1 00:00:01,738 --> 00:00:05,138 Welcome to Plans Are Booked, a podcast for every reader. 2 00:00:05,138 --> 00:00:06,466 I'm Molly Gallagher. 3 00:00:06,961 --> 00:00:08,621 Stephanie Blackburn. 4 00:00:08,910 --> 00:00:10,430 And I'm Caitlin Madison. 5 00:00:10,430 --> 00:00:13,950 Welcome to chapter 26. 6 00:00:14,410 --> 00:00:20,850 I just have to say when this episode comes out, I will have already been tortured, 7 00:00:20,850 --> 00:00:25,950 maimed, and brought back to life by the tortured Poets Department. 8 00:00:25,950 --> 00:00:29,094 That's what's on my mind right now. 9 00:00:29,094 --> 00:00:33,121 those living under a rock that's the title of the new Taylor Swift album. 10 00:00:33,121 --> 00:00:34,201 Yeah. 11 00:00:34,201 --> 00:00:37,296 And I'm like, I didn't notice the shot. 12 00:00:37,296 --> 00:00:41,826 but I feel like I did because I watched all the Travis and Taylor videos because 13 00:00:41,826 --> 00:00:42,406 guess what? 14 00:00:42,406 --> 00:00:44,456 All of her friends played there. 15 00:00:44,456 --> 00:00:45,506 It was I spice. 16 00:00:45,506 --> 00:00:47,266 It was Jack and bleachers. 17 00:00:47,266 --> 00:00:48,546 It was like everybody. 18 00:00:48,546 --> 00:00:49,426 Sabrina was there. 19 00:00:49,426 --> 00:00:51,466 I mean, it was just. 20 00:00:51,526 --> 00:00:57,666 It was delightful, although I will say I did miss last year Dylan O 'Brien dancing 21 00:00:57,666 --> 00:00:59,916 in the desert with like no shirt on was pretty great. 22 00:00:59,916 --> 00:01:02,190 So but this year was also good. 23 00:01:02,990 --> 00:01:09,130 So, we did a two, a single thing together, the past week together, and we started a 24 00:01:09,130 --> 00:01:10,090 new life. 25 00:01:10,090 --> 00:01:12,030 Is that right? 26 00:01:12,030 --> 00:01:12,590 Yeah. 27 00:01:12,590 --> 00:01:13,810 Oh, it's so clear. 28 00:01:13,810 --> 00:01:15,050 Right, right. 29 00:01:15,050 --> 00:01:17,174 Yeah, well, catch yourself on your way. 30 00:01:17,174 --> 00:01:19,542 - Molly just keeps traveling. 31 00:01:19,542 --> 00:01:24,262 know I had back -to -back weekend trips which is pretty unusual for me. 32 00:01:24,462 --> 00:01:30,502 I'm back in Watertown after three days on Long Beach Island which is on the Jersey 33 00:01:30,502 --> 00:01:31,442 Shore. 34 00:01:31,562 --> 00:01:34,062 If you're like, oh like the MTV show? 35 00:01:34,062 --> 00:01:38,382 Yes and no it is the Jersey Shore but that took place in an area called Seaside 36 00:01:38,382 --> 00:01:38,672 Heights. 37 00:01:38,672 --> 00:01:46,058 This is a town called Beach Haven and I was reuniting with my best girls. 38 00:01:46,186 --> 00:01:50,266 From camp, I think we've discussed this a few times, Jewish sleepaway camp is like a 39 00:01:50,266 --> 00:01:52,286 very big deal in the Jewish culture. 40 00:01:52,286 --> 00:01:55,366 These gals and I have been friends for a really, really long time and it was so fun 41 00:01:55,366 --> 00:01:56,566 to get together. 42 00:01:56,566 --> 00:02:02,166 I also want to say that there were a couple of amazing food places that we went 43 00:02:02,166 --> 00:02:02,326 to. 44 00:02:02,326 --> 00:02:06,026 So if you are a listener who lives in the Tri -State area and Jersey Shore is part 45 00:02:06,026 --> 00:02:11,786 of your deal, you need to go to the local in Beach Haven, which had one of the best 46 00:02:11,786 --> 00:02:14,305 sandwich cookies I've ever had, like whoopee pie style. 47 00:02:14,305 --> 00:02:21,005 two edible cookies with salted caramel in the middle, homemade hot charts, and three 48 00:02:21,005 --> 00:02:22,005 flavors. 49 00:02:22,094 --> 00:02:26,994 a cinnamon -sized human head, and, in three, I had the first mozzarella 50 00:02:26,994 --> 00:02:27,374 sandwich. 51 00:02:27,374 --> 00:02:30,094 I had four different sandwiches that I liked. 52 00:02:30,214 --> 00:02:35,314 You also have to go to Tucker's Tatter, which is at a box scale. 53 00:02:35,574 --> 00:02:36,794 I don't know. 54 00:02:36,794 --> 00:02:40,574 I kept wanting to call it like the 99, but if the 99 were nice. 55 00:02:40,574 --> 00:02:43,997 And they all wear shirts that say shut up and drink. 56 00:02:43,997 --> 00:02:45,297 On the back? 57 00:02:45,457 --> 00:02:46,838 I agree with that. 58 00:02:46,838 --> 00:02:54,418 And this is not a food, there's an amazing home decor. 59 00:02:54,418 --> 00:02:57,778 I highly recommend it. 60 00:02:57,778 --> 00:02:59,148 I purchased several items. 61 00:02:59,148 --> 00:03:01,918 I wanted to purchase more than I normally would have. 62 00:03:01,930 --> 00:03:05,470 I decided to rein it in since the other girls weren't on in as big a shopping mood 63 00:03:05,470 --> 00:03:06,670 as me. 64 00:03:06,770 --> 00:03:07,470 So it was great. 65 00:03:07,470 --> 00:03:11,910 I felt like I was away for a whole week and then I came back to Watertown and it 66 00:03:11,910 --> 00:03:13,556 was like sunny and gorgeous. 67 00:03:15,066 --> 00:03:16,486 did happen. 68 00:03:16,866 --> 00:03:22,086 I had a little bit of a reunion of sorts because my friend Tessa, who listens to 69 00:03:22,086 --> 00:03:27,086 the podcast, was visiting from Oakland, California, and she stayed with me for a 70 00:03:27,086 --> 00:03:27,946 night. 71 00:03:27,946 --> 00:03:30,562 And she said to... 72 00:03:30,562 --> 00:03:34,942 with two of my other really good friends and so a bunch of us there were like six 73 00:03:34,942 --> 00:03:40,502 girls and we went to the Red Sox game on Sunday which was really fun they won the 74 00:03:40,502 --> 00:03:45,702 Red Sox hit three separate home runs it was sunny and 60 I got a seats in the 75 00:03:45,702 --> 00:03:50,802 grandstands which is covered so nobody got a sunburn we went to the bullpen 76 00:03:50,802 --> 00:03:55,788 beforehand which in my opinion is the best Fenway bar there is. 77 00:03:56,434 --> 00:03:59,734 It was a fun day, which are completely different. 78 00:03:59,734 --> 00:04:02,342 It's Saturday, with a lot of other crap. 79 00:04:02,494 --> 00:04:08,694 open house day in which I went and saw more homes with caving in roofs, rude 80 00:04:08,694 --> 00:04:11,294 neighbors saying, get off my lawn. 81 00:04:11,294 --> 00:04:16,844 Um, there, I saw a furnace that my realtor was like, this is older than you are. 82 00:04:16,844 --> 00:04:23,622 Um, you know, just the works and these are all like homes that are like, you know, 83 00:04:24,042 --> 00:04:25,237 to $800 ,000. 84 00:04:25,237 --> 00:04:31,797 and they have multiple rooms that need to be gutted or like major structural issues. 85 00:04:31,797 --> 00:04:37,077 And I'm a one woman show and I will not be tangling with any of that. 86 00:04:37,237 --> 00:04:41,546 There was one house we didn't even go in because the roof line and the 87 00:04:41,546 --> 00:04:46,266 the Eve that were like over the front door were separating from the house. 