The Stacks

We are thrilled to discuss this year's Pulitzer Price winner for fiction,  Less   by Andrew Sean Greer, for The Stacks Book Club this week. We are joined by guest, Zeke Smith . Zeke is known for his time as a contestant on Survivor ( Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X ,  Survivor: Game Changers , CBS), and for his work as a writer and trans activist.  Less   tells the story o...

Today on The Stacks we are joined by Zeke Smith. Zeke is a writer and trans activist who you may know best from his seasons on Survivor ( Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X ,  Survivor: Game Changers ) . This week we talk reality TV fame, self-identification, and Zeke's favorite genre of books (hint: its not wha you think). You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' Websit...

Its time for another episode of The Stacks Book Club , and this week we are discussing  Motherhood   by Sheila Heti. We are joined again by author Jo Piazza ( Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win ,  How to Be Married ) to discuss  Motherhood , a book about one woman's meditation on weather or not to have children. The book is written in a unique style and falls into the genre of&n...

This week on the show, we have author and journalist Jo Piazza as our guest. Jo's most recent release is Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win , a novel about a woman running for senate in the 2018 midterm elections. It is very of the moment, and is the Marie Claire Book Club pick  for September. Jo talks to us about her time as a journalist, challenges women face in running for office, and why she li...

Becca Tobin ( Glee ,  Lady Gang ) is back for The Stacks Book Club , and we're discussing Rachel Kushner's newest book  The Mars Room . This gritty novel tells the story of Romy, a young mother who has been incarcerated for two life sentences. We see Romy in her life leading to prison and the world behind bars with thousands of other women struggling to survive. There are spoilers this w...

Our guest this week is Becca Tobin. Becca is most well known as an actress and a co-host of the podcast, The LadyGang . Today we walk about Becca's podcast becoming a TV show, how reading helped her deal with grief, and her love of fiction that feels a little like a rom-com. You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' Website: https://thestackspodcast.com/2018/08/22/ep-2...

We're thrilled to have writer and host of The Extraordinary Negroes Podcast , Jay Connor, back with us this week for The Stacks Book Club , discussing  Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This episode is spent talking about the three major themes from the book: race, violence, and the Black body, and how those themes are ever present in American society. There are no spoilers t...

This week our guest is Jay Connor. Jay is a writer, and the creator and co-host of The Extraordinary Negroes podcast . Jay discuss his winding life path through many cities and many careers. We also talk about what books Jay is into and what writers he admires. You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' Website: https://thestackspodcast.com/2018/08/08/ep-19-talking-writing-p...

Stylist and CEO Ashley North is back this week for The Stacks Book Club and our discussion of Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. The book is Rhimes' memoir on the year she decided to say yes to everything and use the power of yes to change her life. The book brings up topics surrounding the desire to be professionally successful and personally fulfilled. We talk about motherhood as a "job", the myth of...

Our guest this week is celebrity stylist, TV personality, and CEO of her own lifestyle brand, Ashley North . Ashley is most well known for being Kevin Hart's stylist and now she's sitting down with The Stacks to discuss reading. She talks about the not so glamorous parts of being a stylist, her daughters' love of books, and diversity in school reading curriculum. You can find everything we discuss...

This week Lauren Fanella is here for The Stacks Book Club . We're talking about Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore. In the book, Milo, a human who has been reincarnated almost 10,000 times, is on a quest for perfection and everlasting life. The book touches on a lot of social justice issues, Love, and of course Death. We talk about these themes, who we would cast in the TV show, and more. There...

This week our guest is Lauren Fanella, Lauren is a book reader and reviewer on #bookstagram, you might know her as @literarylauren_ . Lauren is a lover of books by and about unconventional women, she reads for joy, and she's not scared of a big sad book. We talk about Lauren's reading habits, what books she's looking forward to reading, and how books help her to see the world differently. You can...

This week, author Ross Asdourian is back to discuss our The Stacks Book Club book  The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business   by Charles Duhigg. We talk about how habits work, the habits we want to change, and we look at two current political movements as habit formers in the community.  While we do discuss many examples from the book in this episode, we don't r...

