Ep. 174 The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui -- The Stacks Book Club (Mira Jacob)
It’s The Stacks Book Club day and we’re discussing our first ever graphic memoir on the show. The book is The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui, and our guest is graphic memoirist (Good Talk), novelist (The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing), and cultural critic, Mira Jacob. We talk today about the moment that a good book makes the reader examine themselves, books that don’t feel like reading, and the distillation of history for the sake of narrative.
There are no spoilers on this episode.
Be sure to listen until the end of the episode to find out The Stacks Book Club pick for July!
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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 Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
Good Talk by Mira Jacob
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Vietnam War (PBS)
The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob
Counting Descent by Clint Smith
Finna by Nate Marshall
Displacement by Kiku Hughes
Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella, 2003)
How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
"Cambodians Demand Apology for Khmer Rouge Images With Smiling Faces" (Seth Mydans, The New York Times)
Execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém (Eddie Adams, 1968)
"Starving Child and Vulture" (Kevin Carter, 1993)
"Ep. 171 Trusting in Optimism Mira Jacob" (The Stacks)
Master of None (Netflix)
Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi
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