When it comes to women I find totally compelling, Elizabeth Taylor tops the list for me. Why, you may ask? Well, her Academy Award-winning career and her talent onscreen, for starters. Her beauty, specifically her violet eyes. Her work with AIDS, and her White Diamonds perfume. And, yes, her lifestyle, specifically her eight marriages. But there’s only one man she married twice, and that love story, the love story between Elizabeth and Richard Burton, is what we’re talking about on the show toda...
May 08, 2024•40 min•Season 11Ep. 15
I have two surprise, special episodes for you this week, including today’s chat with none other than Jen Psaki ! Yes, that’s right, the Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary and current TV host extraordinaire. Jen has a new book out today, May 7, called Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World , and I loved it. It’s a memoir of her time as White House press secretary but also a how to book on how to be a more successful communicator. I learned so much in the book—n...
May 07, 2024•26 min•Season 11Ep. 14
We’re continuing to add to your beach read pile today with another fiction pick I couldn’t get enough of: Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews, which is out May 7. Mary Kay is so talented at making the setting or the place of her books as a character in the novel, and she certainly does that in this latest book with “the Saint,” a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia. Traditions run deep here, but scandals run even deeper. “The Saint” is shorthand for the St. Cecelia, and if you grew up co...
May 06, 2024•28 min•Season 11Ep. 13
Hi listeners! I have a very exciting announcement today—our episode today marks our 200th episode! Most podcasts don’t make it to 100 episodes, and to make it to 200 is a milestone I am so, so proud of and thrilled to achieve. All of you know that I’d Rather Be Reading is my absolute passion project and to have spent 200 episodes with you is an honor I don’t take lightly. I am raising a glass to all we’ve done here on the show and all that we will do. As we continue to grow and expand, our focus...
May 02, 2024•31 min•Season 11Ep. 12
In his latest book The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War , Erik Larson—who I think is one of the best if not the best historical nonfiction writers there is—takes us back to the beginnings of the Civil War. In 1860, we see Abraham Lincoln elected president that November 6; Lincoln’s own reaction to his election is “God help me. God help me.” Just five months later, it’s April 12, 1861, a Friday; Larson writes that that day was destined to be ...
Apr 30, 2024•25 min•Season 11Ep. 11
Hi listeners—in our conversation today, we will be discussing suicide. If you or someone you know needs mental health help, please text STRENGTH to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or visit crisistextline.org to be connected to a certified crisis counselor. You are not alone. On the morning of Sunday, January 30, 2022, April Simpkins woke to a text from her daughter Cheslie Kryst that read “First, I’m sorry. By the time you get this, I won’t be alive anymore, and it makes me even more sad to write...
Apr 28, 2024•41 min•Season 11Ep. 10
In her book The Twentysomething Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age , clinical psychologist Dr. Meg Jay writes of the 75 million adults between the ages of 18 and 35 that most of them “are living through the most uncertain years they will ever know.” She continues, perhaps contrary to popular belief, that young adults are far from problem free; she writes in the book, which came out April 9, that today’s young workers will have, on average, nine different jobs by the age of 35...
Apr 26, 2024•37 min•Season 11Ep. 9
One of the buzziest films of the month is Netflix’s new movie Scoop starring Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell—it came out April 5 and is about the BBC’s process of securing Prince Andrew to appear on its program Newsnight , which he ultimately did in November 2019. This interview, which largely touched on his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, ended Andrew’s career as a working royal; his interview with Emily Maitlis aired on a Saturday, and by that next Wednesday, he resi...
Apr 24, 2024•34 min•Season 11Ep. 8
Last week, on April 18 and 19, the woman formerly known as Grace Kelly and, after marriage, Princess Grace of Monaco, would have marked 68 years of marriage to Prince Rainier III, had either lived to see it. Grace died at just 52 years old from injuries sustained in a car accident in 1982; Rainier died in 2005, 23 years later. Born in Philadelphia, Grace had just won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Country Girl when she met Rainier in April 1955. It all started as a publicity gimmick ...
Apr 22, 2024•43 min•Season 11Ep. 7
There are no two ways around this fact: today’s conversation is tough. It’s really, really tough. Today, April 20, 2024, marks 25 years since the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado. I woke up this morning and read an article in People magazine about Frank DeAngelis, who was the principal at Columbine at the time of the shooting. In the article, DeAngelis said that every single morning, he wakes up and says the names of those killed in that day’s horrible events. He said he alm...
Apr 20, 2024•1 hr 43 min•Season 11Ep. 6
On April 19, 1995—29 years ago tomorrow—at 9:02 a.m., a fertilizer truck bomb exploded outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, an act of domestic terrorism perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Fueled by anti-government sentiment—and specifically angered by the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, Ruby Ridge in 1992, and the Waco siege exactly two years to the day earlier in 1993—the blast killed 168 and injured 680. Prior to September 11, 2001, the bombi...
