The Stacks

Author Aja Gabel is back for The Stacks Book Club conversation this week. We're discussing If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim. The book follows one woman, Haemi Lee, her life and relationships during and in the years following the Korean War. Our conversation covers what it means to survive, feminism, war stories, and more. There are spoilers this week, but if you want to get to know If You Leave Me better without spoilers, listen to our first episode of The Short Stacks feature Crystal...

Its time for our first ever Short Stack! These mini episodes will come out every other Monday, and feature a conversation with an author about their book and writing process. We are thrilled to have author Crystal Hana Kim for this inaugural episode. Crystal is the author of this week's The Stacks Book Club pick, If You Leave Me. Crystal shares with us where the idea for this book came from, what it is like to hear from readers, and rituals she has around her writing. Don't worry, there are...

This week on The Stacks our guest is author Aja Gabel. Aja's debut novel, The Ensemble, came out in 2018, and she talks with us about writing her book, cover design, which writers inspire her, and why she got a PhD in creative writing. We also talk music prodigies and time machines, which is to say, we talk about a little of everything. You can find everything we talk about this week in the show notes below. By shopping through the links you help support The Stacks, at no cost to you. Shop...

The Bluest Eye is the first novel of Nobel Laureate, Toni Morrison, it is also The Stacks Book Club pick this week. We dissect this American classic and discuss its many themes including race, beauty, love and abuse with Renée Hicks, founder of Book Girl Magic. Our conversation covers the entire book, which means there are a lot of spoilers. Go read the book and then come back and listen. You can find everything we talk about this week in the show notes below. By shopping through the links...

This week on the podcast, our guest is Renée Hicks, founder of Book Girl Magic, an online book club that centers books by and about Black women. Renée shares with us her journey into reading, how her reading has inspired the reading life of her children, and her love of romance novels, one in particular. You can find everything we talk about this week in the show notes below. By shopping through the links you help support The Stacks, at no cost to you. Shop on Amazon and iTunes. BOOKS The...

When a mother, Amanda Stott-Smith, throws her two young children off of a bridge, one journalist tries to understand why. That is the premise of Nancy Rommelmann's true crime book, To The Bridge. This week, for The Stacks Book Club, we discuss this haunting book with journalist Heather John Fogarty. While the story of Stott-Smith and her children is true, if you're not familiar with the events there will be some spoilers on this week's episode. You can find everything we talk about this week...

Our guest this week is journalist Heather John Fogarty, whose work has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Marie Claire Magazine, Playboy, and more. Heather previously worked as the wine and spirits editor at Bon Appétit. In today's conversation we talk about Heather's James Beard vote, how finding a editor for a novel is like dating, and a book that made both of us very angry. Get ready, Heather is a prolific reader, your TBR will never be the same. You can find everything we talk about...

This week on The Stacks Book Club, activist and organizer Harris Cohn is back to chat about How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. This book was recently featured by Barack Obama on his Facebook page, as a book that speaks to the current moment in the United States. President Obama says it "is a useful primer on the importance of norms, institutional restraints and civic participation in maintaining a democracy - and how quickly those things can erode when we’re not...

This week we are joined by Harris Cohn. Harris' day job is in renewable energy, but his real super power is that he is an activist and organizer in his spare time. We talk this week about how Harris got interested in politics, how you can get involved in your local elections, and what SNL cast member Harris wants to write this life story. You can find everything we talk about this week in the show notes below. By shopping through the links you help support The Stacks, at no cost to you. Shop...

This week on The Stacks Book Club, journalist and author Nancy Rommelmann is back to discuss Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou. We talk about the mind blowing story of biotech startup Theranos, and its founder Elizabeth Holmes. We talk about psychopaths, whistle blowers, and of course, this unbelievable story of abuse and fraud. There are spoilers this week, however the book is based on current events and we do not discuss anything that isn't out in...

This week we are joined by author and journalist, Nancy Rommelmann. Nancy talks to us about her newest book To The Bridge: A True Story of Motherhood and Murder, her process as an investigative journalist, and about the time she traveled to see John Wayne Gacy on death row. You can find everything we talk about this week in the show notes below. By shopping through the links you help support The Stacks, at no cost to you. Shop on Amazon and iTunes. BOOKS To the Bridge by Nancy Rommelmann All...

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 of Arthur Less, a struggling novelist who decides to travel the world instead of subjecting himself to being a guest at his ex...

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 talk about this week in the show notes below. By shopping through the links you help support The Stacks, at no cost to you. Shop on Amazon and iTunes....

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 biographical fiction. There are no spoilers on this episode. You can find everything we talk about this week in the show notes...

This week on the show, we have author and journalist Jo Piazza as our guest. Jo's most recent release isCharlotte 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 likes reading books that aren't new releases. You can find everything we talk about this week in the show...

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 week, so please listen at your own risk. We cover a lot of topics, and you can find links to everything in the...

Our guest this week is Becca Tobin. Becca is most well known as an actress and a co-host of the podcast, Lady Gang. 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. We cover a lot of topics this week, and its all in the show notes below. Use the links below when you shop on Amazon and iTunes to help support The Stacks. BOOKS Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss Proof of Heaven by...

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 this week. We cover a lot of topics, and you can find links to everything below, in the show notes. Use the...

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. We cover a lot of topics this week, and its all in the show notes below. Use the links below when you shop on Amazon and iTunes to help support The Stacks. BOOKS Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Black Panther: A Nation...

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 doing it all, and if we would ever do our own Year of Yes. We talk in detail about the book,...