I'd Rather Be Reading (I'd Rather Be Reading)

The twenty-first anniversary of September 11, 2001 is this week -- may we never forget the sacrifices made.

Five Floors Up: The Heroic Family Story of Four Generations in the FDNY by Brian McDonald

Who knew that a text about blueberries could nearly end a marriage? Eve Rodsky received a text from her husband, Seth, asking why she didn’t pick up blueberries at the store—and it sparked a movement that has saved countless marriages and made women’s time and the value of it a topic in the forefront of conversation. A Harvard-educated lawyer, Eve is the author of two of my favorite books: Fair Play: A Game Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) and Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too Busy World. Both books, at their core, are about time: in Fair Play, how to create a more equitable division of labor within a household, and in Find Your Unicorn Space, how to create—period. Creativity, as Eve argues, is not optional—it is essential, and makes us more interested and interesting. This is an interview I’ve wanted to have for years and am so thankful to have made it happen, hence its release on Thanksgiving. Both books are essential to modern womanhood (and personhood, really), and are groundbreaking in their respective approaches. Two must reads, and a must listen.

Fair Play: A Game Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) by Eve Rodsky

Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life In a Too Busy World by Eve Rodsky

If you’ve been a longtime listener to the show, you know I love to have conversations about faith, and I’ve got two back-to-back ones for you listeners this weekend. Today on the show we have the absolutely lovely Demi-Leigh Tebow, who you might know as Miss Universe 2017. Back then, she was Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters, before she married famous quarterback Tim Tebow in 2020. Demi-Leigh is the founder of The Tebow Group, an entrepreneur, a keynote speaker, and an influencer who was crowned both Miss South Africa and Miss Universe. Demi-Leigh is also a voice for the voiceless for victims of human trafficking, and is now an author, with the release on Tuesday of A Crown That Lasts: You Are Not Your Label. The book’s title pays tribute to her Miss Universe crown, and Demi-Leigh writes candidly and vulnerably in the book about how she lost her identity—lost herself, really—in being Miss Universe. Now, as I tell Demi-Leigh in this episode, not every one of us is going to be Miss Universe, but so many of us lose ourselves in our own titles—wife. Mother. Daughter. Insert your career here. But what matters is not only who are, but whose we are. This book showcases Demi-Leigh’s journey to, as she put it, untangle her identity from her label, and to find confidence in a crown that lasts, not one that is temporary. The book tells her story and also helps us continue to craft our own story; it’s filled with such rich advice and such heartfelt reflection. As obviously beautiful as Demi-Leigh is on the outside, it compares not to the inner beauty she possesses in spades. Take a listen to our powerful conversation.

A Crown That Lasts: You Are Not Your Label by Demi-Leigh Tebow

I went to the library recently and checked out so many books on self-help and self-improvement. It’s really dawning on me that, in just a few days’ time, I’ll have a new name and, while I’ll always be the same person, I am looking at it as a fresh start of sorts. One of the books I checked out was Caroline Adams Miller’s 2009 book Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide, and I enjoyed it so much that I reached out to her to chat about it. Well, wouldn’t you know it, that same month Caroline had a new book coming out — and so today we are talking about both of these books! Caroline’s new book is called Big Goals: The Science of Setting Them, Achieving Them, and Creating Your Best Life, which came out November 27. I found Caroline, both in her books and in this conversation, to be a wealth of knowledge. In Caroline’s groundbreaking Big Goals, we learn about Goal Setting Theory and about goal setting practices for personal and professional goals that will ensure that we make all of our goals a reality. Caroline spent over 15 years researching this book, and it’s packed with data. It connects beautifully with Creating Your Best Life, her 2009 book, which we also speak about today. Caroline is a pioneer in the areas of the science of goal setting, happiness, success, and grit. Creating Your Best Life was the first mass-market book on goal accomplishment that included evidence-based research, and it also connected the science of success with the science of happiness for the first time. It is so popular that it was re-released in 2021. Caroline also wrote many other books, including Getting Grit in 2017, and she is a keynote speaker who has worked with clients like Morgan Stanley, lululemon, Harvard Law School, and many others. Caroline has taught as part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School Executive Education program and has also taught in NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and the University of Texas-Dallas School of Management. A graduate of Penn and Harvard, she’s been featured in hundreds of magazines, newspapers, and other media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, NBC, NPR, and CNN. She’s also a top-ranked Masters Swimmer and even has a black belt in martial arts. She’s clearly pretty good at this whole goal setting thing. We’ve got much to learn from her.

Creating Your Best Life: The Ultimate Life List Guide by Caroline Adams Miller

Big Goals: The Science of Setting Them, Achieving Them, and Creating Your Best Life by Caroline Adams Miller

There are so many details when it comes to planning a wedding: what dress code will your guests wear? How about the flowers? Should you get a photographer, a videographer, or both? What do you want your wedding theme to be? (I honestly didn’t even know there was such a thing.) There are so many details to planning a wedding that it can be enormously overwhelming, but it will be decidedly less so with my guest today’s new book. Terri Pous had only been on one date with her now fiancé when she started writing How to Plan a Wedding: A Month-by-Month Guide for Modern Weddings, and now, of course, they’re deep in planning a wedding of their own—and through this book, Terri wrote her own guide to making wedding planning easier, she just didn’t know it at the time. Isn’t life beautiful? Terri’s book covers everything you can think of about wedding planning and some aspects of it that you wouldn’t even know to think of, and our conversation covers a pretty wide swath as well. Some of you know you will be planning a 2024 wedding; some of you are about to get engaged over the holidays and start wedding planning yourself, you just don’t know it yet! I know you will really enjoy this conversation, and I promise you will learn something.

How to Plan a Wedding: A Month-by-Month Guide for Modern Weddings by Terri Pous

Talk about feeling seen—when I read Alicia Menendez’s book The Likeability Trap: How to Break Free and Succeed As You Are four years ago, I thought, “Finally. Someone gets me.” And, listeners, I believe you will feel seen too through this conversation, though I wish that wasn’t so. So often women in particular have to choose between being successful and likeable. Why is it so difficult to like a successful woman? And why do we care if we are liked at all? We dig into everything in this Throwback Pick conversation—one of many this season.

The Likeability Trap: How to Break Free and Succeed As You Are by Alicia Menendez

I know many of you — myself included — are thinking about what we want out of 2025, and with that reflection drumming up some New Year’s resolutions. As we do so, I thought it would be helpful to bring in the habit expert herself, the one and only Wendy Wood, to close season 14 and to close 2024. Whatever type of year you had — a great one, or a not so great one — a fresh start is on the horizon, and 2025 is a blank canvas that we can make of whatever we want. Wendy wrote the 2019 hit book Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick, and she walks us through today what a habit is, in the first place; how hard it really is to change our habits and, in the process, change ourselves; the science behind changing our habits, including processes like context, repetition, and reward; statistics that might stun you, like that we as humans spend 43 percent — yes, 43 percent! — of our day doing things without thinking about them, as if on autopilot; whether it is easier to make a habit or break a habit, and so much more, including the best advice she’s ever received regarding habit formation — and it is hopeful as we venture into a new year. Many of us have habits we want to make surrounding going to the gym more, and I can’t wait for you to hear the statistics Wendy brings about how environment is so important, as well as proximity. Wendy Wood is here to help us reach our goals, so let me tell you a little bit about her. She is a professor of psychology and business at the University of Southern California and has written for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times; her work has been featured so many places, including The New York Times, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, NPR, and TIME magazine. Her purpose is to convey scientific insight on habit to the general public, and she’s here today to do just that.

Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick by Wendy Wood

I’m really excited to bring you this conversation today about a book that came out in 2017 called Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women by Dr. Renee Engeln. In the book, Dr. Engeln introduces us to beauty sick culture and what it feels like and looks like for women and girls. She writes in the book “How might women’s lives be different if they book the energy and concern aimed at their own appearance and aimed it out at the world instead?” If women didn’t have to worry about this, think of all we could get done. The desire to be thin and pretty, to be the beauty ideal, seems to affect girls younger and younger, and in Beauty Sick Dr. Engeln introduces us to what she calls the “tyranny of the mirror,” and writes that looks shouldn’t matter—but they do. Beauty is used as a source of power for women, and girls learn that the most important asset they possess is their physical beauty. We don’t teach boys and men this same lesson. Beauty, Dr. Engeln writes, is a weak and temporary power, and beauty sickness is a barrier to gender equality, where we see women as objects instead of human beings. Today we talk about how social media has played into this, how beauty sickness revolves around shame, how it attacks women’s mental and emotional well-being and their financial well-being, as well, and how we should, in her words, “turn away from the mirror to face the world.” Dr. Engeln writes that she’s looking for “a culture that sees women not as objects to be looked at, but as human beings who are ready and able to change the world in remarkable ways,” and so am I. Dr. Engeln’s TEDx talk on beauty sickness received more than 700,000 views and reveals the shocking consequences of our obsession with girls’ appearance, including depression, eating disorders, disruptions in cognitive processing, and lost money and time. This book combines scientific studies and the voices of real women of all ages, and I’m really excited to introduce you to Dr. Engeln, who has been a professor for 15 years at Northwestern, where she teaches about psychopathology, the psychology of women and gender, social psychology, and the psychology of human beauty. In addition to publishing numerous empirical journal articles and presenting at academic conferences on body image, media, and the objectification of women, Dr. Engeln presents talks on these topics to groups around the country and is regularly interviewed by media outlets, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Today.com, The Huffington Post, and more. At Northwestern, her lab, The Body and Media Lab, conducts research exploring issues surrounding women’s body images, with a particular emphasis on cultural practices that create or enforce the frequently contentious relationship women have with their bodies. Take a listen to this compelling conversation.

Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women by Dr. Renee Engeln

Alzheimer’s and finding a cure for it is a cause I am deeply passionate about; we have spoken about it on the show many times before. I couldn’t be more thrilled to bring you today’s guest, Dr. Heather Sandison, who is here to talk to us about her brand-new book Reversing Alzheimer’s: The New Toolkit to Improve Cognition and Protect Brain Health, which came out June 11. This book is a much-needed exploration of this awful disease, and how both patients and their caregivers can take back control. There are currently 6.5 million Americans alone living with Alzheimer’s, and that number only grows. As Dr. Sandison writes, the urgency for a solution has never been greater, and this book helps us find one. Dr. Sandison is at the forefront of dementia care and research. She is both the founder of Solcere Health Clinic (which is San Diego’s premier brain optimization clinic) and also Marama, the first residential memory care facility to have the goal and aim of returning cognitively declined residents back to independent living. She sees up close and personal every single day what Alzheimer’s and dementia looks like, and she’s doing something about both preventing it and reversing it. The main takeaway that I got from Reversing Alzheimer’s was that there is hope, and that we have more power to fight back against this disease than we previously thought we did. There is a growing body of evidence that shows that implementing a handful of strategies can improve cognition and quality of life in dementia patients, and this book lays out this customizable and doable approach so that work can begin immediately in that effort. If you are looking to fortify your brain health against cognitive decline, implement lifestyle changes that can reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s, transform your environment to support cognitive wellness, and understand options for brain health to fit any budget—this book is for you. This book, for anyone who has experienced Alzheimer’s up close, is a big exhale; Dr. Sandison wants a future where Alzheimer’s is not a terminal diagnosis, but a reversible condition, a future free of the affliction of this disease. I think you, like me, will find hope in these pages and in this conversation. Dr. Sandison is a renowned neuropathic doctor specializing in neurocognitive medicine and is also the primary author of the peer-reviewed research “Observed Improvement in Cognition During a Personalized Lifestyle Intervention in People with Cognitive Decline,” which was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease last August. She also hosts the annual online Reverse Alzheimer’s Summit, where she shares cutting-edge insight into what is possible for those suffering with dementia. Dr. Sandison is the doctor I wish my family had when my grandparents were suffering with dementia, but one that I’m also so glad is here now with the mission of making dementia rare and optional, and to shatter common misconceptions about Alzheimer’s and share what she has learned about keeping our brains sharp, no matter our age.

Reversing Alzheimer’s: The New Toolkit to Improve Cognition and Protect Brain Health by Dr. Heather Sandison

The title of Dr. Henry Cloud's latest book is simple: Trust. But its subtitle (and the concept itself) is much more complex -- Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken. Whew! Trust is vitally important in all of our lives, and Dr. Cloud gives a masterclass on it in today's episode. It's truly a must listen episode and a must read book for everyone.

