Today’s conversation, if nothing else, was made just for me—and I hope many of you, as well. Two of my favorite subjects to read about are the British royal family and U.S. presidents, and those two subject matters meet today thanks to David Charter, author of Royal Audience: 70 Years, 13 Presidents, One Queen’s Special Relationship with America , out March 5. In the book David zooms in on one facet of the Special Relationship between the U.K. and the U.S.—the relationship of the late Queen Eliz...
Mar 04, 2024•52 min•Season 10Ep. 12
Today on the show, we’re talking about loneliness. Now, before you switch off this episode and head off to what you might consider greener pastures, let me reframe loneliness for you: it can actually have an upside. Today’s guest Charlotte Donlon writes, in her book The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other, “Everyone knows loneliness. Some may experience it more often. Some may find relief from it more quickly. Some may deny or avoid it. But I don’t think any of us escapes its ...
Feb 29, 2024•47 min•Season 10Ep. 11
One of my personal favorite subjects to study is First Ladies—I am completely compelled by these women, regardless of party affiliation, and I’ve read just about every book on them as a group, as well as many individual biographies of these dynamic women. Today on the show I have with me Katie Rogers, White House correspondent for The New York Times , to discuss her first book, the fantastic American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden , which i...
Feb 25, 2024•42 min•Season 10Ep. 10
We’ve got yet another first on the show today—our very first cookbook author! Yes, this is a cookbook, filled with delicious recipes and mouthwatering food photos, but this is a cookbook with a twist. It is part cookbook and part memoir of its author, renowned chef Missy Robbins. It really is as much about self discovery as it is about food, and that’s what makes it extra compelling. Missy actually has two books, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner…Life: Recipes and Adventures from My Home Kitchen , and Pa...
Feb 24, 2024•41 min•Season 10Ep. 9
Yet another pinch me moment this week—today on the show we have Audrey Hepburn’s son, Luca Dotti, and Meghan Friedlander, who together wrote the beautiful and compelling book Audrey Hepburn in Paris . Meghan is the curator of the popular Audrey fan site Rare Audrey Hepburn, and Luca? Well, he knew Audrey better than almost any human being can say. I am a huge Audrey Hepburn fan, so the thought of spending time with one of her two sons is unbelievable to me. The book also includes a foreward by G...
Feb 22, 2024•50 min•Season 10Ep. 8
Surprise! Today is a special fiction pick day, and I have one of the most popular writers of fiction on the market today: New York Times bestselling author Katharine McGee, author of the wildly beloved American Royals series. The four-part series debuted in 2019 and wrapped in 2023, and asks the compelling question “What if America had a royal family? What if, instead of becoming president, George Washington became king instead?” As a royals editor, royal podcast co-host, and general royal obses...
Feb 20, 2024•33 min•Season 10Ep. 7
Life is full of pinch me moments, and this certainly is one: talking to the Savannah Guthrie about our shared faith in God. All glory to God for this conversation! The public facing Savannah is the co-anchor of Today on NBC, a position she’s held for nearly 12 years, since July 2012. She’s a former attorney turned NBC News professional who, in addition to her Today responsibilities, is an NBC News anchor, a substitute anchor on NBC Nightly News , and, since 2012, she’s hosted the Macy’s Thanksgi...
Feb 19, 2024•28 min•Season 10Ep. 6
Today’s episode is a tough one—but it is also such a beautiful one. I want to insert a trigger warning here: my guest and I will be discussing the loss of a child to stillbirth today, so if you are grieving any type of pregnancy loss (or any type of loss, period) this conversation may be upsetting to you. Please take care of yourself and return to the conversation when you can. This is an absolutely beautiful, powerful conversation with a dear friend of mine, Vera Chapman, who is also the first ...
Feb 15, 2024•49 min•Season 10Ep. 5
I first became familiar with the dynamic Jennie Allen in the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when my Bible study group did a study on Jennie’s book Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts , which is a book worth reading anytime, but especially in the summer of 2020. Now she’s back with a new book called Untangle Your Emotions: Naming What You Feel and Knowing What to Do About It , which is out February 13. As you’ll hear Jennie and I discuss , Untangle Your Emotions i...
Feb 13, 2024•27 min•Season 10Ep. 4
Today on the show we have the remarkable Patti Davis, daughter of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan. Patti’s new book, Dear Mom and Dad: A Letter About Family, Memory, and the America We Once Knew is a book, in Patti’s own words, about acceptance, forgiveness, and moving on from the past, a book that—though Patti’s parents were much more famous than most, even before her father entered politics—anyone can relate to. There’s not a person among us who hasn’t at one point or ...
