Babes in Bookland

Ready for a holiday watch that actually holds up? 

We close the year with Jackie and Danielle from No More Late Fees and dig into why Nancy Meyers’ The Holiday still hits. It's a rom-com where self-respect is the twist, friendship is the anchor, and charisma beats swagger every time. We trade Blockbuster memories for sharp analysis then get into what really matters: characters that feel real and show major growth.

Is I...

Does love need words? 

I sit down with anthropologist and author, Danilyn Rutherford, to explore Beautiful Mystery, her memoir about raising Millie, a luminous daughter who communicates beyond speech, and the radical shift that happens when language stops being the measure of a life.

We trace her craft journey and discuss how Danilyn brings an anthropologist’s eye to family life, reckoning with the field’s history around...

How do you honor the ones you love?

Our guest, author and maker Ashley Russell, brings her grandmother, Wanda’s, kitchen back to life with a cozy, retro-modern cookbook that feels like a hug and reads like a memoir. We dig into how a granddaughter turned a private archive into a public heirloom, complete with tattoo-style illustrations, candid photos, and DIY food shots that celebrate mess and memory over perfection.
 
Ashle...

What does it take to keep becoming? 

We dive into Michelle Obama’s memoir with a candid, hopeful conversation about where identity starts, how it stretches, and why purpose, not pageantry, changes lives. Becoming is more than a political memoir; it’s a field guide for growth when the ground shifts under your feet. 

From a tight-knit South Side home to Princeton lecture halls and the relentless spotlight of the White House, we follow ...

If belonging feels like love, purpose, and family… how do you tell when it’s actually something darker?

In this episode, we sit with the hard truths behind Bethany Joy Lenz’s memoir Dinner for Vampires. Through the quiet metaphor of a “meal” that slowly turns devouring, Joy reveals how a search for purpose and belonging can be manipulated by those who feed on vulnerability. We explore the slow erosion of identity, the psychological ...

How can you reclaim your truth and your power?

We’re diving into Horse Barbie, Geena Rocero’s radiant and illuminating memoir that shows her journey from a one-room home in Manila, Philippians, to trans pageants, from the perfume counter at Macy’s to New York fashion sets, and from private, suffocating, fear to a TED Talk that reframed transness as power. Along the way, we discuss her father’s complicated love, her mother’s unwaveri...

What if home isn’t a place you find, but a place you build step by step? 

I sit down with author and family physician, Brittany Penner, to unpack Children Like Us: A Métis Woman's Memoir of Family, Identity and Walking Herself Home, her powerful Métis memoir about identity, adoption, and the radical work of healing. From being carried out of the hospital by a social worker to navigating a white Mennonite upbringing, Brittany tr...

What a treat! This month's Bonus Episode: What Lies Beneath is available for all! No subscription required :)

PLEASE if you have not watched the movie, do that first and then listen to this episode!

My friend, Priscilla, stops in for a deep dive into why this psychological thriller still stings: Michelle Pfeiffer’s nerve and nuance, Harrison Ford’s brilliant portrayal, and Robert Zemeckis’s love letter to Hitchcock that uses mir...

What if the phrases you hear in a workout could actually carry you through the hardest chapters of your life? 

My friend Suz and I sat down with Emma Lovewell’s memoir, "Live Learn Love Well", and followed the thread from the bike to real-world resilience: family roots on Martha’s Vineyard, the ache of divorce, the shock of loss, and the steady return to self through movement, mindfulness, and self-respect.
 
We ta...

A crowded waiting room where no one speaks. 

That image frames my conversation with author Amy Gallo Ryan, whose memoir You May Feel a Bit of Pressure captures the invisible weight of infertility. Its medical routines, social silences, and the way hope can both carry and cut. We dig into why she wrote the book she couldn’t find, how ten years of drafting and revising turned chaos into story, and what it means to share the truth when...

What does it feel like when your voice is taken from you? 

In Britney Spears' groundbreaking memoir "The Woman in Me," we finally hear directly from the pop icon herself after years of silence enforced by a suffocating conservatorship.

Reading this memoir alongside my good friend Lizzie was a profound experience. Britney's story isn't just celebrity gossip; it's a stark warning about how easily...

What happens when a woman refuses to remain nameless? 

Chanel Miller's extraordinary memoir "Know My Name" transforms her painful journey from sexual assault victim to powerful advocate with unflinching honesty and surprising grace.
 
In this deeply moving discussion, my friend, Becca, and I explore how Chanel reclaimed her identity after being known only as "Emily Doe" in the highly publicized Stanf...

What happens when we confront the ways we've perpetuated stereotypes?

Kaila Yu joins me to discuss her raw, unflinching journey from pin up girl and import model to memoirist.

Kaila's memoir "Fetishized" emerged from the aftermath of the Atlanta spa shootings, forcing her to reckon with her own relationship with Asian fetishization. With remarkable candor, she reveals how she initially welcomed the atten...

What defines beauty, and who decides if we're worthy of love? 

In this deeply personal conversation about Alison Landa's memoir "Bearded Lady," my friend, Misty, and I explore the profound struggle of living with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), condition that causes excessive body hair growth, and the lifelong journey toward self-acceptance.

Allison's story begins in childhood when her mother, rather th...

Do our pets make us better people?

My friend, Priscilla, and I think so! We chat about this idea and more as we discuss Dr. Amy Attas’ memoir "Pets and the City: True Tales of a Manhattan House Call Veterinarian."

When Dr. Amy Attas found herself unexpectedly fired from a prestigious Manhattan veterinary clinic, she did something revolutionary—she launched the city's first full-time veterinary house call practice. What...

What happens when you choose a life without children in a world that expects motherhood?
 
Maria Coffey's memoir "Instead: Navigating Adventures of a Childfree Life" explores this question through her extraordinary journey from near-death experiences to global adventures. My friend, Jaime, and I discuss her inspiring conviction to live her life on her own terms.
 
Through vivid storytelling, we travel...

What shapes who we become? Is it the milestones we achieve, the people we love, or the pain we endure?

Sarah Gormley's "The Order of Things: A Memoir of Chasing Joy" offers no simple answers, but instead invites us into the beautiful messiness of one woman's journey toward self-acceptance and self-love.
 
When Sarah returns to her family farm to care for her dying mother, she's at a crossroads. She’s...

What happens when the fairy tale turns out to be a gilded cage? 

In part two this raw and revealing exploration, we continue our conversation about Crystal Hefner's memoir "Only Say Good Things" alongside Holly Madison's "Down the Rabbit Hole" to uncover the dark reality behind the Playboy Mansion's glamorous façade.
 
The conversation peels back layers of manipulation, control, and psychol...

Crystal Hefner's memoir "Only Say Good Things" takes us behind the glittering façade of the Playboy Mansion into a world of manipulation, trauma, and ultimately, self-discovery. Brett joins me to unpack this raw, unflinching account that exposes the dark reality of Hugh Hefner's empire and the psychological toll it took on the women within it.

Our conversation doesn't shy away from difficult truths...