Show & Tell: Happy Birthday, Mom!
Unstacked Digest for the week of November 11-17
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.
Let me just start this week by saying Happy Birthday to my mother. She is the best and it was her birthday this week and I am traveling so at least she will see this note and know I was thinking of her (as she takes care of my naughty little kids). If you don’t know my mom, you should hear her on the show from back in 2020.
This Week on Unstacked
Lol @ all of you loving me talking shit about billionaire’s daughters. I do not care how kind book people are, we are also petty, and I for one, love this for us.
The 2024 Stackies are upon us. The nominations are now open for your favorite (and least) books of the year.
I made my annual gift guide but instead of giving you a bunch of stuff, I paired books with causes and gifts. I hope it is useful.
Books I Read This Week
Luster by Raven Leilani
Messy. I really enjoyed this novel. It is The Stacks Book Club pick for November (you can catch the episode on 11.27) and it is full of things to discuss. I loved the horrible decision making, I loved the constantly shifting power dynamics. The writing is so strong and the ways Leilani plays with genre (domestic thriller, satire, romance) was really engaging and kept me on my toes. Tune in later this month for more on this one.
Fave of the week!
Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church by Eliza Griswold
The story of the Circle of Hope church, a progressive Christian church struggling to find its identity in the wake of COVID and the 2020 summer of racial reckoning. I liked this book and think the writing and research were super well done. The book runs on way too long, leaving many sections on racism and sexism feeling receptive. I could appreciate what Griswold was attempting to do, but think the execution felt flat and more like recitation than analysis or perspective.
Housekeeping
Masculinity, literary canon, and snacks, oh my! Catch this week’s episode with Jason Reynolds about his latest book Twenty-four Seconds from Now.
On Here & Now this week I gave gift suggestions to readers based on their favorite books of 2024.
I talked about a classic I love and one I loathe with
for a bonus episode of . Check it out here.I was on The Curiosity Podcast this week to talk about books. I shared many many hot takes. If you want my antics, this is the episode for you.
Things I Love…
Pop Culture
Mr. Stacks1 and I started Say Nothing the new show based on Patrick Radden Keefe’s2 book of the same title. At three episodes in, it is so good. It is very faithful to the book and still feels fresh and exciting at the same time. I am loving it and can’t wait to see if/how they pull it all off.