Show & Tell: Ezra Klein vs. Ta-Nehisi Coates and It's Not Even Close
Unstacked Digest for the week of September 15-21
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.
Y’all I don’t have a big preamble today. Another bad week. What can I say? 2025 is doing its thing. I do have something exciting for you podcast feeds on Tuesday, so if you’re not subscribed to The Stacks, you should be.
And since I did actually drop a bonus episode on Friday this past week, when I said I would be taking a week off, I have decided to take this Friday off.1
Lastly, today is the last and final day to get my 2025 Nonfiction Reading Guide. It is chock full of nonfiction recommendations of books I’ve vetted for you. But, once the summer ends, it is gone.
This Week in The Stacks
I needed a break. I still need one, but I’m here today. Please clap.
The wonderful, stupendous, amazing, delightful, brilliant
was on The Stacks to talk about her book The Grand Paloma Resort. She’s the best. Don’t believe me? Just listen.This month’s bonus episode comes all the way from Jackson, MS at this year’s Mississippi Book Festival. I’m joined by
and and it is a damn good time.Books I Read This Week
All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation by Elizabeth Gilbert
Ok, yes, I did read the new Elizabeth Gilbert memoir. Yes, I do have thoughts. When Gilbert’s best friend, Rayya, gets a terminal cancer diagnosis, Gilbert leaves her husband to be Rayya’s romantic partner and caregiver until the end — “all the way to the river”. Rayya is a former addict and Gilbert realizes through the course of their relationship she is a sex and love addict herself.
This is my first time reading anything by Elizabeth Gilbert. I get why people like her. She is a compelling writer for the most part. The sentences are easy and casual, she is emotionally available, and sometimes she’ll drop a line that feels sorta maybe profound. On the other hand, this book just smacks of forced sincerity. It opens with Rayya’s ghost encouraging Gilbert to write the book, as if this ghost saying for her to do it, means the readers can’t ask any questions of why exactly Gilbert is writing this book. I wish Gilbert was more forthright, like just say, “I wanted to tell this story”2 and cut the ghost bit. The whole book has that feel, of someone who thinks you’re a little too dumb to really see what is going on here. She is doing self-help but in a very roundabout — “I have nothing to offer you but my life” — kind of way. But, like, she is offering help, or at least some supremely specific and unsolicited advice. It is privilege masquerading as humility and I hate it. The book is full of moments that made me rage or cringe (or both), and a few spots I liked3 but, I’ll leave you with the fact that in addition to the memoir itself, we get a bunch of poemprayers from Gilbert that range from “oh ok, sure” to “please stop, I can’t handle the second-hand embarrassment”.
The Lilac People by Milo Todd
This month’s pick for The Stacks Book Club, The Lilac People, is about a trans man, Bertie, in Germany in the lead up to and aftermath of World War II. I appreciated so much of this book, especially how the characters grapple with grief and complicity. Todd’s use of historic details adds a depth that grounds the characters and the book. Where Todd does falter is that some of the choices are a little too on the nose. And pivotal moments read as didactic more than complex. I wished he’d trust his readers more, especially in the most vulnerable moments of the book.
Fave of the week!
Housekeeping
I was interviewed by Voyage LA and got to talk about parts of my life I rarely share here, including thoughts on my own legacy.4
I am moderating this conversation between Angela Flournoy and Issa Rae. It is next week, Monday September 29th and already sold out5. But I bet some people don’t show and you could snag a spot.
Things I Love…
Politics
I needed someone to ether Ezra Klein for me. The slurping at the altar of Charlie Kirk was a bridge too far. I didn’t realize how thoroughly Ta-Nehisi Coates was going to do that. A joy to read.
My little nerdy brain is hoping this will be the Drake vs Kendrick of 2025. It will have slightly less bangers but it might have better bars.
Pop Culture
The Emmy’s happened last Sunday, and I didn’t watch a single moment. I love this for me. Usually I like an award show, and will watch them all and have opinions on everything, especially things I’ve never watched. But this year I missed it all, and I didn’t miss missing it, so that feels like a win. Or a sign of old age.