STACK with Jake and Ella

It’s STACK with Jake and… Lucy! In this special Halloween episode, Jake is joined by Lucy Rose, bestselling author of The Lamb, to discuss her writing and a stack of her very own. 

What draws Lucy to the horror genre? What are her favourite books about madness? And was there ever a world in which she ended her own book differently, saving Ella an immense amount of trauma?

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

The Leveret by Anna Goldreich

This Immaculate Body by Emma Van Straate...

Ella and Jake introduce STACK’s fairytale-themed episode, full of classic tales, retellings and modern fables, starting with a discussion of the Booker Prize shortlist and a particularly annoying clip of Mary Beard criticising the phrase ‘a love of reading’.

There’s a Shelf Help section on learning more about people’s jobs and they discuss the big publishing event of next week - a sequel to The Time Traveller’s Wife!

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine

The Bear & The Nightingal...

Jake and Ella are reading outside of their type, looking at the true crime genre: the morals, the scandal and the real-life drama of it all. They - allegedly - cover the Kennedys, recent high-profile non-fiction and how to write about a murderer properly. It’s still a fun episode, they promise–just wait until Ella’s anecdote. 

And Jake’s okay after what he talks about in the intro, we promise. 

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

London Falling - Patrick Radden Keefe

Bright Young Women - Jess...

It’s freshers week for Jake and Ella as they share their favourite campus-set novels. Whether you’re talking Uni or College, consider these books your set texts for September - educational, fun and full of mistakes.

Plus, Ella has finally read Normal People and you can hear an exclusive extract from Booker-longlisted May We Feed the King, read by the author.

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

Black Bag by Luke Kennard

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Rayburn Affair by Laurie Petrou...

Why are we so obsessed with weddings in fiction? This week Jake and Ella discuss their favourite books about nuptials. From love triangles and in-laws to hen-dos and croquembouches, these six books are guaranteed to bring the drama.

Plus, Jake has spotted a Taylor Swift inspired theme in bookshops… 

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

Ghost Wedding by David Park

Piglet by Lottie Hazell

Best Woman by Rose Dommu

People in Love by Claire Daver...

It’s payback time! Join Jake and Ella as they discuss their favourite books about revenge. Plus, Jake has a harrowing story about punctuation and Ella is seeking information on a Sheffield motorist. She just wants to talk.

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

Speech Team by Tim Murphy

Honey by Imani Thompson

We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman

The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

Better Than Revenge by Bea Fitzgerald

The Favourites by Layne Fargo

Also...

Surprise! We’ve squeezed in a super special bonus episode all about David Nicholls and his books about love.

Jake, a self-professed Nicholls head guides Ella through the options, and she picks her next read from his recommendations. Loved One Day, and wondering where else to go next? This is the episode for you.

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

The Understudy by David Nicholls

Starter For Ten by David Nicholls

One Day by David Nicholls

Us by David Nicholls

Swee...

Your favourite books podcast returns with an episode on Beach Reads. Literally.

In this episode we discuss our favourite books set on the coast - perfect for your holiday reading. We also cover the cultural highlights from the break (The Odyssey! Off Campus! Heartstopper! Yesteryear!) and go absolutely mad responding to a Shelf Help dilemma about nature writing.

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

Beach Read by Emily Henry

The Summer Boy by Philippe Besson 

Sandwich by Catherine Newman 

Private Rites by Julia Armfi...

We're back. Have you missed us? We missed you.

We're bigger, bookier and better than ever before. Now lightening up your hump days - series two lands in just two days time this Wednesday, with themes including Weddings, Revenge and Beach Reads.

Get in touch now to tell us what you've enjoyed reading over the break, or your Shelf Help dilemmas. We've missed you.

There's lots of exciting things to come. Think bonus episodes, think author interviews, think STACK. Subscribe now so you never...

It’s the season one finale and it starts with a literal bang (sorry about the noise)! In this episode we look back on our highlights from the last twelve episodes and share our favourite books about friendship because we’re incredibly sentimental. 

Plus Ella pitches a soon-to-be-published book as Ghostbusters meets It’s A Sin and it’s the crossover you didn’t know you needed!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the pod so you don’t miss our triumphant return in July…

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

Do you ever feel the need to hide from the world in a book? We do! All the time! This episode showcases our favourite books to read in turbulent times - with a generous side of caveats.

Our shelf-help segment this week includes our top recommendations for a documentary-style novel - perfect for fans of Daisy Jones and the Six! 

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

The Poetry Pharmacy by William Sieghart

We All Live Here by JoJo Moyes

Wintering by Katherine May

M...

In honour of World Book Day we’ve collected some of the most iconic reads of our childhood and hopefully yours too. Jake tries to recommend Lord of the Flies to an eleven-year-old and Ella learns that Lemony Snicket is actually a man called Daniel. 

