The Debrief - They Did WHAT On World Book Day?! ft. London Girls Book Club

Episode Date: March 25, 2024

Welcome back to The Debrief! This week we had the absolute pleasure of getting Caitlin Curry the founder of London Girls Book Club onto the pod to discuss the amazing community she is building which is all about empowering and uplifting female voices. We discussed your dilemmas as well as some hilarious World Book Day antics. As always DM or email us @the.debriefpodcast and [e-mail] Have an amazing week,Lots of Love,K+K x Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

i've got a rebel soul i've got a rebel soul i've got a rebel soul welcome to the debrief hi peach hey girl how you doing i'm how are you

i'm fab dabby daisy as you should be as you should be big bird over here. Big, I love that jumper. I actually, I saw Kitty McNeil this morning, and I went, great outfit. I got my jaded jeans on. I love those jeans. Feeling myself today, I tell you that.

I love those jeans. I woke up, and I had a vision of what I wanted to wear. So I was like to Arch, and full disclosure, this is Archie's but it is kind of mine because i bought it for him exactly so so i've got ownership so it's yours so i was like i've got a vision my jaded jeans this this yellow jumper so i was like arch can i wear this jumper and he's like yeah of course just don't spill anything i'm like you think i'm gonna spill anything am i a toddler i tell you the whole day I was like napkin napkin

napkin literally and being like anything any surface I was like looking at myself because I was so scared oh bless you

I know how's your day been my day has actually been fantabby dozy good yeah I'm riding a positive wave fantastic

I'm loving my life I love it honestly there's been so much drama in Peach's life at the moment that any time we get together, I'm like, tell me the rest. It's literally like,

I hate to love it, but I do. I hate to love it, but I do. You know when you read a book and you come back to it and you're then all like a season and you're like, can't wait to get home so I can watch next episode.

This is what I'm like. Last night, Peach and I went out for dinner and I was like, spill. It was me everything it was delightful okay girl tell me a mantra my mantra my mantra this week is it's not personal oh lovely it's not personal and i know where that's come from it's not personal i'm telling myself it's it's just not personal it's not personal and why casey have you chosen this one i feel like at the moment in some areas of my life i'm like let me breathe okay let me live i feel like people um uh sometimes i feel like people are coming for me a little bit this week okay when i'm literally doing niche okay i'm doing niche. I'm just sitting there, breathing. They're like, stop doing that.

And I know it's a reflection on, they've clearly got something going on. I have not invited any of this. I actually think I'm a very happy-go-lucky person, but I've taken it obviously very personally. But of course as well, it's the end of term. You're coming, Peach is on an MA. So she's coming to an MA,

like dramatic performing arts one. So it's coming to an an ma like dramatic uh performing so it's going to be 10 times more chaotic lots of egos lots of egos and lots of drama so at the end of a um what's called the end of a term term yeah people are so tired i'm so ready for you so knackered so they're literally nitpicking at anything. Truly. But I'm just choosing not to take it personally. Yeah, you can't. I'm like, no, you flat out call me a bitch.

But do you know what? I won't take it. I won't take it personally. Sure, sure. Well done. What's your mantra? So my mantra is I'm achieving great things through small steps. I love that.

And this week I'm doing it because i have felt very proud as you should this week at work we do this thing every thursday called prouds and like what are you proud of this week what have you done and like i was thinking today what what were i gonna what should i say for this week yeah and i was like i'm proud of how much i'm achieving and this time last year if someone told me yeah you know if the ghost of christmas passed or you never know and just you don't kitty minute this is where you're gonna be i'd be like how the fuck did i get that yeah you know and things are moving with the podcast and you know even to just say we have this podcast yes and it's growing and we've got a certain

amount of listeners yeah guys one day we'll have our own studio and it'll be pink and i've got a certain amount of listeners. Guys, one day we'll have our own studio and it'll be pink. And I've already got the vision of what the chair's gonna look like. I've got it. But I just feel really proud of myself. As you should, I'm very proud of you. Thanks, girl. Tell me your song. My song is,

If they asked me I could write a book About the way you walk and whisper and look if I could write a book what the fuck is that whoa

whoa whoa whoa if they asked me I'm not gonna snake you out here but this is how you sounded if they asked me if I could write a book, I would. Yeah. Oh, big time.

Big time, big time. If I could write a book, I only listen to the Ella Fitzgerald version. I don't know who it's actually by. I think it's a Gershwin song. It's a jazz standard. Okay, so it's not giving energy vibes. No, it's not giving energy,

but it's giving like... Wholesome. It's giving wholesome like Sunday morning. I have it in my ears and I'm like... Do you know what it is also giving is your mantra. It is. Yeah. It's not personal.

It's not personal. It's like... It's not personal. I'm back in my own lane. I feel like that's the vibe. Yeah, yeah. Okay, love it. I love it.

My vibe's very different. I see. But equally as good, Peach. Yeah. I'm not gonna shit on your hair no no no there are no winners there are no winners no winners in this competition

mine's Dua Lipa training season oh banger I am like any time I'm gymming today, gymming this week, last week, put them in your ears,

bitches. Ucker bitches. Ucker bitches. And you'll just, you'll just want to shake everything. You just want to shake what your mama gave you. You will.

Okay, so our record, record, recommendation this week is London Girls Book Club on Instagram. We are going to go into much more detail into this in a second. But it's a lovely online community, which is a book club in London, based in London, only for the girlies.

Only for the girls. And it's founded by Caitlin Currie. Yes. And we'll be very excited to introduce her in just one second. And we'll be very excited to introduce her in just one second. As we know, March is, the month of March has World Book Day in it. Yes. Which is very exciting.