Feb 08, 2024•39 min•Season 10Ep. 3
I am so pleased to have Dr. Caroline Leaf on the show today to impart knowledge from her 30-year career as an applied neuroscientist. I originally intended to do a career retrospective on Dr. Leaf’s many books, but quickly realized that if I did that, this would become an hours and hours long episode. So I decided to choose one of her books, Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking , to zoom in on for our conversation today...
Feb 06, 2024•40 min•Season 10Ep. 2
Welcome one, welcome all to season 10 of I’d Rather Be Reading! As ever, I’m so happy to have you here and a part of this community—don’t forget to reach out if you ever want to chat books at helloidratherbereading@gmail.com . For our season opener today, we have the fantastic Julie Menanno, who is a licensed marriage and family therapist, an expert couple’s therapist, and the person behind the popular Instagram account @TheSecureRelationship, which has over 1 million followers. I have long been...
Feb 01, 2024•52 min•Season 10Ep. 1
For our season nine finale I have a legendary journalist, Laurence Leamer, here to talk about his book Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era , which is the basis for the new Ryan Murphy show on FX, Feud: Capote vs. the Swans . (I loved the first iteration of Feud —about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford—and I love everything Ryan Murphy does.) The show has a cast as deep as any ocean: Naomi Watts. Diane Lane. Demi Moore. Calista Flockhart. Chloe Sevigny. Molly Ri...
Jan 25, 2024•41 min•Season 9Ep. 24
No matter if you are a parent or not, this conversation is for you—after all, we all have parents, right? Today’s guest is Dr. Aliza Pressman, a Dartmouth and Columbia-educated developmental psychologist whose new book The 5 Principles of Parenting: Your Essential Guide to Raising Good Humans is out January 23. In today’s conversation we discuss her five principles, all of which begin with R: relationships, reflection, regulation, rules, and repair, all leading to the sixth R, which is resilienc...
Jan 22, 2024•33 min•Season 9Ep. 23
Hi friends! If you didn’t know, I am the Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor at Marie Claire magazine, and as of this month I am in charge of our monthly virtual book club, #ReadwithMC. Seeing as though we already read together here on I’d Rather Be Reading, why not read on #ReadwithMC, too? It is my hope to grow this book club on par with some of my favorite book clubs, like those from Jenna Bush Hager, Reese Witherspoon, Queen Camilla, and Oprah Winfrey. (Now, look. I’m never going to be Oprah....
Jan 18, 2024•9 min•Season 9Ep. 22
To say that having Kate Bowler here today is an honor is something I don’t say lightly. Kate is so gentle, soothing, and easy to open up to that I cry at the end of this episode; her new book of daily devotions, Have a Beautiful, Terrible Day!: Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs, and In Betweens, will bring out emotions in you, as well. I appreciate everything about this conversation, but especially Kate confirming that faith and fear can and do coexist, and that it is okay. Kate is a three-ti...
Jan 18, 2024•33 min•Season 9Ep. 21
For episode two of two of our bonus Mean Girls content, we’ve got Rosalind Wiseman on the show today, whose 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World was the basis for Tina Fey’s screenplay for the original 2004 Mean Girls film. This book—which is currently undergoing its third revision—is the go-to manual for being a teenage girl and raising a teenage girl. This isn’t Rosalind’s only book—she has written nin...
Jan 17, 2024•34 min•Season 9Ep. 20
The godfather of emotional intelligence is on the show today! Dr. Daniel Goleman’s groundbreaking bestseller Emotional Intelligence was released nearly 30 years ago; I studied Dr. Goleman’s work in college (and I have been out of college for, unfortunately, many, many years). Emotional intelligence is the key to success in leadership and life, and in his latest book Optimal: How to Sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence Every Day , Dr. Goleman teaches us how to reach peak performance thr...
Jan 15, 2024•20 min•Season 9Ep. 18
Surprise! I’m here with a bonus episode today celebrating the pop culture juggernaut that is Mean Girls , in honor of the release of the musical film yesterday. To talk about Mean Girls —yes, the 2024 film, but also the 2004 original film and the Broadway musical, which debuted in 2018—I have Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, who has actually been on the show before. She joined me in late 2021 to chat about Sex and the City and she’s back today to talk about another pop culture phenomenon we both love...
Jan 13, 2024•54 min•Season 9Ep. 18
If I told you that today’s episode—the eighth and final in our January Wellness Series—could help you stop anxiety, burnout, and fatigue before they even start, I know your ears would perk up. Dr. Linnea Passaler is working to do just that—shift from reactive treatment to proactive healing—for nervous system dysregulation, which is so often not spoken about but can contribute to a number of problems both mentally and physically. She has written a five-stage plan in her new book Heal Your Nervous...
