Show & Tell: End of Year Lists
Unstacked Digest for the week of December 2-8
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.
I am busy trying to wrap-up all the things to get to the end of the year to get to my two week vacation from work. Anyone else need a break? But before that, there is a lot coming your way. All fun stuff, but gird your inboxes.
This Week on Unstacked
I upset some of you when I talked about Wicked. Oops.
Everything I read in November is ranked from least to most favorite in a 15-minute mini-podcast.
The finalists for The Stackies are here. The lists are so good. I stand by The Stacks community and their taste and range. You all made the best literary award lists. Truly, top notch.
Books I Read This Week
The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly Bishop
First let me say, I have never Gilmore Girl’d. Not a single second. I wouldn’t have picked up this book if not for
How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen: A Survival Guide to Life with Children Ages 2-7 by Julie King and Joanna Faber
Yes, the Mini Stacks drove me crazy over Thanksgiving break, why do you ask? I actually have had this book on hold for months at my library and it finally came through when I needed it most. I was surprised by how much I liked this one and how much it calmed me. Sometimes when my kids are trying to destroy me, reading about how to stay calm and respond like they aren’t actually trying to murder me, feels like meditation (if I knew what that felt like). The main premise is be nice to your kids and listen to their thoughts and feelings and treat them with respect. Which, sounds basic, but if you’ve ever met children you know that it is nearly impossible. There are parts of this book that are so corny it hurts and some of the organization is annoying (you hear from their real life parent group) but on he whole How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen worked for me. I’ve implemented some of it already and the Minis seem to be responding.
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
This was my final read for The Stacks Mega Challenge, pick a book randomly off your bookshelf and read it. I am so glad I picked up this 2024 debut novel set in 1961 on the Dutch countryside and follows a woman, Isabel, who has her practical and regimented life upended when her brother’s girlfriend moves in. Mostly this is a yes for me. There is some great sex writing in this book and at times the tension is so taut it tingles. I was ahead of the author for much of the plot of the book and found that the end went on for far too long after the reveal. I also wasn’t wild about the dialogue because it left a lot unsaid. I think that can work when acted, but on the page is so hard to pull off. The Safekeep din’t quite pull that element off. I look forward to whatever is next from Van Der Wouden, she is so clearly a talent.
Fave of the week!
Housekeeping
I got to talk about grief, expectations, and so many books with
on this week’s episode. She will be back on December 25th for book club to discuss Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have to Offer.I have realized a life dream this week. Being a guest on The Sam Sanders Show with Franklin Leonard to unpack the year in pop culture. We did a lot on Wicked and Kendrick. It was a total blast. I even get to shade a billionairess book babe. Huge for me.
My most anticipated books of 2025 list dropped on Shereads.com and it is the longest ever. Over 40 books to keep your eyes out for in the new year. Plus if you want even more books I’m excited about, check out my #teampreorder list on bookshop.org.
I’ll be a bookseller in residence on December 15th at Reparations Club. So if you’re in LA and need a book recommendation for yourself or for a holiday gift, come say hi.
Things I Love…
Book News
A lot of the best books of 2024 lists have come out this week. The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker to name a few. The Atlantic’s is my favorite, not only because it features three (well four) guests of The Stacks. I think they hit a good balance of buzzy books and lesser known titles. They also included Challenger and to me, any list without it is a failure.
I do think the NYT list is interesting to me because I do think the Times is trying hard to marry their book coverage with pop culture and their list feels very buzzy and books that have been part of the conversation all year (especially on the fiction side). I think I love this, even if I am not wild about the list itself.
Oh, and then there are the Goodreads Choice Awards which impress me every year with their ability crown the most white authors possible. I am certain if there was a best book by an author of color category, they would find a way to give it to Jeanine Cummins.
Politics
Before I say what I need to say, please know I do not think early morning assassinations of folks in midtown Manhattan is ideal. I am going to say I am against that.
Ok.
I do love the internet getting their jokes off. Like you’re not going to run an industry that destroys people’s lives and forces them into crippling debt and think just because you were killed we’re not going to get to the laughs. Please.
And if we end up fixing healthcare like the above tweet suggests, I can’t hate that.
I also just can’t wait to see how this plays out. The cops think they found the (hot) shooter’s backpack and it had a jacket and Monopoly money in it. Like, this is a book waiting to written (and then adapted for the screen) and we are living it. Who will play him in the movie? I fear Timothée Chalamet1 but I hope for Adam Brody since we are currently in an AB renaissance.