All things reading. So this episode, we are talking about books specifically. Love it. Or more in detail, we are talking about the London Girls Book Club that we spoke about earlier. So debrief listeners I'd love you to welcome the lovely Caitlin. Here she is. Thank you. Hiya. I'm so excited. Oh we're so excited to have you here. How are you feeling? I'm feeling great. I'm feeling very excited. I was a bit nervous as I was thinking oh what's this going to be like. I'm very excited yeah like all about community all about world book day yeah love it I actually say books so I need to correct myself because Geordie so I'm from Newcastle oh fabulous I tell you best accent is with Geordie

my family would literally like you're gonna be on a podcast you need to actually keep your Geordie accent like you can't just have your London accent on. So how long have you, so you're from Newcastle. Yeah, yeah. And now you live in London. So what was that transition like? Yeah, definitely interesting.

So I moved here about five years ago. So I met my boyfriend in Camp America and some friends and then we decided to move to London. But yeah, definitely very interesting but I think I'm trying

to put my spin, my Newcastle spin on bringing the community, because I just think London is friendly. You just have to find the friendly people. It's not quite Geordie though, you just know that. And it's just, they're the most friendly people. It is so good. And what of the Geordie culture do you miss here?

Ooh, it's more just walking down the street and people saying, hi culture do you miss here? It's more just walking down the street and people saying, Hiya, you alright? My dad will literally speak to anyone. I'm like, do you know them? He'll speak to people and I'm literally sitting there like, please stop. That's so nice.

So I miss that a little bit. We used to be obsessed with Geordie Short, didn't we? And it's probably such a, what is it called, a stereotype. Yeah, it is. Oh my God, we loved it. It is for sure. Yeah, it is. I mean.

Not everyone's like that, but. No, I used to like beg my mum to let me stay up to watch it. Like I loved it, but it is definitely a stereotype. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. Okay, so I wanted to ask you, so let's go on to your book club. Let's talk all things. Because this month, March,

is all about books. Well, book day, everyone gets dressed up. You know, it's really exciting. But most importantly, you have a book club yourself. And you set it up for women to share similar interests, but also to build friendships, which is really lovely. You hold multiple sessions a month of the book clubs and usually about 25 people come to each book club which is a fantastic number may I say you know it really is and that is something to

really be yeah I mean we we love it so when we first started I'm gonna say there was about three people joining um like we loved it and I would just move with it however many people came you know sometimes it would be a bit more but now the girls say that it's harder to get our tickets to book club and get Taylor Swift tickets and literally like scrolling on click like getting there on time um trying to like be ready for like 7 p.m sometimes I'll forget to post it at 7 p.m and they're what are you doing? Come on, Caitlin, where are the tickets? Or your fans are outside like, help! Yeah, so very, very exciting.

But that's lovely though, that even when you have a small community, you still built a community that were really loyal. Yeah, for sure. Because that's so true with podcasts, with building online communities, book clubs, events, you have to really invest in it. You can't just say, well, I want it to be big. No, you need it to be what you really want. And then people start investing.

Absolutely. Yeah. And I never had a vision to make it go, you know, as many people as it is now. When I first started, I literally just wanted to make friends and have a group to do things with in London. Like basically, I just wanted to have a connection with people. And you know, when there's so many fun things in London that you just want wanted to have a connection with people and you know when there's so many fun things in London that you just want to do together with people and if you don't have a group to do it with so that's basically why I started to create that group. I was just going to go on to that yeah so was that the core reason as why you made the book club? Yeah absolutely so basically I was going through quite a difficult time in London I had quite a lot of my boyfriend's friends and and I kind of wanted to make my own friends, you know, have the girls.

You need the girls. So I decided to start a book club because I thought it would be a really good stepping point to sort of get everyone together and have a shared interest because, you know, when you go to groups in London, there's the Lonely Girls London, there's loads of amazing groups. However, when you go there, you might not necessarily have that shared interest

to start off. So by having the book club, you've always got that in common. And you know that you can just chat about the book. If it gets a bit awkward, or you don't know what to say, even if you're coming on your own, you can talk about the book.

I mean, that's fantastic. I was even going to say that, that at these different events and socials, and we've experienced it so much, especially with the online communities girls are real girls girls yeah you know and online we support one other one another and even the way we made a connection so we met kate online yeah i followed your account you followed us and we just had a bit of a chin wag and then we were like oh you gotta come on

yeah you know and we saw what you were doing for the girls' community in London. And I think it can be really hard going to these events when you're like, I don't know anyone here. And I just have to make chit-chat because I want you to be my best friend. Yeah, absolutely. You literally just like, I want a friend so much. It can sometimes be quite intense. And it's sort of, you're trying to check yourself.

Am I not being weird? Am I saying the right thing? You know, you're turning up on your own is a big thing. Like, I recently went to an event on my own the other day, and it's the first time for a long time. Yeah, it's scary. I've done it, and I promote it all the time. I say, come on your own.

It'll be fine. Everyone's lovely. But actually putting yourself in the same shoes and turning up on your own. I was looking around, checking if anyone was looking at me. I was like, did they want to speak to me? But, you know, you put yourself out there. You realize it is fine to go on your own but it is really hard when you first do it and do you find when all the girls come to the events do you find that everyone

um is relieved that they have that common interest absolutely yeah yeah you can see everyone relaxing especially you know if someone mentions the book not that at socials we talk about it quite a lot you know it's bottomless brunches creative socials loads of different things so it might not necessarily start with but if there's ever a dip in conversation someone could just be like oh what are you reading at the moment what do you think of the book and sort of that connects them through that and so many of the girls have gone on to like you know go to events together go to concerts together do loads of stuff and it's so nice. It's so good.

