Babes in Bookland: Your Favorite Women's Bookclub Podcast

What happens when the "honest mom" finally tells you the parts she's never posted?This week I'm talking with Libby Ward about her memoir, Honest Motherhood. Libby built an audience of over 2 million by naming the mental load, the mother wound, and the impossible pressure to be everything. But the book goes further than any caption ever could: her rural church upbringing and the deconstruction that followed, the chaos of her own childhood and the long, complicated work of rebuilding a relationship on her own terms with her mother, and the exact moment in a minivan when she realized she'd become someone she never wanted to be.We talk about trusting her own voice after a lifetime of trusting everyone else's, why she turned down a book deal with a major agent because it wasn't the book she wanted to write, and why writing this one nearly broke her even though the book tour feels like a vacation by comparison. We also get into the humor running through the whole thing, because Libby is proof that funny people usually have a little trauma to thank for it.This is a conversation about permission. Permission to stop performing wellness, to hold boundaries and actually keep holding them, and to feel proud of your own work without waiting for someone else to say it's okay. If the conversation resonates, subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with any mom ready to break out of survival mode. Support the show:On Patreon.Buy us a bookBuy cute merchBuy Honest MotherhoodThis episode is produced, recorded, and its content edited by me. Xx, AlexConnect with us and suggest a great memoir!Follow us on instagram! @babesinbooklandpod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thank you for being here! Today, we look back on a few of my favorite clips from the past three seasons!xx, Alex Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What questions should you be asking the people you love while you still can?That's the thread running through this conversation with Dorothy Roberts, whose memoir The Mixed Marriage Projectstarted with a stack of boxes. After her parents passed, Dorothy opened them and found nearly 500 interviews her white father had conducted with interracial couples in Chicago, beginning in 1937, almost two decades before he married her Black mother. Inside were wild parties, a nudist camp, a turn-of-the-century club for mixed couples, and a file labeled number 224 that turned out to be about her.We talk about the interviews her father never published and the book contracts he kept walking away from, why she hid her father's whiteness from her Black classmates at Yale, and the painful stereotypes that surfaced even inside a club devoted to interracial marriage. We get into the big question at the heart of the memoir too: whether love, the everyday intimate kind, can actually dismantle racism. Spoiler, it's complicated.Dorothy Roberts is a scholar, professor, and author of five books on race, gender, and the systems that devalue Black women and mothers. The Mixed Marriage Project is her first memoir, built from the nearly 500 interviews her father left behind. If this conversation moved you, share it with a friend and leave a review and rating.Purchase The Mixed Marriage ProjectSupport the show:On PatreonBuy us a bookBuy cute merchSubscribe to the Babes in Bookland SubstackConnect with us and suggest a great memoir!Follow us on instagram! @babesinbooklandpod Thank you for listening!Xx, AlexTimestamps!00:01 — Intro: The Mixed Marriage Project02:22 — Finding the form: memoir as history and social analysis04:09 — What was the Great Migration05:55 — Interracial marriage laws, North vs. South08:00 — The interracial couples' club and its blind spot on Black women10:56 — Race, racism, and why the questions never get asked12:19 — Choosing which couples made the book14:00 — The Albertis: a lifelong family friendship hidden in the interviews15:22 — Researcher, daughter, or both16:53 — The twist: her father started this before he met her mother19:51 — Her father's anti-racism, and the brother who disowned him23:19 — The India trip that shaped everything25:06 — Questions she'll never get to ask her parents26:24 — Writing alongside her sisters, Helen and Evelyn28:00 — The Bachelor chapter: the nudist camp, the wild party, the sister who wanted it cut31:40 — A loving memoir, not an attack33:22 — Her own "bachelorette" stories34:21 — What her kids might find in her own papers one day35:37 — Being recorded, being remembered — the podcast as legacy38:36 — Her father's thesis: can interracial marriage end racism41:29 — How her views shifted while writing47:30 — Her father's first interview, 1937, and the racial caste system49:17 — The book he never finished51:28 — File 224: discovering she was one of his research subjects55:59 — Hiding her father's whiteness at Yale59:04 — Ashamed isn't quite the word61:06 — Racial identity is made up — and hers is hers63:06 — Favorite word, staying hopeful, Marvin Gaye Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What would it mean to build women's sports around women's bodies? This week, my friend Becca returns to discuss Lauren Fleshman's memoir "Good for a Girl". What starts as a running memoir quickly reveals itself as something far bigger: an