Millennial Audio

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Laura: Hello, welcome to the watch me next podcast. I am so happy to have you back. And today we're chatting some millennial audiobooks that you should pick up. So best way I can describe this is if you're a millennial, or from other millennial to older Gen Z, you probably will be relate to some of these books.

Laura: And so I have a list of about like seven or eight books to share with you that are relatable to our millennial experience. These are books from tv shows, movies, to books about like just kind of like reverent conversations about our experience growing up, our childhood growing up, as well as some of the girl bossing that we saw in the 2012s.

Laura: So let's just get to the list.

Laura: The first one is Glossy by Marissa Meltzer. It's ambition, beauty, and inside story of Emily Weiss Glossier. So, I want to preface this. I am not like a makeup girly So I have like no idea what different makeup [00:01:00] brands are in different specific things So i'm not familiar with glossier as a brand However, i'm familiar with emily wise because she is super intern emily from the hills.

Laura: In the aughts I was a huge mtv fan I watched linkin beach. I watched the real world. I watched road rules. I watched the challenge early seasons and I knew Emily as Super Emily from The Hills. She's the intern from New York that comes to help out Lauren and Whitney and she's like overly ambitious and just go get her.

Laura: So we saw her from those scenes in The Hills and I was like, I want to know more about her life, like more about what she does. So we hear basically the story of Emily Weiss like story from her startup as , an intern and working in different magazines and odds, which was like, The dream. I wanted to work at a magazine, the odds.

Laura: I did not. I had a different fun job , in my early 20s. But that was a dream. I wanted to be like press releases and different things and having a beauty closet. [00:02:00] And so we get the experience from that and then we see how she started her blog and then moves on to this Direct to consumer. This is the Girl Boss 2012 era.

Laura: Emily's one of them. I remember very clearly that era was like we wanted to be millionaires. We want to have hobbies. We want to have jobs. We want to monetize everything that we did. And that was it. That was the era. I had a blog at a time. I had the idea. I had I used to review back in the day fitness classes because I was passionate about healthy living.

Laura: I had an eating disorder really when it comes down to it. But, you know, take it where you want. So, I used to go take classes in New York City and review them on my blog. And I was like, this class is great or this class is not great. And I learned how to speak up. I did get, it's a fun story about the fitness classes.

Laura: I took a SoulCycle class thinking, Okay, this will be fine. Set it in the front rows, and then I'll figure out where it is. Oh, that was a bad decision. I hated SoulCycle. I never took a spin class in my [00:03:00] life. And I was like, what the fuck did I just get into? So fast forward to a year later, one of my favorite instructors start teaching spin classes in New York City and I started taking them with my friend and I was like, Oh, like I needed to figure out how to use it.

Laura: So I took a class with her. She actually taught me how to get on the bike, how to clip my feet and what the process, what the movement is. So I go into, like, basically a few months later, I walk by SoulCycle near where I work in Tribeca, and I was like, Hey, you know, I took a class a year, like, a year ago, but I did not understand what was going on.

Laura: It was my first class. I did not understand the logistics of it. And the people at SoulCycle were really gracious. They were like, You know, we will offer you a free class, like, just to come back, just to try it out. So I was like, Okay. So I tell my friend. Veronica I was like, hey, we're gonna I'm gonna take a soul cycle class.

Laura: She's like my fitness buddy He's just like we're not gonna take it with me. He's just like sure like so we'd go and we've been taking Swerve, which is a different [00:04:00] spin studio in New York City. It no longer exists. Rest in peace But it was a great studio. So we've been taking swerve So we're like, okay, we we know what's going on and all the different things and i've been taking flywheel Which is another spin studio And in New York City that I loved and no longer exists, but I was like, okay So we're gonna go to soul cycle and we're just gonna do it and It was chaotic as a mess.

Laura: So we chose the studio in Nomad. I think, no, it wasn't Nomad. No, it was Union Square. We chose the studio in Union Square and it was chaotic as bass. Like, we had no idea where the fuck we were going, what was going on. So we go into the studio and they, like, we just sat there and I was just like, You know, this is, this is ridiculous.

Laura: Like, I should know, they should tell me where the lockers are, they should have like a better guest experience. So, I made a complaint to SoulCycle. I was like, like, I mentioned to the manager, I was like, you know, like, I understand, like, the stuff. But, , a little bit, like, from the desk shouldn't be, like, a little bit.