88 00:04:46,266 --> 00:04:50,998 And we could see the foundation like parts of it had crumbled onto the lawn. 89 00:04:50,998 --> 00:04:53,423 and we were like, what do we want? 90 00:04:53,423 --> 00:04:54,143 it. 91 00:04:54,143 --> 00:04:56,523 And we just didn't even go in. 92 00:04:56,903 --> 00:05:02,083 It's like, I'm just laughing about it because I'm not in a rush and work I 93 00:05:02,083 --> 00:05:02,383 don't. 94 00:05:02,383 --> 00:05:05,633 It's not like I've sold my home or I can't rent where I live anymore. 95 00:05:05,633 --> 00:05:11,103 Like I'm in a good spot, but boy is the comical spending these Saturdays going to 96 00:05:11,103 --> 00:05:11,758 these 97 00:05:11,758 --> 00:05:15,178 trash holes that are then going to sell in like 48 hours because people are 98 00:05:15,178 --> 00:05:16,258 desperate. 99 00:05:16,278 --> 00:05:21,094 So I was very glad that I had a Sunday fun day because Saturday was like, 100 00:05:21,538 --> 00:05:22,558 a whole year. 101 00:05:22,558 --> 00:05:25,178 This is for my third Saturday in a while. 102 00:05:25,178 --> 00:05:28,398 And so that was good. 103 00:05:28,398 --> 00:05:30,990 And what else did I have? 104 00:05:30,990 --> 00:05:32,970 Parent teacher conferences. 105 00:05:33,190 --> 00:05:37,820 I got really, I got everyone really jazzed up today and not about Taylor Swift stuff, 106 00:05:37,820 --> 00:05:44,150 but because Kit Conner from Heartstopper and Rachel Ziegler from West Side Story 107 00:05:44,150 --> 00:05:50,370 and also from the Ballad of the Songbird, whatever that is from Hunger Games. 108 00:05:50,665 --> 00:05:52,805 Snake's Valley, something like that. 109 00:05:52,805 --> 00:05:58,205 It was really interesting for me to come and for a while, you know, to see if I 110 00:05:58,205 --> 00:05:59,075 could... 111 00:06:13,154 --> 00:06:16,334 we're all talking about it, and we're gonna find out. 112 00:06:20,209 --> 00:06:24,169 in full on work. 113 00:06:24,269 --> 00:06:27,249 If I can't find the most time, I never want to. 114 00:06:27,249 --> 00:06:28,974 This is really one thing to do. 115 00:06:28,974 --> 00:06:32,914 I've got Boston Calling coming up, I've got Newport Folkfest coming up, I have 116 00:06:32,914 --> 00:06:34,594 tickets to Noah Khan. 117 00:06:34,594 --> 00:06:41,590 I wanna throw this Kit Kahn or Rachel Ziegler play onto my schedule, Steph. 118 00:06:41,590 --> 00:06:42,990 tell us about that. 119 00:06:43,270 --> 00:06:46,001 First, I want to show you guys the sample. 120 00:06:46,001 --> 00:06:46,841 dog Scout. 121 00:06:46,841 --> 00:06:51,541 We had a wonderful dog sitting weekend together. 122 00:06:51,841 --> 00:06:54,341 He's always a hoot. 123 00:06:55,341 --> 00:06:56,434 But... 124 00:06:56,434 --> 00:07:01,414 my first morning started on a farm in the prairie. 125 00:07:01,414 --> 00:07:07,654 I was just new at it because you know, April, you know, so I should have been 126 00:07:07,654 --> 00:07:07,994 clean. 127 00:07:07,994 --> 00:07:10,374 I had one at the course. 128 00:07:10,594 --> 00:07:13,574 from the hospital in September. 129 00:07:13,574 --> 00:07:17,681 So I was in the hospital, I felt like my life was again. 130 00:07:17,681 --> 00:07:18,621 a bicycle. 131 00:07:18,681 --> 00:07:22,841 I just want to say, first of all, you guys know that I cried everything. 132 00:07:22,961 --> 00:07:24,621 The first... 133 00:07:25,710 --> 00:07:39,898 she's a tiny little four -year -old she is She got on Willie 134 00:07:39,898 --> 00:07:44,098 and she's going to score from time to time. 135 00:07:44,098 --> 00:07:46,238 I'm not sure who I think. 136 00:07:46,418 --> 00:07:50,518 I mean, obviously, if the child can't speak and she got onto a horse and felt 137 00:07:50,518 --> 00:07:52,458 joy, I also would cry. 138 00:07:53,338 --> 00:07:58,018 the therapist and her volunteer did not warn me that I would be singing the whole 139 00:07:58,018 --> 00:07:59,558 entire session. 140 00:08:00,658 --> 00:08:04,818 So when we were getting with the pony, luckily facing forward, no one could see 141 00:08:04,818 --> 00:08:09,898 that I had a more emotional breakdown, and we were singing like made up songs to her 142 00:08:09,898 --> 00:08:13,078 the entire way around the ring. 143 00:08:13,078 --> 00:08:14,758 I think we went like five times around the ring. 144 00:08:14,758 --> 00:08:16,878 I was going to say, if they were singing... 145 00:08:16,878 --> 00:08:19,358 little light of mine, I would have fallen apart. 146 00:08:20,478 --> 00:08:25,198 everyone get immediate tickets to heaven like what happened like I feel like that's 147 00:08:25,198 --> 00:08:30,338 a Hallmark movie and Everyone's spending their time bringing this girl joy should 148 00:08:30,338 --> 00:08:33,069 get like to cut the line or something 149 00:08:33,069 --> 00:08:38,809 mother and her, I guess, maybe aide, who is like a full -time person who clearly 150 00:08:38,809 --> 00:08:43,029 adores the crap out of this little girl, were taking video and photos the entire 151 00:08:43,029 --> 00:08:45,029 time at like the entrance to the ring. 152 00:08:45,029 --> 00:08:50,089 It was just, I mean, it was raining and gross and no one cared because she was 153 00:08:50,089 --> 00:08:52,269 like living her best life. 154 00:08:52,609 --> 00:08:56,029 Unfortunately, because I'm like the horse handler, I don't get to see the actual 155 00:08:56,029 --> 00:08:59,419 physical therapy that's happening on horseback behind me. 156 00:08:59,419 --> 00:09:02,637 Maybe I'll try and get sneak peeks, you know. 157 00:09:03,642 --> 00:09:09,482 Lily is behaving, but it just, I walked out of there like so early and it was like 158 00:09:09,482 --> 00:09:10,182 full of light. 159 00:09:10,182 --> 00:09:11,546 It was wonderful. 160 00:09:11,546 --> 00:09:14,456 you become besties with her aide, the aide will text you the videos. 161 00:09:14,456 --> 00:09:15,466 Yeah. 162 00:09:15,918 --> 00:09:22,718 hope one of them has like a really hot aid and then this is like your meet cue. 163 00:09:22,718 --> 00:09:26,838 You should see Molly's face right now. 164 00:09:26,838 --> 00:09:29,318 I mean that's pretty good, right? 165 00:09:30,518 --> 00:09:38,038 But I but I'd prefer my idea where yeah the meet cue. 166 00:09:38,038 --> 00:09:38,438 Yes. 167 00:09:38,438 --> 00:09:39,138 Yes. 168 00:09:39,138 --> 00:09:40,137 Well, 169 00:09:40,137 --> 00:09:46,417 there will eventually be three people, one right after another, but the middle person 170 00:09:46,417 --> 00:09:49,797 or child is not here until I think June. 171 00:09:49,797 --> 00:09:56,717 But the second person who ended up being later in the morning is blind and he's a 172 00:09:56,717 --> 00:09:58,646 little verbal, but not really. 173 00:09:58,646 --> 00:10:00,546 And he's blind, he writes backwards. 174 00:10:00,546 --> 00:10:02,526 And he is just in his own world. 175 00:10:02,526 --> 00:10:06,886 He also, I mean, he wasn't like screeching with happiness, but he was clearly 176 00:10:06,886 --> 00:10:08,646 enjoying that out of himself. 