The Stacks

We're back for the second annual Super Bowl breakdown bonus episode. That's right, we're digging into Bad Bunny's incredible performance at this year's Super Bowl. I’m joined by Vanessa Díaz and Petra Rivera-Rideau, authors of  P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance , creators of the  Bad Bunny Syllabus Project , and Associate Professors of two differen...

Today on The Stacks, we’re joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, historian, activist, and professor, Heather Ann Thompson, to discuss her new book Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage . This book explores the ways that Bernhard Goetz's 1984 shooting of four Black teenagers on the New York City subway exposed the deep racial tensions of th...

Today on The Stacks, we’re joined by  New York Times  bestselling romance novelist Jasmine Guillory. We chat about her journey from high-powered attorney to successful contemporary romance writer, her favorite and least favorite tropes, and how people’s desire to escape through romance increases amid political unrest. The Stacks Book Club pick for February is Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. W...

It’s The Stacks Book Club day, and I'm joined by Emmy-nominated TV writer, journalist, and host of  Pop Syllabus , Christiana Mbakwe Medina, to discuss  Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves   by Sophie Gilbert. In this book, Sophie Gilbert highlights the ways the rampant misogyny of '90s and early 2000s pop culture continues to shape attitude...

It's time for a Stacks Unabridged favorite: Our Most Anticipated Books of 2026...at least the first half anyway. I'm once again joined by two of my favorite book people, Cree Myles ( All Ways Black ) and Sara Hildreth ( Fiction Matters ), to gush about the books we can't wait to dive into in the first half of the year, sharing our top picks month by month. Plus, we do a little post-mortem on 2025...

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick to discuss her new book Storm at the Capitol: An Oral History of January 6th . In this book, Mary Clare offers a comprehensive retelling of the January 6th insurrection through firsthand accounts from the rioters, police officers, journalists (including herself), and lawmakers who were forced to flee the violence....

Today on The Stacks, we’re joined by award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author, Jacob Soboroff, to discuss his newest book, Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster . In this book, Jacob takes us to the frontlines of the January 2025 L.A. Fires to offer a deeply personal, firsthand account of one of the most destructive fires in the city’s hist...

Today on The Stacks, we are joined by Emmy-nominated TV writer, former co-host of  What Now? with Trevor Noah , and creator of the  Pop Syllabus   newsletter and podcast, Christiana Mbakwe Medina. We talk about how Christiana became a comedy writer and culture critic, the intersections of wealth and access in celebrity culture, and what we can get out of taking pop culture seriously...

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...