Turning the Tables w/ Danielle Robay | Booked, Blonde & Busy with Olivia Ponton

saying how you feel out loud is terrifying but that's what hinge's new free audiobook no ordinary love is all about it's a collection of real love stories about five couples that met on hinge the stories are written and read by temby dinton hurst nicola dynan curtis garner raven smith and rufy thorpe i hunter harris wrote and read the forward the audiobook's out now give it a listen do you prefer like dragons or vampires pick your poison neither neither girl maybe fantasy isn't for you then 200 pairs of shoes i have a ridiculous amount of shoes because i was like i don't have time for fun i'm trying to work i hear about stories like that and i'm like what am i doing what am i doing we're booked and busy that's what we're doing olivia hi angels welcome to booked blonde and busy because the hottest girls read i'm olivia ponson and today we're joined by danielle robay she is the host of booked marked which is reese witherspoon's iconic book club podcast and her own show question everything where she interrogates the most interesting people alive today we're flipping the script and putting her in the hot seat danielle welcome to booked fun and busy i'm not blonde but i am booked and busy i'm so happy to be here well thanks for being here before we kind of get into everything book related i wanted to do our beverage of the day so we got this little ice match latte because i thought we were just like girlies and the girlies love the match so this is from a local b b public in brooklyn so we'll try it cheers because i needed this so badly i'm on day five of new york i live in la and day five in new york is like being day 30 one on any trip you are just run down and ragged and i love it here but i am tired so thank you to be public oh my gosh so it's your fifth day here what have you been doing i've been working so much um i'm the host and co-executive producer of reese's book club and bookmarked the podcast um so we've been doing events we've been doing like story walks and story fests and then you know i try and make the most of my new york life and i'm like oh my god i'm so tired i'm so tired i'm like going to dinners with friends and i'm meeting new people and running around in ubers and sweating and getting rained on and it's been raining what it's been raining for the past two weeks straight and i'm like what is going on please stop i know i didn't know that it rained in new york in the summer it doesn't how long have you lived here five years okay and why'd you move here oh i really wanted to work for victoria's secret and my agents were like you're only gonna work for them if you move to new york so i'm on my way wow and did you end up working was it a positive experience it was the best experience of my life i love you it's best like the only thing i ever cared about in my life and then i did it and then i just cried for like five days afterwards we gotta get you like some wings in like a clear frame to put on your wall i am manifesting that you know i just can't wait for the day yeah okay anyways enough about me about me what do you like absolutely love um i mean besides books i really do love books um people always ask me like what are your hobbies i don't know if they've ever done this to you in modeling but i was a tv host i was a reporter i worked in news and entertainment news and when i would go in for meetings with people they always wanted to like get to know who you were as a person so they're like tell me what you do for fun and i had to make so much stuff up because i was like i don't have time for fun i'm trying to work um i can't cook i don't surf i really don't have a lot of hobbies i work out and i read books and i read books and i read books and i read books and i read books dream life tbh and i love having long conversations like i love sitting at a meal with friends and talking for hours like wait for way too long but i heard you do love shoes i do so that's a hobby i call that a hobby well you know that i have like this embarrassing saying i made up that um books and shoes have something beautiful in common they both take you places and they've taken me across oceans they um put me in rooms with like a lot of stuff and i'm like the most interesting people they've actually taken me into romances um you know sometimes men will say like don't ever buy a woman a pair of shoes because she'll walk out of your life but i found it to be the exact opposite she'll walk right in yes i don't think i've ever had anyone buy me a pair of shoes it's a good gift i'm not really like a shoe person oh i'm a shoe person i probably own three two two hundred pairs of shoes i've ever bought a ridiculous amount of shoes i need a photo i don't really wear them that much and that's well you're in new york yeah and it's like they i have i can't show my feet online i have so many blisters on my feet all the time from all of the different heels that i wear because i never wear them enough to break them in so it's like i'll wear one one night and then it's like i have 17 blisters on my feet and then i'll wear another the next day and the next day and i'm like i can't keep doing this to myself no i love it yeah i i for some reason as a kid was always a shoe person i've never really been a bag person that much me either i hate purses get a purse away from me it's just like a shoe is a work of art i agree what's something that's like super defining about yourself that you would say that maybe people wouldn't know about you it's hard i mean the one that people probably do know about me is that i think curiosity is my defining characteristic it's gotten me into some trouble it's a blessing and a curse um but the