of July 1-7
Welcome to another edition of Show & Tell where I tell you about a bunch of things I loved from the week and the one thing I hated, plus round up everything I’ve read and whatever else is going on around these parts. The first half of Show & Tell is free to all. The adoration and hateration are for paid subscribers only.
It is July, the best month of the year. Especially this year. We have Euro Cup, Copa America, Olympics, my birthday, Glizzy day (aka the 4th), corn, cherries, peaches, warm weather, and summer reads. WHAT ELSE DO YOU PEOPLE WANT? Also, we are at the end of the good part of the year because August kicks off the haunted march toward this election. So enjoy this glorious month, because once those conventions hit the joy and lifeblood of the nation will be sucked dry. Too much doom and gloom? Sorry, that’s my vibe this week.
This Week on Unstacked
Show & Tell changed a bit and I talk about it here.
We’re reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler this month for book club. I think it’s a perfect pick for the month because the book starts on July 20, 2024.
Here are the books I’m most excited about in July, they all have to do with scams or murders. I am who I am.
Morgan Talty, author of Fire Exit, answers a bunch of my questions and gives an especially detailed answer about an imaginary literary potluck.
Books I Read This Week
There Is No Ethan: How Three Women Caught America's Biggest Catfish by Anna Akbari
In 2011, Anna Akbari meets Ethan Schuman online dating, which leads to an online courtship full of twists, turns, and manipulation. I listened to this one on audio, and enjoyed it (though the guy who voices Ethan takes a bit to get used to). I’m not sure I would’ve liked it much on the page. I figured out the twist pretty early, and found the book to be excessively long, but I still enjoyed my time with There Is No Ethan. I think it would’ve made for a really good podcast. It was a fun ride and helped me break out of my audiobook reading slump, and delivered what it said it would, but I’m not sure this book will stick with me very long.
Fave of the week!
Did Everyone Have an Imaginary Friend (or Just Me)?: Adventures in Boyhood by Jay Ellis
I went into this with low expectations and was charmed by Ellis. It is a memoir in essays about his childhood as an only child who moves around and copes by creating an imaginary friend. It is also too long and doesn’t have anything about Ellis’ career as an actor. The book is sweet and goes down easily, but doesn’t feel particularly memorable.
Housekeeping
This week on The Stacks you can hear me talk to Emily Raboteau, author of Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse"
Things I Love…
Pop Culture
Kendrick will not stop killing Drake. This time it is the music video for “Not Like Us”. It is so good. There is a piñata and sequin pants and so much dancing. Kendrick’s family steals the show, and the jailed owl is the cherry on top. Plus all of LA is in it talking their shit. This is what we call a victory lap.
Politics
The state of the Presidency and the upcoming election couldn’t feel more tenuous and bleak. I am beyond grateful to have someone like
writing opinions at the NYT to help me make sense of it. It is no great surprise her piece this week entitled, “Whoever the Democratic Candidate Is, Americans Have Already Lost” is fantastic.If you have never read her essay collection Thick, you absolutely must. She is one of our great thinkers and I feel so lucky to be in the world at the same time as her. She also came on The Stacks in 2019, and she remains one of my most favorite guests ever. She is the best. I am a fan. What can I say?