Laura: You know, a little nicer and stuff. So they [00:05:00] offered me a third class and I was like, Okay, we're gonna try it again. I so hated SoulCycle. I knew I didn't like it. But a third class would be the charm. And I finally come to the conclusion that I do not like SoulCycle. I do like Sven. I used to take classes in Palutena.

Laura: In the studio in Chelsea. That's Chelsea where I was in 2016, 2015. So I used to love going to the spin class. I haven't spinned anymore. I do have a peloton bike, but I have not done. And so that's a tangent about my fitness cycle stuff. But, going back to . Glossier is a great, it's a great book about like Glossier.

Laura: Like what it was like to be in the 2012's in the beauty industry. There is no gotcha moment. She does have like a positive light to Emily. So if you're looking for the gotcha moment, you're not gonna find it. I think those are the mixed reviews. They're like, we're expecting more tea, more drama, and there wasn't.

Laura: But it was a just fun companion. So if you're looking to get to know about , Glossier, this book is for you. Alright, so now let's go to the [00:06:00] next book, which is One in a Millennial by Kate Kennedy. This is a memoir, a book of essays, where Kate shares her experience of being a millennial. Essentially the quintessential millennial.

Laura: So if you're not familiar with Kate Kennedy, she has a podcast called be there in five it's a long form content podcast where she talks for a couple hours. It's a pretty most of them are social She does have some guests. She had emily henry as a guest So if you're looking for if you're looking to hear from emily henry She has an episode for that and i'll link into the show notes But it's a pretty long form content of conversations about like, you know What it's like to be millennial in this era or Going back in our childhood.

Laura: So this book is basically I've been a long time follower of Kate on Instagram. I don't listen to podcasts For my own issues and this is just I It's hard for me to listen to podcasts the long form podcast Because I need to get a gold star So I need to have a [00:07:00] purpose behind things are and i'm a i'm very gold star driven So if i'm going to spend two hours listening to a podcast I Would likely just read the book I in my head I'm like well, it's better if I read the book is then I could have create content that I could do this It's obviously it's a it's my own anxiety of my own like my own way of, you know, justifying work or justifying how I spend my time.

Laura: Like, I think this is a very millennial as we were talking about the idea of productivity. How do you, how do you be, get the most productive point? So obviously I do enjoy Kate's content. I loved her book. I loved her content that she shares on Instagram. And so, If you're looking for a podcast to listen, Be There in 5 is one of them, but if you're not, if you're just not ready to listen to a whole backlog of long episodes, then you can actually read the book, One in a Millennial.

Laura: So, One in a Millennial starts with Kate's childhood. She was [00:08:00] born in, like, she's in the 80s, so she's a bit younger than me. I was in 81. And she talks about, like, her experience growing up from Purity culture, Barbies the rise of Instagram, not rise of Instagram, the rise of AIM, instant messenger, going to college in the aughts and being a millennial.

Laura: Like, she's the quintessential millennial person, like, like from the statement necklace to the chevron to girl bossing, and we even touch upon school shootings, which is like, It's unfortunately part of our experience part of like our who we are I love that her first corporate job was in new york city because I had that Job in new york city the first job when you're 20 Then you're like broke and you're trying to make it sense And like you have to wear like cute clothes and do all the different things.

Laura: Obviously. I was like scamming my way, getting free soul cycle classes in New York City. So that tells you like, [00:09:00] life in New York City is like, it's a hodgepodge of things. So yeah, this book was just a delightful. I read it. I wish I could have listened to it. She does narrate. She does explain her breathing in the narration because at the end of the stuff she does explain she has a child.

Laura: That's like the that's a plot twist she also does talk about being child free like coming up with the question Do you want to have kids who you don't want to have kids? I think that's a question that our generation now has More than previous generations. I Chose not to have kids i'm actually grateful You , that my parents didn't push me or pressure me to breed babies.

Laura: I don't know, I may have kids later on in life, in some other way, but I'm not, at least birthing children, I just don't want to. And I'm okay with that. I think it's like a coming to terms, and I really appreciate that chapter of like, just explaining, just, just coming with those questions of like, what, what [00:10:00] does it mean for you?

Laura: What does it mean to your identity? What does it mean for, Who you want to be and so it was a delightful book. I really enjoyed this I actually will look forward to listening to it as a reread because it was just like poignant It was like a best friend telling you her story it reminded me of the voice notes I sent to my best friends throughout the day and i'm like listen stream of consciousness like here's what's going on with my life.