one that people don't know um i think i'm really thoughtful i'm a thoughtful gift giver if we have a conversation like if we had one five years ago and i didn't see you for 10 years i would remember exactly what we spoke about um so yeah well for the people that don't know you also interview people for a living what's it like to be on the opposite side of it i'm getting more and more comfortable i'm like doing it more um at first i hated it really yeah i think i mean i think people that go into interviewing for a living do it in a lot of ways so they don't have to talk about themselves like even if i'm in a casual conversation in with friends i'm not really talking about myself that much unless someone like really prized yeah you know interesting is it true you get your interview style from charles dickens you know it's funny it's kind of in a roundabout way i've always studied i believe in being a student and a teacher i think there's different at different moments in life it's important to be both um but i'm a forever student when it comes to interviewing so like i studied the greats i would watch hundreds of hours of barbara walters and robin roberts and bob costas and i like would write down notes and questions and how they move their hands and um but i think as i've sort of developed my own style because i think when you study people what happens is you're not going to be able to do what you're supposed to do and you're not going to you start to try on what you're learning and then you keep some that fits you throw away the stuff that doesn't really fit you and as you develop your own style i've really leaned into contradiction and charles dickens tale of two cities that first line is it was the best of times it was the worst of times and it's like i think one of my it's probably my favorite line of all time um so yeah in a roundabout way it does really sort of infuse or inspire my interview style yeah well mine's color daddy so a little different tell me why i went on color daddy when i was 21 maybe 20 and she got me to open up about things that i have never felt comfortable talking about in any public setting even with people that i would meet on like the day-to-day i just didn't feel comfortable talking about things like that and i just didn't feel comfortable talking about things like that and i just didn't feel comfortable i think the way that she asked specific questions and like i think for me personally when i'm interviewing people i never want to like like step on any toes and like i sometimes feel like a little like like can i ask this can i not yeah but like i'm genuinely curious about it and i feel like with her like she doesn't care she's just gonna ask yeah so i don't know if that's a negative thing but that is what i do or that's what i try to like think about in my head if this helps you add should she say that about the kisses is that weird she doesn't care she presses send this is the love story of real hinge couple daniel and roxanne written and read by me rufy thorpe listen to the free audiobook now at all because i used to feel similarly to you and then i interviewed this uh journal journalist julia borstein and she said to me that you have to think about it like you are doing somebody a service like you're actually giving them an opportunity to do something and i'm like i'm not gonna give you the opportunity to talk about the thing that is on everybody's minds because if you're curious other people are curious most likely people at home watching are curious and you're doing it with integrity and kindness and so like better to have an opportunity to discuss it you know and then move on what's been your favorite person that you've ever interviewed of all time yeah let's do author first oh that's like picking a favorite child i can't say i have a favorite author i can there's been i think a lot of it is timing right like somebody somebody's message hits you at the right moment in time i mean tia williams is so fun to interview she was a former magazine editor so she just like infuses pop culture and she's so fun um ann lamont i got to interview for the reese's book club podcast that was amazing she's a legend like i've never gotten so many texts from people after an interview came out yeah um and then who else is so fun emily henry is so fun to interview and she's so generous i feel like i've never i don't think i've ever met her but like when i see her do press first of all she's gorgeous stunning her legs she has like your legs it's crazy thank you i just remember seeing her and being like wow she can write that and look like that my dream my dream have you ever thought about writing a book like i think i would have to do this you from the beginning of the book to the end of the book and i was like oh my gosh i don't know what to do with this i don't know what to do with this i don't know what to do with this i don't know like what's your style how do you kind of come up with the ideas like kind of what's your writing process look like and all of them are like it's so long and i think with the publishing style now is that you're supposed to you're expected to come out with like three books a year yeah or even more like i think alex astor came out with five last year she's just not human though she writes like she's alexander hamilton literally and when i was interviewing here she was like yeah i write six six hours a day and seven days a week and i'll do that for like four months and then you know she'll take a break or you know if she has a specific event or press that she needs to she'll go and she'll do it yeah but hearing that i don't have six hours a day for four months right about you're right you don't know yet yeah i was like maybe when i'm a