Obviously your story was you moved to London, you were trying to find your own group. You said you've got a boyfriend and you're still with that boyfriend? Yes. You're not going to have to do a new podcast on that one. He's very supportive. Good, good. I love a supportive boyfriend. But you can get into the habit if you've got your boyfriend

and your boyfriend's friends relying on that. Absolutely, yeah. And you really need to, not shitting on the boyfriends, not shitting on their friends. But there's so much more. There's so much more.

And women understand women. Absolutely. And you need the girls. You need that connection with the girls and just having a space outside of that relationship. You need your friends. So true.

And do you experience that other girls come to the book club and have the same kind of story or is it all very different? What's the vibe? I would say everybody has a similar story which is they feel lonely in London, they don't really have many friends, they've come because they want to create connections and I think you know it's just a really great way because you know you're gonna have something in common with everyone that's there even if they're totally different to you like we have so many girls from loads of different backgrounds even if they're totally different to you or they

do a totally different job it's like you know you've got that common interest yeah and to be fair we're quite bad at being like you don't read everyone like reading's cool yeah you know i think it is really book clubs are becoming a really big thing. Yeah, fantastic. Which is very exciting. And what you said about the loneliness is, oh my God, it's something we've talked through and through and through because this whole loneliness is a real thing with women, especially between 20 and 30.

We're all finding ourselves, and I put that in quotation marks, but also it is so true. No, it is. Everyone's got their own career. You leave uni and those friends for life you thought you'd have oh yeah that everybody talks about that you're gonna keep these friends for life for uni and everyone's busy and you're trying to message them you're trying to can we get this plan together and it's literally like three months in advance

you're sitting on a saturday night thinking right well what am i gonna do i'm seeing my friends and yeah yeah completely and it's so difficult and I know my sister experienced it she was like gosh she was at Durham for a few years okay amazing yeah and and she she came to London and she was like wow the culture's so different everything so Durham was obviously a lot smaller yeah and she's like I'm trying to make friends here and there are so many apps and stuff yeah it can feel awkward you know and I think the best thing about what you're doing is actually pushing them in the deep end saying come on get in person yeah yeah completely but you've got the shared interest yes absolutely I think that's the thing that's a really good

thing to have the book to you know sort of solidify yeah yeah yeah bring it together yeah yeah absolutely so you started your book club three years ago yes and your main ethos is proving that all female spaces don't have to be a judgmental one yeah it doesn't have to be any bitchiness and you're really reinforcing kindness in your community which i think is so fab absolutely um i would love to know what makes your book club different yeah so in terms of what makes yeah what makes it different is we read books only by women so we only read no white men here please yeah so only by women and we try and we do a theme every other month so maybe that's a book by a black female author

or whether it's a disabled author something like neurodivergency we try and promote you know real diversity in the authors that we read yeah we vote for the books together so we don't just say oh this is the book of the month you know we post it on instagram we get everyone to comment get everyone involved in choosing the books um there's there's so many things you know we do socials so we we call ourselves not just a book club you know everyone's like oh we're a cool book club um you know reading is becoming more popular when we first started it wasn't at all everyone we went to a comedy club one night and they said oh are you gonna like live with loads of cats and die that's so you know yeah so now it's definitely become more cool about the time it wasn't and everyone was like oh my god this is a totally new thing,

a book club where you also do bottomless bunches and you actually have a good time together and you chat about the book. So I think that is what makes us unique, having that social aspect as well as the book club. The social aspect is the biggest part. Oh, yes. I mean, that's what people come for.

That's what you want to come for. I mean, it's great. I mean, this is, in 2018, there were 500,000 podcasts and now there are 5.5 million yeah you know and it's huge and the biggest thing that keeps bringing people back is listening to podcasts that can educate you as well and going to a social situation where not only you're going to make great friends but you're also going to learn something definitely yeah talk about something you know and and to be honest as well I mean I was a primary school teacher so I was quite used to doing where not only are you going to make great friends, but you're also going to learn something. Definitely. And talk about, you know. Completely. And to be honest as well,

I mean, I was a primary school teacher, so I was quite used to doing like book club discussions and sort of talking about books. But as an adult, we don't really do that. So actually having a space where, you know, 20 to 25 people actually going deep into why a character thought that or like really getting into that

sort of more of a discussion is really interesting. So I don't really think we do that. Absolutely. And I feel like you're uplifting so many female voices within the group like even uplifting the author's voices by doing only female authors yeah no and I love working with the author as well yeah and also the the voting of it you're like it's it's a community it's not like a we're gonna do this which I love so much and everyone then it makes people want to go more because you're like oh I voted for that book yeah I'm gonna go in and have that discussion yeah that was mine my choice please yeah people don't want to talk about it yeah no bitchiness

but mine was the best yeah some of the girls go so into it as well they're like no I chose that one and then even if theirs doesn't get chosen, we've decided to do like guest reviewers. So basically all of the books that we choose that go to be voted, get like voted for, the one that gets voted for, we also read the rest of them as well. So all the girls read them and review them. So even if there's one where you're like,

I chose that and I want it and it doesn't get voted for, it still gets read. Oh, brilliant. So I wanted to say that I think think the whole reading as you said and you touched on earlier that you know they said in that comedy club oh you're gonna end up with cats and alone it's it's i think the the stigmatism and the the stereotype around reading can be really difficult and but also on the contrary to that it's really encouraged in the extremes of your

life when you're a toddler when you're little when you're at school as you said you you'll know as a teacher yeah you have these reading clubs and you have weekly reading meetups yeah it's very forced it's all forced and then stereotypically older in life oh the older people find their love of reading again you know so it really is the extremes either young children or older yeah um and i think it's so fascinating that the millennials generation between 26 and 40 are the ones that read the most i know it's mad isn't it yeah that is so mad so you know your mom they say we aren't clever and that we don't have a lot to say yeah we're the ones that read the most yeah absolutely and obviously you're gonna have some gen z in and obviously you're going to have some

gen z in the group you're going to have 26 below as well of course you are and and that's highly promoted with people moving to london as well to join your book club if they're 18 19 make sure you text caitlin you know she'll look after you absolutely but i wanted to know that why specifically we have touched on this but what would be the main reason that you think reading can bring people together and can create a friendship? Yeah, for sure. So basically, when you read a book, I feel like it's quite a, you know, single experience. You're reading it on your own. You're having, and basically, I would always find I had no one to talk to about it.

