Totally Booked with Zibby

Zibby interviews New York Times bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld about Romantic Comedy, a hilarious and compelling meta-romance (and Reese's Book Club pick!) about a comedy writer who has sworn off love, the comedy sketch she writes about the phenomenon of ordinary-looking men dating gorgeous female celebrities (and how the opposite just doesn’t happen), and the dreamy pop star that flips the...

Zibby speaks to perinatal psychiatrist and New York Times contributor Pooja Lakshmin, MD, about her compassionate and actionable new book Real Self Care: A Transformative Program for Redefining Wellness (Crystals, Cleanses, and Bubble Baths Not Included). Dr. Lakshmin discusses her New York Times article, “This is Betrayal, Not Burnout,” which argues women are burnt out because their social system...

Zibby interviews author Jane Roper about The Society of Shame, a heartfelt, witty, and hysterical satirical novel about forty-seven-year-old perimenopausal Kathleen Held, her cheating politician husband, and the big period stain that catapults her to unwanted fame (#YesWeBleed). Jane talks about her fascination with the internet and cancel culture, her journey to writing this book (and how she fin...

Bestselling poet and repeat MDHTTRB guest Maggie Smith joins Zibby to discuss You Could Make This Place Beautiful, a beautiful and heartrending memoir-in-vignettes about how she reckoned with her past and found herself again after the disintegration of her marriage. Maggie discusses her book’s unique structure and style. She also talks about her divorce, parenting, the power of home and commu...

Zibby interviews author and pediatrician Dr. Kelly Fradin about her important, empathetic, and comprehensive new guidebook Advanced Parenting: Advice for Helping Kids Through Diagnoses, Differences, and Mental Health Challenges. Dr. Kelly Fradin explains how her mother advocated for her when she had childhood cancer and how she too has had to trust her own parental intuition and advocate for her d...

Zibby is joined by author, award-winning journalist, and repeat MDHTTRB guest Anissa Gray to discuss Life and Other Love Songs, a riveting, complex, and astonishingly moving African American family saga about a father’s sudden disappearance and how it unravels the lives of the family members he leaves behind. Anissa talks about her decision to write from different perspectives and time periods, th...

Zibby speaks to award-winning author and repeat MDHTTRB guest Rachel Beanland about The House is on Fire, a propulsive work of historical fiction about a fire that ravaged a theater mid-performance and forever entwined the lives of four very different Americans: a young stagehand, a society widow, an enslaved woman, and a blacksmith. Rachel talks about her meticulous research of the real 1811 Rich...

Zibby is joined by writer and podcaster Laura Tremaine to discuss her latest book The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs, an adult friendship book filled with honest confessions, wisdom, and wit. Laura discusses the different types of friends (from the “battle buddy” to the “obsessive”) and then describes her personal experiences with friendship, from making her deepest friendships in her...

Zibby interviews author Ella Berman about her second novel, Before We Were Innocent , a haunting and dazzling page-turner about three teenage best friends and the fateful summer trip to Greece that ends with one of them dying and the other two being blamed for it. Ella discusses a theme she loved exploring: the simultaneous power and vulnerability of youth and female friendships. She also talks ab...

Zibby speaks to debut author Tiffany Clarke-Harrison about Blue Hour, a raw and transcendent novel about a Black Japanese woman struggling with infertility and questioning if she should even bring another Black child into the world, especially after her photography student is a victim of police brutality. Tiffany discusses the themes she explored so beautifully: grief, motherhood, marriage, resili...

Zibby is joined by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and book club founder Amerie to discuss You Will Do Great Things, a magical picture book about a young boy’s imagination and the unexplored worlds it takes him to. Amerie talks about her lifelong love of books, from a childhood spent at the military base library, to stacking shelves at Georgetown, to reading Harry Potter on her tour bus. Then,...

Zibby interviews author Alice Robb about Don’t Think Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet, a profound and passionately-researched interrogation of the ballet world, inspired by the grueling years she spent at the most elite ballet school in the country. Alice describes what it was like to dedicate her childhood and adolescence to dance, her former and current challenges with body image, and her view...