little bit older and i've like lived more life and have more things to inspire me yeah what about you that's so real yeah i've always wanted to write a book really part of doing the the bookmarked podcast that is so fun for me the first is that writers are my rock stars so i think they deserve a very cool platform and years ago i remember like going on youtube to try and find some of my favorite authors talk and the only interview was like a weird zoom interview in somebody's basement it was dark and poorly lit and i'm like they deserve better better um so i love the opportunity to like hopefully give them a very cool interview yeah but also i'm like mining for information like i'm like okay wait tell me about how you wrote this sentence and um yeah i asked them all the questions i'm personally curious about is there anything that you wish somebody asked you oh you know i always wish that um an interviewer or somebody would ask me what i've learned after interviewing thousands of people about their lives okay so what would the answer be like what what have you learned from interviewing thousands of people um i have learned that well let me say it two different ways and then you could pick which one you like okay okay um i have learned that you can learn anything you need to know about yourself by listening to somebody else's story like everybody has you're not the only person on earth to have ever been through that thing and so what i love about talking to people from all walks of life is that i feel like i in a professional way i get to learn to live better through their stories it's like i don't know i feel like i'm like a thousand years old because i just have so much of their information and their learnings and their mistakes and their success and all of it like within my brain and my heart now yeah i unfortunately have to learn through my actions so i can listen to someone's experience all day long i have to go and do it i don't think that's unfortunate okay i think that's so awesome because like people are different in that way i also think that um your level of joy can only match like the level to which you're willing to be vulnerable like the level of your pain and so i think you probably even though you've skinned some knees probably you're not probably have like a really high level of fun and joy and have some amazing stories i have many stories which are sometimes not great to be to tell people sometimes i'm like oh i should have shut up let me let me stop talking actually are you an overshare yes it has gotten me into i've had plenty of media training by the way it has gotten me into some very um unfortunate situations where i'll share something and then that's that person will send it to me being like talking about this online and i'm like oh sorry don't mind me i just forgot that the cameras were recorded it's so funny i just interviewed a harvard professor dr leslie about this she wrote a book about oversharing and halfway through the interview her thesis her idea is that like oversharing actually connects us like you need vulnerability it's endearing and i was like halfway through the interview i've never done this i was like i disagree with your entire practice like oversharing has only gotten me into trouble at work in friendship at dinner and she was like i disagree so it's very funny i would love to see that i really should watch that i think people are probably endeared by it when you do it oh i hope they are and i hope they don't take it the wrong way no i don't know speaking of that do you have any advice for me like not oversharing do you have any advice for like in like as someone who's been doing this for how many years yeah like do you have any advice for me like not oversharing do you have any advice like was there something that you wish you could go back to your younger self and like give her advice on or give someone that's like just kind of starting on well first of all i think you're doing an amazing job so honestly no advice from me um i think the two big things are being a good listener because like we always think of interviewing as talking but like being a present listener i think is just such a big deal because that's how you get the good follow-up questions um and then the heart of somebody i agree you agree because like when i was first starting this like i was talking about earlier alex aster was my first guest on and they were like hey can you send over the questions before i probably spent over five hours like making a like document for what i use on my uh for each episode with like hundreds of questions and like i sent her this huge thing and by the time we recorded i'm like okay i asked like 12 questions i'm like why did i do all that and like you're talking about it's when you don't have that you don't have the follow-up questions and i feel like that's where you actually let your curiosity go so interesting but i think you did the right thing bob costas who's um he was known as like a sports anchor i think he's one of the most brilliant people in media of all time really why he's his iq is so high that like bill clinton was known for like he could just speak and not need a prompter bob costas is the same way like god forbid all the all the prompters went out he's fine he's so and he's an incredible storyteller i've like watched him for so many hours and he would always say that a great interviewer should be the most researched the most prepared in the room and then never show it once you're there so like you should know everything and then kind of throw it away once you're in person with somebody what do you mean by throw like what do you mean by that like just not bring it up or like would can you explain that a little bit more yeah