Apr 18, 2024•34 min•Season 11Ep. 5
On April 15, 1912, the RMS Titanic—a British ocean liner operated by the White Star Line—sank in the North Atlantic Ocean after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City. The loss of life was devastating—of the 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, about 1,500 died, making the Titanic the deadliest sinking of a single ship up to that time, 112 years ago. Titanic had aboard her some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as hundreds of immigrants...
Apr 14, 2024•54 min•Season 11Ep. 4
Welcome to this special fiction episode of I’d Rather Be Reading—specifically part two in my latest fiction subgenre obsession: royal family fiction. We’ve already had Katharine McGee on the show of the four-part American Royals series, and we will later have the writing duo behind The Royal We and The Heir Affair ; today we have the writing duo behind The Royal Game , my latest royal family fiction favorite. (I’d also throw Red, White, and Royal Blue onto this list, as well.) It is a subgenre t...
Apr 12, 2024•42 min•Season 11Ep. 3
When it comes to fashion journalists, the crème de la crème is my guest today, Teri Agins. Today’s episode is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Teri’s book Hijacking the Runway: How Celebrities Are Stealing the Spotlight from Fashion Designers , which speaks to how celebrity interfaces with fashion and how fashion interfaces with celebrity. There used to be a delineation between fashion designers and fashion and supermodels on the one hand, and then celebrities, like actors and actresses an...
Apr 10, 2024•47 min•Season 11Ep. 2
Welcome to season 11 of I’d Rather Be Reading! This season we will, of course, continue to cover the latest and greatest nonfiction books, but we’re also going to focus on many events that gripped the nation past and present—like the O.J. Simpson murders (which happened 30 years ago this June), the Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine (which happened 25 years ago this month), and JFK Jr.’s plane crash, which is marking its twenty-fifth anniversary this year. Today on the show we’re digging into a tr...
Apr 08, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 11Ep. 1
Welcome to the season 10 finale, friends! What a great season it has been, with so much more in store in the forthcoming season 11. Today on the show we’re talking about a topic close to my heart as I look to undertake this project this year: getting signed to a literary agent and getting signed to a book deal. I realize this is a podcast for readers, but I also realize that many of you are writers, and maybe you’ve been feeling the nudge too to write that book, whether fiction or nonfiction, th...
Apr 01, 2024•38 min•Season 10Ep. 26
There is no better person to close out March and Women’s History Month on I’d Rather Be Reading than Sarah Ditum, author of the new book Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s , which came out on January 23. Through the lens of nine of the biggest female celebrities of the 2000s—Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Kim Kardashian, Chyna (the professional wrestler), and Jennifer Aniston, Sarah’s book and this conversation takes a look back at how,...
Mar 29, 2024•55 min•Season 10Ep. 25
Well, we started our Women in Power series for Women’s History Month with a legendary editor-in-chief and we’re going to end the series with one, too. Today on the show I have Kate Betts, former editor-in-chief at Harper’s Bazaar , a longtime colleague of Anna Wintour’s at Vogue , and the author of one of my all-time favorite memoirs, My Paris Dream: An Education in Style, Slang, and Seduction in the Great City on the Seine . In addition to My Paris Dream, Kate also wrote the book Everyday Icon:...
Mar 28, 2024•37 min•Season 10Ep. 24
I have with me the remarkable Kaitlin Menza, another contemporary of mine who has just done so much, it’s baffling. Kaitlin is another journalist whose byline has literally been everywhere you can think of: The Cut. InStyle. Conde Nast Traveler. Elle. Town & Country. Vogue. Marie Claire. Esquire. Business of Home. Rolling Stone. The Hollywood Reporter. Architectural Digest. Cosmopolitan. The New York Times. The Guardian. Time. Vanity Fair. Popular Mechanics. Have to say, I wasn’t expecting t...
Mar 24, 2024•43 min•Season 10Ep. 23
How often is it that you write an essay so oft-quoted and ubiquitous that you define an entire generation by a single color? Today’s guest, Veronique Hyland, did just that, but what could perhaps be called her signature piece isn’t all that she has to offer—and not even close. She is fashion features director at Elle and is also the author of the fantastic 2022 book Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink . Dress Code is an essay collection centered around the fashion ...
Mar 21, 2024•28 min•Season 10Ep. 22
My two main niches in both my life and my work are books (but you already knew that) and the royal family. You may not know this about me—or maybe you do—but my main specialty coverage area in my work is the royals, and boy, has it been one hell of a ride in the British royal family this year, especially with one Kate Middleton as of late. One of the best royal correspondents in the game is our guest today, Vanity Fair ’s Erin Vanderhoof, who is deeply talented and someone I consider to be the g...