177 00:10:08,646 --> 00:10:09,685 It was just... 178 00:10:09,685 --> 00:10:12,605 I walked out of there and being like, this was amazing. 179 00:10:12,605 --> 00:10:14,294 Can't wait till next Thursday. 180 00:10:14,294 --> 00:10:16,674 I love that you're doing this. 181 00:10:16,774 --> 00:10:25,294 We need reminders, I think, that like, just to get out of our own way and like 182 00:10:25,294 --> 00:10:31,574 out of the day to day like grind of garbage and just like, I know for me, like 183 00:10:31,574 --> 00:10:36,230 teaching does that to some extent, but there's just like, 184 00:10:36,782 --> 00:10:40,142 you know, I'll be at work and somebody will be like, I can't believe you fit me 185 00:10:40,142 --> 00:10:40,342 in. 186 00:10:40,342 --> 00:10:44,482 That was so nice that you called and like you're you actually use your cancellation 187 00:10:44,482 --> 00:10:46,022 list and like blah, blah, blah. 188 00:10:46,022 --> 00:10:50,282 And it's just like every once in a while, like somebody makes you stop. 189 00:10:50,282 --> 00:10:55,662 And like that is like a really big time stop the music moment of like, OK, there 190 00:10:55,662 --> 00:10:57,162 are other things going on out here. 191 00:10:57,162 --> 00:11:00,562 And like, it's not all bad in gloom and doom. 192 00:11:01,389 --> 00:11:03,109 Okay, so I have a question. 193 00:11:03,109 --> 00:11:06,849 I can't promise this is going to happen every single week, but this just came to 194 00:11:06,849 --> 00:11:07,489 me. 195 00:11:07,489 --> 00:11:13,209 So I'm going to ask you guys, okay, what is the one thing that you read it in a 196 00:11:13,209 --> 00:11:15,989 book and you're immediately like, I'm out? 197 00:11:16,069 --> 00:11:17,189 It can be anything. 198 00:11:17,189 --> 00:11:21,759 It can be like grammatical issues or a character says something. 199 00:11:21,759 --> 00:11:23,169 What is the thing? 200 00:11:23,169 --> 00:11:26,107 And I'll let you guys think for a second for me. 201 00:11:47,874 --> 00:11:52,418 how did you finish Dun and Dust it that's in there. 202 00:11:53,130 --> 00:11:54,394 Just saying. 203 00:11:56,174 --> 00:11:57,954 Oh, geez. 204 00:11:58,994 --> 00:12:00,434 Well, mine's incest. 205 00:12:00,434 --> 00:12:01,854 Mine's incest. 206 00:12:01,854 --> 00:12:03,794 I'm out on incest. 207 00:12:05,254 --> 00:12:07,014 Oh, my God, VC Andrews. 208 00:12:07,014 --> 00:12:09,054 You never read any of those? 209 00:12:10,214 --> 00:12:12,814 Oh, no, I read that as a child. 210 00:12:12,814 --> 00:12:16,594 I will say I did watch The Fosters for a long time. 211 00:12:16,594 --> 00:12:22,234 And I don't count that because Callie and Brandon were not actually related and she 212 00:12:22,234 --> 00:12:24,952 got adopted into his family as a teenager. 213 00:12:25,182 --> 00:12:30,062 So that was like a little bit of a mom to my parents and I would have taken them off 214 00:12:30,062 --> 00:12:33,182 and take them on as children though because she was like this one and she was 215 00:12:33,182 --> 00:12:34,602 about to lose her family. 216 00:12:34,602 --> 00:12:39,302 But yeah, it was just one that like I don't tango with. 217 00:12:39,302 --> 00:12:41,857 I guess I should say... 218 00:12:41,857 --> 00:12:46,037 I guess I don't know the correct, like, in this review, like, somebody's name for you 219 00:12:46,037 --> 00:12:47,014 is like a, it's like a - 220 00:12:47,014 --> 00:12:51,554 dad and a daughter or an uncle and a daughter or whatever, like that is like a 221 00:12:51,554 --> 00:12:52,254 different story. 222 00:12:52,254 --> 00:12:53,636 But if it's like, 223 00:12:53,678 --> 00:12:58,238 incest and like the people are choosing to be together even though they're related 224 00:12:58,238 --> 00:13:02,942 and it's not allowed not on board with that and i will stop reading 225 00:13:02,942 --> 00:13:08,182 mine is more of a formatting thing, which is that I cannot stand when there are not 226 00:13:08,182 --> 00:13:10,502 quotation marks around dialogue. 227 00:13:12,002 --> 00:13:16,702 That is just like sends me I can't keep track of who's talking when it's internal 228 00:13:16,702 --> 00:13:21,182 when it's not like no just absolute no. 229 00:13:22,042 --> 00:13:28,322 I also just think back to the romance genre when someone uses the word folds. 230 00:13:28,322 --> 00:13:30,522 I'm just like, can we not? 231 00:13:33,258 --> 00:13:36,656 I just really feel that as a descriptor that should not be allowed. 232 00:13:38,606 --> 00:13:42,066 I yeah, I'm can get behind that. 233 00:13:42,066 --> 00:13:49,486 I don't know that I've bred enough romance to come across folds, but it's in there a 234 00:13:49,486 --> 00:13:50,386 lot. 235 00:13:50,526 --> 00:13:52,246 Oh, I don't know. 236 00:13:52,486 --> 00:14:04,742 So you can't read Sally Rooney books then. 237 00:14:04,846 --> 00:14:06,016 She doesn't use a quotation. 238 00:14:06,016 --> 00:14:10,266 She barely does paragraph breaks for when somebody else is talking. 239 00:14:10,285 --> 00:14:15,465 other issue for me, which is maybe not a writer issue, but an editor issue, is if I 240 00:14:15,465 --> 00:14:20,785 see tense change and I know it should not have changed, not going to say a book that 241 00:14:20,785 --> 00:14:28,125 I read recently that happened in, that for me is like, and listen, I do spelling 242 00:14:28,125 --> 00:14:34,325 errors all the time in life, in writing, but that is something that an editor 243 00:14:34,325 --> 00:14:36,482 should catch. 244 00:14:36,482 --> 00:14:40,882 and on a related note, the tense change. 245 00:14:41,162 --> 00:14:48,162 If there's jumping back and forth in time, and it becomes too impossible to keep 246 00:14:48,162 --> 00:14:52,302 track of which part of the story we are in, I give up. 247 00:14:53,162 --> 00:14:58,242 All right, well I keep thinking of questions to try and help some below that. 248 00:14:58,242 --> 00:15:02,292 Also, before we get into our book pack for today. 249 00:15:02,530 --> 00:15:07,570 you are listening to this hopefully on Thursday, April 25, which means we are 250 00:15:07,570 --> 00:15:11,650 just two days away from Indie Bookstore Day, which if you've been listening to us 251 00:15:11,650 --> 00:15:15,490 since the beginning, or this is your first time listening, we are very big 252 00:15:15,490 --> 00:15:16,590 independent bookstore people. 253 00:15:16,590 --> 00:15:19,138 We prefer to shop like that all the time. 254 00:15:19,378 --> 00:15:21,558 We'll be since times our next funds in November. 255 00:15:21,558 --> 00:15:24,438 We mostly try to patronize independent bookstores. 256 00:15:24,438 --> 00:15:28,458 So we hope that you will support whatever stores are near you this weekend. 257 00:15:28,458 --> 00:15:31,638 We will certainly be sharing all the fun stuff that we're doing and how we're 258 00:15:31,638 --> 00:15:32,658 solving it. 259 00:15:33,066 --> 00:15:36,366 So keep a close eye on our Instagram because we will share some more stuff. 