We discover that Pamela-Skyler has a problem. She is always falling in love with the wrong type of man. Despite a wealth of choices, she finds herself attracted to the abusive type. Her current boyfriend is an abusive cheater with a tattoo who plays in a band. At this point the show gets a bit creepy, as the parallels are obvious with Pamela's real-life one-time boyfriend, the abusive Motley Crue musician, Tommy Lee. Perhaps others find the parallel funny, but this melding of horrid reality with light comedy makes me uncomfortable. I hope this Tommy Lee character disappears before the next show.
Skyler has come to the bookstore to find a book on relationships, something to help her overcome her proclivity to choose the wrong men. Stuart quickly tries to hit up on Miss Skyler, but she seems oblivious to his moves. He slyly tells her he can be found in the store "under dangerous men," to which she replies, "so can I. That's why I need the book." Oh those double entendres!
Now in real bookshops we don't break for commercials, but books and lattes don't pay the bills at "Stacked." So onto the screen comes that grotesque Burger King king. You know the one with the mask head that shows up at this poor guy's door first thing in the morning with some greasy, cholesterol-laden breakfast thing. In one episode he even climbs into bed with the confused man. Is that Michael Jackson under the costume? Maybe it's just me, but does this "king" give you the creeps almost as much as Tommy Lee does? Aren't these the same people who gave us the infamous "Herb" campaign, featuring the repulsive character who was supposedly the last person on earth with sense enough not to eat at Burger King? He ended up driving customers away. Still, not even he was as creepy as this king with the fixed smile. He'd keep me from going to Burger King even if I didn't already know what the food was like.
If this isn't bad enough, it is followed up by a commercial for Pamela Anderson's Instant Lip Solution. The same Pamela Anderson who stars in our show is suddenly seen hawking some potion to make your lips look larger. Even this lady's lips are "stacked."
After this diversion, the return to "Stacked" is actually welcome. While Pamela's reading her self-help book, in walks nerdy brother's ex-wife and two children. He wants to win her back, but she has bad news for him. She is seeing another man, a doctor, and a urologist at that (I think he was a urologist, but maybe he's a neurologist). Not to be humiliated, the brother not named Stuart pulls Skyler aside and asks her to pretend she is his girlfriend. For any of you who run a bookshop, if you asked the most gorgeous customer to ever walk through your doors to pretend she/he was your girl/boyfriend, do you think that person would oblige? Well this is not a reality show, so Skyler does. The ex-wife is horrified by Skyler's blatantly provocative behavior towards her ex-husband. The son, precocious little brat that he is, responds, "way to go, dad." This further horrifies his mother. The daughter, more rational than the rest, asks Skyler, "are you Dad's midlife crisis?"
They all leave, but ex-wife, who only wants what she cannot have, returns begging her former husband to take her back. Meanwhile Skyler's boyfriend, dressed in the image of Tommy Lee, but with one of those Crocodile Australian accents (does Tommy Lee speak this way?) appears. While the boyfriend admits to having had a sleazy affair with some other women, he protests to Skyler that, "I was only thinking about you, and another you." Think back to the title of the show to get this joke. Somehow they get rid of both the boyfriend and the ex-wife, and the show comes to an end, but not before the lovely Miss Skyler is offered a job at the store. You can sense that, to regular guy Stuart's chagrin, something is going to happen between the nerdy bookseller and Pamela Anderson's character. Dream on, all of you booksellers out there. It's not going to happen to you. This is fantasy, something like Fox News. But be sure to tune in on Thursday evening to follow the adventures of one lucky bookseller who hit the jackpot. Pamela Anderson is worth the price of admission.
Rare Book Monthly
Stacked: The Bookshop Makes It To TV!
Pamela Anderson is an author herself, penning this tale of a young lady with a life not totally unlike her own.