you could i think you can bring some of it up but when i was younger i would always research like i would like know all these fun facts and all these things and some of them are fun to pull out but if you're like constantly trying to show that you prepared you're not like being chill and in the moment and so i think like it's good to have that base of information and then it allows you to have spontaneity does that make sense yeah no i agree interesting so you have like the background of it okay i'm understanding what you're putting down yeah i mean you probably do it naturally because like you've read all these people's books and so like you know so much i know about their interactions yeah and sometimes i'm like please tell me every single thought that went through your head into this entire book that's why you need a podcast this is perfect how do you think you get people to like open up to you in a podcast like has there ever been a situation where you're like wow like i asked this and that led to her talking or them talking about this huge other topic that i didn't even know that was going to come up yes that's the goal right because like i never want to do an interview that's like a replica of what's already out there i always want to learn new information and sometimes it's hard because like you don't know how to curate your interview on anything other than what's out there already um i try and listen to like little sparks of what they get lit up talking about and then i try to zoom in there yeah interesting yeah so like when you do when you film or when you do an episode or an interview with someone like i guess that kind of goes back to your other advice like you you're already going to know information about that but you're not going to talk about it so say they spark up about this one thing that they did five years ago like what if you're not well versed in that topic yeah like how do you kind of explore that or do you just kind of let them go on with it i don't mind like not knowing so i'm just like i have no idea how to do that i don't know how to do that i have no idea about this tell me more you know um and so i think it's totally okay to say that you don't know And I also, I go into every interview with this question in my mind, which is, what can this person teach me that nobody else can? And that's really helpful. Like, just from watching your clips, like, that does make sense. Like, most of the clips that I do watch, I do learn something. And I was like, wow. Like, I would have never, like, known this about carbs or this about Ozempic or whatever it may be, whatever the conversation is. And then I'm like, like, like, it's just so fascinating to me. Oh, thank you. So you've been a lifelong reader. Yeah. And I know you've turned to reading, like, in a dark time. What kind of was, like, your reading journey like? And what was, like, a book that, like, really stood out in the beginning of your time? Ooh. So I grew up in a suburb in Chicago. And we had our little Glencoe Public Library. And it's still. It's still so special to me. But my dad would take me there all the time. I don't know if this is common or not. But, like, when Amazon started, I opened an account. And it was, like, under my parents' credit card. And I got a call. And they were like, stop buying books. And I was like, you know you're, like, the only parent to ever tell their kid to stop buying books. They're like, there's a library. So libraries were a big part of my upbringing. And I'm glad they were, actually. Because they're, like, amazing community places. Librarians, I think. You know, librarians were actually at the forefront of the women's movement back in the day. Because banning books was, like, a big thing. And they were, mostly women, were working as librarians. And, yeah, I grew up in a library. And so books were always my friends. I think I had a lot of feelings as a kid. I was kind of lonely. And I was a little bit of an old soul. And so I don't know that I got, like, the – I don't know that talking to my friends, like, made me feel validated because they weren't thinking about what I was thinking about. And I would open a book and be like, oh, my God, I'm not alone. So books became my friends in a lot of ways. I had real friends. But they were my friends. And then as I got older, they were, like, my companions because if I didn't know how to do something, open a book. Will Smith has this amazing clip on the Teen Choice Awards. It's my favorite. It's my favorite award show, speech show, all time. And he says there are two keys to life, running and reading. Running because when you're on a treadmill and you're running hard and you get to the point in time where you feel like you cannot go any longer, if you can get yourself to move past that, you will be successful in life. And two, reading because every answer is in a book. Nobody has done anything that – like, nobody has ever not done anything that you haven't done before. And so I totally believe that. And I was going through a really – I was going through a really – probably the darkest time of my life in 2018, maybe. And nothing would work. I was so proactive. I was doing therapy. I signed up for a triathlon. I was like, can I run my way out of this? Can I bike my way and swim my way out of this sadness? And nothing really made me feel better, but reading women's stories did. And it sort of reinvigorated my reading. And I started reading. I started reading a lot of nonfiction because I'd always read fiction before. And that helped. And now I read everything. I read celebrity memoirs. I read fiction. I read nonfiction. My dad told me that I should – if I read as much about money as I read about feelings, I'd be in a much better