13 podcasts I'm loving right now

I discovered the magic of podcasts while I was on maternity leave with Alice, and it’s hard to believe I’ve been a dedicated listener to some of my favorites for more than three years! After books, podcasts are definitely my favorite form of media. Here’s a round-up of what’s in my library right now. My podcast preferences run toward ongoing subject-specific nonfiction shows rather than dramatized podcasts or limited narratives (although I did happily sacrifice an entire weekend to binge S-Town). This list is always changing, but currently I’m listening to basically every episode of:

Best of Both Worlds: Laura Vanderkam, author of I Know How She Does It and a mom of five and Sarah Hart-Unger, a practicing physician, blogger, and mom of three, discuss issues relevant to working parents who want big careers AND fulfilling home lives. BoBW has been an invaluable resource to me as a relatively new working mom and has challenged my thinking in several areas, especially about the feasibility of outsourcing household tasks (I haven’t pulled the trigger on it yet but am seriously considering hiring someone to clean my house twice a month once I go back to work). I love listening to their conversations each week and catching up on their blogs in between episodes, and Laura had her fifth child just a couple of weeks before Will was born, so I feel like we’re doing newborn-motherhood together.

Didn’t I Just Feed You: This is podcast for any parent who struggles to accept the reality that children need to be fed EVERY DAY, several times a day. It’s just… a lot! Stacie Billis and Meghan Splawn are food professionals and busy parents and they get it. I’ve gotten tons of inspiration about how to step up my game in the kitchen without trying to get all fancy from this fun podcast.

Happier with Gretchen Rubin: A total classic and one of the first podcasts I started listening to. I’m a huge fan of Gretchen Rubin (author of The Happiness Project, Better than Before, and many other impactful books), and getting a weekly dose of Gretchen and her sister Elizabeth as they discuss everything related to happiness is pretty key to MY happiness. A bonus is that one of my colleagues is also a super-fan, so we discuss every episode in detail and dream of going to see Gretchen and Elizabeth at one of their live shows (we would have gone last year, but my colleague was at the Frankfurt Book Fair when Gretchen and Elizabeth came to Chicago—sob!).

How to Money: This is a fairly recent add to my playlist and I’m enjoying it! The hosts, Joel and Matt, seem to be regular guys who are pretty knowledgeable about a wide variety of topics relating to personal finance, and they present information in a very relatable way. I hate beer (with one aspirational exception that I think I’m actually going to write a post about soon), and part of their shtick is drinking a craft beer every episode and commenting on it, so that doesn’t do anything for me but is probably a fun add-on for beer fans!

InvestED: Another finance podcast. I discovered this one after reading the book by the same title by Danielle Town and her father, Phil Town, who is a fairly famous investing guy. The book was kind of a breakthrough for me in terms of helping me understand a method for investing that makes sense and isn’t just, “Well, this stock looks like it’s priced lower than it was a month ago—maybe I should buy it and it will go back up!” Matt convinced me to get an E*Trade account several years ago and I have dabbled in investing in the stock market but never felt confident in doing so. Phil Town’s Rule One method appeals to me because it’s entirely data-based (although it is a lot of work to execute) and rests on principles established by Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett. I think this podcast is incredibly valuable as a body of work and should be listened to from beginning to end if you really want to understand the methodology. Phil Town runs investing workshops several times a year and I’m actually considering going to one in 2021!

The Lazy Genius: Also a fairly new add for me. Kendra Adachi gives tips and advice for being “a genius about the things that matter, and lazy about the things that don’t” in all aspects of life. Cooking, cleaning, parenting, self care, budgeting, etc. I like the short format and variety of topics, although I haven’t hit on one yet that felt truly life-changing to me. Kendra also has a book out this year, which I’ll request from my library.

Marriage, Kids & Money: Apparently I like to get my financial advice in podcast format! I’ve been listening to host Andy Hill on this show for quite a while. He covers a broad spectrum of personal finance topics specifically from the perspective of parenthood, which is different from a lot of the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) content that’s popular right now, which caters more toward singles and childless couples. Andy’s hosting style is really high energy and a little wacky, which I like, and he’s one of the few people out there who believes (like Matt and I do) that the peace of mind of paying off your mortgage early is worth sacrificing the potential gains you could make in the stock market by dumping all your free cash into investments. Thanks for validating my dreams of mortgage freedom, Andy!

The Mom Hour: This podcast is totally parenting focused and it’s fun for me because the hosts, Meagan Francis and Sarah Powers, have kids several years older than mine, so it’s a bit like looking into the future. I’ve been enjoying their recent “Things We Love About…” series, especially the siblings episode, since I am new to the raising siblings experience!

