Show & Tell: Pulitzer Kenny, the Tennis Movie, and the Only Diaper Bag I've Ever Loved
Unstacked Digest for the week of April 29 - May 5
Welcome to Grown-Up Show & Tell a weekly wrap-up where I share the nine things I loved and one thing I hated from the week, what I’ve been reading, and what is going on in the Unstacked universe.
This weekend I went to Oakland for my 20th high school reunion. I was a little nervous about it, and feeling like I didn’t know anyone anymore and it would be awful and full of small talk. Turns out; it was a delight. Seeing people you’ve known since before you were anything but a snot nosed loser with acne is an earnestly good experience. The moment I walked in the gym and saw my old friends I felt so warm and fuzzy, which really isn’t a thing I often feel.
I was reminded of how much of the context of my life is held by the people in that room. For example, I got to talk to my African-American History teacher, Mr. Green, about how much The Autobiography of Malcolm X has meant to me over the years, and I told him about The Stacks, and he looked at me and said “Of course, you always did love to read”. Which of course I knew. But knowing he had seen that in me 20+ years ago? That was so affirming.
This Week on Unstacked
Show & Tell from last week.
Book pairings to go with all of The Stacks episodes from April.
Everything I read in April ranked from least to most favorite. This month this wrap-up is both written and audio. Moving forward this will be audio only.
We announced the Stacks Book Club pick for May. It is No Name in the Street by James Baldwin.
Romance author and director,
shared her thoughts about writers block and so much more on this week’s Read to Know Basis.
Books I Read This Week
The Observable Universe: An Investigation by Annie Jacobsen
This is one of the those memoirs that dabbles in the land of research. It is about McCalden’s parents who both died of AIDS when she was a child, but also it is about viruses and the internet and memory and grief. The book has a lot going on in good and interesting ways, but McCalden is unable to effectively tie it all together in the end.
Queen by Aaron Jay Young
A bold and beautiful photo book filled with images of hundreds of drag queens at DragCon all photographed on the same background. I love these pictures. I wish there had been accompanying writing to explain who and what we were seeing.
Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen
Jacobsen builds out an entire plausible scenario in which the a nuclear World War III takes place. It starts out terrifying and superb (the prologue is chilling), but eventually fizzles out. By the end I felt a little fatigued with all that could (and likely would) go wrong in such a scenario. The big takeaway: nuclear war would be very very bad for the world.
Fave of the week!
Housekeeping
This week on The Stacks I talked to senior editor at Simon & Schuster, Yahdon Israel about the business of publishing. I loved this conversation so much and wish more people inside publishing were as thoughtful and forthright as Yahdon.
My live show, One for the Books is back! May 15th with author
(Cultish, The Age of Magical Overthinking) and actor Vella Lovell (Animal Control, My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) it all goes down.Nine Things I Love…
Book News
I don’t have big book news this week, but Pulitzer announcements are later today (Monday May 6) so I’ll have plenty next week. I do have personal book news, though. I have not read any books that I have hated so far this year. I am extremely disappointed in myself. Feeling like I need to step my game up.
Pop Culture
I did finally go a see Challengers, and it was fine. I wanted to love it. I did not. I didn’t hate it either. It was very fine. Zendaya was good, the boys were good, but the plot was so thin, and the character development was basically nonexistent. I wanted to leave the theatre with lots to think about and hash out, and with enough hot takes to fill an entire Show & Tell, but unfortunately I haven’t thought much about the movie since leaving the theatre. I did get a huge popcorn and I did almost eat it all and my stomach did hurt for the rest of the day.