investigation into the science of female puberty and athletics, the eating disorder epidemic inside women's collegiate and professional sports, and one woman's relentless fight to change a sport she loves from the inside out. We discuss Lauren's unconventional path to running, the ways puberty has been treated as "the one injury a girl can't come back from," the NCAA's staggering lack of policy around eating disorders in women's athletics, Lauren's famous Nike "Objectify Me" campaign, and the ways female athletes are still being failed by the systems built to protect them.This episode is for every woman who was ever told she was good — for a girl. The runners, the former athletes, the moms of daughters in sports, and anyone who has ever felt their body was working against them instead of for them.If this conversation resonated with you, the best thing you can do is share it with a friend who needs to hear it, and rate and review the show wherever you listen. It makes a huge difference!Purchase "Good for a Girl"Other Links:https://www.milesplit.com/articles/211759/dear-younger-me-lauren-fleshman (Lauren's letter to her younger self)Follow Becca's bookstagram: @bookedwithbecca and her new running account: @run.with.beccaSupport the show:On PatreonBuy us a bookBuy cute merchSubscribe to the Babes in Bookland SubstackConnect with us and suggest a great memoir!Follow us on instagram! @babesinbooklandpod Thank you for listening!Xx, AlexTimestamps!00:00 — Intro: Lauren Fleshman's Good for a Girl01:02 — Why did Becca pick this book?03:33 — The book's dedication and opening lines03:57 — How did Becca's running journey begin?05:15 — How do you stay safe on solo runs?07:05 — What would you tell your younger self?08:09 — "You can do anything, Lauren" — her dad's voice in her head09:58 — How do we hold space for people who shaped us for better and worse?11:35 — "Dad was a wild tide, but mom was our shore"12:08 — How do parents give equal love and attention in a big family?13:44 — Beating the boys, and not questioning it17:03 — Why do we still say "good for a girl"?17:51 — Middle school dominance, then puberty hits19:00 — Do we tie our identity to winning?19:50 — Becca's Lauren Fleshman sighting on a race course20:25 — Why are girls quitting sports by 14–17?22:37 — Why does puberty help boys and hurt girls athletically?23:32 — The clash between athletic function and the male gaze25:39 — Finding her running form and making the team27:20 — When did you first realize the boys were pulling ahead?29:30 — How did Title IX change the culture of effort?33:04 — "Puberty is the injury you can't come back from" — what did the captain mean?34:20 — Why are eating disorders so prevalent in the running world?35:53 — Why does the NCAA still have no policy on eating disorders?39:06 — Stanford, Jesse, and asking the hard question up front40:07 — "What made great women possible?"41:19 — Body image and the college uniform42:41 — Equity vs. equality — why "same" isn't fair?43:16 — Why do female athletes peak in their late 20s and 30s, not their teens?45:08 — Going pro on a $60K Nike salary46:04 — Coming heartbreakingly close to the Olympics47:01 — What happened when she emailed Nike's CEO?47:46 — The "Objectify Her" campaign — reclaiming the gaze49:19 — How do you let anger fuel advocacy instead of consuming it?49:56 — Why did she start her blog?50:49 — The granola bar company51:04 — Why did Nike treat her pregnancy like an injury?51:33 — What real change would actually look like for young female athletes?52:20 — Final thoughts: what are we taking from this book? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What would change if women stopped being silent about the hardest parts of their lives?This week, I sit down with psychologist, author, and advocate Dr. Jessica Zucker, the woman behind the viral #IHadAMiscarriage movement, to discuss her memoir I Had a Miscarriage and her newest book Normalize It: Upending the Silence, Stigma, and Shame That Shape Women's Lives.TW: Infant loss, pregnancy lossJessica shares the story behind her 16-week miscarriage, how it deepened her already decade-long clinical work in women's reproductive and maternal mental health, and why she felt compelled to bring that conversation into the public sphere. We also dig into why so many women default to self-blame after pregnancy loss, how our culture has taught us to minimize our grief, and why avoiding painful emotions can be far more destructive than actually feeling them. Plus these big questions: Can pleasure and grief coexist? What does it mean to truly honor a loss? And why do the people who most deserve joy so often feel the least entitled to it?Come for the conversation about pregnancy loss and women's shame. Stay for the moment Alex and Jessica unpack why grief avoidance, not grief itself, is what really derails us, and the simple, no-excuse practice Jessica recommends for anyone who doesn't have time to fall apart.Warm, honest, and full of gentle permission slips, this conversation is for anyone who has ever shrunk their pain to make others more comfortable — which is probably all of us.Purchase Jessica's Books:Normalize It!I had a MiscarriageFind Jessica!Dr. Jessica Zucker's website: drjessicazucker.comHer Instagram: @IHadAMiscarriageSupport the show:On PatreonBuy us a bookBuy cute merchSubscribe to the