I would think, oh, you know, try and tell my boyfriend who's only read Horrid Henry so yeah so basically I try and tell him about it you know he would try and listen but it's not the same so getting the girls together and actually being like I absolutely hated that book you know we did have a have a book once we won't name the book that we did go to um a club called heaven and actually rip the book up like throw it everywhere we've heard it so much so like we get really we get really passionate about it you know we come together so it's really like you see different people's personalities you know we've got a lot of girls in the group that are very honest very passionate some of them you know might steer a bit back and just listen and get but i think it's you know a shared experience to be able to

discuss that and I think you know reading is escapism and you know support so many things with your mental health and everything you know providing that calm activity away from your phone but like that's another main great thing but I think just having people to talk to about it is amazing and the girls love you know they look forward to it they're like right I'm reading it I'm gonna read it on time Even if someone doesn't read it, they come along and just hear about what we have to say and they're like, oh, we'll read it now because, you know, everyone gets so passionate about it.

They're like, oh, I have to read it. And also, as you said, you know, learning from the book, but you also, I'm doing you, I'm doing you now, so sorry. I'm doing you as well. Learning from the book, sorry. You also learn from each other and I'm not just saying

you know about their opinions but about your each other's background no definitely I think the best thing about London is that it's not

just one group yes there are so many different cultures and people from all different backgrounds coming from all over the place

so then hearing their perspective of the story that you're like hang on hang on hang on from my background or from what i've heard this is so different and someone else could say no no no no so then you learn so much about the world as well and about the other people and i think it's really interesting if one of the girls you know is from a place that the book is based like we've read books from nigeria i've read books from canada and you know one of the girls was like i

can definitely tell that's a Canadian orphan that's about her because I'm from that specific place and you know she definitely went you know so you get that perspective from people. Oh brilliant, fantastic. Yeah because we've tended to read quite a lot of books that are quite autobiographical like basically the book is the person

that's written it, it's about them. Yeah. Which they pretend it's not about them but you know it's about them. But it is, yeah. So yeah, so it's really good if you hear it different perspectives yeah okay cool yeah and bring that in amazing yeah so we are going to play a little game okay so don't you worry don't you worry so it's a quick fire game okay so no overthinking we're going to give you some facts about the benefits of reading as an adult and you have to guess whether they are true or false. But you can label them as fiction or nonfiction.

And for all the people out there that don't know which, because I still don't. I still get confused. I'm telling you, when I came up with this game, I was like, Katie, we could do this. I was like, nonfiction and fiction, we could do for the true or false. I was like, but which is which?

I was like, nonfiction's could do this. I was like, nonfiction and fiction, we could do for the true or false. I was like, but which is which? I was like, nonfiction's true. Nonfiction is true. Okay, okay. And fiction is false. Yeah, fiction is false. So the F, false. Fiction, false. But nonfiction, true.

Yeah, okay. Okay, so let's read them. Yep. Flipping pages instead of swiping on a device is proven to help the brain process information easier. Nonfiction. Yeah, great. Fantastic.

That was an expansion on that. Yeah, you're on a tablet. You're straight on it. And after she guesses, then tell the little bit after. Yeah. Edit that out. The feel of paper pages under your fingertips provides your brain with some context

which leads to a deep understanding and better comprehension i love that which i can buy but that is why i'm never gonna get a kindle do you know i'm so not hating on kindles because if they sponsor it's great because they get as much as a podcast but you know well you know but actually i don't like the idea of it i don't like the idea of having like a yeah i'm like, I'd love to flick the book. If I'm to be dramatic with it, fold the page down. That's the end of that chapter. You know? Okay, I'm going to quit for another.

Are you ready? Yeah. Reading can help you to regulate your breathing pattern and regulate your blood. Non-fiction? No. No, it's fiction. That is false. Although I did try to trick you there because you could understand how it does because you're kind of stagnant and still and everything.

But false, guys, false. So it's not going to help you there. Okay, Katie. Okay, darling. Reading before bed helps with your sleep and causes you to have a better sleeping pattern. Fiction. Non-fiction.

Okay. I thought you were trying to trick me again I was like okay trying to trick us okay I'll give you oh no go on explain yeah it's saying

reading before bed helps you unwind and push aside anxious thoughts and allow your consciousness to drift off which I completely agree with yeah I mean definitely

I do because it's so true I always find it really difficult to get into bed and just completely switch off I find I'm like

I'm scrolling I gotta do there. Yeah, it's so hard. But to then, like, evolve your life into someone else's, deep dive into someone else's, then you're just like, and your mind switches off. Okay, I'm going to give you another one. Reading makes you more judgmental. I'm going to say non-fiction. You're right!

So it says, the more reading you do, the stronger your critical thinking skills are, so the better you can evaluate. Yeah, and apparently it makes you more empathetic and be able to understand others. So not just judgmental, we like to say evaluate. Yes, good evaluation skills. So I have, reading will make you hornier.

I'm going to say nonfiction. It's fiction, apparently. Apparently. It depends on what book you're reading. Yeah. Depends on what book you're reading. I've never read Julie Bloom. Has anyone read any of the books that are on BookTok at the minute?