Trust: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken by Dr. Henry Cloud

Hi listeners—please be advised that this episode is true crime in nature and contains graphic descriptions of a violent crime. If this may be triggering for you, please skip this episode, and we’ll see you back in your feed later this week. Take care of yourselves.

We have spoken on I’d Rather Be Reading before about the horrendous quadruple homicide that took place in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022, where four University of Idaho students were viciously murdered—brutally stabbed to death with a military style knife—while they slept in their off-campus home. Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin senselessly lost their lives on November 13, 2022, and while there has been an arrest made for their deaths, Bryan Kohberger, the accused, has not yet gone to trial. At the crime scene, 1122 King Road, there was no sign of forced entry or damage inside the home. Nothing appeared to be missing. The victims were stabbed multiple times with fatal wounds in the chest and upper body with a large knife. At least one victim had defensive wounds on her hands, and no murder weapon has ever been found. Kohberger was arrested on December 30, 2022, in Pennsylvania; the death penalty is currently being sought in his case, which likely won’t go to trial until next year. He was arrested on four counts of first-degree murder and one felony count of burglary; he pled not guilty to all charges.

Today on the show we have who I consider to be the foremost expert on the case—Howard Blum, who has written a new book, When the Night Comes Falling: A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders, which came out June 25. Howard’s book, interestingly, is bookended with the stories of two fathers—the book opens being told through the eyes of Bryan Kohberger’s father, Michael, and closes with Steve Goncalves, Kaylee’s father. The level of detail in When the Night Comes Falling is remarkable and heartbreaking, and Howard has a theory about who the target of the crime was—and it’s not who many have speculated it to be all along. In this episode, Howard and I talk about the two surviving roommates and their puzzling actions on that November 13, about Kohberger’s trial and when it’s expected to finally take place, about whether Howard thinks, as I do, that they tore down 1122 King Road—the site of the murders—too prematurely, and so much more. This is a case that haunts me and haunts so many others, I know—many of us remember being carefree college students, and to think of our lives so savagely being cut short as they were really just beginning is tragic and devastating. I know we all want justice for Kaylee, Maddie, Xana, and Ethan, and I hope we find it.

Let me tell you about the dynamic Howard Blum: he is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, a frequent contributor to Air Mail (which is where I found his work), a former reporter for both The Village Voice and The New York Times, and the author of several nonfiction books, including the New York Times bestseller American Lightning, about the October 1, 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times building by union members. Several of his books are bestsellers, actually, and I have no doubt that When the Night Comes Falling will be, too. He earned two Pulitzer Prize nominations while working at The New York Times and has also been nominated for a Pulitzer for his coverage of the Idaho student murders. I can’t imagine that he won’t eventually win a Pulitzer for his coverage in this space. When the Night Comes Falling is the definitive and inside story of this horrific crime, which Howard has covered from the very beginning.

When the Night Comes Falling: A Requiem for the Idaho Student Murders by Howard Blum

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 will always be the best current nonfiction books, but I’m really enjoying our occasional forays into fiction on the show, and we’ll have a couple more before season 11 concludes. Today we have on the show Hannah Brown, who wrote a memoir, God Bless This Mess: Learning to Live and Love Through Life’s Best (and Worst) Moments in 2021; now she’s turning her focus to fiction with Mistakes We Never Made, which comes out May 7. I learned that this is actually book one in a two-book deal, which is exciting, because Hannah has a talent for this. Hannah has let us get to know her through most of her work heretofore—through her memoir, her podcast “Better Tomorrow,” and appearances on The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Dancing with the Stars, but in Mistakes We Never Made, we get to know Emma Townsend and Finn Hughes in this work of romance fiction that reads on the page just like a rom-com on the screen. Hannah is an avid reader and said of writing this book that “Storytelling is something I’ve always wanted to do,” and in this book we meet two characters who have had a ton of almosts together, and quite frankly, they can’t stand each other. Then, as one of their mutual friends is getting married, Emma and Finn have to pretend that they don’t remember all of their nearlys and so close but yet so far aways. There’s a big mystery in there and it is absolutely perfect for your upcoming beach trips, poolside lazy days, and such a refreshing escape from reality. I also get to talk to Hannah about wedding planning, as she has found her happily ever after, and I know you’ll enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Mistakes We Never Made by Hannah Brown

This week Rachel would rather be reading about the American South.

Graceland, At Last by Margaret Renkl

This episode concludes season two. We'll see you very soon with more episodes!

Check out the books mentioned in the show:

The Man I Knew: The Amazing Story of George H. W. Bush's Post-Presidency by Jean Becker

Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham

And here is a link to our People magazine piece -- such a delight!

One of my recent absolute obsessions is skincare. I am always looking for new information, data, research, and resources about my skin, and that’s how I stumbled across Hannah English’s brilliant book Your Best Skin: The Science of Skincare, which came out in 2022. Hannah is a beauty writer, content creator, and pharmaceutical scientist with a clinical research background who breaks down the science behind skincare in such an easily digestible and understandable format. Hannah’s book teaches us truly everything I can think of that I’d ever want to know about skincare—starting with what skincare is, exactly, and the job of the skin. This book is a wealth of knowledge and answers almost every question you can think of when it comes to the topic. Today on the show, Hannah talks about the piece of advice she wishes more people knew about skincare, the most frequently asked question she gets about skincare, if we should treat the skin on our face differently than the skin on our body, the proper order of skincare products and what skincare products we actually need (as opposed to what is marketed to us that we need), the most efficacious skincare routine, how she really feels about makeup wipes, retinol, and injectables like Botox, and so much more. So much good information that is applicable to everyone with skin—so, yes, that’s every single one of you listeners. Take a listen!

Your Best Skin: The Science of Skincare by Hannah English

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 Teenagers, and Nothing Personal: My Secret Life in the Dating App Inferno; she is also behind a documentary film called Swiped: Hooking Up in the Digital Age, which aired on HBO. I know you’ll find Nancy Jo real and raw and transparent, and her career as a journalist has long inspired my own.

Books by Nancy Jo Sales:

The Bling Ring: How a Gang of Fame-Obsessed Teens Ripped Off Hollywood and Shocked the World

American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers

Nothing Personal: My Secret Life in the Dating App Inferno

Her HBO Documentary:

Swiped: Hooking Up in the Digital Age

Other Works Mentioned:

“The Suspects Wore Louboutins” by Nancy Jo Sales for Vanity Fair

Picture by Lillian Ross

Air Mail

This week Rachel would rather be reading about a little sister's lifelong love and devotion to her big sister, the legendary actress Natalie Wood -- who died 40 years ago this week.

Little Sister: My Investigation Into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood by Lana Wood

I have always been a big proponent of books finding you when they’re meant to, and I recently read Daniel Pink’s latest book, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, which came out in 2022. I’ll be honest—I don’t think I had ever consciously thought about regret until reading his book. Then, I realized, by learning from the regrets of my past, I could at least try to do my best to prevent the regrets of my future. As I mentioned last week, I am taking a big leap professionally—today, actually, is my last day at Marie Claire, and in August I’ll begin my new role at People magazine. I felt safe and comfortable at Marie Claire, but when this People opportunity came up, I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t try, even if the role intimidated me. So I took the leap, and I am proud of myself for doing that. Dan writes that none of us escape regret—well, save for a select few, which he explains in the episode today—and writes that regrets not only make us human, but they make us better. He writes that regret is “an essential component of the human experience” and “a marker of a healthy, maturing mind”; he also writes that regret is the most misunderstood emotion. Dan went deep on researching regret, even conducting the World Regret Survey to learn more about it. Wait until you hear in this episode some of the data he found from interviewing 15,000 people from 105 countries around the globe. He was able to break down regret into four core categories, which he expounds on in today’s episode: foundation, boldness, moral, and connection regrets. Today we talk about what the most common regrets are universally, if there is a time period in one’s life from which the most regrets stem from, the difference between “if only” and “at least” statements, and why regret, in his words, gives him hope. There’s a reason I bookended the last episode with Kathleen Griffith with this episode. The last episode talked about building the career and life of your dreams; this episode talks about what happens—regret—if we don’t go for it and say yes to the big life, the big goals, the big dreams. I am in a season of saying yes to the big life, the big goals, the big dreams, and I hope you’ll join me there. Let me tell you about the work of Daniel Pink, who is absolutely brilliant—you probably already know who he is, as his work has been so important for so long. He is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of seven books that have sold millions of copies around the world and won multiple awards. His books are known for helping both readers and organizations rethink how they live and operate, and some of my favorite books by Dan include Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us and When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. He is a graduate of Northwestern and Yale Law School, and from 1995 to 1997, he was the chief speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore. This was not planned, but today, July 23, when this episode drops, happens to be Dan’s birthday. So happy birthday Dan and thank you for this conversation. Take a listen.

The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward by Daniel Pink

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—Jennifer Lopez! Jennifer Garner! Jennifer Aniston!—Victoria Beckham, Charlize Theron, Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys, Sharon Stone, Hillary Duff. I could go on and on. Halsey said, when being interviewed by Danielle, “This wasn’t an interview. This was a therapy session.” There is something very disarming and comfortable about Danielle, particularly her unbelievable ability to self-deprecate, which is a quality I absolutely love in people. As someone who has interviewed celebrities myself, though nowhere near as many or as well as Danielle has done it, I have to tell you that it is a art form, especially when you get to the A-listers among A-listers like Jennifer Aniston or Kim Kardashian, people who have been interviewed a bazillion times. It is difficult to get nuggets out of them that haven’t been told before—but Danielle can do it. Wait until she tells you how she was able to help Jennifer Aniston feel comfortable enough to open up about not having children, or with Charlize Theron, where she talked about aging in Hollywood. Danielle is a master at the celebrity profile; she is also a gifted travel writer and beauty writer. In the past, Danielle has served as Allure’s executive editor and editor at large, as well as editor-in-chief at Goop, and she has also been published at Marie Claire, which you know I have to shout out every time a guest has worked for my wonderful employer. I knew I appreciated Danielle as a writer; after this time with her, I couldn’t get enough of her as a person.

“Jennifer Aniston Has Nothing to Hide”

“Victoria Beckham Is in Control”

“The Griselda Creator’s Miami”

“The History of the Bob Haircut and Why It’s Trending Now”

“Charlize Theron Didn’t Get a Facelift, Thanks for Asking”

“Jennifer Garner: I’m Not Good at Being Fake”

My absolute obsession Air Mail, where Danielle writes frequently

Who among us DOESN'T want improved relationships, both with ourselves and with others? This week is what I'm calling "Relationships Week" on the show, where we talk to two great authors about how to do just that. If you're looking for healthy, fulfilling relationships in your life, take a listen to this important episode.

Making Great Relationships: Simple Practices for Solving Conflicts, Building Connection, and Fostering Love by Dr. Rick Hanson

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. Jennifer is a New York Times bestselling author and a pop culture historian, and her latest book, So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls (and Why We’re Still So Obsessed with It) comes out January 16. Interestingly enough, Jennifer and her publisher did not time the book’s release four days after the new Mean Girls movie on purpose—it just worked out that way. Talk about happenstance! As we approach the 20-year anniversary of the 2004 original in April, I’m wondering: will we ever see a proper Mean Girls 2 featuring Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, and Lacey Chabert? After all, three of the four original Plastics did do a commercial together late last year. What is the Broadway musical like, and is the new movie worth seeing? Do younger generations relate to the original film like my generation did? (After all, we were in high school at the time and the movie’s target audience.) What are some behind-the-scenes details about the filming of the movie we might not know? I have questions, and Jennifer has all the answers.

