This week, Kate is joined by fellow Chicagoan Katie Shober, founder of Beach Reads & Bubbly, the beloved book community that started as recommendations on her personal Instagram and grew into roughly 300 book clubs around the world. First, Kate introduces her new book's title and concept and shares more context for what she's been working on the past three years (feel free to skip to the interview!) Then, Kate and Katie get into Goodreads finally adding half stars, the Alix Earle "Dr. Seuss" discourse, the chili pepper spice economy, why romance keeps publishing afloat while getting none of the respect, and the Edward Cullen to mob boss pipeline. They also talk about how anyone with small kids actually finds time to read, the Yesteryear backlash, and how reading got swept up in optimization culture. Plus, Katie brings a stack of recs: reading-rut breakers, a Halloween murder mystery, an entry-level "Brad," and an underrated book she thinks everyone should be talking about. Enjoy!

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The Cornell 7, Consent, Why are you adding me on LinkedIn?

This week, Kate is up late whisper-screaming into the mic, starting with condescending religious commenters and meandering into a conversation about the Cornell 7 that wasn't going to be the episode but then became the episode. Kate walks through what the lawsuit and Jane Doe's 2024 statements actually say, asks why a DA publicly litigated her account before a grand jury could hear it, and talks about the pride she feels toward the student journalists at the Cornell Daily Sun who broke the story. From there, she turns to why this story hits women so hard beyond just, like, having a pulse, and why so many millennial women are sitting with the discomfort of the blackout culture we laughed off, the Wedding Crashers and Tucker Max era that made boundaries feel negotiable, the whiplash of going from purity culture to trying to pretend to be "chill," and the gray areas so many of us are still sorting through. Plus: what she's thinking about as the mom of a little boy, why every choice is its own choice (not consented to by the last one) and the most unhinged LinkedIn request of her life.

If these topics are triggering or upsetting in any way, please skip this one, and if you're ever in need of help, you can reach RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673 or online at rainn.org.

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This week, Kate sits down with Shannon of the Fluently Forward podcast to unpack the backlog of pop culture topics she's been wanting to dig into with someone who cares about this stuff as much as she does. Together, they mourn the lost golden age of blind items and survey the full spectrum of celebrity gossip, from publicist-planted DeuxMoi sightings to full-blown conspiracy theories. They discuss the nepo best friend economy, obsess over Olivia Rodrigo, dig into the Gracie vs. Audrey discourse, and get into high-status versus low-status comedy and why some bits land, followed by a brief Joe Alwyn symposium. They also discuss press tour lore, compare celebrity-sighting iPhone notes, and explore why the Pussycat Dolls shaped a generation, among other things. For the other half of the crossover, head to Fluently Forward's feed. Enjoy!

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