The Stacks Pairings: July 2024
Essays on justice, investigative journalism, and more speculative fiction than I know what to do with. Books to pair with all The Stacks episodes this month.
Every month I’m sharing book pairings for The Stacks episodes. It will feature the books we covered on the podcast for the month matched to two books I think go nicely with them. So if you loved the episode, loved the author, or loved the book, you will have a few more books to add to your TBR! Please know, I have not always read every book suggested here.
Emily Raboteau on The Stacks
I got to talk with Emily Raboteau about her latest book, Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse", which delves into parenting amidst the chaos of life right now, especially in regards to race and climate change.
We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood by Dani McClain
This is my number one recommendation for anyone doing the work of mothering (mothers, fathers, aunts, grandparents, friends, etc.) who wants to be doing it was an eye toward justice, possibility, and community. I could not read Raboteau’s book without think of McClain’s.1
The Reckonings: Essays on Justice for the Twenty-First Century by Lacy M. Johnson
This essay collection is working through a big question about justice, and similarly to Raboteau she weaves in questions about climate change, parenting, violence, and more. The writing is stunning and the questions it brings up are provocative and challenging2
Katherine Lewin on The Stacks
I got to talk about dinner parties, hosting, and cook book making with Katherine Lewin. It was great fun, just like her book, Big Night: Dinners, Parties & Dinner Parties.
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker
This is a book of my life. It changed how I think about gathering from dinner parties to The Stacks tour, to girls night out. It is profound in many ways but also extremely practical. If you want to host any kind of “big night”, you need to read this book3.
Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook by Sohla El-Wayly
This cookbook will make you a better cook. It will make you a more confident cook. It is gorgeous and a total joy to read. I cannot recommend it, and everything
Adam Higginbotham on The Stacks
It is no great secret that an investigative journalism book about a tragedy with institutional failings is very much my shit. Higginbotham’s new book, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, is all of that, and it is insanely readable.
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer
The story of Pat Tillman reminds me a lot of what happened with the Challenger disaster because people with the best of intentions were killed by institutional ego and mismanagement, this book will change how you think about his story, for sure.
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
For my money, no one is writing more compelling investigative journalism than PRK these days. This one will blow your mind and also make you ask “what the fuck is wrong with people?” a must read.5
Mateo Askaripour on The Stacks
Back to The Stacks for his sophomore novel, This Great Hemisphere, Mateo and I talked about writing in a new genre, the influences on his work, and how he built the world of this speculative fiction novel.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Young female protagonist without any power or influence volunteers to take on the system? Yes, these two books have a whole lot in common. Not to mention the dystopia of it all.
King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa byAdam Hochschild
I’ve never read this book (though I own it and have had it on the TBR for a few years now), but Mateo said this is one of the books that helped him create the world of This Great Hemisphere. I am eager to see how this nonfiction book about Belgium’s brutal colonization of the Congo shows up in his novel.
The Stacks Book Club on Parable of the Sower
Reading Parable of the Sower in July 2024, the time Butler set her near future dystopia, was a real trip. This book is bleak and harsh and so prescient. I loved the conversation I had with Emily Raboteau on this book, because there is so much to dig into.
Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
For folks who loved Parable of the Sower, or who just want to know what happens to Lauren and her Earthseed community, this sequel is the obvious companion book.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
For those of you who found Parable of the Sower to be too challenging to read right now, I would suggest Kindred, one of Butler’s early books. It isn’t an gentle read by any means, but it is dealing with history and so some of the stress of the urgency in Parable of the Sower is alleviated by time. You can get lost in the story a bit more. Though again, this book is dark and partially set on a plantation during America chattel slavery, so it is still heavy shit.
What books would you pair with this month’s episodes of The Stacks? Tell me in the comments.
Ugh you and John Krakauer. 🙄😂 I’m excited for book club although in re-reading Parable of the Sower I realized some of the later parts I thought I remembered came from Parable of the Talents.
wowowowow, I've already read at least one of each pairing this month!! Unprecedented. Have heard about King Leopold's Ghost and been very intrigued!