position. And you know what? I'd rather be happy than rich. That's my opinion. There we go. And so I'm – I'd like to be both. What do you think? What book – or what book do you think had like a serious impact on your mental health in that era of your life? Like a book that you were like, wow, like I really connect with that character or the nonfiction. I learned a lot from this. Yeah. I think Jane Fonda's memoir was amazing. She had gone through so much and reading about her like pain and sadness and frustration and all of it made me feel so much better. So much less alone. I remember reading – what else did I read during that time that was so good? I read a lot of Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love. If you are ever going through a breakup, read A Return to Love. Why do you think that? It is the breakup book. Like it is. First of all, it's very short. Okay. And she talks about love and miracles in a way. That like will totally make you feel better. Actually, I interviewed the Culpo sisters and they agreed with me. Really? They were like, we get it as a gift for anybody going through a breakup. Okay. I need to delete. When any of my friends, I'm like, clock you. Oh, yeah. I always give my friends books and they're like – It's the best gift. Enough. Stop sending us books. It's the best gift. I give it to my friends that don't read. Yeah. So like I just like keep filling them up and I keep giving them and I keep giving them. And sometimes they read it and that's the best. It's present in my opinion. Well, I don't know if you do this, but I have a ton of books on my bookshelf that I have not read yet. And I think books find you at the right time when they're meant to because like something will happen. I've had a book for five years, seven years, and I don't read it. And then I'm like, I'm going to grab that one. That was Man's Search for Meeting. I had that book on my bookshelf for a decade and never opened it until this year. Oh, my God. It's like it's one of my favorite books now. So. You were the host of Booked Marked, which is Reese Witherspoon's iconic book club. Do you get like a say in like what books are like the monthly pick? Oh, no. I have nothing to do with the monthly pick. That process is actually like super mysterious and kept under wraps. What I do know is Reese does read all of the books. That's crazy. She reads all of the options even. Like, you know, so she's reading a ton. And they keep that process very private. I think they have probably like, this is my guess, like some mysterious readers and that like send her books. I don't know. I don't know if that's how it works. Yeah. I do get a say on the podcast. There's like levels of approval, but I can, you know, say like when I read Strangers, I got to read that book before it came out and I was just like, this is going to be so, I knew it was going to be buzzy. And I was like, we have to get Bell Burden on the podcast. Wow. Yeah. So what's been like an episode or an episode that you've read a book and you've really vouched for it and ended up coming to fruition? I didn't like what you said, Odin pauses, about the future. This is the love story of real hinge couple Odin and Edward. Written and read by me, Curtis Garner. Listen to the free audio book now. Oh, my friend Allie Kriegsman actually wrote a book months ago and she published it independently. She had shopped it around and nobody picked it up. And she had written a book. She had written a book with a major publisher previously. She's so smart and such a good writer. And I loved the concept. And then she sent me the arc and I was like, this book is awesome. I couldn't believe that a publisher didn't pick it up. I think a lot of that has to do with timing. Like oftentimes, like if one vampire book does well, then publishers are like, we're looking for vampire books, you know? So, because I was just thinking about this. I'm like a dystopian girl till I die. Like give me a dystopian book. I will read it in three days. Like I'm obsessed. And I think there was kind of a surge of this like fantasy romanticist, like, dystopian universe probably in the past like six months a year. I really think like ACOTAR, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and Fourth Wing did really well. And then all of a sudden, everyone was like, let's get them out. Let's get them out. Let's publish them. I have not been mad about that. I have been loving it. Well, you're a fantasy girl, right? Yeah. Hardcore. Okay. So, if I were a fantasy noob, where would you point me first? Like, do you prefer like dragons or vampires? Pick your poison. Neither? No. Girl, maybe fantasy isn't for you then. No, I want to get into it. Okay. Do you prefer like dystopian worlds? Like where there's like no magic, but it's like… Well, like I love Veronica Roth. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, honestly, I'd recommend this… Okay. I'd recommend Conformed by Ariel Sullivan. Okay. Because I love… It's a short book and I feel like the problem with fantasies is that they make them like four to six hundred pages. This is kind of a barrier to entry for me. I don't have a lot of time. Yeah. I agree with that. I started reading ACOTAR because so many people recommended it to me. It's like a hefty book, but it's nothing crazy. And then the following books are like six hundred pages. Like there's a dual read in one of the series that's like a thousand. It's like a thousand something pages. And I'm like, do I really want to spend two months reading this book? I don't know about that. Right. But, okay, anyways, back to the recommendation. Conformed by Errol Sullivan. I will literally send it to you. I have, like, three copies at my apartment because I love it. It's, like, a