Unabridged: Summer Reading Guide Companion Pod with Sara Hildreth

The Stacks

Traci Thomas

Literature, Society & Culture, Books, Arts

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

*Patreon and Substack-only bonus episode teaser, click here for the full episode*

This month you're getting a bonus bonus episode of The Stacks Unabridged. Because we love summer and books, Sara Hildreth of Fiction Matters is here to talk about summer reading guides. We hand out a few literary superlatives like, best book to read on an airplane and most dramatic. Plus we share some books we've read since the guides were dropped that we think you should at to your reading lists. If you haven't gotten The Stacks’ Nonfiction Reading Guide or Sara's Paperback Summer Reading Guide, be sure to grab those and get to listening.

You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:

https://www.thestackspodcast.com/unabridged/2025/8/8/tsu-49-sara-hildreth

CConnect with Sara: Instagram | Fiction Matters | Novel Pairings | Substack

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, y'all, it's me back with another book to tell you about. If you love contemporary retellings of
0:07.7	classic novels like James by Percival Everett, then let me tell you about your next favorite book.
0:14.9	It's called The Great Man and it is a retelling of the Great Gatsby, but it is set among the black upper class of post-war Los Angeles
0:23.5	and is inspired by real-life historic events. It follows Charlie Tremel, a young veteran who is
0:30.0	lured by his cousin Marguerite to the esteemed West Adams Heights, L.A.'s newly recristened Sugar Hill, a place for black elites. As Charlie
0:41.4	navigates a landscape rife with ambition, betrayal, and societal turmoil, he soon finds himself
0:47.1	beside the dazzling James Reaper man, facing a pivotal decision that could end in tragedy.
0:54.0	Whether you've read or not read
0:56.7	the great Gatsby, you're going to like the great man. The great man is out now. It is by
1:02.9	Kira Davis-Lurie and you can find it wherever books are sold. Hello, hello everybody. It is
1:09.8	me, Tracy Thomas, the host and creator of the book podcast,
1:13.3	The Stacks. I am here today with an extra special bonus, bonus episode. That's right, double
1:20.5	bonus. I am joined today by friend of the podcast. You all know and love her, Sarah Hildreth.
1:26.3	She is the reader and brilliant mind behind
1:28.5	Fiction Matters on Substack. She also runs a fantastic Patreon. And this year, she and I both
1:35.7	released summer reading guides. Her summer reading guide is her paperback reading guide. It's all
1:41.5	paperback books. She is the best at these guides, if I do say so myself. Mine is a nonfiction reading guide. It's all paperback books. She is the best at these guides, if I do say so myself.
1:46.8	Mine is a nonfiction reading guide. It is only my second guide. I'm still figuring it out, but it is so
1:51.5	much fun to make. And today, Sarah and I are going to talk about our reading guides together. We're
1:58.0	going to give you superlatives from our lists like our most
2:01.3	unique book, our best book to read on an airplane, the longest books on our guides. We're also
2:06.7	going to give you some pairings from our two guides. It's a really, really fun time. If you are
	...

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