Even before my love of reading was reinvigorated I had one starred book release for 2024 noted — One in a Millennial. Obviously I was dying to dive into the book from the person behind the only podcast I regularly listen to these days, Be There in Five! The book focuses on pop culture with a focus on 1990s, 2000s and present day – so I decided this long-form blog post with photos, links and lots of info was a must do.
The Book
I came in excited for this one already in looking at the book alone. The cover featured a mix CD in Kate’s writing. These were my fave to do back in the day! The book is obviously pink (I forgot the Pantone color of the year for 2016 was none other than Millennial Pink!) and includes the author’s doodles on the inside front and back jacket.
I hated to be coming into an event on January 24th, only one day after the book came out, without reading it beforehand. I ended up coming close though, listening to it on Audible before I got my hard copy at the signing. Kate says it’s not a “memoir” — but in so many ways it totally is, though not through the more standard approach to chronologically going through her life. Instead it is a set of essays that are true to the time, but inherently very personal from her perspective. They touch on so many of the little things that were so important to life during that time. I am not a true Millennial but would say I’m a Xennial, especially after reading through this book and identifying with so many things I’d forgotten about that make up so much of my earlier life experiences.
The book was such a treat of a look back at a time where girls were encouraged to embrace their very female passions and then almost unexpectedly given an expiration date of relevancy. Where sameness was the name of the game and you’d do almost anything to avoid interests that might cause you to be viewed as “other than” the norm. That’s another something I remember all too well. There’s waxing poetic about the era of Limited Too (and Limited Too “modeling”), the coolness of daybeds and the intricacies of both composing and interpreting the AIM away messages of everyone from your own to your friends to your unattainable crush. I mean – was he away, or was he away? So many of these things went much deeper than just the surface layer they’re often summarized and love that this takes the time to go into that and validates in a way why they were so important to so many.
It’s not all light though, and I love it for that. There’s a deep dive into the misogyny that plagued the time – from the prime goal of buying all the things in Mall Madness to divulging your personal secrets to avoid a zit sticker playing the board game “Girl Talk” to even the laugh track during “Saved by the Bell” that made Jessie Spano’s feminism authored by male scriptwriters feel off putting and better suited to be the butt of a joke. There’s also the pervasive longing in the book of motherhood – whether she wants it, and battling the pressures of a society that in so many ways has yet to let go of the idea that marriage and eventual motherhood is the bar for success.
Such a great read and I can’t recommend it enough. The audio book is amazing. Kate does the narration and I love that her emotion comes through at several key moments where you need it the most and they left it in for us to all be able to tune in for it.
The Book Tour Signing/Event
Kate is doing a short book tour to promote it post-launch and NYC was lucky enough to make the list of the 12 dates on it. I missed her last tour she did for Track Five, a live show that was part live podcast and part dance party (3-4 hours of Taylor Swift songs you don’t typically hear outside your), so definitely didn’t want to miss out on this. I even took off the afternoon to spend some quality time in the city and plan the meet-up of the NYC / NJ area “Beths” (the term for the avid listeners of Be There in Five due to Kate often mistakenly being reached out to as Beth Erin by mistake.) We took over the relatively new spot Wild Ivy, just around the corner from the venue. They were so amazing in giving so many of us a space to connect. Highly recommend. And see all these wonderful people that got to chat as a result!
At the event, Kate opened up with a presentation that kicked off with the AOL dial-up animation. Such a staple of life at the time, especially since connecting from start to finish could take sooooo long. The presentation then showed a mix of both her photos and from podcast listeners from the timeframe – of their going out and “going out out” tops. Kate then took the stage wearing head to toe Coach and Uggs. Win.
At the end of the live event, Kate put the below statement up on the screen for us to read — shortly before she made her rounds throughout the theater as we all sung along to Taylor Swift’s All Too Well 10 Minute Version (obviously, and what a moment!)
We’re told what to like, limited to a shallow selection
Then criticized for skimming the likes of the surface,
God forbid you like your reflection.
A litany of likes is where I leave you, in protest of
Being discredited for saying the word “like” too much
Subsisting on the things that get us likes or thumbs up,
Or questioning our taste if what we like is well-loved.
Of all these likes I’ve written, if you only take one,
Please, for the love, don’t prioritize being liked above
Prioritizing all of the things that you love.
I got tickets to the VIP signing and meet and greet because even though I couldn’t get the full dance party experience of Track Five, I wanted to get to meet Kate!
If you haven’t read the book or aren’t familiar yet with it, definitely recommend adding this to your “to be read” stack for 2024. One of my favorite read of the year — past several reads — and a great one to add to your list. If you’re looking to check out the audio version, it’s available a number of places. I mentioned Audible but it’s also currently up on Spotify if you have a Spotify premium account.
Looking for some other reads? Check out more on some other reads of mine here.
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