Babes in Bookland SubstackConnect with us and suggest a great memoir!Follow us on instagram! @babesinbooklandpod Thank you for listening!Xx, AlexTimestamps!Timestamps!00:00 Welcome and intro to Dr. Jessica Zucker01:48 The origins of I Had a Miscarriage and Jessica's background in reproductive mental health03:08 Jessica's own sixteen-week miscarriage while home alone04:06 Why shame and self-blame follow pregnancy loss05:28 Miscarriage as a normative outcome, not a curable one07:14 Alex opens up about her own miscarriage09:04 Building composite patient stories across both books11:44 The #IHadAMiscarriage hashtag going viral14:19 Letting grief wash over you instead of running from it15:33 Grief avoidance, numbing, and what actually ruins us16:09 How being the specialist made her own grief harder to navigate18:57 Two weeks after the book came out: a breast cancer diagnosis20:43 Small daily check-ins for people without access to therapy25:01 Grief doesn't shrink, your life just gets bigger26:08 Naming Olive and the grief rituals she witnessed in Tokyo30:14 Can pleasure and grief coexist? Joy as resistance31:35 The backstory of Normalize It and how it came together during cancer35:20 Why women carry so much shame38:04 Can shame ever be a useful tool?39:35 Talking to her son and daughter about bodies, periods, and sex44:11 The bravery of a text that just says "thinking of you"45:52 Mirror or manifesto?46:38 Body image after breast cancer48:29 How Jessica stays hopeful49:02 Where to find Jessica and her books Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Brett is back for a bonus episode and we are getting into "Famesick", Lena Dunham's new memoir about illness, ambition, Hollywood, and whether any of it was worth it. Brett isn't just any reader here — she worked closely with Lena during the Girls era at United Talent Agency, which means this conversation comes with some serious behind-the-scenes context that you are not going to get anywhere else.We break down what the book actually delivers versus what it promises: the health journey, the name dropping, the rise-to-fame years, the rehab chapters, the wildest dedication page we have ever read, and the moment with Barbara Walters that has been making the rounds for good reason. We also get into what the memoir conspicuously leaves out — her friendship with Taylor Swift, the wording of the November 17th statement — and why those omissions say just as much as what she chose to include.The big question we keep coming back to: is "Famesick" a genuine reckoning, or is it a very calculated, self-serving reframe of a career and a public image? If you loved Girls, hated Girls, or have ever had a complicated relationship with a woman who is clearly brilliant... but also kind of a lot — this episode is for you.Thank you so much for supporting the show!Xx, Alex Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Belle Burden's divorce memoir, Strangers, is the book everyone's talking about! She's a Harvard-educated lawyer, a Vanderbilt heiress, a hedge fund husband, and a life that unraveled with a single voicemail. But why are we so obsessed with this woman's problems?On this Bite-Sized Babes, I break down the instant #1 NYT bestseller with some hot takes: the transformation the book promises vs. what it actually delivers, the anger that never quite shows up on the page, and the uncomfortable question of whose pain we choose to center in literary culture. Plus, a fascinating comparison to Jen Hatmaker's Awake, the memoir telling nearly the same story with a completely different energy.Come for the book review, stay for the bigger conversation about women, wealth, divorce, and who gets to fall apart in public.Buy Belle Burden's "Strangers"Connect with us and suggest a great memoir!Follow us on instagram! @babesinbooklandpod Xx, Alex Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Can nice girls win?You know her as one of the most iconic players in Survivor history, but Parvati Shallow's memoir, Nice Girls Don't Win, reveals the story behind the strategy. My friend, Diliana, joins me as we dive deep into Parvati's remarkable journey from growing up in a cult-like commune called The Ranch, to winning Survivor twice, to finally doing the hardest thing of all: healing.We explore the four Fs — fight, flight, freeze, and fawn — and how Parvati spent most of her life cycling through them without realizing it. We talk about the performance of being "the good girl," what it costs women to be likable, and why the villain edit she carried for years says so much more about our culture than it does about her.And along the way, we get personal about growing up in survival mode, about not wanting to be a burden, about the belief systems we inherit from the people who raised us, and the long, non-linear work of unlearning them.This one is for anyone who has ever shrunk themselves to be loved, wondered why they can't just get over it, or needed a reminder that the mess and the healing are both part of the win.Purchase Nice Girls Don't Win by Parvati ShallowOther books mentioned:Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete WalkerThe Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der KolkExistential Kink by Carolyn ElliottThank you for supporting the show!Xx, Alex Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.