Laura: I do a lot of those and so I would love that. So that's one in millennial by kate kennedy The next book is I'm Glad My Mom Died by Janette McCurdy. So, actually, confession. I think I shared this earlier on, but I did not watch Nickelodeon. I watched Nickelodeon in the 90s, but not the odds in Nickelodeon, the golden age of Nickelodeon.

Laura: And so I did not watch it, so I had no idea what iCarly was. I kind of like mentioned it, but I, I don't have nostalgia with it. So I had like no skin in the game. I was a MTV BH one, you know, [00:11:00] WB cw, kind of girly, but Nicole was just not it. However, I was, I picked this up 'cause it was fascinating by the title.

Laura: I was like, I'm glad my mom died. And I'm like. Shit, she must have a lot of trauma. And as someone who loves to read trauma sometimes, and just enjoy, like, not enjoy, but just to process my own trauma, I enjoy reading it and trying to figure out, like, how does it relate to me, or how does it doesn't. This book was, like, full of trigger warnings, full of difficult book to read, of abuse, disorder eating, just, like, Just kind of like what it means to be a child star in the odds, disorder eating again as someone who struggled with disorder eating it was triggering as fuck.

Laura: So yeah, check the trigger warnings, No to does I know to self. I know I talk fast Jeanette talked in it talks fast, too So her book I normally listen to books at two point or 2. 2 speed. [00:12:00] I should listen to this at 1. 5 speed Just to get to, but it's a really heartbreaking book to read, but , I do encourage you if you have a history of trauma, parental neglect, and parental abuse, then this book might be relatable, or it might be give you some healing too.

Laura: And I wish you all the best. So, all right. The next one is a fiction book that I just finished this morning and I had to tell you all about it. And it's Love Letters to Zero Color by Tasha Corio. I mentioned this book in another episode but it's just so good. So this is only fiction, but it's a commentary of being a millennial, like really a satire of being a millennial.

Laura: So basically, we start part one with an email job, a job at a non profit, you're supposed to like have purpose and love it, but you just don't. You just like, what the fuck am I doing? And you're [00:13:00] quietly quitting, but really you're going to get fired. And so, well, she was quietly quitting. She found the forum, like as anyone does, let's do one, does it do right at forum about a serial killer that was on the loose at the time.

Laura: And she's like fascinated with this guy because he's good looking. He's like. You know, so she's like starts sending him letters like love letters and they start talking to each other and he rewrites her back So when she gets fired, she's like what else can I do? I'm just gonna go to Georgia. She's in, Minnesota She drives down to Georgia and she actually goes to the trial like anyone does it's like basically hello We we Like a couple years ago, we saw the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp card in the room.

Laura: Like the lines were out the door. Like I watch YouTube core dramas. Like I do. If there's nothing on TV, then I'm just going to put a YouTube core drama and have a commentary about what is going on. So yes, this is a very millennial book. So the second part is a core drama and the [00:14:00] third part, I'm not going to tell you all about it, but it's so good that it's just like, holy crap.

Laura: And the ending. Oh, yes. Okay, so that's Love, Letters to a Serial Killer. If you want a fiction book, I listen to it in audio. It's delightful, enjoy it, and just have fun. Alright, the next one we're going to talk about is like, so we got a couple books here about TVs and movies. And the first one is So Fetched and Making of Mean Girls by Jennifer Keshen Armstrong.

Laura: So get in losers. We're going shopping. Oh, this is the history of behind the scenes of this seminal team movie that I can quote. Like she doesn't even go here I can quote in my sleep. I know this movie by heart. It is such a good movie So before the movie came out, it's actually based on queen bees and wannabes, which is a book It's a non fiction book that I did programming for back in the 2000s early 2003 2004 , I was doing my internship [00:15:00] at the University of Missouri helping with Greek life.

Laura: So, and we're going to talk about more Greek life a little bit, but I was helping with Greek life and I was like, I was 22, 22, 23 at the time. And I was like trying to figure out what it means to be a girl, what it means to be a girl in this age of like, you know, bullying and queen bees and just want to be, I was never a queen bee.

Laura: I was mostly like, best we can describe it is I was a Floater, but if I wasn't not a floater, I was retching wiener. So I kept a lot of secrets. , I agenda regretchen as much as possible because I had a lot of, like, I fed the information. I'm really good about gathering information, gathering the gossip and just like keeping the secrets and like telling you what do you need to know and be like, yeah, I know what's going on.