We’re excited to welcome Ross Asdourian to our show this week. Ross is the debut author of a hilarious memoir,  Broken Bananah: Life, Love, and Sex…Without a Penis ,  the story of that one time he broke his penis. We don’t just talk about Ross’ unmentionables, we also talk about the process of writing your own book, self-publishing, and more. Of course Ross is also answering all of your...

This week Aaron Dolores , founder of Black Arrow FC is back and we're discussing  How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization  by Franklin Foer. This book takes a look at the world's most popular sport, and how changes in the social and political landscapes are mirrored on the pitch. With The World Cup in full swing, we discuss racism in soccer, we hypothesize...

This week we're joined by Aaron Dolores, founder of Black Arrow FC , a lifestyle brand that focuses on the intersection of soccer and Black culture. The World Cup starts tomorrow, so we're talking about Soccer and how it relates to the Black experience. We also discuss story telling in the Black community, when reading doesn't come so easily, and how challenges in your reading life can effect your...

This week, actress Vella Lovell ( Crazy Ex- Girlfriend , The Big Sick ) is back on The Stacks. This week we're talking about New Boy by Tracy Chevalier. New Boy is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, in which modern day authors retell Shakespeare's classic works.  New Boy is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's  Othello , set in a 1970's elementary school in Washington D.C. We talk...

Actress Vella Lovell ( Crazy Ex- Girlfriend , The Big Sick ) joins us this week to nerd out on books. Vella talks about reading as an actor, examining scripts for clues to her character's inner workings, and being a good scene partner. Vella also talks about trusting  Oprah's Book Club  recommendations and her love of self help books, especially as a spiritual guide for working actors. W...

Choreographer Sam Pinkleton is back in time for The Stacks Book Club to take on true crime, with Vulgar Favors: The Assassination of Gianni Versace by Maureen Orth. The book examines the serial killer Andrew Cunanan , who murdered 5 men in 1997 culminating in the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace. We discuss Cunanan and his victims, but mostly we focus on the tone of the book. We exam...

This week on the show we are talking all things books with Tony nominated choreographer, Sam Pinkleton, best known for his work on the Broadway show,  Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 . Sam and Traci discuss using books as an entry point to new worlds, the mythology of the present, and a handful of their favorite true crime books. You can find everything we discuss on today'...

On this week of The Stacks, we discuss Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin with our guest, TV writer Chris Maddox. Giovanni's Room is a classic American novel written in 1956, and the topics of masculinity, isolation, and love deferred are as relevant now as they were then. Our conversation traverses these themes from the book and more, like what we think of the title and who we think should star in...

This week I am joined by TV writer and actor, Chris Maddox. Reading is a huge part of Chris' professional life, and creative habit. Chris shares the kind of stories that excite him when he's looking to write new TV shows and books that have helped shape him as a writer. We get to know Chris this week, before The Stacks Book Club conversation about James Baldwin's classic, Giovanni's Room . You can...

On this week of The Stacks, PhD candidate Sarah Fong is back, and we're talking about Jesmyn Ward's memoir, Men We Reaped.  Our conversation dives into the deaths of five Black men in Ward's life, and what these deaths say about the greater experience of Black people in America. We discuss substance abuse, mental health, grief, systemic racism and a lot more. There are spoilers in t...

On this week of The Stacks we are joined by Sarah Fong, a PhD Candidate in American Studies. Sarah is currently writing her dissertation on U.S. practices of social welfare, particularly as they relate to histories of slavery and colonization. This week we talk about the writing process, reading for work vs. reading for pleasure, and the power of books to teach us new things, and allow us to make...

On this week of The Stacks, high school English teacher Dallas Lopez is back, and we're talking about Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. This is our very first The Stacks Book Club (TSBC) episode. Join us as we discuss the fears of leaving your home behind, the power of the human spirit to carry on, who we think should be in the movie, and a lot more. There are spoilers in this episode. You...