Jan 11, 2024•33 min•Season 9Ep. 17
For the only throwback pick of the January Wellness Series, I present to you the fabulous Dr. Samantha Boardman, who is talking to us today about vitality. Let’s be honest: do you ever think about vitality, let alone in your day-to-day life? If I put you on the spot and quizzed you, could you even totally define what vitality means? Today we not only define it but help you understand that vitality is a verb and have practical steps for how to implement it in your daily life. We also talk about b...
Jan 10, 2024•35 min•Season 9Ep. 16
This might shock you (or maybe it won’t) but 75 percent of Americans don’t get the federally recommended weekly minimum of 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise (or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise), let alone the recommended two days of full body strength training. When we think about getting healthier, we often think about nutrition, as we should—but exercise is a critical part of the equation, too. Our guest today, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, puts forth in her new book Forever Strong: A New Scien...
Jan 09, 2024•28 min•Season 9Ep. 15
As our January Wellness Series continues, today we are speaking to the dynamic Neal Allen about taming our inner critic. We all have one, and it’s called the superego; the superego was developed in our respective childhoods as a survival mechanism, but as adults, we no longer need it for protection—but for so many of us, its presence in our lives is cumbersome at best and extremely damaging at its worst. The good news? Our inner critic can be quieted, allowing us to live our best lives. Neal tea...
Jan 08, 2024•37 min•Season 9Ep. 14
What if I told you that it was possible to control anxiety, ADHD, OCD, depression, and more by what you eat (or don’t eat)? That it was completely possible to calm your mind with food? That’s what today’s episode is all about, and we’re talking to Harvard nutritional psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo about the “powerful medicine of food,” looking at a groundbreaking, full-body approach to mental health, how we can enhance our overall mental wellbeing through what we eat, and how our daily food choices...
Jan 04, 2024•34 min•Season 9Ep. 13
For today’s January Wellness Series conversation, we’re back to mental and emotional wellness, specifically this relatable topic: caring too much about what others think of you. Our guest today, Dr. Michael Gervais, calls caring too much about other people’s opinions “the single greatest constrictor of human potential,” and introduces the concept of “FOPO” (fear of other people’s opinions), assessing that it is a human epidemic in our society. (I know it has impacted my life personally in spades...
Jan 03, 2024•46 min•Season 9Ep. 12
As our January Wellness Series rolls on, today we switch from mental and emotional wellness to physical wellness. Aging is a good thing—hey, it certainly beats the alternative, right?—but I’d venture to guess that all of us want to continue to grow older without looking or feeling older. Today’s guest, Dr. Anthony Youn, teaches us how to do just that, looking at environmental and lifestyle factors to turn back and freeze the clock. What we eat, how much we sleep, and our skincare routines allow ...
Jan 02, 2024•41 min•Season 9Ep. 11
Welcome to 2024, and welcome to our January Wellness Series! We are alternating episodes about mental and emotional wellness (like this one) and physical wellness, and I am thrilled to kickstart this series with perhaps my favorite book of 2023: How to Be the Love You Seek: Break Cycles, Find Peace, and Heal Your Relationships by Dr. Nicole LePera. In the book, Dr. LePera gives the simple but profound advice “You already are the love you seek.” Before we go seeking love (many of us in all the wr...
Jan 01, 2024•45 min•Season 9Ep. 10
My annual best books episode with the dynamic Carla Jean Whitley never disappoints! Below are her picks, in order. Happy reading! The Best Books She’s Read This Year: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (Fiction) Arrangements in Blue: Notes on Loving and Living Alone by Amy Key (Nonfiction) Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Fiction) The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth by Elizabeth Rush (Nonfiction, and her No. 1 pick of 2023!) Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (Fi...
Dec 31, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 9Ep. 9
Today on the show we have a career retrospective episode with journalist Nancy Jo Sales, who walks us through her career writing for the likes of Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar , and more. Nancy Jo is a New York Times bestselling author, and we also discuss her three books: The Bling Ring: How a Gang of Fame-Obsessed Teens Ripped Off Hollywood and Shocked the World (which was made into a movie directed by Sofia Coppola), American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teena...
Dec 28, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Season 9Ep. 8
Simply put? Today’s guest, Aurora James, is a force . I have no idea what hidden stash of hours she has to do all that she does in a day, a week, a month, a year—but she is changing the world. One of my favorite books of 2023 was her memoir, Wildflower , and I’m not alone—it was praised globally for its vulnerability and candidness. Aurora contains multitudes: in addition to being an author, she is the founder and designer behind Brother Vellies, a Black-owned and female-led lifestyle and access...
Dec 26, 2023•45 min•Season 9Ep. 7
