Ep. 45 Vanessa McGrady on Adoption and Memoirs

Today on The Stacks, author and journalist Vanessa McGrady talks with us about her new book, RockNeedsRiver, a memoir about becoming a mother through open adoption. We also talk about micro-aggressions , dark and twisty memoirs, and some of Vanessa’s favorite books about adoption.
Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. The Stacks participates in affiliate programs, and shopping through the links below (mostly Amazon) helps support the show, at no cost to you.
Books
- Rock Needs River by Vanessa McGrady
- The Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise by Nathan Pritikin and Patrick M. McGrady
- All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
- Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew
- God and Jetfire by Amy Seek
- The Kid by Dan Savage
- Corduroy by Don Freeman
- The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
- The Bible by Christian Art Publishers
- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
- Mayfly by Jeff Sweat

- Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Marquez
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Marquez
- Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood
- Girl Boner by August McLaughlin
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Heavy by Kiese Laymon
- Hunger by Roxane Gay
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- Educated by Tara Westover
- Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
- When You Read This by Mary Adkins
- He’s Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt
- The Rules by Sherri Schneider
- Shared Tables by Kaumudi Marathe
- A Higher Loyalty by James Comey
- Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
- Fear by Bob Woodward
- Great Again by Donald Trump
- Isabel Allende
- Anna Quindlen
- Barbara Kingsolver
- Maya Angelou
- Barbara (Stanny) Huson
- The Hormone Reset Diet by Sara Gottfried M.D.
- Instant Mom by Nia Vardalos
- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- Beloved by Toni Morrison
- Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
- The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
- Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
- The 13th Continuum by Jennifer Brody
Everything Else
- “I Won’t Let My 4-Year-Old Daughter Grow Up Stepping Aside for Sexism, Like I Did” (Vanessa McGrady, Jezebel)
- “Why Men Need To Stop Making This Joke About Women And Money” (Vanessa McGrady, Forbes)
- The Kinship Center
- The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
- Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
- Mad Max (George Miller, 1977)
- The Is Us (NBC)
- Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, 2013)
- Ep. 20 Between The World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates — The Stacks Book Club (The Stacks)
- Amazon Kindle
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Joel Zwick, 2002)
- Beloved (Jonathan Demme, 1998)
Connect with Vanessa: Vanessa’s Website | Vanessa’s Twitter | Vanessa’s Instagram
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Sponsors
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The Stacks received RockNeedsRiver from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.For more information click here.
The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website, and this comes at no cost to you. Shopping through these links helps support the show, but does not effect opinions on books and products. For more information click here.