Motley Fool Money: This was the first finance-related podcast I listened to and it’s the most business-y. It features several people (mostly men) associated with the Motley Fool, where they talk about current happenings in the business and investing worlds and interview experts in various fields. The “Stocks on Our Radar” segment is always interesting to me as I try to become a more knowledgeable investor.

Poisoned Pen Podcast: Shockingly, this is the only book-specific podcast on my list! I used to listen to What Should I Read Next? but ultimately found it a bit repetitive and long for regular consumption—I can get what I need re: book recs from the Modern Mrs. Darcy website. The Poisoned Pen Podcast comes out of the Poisoned Pen bookstore, an amazing mystery-focused bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona, which you should definitely visit if you get a chance. The revered bookseller Barbara Peters hosts this podcast, which features fascinating interviews with all the hot and up-and-coming crime writers.

The RV Atlas: Okay, I’m not supposed to have favorites, but if I did have a favorite podcast it would be The RV Atlas. Stephanie and Jeremy Puglisi are #goals for me when it comes to family travel. Despite “RV” being front and center in their brand, their content is not just for RV owners (I don’t have an RV! Tent camping forever!). They take amazing trips around the country with their three boys and talk about all things family travel, with a definite focus on camping and outdoor adventure. I discovered their podcast when their literary agent submitted a book proposal to me, and guess what, happy ending, I acquired and edited their book, See You at the Campground, which came out this week! But even if we hadn’t ended up working together, I would have been all-in on their content because it’s just so great.

WDW Prep to Go: I am planning to take my children to Disney World exactly once (tentative Michels Family Disney Trip 2025, woot woot!), but it is going to be a hell of a trip thanks to this Disney planning podcast. I love listening to the trip reports, learning about Fast Passes and dining reservations, and basically just letting all the info sink into my brain for later use. If you’re planning to visit Disney anytime in the future, I think it’s smart to start learning the ins and outs now because it’s all pretty complex if you want to make the most of your time and avoid long lines.

Young House Love Has a Podcast: Hosted by the home design duo John and Sherry Petersik, this was my very first podcast! I was addicted to the Young House Love blog for a long time and while I’m not quite as obsessed these days, I still enjoy catching up on what they’re up to, especially around the holidays when it’s time for Sherry’s annual prediction of Pantone’s color of the year.

Since I don’t listen to audio books in the car anymore (a certain toddler who shall remain unnamed shoved quarters into my CD player and broke it, and I can’t seem to get into the habit of getting audio books from OverDrive), it’s nice to have a hefty podcast roster so I never run out of listening material. I’m always looking for recommendations for new shows!

My favorite book of 2020 (so far) is one you've probably never heard of

One thing I really like about working in publishing is that it gives me a lot of ammunition for cocktail party conversation. I’m an introvert and don’t have a naturally outgoing personality (those are not the same thing, by the way! I’m deeply dedicated to the true definition of the term “introvert”), and people tend to have a lot of questions about editing, publishing, etc. Since I could talk about my job all day, all night, and into the next decade, it often makes social situations easier for me to just ramble on about work. But inevitably the conversation turns to “favorite” books.

“Oh, you’re an editor? What’s your favorite book?”

Cue an entire lifetime of books read flashing before my eyes and an existential crisis as I try to select one of the many, many outstanding books I’ve read as my VERY FAVORITE EVER. I can’t do it. But, as of this writing, I do have a favorite book of 2020, it was a total shocker, and I bet you’ve never heard of it. I certainly hadn’t.

Tisha: The Wonderful Love Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaskan Wilderness by Robert Specht is a shining beautiful gem of narrative nonfiction. My mom, who has a certain talent for giving me incredible books that I would have never picked out myself, loaned it to me over the holidays. Honestly, nothing about it spoke to me—I found the title to be meaningless, the subtitle weirdly specific (I was super suspicious of a book calling itself “wonderful”), and the cover totally generic. But my mom left it on my coffee table, so I figured I better just read it fast so I could give it back to her and move on with my life. Once I started, I was underwhelmed by the first chapter or two—but just as I was considering putting it down, I got hooked and basically didn’t look up until I had devoured the whole thing.

Tisha (originally published in 1976—I read the 2018 Bantam edition) is the story of a real woman, Anne Hobbs, who left home at nineteen years old and moved to the Alaskan wilderness in 1927 to teach school. I don’t want to spoil a single second of the story, but the challenges and adventures Anne faces there are RIVETING, and the way she battles the negative forces she encounters in the isolated community is totally inspiring. There’s a point near the end of the book that’s literally a hold-onto-your-seat-can’t-catch-your-breath level of suspense and excitement. So intense and wonderful, and so not what I expected from this unassuming little book. Highly, highly recommended!