Like, they're... Really? Spicy. See, I keep falling into BookTok on TikTok. They're just like smut... Yes. Yes. And they're spicy.

Really? What's the name of that comic? It's basically just... It's an audio book, but it's smut. Yeah. And they play the audios, and I'm like, oh! Wait, what are you talking about?

So, basically, at the moment, a lot of the books, it's called smut. So it's basically sort of like... Sexual, like hot. Smut. Yeah, it's called like smutty or smut. Yeah, smut fiction.

It's a type of like fiction of like... Spicy, very spicy. But it's sexual antics. Yes. Love it. So that's really in at the moment. So books that are in like the fiction, you know, very spicy. That's sexual antics you love it okay so that's really in at the moment okay so that's better in like the fiction you know very spicy that's why i thought so that could maybe trigger

you to have some yeah yeah yeah exactly so no not so okay um actually before we go on to it every night literally every night i say to my boyfriend i'm like can you tell me a story if i can't sleep could you tell me a story it goes fictional non boyfriend, I'm like, can you tell me a story if I can't sleep? I'm like, could you tell me a story, it goes fiction or non-fiction, I'm like. I'm like, um, real? Yeah, I'm like, real. I'm like, he's like, right, okay. Okay, so the last one, no pressure, no pressure. Reading can help you live longer.

Non-fiction. Nonfiction. What is that again? The truth. Yes, you're right. See, I was stunned. I was like, I think you can. Yeah.

I didn't suspend it. We were like. It says a 2017 study found that those who read at least three and a half hours a week were 23% more likely to outlive their peers. I love that. You are going to be the oldest woman around. I mean, whether I read for three hours a week, energy before the boot club, like, quick, quick, quick.

Yeah, yeah. But I'm like, but the girls do. All the girls in the boot club do. I'm going to tell them that. They're going to be younger. They're going to be judgmental. I love it. They're going to be smarter. They're going to gonna be more empathetic they've got this going i'm gonna put

this why should you join us why should you join our club just all of these sometimes horny sometimes depending on the book yes yeah not always but sometimes yeah yeah the book that we've just read as well was like, ultimate spicy. Was it? I love it. It was called In At The Deep End and it had like, two huge,

two, what? Chilies. Oh yeah, chilies on the front of it. Fantastic. Very good book. Who wrote it?

Katie Davies. Okay, fantastic. And the book's called? In At The Deep End. In At The Deep End. Fantastic. We should give it a listen. Yes. Yeah, I'll give you that and called? In at the Deep End. In at the Deep End. Fantastic. You should give it a listen.

Yes. Yeah, I'll give you that and take your vibrator away and see how you go with that. It's great on audio. It's great on audio. Oh my God, really? You need a voice,

like a nice voice. Yeah, yeah. No, it's great. Okay, so we're going to go on to some dilemmas. Okay, so hiya girls. Love you both so much and genuinely look forward

to your episodes every week. They are the best and what get me through the Mondays. I'm flushing. Oh, no. I'm flush. I'm flush.

Like, that's so sweet. I need to debrief with you as I need some help. So basically, I am a book editor and have been for the last eight years. I absolutely love literature

and I go through books like There Is No Tomorrow. Well, she needs to listen. She needs to, yeah. Come in time. She does, yeah. Although I love my job, as I get to read so many first editions before they come out,

I would ideally like to be in the other position, writing my own book and getting someone to edit it instead of me. Cool. Love the ambition. Very exciting. let's do this and a female author so then you can read it and my ambition has been there for years and i have a whole file of ideas it's just more getting the time to do so rather than the lack of want

i completely understand that yeah yeah you my boyfriend and my family are very supportive of this ambition i know this is something i want to do or dot dot dot let's manifest i'm going to do yes we love that mindset yeah anyways this week was the first time i met my boyfriend's parents oh that's a tricky time okay we have been going out for six months everything was fine and going on well until we got talking about my job and the topic inevitably went on to writing my own book well his mum jumped in by saying oh that's quite difficult to do to which i responded saying i know but it's something i'd really like to do absolutely to which

she said you might like to do it but can you? No offence my love but are you intelligent enough to do so? No. Stop. That's too much. And it's the my love in there. That's horrendous. Don't patronise me yet. She thinks she can't do it so then she's playing it on you. Completely. She goes I felt so embarrassed

and humiliated. I didn't know what to say I just had to defend myself for the next five minutes while she sat there questioning me about my ability. That's horrendous. I felt so embarrassed and humiliated. I didn't know what to say. I just had to defend myself for the next five minutes while she sat there questioning me about my ability. That's horrendous, especially when you're first meeting someone who's like, you shouldn't do that. You're already scared.

I'm really invested. Yeah, yeah. The biggest stab in the back was that my boyfriend didn't jump in to defend me. Oh, yeah, that's really awkward. This has made me worry that maybe this is one of his concerns and he said it to his mum

and these words are coming from him. I don't know what's worse, that it's his words coming from her or that she just completely doubts my ability and is rude. What should I do? I'm so angry at my boyfriend and his mum. Should I confront them both? I don't know. Real debriefer who needs your help.

Thanks, girls. Please keep me anonymous. Of course we will. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's really difficult. I would say that there could be a few things that she could do. So definitely go ahead and write the book.

Send us the book, please. We would love to read it. We also have a writing group that we do. So maybe look out for a writing group that you could do something where you're writing with other people just to keep the motivation up for that. So I would love for you to continue that, please.