Zibby Books author alert!!! Award-winning author Mary Otis joins Zibby to discuss Burst, a propulsive and utterly arresting new novel that explores Charlotte and Viva’s unconventional, fractious mother-daughter relationship, along with generational addiction, artistic ambition, and the power of forgiveness. Mary reveals the inspiration for this story and explains how she developed her complex, com...

In this special episode (a live event at City Winery!), Zibby interviews New York Times bestselling author Jill Santopolo about Stars in an Italian Sky, a shimmering, heartfelt story of two star-crossed lovers in post-World War II Italy and, generations later, a New York City love story that will uncover a long-buried family secret. Jill reveals the inspiration behind this story, her strategy for...

Zibby interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James B. Stewart about Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy, a jaw-dropping and explosive Succession- esque account of the fight for power at Paramount Global. James describes billionaire media mogul Sumner Redstone’s questionable behavior (and fashion sense) and his fascinating, fraught relationship with h...

Debut author Madelaine Lucas joins Zibby to discuss Thirst for Salt, a mesmerizing, sensuous, and lyrical novel about a woman’s long-ago holiday affair with a man 18 years her senior and, many years later, her reckoning with the choices she made. Madelaine talks about her unique editorial and stylistic choices, gorgeous cover, and the decision to explore a fascinating trope: relationships with sig...

Zibby speaks to Slate editor Dan Kois about Vintage Contemporaries , a warm, big-hearted, and funny New York City coming-of-age novel about a literary agent assistant and the two friendships that change her life. Dan describes his protagonist Em, touching on her big-city aspirations and publishing job disillusionments (which, he reveals, were inspired by his own experiences in the industry). He al...

Zibby interviews New York Times bestselling author Ana Reyes about her debut, The House in the Pines, a chilling, atmospheric, and unputdownable psychological thriller that involves two inexplicable deaths, an unreliable narrator, hazy memories, and a desire to unlock old secrets. Ana describes her protagonist’s drug abuse, revealing that it paralleled her own struggle with Klonopin withdrawal. Sh...

Zibby speaks to Ari Shapiro, the award-winning cohost of the most listened-to radio news program in the US (NPR’s All Things Considered ) and debut author of The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening, an utterly beautiful, humorous, and revelatory memoir-in-essays about his globe-trotting journalism and the people he met along the way. Ari reveals what he hopes readers w...

Zibby interviews literary agent and debut author Jennifer Herrera about The Hunter , an expertly plotted, richly atmospheric, and truly haunting suspense novel about a detective who loses her job and her husband and is forced to move back to her small Ohio hometown, where three men have suspiciously drowned. Jennifer discusses the themes she loved exploring: broken marriages, tricky adult sibling...

Zibby speaks to debut author Cecile Pin about Wandering Souls, a poetic, immersive, and heartbreaking tale of three orphaned Vietnamese siblings who arrive as refugees in Thatcher’s Britain and must rebuild their lives from scratch, alone. Cecile explains how her mother’s refugee story inspired this novel and what it was like to imagine and write about the atrocities experienced by her ancestors....

Zibby interviews entertainment executive, mental health advocate, and bestselling author Tara Schuster about her latest book Glow in the F*cking Dark , a powerful, ruthlessly honest, and irreverent guide for taking charge of your mental health. Tara describes the traumas that led her to write this book – an abuse-filled childhood, getting laid off from the job she’d had for a third of her life, an...

Zibby is joined by debut author Jessa Maxwell to discuss The Golden Spoon, an unputdownable, deliciously entertaining murder mystery that takes place on the set of a popular TV baking competition – it's a combination of CLUE and The Great British Bakeoff! Jessa describes how she developed her cast of characters (there are 8 different perspectives!) and the baking show they are on. She also talks a...

Zibby speaks to her longtime friend and debut author Leigh McMullan Abramson about A Likely Story, a wise and compulsively readable book-in-a-book about a struggling writer, her iconic novelist father, and the secrets she uncovers about him after her mother’s sudden death. Leigh talks about her fascination with famous people (hence the narcissist, fame-obsessed father) and her career transition fr...

Zibby is joined by New York Times bestselling author and education expert Alexandra Robbins to discuss The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession, a riveting, year-in-the-life account of three excellent teachers “whose stories readers can curl up with and get lost in.” Alexandra describes the most significant issues teachers are facing in our country today (from bl...