So Fetch: The Making of Mean Girls (and Why We’re Still So Obsessed with It) by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Today I am talking to author Heath Hardage Lee about one of America’s First Ladies, and perhaps one of our most private ones—Pat Nixon, wife of President Richard Nixon. The timing is interesting: earlier this month marked 50 years since President Nixon’s resignation from the presidency following Watergate, and earlier this month Heath released her really, really fantastic new book The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady, which I absolutely tore through. There is so much we have gotten wrong about Mrs. Nixon over the years. First of all, she was a private woman, which led her to come across as, as the book’s title suggests, mysterious. Misunderstood, even. Heath and I speak about this in today’s episode, but her public persona was “Plastic Pat,” while the real Mrs. Nixon was anything but. Heath and I talk today about her love story with Richard Nixon; how Mrs. Nixon was First Lady and running the East Wing of the White House at a very interesting time, constantly toeing the line between the traditional wife and modern woman; what doors she opened for women; an example of Pat at her best and at her wobbliest; and so much more. Pat Nixon died in 1993, and, perhaps indicative of his love for her and how much he needed her, President Nixon died just 10 months later. To teach us more about Mrs. Nixon is Heath Hardage Lee, an award-winning historian, biographer, and curator. Heath’s book The League of Wives is currently being developed into a television series, and Heath and her work have been featured on The Today Show, C-SPAN, and on the Smithsonian Channel’s America’s Hidden Stories. She also writes about history and politics for outlets like Time, The Atlantic, The Hill, and White House History Quarterly. Take a listen to our conversation.

The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady by Heath Hardage Lee

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 Giambattista Valli, and the book explores and celebrates Audrey’s lifelong connection to Paris, featuring all of the places in the City of Light she loved the most and telling her story there. The book has never-before-published anecdotes and photographs and digs into her family, friendships, films, photoshoots, and fashions, especially her soul mate relationship with friend and fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy. You will be left breathless and speechless, both by the book itself and the stories and photos within it, and by this conversation. In this book we get a glimpse of the iconic actress’ beautiful life there, and each chapter of the book focuses on a different aspect of Paris that made it so precious to Audrey. Audrey never actually lived in Paris, but she was an honorary Parisienne. Towards the end of the book, it reads that “She would form some of her happiest memories in the life-altering city.” It was endlessly enjoyable reading about them. Plus, stick around to hear about what writers I’d love to invite to my dinner party or interview, but won’t be able to, at least not on this side of heaven. Imagine: Nora Ephron. Maya Angelou. Dominick Dunne. Julia Reed. And little old me. I may not ever be able to have them on the show (they’ve all left us for a better place), but I can at least have the honor of talking to you about them.

Audrey Hepburn in Paris by Luca Dotti and Meghan Friedlander

We certainly have read much about Jacqueline Kennedy (and have even done a couple of episodes about her on this show). We also know much about Jacqueline Onassis. But what about Jacqueline Bouvier, the woman before marriage, pursuing a career in Washington, D.C., falling in love with Paris, and attending Queen Elizabeth's Coronation as her last hoorah as a single woman during the late spring days of 1953? This book zooms in on Jackie from 1949 to 1953, during her early twenties, in a formative time of her life that we don't often discuss. To talk about it is perhaps the leading expert on First Ladies in the entire world -- Carl Sferrazza Anthony. I can't wait for you to hear this episode!

Camera Girl: The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy by Carl Sferrazza Anthony

Check out the book mentioned in the show:

Be Where Your Feet Are: Seven Principles to Keep You Present, Grounded, and Thriving by Scott O'Neil

We have so much good for you even before 2024 closes, and especially as 2025 kicks off. We’ll be bringing you lots of new books, especially in the new year, but as we close 2024 and look ahead to what next year will bring, I’m also going to bring in some conversations about books from years past that will make you think about the type of person you want to be going forward into this next chapter. That includes today’s conversation with Amy Morin about her 2018 book 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do: Own Your Power, Channel Your Confidence, and Find Your Authentic Voice for a Life of Meaning and Joy. In addition to this book, Amy has written a number of books about things mentally strong populations don’t do — people, couples, kids, parents. We are zooming in on women today, but I think anyone will be able to take something from this conversation. Today we talk through each of the 13, spotlighting some of my favorites; I ask Amy, if she could revise this book — which came out six years ago this month — what she’d add or take away; and we talk about three components of mental strength. We also talk about what mental strength brings to a life, and I’m really excited for you to hear what she has to say. Amy is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, college psychology instructor, keynote speaker, author, and expert on mental strength. Her books have sold over 1 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages, and, in addition to being an accomplished writer, she’s also an award-winning podcast host, hosting “Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin.” She is also the former editor-in-chief of Verywell Mind and has been featured everywhere from Today, Good Morning America, Time, Fast Company, Success, CNN, CNBC, and more. Amy’s TEDx talk “The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong” is one of the most popular talks of all time with more than 22 million views, and Amy’s quest to find mental strength is hard won: she lost her mother at 23, and her husband died when she was 26. As she puts it, “Losing the two most important people in my life sent me on a quest to learn as much as I could about how to be mentally strong.” In 2013, during one of the lowest moments in her life, she wrote a letter to herself about what mentally strong people don’t do, and 13 things emerged that could rob her of her mental strength if she let them. She figured her letter could maybe help someone else, so she published it online, thinking maybe a few people could benefit from it. It went viral, and more than 50 million people read it. From there came her book deal, and the rest is history. We are all better for her message. 

13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do: Own Your Power, Channel Your Confidence, and Find Your Authentic Voice for a Life of Meaning and Joy by Amy Morin

This week, Rachel would rather be reading about her writing inspiration -- the one and only Nora Ephron.

Nora Ephron: A Biography by Kristin Marguerite Doidge

Here’s the thing: whether we claim it or not, we all have a personal style. So why not take control of it and leverage it for the good? Our guest today, Allison Bornstein, will teach you how to do just that. There are so many quantifiable tips on this episode -- The AB Closet Editing System! The Three Word Method! The Nine Universal Pieces! -- that the only way you won’t learn something is if you don’t listen. When you look good, you feel good, and, as Allison will teach us, fashion is a tool for self-expression and overall wellness. Let’s lean into it!

Wear it Well: Reclaim Your Closet and Rediscover the Joy of Getting Dressed by Allison Bornstein

The one, the only Candace Bushnell is on the show today! *insert fangirl screaming here* As Sex and the City is my favorite show of all time—and Candace, you know, created the whole franchise back in 1994—this is a dream come true. I actually met Candace in person in 2019, when she was on her book tour for Is There Still Sex and the City?, and I found her to be as lovely as I hoped she would be. Most people probably know Candace best from penning The New York Observer column “Sex and the City” from 1994 to 1996, which later became an anthology of the same name in 1996 and, of course, an HBO show of the same name in 1998. But actually, Candace is one of those unicorn writers that can tackle both fiction and nonfiction writing and do both well. My favorite works from Candace are actually her novels, of which there are many: 4 Blondes, Trading Up, Lipstick Jungle (also made into a television show), One Fifth Avenue, and Killing Monica. She’s also written young adult fiction like The Carrie Diaries (also made into a television show), Summer and the City, and Rules for Being a Girl. Candace continues to evolve and pivot, and is now on tour with her one-woman show, “True Tales of Sex, Success, and Sex and the City” (go to candacebushnell.com for more information!) and is also helming a reality dating show for women over 50 that is generating tons of buzz. It was an honor to do this career retrospective with not just a talented writer, but a really cool person.

Sex and the City (1996)

4 Blondes (2000)

Trading Up (2003)

Lipstick Jungle (2005)

One Fifth Avenue (2008)

The Carrie Diaries (2010)

Summer and the City (2011)

Killing Monica (2015)

Is There Still Sex and the City? (2019)

Rules for Being a Girl (2020)

It's January 15, 1978. Kathy Kleiner is a student at Florida State University and is asleep in her room at the Chi Omega sorority house. Unbeknownst to her, a serial killer named Ted Bundy has discovered the sorority house’s back door is accessible—the lock is broken. That night, he broke into the house, murdered two of her sorority sisters, savagely injured Kathy and her roommate, and changed so many lives forever. Today, Kathy gets to tell her story. It is harrowing and terrifying, and please be forewarned that this conversation contains graphic descriptions of violence that is very difficult to listen to. Bundy was ultimately convicted of murder in Florida and executed by electrocution on January 24, 1989; his total victim count is unknown, but it numbers over 30 women across seven states from 1974 to 1978. Kathy is the first confirmed survivor of his to write a book, and it is a beautiful one, though the subject matter is ugly. As Kathy put it, she didn’t just want to survive—she wanted to live. And that she has. This book is her offering to honor Bundy’s victims who never got the chance to tell their story. One of the most, if not the most, powerful conversations I’ve ever had.

A Light in the Dark: Surviving More Than Ted Bundy by Kathy Kleiner Rubin

This week Rachel would rather be reading about how to become a better leader through digging into community.

Mastering Community: The Surprising Ways Coming Together Moves Us from Surviving to Thriving by Christine Porath

This week Rachel would rather be reading Worthy of Wearing.

Worthy of Wearing: How Personal Style Expresses Our Feminine Genius by Nicole Caruso

You are #worthyofwearing

Today on the show we are talking about American fashion, specifically Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion, the brand-new book from Nancy MacDonell, out August 27. Prior to World War II, American designers were nothing short of second-class citizens to the French. But, after the Nazis invaded Paris during the war, everything changed for French fashion, and by the time the war ended in 1945, the American look was in fashion. What is the American look, you ask? Nancy answers that for us today, as well as introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters who helped birth American fashion: Elizabeth Hawes, Eleanor Lambert, and Claire McCardell, for starters. Soon, American fashion began to beat the French at their own game, and this is all a leadup to the Battle of Versailles, which we interviewed Robin Givhan about on the show last year. American fashion is thriving now—at $500 billion, it’s the largest fashion industry in the world—but there would likely be no Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Tory Burch, Halston, or Michael Kors without the Empresses of Seventh Avenue. These women have largely been forgotten to history—that is, until Nancy MacDonnell came along. Nancy is a fashion journalist and fashion historian that writes The Wall Street Journal column “Fashion with a Past,” which explores the historic roots of current fashion trends. Nancy has written everywhere from The New York Times to Elle, Vogue, and many other publications, and she’s written five books, including The Classic Ten: The True Story of the Little Black Dress and Nine Other Fashion Favorites. In addition to her work as a writer, Nancy is also an adjunct lecturer in fashion history at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Let’s take a listen to what she has to say.

Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion by Nancy MacDonell

The Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That..., hits HBO in less than two weeks, so Rachel would rather be reading Sex and the City and Us, the first book chosen for her new Throwback series! This 2018 book takes a behind the curtain look at the greatest television show of all time -- in Rachel's opinion, anyway.

Sex and the City and Us: How Four Single Women Changed the Way We Think, Live, and Love by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong

Today, we’re talking about travel tips and tricks and tales with a fascinating person to tackle the topic with—none other than Gary Janetti, whose new book We Are Experiencing a Slight Delay: Tips, Tales, Travels is out July 9. On the 1 percent chance you don’t know the hilarious Gary Janetti, allow me to introduce you: Gary is a writer, producer, and actor who has written for Family Guy and was an executive producer on Will and Grace. He also produced the satire animated sitcom The Prince, about Prince George, for HBO Max; in addition to producing, he also provided the voice of Prince George. Gary has written two books prior to We Are Experiencing a Slight Delay—Start Without Me (I’ll Be There in a Minute) and Do You Mind If I Cancel? (Things That Still Annoy Me), and both were bestsellers. I found Gary years and years ago through his Instagram page, which specifically uses a satirical characterization of Prince George as his imagined and often totally catty responses to news items about other members of the British royal family. Gary took that success on Instagram and turned it into The Prince. Gary is married to fashion stylist and television personality Brad Goreski, and, naturally, Brad shows up frequently in We Are Experiencing a Slight Delay, which takes us inside Gary’s travels all around the world. This new book talks about the absurdity and glory of travel, taking us from an Italian spa to the Orient Express to Venice and London and Mykonos and Australia and a family cruise on the Queen Mary 2, just for starters. In addition to telling stories from his trips, Gary also gives a ton of practical advice on all aspects of being a traveler, from packing, suggestions on how to get upgrades, and his restaurant and hotel recommendations in his favorite cities. In our conversation today, Gary talks to us about how to combat jet lag, his top tips for packing, what’s worth a splurge while traveling, solo travel, and so much more.

