Show & Tell: Simone Is Excellent at Everything, Plus More on the Olympics.
Unstacked Digest for the week of July 29- August 4
Welcome to another edition of 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 here to let you all know there will be some changes here at Unstacked. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to create and why. Show & Tell will be a staple every Monday, but Fridays will look a little different.
What is staying the same? Friday’s will still be free for all subs. There will still be recurring installments of Read to Know Basis.
What will be new? I want to have a little more space here to play around. I’m an not 100% sure what Fridays will be. My sense it will be a variety pack of reflections, nonsense, recommendations, and more Read to Know Basis. I might even enlist some friends to give you some book recs, or try a few “ask me anythings”. Some things will look familiar like the monthly podcast pairings and RTKB, and some things will be one offs like the Nonfiction Reading Guide.
I am excited to keep trying new things and not get stuck in a place where I am making content just to make content but that doesn’t excite me, or you. If you have suggestions on what you’d like to see here, please let me know in the comments. You input is sooooooo helpful.
Ok, now let’s get to this week’s tomfoolery!
This Week on Unstacked
Last week’s Show & Tell in which I talk about ice cream and Tim Walz.
Announcing our August book club pick!
Two books to go with every episode of The Stacks from July.
Everything I read in July ranked from least to most favorite.
I talked with debut author, Annell López, about her short story collection I’ll Give You a Reason.
Books I Read This Week
True Grit by Charles Portis
I did not think I would ever read this book. I saw the 2010 film and thought it was fine, but was not inspired to pick up the book up. Then this year both
Fave of the week!
Liars by Sarah Manguso
Another book I read off the recommendation of a few friends. This one is the story of a marriage as told from the perspective of the wife, Jane. It is fiction but reads like a memoir, and from the interviews I’ve heard from the author it is barely auto-fiction. It is basically Manguso’s life with a few details changed. I really liked the direct and cutting prose. John, the husband, is the worst, and she lets us know about it. I think the book tries very hard to make the reader feel as trapped and frustrated with John as Jane is. It mostly works, but by the end the book feels incredibly one note. Manguso and her editor could’ve had an excellent at 175 pages, but by the time we get to the end, at around 250 pages, it starts to feel excessive, and ends up as a very solid read.
Housekeeping
The Stacks Book Club episode of Parable of the Sower with guest Emily Raboteau is live! If you want to join us for the virtual book club meet up, you can join The Stacks Pack, and we’ll see you Tuesday, August 6 at 5pm PT//8pm ET.
Nine Things I Love…
Book News
The 2024 literary award season is officially underway. This week we saw the release of The Booker Prize longlist and the Center for Fiction’s longlist for their first novel prize.
These awards are extremely different (only one book is on both lists, Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel). As far as personality, I would say the Booker is very literary and considered pretty “high brow”. The Center for Fiction’s prize is a little more interested in ambition and the potential for future great novels, since it awards a writer’s first novel (even if they have written other books). Neither of these are my favorite award by any stretch, but they do give us a glimpse into what we can expect to see getting attention as the award lists start to roll out.
I also want to shout out Melissa Mogollon,
, Morgan Talty, Sasha Vasilyuk, and Kaveh Akbar. Each of those authors is on the CFF list and has been either on the podcast or featured as part of the Read to Know Basis series. We love to see it!