And then also, maybe speak to your boyfriend first about it. So I would confront him in terms of what she said wasn't very respectful, something that I really want to do. Is this coming from you? And sort of figure out, is it coming from him? Does he agree with that? Or is it just from her? Is it maybe you

know money side of things is she thinking you know future perspectives however you know you can go for whatever you want of course yeah you know you could make so much and that's up to her and obviously the person that you're with you want them to really you know support your passions and interests even if it's something that they, you know, potentially might not do themselves. Yeah, completely. Then, yeah. So I think potentially don't, you know, bin him off straight away. Yeah, could it work?

But speak to him about it and just say, you know, see if it's coming from him. And if he owns up and says, you know, I don't think it's very good or whatever you're doing, then you could then assess that. Yeah, love it. And then maybe you could speak to him, you know, I didn't think it was very, you know,

it's quite hard, especially if they've only been together for six months I think you know if it happened multiple times with his mom it might be something that you could address yeah but I think maybe the first time that it's happened with a parent um because that yeah it's quite hard you know when they say something but you could definitely speak it's just really all good yeah yeah yeah but you could definitely speak to him about it and just say you know it made me feel really uncomfortable because it's something that i'm really passionate about you know it's something that i really want to do yeah and you could just say how it makes you feel because then it's not putting the onus on them it's just saying you know this is how i felt i felt really humiliated or whatever i mean that's horrible i'm very sorry fantastic advice go for your dreams

yeah you go you go girl i think that's great and I think what you said about don't let her opinions be put on you or make you doubt your own ability is so true. And also,

what I was going to say is this is your first time meeting them. We all know meeting boyfriends, girlfriends, partners, families is very scary.

She, the mother, now I'm not defending her i'm just saying this could have actually could have shat herself yeah she could have been like i should not have said that yeah i know you said she continued to question you for five minutes which does make my argument a bit yeah but i think you also don't know the family dynamics maybe they work in a different way yeah maybe they're very direct yeah just kind of brutal about it and maybe they were just trying to you know figure out what whether you were really passionate about it completely are you really serious yes so i

wouldn't take it so no because i would i would let me take those words back i would take that very personally and i'd be so i'd cry i would you know caitlin was so rational in that advice i'd be sad I'd cry I would you know Caitlin was so rational in that advice I'd be throwing my boyfriend out the window I'd be like honestly on your bike no I thought your advice was fantastic

but don't think she hates you she'd give her a chance as well it's her first time of living just like yours oh I love that I saw that in a video

the other day and I was like it was like give your parents a chance it's their first time of living yeah it's so true.

It makes me feel bad. When you're like, oh sorry about that. Yeah, how do you know that this is how I want you to react? Yeah, completely. Okay, good luck darling and I hope everything goes well. Lots of love from us. Yes, absolutely. Okay, so as it's World Book Day March

we have some hilarious World Book Day dress upup disaster stories. Oh, God, please, no. So, Kitty and I are going to read three of them out to you, which you would need to rank for them. Okay. With every single guest, we always do snog, marry, avoid. Okay, no, umbilampus, please. I dressed up as Tintin for World Book Day, had my hair done especially for it, all gelled back,

and even brought in a huge snowy dog as a prop only to come in and realise that it was the following day safe to say it was hard to live down the plushie how old are they? oh my god

I'm assuming age wasn't specified I'm really hoping no older than 12 that is so funny also I love that everyone This one, I'm assuming age wasn't specified. I'm really hoping no older than like 12. Hilarious. Yeah, that is so funny. Also, I love that everyone knows the whole dread of you coming in non-school uni day and people are, that dread dress.

But imagine now you're Tinder. They're like, with your dog. Yeah, they're like, what are you doing? Okay, so the next one is, when I was a child, I forgot to tell my parents that it was World Book Day, dress up day. So they said I could go as page 96

of the Argos catalogue and just bring in a toaster. I ended up getting sectioned for the day as a safety risk to myself and others. No fun, no sweets, just me in a room locked. A locked room with a toaster? Imagine just like,

hi everyone. That is slightly strange. Couldn't the parent just put a Santa hat on you? You could be Santa. Yeah, just anything other than bringing in a toaster.

I know. I feel like that would go viral now. Yeah. Back then it would have been like, yeah, do you want me to do it? Yeah, that's hilarious.

So, mine is, the same girl dressed up as me for World Book Day when i was around eight or nine we were both hermione grangers it's gonna happen yeah it's gonna happen it's gonna happen it's gonna happen we had pee that day and i threw her costume away in the bin and hid her wand because i didn't want to share characters i ended up being caught out and my parents had to pick me up and take me home. Oh my God, that's horrendous. Probably the most trouble I got in as a child. Yeah.

She threw it away. I love it. She's like, there's only one. There's only one. I'm not going to run here. And that's me. It's got to be me. Fantastic.

I love that so much. Now, the question to you. Okay. Marry, snog, and avoid. Okay. It's quite funny as well because I was a teacher so I would dress up every World Book Day until like last year. Fantastic. So I'm going to avoid the Hermione Granger situation because I just think that's very sad.

That's scary. And I mean potentially something I would have thought to do when I was younger as well. I would be like right let's get rid of the wand and everything. I love the drama of that story. So funny. like right let's get rid of the wand everything I love the drama of that story so funny I would snog Tintin

and marry the toaster I'm chilling I'm chilling with the toaster I'm chilling with the toaster I'm not turning up

I'm not turning up being the only one in Tintin I could fuck it now but not in the day and it's not even like you turn up as Regina George

in your tits right no exactly and you're Tintin with a fucking woolly dog. You've got the dog with you. No, no, no. You cannot go back. I can imagine. You're like, stills day.

But you can't even just take the costume off as well. You've probably painted it. No, yeah. Yeah, spray painted silver. What would you choose? I would do the exact same. Yeah, me too. I think I could be humbled nicely by the Tintin experience.