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Northern Lights by Phillip Pulman

The Poltergoose by Michael Laurence

Holes by Louis Sachar

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Black...

We tried to put together an episode on Classics but Jake only likes the popular ones and Ella doesn't like any of them... Instead, presenting our own take on the late, the great, and the classics we hate. 

Plus, Ella has never read a Sally Rooney book.

The books featured in this week's STACK:

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

In Love With Love by Ella Risbridger

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

James by Percival Everett

Catherine by E...

Join us for an extra special bonus episode of STACK, filmed the day after Jake and Ella watched Wuthering Heights in the greatest cinema in the world.

It’s one of Jake’s favourite books, and it’s the talk of the internet, but was it any good? 

STACK with Jake and Ella is a books podcast helping you cut through the noise to fall in love - and stay in love - with reading. Each fortnight, we’ll be sharing curated lists on a theme of the books that are worth your time...

Love stories are some of our favourite stories, so this Valentines week, join us for six books to put on your stack - books of toxic first loves, the line between friendship and romance, and stories about loving yourself. It’s all in this episode, alongside Jake’s love of reformer pilates, and Ella’s love of Marian Keyes.

Plus: what to do if you buy someone a book, and they never tell you they’ve read it. Should you chase? 

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

Chosen Family - Ma...

What puts you off a book and what pulls you towards one? This episode is all about the books we thought we wouldn’t like - whether the cover, the topic, or something else - but we’re happy to tell you these are six books we actually thought were great. We deep dive into our own reading tastes and prejudices and create the Venn Diagram of Jake and Ella’s reading taste. 

Warning: there are some hot, and bad, takes in this episode!

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

8.2...

***This episode contains discussion around death and bereavement - we advise listening with caution or skipping this episode if those topics wouldn’t be right for you right now***

It’s a New Year and our first STACK of the year is here. We’re a firm believer in the power of books to change lives, but which ones specifically? We’re also virtual this episode, hot off the back of seeing Hamnet and desperate to talk about it, and we’re sharing life hacks including how to afford a New Year book haul. Plus: bao...

We’ve got our Santa hats on! This episode’s STACK is all cosy vibes for Christmas, New Year and the period in between, whatever that’s called. Jake and Ella create a stack containing crosswords, colours and predicting your own murder. Mysteries that are light on jeopardy, and won’t keep you up at night. And a listener question for the Shelf Help section takes an unexpected turn…

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

05.46 The Fellowship of Puzzle Makers - Samuel Burr

07.26 How To Solve Your Own Murder - Kri...

Ella and Jake pick six tiny books that pack a weird punch, and have fun debating whether they could handle the zombie apocalypse, whether they like to know what’s going on in a book, and a man called Bigolas Dickolas.

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

3.56 Hard Copy - Fien Veldman

6.31 This Is How You Lose The Time War - Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

11.10 Heatwave - Victor Jestin

14.23 It Lasts Forever And Then It’s Over - Anna de Marcken

19.07 Second...

Ready for your Christmas shopping? This week’s Stack covers six crowd-pleasing books to fill anybody’s stocking. Ella and Jake discuss their own Christmas lists, getting your colours done and what on earth to buy for your dad. 

The books featured in this week’s Stack:

12.14 The Poetry Pharmacy

14.17 My Friends - Fredrik Backman

16.14 Is A River Alive? - Robert Macfarlane

18.12 Death At The White Hart - Chris Chibnall

19.40 The Little Book Of Miriam - Miriam Margoyles

22.48 The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama...

This week’s STACK is all about the girls and the gays. Jake and Ella cover books that speak to their identities, others that help them to understand other perspectives and Ella reads The Lamb after Jake’s review last week.

The books featured in this week’s STACK:

04.45 Amateur - Thomas Page McBee

09.05 The Rachel Incident - Caroline O’Donoghue

12.23 Period Power - Maisie Hill

16.05 I Leave It Up To You - Jinwoo Chong

17.50  A Marvellous Light - Freya Marske

21.05 A Home At T...

Welcome to the first episode of STACK, a new fortnightly books podcast from Jake, a writer and producer, and Ella, who works in publishing.

Every week, they’ll curate a list of six brilliant books on a theme, cutting through the noise and choice of the book world to recommend the ones that are really worth your time.

This week, they’re chatting haunted houses and ghost sightings, convincing each other to give children’s books a try, read a book after having seen the film, and to give oozing haunted houses a try. 

The b...

Welcome to STACK with Jake and Ella - a books podcast cutting through the noise to help you fall in love - and stay in love - with reading. We're here to introduce the books that are worth your time with six brilliant books per episode, on a bespoke theme. STACK starts Tuesday 28th October, new episodes every fortnight.

The Stack is hosted by Jake Williams and Ella Horne.

This episode was recorded on location in Sheffield.

We are @stackpodcast on Instagram and TikTok.

Learn more...