Rare Book Monthly
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Sotheby’s
Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone
25 June – July 7Sotheby’s, July 7: Ludwig van Beethoven. Autograph sketches for the overture "Die Weihe des Hauses", op.124, [1822], UNPUBLISHED. £150,000 to £200,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, 1813, first edition, 3 volumes, contemporary half calf. £50,000 to £70,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Walt Whitman. Leaves of Grass, Brooklyn, 1855, first edition, first issue, original green cloth, the Doheny copy. £50,000 to £70,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: Binding—Sangorski & Sutcliffe—Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat, London, 1872, third edition, in a magnificent jewelled Peacock binding. £15,000 to £20,000.Sotheby’s, July 7: George Eliot. Middlemarch, Edinburgh and London, 1871, first edition in the original parts. £20,000 to £30,000. -
Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Hassall (Joan) A large collection of over 300 original woodblocks of engravings for various books, v.d., with Hassall's engraver's glass water-globe (Qty) - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 9: Eragny Press.- [Bradley (Katherine Harris) & Edith Emma Cooper], "Michael Field." Whym Chow, Flame of Love, one of only 27 copies, inscribed by Bradley, the rarest book from the press, 1914. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum, July 9: [Moore (Thomas Sturge)] [Wood Engravings], 71 wood-engravings printed by David Chambers from the original blocks, the only set on Japanese Hosho paper, from an edition of 5 sets, [1970]. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: La Fontaine (Jean de) Contes et Nouvelles en vers, 2 vol., engraved plates after Eisen, fine early 19th century blue morocco, gilt, by Bradel l'ainé, Amsterdam [Paris], 1762. - Est. £2,000-3,000Forum, July 9: Erotica.- Prostitution.- Pretty Women of Paris (The); Their Names and Addresses, Qualities and Faults..., [Paris], privately printed at the Press of the Prefecture de Police, 1883. - Est. £3,000-4,000Forum, July 9: Vale Press.- Ricketts (Charles) & Lucien Pissarro. De la Typographie et de l'Harmonie de la Page Imprimée…, [one of 216 copies], bound in dark blue morocco tooled in gilt, by Sarah T.Prideaux, 1898. - Est. £1,000-1,500Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Martin (John) Illustrations of the Bible, complete set of 20 mezzotints, good impressions, rarely found in early states, [c.1831-1835]. - Est. £1,000-1,500Forum, July 9: Golden Cockerel Press.- Four Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ (The), one of 500 copies, Mary Gill's copy, Waltham St. Lawrence, 1931 with a signed proof of engraving on japon numbered 10/10 (2) - Est. £5,000-7,000Forum, July 9: Boccaccio (Giovanni) The Decameron, 3 vol., vol.1 extra-illustrated by John Buckland Wright with c.150 erotic original drawings in pen & ink and pencil, 1886 [extra-illustrated c.1940]. - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum Auctions
The Private Library:
Fine Printing & Private Press books, the collection of the late David Chambers
July 9, 2026Forum, July 9: Cox (Morris) Collection of Gogmagog Press Books, 35 vol., rare complete collection of printed books issued by the press, limited editions, most signed by Cox, 1957-83. - Est. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 9: Wynkyn de Worde.- [Terentius Afer (Publius)] [Comedie...], [Paris, Josse Badius: sold in London by Wynkyn de Worde, & others], [15 July 1504]. - Est. £4,000-6,000Forum, July 9: Mosley (James) Ornamented Types. Twenty-Three Alphabets from the Foundry of Louis John Pouchée, 2 vol., one of 10 copies for presentation, from an edition of 210, 1992-93. - Est. £1,000-2,000 -
Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Inundation papyrus. P.Michael 4, the ‘Inundation papyrus’, a geographical account of the Nile near Canopus, in Greek, remains of two columns from a manuscript scroll on papyrus, Egypt, second century CE. £12,000-18,000Forum, July 16: Book of Hours, use of Sarum, manuscript on vellum, 6 full-page miniatures, with famous Middle English inscriptions, Southern Netherlands for the English market, [c.1430]. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Qu'ran, Arabic manuscript on burnished, stencilled, and gold-flecked paper, 447ff., Sultanate Gujarat, Ahmadabad, [after 1411 but no later than 1442]. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Turner (William). A New boke of the natures and properties of all wines that are commonly vsed here in England, rare first edition of the first English book on wine, By William Seres, 1568. £20,000-£30,000Forum, July 16: Spenser (Edmund). The Faerie Queene. first edition, Printed [by John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, 1590. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Shakespeare (William). The Comedie of Errors, extracted from the first folio, Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, 1623. £15,000-20,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Fleming (Ian). Casino Royale, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1953. £40,000-60,000Forum, July 16: d'Agoty (Jacques-Fabien Gautier). Anatomie de la Tête, first edition, Paris, chez le Sieur Gautier, 1748. £10,000-15,000Forum, July 16: Martial Arts.- Lee (Bruce). 'Praying Mantis style' Kung Fu book, containing numerous annotations, diagrams and graphs in Bruce Lee's hand, c. 1960. £50,000-70,000Forum Auctions
The 10th Anniversary Sale
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
July 16, 2026Forum, July 16: Warre (Capt. Henry James). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory, first edition, rare hand-coloured issue, 1848. £30,000-40,000Forum, July 16: Norie (John William). The Marine Atlas, or Seaman's Complete Pilot for all the principal places in the known world..., 1826. £30,000-50,000Forum, July 16: Mao Tse-tung.- Kim Il-sung.-[Note book for visitors from China to Korea], signed by Mao and Kim, [Beijing, 1954]. £10,000-15,000