260 00:15:36,486 --> 00:15:43,366 But with that, today we are talking about actress and activist Kerry Washington's 261 00:15:43,366 --> 00:15:45,186 memoir, Thicker Than Water. 262 00:15:45,746 --> 00:15:49,016 I did not intend originally to read this book. 263 00:15:49,630 --> 00:15:53,410 Kerry did a huge press work in advance of this. 264 00:15:53,410 --> 00:15:57,270 She was on the RGR expert with Jack Shepard, she was on We Can Do Hard Things 265 00:15:57,270 --> 00:15:58,620 with Brian Doyle. 266 00:15:59,006 --> 00:16:04,286 I listened to both of those episodes in full and it was those conversations that 267 00:16:04,286 --> 00:16:08,766 made me go, whoa, like I have to know everything about this situation. 268 00:16:08,846 --> 00:16:14,726 Then my mom went to Carrie's appearance at the Miami Book Fair in November, which is 269 00:16:14,726 --> 00:16:18,056 run by Books and Books, my favorite independent bookstore in Miami. 270 00:16:18,282 --> 00:16:21,942 and she brought her book at the event, so that was like part of, including with the 271 00:16:21,942 --> 00:16:23,062 ticket I guess. 272 00:16:23,062 --> 00:16:26,822 She read it very quickly and said, you should definitely read this and maybe it 273 00:16:26,822 --> 00:16:28,902 will be good enough for the podcast. 274 00:16:28,909 --> 00:16:32,089 So I traveled home with it from next thing weekend. 275 00:16:32,130 --> 00:16:39,030 And as I was reading it, I was like, so much of this is like not about everything 276 00:16:39,030 --> 00:16:40,870 that I heard in these podcast interviews. 277 00:16:40,870 --> 00:16:44,690 I really thought it was going to be about this big reveal about her family's 278 00:16:44,690 --> 00:16:45,290 lineage. 279 00:16:45,290 --> 00:16:47,114 And I would say like, 280 00:16:47,114 --> 00:16:50,234 80 % of the book is actually not about that. 281 00:16:50,234 --> 00:16:57,406 And I felt like it left around in time in terms of her life as a young girl. 282 00:16:57,406 --> 00:17:01,926 getting into the Hollywood scene, meeting her husband, settling in LA. 283 00:17:02,646 --> 00:17:07,866 There is like a very big reveal at the end of this book, and I felt like it took an 284 00:17:07,866 --> 00:17:09,646 eon to get there. 285 00:17:09,646 --> 00:17:14,625 And then I didn't feel like there was the kind of payoff or epiphany that I wanted. 286 00:17:14,625 --> 00:17:16,554 on the - 287 00:17:16,554 --> 00:17:20,774 pluses, I would say if you're a fan of Scandal, there's so much good behind the 288 00:17:20,774 --> 00:17:24,514 scenes stuff about how she got that role of being the middle woman on the college 289 00:17:24,514 --> 00:17:26,358 year, how that changed her life. 290 00:17:26,358 --> 00:17:28,458 how she became a producer. 291 00:17:29,318 --> 00:17:34,258 Twitter parties, yes, all of the things that were part of being part of ABC's 292 00:17:34,258 --> 00:17:35,618 TGIT. 293 00:17:36,458 --> 00:17:39,938 So there is a lot of cool behind the scenes stuff if you're like a celeb memoir 294 00:17:39,938 --> 00:17:41,358 person and you like that. 295 00:17:41,358 --> 00:17:43,866 But the things that reeled me in... 296 00:17:43,918 --> 00:17:47,478 these podcast conversations turn out to be kind of not. 297 00:17:47,478 --> 00:17:55,174 So I, when Molly's mom gave her this book, 298 00:17:55,517 --> 00:18:01,987 Molly said, oh, this is Karen Washington's memoir, and she finds out about Blake, 299 00:18:01,987 --> 00:18:05,877 dotted up about Blake in her family, and this is what it's about. 300 00:18:05,877 --> 00:18:07,977 And Molly had been writing it. 301 00:18:08,077 --> 00:18:11,257 And so I was like, oh, that's kind of interesting. 302 00:18:11,257 --> 00:18:16,157 And so that didn't worry me more about it, it got passed to Seth, it got passed to 303 00:18:16,157 --> 00:18:18,237 me, I wrote it this week. 304 00:18:18,237 --> 00:18:22,510 And I agree with Molly, the majority of the book is Molly's book. 305 00:18:22,510 --> 00:18:23,834 that reveal. 306 00:18:24,078 --> 00:18:29,838 And I feel like it's like preparing to have a free of talk about something in the 307 00:18:29,838 --> 00:18:34,878 first five pages, and then finally feeling like I'm flying above the edges. 308 00:18:34,878 --> 00:18:40,658 But I really feel like it was, because all of it, and sure, all of it, but the second 309 00:18:40,658 --> 00:18:42,343 one was the podcast. 310 00:18:42,343 --> 00:18:46,263 So this was like out in the universe what the appeal was. 311 00:18:46,263 --> 00:18:50,083 And so I'm looking at the book and I'm like when is the book going to be about 312 00:18:50,083 --> 00:18:52,202 this traumatic thing that happened? 313 00:18:52,202 --> 00:18:54,322 in our family, is it real? 314 00:18:54,422 --> 00:18:56,732 And that's really not what the book was about. 315 00:18:56,732 --> 00:19:02,182 And I also have to say, and I just really like your thoughts, and I watch the end of 316 00:19:02,182 --> 00:19:05,742 Forever, and I've lived a lot of different things. 317 00:19:05,902 --> 00:19:07,994 But this book came off. 318 00:19:07,994 --> 00:19:14,444 as so prissy and like eat, pray, love that I like wanted to throw it out the window. 319 00:19:14,444 --> 00:19:17,714 Like I really did not like this book. 320 00:19:17,714 --> 00:19:18,438 Like, 321 00:19:19,510 --> 00:19:23,040 it's like, oh my god, it's really hard to understand this one thing. 322 00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:24,880 It's always like, what is this? 323 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:25,150 What is happening? 324 00:19:25,150 --> 00:19:26,030 What is this? 325 00:19:26,030 --> 00:19:27,717 Oh my god. 326 00:19:27,717 --> 00:19:29,477 had a truck with a lot of film. 327 00:19:29,477 --> 00:19:35,337 It's like, there's just so many things we're not able to do. 328 00:19:35,337 --> 00:19:36,897 This is gonna be what should exist. 329 00:19:36,897 --> 00:19:39,097 And like, you know. 330 00:19:39,142 --> 00:19:43,942 talking about her past and like, you know, whatever she grew up with dealing with and 331 00:19:43,942 --> 00:19:44,862 whatever. 332 00:19:44,862 --> 00:19:45,050 And... 333 00:19:45,050 --> 00:19:49,530 it's not that nothing happened to her, and it's not that a number of people are 334 00:19:49,530 --> 00:19:55,050 always bad stuff, but she really seriously needs, and then doesn't even really dig 335 00:19:55,050 --> 00:19:56,630 into it at all. 336 00:19:56,958 --> 00:20:03,138 And so I just felt like there was no there wasn't really a good arc, like whoever her 337 00:20:03,138 --> 00:20:08,218 editor was, like, you know, the conflict like the major conflict in a story should 338 00:20:08,218 --> 00:20:13,238 happen like between the like mid to late part of the book, and then you have a 339 00:20:13,238 --> 00:20:14,950 resolution and it's like, 340 00:20:15,021 --> 00:20:17,161 that didn't really happen. 341 00:20:17,261 --> 00:20:20,041 And it was almost like she decided to change her book. 342 00:20:20,041 --> 00:20:22,081 It was just like a time -packed life. 343 00:20:22,081 --> 00:20:24,922 I was like, this is a time -packed nightmare. 344 00:20:24,922 --> 00:20:26,426 This is a tie. 345 00:20:26,426 --> 00:20:27,346 It didn't work. 346 00:20:27,346 --> 00:20:28,636 It just didn't work for me. 347 00:20:28,636 --> 00:20:30,066 It fell totally flat. 348 00:20:30,066 --> 00:20:33,866 I was 60 pages in and was like, man, I got to finish this. 349 00:20:33,866 --> 00:20:37,021 Like, sorry, Carrie, I thought it stunk. 350 00:20:37,021 --> 00:20:43,601 For me, coming off of the Minka Kelly memoir, all I could think is like, her mom 351 00:20:43,601 --> 00:20:49,921 must have died because Minka's whole thing was she wasn't gonna write this until her 352 00:20:49,921 --> 00:20:51,701 mother was no longer. 353 00:20:52,426 --> 00:20:54,429 And I kept saying, oh, this is where 354 00:20:54,429 --> 00:20:55,149 headed. 355 00:20:55,149 --> 00:20:59,249 Like, clearly she's not writing this with her mother still alive. 356 00:20:59,429 --> 00:21:04,249 Spoiler alert, her mother's still alive, which I think is such an interesting 357 00:21:04,249 --> 00:21:05,309 thing. 358 00:21:05,309 --> 00:21:08,789 I can't even imagine what sort of conversations went on behind the scenes to 359 00:21:08,789 --> 00:21:13,749 be like, I'm going to talk about all this in a very public way. 360 00:21:13,989 --> 00:21:20,333 Did her mother approve that or did she just say like, I'm telling it and. 361 00:21:20,462 --> 00:21:24,370 the other thing is I keep thinking about it, I think it's more about it. 362 00:21:24,370 --> 00:21:27,770 thinks I'm not a traumatic paladin. 363 00:21:28,170 --> 00:21:29,570 Are you? 364 00:21:30,980 --> 00:21:31,240 Yeah. 365 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:35,100 lighthearted thing we did learn is that she went to this Richie Rich private 366 00:21:35,100 --> 00:21:36,620 school as Caitlin said. 367 00:21:36,620 --> 00:21:41,800 Her first ever performance was alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in A Midsummer Night's 368 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,270 Dream, which we have discussed A Midsummer Night's Dream many times. 369 00:21:44,270 --> 00:21:45,480 Caitlin teaches it. 370 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:47,400 It's come up in a lot of other conversations. 371 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:50,588 I was like, what a like little Easter egg in here. 372 00:21:51,952 --> 00:21:58,132 there and there were some moments like that but I just the narrative it just 373 00:21:58,132 --> 00:22:04,832 didn't build it didn't resolve it didn't and I know this is gonna sound like her 374 00:22:04,832 --> 00:22:09,232 mom and dad like were definitely like major characters throughout the book but 375 00:22:09,232 --> 00:22:12,892 they really were side characters like she was the star of that show for the whole 376 00:22:12,892 --> 00:22:15,080 book like there wasn't a lot of 377 00:22:15,487 --> 00:22:19,987 I feel like others who I've had largely never had to know the siblings more, or 378 00:22:19,987 --> 00:22:23,227 the cousins more, or the best friend, or somebody. 379 00:22:23,547 --> 00:22:25,537 And just never really happened in this book. 380 00:22:25,537 --> 00:22:29,472 I also think sometimes the reading can be bad. 381 00:22:29,472 --> 00:22:30,652 the content is good. 382 00:22:30,652 --> 00:22:33,972 For example, we already talked about the Britney Spears memoir. 383 00:22:33,972 --> 00:22:37,072 You really could hear her voice in the writing. 384 00:22:37,072 --> 00:22:38,052 Was it great? 385 00:22:38,052 --> 00:22:38,642 No. 386 00:22:38,642 --> 00:22:40,952 Was it full of content we wanted to know more about? 387 00:22:40,952 --> 00:22:42,052 Yes. 388 00:22:42,052 --> 00:22:44,772 So this was a case where it was like, 389 00:22:45,644 --> 00:22:49,584 the setup, the arc as Caitlin said, was not great. 390 00:22:49,584 --> 00:22:54,424 They buried the lead and I think a different editor may have pushed her more 391 00:22:54,424 --> 00:22:57,964 to be like, we gotta like reorganize this. 392 00:22:57,984 --> 00:23:03,024 And I rarely like to think this about celeb memoirs but when I got to the end of 393 00:23:03,024 --> 00:23:06,164 this I was like, god this is just really a case of like a famous person who got a 394 00:23:06,164 --> 00:23:06,544 book deal. 395 00:23:06,544 --> 00:23:12,184 It just like, it didn't feel like, I don't want to say that she deserved this 396 00:23:12,184 --> 00:23:15,076 platform, but it wasn't. 397 00:23:15,532 --> 00:23:18,262 I don't know, just as like moving as some other ones. 398 00:23:18,262 --> 00:23:22,472 And I think when we talked about Minka, we were all really impressed with her 399 00:23:22,472 --> 00:23:25,372 vulnerability and how much she shared about her life. 400 00:23:25,372 --> 00:23:29,932 And there were so many things that must've been just like incredibly hard to relive. 401 00:23:29,932 --> 00:23:35,432 This did feel like a star studded version of sharing the hard things that have 402 00:23:35,432 --> 00:23:36,392 happened to you. 403 00:23:36,392 --> 00:23:38,476 And it didn't. 404 00:23:39,628 --> 00:23:43,348 I don't know, it just didn't leave you either feeling inspired or feeling 405 00:23:43,348 --> 00:23:46,348 motivated or feeling even feeling sad for her. 406 00:23:46,348 --> 00:23:52,468 It just sort of lands on like a meh, which was disappointing because those podcast 407 00:23:52,468 --> 00:23:54,848 interviews were so compelling. 408 00:23:54,848 --> 00:23:56,728 And I think she's a great public speaker. 409 00:23:56,728 --> 00:23:58,538 For those who don't know, she's a huge activist. 410 00:23:58,538 --> 00:24:00,188 She encourages people to register to vote. 411 00:24:00,188 --> 00:24:02,148 She's always on the campaign trail. 412 00:24:02,148 --> 00:24:04,808 She's a compelling human being. 413 00:24:04,808 --> 00:24:07,264 It didn't translate on the page. 414 00:24:07,264 --> 00:24:08,552 I think... 415 00:24:08,719 --> 00:24:14,139 touched on a bunch of subjects that I just wish she had spent more time with, like 416 00:24:14,139 --> 00:24:15,229 the eating disorder. 417 00:24:15,229 --> 00:24:18,519 It felt like a sort of passing comment. 418 00:24:18,519 --> 00:24:24,119 I wanted to like know more about her thoughts and like a little bit more on 419 00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:30,039 like the healing of like accepting I have this issue and how she's continued 420 00:24:30,039 --> 00:24:30,952 forward. 421 00:24:30,952 --> 00:24:36,372 says that by the time she goes to India, she's been on like a two year therapy 422 00:24:36,372 --> 00:24:38,088 journey of 423 00:24:38,204 --> 00:24:42,344 dealing with pre -informed and inaction and other things. 