Mar 20, 2024•52 min•Season 10Ep. 21
I know we are still in the thick of March and Women’s History Month and that our Women in Power series has introduced (or reintroduced) you to some phenomenal female writers, but I wanted to take a moment and pay homage to some of my favorite male writers too, because I have many. You can’t go wrong with any of these picks, and I’ll link them all below. Women are worthy of being celebrated, but so are men—and good books are always worthy of being celebrated. I hope you are enjoying the Women in ...
Mar 20, 2024•5 min•Season 10Ep. 21
When InStyle’s cover for “The Confidence Issue” came out, I tore through Mattie Kahn’s cover profile on Sharon Stone. Listeners, this is a fantastic article, but when it comes to Mattie Kahn’s writing, that’s just what one comes to expect when it comes to her. Mattie is one of the most published writers today, and after working full-time at outlets like Elle and Glamour, she’s now a full-time freelance writer and has written for literally every publication you can dream of: Vogue , The New York ...
Mar 19, 2024•38 min•Season 10Ep. 20
Our Women in Power series for Women’s History Month rolls on—today’s guest is Lesley Jane Seymour, who has been editor-in-chief of four different magazines, something that is just not done. That is legends only stuff right there. I feel extra connected to her because she was editor-in-chief of Marie Claire , the magazine where I now work, from 2001 to 2006. She was also editor-in-chief of Redbook, YM, and More, and before taking on her role as an editor-in-chief worked at Women’s Wear Daily, Vog...
Mar 18, 2024•54 min•Season 10Ep. 19
We are going to close this week with such a fun conversation with one of my favorite writers and editors, the spectacular Andrea Lavinthal! Andrea is People magazine’s style and beauty director, which is just as wide of a swath as you think it would be. Andrea has 20 years’ experience as a writer, editor, and content creator, and she has been with People specifically since 2012. In her role, she regularly appears on shows like Today, Good Morning America, and Access, as well as podcasts and radi...
Mar 14, 2024•34 min•Season 10Ep. 18
Continuing our Women in Power series for Women’s History Month, today I’m bringing you the absolutely fabulous Danielle Pergament, whose work as a contributing editor at Allure , as well as with The New York Times , Goop, Conde Nast Traveler, Women’s Wear Daily, and my new obsession, Air Mail , have been some of the best celebrity profiles and travel writing you’ll read. Here is but a sampling of the A-list women Danielle has interviewed and profiled: every Jennifer possible, first of all—Jennif...
Mar 13, 2024•39 min•Season 10Ep. 17
Admittedly, I don’t read a ton of fiction, but one fictional character I deeply enjoy is that of Jordan Manning, born from the mind of Tamron Hall, one of my favorite journalists. Tamron dipped her toe into writing novels with the publication of her debut work of fiction, As the Wicked Watch, back in October 2021. Now, today, March 12, book two in the Jordan Manning series is out, and it’s a great sophomore effort: Watch Where They Hide, another delicious hit of crime fiction. By the way, Tamron...
Mar 12, 2024•32 min•Season 10Ep. 16
In addition to Friday being International Women’s Day, March is Women’s History Month, and that seemed the perfect time to have this series I’ve been concocting in my brain for a while called Women in Power. I am so proud and happy to share my conversations with you! Also, at the end of each episode in this series, I’ll be sharing three books by three female writers whose collections I love, so stick around after the interview for that. Our first guest in the Women in Power series is a legend in...
Mar 11, 2024•39 min•Season 10Ep. 15
Have you ever met someone, and you just instantly knew they were someone you wanted to get to know? That’s how I felt when I met today’s guest, Lisa Mayer, the cofounder and CEO of Boss Beauties and the author of Boss Beauty: Inspiration to Be Everything You Want , which is out this upcoming Tuesday, March 12. Boss Beauties is a media and entertainment brand that inspires and elevates the next generation of women and girls, and the book, Boss Beauty , is, first of all, incredibly enjoyable to lo...
Mar 08, 2024•40 min•Season 10Ep. 14
I’m so pleased to share with you a special bonus episode discussing the Oscars, which are quickly approaching this Sunday, March 10. The Academy Awards are the culmination of awards season, and there’s so much to discuss when it comes to this year’s ceremony. Will Oppenheimer sweep the awards, as is predicted? Why wasn’t Barbie ’s star Margot Robbie nominated for Best Actress, or its director, Greta Gerwig, nominated for Best Director? Will Lily Gladstone of Killers of the Flower Moon make histo...
Mar 06, 2024•25 min•Season 10Ep. 13