Laura: So I'm that girl in a job and there's two people having a fight. Yeah. I'll know what's both sides of the story. Like, I'll be like, I'll act like nothing happened. I'll be like, oh, just tell me what's going on. And then the other person will be like, oh, just tell me what's going on. And I'm like, oh my gosh, yes, yes, yes.

Laura: , that's a [00:16:00] confession of someone who loves gossip. But, so, So Fetched and My Key of Mean Girls is basically like an oral, like not an oral history, but just kind of like a, like a behind the scenes look of like what it would look like behind the music back in the day for VH1. Same idea, it tells you about Lindsay Lohan's rise in fame Rachel McAdams, like what she does, the casting, what happens to the cast afterwards, the things that actually, that people talked about it it does talk about the musical.

Laura: Which I did not get to see. I have not seen , the new movie. I, I don't know. I love the canon text. The, the original movie so much. And I'm like, I, I don't know if I can just watch a musical. I do like It's Not My Fault. But I don't think I can watch, , a perfect performance in my head. To be, just do something else.

Laura: So. But that's it. That's So Fetched, The Making of Mean Girls, and I'm sick. Alright, so the [00:17:00] next one is Welcome to the O. C., The Oral History by Alan Steppenwolf, Josh Schwartz, and Stephanie Savage. This one's narrated by a multi cast, and some of the cast members do narrate this one. So, it's kind of like a fun thing.

Laura: So, watch this. You're in 2003. I just graduated college and I'm just kind of like, I just moved to Maryland and I'm like, what am I going to do? Dawson's Creek is almost over. I think Dawson's Creek ended the day that I graduated college. And so I'm just like, what am I going to do? And then Fox, like around my birthday, releases a show, this teen drama of this guy from the wrong side of the tracks who comes to live with this rich family in the OC.

Laura: Oh my gosh, so that's the story of the O. C. So this is the oral history, so we hear from like, how to actually, the cast was casted. Fun story, if you were in 2003, you probably watched Rich Girls, which was an MTV show about two rich girls, Tommy Hilfiger's daughter and another [00:18:00] girl, and who went to this like, musical theater school, and on their prom scene, They show Misha Martin because she graduated with those girls.

Laura: So she, she appears in that. And I was like, Oh my gosh, the ultimate crossover. So it's rich girls was like, actually, I wish Paramount plus bring it back because it's a reason why I moved to New York city. That's the reality TV show that I was like, I want to be rich girl living in New York city. I, it's not my New York city experience did not look like that, but it was just like really great dream to manifest.

Laura: So welcome to UOC basically talks about. From the casting to the pilot to the first season that was like, never ending, it's like 28 episodes, but it has, it went through like 10 lifetimes of episodes. Like, they just like, burn through stories. And what happens to the show afterwards?

Laura: One of the things that's unique about the OC that started, It's a music and so you'll hear from the back story about the different songs and how they incorporate music to it. And this [00:19:00] is the era of Death Cab for Cutie Weezer, Rooney. So it's like this fun, like, fun beachy side. And as many will know, the O.

Laura: C. was the real, was the origin, the origin story of The Real Housewives of O. C., of Desperate Housewives, of actually Laguna Beach, The Hills. A lot of shows came out from this original show. So, this is a seminal topic. Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz and end up making Gossip Girl and they end up making Heart of Dixie, which I love.

Laura: Heart of Dixie Such a good show. If you're a romance reader, like small time romance, Heart of Dixie is the one you want to watch. I like it better than Virgin River. It's just so good. But those are the shows. So welcome to DLC The Oral History by Ellen Steppenwolf. Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage is a must listen to too.

Laura: The next couple books are actually nonfiction and they're actually they're topical nonfiction So it sounds like a cult in the art of magical thinking by Amanda Montel. [00:20:00] So these ones are things that we are fascinated as millennials, the best way I can describe it, so cults, commercial cults, like MLMs fitness cults, people like NXIVM and all those different things.

Laura: The Sounds Like a Cult is a great book to read and Deep Dive, one of the cults that I did follow. In 2012, as part of my fitness journey, I'm going to tell you my fitness journey stories. So, so basically the fitness journey started because I had eating disorders. So I joined 12 Step, which is like, which is, could be a cult.