We Are Experiencing a Slight Delay: Tips, Tales, Travels by Gary Janetti

What if I told you that, when it comes to managing your time and your life, you were never going to get it together — and that was okay? Continuing the thread from our last conversation with Kendra Adachi, today on the show we have the incomparable Oliver Burkeman, who wrote the book Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, which came out October 8. Literally from the opening page of the book — page one of the introduction, which is called “The Imperfect Life” — Oliver had me hooked with the words “This is a book about how the world opens up once you realize you’re never going to sort your life out.” The hard truth? There will always be too much to do. We will never win the unwinnable battle of conquering our time. But the good news? We will be okay, and Oliver’s book teaches us how. We will, in his words, never reach the end of the trouble-free phase. Our culture has a productivity and busyness obsession, and it all comes down to grasping for control in an uncontrollable world. The book is broken up into bite size chunks — daily offerings over four weeks. Those four weeks are Week 1: Being Finite; Week 2: Taking Action; Week 3: Letting Go; and Week 4: Showing Up. Today on the show Oliver talks to us about why he decided to organize the book this way and teaches us about a concept called strategic underachievement and what he calls JOMO, which is the JOY of missing out, as opposed to FOMO, the fear of missing out. We talk about embracing “imperfectionism” and why people pleasers may struggle with this more; a major fallacy about time that Oliver thinks we’ve gotten terribly wrong; and so much more. Oliver is also the author of 2021’s Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, the title of which roughly represents the length of a human life. Oliver wrote the weekly column “This Column Will Change Your Life” for The Guardian from 2006 to 2020 and, in addition to Meditations for Mortals and Four Thousand Weeks, is the author of two other books, HELP!: How to Be Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done and The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking. You’re going to love him. If you’re looking to be liberated from your to do list, explore a more meaningful life, and take a four week “retreat of the mind” (unless you’re like me and gobble his book up in one sitting), take a listen.

Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman

One of the most important books written in the last few years is Dr. Katy Milkman’s 2021 book How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, which focuses on the study of behavior change. This is a groundbreaking book in which Dr. Milkman reveals a proven path that can take you from where you are right now to where you want to be and teaches us that change happens most readily when you understand what’s standing between you and success and tailor your solution to that specific roadblock. Dr. Milkman is a behavioral scientist and professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and this book draws on her original research and the work of her world-renowned scientific collaborators. (The foreword to the book, by the way, was written by another of my favorites, psychologist Dr. Angela Duckworth, author of the fantastic book Grit.) How to Change shares strategic methods for identifying and overcoming common barriers to change, like impulsivity, procrastination, and forgetfulness, and gives us practical tips and tactics backed by science to help us achieve our goals, once and for all. Dr. Milkman has worked with numerous organizations on how to achieve positive change, including Google, the U.S. Department of Defense, Walmart, the White House, and the American Red Cross. Her research is regularly featured by media outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR, and she currently co-directs the Behavior Change for Good Initiative at Penn as well as hosts the podcast Choiceology, a popular Charles Schwab show about behavioral economics. Speaking of The New York Times, How to Change was not only a bestseller but also named one of the eight best books for healthy living in 2021 by that outlet. Dr. Milkman is a Princeton and Harvard graduate and, as you’ll hear us talk about, wrote a book that truly changed my life, personally. I can’t wait for you to hear what she has to say.

How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Dr. Katy Milkman

I am so excited to introduce you today to a woman who will change the world for the better—and already is. Today on the show we have the dynamic Kathleen Griffith, whose book Build Like a Woman: The Blueprint for Creating a Business and Life You Love, came out on June 4 and, I am happy to tell you, is already a bestseller. Kathleen opens the book by writing that “This book is for every woman who is done and ready,” and talks about building a business and a life through the lens and framework of architecture and construction and building—think a demolition, a punchlist, a crew. This book is definitely for founders and entrepreneurs and those starting a business, but it’s also for those, like me for example, who may not be starting a business—yet, anyway—but who have ideas and who want to illuminate both their careers and their lives. As Kathleen puts it, “It will be painful, but it will be every bit worth it” as we construct the careers and lives of our dreams. The book champions the concept of a “total life” and in it we learn about an integrated life layout, where we can make a difference both at work and at home, and, though work/life balance will never be achieved, we can find a work/life integration that works for us. In addition to Kathleen’s own powerful words, the book is punctuated by the voices of boldfaced entrepreneurs like Jessica Alba, Arianna Huffington, and so many more—their voices are the icing on an already rich cake. In the book we learn about the three Cs of culture, category, and customer; what the difference is between a big B and a little b breakdown; what building like a woman means, and why doing so is a force to be reckoned with; and the book features questions to get our brains going to build the life we want. Kathleen says more than once in the book that the goal is to build a life that is “so perfectly imperfect, imperfectly yours.” And that’s just it—it’s your life. If you are living your life for anyone but you, a life that doesn’t fit anymore or maybe never did, a life that doesn’t feel right—then right now is the time to change that and start living the life of your dreams. Kathleen and her book have a roadmap on how to do that. Kathleen is a founder herself and CEO of Grayce & Co., a strategy agency for women. She specializes in the female consumer and is a forefront and outspoken champion and advocate for women. This book is a tool for success that will teach you skills like life design, wellness practices, money management, brand strategy, sales pitches, and so much more; you’ll leave with both a mindset and a skillset after reading. Kathleen is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, business strategist, TV producer, speaker, and now, author that has directed more than $500 million in marketing dollars and generated over a billion dollars in profit for clients ranging from Nike Women to Verizon. Let’s dig into our conversation with her.

Build Like a Woman: The Blueprint for Creating a Business and Life You Love by Kathleen Griffith

What is in store for us in Season 1 of I'd Rather Be Reading? Take a listen!

For Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino—star of MTV’s Jersey Shore and a career reality show talent with other appearances on shows like Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Big Brother—the highs have been very high, and the lows have been very low. At his highest point (or at least what he thought was his highest point at the time), Mike was a multimillionaire, the second highest-paid reality star of 2010—second only to Kim Kardashian. Drugs, partying, and women came easily, and he was living seemingly every twentysomething man’s dream. But the lows were so low: a crippling drug addiction that could have taken his life, prison time for tax evasion, and nearly losing a child. In today’s conversation, we talk about it all, and Mike is candid, vulnerable, and real about every part of it. Today, Mike is a husband and a father to soon-to be three children (what he now realizes is truly what the dream life consists of), and truly believes this book will save lives—and I agree. A conversation my 25-year-old self could never dreamed of having, but one I am so glad I got to take part in.

Reality Check: Making the Best of the Situation by Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino

This week Rachel would rather be reading about how to avoid toxic positivity.

Toxic Positivity: Keeping It Real in a World Obsessed With Being Happy by Whitney Goodman

Stay tuned at the end of the episode for four motivational titles to jumpstart this year.

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 Ringwald. And Tom Hollander as Truman Capote. It premieres on FX on January 31 (and the next day on Hulu) and it will be appointment television for me. Through this book, this series, and this conversation, we dip our toe into New York City high society, into the world of Truman Capote and his “Swans”—glamorous women who were Capote’s closest confidantes. Babe Paley, Slim Keith, CZ Guest, Gloria Guinness, Pamela Harriman, Lee Radziwell, and Marella Agnelli were not just beautiful and wealthy, but intelligent and interesting. Then, enter the “feud” portion of the program: Capote wrote a piece for Esquire called “La Cote Basque 1965,” in which he puts the Swans’ dirty secrets in black and white, and in print for the entire world to read. The women cut Capote off totally; it was social suicide, and it led to Capote’s downfall that ultimately resulted in his death. Why did he do this? He thought they’d be too dumb to know the piece was about them. It was one of the worst decisions he could have ever made. Here to tell us all about it is the legendary Laurence Leamer, who is regarded as an expert on the Kennedy family and who has written biographies of not just the Kennedys but also the Reagans, Johnny Carson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ingrid Bergman, and Donald Trump’s resort, Mar-a-Lago. By the way, I have to throw this detail in here—his book about Mar-a-Lago was controversial and banned him from the resort for life. Not unlike that detail, this book and this conversation are as compelling as it comes.

Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer

“La Cote Basque” by Truman Capote for Esquire

Tomorrow, August 30, the biopic Reagan hits theaters, with Dennis Quaid playing President Ronald Reagan. We’re so fortunate on the show today to have a man who knew Reagan well—Ken Khachigian, whose new book Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan and Nixon, focuses on his relationship with not just Reagan but also President Richard Nixon, as well. Right smack dab on the front cover of the book, which just came out on July 23, Ken is described as a speechwriter, confidant, and strategist to political legends. In today’s episode, I ask Ken what role he enjoyed playing most and why, and which role was the most challenging for him. Ken was a longtime aide to President Nixon and was there for both his resignation 50 years ago this month and the Frost/Nixon interviews. Later, he was President Reagan’s chief speechwriter. Ken is a veteran of nine presidential campaigns, and in this book takes us in the room with not just one but two presidents. In addition to his work as a successful attorney, Ken became California’s premier Republican strategist in elections for governor, senator, and attorney general. He helped Nixon craft his memoirs and wrote notable speeches for Reagan like his first inaugural address, welcome home remarks for hostages taken during the Iran hostage crisis, his acceptance speech at the 1984 Republican National Convention, and, four years later, his farewell address at the 1988 Republican National Convention. Most recently, when it comes to presidential campaigns, he served as a senior advisor on the 1996 campaign of Bob Dole, the 2000 campaign of John McCain, and the 2008 campaign of Fred Thompson. Take a listen to what he has to say.

Behind Closed Doors: In the Room with Reagan and Nixon by Ken Khachigian

Visit Ken’s website at reaganandnixon.com!

Just when you think you know everything there is to know about the Beatles, the most famous group in history—you’re wrong. Today on the show we have the Beatles expert himself, Philip Norman, here to break down George Harrison, as complex and complicated a character as they come. Just about as antithetical to fame as it gets, George never saw his talent like the rest of the world did, and his contributions to music are vast: “Something.” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” “Here Comes the Sun.” “My Sweet Lord.” In addition to his professional life, his personal life is compelling too. (Four words—Pattie Boyd. Eric Clapton.) He left us far too soon nearly 22 years ago, and I am excited to bring you part of his story through this conversation.

The Vietnam War is perhaps America's most misunderstood war, a conflict left largely in the shadows. Today we unpack the pivotal years of 1965 to 1968 in Vietnam with a true expert on the subject. Whether you love history or not, it's a conversation not to be missed.

Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War 1965-1968 by Mark Moyar

What we think of as self-care might not be self-care at all. In fact, what we've come to know as "self-care" -- think expensive wellness retreats and fad diets and juice cleanses and creams and serums and the like -- is part of a gigantic self-care industry that makes its profit on making people, and especially women, feel terrible about themselves. That is not self-care. In fact, REAL self-care, as our guest today tells us, does the opposite of making ourselves feel terrible: It honors ourselves, uplifts ourselves, and celebrates ourselves. Not only that, but it's an inside job -- not something we can attend or purchase or obtain. Such a meaningful conversation that I hope you enjoy and get something out of.

Real Self-Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included) by Dr. Pooja Lakshmin

The United States may well have had its first female president already. The problem? Nobody knew it. After President Woodrow Wilson suffered a devastating stroke in October 1919, his wife, First Lady Edith Wilson, became acting president until his second term ended on March 4, 1921. Today we talk about that decision and the woman who was Edith Wilson, who was acting president before women even had the right to vote.

Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson by Rebecca Boggs Roberts

Two of my favorite topics to study -- sports and the American presidency -- are fused into one in this fascinating book, and I can't wait for you to learn how presidents from Eisenhower to Biden interface with athletics. Some, like Nixon, can quote stats like they're reciting the alphabet. Some, like Johnson, aren't big fans. Some, like Ford, played a sport and played it well. Some, like Biden, could take it or leave it. So interesting -- and the Clinton anecdote had me uncontrollably laughing.

Power Players: Sports, Politics, and the American Presidency by Chris Cillizza

Samantha Harris—a broadcaster who you know from co-hosting Dancing with the Stars alongside Tom Bergeron for seven seasons and hosting shows like E! News, Entertainment Tonight, and so many more—is the picture of health, and even wrote the book on it back in 2018. She’s also a breast cancer survivor and learned firsthand that, at the end of the day, if your health is compromised, not much else matters. Today we have a wide ranging conversation about diet, exercise, and getting to our healthiest healthy—and don’t forget to reach out to her via Instagram or Facebook for her clean beauty products PDF, which she has graciously offered to all of you listeners. Just DM her @samanthaharristv for this great resource.

