Show & Tell: No Tariffs, Ands, or Buts.
Unstacked Digest for the week of April 7-13
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.
We made it to another week. My kids are on day one of spring break, so next week’s Grown-Up Show & Tell might be a big old mess, enjoy this week while you can.
This Week in The Stacks
I challenged Cory Booker and laughed at Duke. This week started strong.
Then I interviewed Geri Halliwell-Horner aka Ginger Spice1, so yeah, that was major.
Finished off the week answering a bunch of your questions about the podcast and book reviewing and why I hate Les Mis.
Books I Read This Week
Mockingjay by Suzanne Butler
Book three, the final book, of the original Hunger Games series2 that follows Katniss Everdeen as she confronts the realities of revolution. Okay, this book isn’t as good as the first two, but it is still one hell of a ride. I loved the ways Collins was asking her reader to question war and the responsibilities that come with it. I don’t think you can read Mockingjay in 2025 and not think about Israel and Palestine and the ways America is obsessed with violence, and for that I think these books have aged incredibly well. I loved the way the book both started and ended, but felt it dragged a smidge in the middle. Overall, a deeply satisfying final piece to Katniss’s story (ok, except the epilogue, barf).
Fave of the week!
On My Honor: The Secret History of the Boy Scouts of America by Kim Christensen
The history of the Boy Scouts and the sexual abuse scandals that rocked the organization to its core. I wanted to love this book so much but instead it dragged. Christensen didn’t quite find the balance between reporting, history, and personal stories, which is crucial to pulling off a book about an organization and the individuals it harmed. I would imagine if you have a relationship to the BSA, you might appreciate the book more than I did. I Listened to the audiobook and found the narrator to be extremely off-putting, which likely impacted my experience of the book.
Lifeform by Jenny Slate
I think Jenny Slate has done it, she has presented me with a book that I cannot classify or review. I have no clue what I just read. There are some funny essays, some that feel like sketches, and then some that feel so earnest I was confused if they were actually satire. The book was well written and super fucking weird, not in structure but in style and voice. Mostly Lifeform is about Slate going from being a divorceé to finding her current husband3 and having a baby and then motherhood, which sounds basic enough, but whatever Slate did here didn’t feel that way to me. If you like Jenny Slate and her humor I think you’ll like this. If she isn’t for you in general, you can skip.
Housekeeping
We opened up signups for Stack the Shelves to folks impacted by the fires and we only have a few slots left. If you or someone you know wants to attend please make sure you/they RSVP.
And let me be transparent here, we’re very behind on our fundraising goal. I know there are so many people who need our attention and funds these days. And I know most of you all are regularly supporting your communities in whatever ways you can. If you find yourself with a few extra dollars and can send them our way, it would mean a lot to be a 240 families here in LA still rebounding from the devastating fires.
Your donations will be completely tax deductible and I will love you forever.
For more info on the event, to volunteer, to attend, and to donate click below.
Speaking of Stack the Shelves, the folks at LAist did a lovely feature on the event. Very grateful to Robert Garrova for taking the time to talk with me.
I also got to talk with Drew Broussard for the LitHub podcast about the event plus being the host of a book podcast. It was a really good chat.
The LA Times Festival of Books is around the corner, and I’ll be there. This year I am on The Mainstage in conversation with actress, comedian, and author Jenny Slate. This goes down on Sunday April 27 at 10:20am, no tickets needed.
Things I Love…
Book Things
Ok, normally I give you book news or whatever here, but this week I am giving you bookish recommendation for kids. I went to the library last weekend with my kids and we just snatched hella books at random from the picture book area and checked them out. We got this book, Crab Cake by Andrea Tsurumi, and it is so damn good.
It is a book about the environment, community organizing, and baking cakes. My kids have asked for it every night since we brought it home, and I am as excited to read it to them as they are to hear it.
I just bought seven copies for a bunch of small humans I know and one for each of the Mini Stack’s classrooms.
I also called Jazzi at Reparations Club and demanded she stock the book. She graciously extended The Stacks book club discount to this book too, so if you want a copy order it through them and get 10% off with the code STACKS10.
Politics
I am an idiot and I don’t (can’t) do math, but my smartie pants brother made a reel about these fucking tariffs that even I could understand.