Laura: It's a very similar thing, similar vibes. And As I was going through my 2012 enlightenment, I was like, reading all the, all, like, all personal development books, and I remember reading Gabby Bernstein's first book, Add More Ink to Your Life, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is totally me. I'm gonna add more shit to my life.

Laura: So, I basically just, and she mentioned Intensati, and I had found, at the same time, I was, Going to class in Chelsea Studios, which is one of those [00:21:00] rehearsal studios in New York City, where Broadway stars and like actors and stuff rehearse studios. And they were like talking about this call into Satie workshop or something like that.

Laura: And I was like, Oh, like, this is the same thing that she was talking about. So I signed up for the Satie workshop. And it was a Wednesday night class. It was like an hour and a half class. Basically what we do is like an hour long of cardio and just like intense cardio. We're just like dancing around and calling affirmations as we were dancing.

Laura: It was like, I'm brave. What is meant for me cannot pass me and all those different things. And then. Afterwards, we'll chat among the group, we'll do some journaling, we'll do some prompts, we'll do some like feeling, feeling good with endorphins. And I am so, so grateful for my Tensachi community. I still talk to them.

Laura: I've been, it's been 12 years, 12, 14 years, actually, it's been long. It's 14, 15 years I've been with this community. And I still talk to them. We are part of the gratitude list. I have friends who are like actors, coaches, , [00:22:00] private chaffs, like, they're all over the place. And it's been such a wonderful community.

Laura: But that in Sasaki is actually mentioned in the, in the book, which I was so happy about. I was like, yes, and she actually does, it's, it's a positive cult, but it's still a cult. It's, it's a cult following and stuff. So sounds like a cult was like delightful. The art of magical thinking is the other aspect of it.

Laura: We're How we think and how we process emotions and how we process ideas Can get us in trouble. So it does talk about the sun class fallacy. It talks about manifestation and like new agey stuff horoscopes and like Merkur retrograde and As someone who does practice magical thinking in many ways. I found it fun fascinating.

Laura: I found it relatable and I really enjoy it. And so anything that my Amanda Montel writes, I am going to listen to it. I am so listening to it. I think she narrates both books and it's just delightful. So it's like both [00:23:00] books are like six or seven hours or shorter books and they're so, so good. So add those two to this.

Laura: And then the final two books that I want to share are from Danny Pellegrino, who is another podcaster. So Danny actually does a bravo recap, or like, or just like a regular reality recap. And Danny has, Danny also was born in the late 1900s. So, so he was born in mid 80s.

Laura: And so he has a very like, pointed book of like, look at the nostalgia of the 80s and 90s. And he's also great to follow on his On Instagram, he has some highlights when he tried to eat some Twinkie Hostess cupcakes that were expired And so stuff but he's delightful. And so these books are like just like this Heartwarming Ohio family and then this young boy going to LA to making it beg, and it is just so much fun.

Laura: So how do I remember? [00:24:00] This is the first book and it's just regular, regular scenes and regular things. And then the Jolie Bunch is a Christmas related book, which was just like holiday as someone who likes the holidays now I found it delightful. . So both books are fun. They're like. funny takes on the 90s odds, , just what it feels like just to be a millennial in this world.

Laura: So those are the millennial books. I hope you enjoyed this fun episode. I figure we're going to try to like do like little different content, a little nonfiction every so often because sometimes we just need to. Learn something but really we just want to relate to what it's coming down And I hope you enjoy all my fitness tangent references Note to self I now do fitness.

Laura: I'm now a pilates girl. So I actually go to pilates At least once a week, because shit is expensive. So I go on ClassBus. If you ever want to ClassBus, I'll put the link to my ClassBus. If you're in need, if you live in a major city and you want to save some money from Pilates, [00:25:00] ClassBus is the way to go.

Laura: And then, I do go to Bar. I go to Pure Bar now, Which used to be my arch nemesis in New York City, but now that's the studio and I really love pure bar now So I go to pure bar. I do go to yoga. I do yoga six, through class pass again I now i'm back at investing like a couple hundred dollars in my fitness journey, but i'm enjoying it It gets me out of the house I find fitness to be a great place to make friends if you're looking for make local friends Fitness classes are a great place to do it And don't be surprised I made I met one of my good one of my good local friends by bursting a Ball in the middle of the class it hurt it turns out that she had the same issue So it's not embarrassing and so we start talking we have a lot of things in common So if you're looking for a local community fitness classes are a great way to do a so yeah.

Laura: All right I'll talk to you later. [00:26:00] Bye