Your Healthiest Healthy: 8 Easy Steps to Take Control, Help Prevent and Fight Cancer, and Live a Longer, Cleaner, Happier Life by Samantha Harris

Election Day is on Tuesday, November 5, and I could think of no better book to tee that up than Bill Haldeman’s new book Meeting the Moment: Inspiring Presidential Leadership That Transformed America, which is out November 1. This book about presidential leadership takes a specific leadership quality of a certain president and shows readers how the combination of that quality and that president transformed America. Case in point? Bill writes that for Thomas Jefferson, his transformative leadership quality was ingenuity; for George Washington, it was his judgment; for Teddy Roosevelt, his courage and fearless, daring spirit; for Franklin D. Roosevelt, his confidence; for Ronald Reagan, his optimism. As Bill writes, when a president’s defining leadership quality met their action, America was advanced. We talk today about how presidential leadership has transformed America, as Bill writes, “it was not one leadership quality that made America stronger and better—it was many.” Bill, like me, has long been interested in the American presidency, and this is a fresh, compelling take on presidential leadership that inspired me to ask myself the question, “What is my transformative leadership quality that I might be remembered by?” Bill also talks about speeches of import and tells us about a powerful one in today’s episode, which presidents maybe didn’t meet the moment, and about the “second term curse” for presidents. I love studying the presidency and I love studying leadership, and this book combined both subject matters brilliantly. Let me introduce you to our fantastic guest today: Bill Haldeman is a veteran public servant and is the Vice Chancellor and Chief Strategy Officer at the University of Pittsburgh. He has also served the White House Domestic Policy Council, two U.S. Secretaries of State, and is a senior staff member to a state governor. I’m excited for you to hear our conversation.

Meeting the Moment: Inspiring Presidential Leadership That Transformed America by Bill Haldeman

What an episode we have for you today, listeners. Today on the show we have the phenomenal Terri Cole, whose work about boundaries I have so resonated with in the past. She has a new book out on October 15 called Too Much: A Guide to Breaking the Cycle of High-Functioning Codependency, and it examines what we thought we knew about codependency. We have had the godmother of codependency, Melody Beattie, on the show, and Melody introduced the concept to the world. Now, in Too Much, Terri is taking the concept to the next level, introducing us to high-functioning codependency. In today’s conversation we define what high-functioning codependency, or HFC, is, what it looks like, some common behaviors exhibited by those who have it, and how those with HFC got to this place. You also might have heard this called “overfunctioning.” You’ll hear me say this many times throughout this episode, but I identify as a recovering HFC, and Terri writes that these behaviors are “highly programmed and largely unconscious.” Terri, too, is a recovering HFC, and writes in Too Much that “prioritizing the wants, needs, and outcomes of others over my own well-being was my default setting.” She talks about the moment she knew she couldn’t go on this way, and the book is a deeply personal one to her. We also talk about how we draw the line from being caring and a high-functioning codependent — and when we know, as the book’s title suggests, that it’s too much. By the way, when it comes to romantic relationships, codependents are attracted to narcissists, and the reverse is true, as well. The book talks about how we can prevent this deeply unhealthy combination. In our conversation today, we talk about the cost to a life if one doesn’t address their high-functioning codependency, and how the key to getting to the other side is boundaries. Now, Terri is an expert in boundaries; her book prior to Too Much, which I also highly recommend, is called Boundary Boss: The Essential Guide to Talk True, Be Seen, and (Finally) Live Free. I do think it’s important to note that reversing high-functioning codependency is absolutely possible, but it isn’t a linear path or a straight line, and that those working through this should expect setbacks. You know what? People could probably live their whole lives with high-functioning codependency, but because of Terri’s book, they won’t want to, and they don’t have to. Terri Cole, MSW, LCSW, is a licensed psychotherapist and global relationship and empowerment expert and has been doing this work for over 25 years. She is the host of a podcast I love, “The Terri Cole Show,” and inspires over 600,000 people weekly. She has a deep gift for making complex psychological concepts actionable and accessible so that clients achieve sustainable change. This conversation with Terri meant a lot to me, and I bet it will to you, too. Take a listen.

Too Much: A Guide to Breaking the Cycle of High-Functioning Codependency by Terri Cole

Check out Terri’s HFC Toolkit at terricole.com/hfc and visit hfcbook.com/ for more information!

This week Rachel would rather be reading about -- and taking in stunning photos of -- some of Hollywood's most influential Black actresses. 

Supreme Actresses: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Hollywood by Marcellas Reynolds

I have a great story to tell you about our guest today. Back in 2020, my co-host Jessica and I were looking to start what would become our podcast about the royal family, Podcast Royal. By 2020, Cathy Heller was already a prolific podcaster, as her show Don’t Keep Your Day Job — which has since been renamed — debuted in 2017. Cathy gave me such helpful advice, and Jessica and I went on to launch Podcast Royal in November 2020 before I solo launched I’d Rather Be Reading about six months later in 2021. Cathy was so generous, selfless, and kind, and I’ve never forgotten it. Cathy gave so much to me without getting anything in return — she is truly, truly a good person. A light in a sometimes dark world. Now, flash forward to the present day, we’re here to celebrate Cathy today with the December 3 release of her brand new book Abundant Ever After: Tools for Creating a Life of Prosperity and Ease. Speaking of Abundant Ever After, that is the updated name of Cathy’s podcast, which is seven years running and 916 episodes strong! Along with her podcast, Cathy’s book teaches us how to create the most expansive life possible and serves as a powerful guide for anyone ready to step into their most authentic self and transform their lives. In a word, Abundant Ever After is transformative, teaching us to do less striving and more surrendering, allowing more and more abundance in our lives. Today on the show we talk about what abundance is, how to live an abundant life and eschew limiting beliefs, and lean into, in Cathy’s words, “a life that takes your breath away.” She also discusses what she might say to someone who is a skeptic of all of this, and so much more. It’s a very powerful conversation with someone whose life I look at and genuinely say, in the iconic words of When Harry Met Sally, “I’ll have what she’s having.” I can’t state enough what a difference Cathy has made in my life — and I’m not the only one. She is so giving of her time and energy and resources, and one of the best gifts she’s given the world comes in the form of this fantastic book. Let me tell you a little bit about the force that is Cathy Heller. She has been described as a “fire hose of inspiration,” and is a dynamic transformational coach, spiritual guide, meditation teacher, and motivational speaker. In addition to Abundant Ever After, Cathy also wrote Don’t Keep Your Day Job: How to Turn Your Passion into Your Career, and a through line through her work is providing inspiration for listeners and readers to boldly pursue their dreams and live authentically, to find their purpose and live on purpose. Cathy originally had a career in the music industry and has found new purpose through her work trying to help others find their happiest, most fulfilled selves. The world could use a million more people just like Cathy, and I can’t wait for you to learn more from her today. She’s the real deal. 

Abundant Ever After: Tools for Creating a Life of Prosperity and Ease by Cathy Heller

This week Rachel would rather be reading about the Kennedy dynasty.

The Ambassador: Joseph P. Kennedy at the Court of St. James's 1938-1940 by Susan Ronald

I’m really excited to bring you today’s conversation with Erika Ayers Badan, who you might know as the woman formerly known as Erika Nardini. (Erika got married, and that explains the name change.) Erika is perhaps most well-known as not just the first female CEO of Barstool Sports, but the first CEO of Barstool Sports, period. If you’re not familiar with Barstool somehow, it’s a sports and pop culture blog that also has podcasts and videos under its umbrella—it’s not afraid to be controversial and shake the industry up, and I think maybe the best word to describe the company is chaotic. Intentionally chaotic. Erika was extremely successful at Barstool, which grew to more than 5 billion monthly video views and 225 million followers under her leadership and was valued at $550 million. During her time at Barstool, Erika referred to herself, very tongue-in-cheek, as a “token CEO,” not only the rare female employee but, again, the CEO of a very male-dominated culture. Not only has Erika experienced ample professional success—and I’ll talk more about that in a moment—but she is someone who clearly just loves to work. She loves what she does. She is invigorated and energized by it, and I relate to that, because I am the same way. Erika’s first book is out today, June 11, and is called Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure Is Good, the Great Ones Play Hurt, and Other Hard Truths, and it is basically a career manual for women and men on how to get it done and have a career that means something. It’s advice from someone who is firmly in the arena; it’s real and raw, tell it to you straight—much like Erika herself. There’s more advice in this book than I could ever give in this episode—it’s page after page of it—and this book is all-encompassing; it really is a career guide I’ll keep with me and return to and return to, again and again. It’s a playbook for success by somebody who has found it. Erika was CEO at Barstool from 2016 until earlier this year, January to be exact; she led the company from 12 employees to over 300 employees, and saw it become a national powerhouse under her leadership. Prior to joining Barstool, Erika held leadership positions at Microsoft, AOL, Demand Media, and Yahoo, and is now, as of April of this year, CEO at Food52, a culinary, lifestyle, and homeware company. One of my favorite aspects of Erika’s philosophy is her fail-always mindset—she embraces failure and doesn’t run from it or shy away from it. As she writes, “Falling down and getting back up—awkwardly at first, but, over time, more gracefully—is what has made my career successful.” There’s a ton of good nuggets here, and I can’t wait for you to read this book and hear our conversation.

Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure Is Good, the Great Ones Play Hurt, and Other Hard Truths by Erika Ayers Badan

This week Rachel would rather be reading about Calabasas and its most famous residents -- the Kardashians.

If You Lived Here You'd Be Famous By Now: True Stories from Calabasas by Via Bleidner

Also check out

Set the Night on Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with The Doors by Robby Krieger

This week Rachel would rather be reading Leave No Man Behind by Dr. Tony Brooks.

Leave No Man Behind: The Untold Story of the Rangers’ Unrelenting Search for Marcus Luttrell, the Navy SEAL Lone Survivor in Afghanistan by Dr. Tony Brooks

You should also check out Dr. Tony Brooks' website HERE.

We were going to take a longer break, but this book was too poignant not to discuss given current events.

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 gold standard in royal reporting. In addition to covering the royal family, she also covers culture, books, and music for Vanity Fair, and she and fellow royal expert Katie Nicholl co-host the podcast “Dynasty” about the royal family, which I love. Yet another podcast I need more episodes from! Erin’s reporting on the royals has been featured on Today, NBC News, BBC’s Newsnight, CBS Sunday Mornings, and CNN, where, randomly, Erin and I appeared together on a 5 a.m. segment the day after the Queen died talking about her passing. I enjoyed hearing about Erin’s entry point into covering the royals, hearing about her favorite royal family books, and, interestingly, about her past jobs as a teacher and a butcher. Royal reporting is a very interesting beat, and Erin is the leader of the pack.

Erin’s work at Vanity Fair

“Dynasty” podcast

Katie Nicholl’s books

Tina Brown’s books

+ I love leaving you with three!

The Royals by Kitty Kelley

The entire Kate Andersen Brower collection

The News Sorority: Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, Christiane Amanpour—and the Triumph of Women in TV News by Sheila Weller

My guest today truly needs no introduction. Ladies and gentlemen, we are fortunate enough today to have the one, the only Connie Chung here with us to chat about her memoir, Connie, out September 17. Definitely stick around for the surprise Maury Povich pop in midway through the conversation—Maury, of course, is Connie’s husband of 40 years. Where to even start with Connie Chung and what an inspiration she is to female journalists like me? Connie is the youngest of five sisters, and she writes in her memoir she was a kid “who had no voice at home, never uttered a peep at school, never raised a hand to answer a teacher’s question,” and morphed “into someone who was fearless, ambitious, driven, full of chutzpah and moxie, who spoke up to get what she wanted.” She writes that her family was shocked when she pursued a profession that required speaking in front of millions of viewers. Connie, of course, is a legendary broadcast journalist. She also writes, “the truth is, being a reporter fit perfectly with my personality. I preferred to observe, watching what unfolded before me, never expressing my opinion.” As the fifth daughter, Connie was very aware that her parents kept trying for a son. She then went on to break into a very male-dominated business at the time where the white man was the ideal. In fact, she writes in the book about striving to be like a white man early in her career. She was told at one point “you’ll never make it in this business,” but guess what? She did! And actually, her dream of working at CBS, as she writes, “came true because of timing, a connection, and who I was—a woman and a minority.” And that was all thanks to the Civil Rights Act President Lyndon Baines Johnson passed in 1964. Connie is a legend in the broadcast journalism space. She has worked for CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC—truly remarkable. When she joined Dan Rather as the co-anchor spot of the CBS Evening News, there had been 17 long years from the time Barbara Walters co-anchored a network evening news program to Connie taking over the co-anchor spot with Dan Rather. Through this appointment, Connie became the first woman to co-anchor the CBS Evening News and the first Asian to anchor any news program in the U.S. Though a mountaintop moment this certainly was, she writes “Still, the feeling of always having to prove myself weighed heavily on my mind.” She was let go from the CBS Evening News just two years later, and she writes “For two years, I had held what I’d thought was an equal seat at the table with three white men. But now I saw clearly that was never true. Losing all that was gut-wrenching, breaking my rock-solid confidence.” We talk about all of this and so much more in today’s episode, and I can’t wait for you to hear our conversation. Take a listen!