divergent – how do I pitch this? Like, basically, in this mysterious world or this fictional world, there's, like, two people. There's, like, the elites and then there's – they're called something. Us and our memory. Okay. This is, like, one of my favorite books. I can't remember. But – so the elites will, like, choose one of these random people in this – the lower caste and their whole job is to be there to give birth. So they're, like, pregnancy – there's a specific word for it. So they'll, like, pluck them and so the whole character – the whole book is about one female getting picked by, like, the highest of the elite and he's, like, the prince of the kingdom or whatever you want to call it. But it's not actually called that. Anyways. Tell me she takes him down. I, like, can't tell you anything because it will spoil it. But the dynamic through it, it's – she told me it's going to be a nine-book series. So it's going to be massive. I think, personally, it's going to do very well. Yeah, I'd recommend that. Okay. Are you on BookTok? Yes. I'm – I really like BookTok. I find that it's totally different from, like, the institutional book world. I would – I would strongly agree with that. I think – I started reading and kind of didn't realize BookTok was there because my For You page was, like, like, dancing videos. Like, BookTok was not online. Right. And then I eventually was, like, slowly – I posted, like, my first book video and then I was, like, oh, like, other people talk about this? Okay, nice. And then I kind of found, like, my, like, niche little community of people. Oh, I love that. And – Well, you must love it because it's so much fantasy and romancy. Oh, I love it. Yeah. Is that sometimes too much for you? It's not. It's not too much. Like, I – I think of it's – it's, like, almost two totally separate places. Like, I go to BookTok if I, A, want to hear what people are talking about because, like, if – if a book is winning on BookTok, it's, like, the people's princess, you know? It's kind of, like, bottom down and, like, institutional stuff is top down. Yeah. So I think they both have great places. They're just so different. I would agree with that one. Yeah. I normally get all my book – I normally get all my recommendations from BookTok specifically. You do? Absolutely. Like, if I see a book on my For You page and someone's giving a really good review – Yeah. – the chances of me reading that are incredibly high. I'm like – As opposed to, like, if you're on Goodreads. I don't have a Goodreads. Oh, I love this. I'm going to start sending you books. I would literally love that. And one of my top best questions is, like, why don't I have a Goodreads? And it's, like, I don't know. Yeah. It's just never been something that, like, I'm going to – I have. Yeah. And for me, I'm like, well, if I really need to talk about a book, I'll just talk about it here. Or I'll talk about it on my Instagram story. I'll post it. Like, I don't – it's, like, another platform, you know what I mean, to me. I'm so with you. Yeah. Like, I interviewed Cindy Pham for – and she's a book YouTuber. Okay. And I didn't know a lot about that world. It's, like, a whole nother world. Like, the booktubers and the booktalkers are two different things. I have done some, like, research on books. Like, watching, like – like, I'll search about, like, the Selection series that I read in. And I was doing an episode on that. I was like, oh, let me get a little refresher. The Twisted series by Anna Hong. And it was, like – I was stepping in. I was like, two million views? I was like, who is watching this, like, recap of this series? I was like, what the heck? So, yeah, definitely a crazy niche world. It is. So, kind of going off that, do you – oh, I'm going to ask this. Can you – or what's your opinion on celebrity book clubs versus, like, book talk book clubs? Oh, I love book clubs. I love this question. I think that both are so important. Because celebrity book clubs or just, like, book clubs in general, like, on Instagram or even, like, with friends, I think that those are really curated. Like, there's a lot of taste that's involved. There's institutional thought. There's maybe, like, you picked it because you saw it on Good Morning America or you're trying to learn about. Sort of, like, a subculture, right? Like, there was a memoir, Crying in H Mart. I would have never read it or heard about it had it not been for a celebrity book club or an institutional book club. And, like, it's amazing. It did so well. But book talk book clubs are so fun. And you hear about books you would have never heard about otherwise. And I do think you sometimes get, like, really in-depth thoughts and reviews from people that are hard to get. You know, there's not, like, a message board. There's not a message board elsewhere. Have you read the Boys of Tomen series, Binding 13, Keeping 13? No. Great series. Okay. Cult following on book talk. Like, massive, massive following. Like, just people. There's not that many other books that I've really seen that have, like, that much, like, off-campus. Like, The Deal by Al Kennedy had a pretty, like, decent. But Boys of Tomen is, like, a five steps further than that. The girlies that are obsessed with the Boys of Tomen series are… They come up with the craziest conspiracy theories behind the different authors. Or not authors. Behind the different characters and why they choose to act this way and whatnot. And her books are, like, in a two… Like, the first two books are about two characters falling in love. The next one is about, like, her brother and his girlfriend. Like, they're about couples. Yeah. And people just really get into, like, the conspiracy theories behind it. And I love that. I love