Welcome to our first recorded book chat! Back when we were living together in Barcelona, we’d spend hours sitting around, with vino in hand, talking about practically everything — books, philosophy, history, culture, pop culture, relationships, our families, and even fashion (more so her teaching me about fashion). Nothing was off topic. Now that Elisavet is in Brussels and I’m in New York, those late-night conversations have turned into long voice notes, which is basically our love language these days. We’re both avid readers and constantly recommend books to each other, so we thought: why not start our own little book club, even if it’s just the two of us for now? Instead of reading books at various times, we thought it would be more enjoyable to read alongside each other and actually have real-time discussions while everything is still fresh in our heads. As much as we would love to gather a community for a real book club, it’s just not that practical since we are living in different time zones. So we figured by sharing our voice notes on Substack, maybe, it would be a fun way to engage in conversations with all of you. Since our friendship was bonded by our shared obsession with shows like Broad City and Girls, it only felt right to start our first recorded discussion with the voice of our generation, Lena Dunham. Enjoy our chat about her most recent memoir Famesick. Time Stamps * 00:00 – Initial Thoughts (Jack, Jenni, listen to your body) * 06:28 – NYC Girlboss Culture * 08:45 – The Expat Experience * 12:54 – Turning Real Life into Complex Characters * 16:16 – Adam Driver & 2010s Brooklyn Vibe * 27:45 – “Mean Girl” Energy * 29:15 – The Overeducated, Underemployed Millennial * 33:00 – Navigating Toxic Fame * 37:40 – Fame Overseas * 41:54 – Vulnerability is True Art * 43:10 – Nora Ephron’s Influence * 48:00 – Parents’ Influence * 50:30 – Jemima Kirke & Confidence * 55:50 – The Cost of Character Embodiment * 59:00 – Next Book Announcement (Yesteryear) Thanks for joining! Hope you enjoyed our very raw book club chat. We could’ve gone on for days, fangirling over Lena, but we spared you all. Please take our commentary lightly! Remember, we’re just two besties sharing our personal reflections over a love for great books, like Famesick, not claiming absolute truths. After our joint love letter to Lena Dunham, I have a feeling the next pick is going to start some real discourse. We’ve started reading Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, and let’s just say, we both have a lot to say. We’d love for you to join the convo, so let us know what you think! Get full access to LLL at lysslittlelibrary.substack.com/subscribe