I couldn't have that happen every day. No, no. I would cry if I was the girl that got my costume taken. And also, actually, if I took the costume, the trouble I'd be in, I'd be avoid. Yeah, also, girls supporting girls, you know. Girls supporting girls, you know. There's room for all of us here.

Yeah, there's room for everyone. We're all Hermione. Everyone's Hermione. You know? Can you imagine that girl being like, you're fucking here. Exactly. There's room for everyone. So true. There's room for everyone. Everyone's Hermione. You know? Can you imagine that girl being like, you're fucking not. She's like,

she's like, so you've been. Yeah. Also like school bins, like they're just open. They don't even have a lid. Where's she putting it? That's fantastic.

Like the effort of that girl to go, she's like, no you're not. Obviously you used to be a teacher. What were the best costumes you dressed up as? I went as Rainbow Fish. So I had, like, a full-on tutu, mermaid leggings, made the top.

Oh, my God, I love that. What else did I go as? I also went as Winnie the Witch. You can find it. You can find it on our Instagram. I posted both of them on our Instagram. Oh, my God, brilliant. Black wig, like, full-on, you know,

made the hat, everything. Oh, my God. Yeah, loved it. And I did that multiple times, because I moved school, so know, made the hat and everything. Yeah, I loved it. And I did that multiple times because I moved school. It's reused. Oh, that's so good. Yeah, you got it. The rainbow fish, that's unique.

Yeah, I love the rainbow fish. Oh my God, as if you pulled that off. No, I loved it. But, you know, there was a lot of very random costumes throughout my time. Many umber lumpers, many random cat in the hat. Oh, yeah. What were some of the funniest that the kids dressed up at

that you were like, Do you know, I can't even remember some of them, but there's just so many random ones. Like loads of kids came as random things, like the toaster situation, like, you know, like last minute,

just throwing some. And you asked them, Oh, Danny, what are you? What's this? And they're like, like ah i forgot it was well booked yeah yeah yeah but you know loads of amazing things but yeah just very random with the most oh like someone came as like stick man once from the the book stick man but just dressed like all breakfast in all brown clothes everyone was like who are was like, oh, I'm a twig from the stick man.

Oh, that's so sweet. Very cute, though. Very cute. Ix! Brilliant! Fantastic! It's always a hit this. It's always a hit this.

Oh, I love Ix. I'm like, how was I going to do it? Yeah, we went together. You've got to go full on. Fantastic. I want to ask you, what ics do you have to do with opinions or stereotypes that people have to do with reading? Yeah, absolutely. So, many ics.

One ic is if you meet someone and they don't read. Another ic is if you meet someone like my boyfriend who's only read Horrid Henry or some of the girls said the only book that they'd read was diary of a wimpy kid like you know um my ick is using a bookmark because it creates this gap in your page and i hate it but a lot of the girls so i fold my pages but so a lot of the girls their ick is folding the pages, but that's not my ick. Using the bookmarks. I just hate it because it makes your book so bulky. Oh, interesting. It ruins the vibe.

I also think an ick would be people who say that fiction isn't, you know, a good thing to read because they say that nonfiction, you know, is the best because it teaches you stuff. Fiction is, you know, we love it. It's great to read. It provides a lot of fun. And you don't just need to read non-fiction to learn yeah and you're still learning and you're still learning like yeah

yeah vocabulary you're learning empathy judgment exactly absolutely yeah i asked the girls if they had any icks and they gave me like a huge list can i read absolutely you can oh i'm so excited the guest hasn't done this before! Oh my god I love this. Biggest read in ick, people cracking the spines. I was gonna ask about, because it's a polarising topic. So is that the crack in the spines? Yeah where you break the spine.

I mean I don't even really know if I do that, basically my books look absolutely wrecked, they're thrown around. They're loved. I've got one in my bag it's about that big it's been through the rain it's yeah love it you know

yeah crazy but their biggest book ick is there's no consent but an excuse because the male love interest happens to be so very hot

that was one of them which is obviously horrific okay god these are great someone put when a murderer throws shade on a character

and it's not even them that's the murderer. Oh my God, these are so specific. I love it. When you're hoping for two characters to end up together but then one of them gets a new partner. Oh, that is a joke. My boyfriend of one whole year has read one book in his lifetime that I bought him

and it was a Louis Theroux book not even a heavy read um okay um anyone who says that they get bored reading anyone who like a stranger that tells you not to buy a book because they didn't like it so for example being in a bookshop looking through the books and someone just goes over to you and is like I wouldn't buy that so yeah horrendous. My biggest ick is people who hate or look down on other people for what they read. Yeah. Some people like classics and don't like an easy beach read, doesn't mean you're better

than another person. Yeah. Yeah. Someone put, oh my god, these are all giving me the ick. Fantastic. Anyone who says they get bored reading hasn't found the right thing for them yet. Yes, love that. So someone's sister said they don't read fiction

because it never happens, so what's the point? I was like, what about all these people that have written so many books? So how about films then, you dickhead? So are you telling me you're not watching films? Exactly. I was on my lunch break once reading a book and I overheard a group of people saying

that they don't like reading because they don't like using their imagination and I had to leave because I was so icked out. Oh book and I overheard a group of people saying that they don't like reading because they don't like using their imagination and I had to leave because I was so icked out. Oh my God. That's a deep thing. You don't like using. Everyone loves their imagination.