when that comes up. It's on my For You page. And it's, like, talking about Shannon and Johnny and, like, what happened about this or Gibbsy. Like, all the different characters. And it's, like, it makes them just feel, like, ten times more alive and, like, a real person. Which, I don't know if that's parasocial or not. So… Maybe. But I don't know that that's bad. Like, I think that's… It speaks to the writing. Like, if you're that invested in the character, the author did something right. I agree. You know what's interesting? When I interview authors and ask them about book talk, I always wonder, like, I asked Emily Henry this. If they read book talk and ever change things based on that information, 10 out of 10 had said no. Really? Yes. They were, like, we do not write for book talk. We don't change any of our characters based on what people are saying. Like, if we did that, we would go crazy. What are you reading right now? Ooh. I'm reading The Joy of Funerals. Wow. Okay. Which is… It's actually really funny. Who's it by? By Alex Strauss. It is very funny. It's not as depressing as it sounds. It sounds like I would not want to read it. No. I actually think… It's, like, dark comedy. Okay. Which is usually not even my genre. But Alex Strauss is a New York Times editor. She was a New York Times columnist, and she's so talented. What else am I reading? I just read A Pair of Aces, which was a Reese's Book Club pick. That was really good. I've seen… I saw her post about it. I was like, hmm. It's a good… I love the plot because it's based on a true story of two women in New York. One that was a black woman DA, the first black female DA in New York. And then one Jewish woman who was an immigrant from Russia, fled the country because of anti-Semitism, and started, like, this very popular brothel where politicians and celebrities would frequent, and they were enemies. But the mob, they needed the mob. Like, the DA was trying to get the mob. And there was an issue with the brothel that I don't want to give away. And so both women had this common enemy. And they never become friends, but they were allies to take down the mob. It's such a good book. Yeah. Yeah. And that's based off a real story? Yeah. Yeah. See, I hear about stories like that, and I'm like, what am I doing? What am I doing? What? We're booked and busy. That's what we're doing, Olivia. We're yapping. Yeah. I saw that. You said that you read, like, 100 books a year. Yeah. I read, like, 24 last year, and I thought I was, like, really, really doing a good job. That's really important. That's amazing. 24 is insane. Thank you. But, like, how do you have the time? It's so hard. I just want to say, I didn't used to read 100 books a year. I only, because of Bookmarked, the Reese's Book Club podcast, read 100 books a year now. And I have a process. I'd love to hear it. I was just going to ask about it, because I'm like, are we doing audiobooks? Are we, like, what is going on? So I have a hard time. I have a hard copy, a PDF, and an audiobook of every book that I'm reading. Not, like, for Reese's Book Club, for the podcast. Because if I am somewhere and I forget the actual book, then if I'm in the doctor's office, I'll listen to the audiobook. If I'm on the treadmill, I'll listen to the audiobook. And then I'll go back to, like, the page that I left off. Wow. And a lot of my weekends are spent reading. Question, like, a personal question. Yeah, yeah. Would love to do, like, a read-a-thon. I just can't sit still for more than, like, an hour or two. Like, I probably can read up to, like, two hours straight. Pretty good. But that's, like, if I'm really obsessed with the book. If I'm, like, mid about the book, like, I'm going to put it down. Is there, like, how does that work? Like, if you sit down, like, how long are you reading four in one sitting? Probably, like, an hour or two hours. I also, like, unless I'm, like, it's gripping, probably max two hours at a time. I do a lot of reading. When I walk on the treadmill now? Like, I can't get behind that. I understand. It makes me, like, motion sickness because I'm, like, trying to read and I'm, like, moving and then I, like, come up and I'm, like, what is going on? That's so fair. I get it. Airplanes, audio books are great or, like, you know, I try and finish a book on a plane always. Sometimes I cry at books and then I, like, cry on the plane and I can tell the flight attendant is, like, are you okay? Story of my life. Literally story of my life. How many times have I cried on the airplane and they're, like, do you need something? And I'm, like, no, sorry. Like, my dragon just died. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm having an emotional, like, can't. But I read. Like, I'm a heavy reader when I travel because I hate my phone. I don't like going on it. I don't like texting people. I don't, like, I don't like any of it. So when I'm able to just, like, turn it off and, like, go MIA, like, hey, I'm going to do that all day long. Do people think you're rude because you, like, don't get back to them? I'm – I think definitely it comes off across as not the kindest when I don't answer people for a few days, but I'm getting better at it. I'm good. It's, like, my biggest issue in life right now. Thank God that's my biggest issue. But I really think people probably think I'm rude and I just – it's not a hurt. I just, like, I hate the phone. Yeah, I agree. And then my head starts hurting and I'm, like, I never feel that way after I read. Totally agree. What is, like, three books that, like, every girl or person that's listening right now should read? Ooh. Are most of the people – are most of your listeners fiction girlies? I would say it's, like, a mixture. I normally talk about