The Stacks

For the last Stacks Book Club episode of the year, we're diving into  Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream   by H.G. Bissinger with Joel Anderson, senior staff writer at  The Ringer   and co-host of sports & media podcast  The Press Box . This book   follows the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers, one of the best high-school football teams in Texas hi...

It’s finally the episode we’ve all been waiting for: The Stacks' Best Books of 2025! Traci talks with two longtime friends of the show, Greta Johnsen, host of Happy to Be Here , and MJ Franklin, an editor at  The New York Times Book Review , to share our top 10 books of the year. We discuss the overall year in books, why we struggled to create this list, and all the books we’re looking f...

We're at the end of 2025 and this year we're looking back, not at the best of the year, but at the worst, most hatable moments. To break it all down, Traci teamed up with friend of the pod, Nora McInerny, for a crossover bonus episode between The Stacks and Nora's show, Thanks for Asking . From Taylor Swift to AI slop and so much more, get ready for a whole lot of hot takes and disgruntled energy....

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by National Book Award finalist Alejandro Varela to talk about his newest novel,  Middle Spoon .  Humorously exploring unconventional relationships and complexities of polyamory, this novel follows Alejandro’s unnamed narrator, a married man navigating heartbreak after his boyfriend abruptly dumps him. We discuss why he wanted to write about heartbreak,...

Today on The Stacks, we’re joined by James Beard Award-winning chef, TV host, and author Samin Nosrat to discuss her newest book, Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love . In this cookbook, Samin shares over 125 of her favorite go-to recipes, including ricotta custard pancakes, saffron-burnished roast chicken, nostalgia-inducing yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and every...

Today on The Stacks, we’re joined by Joel Anderson, senior staff writer at The Ringer and co-host of sports & media podcast The Press Box . We discuss his transition from athlete to sports journalist, how his relationship with his audience has changed alongside public perceptions of the media, whether we’re freaking out enough about the state of media, and why he loves books on place. The Stac...

It is The Stacks Book Club day, and Page Break founder Mikey Friedman is back to discuss National Book Award-winner Justin Torres's debut novel,  We the Animals . Set in rural upstate New York in the 1980s, this coming-of-age novel traces the experiences of three mixed-race brothers bustling through boyhood while navigating the violence and chaos within their household. In our conversation, w...

*This is a teaser for this Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode,  click here to listen to the full episode * Ever wondered who else brings The Stacks to life? Well, lucky for you, you’re about to meet them. For the first time ever, we're bringing you behind the scenes to introduce you to the team that helps make this podcast happen. Join Traci as she chats with Sahara Clement, Cherie Marqu...

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by author and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes to talk about her new novel, The White Hot . This book explores an exhausted young mother’s life-changing, “white hot” rage-induced decision to abandon her daughter, break her family’s cycle of generational trauma, and discover herself in the process. We chat about why she wanted to write about...

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by Sarah Aziza to talk about her debut book, The Hollow Half: A Memoir of Bodies and Borders . In this memoir, Sarah explores her struggle with anorexia through the lens of her family’s history of violent displacement from Gaza, drawing haunting parallels between her personal and ancestral trauma. We talk about why she wanted to trace these connections, how she u...

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by Mikey Friedman, the founder of Page Break, a New York–based, weekend-long retreat centered on community reading. We discuss all things Page Break, including how it came to be, the book selection process, the focus on fiction, and why reading aloud is at the heart of the experience. Plus, tune in for a special announcement. The Stacks Book Club pick for Novembe...

It is The Stacks Book Club day, and author Angela Flournoy is back to discuss Mary Shelley's  Frankenstein . First published in 1818 and revised in 1831, this Gothic classic tells the tale of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who brings a monstrous creature to life, triggering a series of disastrous consequences. In our conversation, we explore our perceptions of Frankenstein’s...

*This is a teaser for this Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode,  click here to listen to the full episode * In this bonus episode, I chat with author Kiley Reid for the inside scoop on the Booker Prize , an annual literary award given to the best fiction book written in English and published in the UK and Ireland. As a 2025 judge—and the author of a 2020 Booker Prize-longli...

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by author and journalist Jade Chang to discuss her newest novel, What a Time to Be Alive . This book follows Lola Treasure Gold, a down-on-her-luck 31-year-old balancing accidental internet fame with enduring grief after her speech at her best friend’s wake goes viral. We discuss the book’s 20-year journey, the ways fame and celebrity culture have evolved in that...

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by anthropologist and former wildland firefighter Jordan Thomas. He’s here to discuss his first book, When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World , a gripping exploration of his experience battling a brutal, six-month fire season with the Los Padres Hotshots, an elite force of wildland firefighters. We discuss Jordan’s transition from firefighter to a...

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by journalist and writer John J. Lennon, who’s currently serving 28 years to life for murder at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. He is here to discuss his first book, The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories That Define Us , which explores society’s fascination with true crime through the personal stories of four convicted murderers, including h...

This week on The Stacks we are joined by Angela Flournoy to discuss her new book, The Wilderness . Longlisted for the 2025 National Book Award and a finalist for the Kirkus Prize, The Wilderness is an expansive novel that covers the friendship of four black women over the course of twenty years. Today, we discuss maximalism in her writing style, how Angela aimed to write an era-defining novel, and...

It is The Stacks Book Club day and we're discussing  The Lilac People  by Milo Todd. Our guest for today's conversation is editor and author, Denne Michele Norris. The Lilac People follows a trans man and his partner as they attempt to survive Nazi Germany and the aftermath of the Allies’ takeover post-war. Together, we discuss the ways Milo Todd uses history to ground the book and its c...

Today on The Stacks we are joined by former Vice President, Kamala Harris. She is here to discuss her brand new book 107 Days , which chronicles her historic run for the presidency in 2024. In our conversation we cover her biggest regrets from Biden to Gaza, how she balanced her instincts with the political polling, and what she sees as the path forward for America. The Stacks Book Club pick for S...

*Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode teaser,  click here for the full episode * In this bonus episode, we’re heading down south to Jackson, Mississippi to join friends of the pod, Jason Reynolds and Hanif Abdurraqib, at the  Mississippi Book Festival ! Together, we celebrate each other's work, fight over the greatest band of all time, and then debate the state of music and liter...

This week on the Stacks, we’re talking literary suspense with Cleyvis Natera and her newest book,  The Grand Paloma Resort , which takes place at a luxury resort in the Dominican Republic. Cleyvis explains what drew her to writing about the tourism industry, why she wanted to include the history of the Dominican Republic in her “beach read,” and how she explored sex work in its many form...

Maggie Smith and Saeed Jones join us this week on the Stacks to discuss their anthology, The People’s Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Forward . With original work from twenty-seven authors exploring hope in times of difficulty, Maggie and Saeed discuss what inspired them to start the book and how they picked contributors for this project. We also spend some time sharing what keeps us f...

This week on The Stacks we are joined by Denne Michele Norris, the editor and chief of Electric Literature. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. She is also behind two 2025 books, her debut novel,  When the Harvest Comes  and the anthology  Both/And: Essays by Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Writers of Color . Today, we discuss he...

It's The Stacks Book Club Day, and we're talking about the plant world and nature with this month’s pick,  Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants   by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The wonderful journalist and author Alexis Madrigal is back for this conversation on this modern nonfiction classic. We discuss the influence this book has had on write...

*Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode teaser,  click here for the full episode * Another bonus episode this month? Heck yes! We're doing a deep dive into oral history with friend of the pod, journalist, and oral historian, Garrett M. Graff. He has written three stellar books of oral history:  The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic...