Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books

Lori Gottlieb is the author of the instant New York Times best seller Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed, which is currently being adapted into a TV series with Eva Longoria. She is a psychotherapist, a nationally recognized journalist, and the weekly Dear Therapist columnist for The Atlantic. Lori started her career in the TV and film industry, went back to medical school, and then began her writing career before becoming a therapist. In Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, we follow the stories of four very different patients as they're going through various struggles in their lives as well as Lori's own upheaval in her life - making her the fifth patient in the story. 

Christina Geist, author of BUDDY'S BEDTIME BATTERY and her latest children's book, SORRY, GROWN-UPS, YOU CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL, talks about her amazing career, multi-tasking, BoomBoxGifts and branding! 

Laurie Gelman spent twenty-five years as a broadcaster in both Canada and the United States before writing novels. She is the author of You've Been Volunteered: Class Mom, a novel about the mother who volunteers in the classroom to help everybody out. Find out how Laurie's own experience influenced this fun read! 

Marcy Dermansky is the author of Very Nice: A Novel. She has previously written critically acclaimed novels and widely published short fiction. Marcy talks about her writing process and the different angles through which she crafted Very Nice, a literary soap opera set in contemporary America that I loved talking about with her! 

Christopher Cerf is an Emmy and Grammy award-winning author, composer, humorist, and producer. A charter contributing editor of the National Lampoon and a former senior editor at Random House, he has written 300+ songs for Sesame Workshop Productions. He's the author of a number of children's books, including Blackie with Paige Peterson and A Skunk in my Bunk! Plus he has a fascinating history in the literary industry. Listen to us talk about the difference between muppets and the literary elite, why he supports FirstBook.org, where he sees the publishing industry going, his time spent joking around with Dr. Seuss, and more! 

Lauren Mechling is the author of How Could She: A Novel. A former reporter at The New York Sun and features editor at The Wall Street Journal, Lauren has written for The New York Times, Vogue, where she is a contributing editor, and The New Yorker online. Her novel, How Could She, is a fascinating exploration of the trouble and heartbreak of female friendship over time. Listen to us discuss her #cloglife (vs. #vanslife!) endeavors, female friendships and more!!! 

Have any sons? Listen to the highly esteemed, Dr. Michael Reichert, author of HOW TO RAISE A BOY. We had the best conversation about how boys feel pressured to be “brave,” how to parent boys in the best way, and how loss affects everything. As a mother of two boys, this conversation was priceless for me!

Lisa Taddeo's non-fiction book, THREE WOMEN, is absolutely sensational. Dark, moving, and written in a brilliant, fresh way, THREE WOMEN is a story about desire, relationships, lust and longing. By embedding herself in ordinary communities throughout the country and getting to know women with different backgrounds, Lisa created a riveting portrait in this un-put-down-able book. Lisa and I spoke about ALL of it including the loss of her parents in her 20s and what makes her write the way she does. 

Eva Hagberg Fisher is the New York-based author of HOW TO BE LOVED: A MEMOIR OF LIFESAVING FRIENDSHIP. Listen to our discussion about her new book which she says is either "a critique of capitalism dressed up as a narrative about friendship with a little bit of chronic illness and non-chronic illness to move the plot along" or "a memoir about how three friends in particular saved my life when I needed it to be saved in various and extremely different ways." 

Catherine Price is an award-winning writer and science journalist and the author of How to Break Up with Your Phone. Before you freak out, breaking up with your phone does not mean getting rid of your phone!! It's learning how to use it in a better, more mindful way. Listen to us discuss addiction, writing, our brains and more!! 

Emily Oster, Ph.D. is a professor of economics at Brown University, but don't let that scare you away!! She is an amazing storyteller and has combed through all the data out there to give all of us the most science-backed parenting tips out there. Listen to our talk about the relative merits of meal kits, marginal utility as it applies to spending time with kids, the beauty of Aquaphor, what to title a sequel to this book, and more! 

Dena Moes is the author of The Buddha Sat Right Here: A Family Odyssey Through India and Nepal. Her book is a memoir of adventure, motherhood, and love, woven into a spiritual journey. In 2014, Dena was a mother who pretty much had it all - she was a busy home birth midwife with a successful practice, two amazing daughters who were thriving, a marriage, a house. She was checking all of the boxes, but inside, something was eroding. What resulted was her family's incredible journey: eight-month backpacking journey through India and Nepal.

Neil Pasricha is the mega-best-selling author of many happiness-related books including THE HAPPINESS EQUATION, THE BOOK OF AWESOME, and the children's book, AWESOME IS EVERYWHERE. Neil also established the Institute for Global Happiness - how cool is that?! We spoke about everything from kids and podcasting (he hosts the amazing podcast, "3 Books with Neil Pasricha") to loss and little pops of pleasure. Neil is an absolute happiness guru. Listen to our talk and feel happier!!! 

I've been spending a lot of time in the ER this summer. It has made me realize how useless my education has been when it comes to preparing me for motherhood. Why wasn't there a class on how to read ultrasounds? Diagnose illnesses? Undergo extreme sleep deprivation?! Listen to some of the classes I wish I'd taken. I published this as an essay on Medium.com. What do you wish you'd taken!? Email me at zibby@zibbyowens.com with any feedback!! 

Julie Morgenstern is an internationally recognized organizational consultant who has written six books including two New York Times best sellers. Her latest book is Time to Parent: Organizing Your Life to Bring Out the Best in Your Child and You, is a must-read for any parent trying to find time to do anything. It's a modern-day guide book for organizing time with concepts like min-max-mod to help prioritize your to-do list. I adored talking to Julie!!! She is a genius and truly changed how I approach my time - and life! 

Today's short bonus episode is with Nora McInerny the host of podcast “Terrible, Thanks for Asking” and the author of several books including No Happy Endings: A Memoir, which I talked to her about earlier this year. I wanted to meet Nora in person and learn more about her incredible nonprofit, called Still Kickin, which she founded after her husband passed away. Watch a short video of our interview here, too! 

Sheri Salata was the co-president of Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) and has now written a fabulous book, The Beautiful No. Sheri had a front-row seat to the most prolific wisdom-keepers of our time and her book is filled with insight about manifesting your dreams and reimagining what living your best life looks like. Listen to our talk, watch the video here, or read the transcript on zibbyowens.com! Don’t you think I’m right that Sheri should write a children’s book about her dogs next??! 

Amanda Stern is the author of Little Panic: Dispatches from an Anxious Life, a memoir about her undiagnosed childhood panic disorder that takes place in New York City in the Etan Patz era. The subtitle, Dispatches from an Anxious Life, is only a small piece of the puzzle of how the course of Amanda's life was shaped. Listen and learn more about her compelling story.

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times best-selling author of The Interestings, The Uncoupling, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, The Wife, and Sleepwalking. She's also the author of the young adult novel Belzhar. Her latest book, The Female Persuasion, was an instant New York Times best seller and was one of the most celebrated books of 2018. Listen to Meg discuss her own mother, her writing, characters who don't feel worthy and so much more! 

Biz Ellis is a former stand-up comic and corporate event planner. She now cohosts the comedy podcast that happens to be about parenting called “One Bad Mother.” She, along with her cohost Theresa Thorn, wrote a parenting, sort of, advice book, You're Doing a Great Job!: 100 Ways You're Winning at Parenting. After feeling like so many of the parenting books they read did not make them feel confident or comforted, they wanted to make a book that reminded parents that no matter how they're doing it, if it's working, good job. 

Jennifer Weiner is the best-selling author of dozens of books including her latest novel, MRS. EVERYTHING. This book, about two sisters from the 1950s to present day, is a family saga, a drama, one that made me gasp at times, relate at other times, and stay engaged throughout. Women’s rights. Lesbianism. Civil rights. Eating disorders. Sexual assault. Drugs. This is her magnum opus. Jen and I did an Instagram LIVE of our conversation. It was beyond exciting to be interviewing her!! 

 

Katie Arnold is a contributing editor at Outside magazine where she has been on staff for twelve years. Running Home: A Memoir is her first book and we're talking all about it today. It explores Katie's relationship with running and with her father after the two converged after he died in 2010. The book is a powerful story of how she grieves her father and how running and the wilderness healed her. 

For Father's Day, I wrote this short article about my dad for the TODAY Parenting Team site. I'm reading it here to wish everyone else a Happy Father's Day.... and to remind all parents out there that sometimes it's the little things that count. 

Evangeline Lilly is the author of the children's book series The Squickerwonkers. The two titles in the series so far are The Pre-Show and Act 1: The Demise of Selma the Spoiled. A former model, Evangeline is best known for her acting career. She was fourteen years old when I came up with The Squickerwonkers original poem. Listen to her talk about her love of poetry, influence from Dr. Seuss, and inspiration for her (sometimes very badly behaved!) characters. 

Lydia Fenet is the Managing Director, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships at Christie’s. As lead benefit auctioneer of the firm, she has led auctions for more than six hundred organizations. Listen to our conversation about her first book: The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You: Command an Audience and Sell Your Way to Success! 

Julie Satow is the author of The Plaza: The Secret Life of America’s Most Famous Hotel. She is an award-winning journalist who has covered real estate in New York for over a decade. Listen to us chat about The Plaza - both a biography of the hotel and a social history of New York - and her inspiration to write this fascinating story!

 

Bonus: watch us on Vimeo! 

Cookbook author and blogger, Catherine McCord, shares her tips for cooking for the whole family in this episode. Her two cookbooks in the WEELICIOUS series (and upcoming third one!) offer easy-to-follow, visually appealing lunchboxes and meals for kids. Hear how she got started and what her secrets are! 

Award-winning author Lisa Barr talks about her most recent novel, The Unbreakables, a sexy beach read about a protagonist who loses everything she knew and how she reinvents herself. Listen to Lisa talk about the inspiration for the book, the symbolism throughout, and "self-recovery."

 

Here's a short (5 min!) essay I wrote recently on Kveller.com called, "Time Keeps On Slipping into the Future... Especially as a Mom." It's about how quickly the kids are growing up, how life plays out in full view in NYC vs LA, and how I'm coping with it all. I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think! zibby@zibbyowens.com. 

Nicola Harrison, a native of England who studied literature at UCLA and received an MFA in creative writing at Stony Brook, has published her debut novel after an extensive career in magazines. Listen to Nicola (a first-time podcast interviewee!) discuss the inspiration for her captivating book, Montauk, the meaningful and timeless topics the book explores like loss, infertility, and marriage and divorce, and the contrast between the Long Island town of Montauk now and when the book was set in 1938.

Wendy is the national best-selling author of All Is Not Forgotten, Emma in the Night, and now her latest work, The Night Before. Listen to Wendy talk about her newest book, and how research and psychology play into creating in-depth characters in this compelling thriller.

Listen to 7-time best-selling author, Brian Solis, as he discusses how to stay focused despite our many technological distractions, how to recover from a life of multi-tasking, and what we need to do to access of inner creativity. 

Darcy Lockman, Ph.D., talks gender roles in marriage, how to get your husband to NOT just stand there while you make chicken nuggets, all the research on what women are suited for more than men, and how to navigate all the complexities of a family. 

I'm trying something new. I'll be releasing one essay episode a week of an article that I've written. Always short. Hopefully relatable! This piece, published on Medium.com, is called, "Moving On Up: A Mother Says Goodbye to Her Little Boy and Hello to Her Young Man." It's about the end of the school year, the passage of time, how it all happens quickly but really in a sea of terribles and amazings. I might cry at the end (sorry!!). Let me know what you think! zibby@zibbyowens.com. 

Reema Zaman shares her intimate stories as a woman recovering from years of mistreatment from the male hand and how she has turned to love to channel those feelings. From Bangladesh to Seattle, Reema covers the globe searching for herself as an actress to an activist. Her voice alone is worth listening to!! 

Listen to Ali Wentworth as she discusses parenting teens, writing personal stories, surviving an acting career and the "shame" of a happy marriage!! Watch us chat live at https://vimeo.com/337424313. 

Virginia Sole-Smith tells the harrowing tale of her infant daughter's near-death illness, how it affected her daughter's eating for years and what she learned in the process. Virginia shares reams of research in her book and gives super helpful tips on how to get kids to eat properly!!

Jennifer Robson's beautiful work of historical fiction takes us behind the scenes of the royal wedding (Queen Elizabeth's!!) to the stories of the dressmakers. Jennifer talks about her love of history, her research, her writing and more! 

Marisa Ramel Bardach talks about losing her mother and how it took her 19 years to publish this "mother-daughter memoir," alternating chapters between her teenage self and her mother who was battling pancreatic cancer. A coming-of-age story, Marisa's book is unforgettable. Get the behind-the-scenes writing story here. 

Listen to debut novelist and bright, shining talent, Claire Gibson, as she discusses the road to BEYOND THE POINT. This novel of female friendships that began at the West Point Military Academy tackles faith, service, love, family, the military and so much more. Claire is delightful, open, honest and relatable, sharing some of her dating foibles, her interviews with previous cadets, her religious grounding and how she crafted her cinematic, impactful novel. 

Kate Hope Day, debut author of IF, THEN, a powerful look at an Oregon community when time changes shape, talks about motherhood, writing, "Sliding Doors," her background and so much more! 

Famous creator of the "Cathy" comic strip, Cathy Guisewite shares her ridiculously funny, laugh-out-loud tales of daily annoyances, like getting stuck in a sports bra. She weaves these relatable moments through her tale of trying to help her aging parents and her college-bound daughter and finding herself useless, not to mention her commentary on gender. Listen to her discuss her book, but then go read it. It will make you laugh until you cry. 

Steven Rowley talks about his fabulous novel, THE EDITOR, about a writer who sells his manuscript to Jackie O. The antics that ensue are hilarious and poignant. They speak to mother/son relationships in a memorable, clever way. THE EDITOR also explores same-sex relationships in a frank, respectful, beautiful manner. Steven discusses all, plus his publishing journey! 

Listen as Jamie discussed themes in her latest novel, DRAWING HOME, including loss, divorce, mothering teens, art, vaping and more! 

Listen to bestselling, prize-winning author, Celeste Ng, author of LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE and EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU. Celeste talks about her process for inventing characters, her fear of loss, her own mom, what she keeps on her desk, what she's working on, and her terrific tips for aspiring writers.  

The hilarious, refreshing Helen Ellis makes me laugh out loud in this light-hearted conversation about her decades in the publishing industry and being a Southern girl transplanted in the Big Apple. 

Pamela Paul gives the inside scoop on what qualities a book needs to make it into the 1% of submitted books that are actually reviewed! She talks about her lifetime love of books, why kids and adults should be bored more often, how she got her current job and much more! 

Claire Bidwell Smith's memoir, THE RULES OF INHERITANCE, covers her profound loss of her mother, the subsequent death of her father and all the ways she coped with both of those. It's searing and unforgettable. Listen to Claire as she talks about her feelings, her experiences and her current remarriage. 

The legendary children's book author and illustrator, Chris Van Dusen, shares his secrets to painting, writing, storytelling and more!! 

Nell Freudenberger, whose first collection of stories, LUCKY GIRLS, was published when she was just 26, has a new novel out in April 2019: LOST AND WANTED. As one of the New Yorker magazine's "20 under 40" to watch, Nell has spent the past 20 years in the literary spotlight. Listen to what that was like for her, how she writes, where she finds her international inspiration, love stories and more.