Ep. 123 Complication and Imagination with Brit Bennett

Our guest today is Brit Bennett, author of The Mothers, and her latest book, an instant New York Times #1 Bestseller, The Vanishing Half. Brit shares what it has been like having her book optioned by HBO, publishing in the middle of a pandemic and civil rights movement, and how she balances research and creativity. We also talk about the books that Brit loves and the types of characters that excite her.

The Stacks Book Club selection for August is Sula by Toni Morrison. We will discuss the book with Brit Bennett on August 26th.

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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon

• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

• The Mothers by Brit Bennett

• Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

• Angela Flournoy

• The Dragons, The Giant, The Women by Wayetu Moore

• Anna K by Jenny Lee

• Inside Out by Demi Moore

• There There by Tommy Orange

• The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker

• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

• Sula by Toni Morrison

• A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

• The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

• The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw

• Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones

• The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa 

• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

• Luster by Raven Leilani

• The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale

• The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley

• Hamlet by William Shakespeare

• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

• Macbeth by William Shakespeare

• Love's Labor's Lost by William Shakespeare

• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

• Roots by Alex Haley

• Margo Jefferson

• Maggie Nelson

• Beloved by Toni Morrison

• George Floyd

• "When Did Instagram Go Dark?" (The New York Times)

• The Vanishing Half on Good Morning America

• "HBO wins bidding war to adapt Brit Bennett’s ‘The Vanishing Half’ for TV" (Dessi Gomez, The Los Angeles Times)

• Imitation of Life (John M. Stahl, 1934)

• Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959)

• "Halle Berry Pulls Out of Transgender Film Role After Backlash" (Jordan Moreau, Variety)

• Ask the Stacks

• "A Novel Imagines the Fate of Twin Sisters, One Passing for White" (Ayana Mathis, The New York Times)

• Westworld (HBO)

• Arrival (Denis Villeneuve, 2016)

• "Ep. 60 Beloved by Toni Morrison -- The Stacks Book Club (DaMaris B. Hill)" (The Stacks)

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