424 00:24:42,344 --> 00:24:48,394 And that's like basically all these are really referenced and then it's just like, 425 00:24:48,394 --> 00:24:49,164 yeah, I don't know. 426 00:24:49,164 --> 00:24:53,064 And it's like, oh, but that's the part that we want to know about because other 427 00:24:53,064 --> 00:24:53,336 people... 428 00:24:53,336 --> 00:24:54,896 have those struggles. 429 00:24:54,896 --> 00:24:59,496 And you're just passing it over to get to like the next part in your timeline. 430 00:24:59,796 --> 00:25:02,296 And it just didn't, nothing got flushed out. 431 00:25:02,296 --> 00:25:04,119 It just was really bizarre. 432 00:25:04,119 --> 00:25:10,199 and even back to the abuse that was happening in her childhood, like horrible, 433 00:25:10,199 --> 00:25:12,208 absolutely horrible, which was 434 00:25:12,208 --> 00:25:15,708 why I was thinking, Jesus, I don't know what to do with your housing. 435 00:25:15,868 --> 00:25:23,040 I'm going to think about it as an adult, talking to your parents. 436 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:27,100 about this thing that happened and like coming to terms with it and how that 437 00:25:27,100 --> 00:25:31,140 affected the relationship to the other, for not living in it. 438 00:25:31,140 --> 00:25:36,255 I just needed to move on, I just wanted a deep understanding. 439 00:25:36,255 --> 00:25:39,815 reflection on each of the like tough topics. 440 00:25:39,940 --> 00:25:41,950 I have a question for Mara. 441 00:25:41,950 --> 00:25:48,976 I'm wondering if her editor was like, who could be helping her out? 442 00:25:48,976 --> 00:25:51,016 this or more about this or more about that? 443 00:25:51,016 --> 00:25:53,016 And she was like, no. 444 00:25:53,176 --> 00:25:57,316 Like, I wonder if like she pushed back and was like, I can't talk more about like, 445 00:25:57,316 --> 00:25:59,316 I'm not there yet, or whatever. 446 00:25:59,316 --> 00:26:00,748 But 447 00:26:00,748 --> 00:26:04,808 that being said, there's a fewer money for this project. 448 00:26:04,808 --> 00:26:07,288 Like, those are the things that really. 449 00:26:08,048 --> 00:26:13,408 I think it's helpful to other people, and I guess it should help for this conference 450 00:26:13,408 --> 00:26:13,998 to be there. 451 00:26:13,998 --> 00:26:17,728 But, like, it just. 452 00:26:18,999 --> 00:26:21,379 it didn't... 453 00:26:21,379 --> 00:26:23,419 it didn't work. 454 00:26:23,919 --> 00:26:28,399 I don't really know how to explain it right now. 455 00:26:29,459 --> 00:26:34,099 And I like her and I wanted to look at her but I just can't... 456 00:26:34,099 --> 00:26:36,399 I just can't have any of this hate right now. 457 00:26:36,399 --> 00:26:38,068 I don't know if you guys were ready enough. 458 00:26:38,068 --> 00:26:38,598 book. 459 00:26:38,598 --> 00:26:44,708 Like, I was in a home, I was due, I have to go down to the vet, go 80 pounds of 460 00:26:44,708 --> 00:26:48,160 pasta and milk, and I told him, go with the plan. 461 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:48,660 meditate. 462 00:26:48,660 --> 00:26:51,500 I'm like, nobody else gets this divorce tour. 463 00:26:51,500 --> 00:26:54,620 I just was pissed reading that book. 464 00:26:54,620 --> 00:26:57,120 I was like, this book is ridiculous. 465 00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:00,870 There were moments that I had reading this Kerry Washington book where I was like, 466 00:27:00,870 --> 00:27:02,840 you're being ridiculous. 467 00:27:03,184 --> 00:27:06,964 Like, this just makes me feel like, shoot this power drill. 468 00:27:06,964 --> 00:27:12,484 Let's sit with that for like, 30 more days. 469 00:27:12,484 --> 00:27:14,604 I'm gonna go and look at that. 470 00:27:14,627 --> 00:27:15,949 You know? 471 00:27:16,076 --> 00:27:20,256 I think what we're all saying is that this book did not have a good editor is really 472 00:27:20,256 --> 00:27:22,156 like what it comes down to. 473 00:27:22,176 --> 00:27:25,196 Okay, Steph shows me to like, don't associate that with me face. 474 00:27:25,196 --> 00:27:27,196 I'm saying this book didn't have a good editor. 475 00:27:27,196 --> 00:27:29,036 You can quote it to me. 476 00:27:29,036 --> 00:27:30,916 As you know, I always read the acknowledgments. 477 00:27:30,916 --> 00:27:34,996 The first line of the acknowledgments is thank you to Shonda Rhimes, who told me to 478 00:27:34,996 --> 00:27:37,316 write this book 10 years ago. 479 00:27:37,376 --> 00:27:38,226 Shonda's always right. 480 00:27:38,226 --> 00:27:39,796 If you haven't read her book, you're a VS. 481 00:27:39,796 --> 00:27:41,156 What are you doing? 482 00:27:41,964 --> 00:27:45,684 For people who don't want to know what the big reveal is in this Kerry Washington 483 00:27:45,684 --> 00:27:49,824 book, just seek ahead about 60 seconds because I'm going to recommend a book that 484 00:27:49,824 --> 00:27:51,304 actually does this well. 485 00:27:51,304 --> 00:27:52,884 So seek ahead right now. 486 00:27:52,884 --> 00:27:56,704 The reveal in this book is that Kerry Washington is a different biological 487 00:27:56,704 --> 00:27:57,444 father. 488 00:27:57,444 --> 00:28:01,704 If you want to read a book by someone who actually shared all of the thoughts of 489 00:28:01,704 --> 00:28:06,740 what unpacking that really is, you should read Inheritance by Donnie Shapiro. 490 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:08,160 which is a memoir. 491 00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:12,100 about a Jewish woman who finds out she has a different biological dad who is not 492 00:28:12,100 --> 00:28:12,860 Jewish. 493 00:28:12,860 --> 00:28:15,860 And it just like unravels her entire existence. 494 00:28:15,860 --> 00:28:18,020 It's done beautifully. 495 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,500 I will share every resource I have about that book. 496 00:28:20,500 --> 00:28:23,420 If you're interested in it, you can email us, you can DM us on Instagram. 497 00:28:23,420 --> 00:28:26,180 There are great podcast interviews with her also. 498 00:28:26,180 --> 00:28:30,556 So if you like that as a premise, that's actually what you should read. 499 00:28:30,556 --> 00:28:35,376 Is that an astonishing reveal to her because then she's half Jewish or she's 500 00:28:35,376 --> 00:28:37,056 not Jewish at all? 501 00:28:37,076 --> 00:28:37,848 Then she's 502 00:28:37,848 --> 00:28:44,508 Jewish, but the person who raised her, who she thought was her dad, was Orthodox. 503 00:28:46,096 --> 00:28:47,436 Okay. 504 00:28:47,796 --> 00:28:48,416 Okay. 505 00:28:48,416 --> 00:28:52,116 Got it. 506 00:28:52,116 --> 00:28:54,706 I don't know that book, but now I'm curious about it. 507 00:28:54,706 --> 00:28:56,316 Do you own it, Molly? 508 00:28:56,356 --> 00:28:57,236 I think I do. 509 00:28:57,236 --> 00:28:57,756 Okay. 510 00:28:57,756 --> 00:28:58,406 All right. 511 00:28:58,406 --> 00:29:00,496 Maybe we should pass that one around. 