fiction. Because that's normally what I gravitate towards and what I've read. But if you have, like, an awesome memoir or nonfiction book, go for it. I love Educated. I love Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Gadara. Those are two nonfiction. I am obsessed with anything Jessica Knoll, like, The Luckiest Girl Alive. Probably the book that I recommend most is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Just because I've never had a person not like that book. You know? Like, when someone's, like, I need a beach reader. I need – I'm, like, it's a slam dunk book. I would agree. When I first read that, it was honestly, like, earlier in my reading kind of journey. And I just remember being, like, teeth sunk in, like, what the heck is happening? Why don't they just be together? Like, all about it. I was, like, I cried during it. I remember sitting on my rooftop just being, like, oh, I understand that. Like, it was so – I'm so excited. I'm so excited for the movie. I'm also really excited for Nightingale. I wonder if you would like it. It's one of my favorites. I love Chris and Hannah, but the, like, Dakota and her sister, the Fanning sisters, are going to be in it, and it looks so good. Should she say that about the kisses? Is that weird? She doesn't care. She presses send. This is the love story of real hinge couple Daniel and Roisin, written and read by me, Rufy Thorpe. Listen to the free audiobook now. Okay, we're going to do a rapid fire book recs. I'm scared. We're going to do a book rec for a girl going through a breakup. Oh, a return to love, for sure. A book rec for a girl falling in love. Falling in love? Ooh. Maybe, like, anything Taylor Jenkins read. I was going to say, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I feel like that's my two friends who are dating, who were actually on the podcast, like, a few weeks ago. They're two females, and they co-readed the book when they first started dating in the honeymoon phase. It's so cute. Yeah, and they were like, that was the best experience. It made our honeymoon phase, like, ten times better because we read it together, and they had, like, a playlist for it, and they would listen to it together, and it's like, I just think something like that, I'm like, so wholesome. I wish any man I've ever dated would read the same book as me. That's crazy. That's amazing. I agree. So what if you're, like, a really ambitious, like, career woman that needs, like, a good book rec? Ambitious career woman I would read from good to great. Hmm. I haven't read that. It's a great book about leadership and also, like, how to literally go from good to great. On my TBR. Yeah. What's a book rec that you would recommend for, like, a beach read? Oh, Emily Henry. Or Ellen Hildebrand. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What? Nothing. No, tell me what you were going to say. Did you watch – I think it's by her. Did you watch the new Five Star Weekend? I did. It's by – it's an edited book. Yeah. Okay. Did you like it? I did. I think it's a really, like, fun watch. It's in Nantucket. It is in Nantucket. She's written 30 books about Nantucket, so that's kind of her thing. That's why I was like, what? What is going on? So an audiobook. I'm sure you do listen to audiobooks. Oh, yeah. A book or, I guess, a listening rec that you could stop and start, like, a hundred times and, like, not really have to follow through, like, 24-7. So I love any audiobook that has different people cast as the characters. Like, I just think it's so full and amazing. Reese Witherspoon actually wrote a book last year with Harlan Coben called Gone Before Goodbye, and Chris Pine is, like, plays a character. It's so good. Wow. See, I – which might be a little bootleg, but I have, like, my Spotify little audiobooks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have audiobooks that, like, I try to find to the ends of the earth to try to find a free one, and then I find them, and, like, the audiobook's narrator is like, I will go to the store, and I will do this. Pet peeve. Like, Lena Dunham's memoir is so good because she narrates it. I love – anybody who narrates their own book, I will listen to. I love it. Yeah. And I think I need to get into that because I think it would be hard for me to read a memoir. Yeah. But I think listening to it might – it just will feel like a podcast. I mean, Julia Whelan is, like, an incredible audiobook narrator. Yeah. And she'll play the different parts with her voices. Yeah. Like, she's a unicorn. Oh, for sure. Yeah. I think she's narrated, like, yeah, like, 900-something. Anyways. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for being on Booked Upon a Busy. I was so honored to be on your podcast. Oh, my God. You're so amazing and smart and curious and talented and endearing, and I just – I was so grateful. So, thank you. This was so fun. I'm so happy that you came on. I was like, wait, I'm going to – someone. Someone else that understands reading like me, I'm like, oh, we're going to connect. A thousand percent. I'm not as blonde as you, but, like, maybe I could be one day. You could be. You could tell me how to not fry my hair and do it. I don't recommend it. I'm not going to lie to you. Well, angels, thank you so much for watching this week's episode. I am so happy and blessed that I was able to talk to Danielle, and thank you guys for watching this, and don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, and if you want to talk more in depth about books, don't forget to check out my Patreon. I love you. Bye. I want to date with Rawls, Carty says. Rawls? Rocker asks. This is the love story of real, hinged couple Carty and Rocker. Written and read by me, Nicola Dinan. © transcript Emily Beynon