Connie: A Memoir by Connie Chung

When it comes to dream I’d Rather Be Reading guests—I’m talking about names at the top of the vision board—Emily Giffin would be right there at the apex. Yes, this is a nonfiction books podcast, but I do read fiction from time to time, and one fiction author whose books I never miss is Emily Giffin, my No. 1 favorite fiction writer of all time. I actually met Emily at a book signing in the summer of 2016 in Nashville—at Draper James, Reese Witherspoon’s boutique—and Emily changed my life. At that time, I was freelance writing some, but hadn’t yet taken the leap to become a full-time writer. During the book signing, I mentioned something about wanting to be a writer to Emily, and even though lines at book signings move pretty quickly, she took a moment to give me words of wisdom I never forgot—and signed my book and told me to not give up and to keep writing. The next year, 2017, I became a full-time writer, and am now a senior editor at a major fashion magazine as we speak here in 2024. It’s really incredible what one inspiring encounter can do—and Emily, I loved you before meeting you in 2016, and I loved you even more after. Actually, I’ll get to see Emily again in person this week, at a book signing in Atlanta for Emily’s latest, The Summer Pact, her twelfth novel—which is the book we’re talking about on the show today. The title of the book is so powerful, and not at all what I was expecting. Emily’s latest is full of so many plot twists, and, while many of her books focus on love and romance, the crux of this book is friendship—although, don’t get me wrong, there’s still definitely some love and romance in here. As I tell Emily in our conversation, I think The Summer Pact is her bravest and most courageous work; she tackles some heavy-hitting topics here, topics she’s never tackled before in any of her books prior. In this book we meet Lainey, Tyson, Summer, and Hannah, who all arrive at college from completely different worlds. They soon become a tight group of friends, but, as graduation nears, tragedy strikes, and they make a promise to one another in that moment to always be there for each other, no matter how much distance or circumstance separates them. Then, a decade later, life turns upside down for one of our characters. She calls in her closest friends, who are all in the midst of their own crossroads. But they made a promise, and they all come together to embark on a shared journey of self-discovery, forgiveness, and acceptance, with, as I said, so many twists and turns along the way, including a trip to Capri, Italy, which has risen to the top of my travel bucket list. Just like I had a different career before I became a full-time writer, so did Emily—after graduating from Wake Forest and the University of Virginia School of Law, Emily was a practicing attorney for several years before moving to London to write full-time. Since then, 12 novels followed—Something Borrowed, which was turned into a feature film with Ginnifer Goodwin and Kate Hudson; Something Blue; Baby Proof; Love the One You’re With; Heart of the Matter; Where We Belong; The One and Only; First Comes Love; All We Ever Wanted; The Lies That Bind; Meant to Be; and, now, The Summer Pact. I am such a fan, and I can’t wait for you to hear our conversation.

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin

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 that is growing and growing in popularity, and not surprisingly, considering how ubiquitous the royal family has become in culture, especially lately. Today you get the chance to meet Linda Keir, a writing duo who has now written four books together and has been writing together since 2016. Linda Keir is a portmanteau of Linda Joffe Hull and Keir Graff, both of whom have successful writing careers on their own and as a team. The Royal Game—which came out on January 30 of this year—is their first foray into royal family fiction, but hopefully not their last. I won’t give too much away, but the loose plot of The Royal Game involves the love story between American pop singer Jennie Jenson and Prince Hugh of England, the heir to the throne. Someone is determined to keep Jennie from becoming a princess, and to have the happy ending to her fairytale, Jennie will have to play “the royal game.” Not everyone is excited about the prospect of an American princess, apparently. Jennie finds parallels between what’s happening to her and Hugh’s mother, Princess Penelope, who died in a mysterious plane crash. (Don’t worry, I ask Linda and Keir if my theories that Jennie and Hugh and Penelope are based on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry and Princess Diana are true.) Jennie wants to know if Penelope is murdered—and worries she might be next. It’s a thrilling mystery, a romantic love story, and really, really good. Today on the show we talk about their process of being a writing team, what they think about the royal family and if they follow it outside of their work on this latest book, why they chose to get into the royal family fiction subgenre, and what, exactly, “the royal game” is, anyway.

The Royal Game by Linda Keir

We also mention On Duty with the Queen by Dickie Arbiter on the show!

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 interested in attachment theory and attachment styles, and there is secure attachment (the ideal which we should all strive for) and three different insecure attachments—anxious, avoidant, and disorganized. Julie will explain what all of that means in the episode, and how we can work towards bringing a secure attachment to our relationships. Beyond just attachment styles, Julie brings so much wisdom and insight into how we navigate romantic relationships, and how we can create a healthy relationship that will, as the subtitle suggests, last a lifetime.

Secure Love: Create a Relationship That Lasts a Lifetime by Julie Menanno

Sensitive people often get a bad rap, especially sensitive men. But today I talk to an author who says sensitivity is a superpower, and that sensitive people are filled with gifts that bring so much to the world. Plus, we reveal the legendary rock star that self-identifies as a sensitive person -- and who it is might surprise you.

Sensitive: The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too Much World by Jenn Granneman and Andre Solo

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 Science Based Strategy for Aging Well that, instead of focusing so closely on decreasing fat on and in our bodies, we should focus instead on increasing muscle. Muscles, Dr. Lyon says, are the key to aging well; she even calls muscles the fountain of youth, says healthy muscle is imperative to a body’s function, and writes that muscle is the organ of longevity. She is a practitioner of muscle-centric medicine, and after listening to this episode, you might be, too.

Forever Strong: A New Science Based Strategy for Aging Well by Dr. Gabrielle Lyon

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 obsessive, I couldn’t get enough of this series. (Katharine is also the author of the popular Thousandth Floor trilogy, but today we’re talking about American Royals.) In addition to talking about the royals (come on, we had to!), we also talk about Katharine’s process in writing fiction and what we can expect from her in 2024.

All by Katharine McGee:

American Royals

Majesty

Rivals

Reign

Katherine’s fiction picks to keep you satisfied until our next fiction episode:

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

The Buccaneers, The House of Mirth, and The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

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 and musicians, on the other. On the show today, Teri talks about when those lines started to blur, and when celebrities could no longer be one note—in addition to being, say, an actor, or a musician, or what have you, seemingly every celebrity now has a perfume, or a beauty line, or a fashion collection, or some kind of alcoholic beverage, or some (if not many) entrepreneurial ventures. It’s almost like being an actor is just the launchpad to becoming a multihyphenate and a mogul. It wasn’t always this way, believe it or not. In today’s episode we talk about how so-called “traditional” fashion designers feel about celebrities like Jessica Simpson, Victoria Beckham, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (of the brand The Row) infiltrating the fashion industry; when celebrities decided to not just endorse products but own them; the magic formula as to why some celebrity fashion brands take off and some flop; how the emergence of reality stars changed the game even further; and how the pendulum swings both ways, as some designers are coming to prominence or deepening their fame on reality television as well (think, in particular, Project Runway). Let me tell you about the powerhouse that is Teri: she worked as a writer for Fairchild Publications in the 1970s, and after she and her former husband moved to Brazil for five years, she worked as a freelance writer for The New York Times and Time. In 1984, she became a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, where she wrote a business column; in 1989, Teri was assigned to develop the fashion beat for The Wall Street Journal, covering fashion from a business perspective. She was named senior special writer in 1995 and retired from The Wall Street Journal in 2009 but continues to freelance for them, including writing the popular fashion column “Ask Teri.” She has also written for Vogue, Town & Country, Essence, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. In addition to Hijacking the Runway, Teri also wrote the book The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed the Clothing Game Forever. Quick aside—in the middle of our conversation, New York City experienced a 4.8 magnitude earthquake—remember that last Friday?—and, true to the force of nature Teri is, she didn’t even bat an eye. I can’t wait for you to meet this dynamic woman and learn from her expertise.

Hijacking the Runway: How Celebrities Are Stealing the Spotlight from Fashion Designers by Teri Agins

This week, right in the heart of baseball season, Rachel would rather be reading about the Bronx Bombers. Love 'em or hate 'em, you can't deny their power.

The Franchise: New York Yankees: A Curated History of the Bronx Bombers by Mark Feinsand

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 is out February 27. In the book, Katie delves into the transformation of the modern First Lady. The role of First Lady has definitely changed from Martha Washington to Dr. Jill Biden, but even more granularly, it has changed so much from the 1990s and Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton to the present day, in particular Dr. Biden’s refusal to give up her role as an educator in favor of being First Lady full-time, as all of her predecessors have done. In the book and in our conversation today, Katie gets into how we ask so much of our First Ladies yet give them no proper blueprint on how to do their job. (We also don’t pay them, and there’s no barometer of what a successful First Lady is or does.) We talk about what will happen when the U.S. finally elects a female president, and what the role of First Gentleman, if that is what he is called, will look like. There is so much depth to this conversation—I can all but promise you that you won’t look at the role of the First Lady the same ever again. Katie has worked at The Times since 2014 and has been a White House correspondent since 2018, covering two presidential administrations and writing extensively about domestic policy, foreign policy, and, perhaps most interestingly to me, the complicated dynamics of First Families. Before writing for The Times, Katie was a reporter at The Guardian and The Washington Post. I am excited for you to meet her and learn from her in this episode.

American Woman: The Transformation of the Modern First Lady, from Hillary Clinton to Jill Biden by Katie Rogers

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 (Fiction)

Happily: A Personal History—With Fairy Tales by Sabrina Orah Mark (Nonfiction) 

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Fiction) 

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith (Nonfiction) 

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl (Nonfiction) 

The Best Books She’s Reread This Year:

Frindle by Andrew Clements (Fiction)

The Giver by Lois Lowry (Fiction)

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (Nonfiction)

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett (Nonfiction) 

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub (Fiction)

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro (Fiction)

The Books She Is Anticipating for 2024:

Sandwich by Catherine Newman (Fiction)

After Annie by Anna Quindlen (Fiction)

Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley (Nonfiction)

The Last Fire Season by Manjula Martin (Nonfiction)

Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story by Leslie Jamison (Nonfiction)

If You Can't Take the Heat: Tales of Food, Feminism, and Fury by Geraldine DeRuiter (Nonfiction)

Twelve Trees: The Deep Roots of Our Future by Daniel Lewis (Nonfiction)

Anita De Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez (Fiction)

The Books I Am Anticipating for 2024:

The Summer Pact by Emily Giffin (Fiction)

Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other by Sophie Grégoire Trudeau (Nonfiction)

What are you most afraid of? Chances are, it's one of the nine fears that personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi encourages readers to face head on in her latest book, "A Healthy State of Panic." Instead of attempting to become fearless, she encourages us to stare fear in the face and embrace it as a gift. We are used to hearing from Farnoosh sound advice about all things money -- and while that component is in the book, too, the book is so, so much more than that. It destigmatizes fear and, once we confront it, we can conquet it.

A Healthy State of Panic: Follow Your Fears to Build Wealth, Crush Your Career, and Win at Life by Farnoosh Torabi

My annual “Best Books of the Year” episode with Carla Jean Whitley is always such a highlight for me (and I know for all of you)! Below are her picks for 2024. Enjoy!

