Totally Booked with Zibby

I like to think of Marie Benedict as my midlife history professor; every novel she writes teaches me more about periods of time I thought I understood. In  Daughter of Egypt,  Marie transports us to post-WWI England and Egypt through the eyes of a young woman who is more interested in archeology than cotillion. I interviewed Marie as part of Totally Booked: Live in Palm Beach. Prepare to...

Do you remember  The Book Thief?  It came out twenty years ago and was a massive bestseller. It was just re-released as a 20th anniversary edition and oh my gosh, it’s gorgeous. I re-read the book to prepare for my interview with Markus and highly encourage you to do so, too — or read it for the first time if you missed it. Spectacular.  It’s a story about a young, book-loving, non-...

Bestselling author Allison Pataki introduces us to yet another powerful woman forgotten in history in her latest historical novel,  It Girl.  Evelyn Talbot shot onto the scene in the early 20th century and rose to prominence (think: Kardashian). But her relationships with men destroyed her career and her life. Read Allison’s reimagined ending for this star.  ** Want more? Become a p...

Brian Platzer’s novel  The Optimists  was just reviewed in the  New York Times Book Review . I interviewed him live at the Whitby about his beloved teacher, who fell victim to a stroke and whom he visited for years afterwards, how Sarah Jessica Parker interviewed him at a recent event, and the power of loyalty. It also features a love story gone wrong about teens and a star student’...

Want to travel to the Southwest?  I Am Agatha  by debut author Nancy Foley takes us there. Inspired by her grandmother’s past, Nancy wrote a story about two elderly ladies and their antics. It’s as much about the land as the people. Here’s to pursuing writing dreams until they come true.  Share, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens! ** Want more?...

In  Table 4 at The River Cafe , restaurant owner Ruthie Rogers shares conversations with her high-profile podcast guests including Paul McCartney, David Beckham, and Martha Stewart. Learn more about them through the relationships to food.  Share, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens! ** Want more? Become a part of my community! Sign up for Zibby's Hig...

Ever wondered what a fictitious book club would look like in Anna Quindlen’s mind? Enter  More Than Enough,  her latest powerhouse of a novel which centers on what happens to the members of a book club including DNA-based identity disruptions, illness, infertility, and more — with a dose of alpaca. Read to find out. We recorded our episode live at The Whitby Hotel. Watch it on  my T...

We published this “Thelma and Louise” meets “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” tale about a midlife recently catfished and humiliated woman and the young journalist determined to get revenge on her behalf. Travel all over Europe with them as they track down the con man who did this. Alexandra Potter is a massive bestselling author in the U.K. whose last novel was adapted into the TV show, “Not Dead Yet” on...

If you’re in the mood to commiserate with a couple of close friends about the indignities of aging, love in midlife, life at Princeton in the 90s, how to get in shape for running, and more, this is the book for you. Hear from the leading Black and Jewish co-author team Alli Frank and Asha Youmans who call themselves “the Will and Grace of race” in  Run for Your Life, Callie Kingman. Share, ra...

In Mark Oppenheimer’s  new biography about Judy Blume , he reveals a number of surprising things, so much that I kept leaning over to my kids as I read going, “Did you know…” What the former “Unorthodox” podcast host really did was paint a portrait of one of the consummate literary leading ladies of our time. A must devour.  Share, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Inst...

Aren’t teachers the best? When I found out that Ani Katz (“Miss Katz”), my kids’ former teacher, wrote another novel,  Haven ,  I had to invite her on the podcast and to our Totally Booked: Live show. Hear from her about the teaching life, the pitfalls of writing fiction, and so much more.  Share, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens! ** Want mor...

You might know Deborah Goodrich Royce for the amazing summer author series she hosts at the hotel she co-owns with her husband the  Ocean House  in Watch Hill, R.I. (If you haven’t been, you must.) Or maybe it’s for her previous novels,  Finding Mrs. Ford, Ruby Falls,  or  Reef Road . Perhaps it’s for her soap opera days, or from co-chairing the New York Public Library’s a...

I interviewed the one and only Joan Lunden live in front of an audience for this very special discussion about her career as a longtime GMA anchor, her women’s health advocacy, the loss of her father at a young age, her marriage and second marriage, and so much more. What a thrill! Check out her latest memoir   Joan: Life Beyond the Script. Share, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zi...

Trying something new here! I interviewed three women authors on the same day whose novels took me through the full spectrum of motherhood — so I wanted you all to have the same experience. We start with Angela Brown’s  Ways to Find Yourself  in which Grace Whittaker meets younger versions of herself as she mourns her mother’s loss while attempting to get pregnant. We then move on to Brit...

Focus Features was kind enough to offer me the chance to host a screening of the new film “Midwinter Break,” which many of you in my community attended! Based on the novel  Midwinter Break   by Bernard MacLaverty, which was edited by podcast guest and author Jill Bialosky, the film “Midwinter Break” paints an intimate portrait of a marriage in its later years. Director Polly Findlay and...

I loved these poems by Jessica Urlichs so much that I ended up reading some to my son. Somehow, they take the unwieldy, much-discussed experience of motherhood and reframe it, distill it, and make it relatable in a new way. Isn’t it wild how effective great poetry can be? We discussed all of it and made each other cry. Check out her collection  We Bloom Because of You. Share, rate, & revi...

Mimi Nichter was an American teenager returning from a summer in Israel on September 6th, 1970 when the plane she was on was hijacked. She was then taken hostage. Until recently, she’d never shared what happened. With the release of her memoir,  Hostage: A Memoir of Terrorism, Trauma, and Resilience , she sets the stage for how what happened to her has echoes in the news literally today. I’m...

Congratulations to author Zeeva Bukai for winning a National Jewish Book Award from the Jewish Book Council for her novel  The Anatomy of Exile .  On our episode, we spoke about her new book,  The World Between ,  which is a slim, powerful narrative about a woman who travels to Tel Aviv to the home where she first started her marriage and revisits later in her life. It’s about...

I’m hooked. Somehow, I’d never read Elizabeth Day’s books until her latest,  One of Us,   a smart look at relationships, cancel culture, and more. I enjoyed her writing so much that I ordered her backlist. Elizabeth hosts the popular podcast “How to Fail.” In this book, she absolutely hasn’t. We connected as writers named Elizabeth who started podcasts on a whim post-divorce and grew a f...

Who knew?!! Well, apparently, senior correspondent for CBS News Norah O’Donnell did. In her book,  We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America , the stories of many unknown — and some well-known — are brought to the surface. The story of the U.S. is reshaped through what she uncovered. Written with Kate Andersen Brower, who joined us for the episode, Norah and WE THE WOMEN will change...

Author Charleen Hurtubise paints a picture of a woman reinvented. We meet  Saoirse   on an airplane, faking her identity with a friend’s passport, on her way to start over entirely overseas. Why? You’ll find out. Art plays a central role in Saoirse’s new life — and in her unraveling. Does her husband know? You’ll find out. (Note: We had some technical issues during this episode, but...

Sometimes you just click with someone. By the end of my in-person interview with Israeli poet Rachel Tzvia Back, we were hugging — having laughed, cried, and truly connected in just 30 minutes. Why? Because she’s awesome, yes, but also because her memoir,  The Dark-Robed Mother , is so intimate, vulnerable, and beautiful that it would endear her to anyone. It’s funny and hopeful, dark and poi...

I am obsessed with the TV show “The Middle” starring Patricia Heaton, Eden Sher, and an all-star cast. It ran for nine years starting in 2009, but I only discovered it recently thanks to the clips my kids saw on TikTok. I wrote a Substack for my Z.I.P. members called “Here in the Middle” about how much I love this smart show about a family in Indiana who mirrors my own in ways that make me laugh o...

This Book Made Me Think of You ,  an instant  USA Today Bestseller  by top UK author Libby Page, is an ode to bookstores, an ode to love, and an ode to the power of books to get us through anything. Libby came to my home and stayed for lunch when she was in town from the U.K. We could’ve talked about books  forever . I don’t know what was cuter — the book or the purse she broug...

Jennifer Reid, MD, author of  Guilt Free , has the answers. For those of us who feel guilty about almost everything having to do with parenting, psychiatrist Dr. Reid hears us — and has solutions. I recorded this live at my children’s school, where I peppered her with questions that were, perhaps, too personal?! Share, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens!...