Show & Tell: The National Book Award Longlists...and There Was a Debate.
Unstacked Digest for the week of September 9-15
I made it to the Mississippi Book Festival this weekend and when I tell you it was the most amazing weekend, believe me. If you get a chance to attend, you absolutely should. They bring in the best authors and moderators, not to mention the amazing engaged, and thoughtful readers who packed rooms all day long. Don’t let anyone tell you people don’t read. It was extra special for me because not only did a bunch of The Stacks Pack show up (some traveled from Canada) but I also got to meet authors I had had on the show but never had the chance to see IRL. Just and true blast!
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.
This Week on Unstacked
Last week’s Show & Tell with big book news.
Poet Perry Janes shares some of his inspiration for Read to Know Basis.
Books I Read This Week
Jazz by Toni Morrison
The best first paragraph I have ever read in book. Jazz is so strong for the entire first chapter it is hard for the rest of the book to live up. I liked this one, though it isn’t a favorite Morrison. The dialogue and naming of characters is so so good. There are some moments I gasped and some scenes where I was totally rapt. But, the book takes it style and structure from jazz music so at times Morrison would wander away from the story and riff for a while which threw me and made the story harder to follow.
Fave of the week!
Habitations by Sheila Sundar
This novel is about an Indian woman, Vega, who immigrates to the US to go to college and follows her for about 20 years as she works her way into academia. It is very much a slice of life novel, which is usually not at all my thing. There isn’t a lot of plot. We just stick with Vega as she navigates life. So it ended up being a pretty huge surprise that I liked this book. It isn’t something I would usually read (thanks Mississippi Book Festival for broadening my horizons) and it isn’t a favorite book, but it is a successful character study type book with a lot to say about immigration and immigration narratives. For people who like a vibey long term hang with a character, I think you’d be pleased with Habitations.
The Quiet Damage: Qanon and the Destruction of the American Family by Jesselyn Cook
This work of reported narrative nonfiction follows five families in US who have had a member join the conspiracy group Qanon. Cook follows the subjects of her book to see not only how and why they fell into the conspiracy group, but also how it impacted their lives and the lives of their friends and family. I really liked this book. It is the perfect read for the next few weeks as we dive closer to this election. Cook makes a lot of sense of how something like this happens, but also contradicts certain narratives (one of her subjects is a millennial Black woman…I honestly didn’t know we could even be in Qanon) and gives much more detail and context. It is certainly worth a read.
Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known by George M. Johnson
A historical essay collection that focuses on 14 queer Black figures from the Harlem Renaissance aimed at young adult readers. Johnson tells their stories in quick essays while adding their own thoughts on their lives and how their art impacted their own. While some of the information is interesting, the writing style is a little corny and surface. It feels formulaic and surface, which might work with younger readers who are brand new to these people, but for me it wasn’t enough.
Housekeeping
One of my all time favorite authors finally made her debut on The Stacks this week. Danzy Senna came on to talk about her newest novel Colored Television and how she thinks and writes about mixed race folks.
I finally weighed in on “the book of the summer” conversation over on NPR’s Here and Now. Check out my picks.
There is a new One for the Books coming your way Los Angeles. Save the date for October 2nd! I’ll be joined on stage by Danzy Senna and Zach Stafford playing games, talking books, and having a really good. Come through.
I’ll be in San Francisco on October 19th for the Litquake book festival talking to friends of the pod Carvell Wallace and Morgan Parker, and National Book Award longlister Sam Sax. Get your tickets.
Things I Love…
Book News
This past week is one of my absolute favorite weeks of the bookish year. The National Book Foundation releases their longlists for their five award categories. They roll it out slowly (this year over 4 days) which adds to the excitement. I spend at least a full week leading up to the announcement chatting with friends trying to guess who will be on the list and then I drop my own predictions for nonfiction and fiction.
This year the lists were varied. I had not read a single book on the translated, poetry, or young people’s lists. I knew of a handful of the titles, but honestly, barely.
Then we got the nonfiction list which is very different than any previous list. There are no history books or biographies. I honestly cannot remember a year that the list didn’t having entries in those areas. The list feels extremely concerned with this moment in time. I have read two of the books, There’s Always This Year and Knife. I loved TATY and absolutely thought Knife was meh. I’ve started Unshriking from the list and am almost done. I think it is interesting, but would never had put it on the list. The one snub that I can’t believe is Challenger by Adam Higginbotham didn’t make the list. WTF. I am going to attempt to read the whole list before the awards, so stay tuned.
The fiction list was the one list I actually felt like I knew the books and was excited about. It is a return to NBA lists from 2021 and before. A mix of buzzy books and lesser known titles. There are folks new to the list and some who have been on before. I really like it, and look forward to my friends who will read the list (
and ) telling me what’s what.Pop Culture
I’m watching the Emmy’s and like, The Bear is not a comedy. I know you know that. I know they know that. I feel like everyone is trolling me.