You don't like using your imagination. These were fab. These are so fab. There's many more but I'll leave you there. Oh my God, Caitlin, thank you so much. Honestly, these are so fab. I think the one, my two favorites, my first one I'm gonna jump on

was the Getting Judge for What You Read. I completely get that. I read the Britney, my two favourites, my first one I'm going to jump on was the Getting Judged for What You Read. I completely get that. I read the Britney Spears autobiography. I haven't read it, but it sounds amazing. My life has changed. My life was changed, I'm telling you. And I read it during Christmas. And I'm telling you,

Santa wasn't the forefront of Christmas that year. It was Britney. It was Britney. It was Britney. I was like, it's Britney, bitch. I was like, guys, love you all, and Merry Christmas and Happy Cheer. However, it's Britney, bitch. I was like it's Britney bitch I was like guys love you all and like merry Christmas and happy cheer however let me get back I was bested you know and I remember telling someone about it like you need to read the Britney book and they were like and I was like why are you rolling your

eyes yeah number one why are you rolling your eyes number two Britney wouldn't like that okay because I know now because we're besties yeah oh my god I need to read it that's the next book I'm gonna buy you would love it so good I'm on a book ban but I'm buying and it's such an easy read like I think I got through it so quick because it was like

and this happened and this happened I can imagine it's really interesting her life is fascinating and so much you didn't know like obviously so you're like

oh my god and the second one that was my favourite that you said was the murderer one that is like a book reader, like someone who reads would say that, you know,

and I love it. And Jazz loves a thriller, so that's who you said it was. Yeah, I love a thriller. So what's her name, Jazz? Jazz.

Shout out to Jazz, love Jorah, that was fantastic. She's a great book lover. Yeah, love that. I think my favourite, which annoyingly,

I'm guilty of, Curl in the Back. Yeah, I think I do that as well. I always break the spines of my, especially on holiday. Get a little bit of a dip in the pool yeah

the corner snap it back round yeah crack back there especially in front of the sun yeah you know it I've been obsessed

with actually murder mystery ones recently oh they're good my nan loves those also nanadot is a big book club oh

legend so she's like a big reader loves thrillers loves it all she reads all our book club books so she's like a big reader loves thrillers loves it all she reads all our book club books oh lovely okay definitely oh that sounds great love it we've got question question we always do a silly and a serious question to wrap up love silly so this week i am on serious and i'm on and you're on silly actually let me just

and we of course darling and we always keep the silly light hearted because we always feel you need to go into the next stage of your life whatever you're doing

for the next hour or whatever you're doing right now listening to the podcast debriefers go into the next bit just feeling a bit silly feeling a bit fun

it's so serious yeah yeah yeah but right now it is serious it is serious right now it's serious so my serious question is

what is your favorite book and why would you recommend oh this is Sophie's choice yeah this is such a hard question and I'm like oh um okay there is a book by Holly Bourne this is just random I'm just gonna pick this one called how to be normal i believe that is the correct name for the book it basically explores your teenage life your mental health why you know why not every normal isn't a thing that we should try to be yeah um and it just basically give like give me um a new sort of perspective on reading and that it doesn't need to be you know the serious thing it can be something fun yeah and also just to, like, pick every single quote out of it and just take it with me. And I love Holly Vaughan.

She's an amazing author. I love so many books. It's hard to pick a favourite. Of course. But that stands out. Yes, that stands out. Do you annotate your books? So, I didn't until this book club book.

So, we're reading Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn, and it is a brilliant book. It's about finding love in your 20s with friendships strangers family yeah everything um it's incredible and I've literally highlighted every single thing my boyfriend was like you're just gonna highlight every single thing in that book and I'm like yeah yes what a relatable uh book that you're reading right now finding love in your 20s yeah you know everyone's wanting that whether that is friendships family boyfriends partners girlfriends and it talks about which i think the listeners all quite like relate to is that friendships

are so important and with the book as well so it talks about how you should put the same love into your friendships as you would with that relationship sort of love oh that's lovely and it says you'll find so much you know more love life that if you're not longing for that romantic love, you'll put love into your friendships. It's very, very interesting. Oh, that's lovely. Great ones. Could you repeat the first one and the second one again,

their names and their titles? Yeah, absolutely. So How to Be Normal by Holly Bourne and Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn. Fantastic. Fabulous. Gorgeous. Okay,

it's the silly question. Here we go. If you could live the life of any book character ever for a year, you have to live that life

for a year. So which means you can't see your family, you can't see your boyfriend, you can't come to the debrief and be like, girls, let's get the episode.

You can't. You have to live the life of a book character yeah for a whole year tell me so Rosie Melinda has written a book um and it's called the time of your life and basically the character goes through the same day over and over again but they get to do so many different things so it's like groundhog day so basically they get to you know dress up in wedding dresses and buy like all the best things from salvagers and just so they each day it restarts again and again so if i could do that for a year that would be incredible so she's not she's not able to travel to places so i would love you know to be able to travel anywhere but she can do loads of things in that day anything she wants like she can steal anything she can do anything wow because there's

no consequences she can drink anything she wants eat anything she wants like she can steal anything she can do anything wow because there's no consequences she can drink anything she wants eat anything she wants like I would eat at all the restaurants in London I love food so much like I'd be yeah

that would be brilliant dress up as Tintin to school yes no consequences you have brought us to an end with that lovely wrap up

thank you so much for coming on thank you we've loved having you on you're such a lovely person inside and out and it's always nice to have a guest

that we feel that your viewers can really relate with ours oh absolutely yeah I think the girls are going to love listening to it oh that means so much

and we really really want to come to your next one I'm going to please so please do not hesitate to be like girls it's next week and we will get on yeah yeah

you're literally like when's the next one yes we will we'll be voting for the book. Yes, we will. We'll be voting for the book. But thank you so much, Caitlin. We love you lots. It was so nice to have you on.

And if you'd like to, we're going to say goodbye to our listeners. Are you ready? Bye, guys. Have a great week. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. I've got a rebel soul. I've got a rebel soul. I've got a rebel soul.