Advice in The Stacks with Traci Thomas: Bookmarks Everywhere & Book Recs for Presidents

Welcome to Advice in The Stacks, a bookish advice column from me, Traci Thomas, the host and creator of The Stacks podcast. My show is all about books and the people who read them, with new episodes out every Wednesday on your favorite podcast platform. Due to the nature of the show I am constantly asked for advice on all things books, so I’m making it formal and bringing my advice to all of you with my monthly column here at SheReads.com.

If you have questions about anything book related, CLICK HERE and submit your question, and then come back the last Thursday of the month to see my advice.

Are you a bookmark user? If so, I’m feeling oddly curious about your bookmark personality. Like, what kind is your favorite? Can anything be a bookmark? Are you a collector with tons of bookmarks on hand? A minimalist cycling through a few favorites?

Ok, I am so glad you asked this question, because I have been waiting to confess this. I am the most chaotic bookmark user. I am not proud of my habits, but this is who I am. Shall we dive into bookmarkland?

I am what I like to call a “one book pony” as in I read one physical book at a time (I do always have an audiobook going but audiobooks don’t require bookmarks so let’s not worry about that for now) which means my most common bookmark is just memorizing what page I am on. I don’t use anything more often than not. Is this weird?

Before I started reading a lot for The Stacks, and when I have a lot of physical books going at once I will use bookmarks. Unfortunately for people who have high estimations of me I mostly use scraps of paper. Usually corners of that day’s LA Times or the notes from the publisher that accompany an ARC (advanced reader copy). If I’m using the one sheet from the publisher I will tear it so that I can include the contact information for the publicist or the release date for the book. There is some method to my madness afterall.

Now, the two above methods are by far my most common, but my absolute favorite bookmarks (and this is by a long shot) are tickets and boarding passes with dates on them. I am the kind of person that does not transfer bookmarks from book to book. That means when I go to reread a book (or lend it out) I will discover where and when I read the book for the first time. If I do reread, I will keep the same bookmark from that first read in the book. A few years back I found a ticket stub for a 49ers game from the early 90’s in my copy of Charlotte’s Web. This discovery made me cry like a baby.

I am a firm believer that anything can be a bookmark. Here is a list of things I have used as a bookmark: a piece of newspaper, a ticket stub, a foil gum wrapper, a photostrip from a photobooth, the plastic that goes around individual lifesaver candies, a post-it note, hotel stationary, the receipt that came with my purchase of the book, the corner of magazine cover, a business card from a guy who tried to ask me out using a business card, toilet paper, old metro cards, a vote by mail receipt, a birthday card, junk mail, a really fancy hand painted bookmark from Japan, friendship bracelets, lightly soiled paper towel, a handwritten note from the author, a Snickers wrapper, the small envelope your dentist gives you pain pills in, my memory, a picture, the slip of paper that comes when you check out from the library, ribbon, cocktail napkins, a dog eared page (this was a lesser version of me), the parking ticket you have to print out at a kiosk, the parking ticket receipt you get if you pay with card at the mall, a ripped corner from a publishing PR sheet, my frequent buyer card from a smoothie place I like, notecards, boarding passes, my own (now defunct) business card from my days in fitness, postcards, and of course, a book mark.

To answer one of your questions, yes, in a way, I do have a lot of bookmarks on hand, but mostly because my bookmarks are just trash and other found objects. Aside from the hand painted bookmarks I got in Japan as gifts for loved ones, I do not think I have purchased a bookmark in 20+ years.

There is one thing I will absolutely never use as a bookmark, the book jacket. There is no coming back from that kind of reckless behavior.

I love your question for guests of The Stacks about what book they think the president should read. What have been some of your favorite answers over the years? I’m currently reading Hannah Oliver Depp’s answer from June to that question (Ancestor Trouble by Maud Newton) and think it could be a rewarding way to add to my TBR.

I too love this question. As I mention on most every podcast when I ask it, I stole it from the New York Times By the Book column because I loved it so much.

One of the reasons I have loved this question is because when I started the show Donald Trump was the commander in chief and I would get a very snarky kind of answer, oftentimes a general suggestion of The Constitution. Now with Joe Biden in office I get totally different answers, mostly tied to racism and criminal justice.

Over the years a few books have come up a lot of times and then some others have come up only once. I think the most common answer for both Trump and Biden (and the one that I would likely give any president) is Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi. A lot of guests have also offered the entire catalog of certain authors like Toni Morrsion, Hannah Arendt, bell hooks, and James Baldwin.

Below is a list of some of the answers that stick out to me. I have listed them in order of the episode and by President. I have left a link for the episode (click the guest’s name) as well as a link to any book club episodes where we might have discussed the suggested book.