Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature
A deeply personal memoir about one woman's journey to finding her voice and rewriting her story by the creator and host of the award-winning podcast Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books(TM).
Zibby Owens has become a well-known personality in the publishing world. Her infectious energy, tasteful authenticity, and smart, steadfast support of authors started in childhood, a precedent set by the profound effect books and libraries had on her own family.
But after losing her closest friend on 9/11 and later becoming utterly stressed out and overwhelmed by motherhood, Zibby was forgetting what made her her. She turned to books and writing for help.
Just when things seemed particularly bleak, Zibby unexpectedly fell in love with a tennis pro turned movie producer who showed her the path to happiness: away from type-A perfectionism and toward letting things unfold organically. What unfolded was a meaningful career, a great love, and finally, her voice, now heard by millions of listeners.
An honest and moving story about relationships, love, food issues, the writing life, and finding one's true calling, Bookends will inspire and uplift.
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Zibby Owens is the author of Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature and the children's book Princess Charming and is the editor of two anthologies: Moms Don't Have Time to Have Kids: A Timeless Anthology and Moms Don't Have Time To: A Quarantine Anthology. Creator and host of the award-winning daily podcast Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books, Zibby is the founder and CEO of Zibby Media, dubbed "the Zibby-verse" by the Los Angeles Times. It includes publishing house Zibby Books, online magazine Zibby Mag, Zibby's Book Club, retreats, classes, and events. She also owns Zibby's Bookshop, an independent bookstore in Santa Monica, California. A regular contributor to Good Morning America and other outlets, she loves recommending books as "NYC's Most Powerful Book-fluencer" (Vulture). A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School, Zibby currently lives in New York (with frequent visits to LA) with her husband, Kyle Owens of Morning Moon Productions, and her four children ages nine to sixteen. Follow her on Instagram @zibbyowens and on Substack, where she tells it like it is.
"Owens (Princess Charming), host of the podcast Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books and cofounder of Zibby Books, chronicles her path from shy, bookish child to busy mom and media company CEO in this zippy debut...Owens's infectious enthusiasm radiates with charm, as do her earnest reflections on motherhood. Bibliophiles will breeze through this." --Publishers Weekly
"Owens recounts falling in love again after divorce and offers encouragement and advice to mothers and women trying to get it all done. Her insights into dealing with grief are touching, and readers experiencing loss may find solace in her story." --Kirkus Reviews
"This is an endearing memoir reflecting on a woman's defining moments in life that will likely resonate with Owens' fans and also readers who enjoy stories about writers with a New York City backdrop." --Booklist
"Bookends, Zibby's memoir, is a remarkably poignant story about family, relationships, love, life, and finding one's true calling...Her writing flows off the page and offers something for everyone. If you've experienced heartache, depression, relationship pain, weight issues, felt punched in the face by life and loss...come through it alive and kickin'--you will fly through each page of Bookends. Zibby's inspiring account provides helpful insight and hope to everyone who reads it." --Quest Magazine
"Part literary love story, part family history, it's a propulsive read that chronicles Owens's complicated relationships--with food, with romance, with books, with vast wealth--all told with self-effacing warmth...heartfelt and touching." --Claire Gibson, Avenue Magazine
"In this new memoir...she takes on the role of accomplished author herself, as she beautifully reveals the loves and losses that have shaped her life, and discovers what it means to truly find your place in the world." --Town & Country
"When Owens writes with this blend of vulnerability and approachability, the reader feels as if a close friend is sharing her story with you...Bookends is proof that anyone has the power to rewrite their narrative, if only they are open to fully experiencing all that life puts in their path." --Hippocampus Magazine
"Owens writes in a conversational, companionable tone befitting a self-described "book messenger" who has made the championing of writers and stories her mission. The result is a briskly paced, heartwarming, and often inspiring journey of discovering comfort, purpose, friendships, and one's own voice in a lifetime of immersion into transformative reading." --Post & Courier
"Zibby Owens's Bookends is a candid and charming memoir about the ups and downs of midlife through the lens of reading and books. Zibby, one of the most beloved book influencers in America, shares how books can help us through tough times. An inspiring and hopeful read." --Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO, Thrive Global
"I knew Zibby was an ardent supporter of authors, but I didn't realize she was such a fantastic writer herself. Insightful, helpful, authentic, and unifying, the tone of this beautifully written, memorable memoir is just so Zibby. A great choice for every busy mom." --Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Four Winds
"Zibby Owens has always been a terrific interviewer of authors, but it wasn't until I read her book that I realized how deep her passion for literature truly runs. Her story is a valentine to falling in love with the written word, and for a writer--and readers--that's the sweetest kind of tale." --Mitch Albom, New York Times bestselling author of The Stranger in the Lifeboat
"A tender, intelligent coming-of-age tale, by turns poignant and hilarious, Bookends gripped me from the first sentence. This is the kind of book you hide in the bathroom to finish, ignoring the cries of your kids and the ringing phone. But it's also a serious meditation on the dangerous constraints of contemporary motherhood and the nature of privilege. I dare you to read it and not fall in love with Zibby!" --Joanna Rakoff, author of international bestselling memoir My Salinger Year
"Zibby Owens has such an infectious enthusiasm--for life, for love, for her friends and family, but above all else for books--her prose glows with it. Thus Bookends acts on two levels: it is both a personal journey from mute child to gregarious author, who spends her days talking to and about writers, and a virtual bookshelf, the kind you sometimes find in a summer rental, groaning with well-loved spines." --Deborah Copaken, New York Times bestselling author of Ladyparts and Shutterbabe
"Bookends is a testament to the healing power of literature, love, and above all, allegiance to one's true self. Zibby Owens guides us, like a comforting friend, through her journey of loss and reinvention, reminding us, in the end, of our endless capacity for love." --Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance
"Lucky for us, Zibby Owens--a relentless cheerleader for authors known and unknown--has paid homage to books and the role reading has played in her endlessly fascinating life by writing her own." --Katie Couric
"There are no words other than: WOW! Zibby's work is gorgeous, raw, honest, heartbreaking, and funny. Zibby inspires me." --Allison Pataki, New York Times bestselling author