512 00:29:00,516 --> 00:29:03,676 Um, what's everybody reading right now? 513 00:29:03,716 --> 00:29:05,135 So, 514 00:29:05,135 --> 00:29:09,335 I was staying in Molly's house taking care of Scout, I brought two books with me and 515 00:29:09,335 --> 00:29:13,035 then in the guest room I perused the TBR pile. 516 00:29:13,035 --> 00:29:18,035 Most of those books are actually mine or they're yours, Caitlin, that I then read 517 00:29:18,035 --> 00:29:19,235 and then passed along. 518 00:29:19,235 --> 00:29:23,475 And on the top was the book, The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams. 519 00:29:23,475 --> 00:29:23,671 So... 520 00:29:23,671 --> 00:29:26,651 Listener, I did not read the two books that I packed. 521 00:29:26,651 --> 00:29:29,491 Instead, I picked up this book and read it over the weekend. 522 00:29:32,023 --> 00:29:35,803 this book, I want to say first of all, it's a closed -door romance, so there is 523 00:29:35,803 --> 00:29:38,703 no sauce, just as a preface. 524 00:29:40,683 --> 00:29:42,607 That being said, it is... 525 00:29:42,696 --> 00:29:48,716 on the claim to be on a fancy amount of money and those are the ones that I'll 526 00:29:48,716 --> 00:29:50,246 continue to sit on. 527 00:29:56,124 --> 00:30:01,384 How old are the people in this book? 528 00:30:01,964 --> 00:30:04,904 That's lame then. 529 00:30:06,044 --> 00:30:07,784 In my opinion. 530 00:30:08,415 --> 00:30:12,865 in my mental state, I just really needed like a nice warm hug. 531 00:30:12,865 --> 00:30:14,235 And that's what this book is. 532 00:30:14,235 --> 00:30:15,080 It is. 533 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:16,640 term, so I'm sorry. 534 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:20,240 I know you've been thinking about this a lot, but I just want to say, I'm just 535 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:21,720 like, this is why I go to college. 536 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,670 I go to college, and I know I'm going to college. 537 00:30:24,670 --> 00:30:25,500 I'm... 538 00:30:25,500 --> 00:30:30,340 these songs because I really - so there are two songs. 539 00:30:30,340 --> 00:30:34,460 There's Friends to Wothers and You're a Fake David. 540 00:30:34,460 --> 00:30:36,740 And this middle fake David is my favorite song. 541 00:30:36,740 --> 00:30:41,971 This book is like, I don't know if it's everyone's dream, but it - 542 00:30:41,971 --> 00:30:46,091 a girl whose best friend since high school is an NFL quarterback. 543 00:30:46,091 --> 00:30:48,181 He's like the most decent human in the world. 544 00:30:48,181 --> 00:30:49,587 He adores her. 545 00:30:49,587 --> 00:30:55,388 And she has watched him date like model to model forever and just been the friend of 546 00:30:55,388 --> 00:30:56,228 them. 547 00:30:56,868 --> 00:31:02,008 And he is starting to get closer to making it into the Super Bowl. 548 00:31:02,188 --> 00:31:07,348 And a snap -file happens where Ty basically comes to Madeline and is like, 549 00:31:07,348 --> 00:31:08,048 we want J .J. 550 00:31:08,048 --> 00:31:09,928 to march home because they think they're dating. 551 00:31:09,928 --> 00:31:10,789 She gets on with it. 552 00:31:10,789 --> 00:31:11,779 says some things. 553 00:31:11,779 --> 00:31:17,659 Anyways, his PR people are like, we need you to pretend to be dating at least until 554 00:31:17,659 --> 00:31:19,412 the Super Bowl when the commercial works. 555 00:31:19,412 --> 00:31:20,972 will air. 556 00:31:21,052 --> 00:31:23,832 And then it turns out that they've secretly been from one of each other since 557 00:31:23,832 --> 00:31:24,512 high school. 558 00:31:24,512 --> 00:31:31,032 So the cheat sheet by Sarah Adams, Sarah Adams, okay, that sounds really 559 00:31:31,032 --> 00:31:31,582 delightful. 560 00:31:31,582 --> 00:31:33,792 That is the word I was going to use. 561 00:31:35,248 --> 00:31:42,340 reading the daddy diaries by Andy Cohen who is the head of all things Bravo TV. 562 00:31:42,340 --> 00:31:45,920 I was saying to Steph earlier today, we don't really talk about Bravo that much on 563 00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:49,380 this podcast, but he is the most famous part of my life. 564 00:31:49,380 --> 00:31:51,540 And Andy has several books. 565 00:31:51,540 --> 00:31:53,320 This is the fourth one, actually. 566 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:55,640 And it's a diary style. 567 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:56,636 And... 568 00:31:56,636 --> 00:31:59,256 love reading them because you hear about all his famous friends, you hear about his 569 00:31:59,256 --> 00:32:01,536 home renovations, you hear about all his hobnobbing. 570 00:32:01,536 --> 00:32:02,186 It's just delightful. 571 00:32:02,186 --> 00:32:06,076 But this book is specifically about him going from having a son Ben to having two 572 00:32:06,076 --> 00:32:10,036 kids when his daughter Lucy kind of enters the world. 573 00:32:10,940 --> 00:32:13,240 And this book is about the CRI girl. 574 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:18,300 And he really talks about shifting his life to make space for these two little 575 00:32:18,300 --> 00:32:19,760 people in a much bigger way. 576 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,660 Can we ask the question that someone just wanted to ask? 577 00:32:22,660 --> 00:32:23,620 Yeah, of course. 578 00:32:23,620 --> 00:32:26,052 Is he a single father or is he a mother? 579 00:32:26,052 --> 00:32:27,222 He's a single father. 580 00:32:27,222 --> 00:32:30,172 Both of these kids came into the world through surrogate. 581 00:32:30,172 --> 00:32:37,172 He was a huge advocate for more open laws around surrogacy in the state of New York. 582 00:32:37,172 --> 00:32:40,012 And he talks about everything. 583 00:32:40,012 --> 00:32:44,352 He talks about like going to the hospital for the birth, about all the wonderful 584 00:32:44,352 --> 00:32:46,988 things he learned about his surrogate and her family. 585 00:32:47,044 --> 00:32:50,844 He's very open about all the help he has, which I was very curious about. 586 00:32:50,844 --> 00:32:53,996 He has one man for each kid. 587 00:32:53,996 --> 00:32:59,336 And he travels a ton, so like, it makes sense that he would have extra help. 588 00:32:59,336 --> 00:33:04,416 It's just mind -blowing, the people that he's very close friends with. 589 00:33:04,416 --> 00:33:10,076 Like, in his neighborhood, he almost weekly sees Sarah Jessica Parker, Amy 590 00:33:10,076 --> 00:33:13,436 Sedaris, everyone knows he's best friends with Anderson Cooper. 591 00:33:13,436 --> 00:33:15,668 He's also friends with the Falons. 592 00:33:15,668 --> 00:33:16,898 He's her most buffest. 593 00:33:16,898 --> 00:33:17,858 I mean, it's ridiculous. 594 00:33:17,858 --> 00:33:23,808 Like, his inner circle is all A -list, with the exception of his roommate from 595 00:33:23,808 --> 00:33:26,048 BU, who he calls Straight Dave. 596 00:33:26,048 --> 00:33:28,568 That's what he's referred to in all of the books. 597 00:33:30,095 --> 00:33:31,835 includes a bunch of pictures. 