The Best Books She’s Read This Year:

Nonfiction —

Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman (also adding in Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals for good measure, as well)

Heartbreak is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music by Rob Sheffield

Memoirs —

Just Like Glass: A Family Memoir by Amy Wight Chapman

Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley

Fiction —

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

The Best Books She’s Reread This Year:

Looking for Alaska by John Green

The Giver by Lois Lowry

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl

The Books She Is Anticipating for 2025:

Mothers and Other Fictional Characters: A Memoir in Essays by Nicole Graev Lipson (coming March 4, 2025)

The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (coming April 22, 2025)

The Living Mountain: A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland by Nan Shepherd (coming March 18, 2025)

The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue: A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street by Mike Tidwell (coming March 25, 2025)

Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green (coming March 18, 2025)

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson (coming May 13, 2025)

We talk about power frequently in society, but do we ever really put much thought into status? And what even is status, exactly? On the show today, we talk about how much status matters, and our guest, Dr. Alison Fragale, writes in her new book Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve that resources follow respect, and very little advancement is going to happen unless someone has respect—also known as status. Alison writes that women are largely disadvantaged when it comes to status, and that the aforementioned power is based on status so, ergo, when women in particular have lower status, they also have less power. Status is critically important, but we rarely pay attention to it and have sparsely put words to it—that is until Likeable Badass came along. The book came out September 3 and delves into the science of success—one of my favorite topics to study. Alison’s playbook, as outlined in the book, consists of the three steps of understand the game, master the plays, and coach others. She teaches us what the likeable badass solution is, how it’s important for women especially to get credit for both likeability and competence (and how it has, heretofore, been so difficult for both to coexist), how things can often get worse as a career advances, not better, and she introduces us to five limiting mindsets that we need to conquer. If you’re looking to advance in any workplace, we’ve got to figure out status, which, simply defined, is what others’ perception of us is. Here to walk us through it all is Dr. Alison Fragale, who is a behavioral scientist and the Mary Farley Ames Lee Distinguished Scholar of Organizational Behavior at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her work has been published in the most prestigious academic journals in her field as well as outlets like The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, and The Boston Globe. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth in math and economics and a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business; she is also a renowned keynote speaker, trusted advisor, and genuinely good person, and I’m so excited for you to hear from her today.

Likeable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve by Dr. Alison Fragale

This week Rachel would rather be reading about the three women who married a generation of Kennedy men -- Jackie, Ethel, and Joan. What were their lives like as the women of Camelot?

Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot by J. Randy Taraborrelli

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 building resilience, countering stress, and how it’s time to eliminate the phrase “When things calm down…” from our lexicon. I guarantee you’ll look at life just a bit differently after listening to this episode.

Everyday Vitality: Turning Stress into Strength by Dr. Samantha Boardman

Someday, that glass ceiling will shatter -- and we may be closer than we think.

Electable: Why America Hasn't Put a Woman in the White House...Yet by Ali Vitali

First things first: today’s episode is fantastic, but deals with some really heavy, difficult subject matter. Please be advised, and please take care of yourself and listen as you’re able.

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into flight above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:39 a.m., killing all seven crew members aboard. This marked the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft while in flight. Not only were the families of all seven crew members watching, but so was the country and the world—the launch was broadcast live, and children across the country in particular were watching thanks to schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe being sent into space that day as a part of the Teacher In Space program. Because of this, media interest was higher than normal, and many children watched in horror as the spacecraft exploded, not understanding, and traumatized.

I want to honor those seven lives lost by naming them here: F. Richard Scobee, commander; Michael J. Smith, pilot; Ronald McNair, mission specialist; Ellison Onizuka, mission specialist; Judith Resnik, mission specialist; Gregory Jarvis, payload specialist; and Christa McAuliffe, payload specialist and teacher. This crew was scheduled to deploy a communications satellite and study Halley’s Comet, but never got the chance; the cause of the explosion was determined to be the failure of the primary and secondary redundant O-ring seals in a joint in the shuttle’s right solid rocket booster—our guest on the show today, Adam Higginbotham, will explain that to us. The record-low temperatures on that January morning of the launch had stiffened the rubber O-rings, reducing their ability to seal the joints. After a three-month search-and recovery operation, the crew compartment, human remains, and many other fragments from the shuttle were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean floor. I talk about this with Adam today, but, while the exact timing of the deaths of the crewmembers is unknown, several crew members are thought to have survived the initial breakup of the Challenger. It is especially difficult, at least for me, to hear Adam talk about this.

As a result of the Challenger disaster, NASA established the Office of Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance, as well as other changes focused on safety. In his book Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space, which comes out tomorrow, May 14, Adam Higginbotham tells the story of the Challenger but also the arc from 1967 and the Apollo 1 cabin fire to 2003 and the Columbia disaster, 17 years after the Challenger. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read—full stop. The full story of what happened with the Challenger and why has never been told, until Adam’s book. It is filled with extensive archival research and meticulous, original reporting about this turning point in history, which, as Adam puts it, “forever changed the way America thought of itself and its optimistic view of the future.” Adam is a journalist who is the former U.S. correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph and former editor-in-chief of The Face. He has also served as a contributing writer for The New York Times, The New Yorker, GQ, Smithsonian, and Wired and is also the author of Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster, which came out in 2019. This is a truly harrowing and powerful conversation.

Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

This week Rachel would rather be reading about how to apologize more effectively.

The 5 Apology Languages: The Secret to Healthy Relationships by Dr. Gary Chapman and Dr. Jennifer Thomas

This week, Rachel would rather be reading about liking herself rather than depending on others to do so. This is such a powerful book and conversation!

Liking Myself Back: An Influencer's Journey from Self-Doubt to Self-Acceptance by Jacey Duprie

We have a legend on I’d Rather Be Reading today, friends. None other than Malcolm Gladwell is here to talk about his latest book, Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering, which is out October 1. Revenge of the Tipping Point comes nearly 25 years after Malcolm’s 2000 book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, a bestseller that took his career to the next level and ushered in a new genre of books. Today on the show we talk to Malcolm about what made him want to return to the concept of The Tipping Point and if there was unfinished business there; what a tipping point is, exactly; and how, as he writes in Revenge of the Tipping Point, “the very same tools we use to build a better world can also be used against us.” As he puts it, Revenge of the Tipping Point is a study of the underside of possibilities he explored a quarter century ago. We talk about social engineering, social epidemics, monocultures, overstories, his process, and how we can use tools necessary to control an epidemic to build a better world. So much here, and I’m excited to dig into all of it with you listeners today. Malcolm Gladwell is someone I’ve mentioned on the show before — I’ve read all of his books, and I’m a big fan. He is a journalist, author, and public speaker who has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. In addition to publishing seven New York Times bestselling books (and I have no doubt his latest, his eighth, will become a bestseller, too), he is a podcaster — his show “Revisionist History” is a must-listen. His work is in the realm of sociology and psychology, social sciences, and after the success of The Tipping Point in 2000, books like Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, David and Goliath, Talking to Strangers, and The Bomber Mafia followed. His books are massive bestsellers, he’s one of the forefront thinkers of our time, and has even been named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people. Revenge of the Tipping Point marks Malcolm’s eighth book, and I’m thrilled to chat with him about it today. I also want to throw this in here for good measure — he has a cat named Biggie Smalls, so that’s absolutely amazing. Take a listen.

Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell

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—not just about Jen, but also about her best tips and tricks and strategies for communicating. She knows a thing or two about that, considering that she is 22 years and several communications jobs into this line of work. There’s no way you don’t know who the dynamic Jen Psaki is, but let me refresh your memory: Jen served under both the Obama and Biden administrations, serving President Obama as the White House deputy press secretary in 2009 and the White House deputy communications director from 2009 to 2011. She was also the spokesperson for the United States Department of State from 2013 to 2015 and the White House communications director from 2015 to 2017. She was also press secretary for both of Obama’s presidential campaigns, in 2008 and 2012. From 2017 to 2020, Jen worked as a political commentator for CNN, and in November 2020 she left the network and joined the Biden-Harris transition team; later that month, she was named the White House press secretary for the Biden administration, and she served until May 2022, as it was always her plan (as we’ll talk about on the show today) to stay for about a year. Jen then became a contributor at MSNBC, and in February 2023 it was announced that she would host a new Sunday morning program, Inside with Jen Psaki, beginning the next month, in March. The show is seriously great, and ratings showed that; in September, the program took over MSNBC’s Monday 8 p.m. primetime slot, and I highly recommend watching it for yourself. (The show focuses on public policy issues, by the way.) Jen is also a wife and a mother of two young children, and we talk about how she juggled marriage and motherhood with one of the toughest communications jobs in the world. Now she’s an author with Say More, a book that Jen said she wished she’d had when starting her career.

Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World by Jen Psaki

Today on the show, we’re talking about the history and power of hairdressing and how, as our guest Dr. Elizabeth Block puts it in her new book, how hair “contributed to the lived experiences of women.” Her new book Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing is out September 10 and looks at hair through an academic lens—and it’s totally compelling. We get into the cultural impact of hair; why hair is, as the title suggests, something that is beyond vanity; how choosing a hairstyle or color is much deeper than surface level; hairdressers, wigs, salons, hair products, hair tools, hair length, and so much more. We dig into when people realized that hair as an entrepreneurial venture could be profitable, hair throughout history, and what historians like our guest today might say about our hair 100 years from now. Walking us through it all is Dr. Elizabeth Block, who teaches us that studying hair and its importance is anything but frivolous. She is an art historian and a senior editor in the publications and editorial department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She is also the author of the award-winning Dressing Up: The Women Who Influenced French Fashion, and her work has appeared in Town & Country, Slate, BBC News, and BBC Woman’s Hour, among other prestigious places. I’m excited for you to hear what she has to say as we dig in.

Beyond Vanity: The History and Power of Hairdressing by Dr. Elizabeth Block

This week Rachel would rather be reading Style Therapy.

Style Therapy: 30 Days to Your Signature Style by Lauren Messiah

Producer's note: I need style. Rachel has great style.

There is no novel better than a Plum Sykes novel, and I have mentioned on the show what a fan I am of Plum’s work—and of Plum, period, end of story. I have another special fiction pick for you listeners as we’re starting to plan summer beach trips and pool days—Plum’s latest, Wives Like Us, is an absolute must for your summer TBR. It comes out today, May 14, and I tore through it and wanted more of Ian the butler (you’ll hear Plum and I talk about him plenty on the show today). Truly, Plum is one of the ultimate icons of fiction to me. Let’s talk about Wives Like Us before we get into getting to know a bit about Plum herself: this book takes us to the Cotswolds, specifically “The Bottoms,” and introduces us to the luxe life there, specifically the life and the concept of “the Country Princess,” which Plum explains in our chat today. Plum lives in the English countryside, so it’s a world she knows well. The signature of Plum’s novels is that they’re so juicy and dishy and high society-focused—upper crust and rich and glamorous. This is her fourth novel, following Bergdorf Blondes, The Debutante Divorcee, and Party Girls Die in Pearls, which came out in 2016, if I’m not mistaken, so it’s been a moment since I’ve gotten my Plum Sykes novel fix. Let me tell you about her, without further ado. First of all, Plum and her twin sister, Lucy, were the “It Girls” in New York City high society, Plum working at Vogue under Anna Wintour and Lucy at Marie Claire, where, actually, I now work. Plum is a fashion journalist, novelist, and socialite and was born in London and educated at Oxford, and remains a contributing editor at Vogue, where she writes about society, fashion, and Hollywood. She has also written for Vanity Fair. I’m a fan of Plum’s writing and just Plum as a person, and there’s no question that you, too, will fall in love with her after listening to our conversation.

Wives Like Us by Plum Sykes

Surprise! Only for Luke Russert would I come back from hiatus -- and what a great chat this was. Luke's book is a New York Times bestseller, and for good reason. It unpacks the grief he felt over losing his father, Tim Russert, at such a young age; traveling the world in search of himself; his relationship with his mother Maureen Orth, also an iconic journalist; nepotism in the workplace; and so much more. This will be our last episode for a while, so I hope you enjoy it -- and pick up this book. You'll love it.

Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself by Luke Russert

For our season six finale, we're talking to the brilliant Katherine May about finding enchantment again. When did we stop seeing the wonder of our everyday lives? And how can we get back to that childlike sense of amazement on a daily basis? This is a beautiful conversation with a talented writer and truly fantastic person.

Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in An Anxious Age by Katherine May

This conversation lit a fire in me, and I knew I’d Rather Be Reading was nowhere near finished. Mitch is the author of my favorite work of fiction of all time, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and his latest, The Little Liar, is just as powerful. It takes us back to the Holocaust, a beautiful tale during an awful time told masterfully by the well-researched and thoughtful Mitch Albom. This show is about nonfiction books, so you know if we have a fiction pick on the show, it’s special. That’s what this book is, in a nutshell—special, and worthy of a spot on your bookshelf.

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

Stephen A. Smith brings his trademarked authenticity to the show today -- you may think you know Stephen A. Smith, but I guarantee you'll learn more about this fascinating person after listening (and reading his book!).

Straight Shooter: A Memoir of Second Chances and First Takes by Stephen A. Smith

Charlotte Fox Weber is a therapist, and from her practice, she's uncovered the 12 most common human desires and has written a book about all of them. Each desire gets its own chapter -- and I'll bet you share these desires, too. (No, we're not talking explicit sexual desires, although that certainly can be a part of it.) Listen in for a therapist's insight and one of the most brilliant metaphors I've ever heard -- still can't get over it.

Tell Me What You Want: A Therapist and Her Clients Explore Our 12 Deepest Desires by Charlotte Fox Weber

This week Rachel would rather be reading about how to have successful mornings!

Own Your Morning: Reset Your A.M. Routine To Unlock Your Potential by Liz Baker Plosser

Friendships are a force -- but why are friendships harder to come by as adults? And why do we not find them as important as, say, romance? We delve deep into the power of friendship in today's episode.

Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make--and Keep--Friends by Dr. Marisa Franco

Today we have an inside look into life in the Ford White House thanks to Bob Barrett’s new book Inside the President’s Team: Family, Service, and the Gerald Ford Presidency, which comes out January 7. In this book, Bob — who was one of President Ford’s most trusted advisers — gives us a behind-the-curtain view of the Ford presidency as, second to Gerald Ford’s wife Betty Ford, no one was closer to the president during his administration than Bob Barrett. Bob carried the “nuclear football” of the American nuclear codes, and literally couldn’t let President Ford out of his sight. This led to a deep friendship with the First Family and gave Bob an inside look into the administration, which, born through President Nixon’s resignation over Watergate, will always hold a unique place in history. In Inside the President’s Team, we go inside the White House and inside the First Family in a way we’ve never really seen before. I want to pause here and say that I loved the insights on First Lady Betty Ford — you all know I love to study First Ladies, and she is one of my favorites. Inside the President’s Team talks about why Ford decided to pardon Nixon for Watergate, and how he responded to criticism over his decision; what happened during the two assassination attempts on President Ford; and even about Betty Ford’s intervention. President Ford was, as Bob puts it, “the most decent, honorable, trustworthy person I ever met.” Now, Bob actually passed away in 2022, so we have today on the show his son Nils Barrett to talk about his father and this remarkable book. We chat about how the Ford presidency already is remembered to history 50 years later and how it might be remembered 50 years from now; who both Bob Barrett and Gerald Ford were at their core; and how Bob continued serving Ford after his time in office ended, helping develop the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Betty Ford Center for drug and alcohol rehabilitation in Rancho Mirage, California. Ultimately, this book celebrates living a life of service, and Bob himself served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army and attained the rank of major. He worked at the United States Army War College as its Public Affairs and Communications officer and was offered the role of military aid to President Ford at the start of his administration — hence the nuclear football. I can’t wait for you to get to know him through the eyes of his son. 

Inside the President’s Team: Family, Service, and the Gerald Ford Presidency by Bob Barrett

Today on the show we have one-half of one of my favorite writing duos: BBC’s Katty Kay who, along with fellow journalist Claire Shipman, has authored five books that are all about advancing womanhood. The bulk of our conversation today centers around The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance— What Women Should Know, addressing specifically the confidence gap between men and women, which is keeping women from achieving their full potential. Confidence is something that matters so much but is so rarely spoken about like this—and conversations like this will hopefully move the needle forward. We also talk about the duo’s books Womenomics: Work Less, Achieve More, Live Better and their latest, The Power Code: More Joy, Less Ego, Maximum Impact for Women (and Everyone), which came out this summer. (They’ve also written two books geared towards a younger audience, The Confidence Code for Girls and Living the Confidence Code.) It’ll be impossible for you to not leave feeling empowered.

All by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman:

Womenomics: Work Less, Achieve More, Live Better

The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance—What Women Should Know

The Power Code: More Joy, Less Ego, Maximum Impact for Women (and Everyone)

The Confidence Code for Girls

Living the Confidence Code

If you're an American who survived the start of the pandemic thanks to Netflix, these guests need no introduction. This week, Rachel would rather be reading Leap of Faith by Cameron Hamilton and Lauren Speed.

Leap of Faith: Finding Love the Modern Way by Cameron Hamilton and Lauren Speed

Rachel also has some books to suggest:

Nothing Personal: My Secret Life in the Dating App Inferno by Nancy Jo Sales

Mergers and Acquisitions: Or, Everything I Know About Love I Learned on the Wedding Pages by Cate Doty

The Murdaugh saga (there is no better word I can find for it than that) gripped the nation earlier this year, as patriarch Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to two life sentences for the brutal murders of his wife, Maggie, and younger son, Paul. As horrific as that crime alone is, that’s nowhere near where the Murdaugh saga begins or ends. In 2019, a boat driven by Paul crashed and killed friend Mallory Beach; an upcoming hearing about the Murdaugh finances is what I believe killed Paul and Maggie just three days prior. There’s also the 2015 murder of Stephen Smith on a rural road in Hampton County, South Carolina, and the 2018 alleged “accidental” death of the Murdaugh housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield. Three months after Paul and Maggie were murdered in June 2021, Alex was shot in the head in a failed assisted suicide that September. He was eventually arrested for Paul and Maggie’s murders and convicted on March 2, 2023. Alex is also believed to have embezzled up to $20 million, mostly from his clients he was paid to help, all in support of a rampant opioid addiction. Today on the show we have the reporter who covered the Murdaughs from the 2019 boat crash forward, Mandy Matney. In addition to covering the case, she also hosts the extremely popular Murdaugh Murders podcast, and if you know anything about the Murdaugh saga, you’ve likely heard of her or her podcast. Her new book about the Murdaugh trial comes out November 14, and it’s a must read if you’re even 1 percent interested in this wild “truth is stranger than fiction” saga.

Blood on Their Hands: Murder, Corruption, and the Fall of the Murdaugh Dynasty by Mandy Matney

What an absolute delight it was to talk to an American hero -- a former U.S. Secret Service agent who served five presidential administrations, from Eisenhower to Ford. You won't want to miss Agent Clint Hill's stories about traveling around the world with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, chronicled in his new book.

My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin Hill

I’m so pleased to have on the show today Megan Gorman, who wrote a very compelling book called All the Presidents’ Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money, which is out September 24. Before we get into the book — which isn’t that such a great idea and such a great title? — let me tell you a little more about Megan: she is the founder and managing partner of Chequers Financial Management, a female-owned high-net-worth tax and financial planning firm. Her clientele ranges from entrepreneurs to corporate executives to inheritors of family wealth. She is an attorney by training and is passionate about the problem solving required to work in the world of complex financial planning. She has been named to Forbes’ list of America’s Top Women Wealth Advisors and was a vice president at Ayco, a Goldman Sachs company, and BNY Mellon Wealth Management prior to launching her own firm. Megan is a senior contributor at Forbes, where she writes about personal finance and income tax, and she is frequently cited across prominent financial media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and CNBC. She has now written the brilliant All the Presidents’ Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money, where she dives deep into the personal finances of the presidents. As she writes, “most of their money problems are just like ours.” In the book, Megan teaches readers what president is the best at money (and he may surprise you!), and who is worst with money. Interestingly, Megan writes that, when it comes to solid financial advice, “if you ever asked me what is the best thing you could do financially, my answer would be quite succinct: get married and stay married.” We talk about First Ladies, too, and about financial advice for the presidents and for us; Megan writes about financial fragility and financial resilience, and how “In many of the presidents’ stories, financial fragility is a common theme.” We talk about what grit has to do with wealth, how the American dream is still there but much harder to attain in present times, and so much more. Studying the U.S. presidents and their personal money stories and how they built wealth — or didn’t — is incredibly fascinating. Take a listen.

All the Presidents’ Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money by Megan Gorman

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 that last one, but it’s true! Kaitlin prides herself on sharing the stories of women, whether it’s celebrities you’ve heard of like Paris Hilton, or women sharing personal stories about life events they’ve been through, like the plaintiff in the largest-ever revenge porn case or a mom who was addicted to opiates. She’s spoken to politicians, like the youngest Black woman to serve in Congress, Lauren Underwood. Her stories are famously heavy hitting, like how the number of women in prison is up 1,260 percent in a generation. Now a freelance writer, Kaitlin has also edited for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, House Beautiful, Refinery29, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Business of Home, and Publisher’s Weekly, and she has been on staff at Teen Vogue, Glamour, and Seventeen, and while at the latter, wrote the first American cover stories featuring Zendaya, Kylie Jenner, and Harry Styles. Again—just an absolute dynamo. She has multiple columns now that she writes—“How I Travel” and “How We Pulled It Off” for Conde Nast Traveler, a column at Business of Home, as well as writing extensively about weddings for New York Magazine’s The Cut, which you know I am wildly obsessed with. Speaking of obsessed, Kaitlin was one of the first royal family podcasters—of which I am now one—and was one of the two original hosts of the hit show Royally Obsessed, which led to television appearances on Good Morning America, 20/20, and MSNBC, as well as in Argentina, the Philippines, Canada, and the U.K. After 13 years in New York City, Kaitlin relocated to Taipei, Taiwan in 2022, and we talk about that experience on the show, including how she manages doing business in New York City from all the way across the globe, while also being a new mom. This is actually a level of Superwoman that I didn’t know existed. How Kaitlin is able to get it all done, and done so well, is really, truly incredible. I can’t wait for you to get to know her.

Kaitlin Menza’s portfolio

“How I Travel” for Conde Nast Traveler

“How We Pulled It Off” for Conde Nast Traveler

“Shop Talk” for Business of Home

“The Wedding Files” for New York Magazine’s The Cut

+ it’s leave you with four today!

Celia Rivenbark collection

Gabby Bernstein collection

Nedra Glover Tawwab collection

Barbie: The World Tour by Margot Robbie and Andrew Mukamal

If you want to feel better, stronger, and more resilient this year, this is the episode for you. Join me as I chat with Dr. Molly Maloof about all things health and wellness -- most especially about how to get our spark back. Let's do this!

The Spark Factor: The Secret to Supercharging Energy, Becoming Resilient, and Feeling Better Than Ever by Dr. Molly Maloof

This week Rachel would rather be reading Body Talk by Katie Sturino.

Body Talk: How to Embrace Your Body and Start Living Your Best Life by Katie Sturino

Rachel suggests the following four books as companions to Katie's book:

The Wreckage of My Presence: Essays by Casey Wilson

Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth

Comparisonitis: How to Stop Comparing Yourself To Others and Be Genuinely Happy by Melissa Ambrosini

Breaking Free from Body Shame: Dare to Reclaim What God Has Named Good by Jess Connolly

Editor's Note: If you are having issues with an eating disorder, please call the National Eating Disorder Association at 1-800-931-2237. 

We love feedback -- send it to helloidratherbereading@gmail.com!

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 children’s book author we’ve ever had on the show. Vera’s book, Our Baby In Our Hearts, focuses on the real life experience that her two living children, Grayson and Ivey, faced when confronted with the loss of their baby brother, Hayes, on February 15, 2021. (Yes, this episode is being released on Hayes’ third birthday.) Our Baby In Our Hearts offers practical mindfulness exercises to help young hearts cope with big feelings. It is also stunningly illustrated and will truly be so moving to anyone, but especially anyone who has experienced pregnancy loss. After losing Hayes in 2021, Vera has turned her pain into purpose, not only writing this book but also creating the “Light in Loss” daily healing affirmation cards series for women. She is the founder of the wellness coaching practice Resonating Soul Wellness and has over a decade of experience supporting women through coaching and counseling. I am so proud to call her my friend, and today’s esteemed guest.

Our Baby In Our Hearts: A Mindful Story of Grief and Healing by Vera V. Chapman

Daily affirmation cards for grieving mothers and women

More affirmations for both women and children

Follow Vera on Instagram @veravchapman!