598 00:33:32,015 --> 00:33:34,137 It's just... 599 00:33:34,296 --> 00:33:38,876 it's like a guilty pleasure read and it's 270 pages. 600 00:33:38,876 --> 00:33:42,396 It's just like an easy, fun, light thing. 601 00:33:42,396 --> 00:33:45,586 It's like a palette cleanser in between other books. 602 00:33:46,112 --> 00:33:48,892 And I'll be ready to move on to something more cordial. 603 00:33:48,892 --> 00:33:50,252 Thank you guys. 604 00:33:51,856 --> 00:33:58,016 I'm reading a YA book called The Golden State and the author is someone I hadn't 605 00:33:58,016 --> 00:34:01,396 heard of before, Merit Weisenberg. 606 00:34:01,596 --> 00:34:05,236 And it is about a family on the lam. 607 00:34:05,376 --> 00:34:08,496 You don't know what they're on the lam from. 608 00:34:10,516 --> 00:34:11,216 Four. 609 00:34:11,476 --> 00:34:16,376 Two girls, 17 and eight or 10. 610 00:34:16,716 --> 00:34:21,151 And the 17 year old can't remember. 611 00:34:21,151 --> 00:34:23,171 not being on the line. 612 00:34:23,191 --> 00:34:29,071 They'll list this for a month, three months, all of a sudden her dad is like, 613 00:34:29,071 --> 00:34:30,404 we have to go. 614 00:34:30,404 --> 00:34:32,844 It's a no questions asked situation. 615 00:34:32,844 --> 00:34:37,264 They pack up, they leave, they park somewhere. 616 00:34:37,704 --> 00:34:43,184 Her dad goes to a post office and picks up an envelope of money and new IDs and keys 617 00:34:43,184 --> 00:34:45,044 to a place that they're going to stay. 618 00:34:45,044 --> 00:34:49,244 When he gets out of the van, he says, if I'm not back in 30 minutes, leave without 619 00:34:49,244 --> 00:34:50,050 me. 620 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:53,768 That is their protocol and has been for her entire life. 621 00:34:55,568 --> 00:34:58,628 I am only like 100 pages into the book. 622 00:34:58,628 --> 00:35:01,788 The 17 year old is very smart. 623 00:35:01,868 --> 00:35:06,748 And she is getting to a point where she wants to like go to college and she wants 624 00:35:06,748 --> 00:35:08,628 to find out. 625 00:35:08,628 --> 00:35:11,048 She doesn't know anything about her parents. 626 00:35:11,308 --> 00:35:16,708 Honestly, she like, she's like, they can't anything I asked, they won't tell me they 627 00:35:16,708 --> 00:35:23,468 said it's not safe because trusting kids to lie is like, you know, you can't do it. 628 00:35:23,768 --> 00:35:24,784 And 629 00:35:24,784 --> 00:35:30,204 they've just landed in California and it seems to her that her mom is acting very 630 00:35:30,204 --> 00:35:31,604 unusually. 631 00:35:31,604 --> 00:35:35,304 And she's like, I think we're finally in a place that's familiar to her. 632 00:35:35,304 --> 00:35:38,584 And she's like crawling out of her skin and doesn't know what to do. 633 00:35:38,584 --> 00:35:43,664 And she overhears her parents say something along the lines of, well, Poppy 634 00:35:43,664 --> 00:35:46,964 can't go out because she looks too much like you. 635 00:35:47,544 --> 00:35:51,444 And so the reader has no idea. 636 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:56,740 I, the reader, have I have no idea, but also the main character also has no idea 637 00:35:56,740 --> 00:35:58,720 and she's trying to figure it out. 638 00:35:58,720 --> 00:36:03,380 And anything that she does that makes her seem special or gets her any like positive 639 00:36:03,380 --> 00:36:05,960 attention in her life is like a bad thing. 640 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:09,460 And if her parents find out about it, then they just like pick up and leave. 641 00:36:09,460 --> 00:36:12,440 So like within the first 10 pages of the book, 642 00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:18,120 she's doing this science project, and it's like two great hands in a grade, and 643 00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:19,910 they're like, one hand at the one stage. 644 00:36:19,910 --> 00:36:23,160 This is gonna be unbelievable on her parents who are like, gonna die about. 645 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:23,928 And she never 646 00:36:23,928 --> 00:36:26,848 gets to see the project like come to fruition. 647 00:36:27,168 --> 00:36:32,468 And the younger sister is starting to be a little more rebellious and is like, I 648 00:36:32,468 --> 00:36:34,758 don't want to just blindly follow these rules. 649 00:36:34,758 --> 00:36:36,986 And the older sister is like, 650 00:36:36,986 --> 00:36:39,096 if you don't, we can get separated. 651 00:36:39,096 --> 00:36:40,686 And that's a whole game. 652 00:36:40,686 --> 00:36:42,656 There's a tagline, everything's fine. 653 00:36:42,656 --> 00:36:46,806 If you don't follow through with the rules, we will be separated. 654 00:36:46,806 --> 00:36:48,296 Do you want that to happen? 655 00:36:48,296 --> 00:36:50,046 And the answer is no. 656 00:36:50,046 --> 00:36:53,810 But now, the conflict of honor is almost over. 657 00:36:53,810 --> 00:36:55,640 she's like, I'd like to know who I am. 658 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:57,460 I'd like to know why we're doing this. 659 00:36:57,460 --> 00:37:01,580 She's starting to question, like, is it an organization that helps us move? 660 00:37:01,580 --> 00:37:04,130 Is it a single person that helps us move? 661 00:37:04,130 --> 00:37:06,942 This may be a relative that I don't know about, like. 662 00:37:06,942 --> 00:37:09,682 She literally loves housing. 663 00:37:09,864 --> 00:37:12,964 And I'm like captivated by this story. 664 00:37:12,964 --> 00:37:14,724 I'm so intrigued. 665 00:37:14,824 --> 00:37:19,904 It's, it's well written to the point where like, even if the payoff isn't huge, 666 00:37:19,904 --> 00:37:24,344 watching this girl grapple with this is like so well done that I'm like very 667 00:37:24,344 --> 00:37:25,284 entertained. 668 00:37:25,284 --> 00:37:28,604 I think she's a first time author, I could be wrong. 669 00:37:28,684 --> 00:37:31,668 But the Golden State, I'm enjoying it. 670 00:37:31,668 --> 00:37:33,688 I think that sounds interesting. 671 00:37:34,668 --> 00:37:36,210 It's even interesting. 672 00:37:36,210 --> 00:37:37,940 we should do an episode about it. 673 00:37:37,940 --> 00:37:38,820 I'll pass it along. 674 00:37:38,820 --> 00:37:42,420 If it ends up being a dud, then I won't make you because we just sent Caring 675 00:37:42,420 --> 00:37:44,180 Washington happen. 676 00:37:45,244 --> 00:37:49,304 that note, if you want to see everything that we're reading and keep up with all of 677 00:37:49,304 --> 00:37:54,144 our fave book memes, reader memes, give us a follow over at PlansAreBooked. 678 00:37:54,144 --> 00:37:57,424 We have lots of fun content going on over there every single day. 679 00:37:57,424 --> 00:38:01,534 You can also send us a note, plansarebooked at gmail .com. 680 00:38:01,534 --> 00:38:03,300 We love to hear from you. 681 00:38:11,168 --> 00:38:14,388 next time, our plans are booked.