in 12 essays, grace perry reflects on how the pop culture she consumed as a child & young person in the early 2000s made her the person she is today. and while i'm not a lesbian like her and just barely a millenial, i loved reading this book and felt very connected to what she talks about and the way she sees the (media) world! from her crush on seth cohen to the first time she binged a tv show, and how taylor swift made her over-romanticize her life when she downloaded her album on her ipod nano, i felt myself reflected in some observations, and i just enjoyed learning about her life. i love how she talks about the closet, about representation and the "bubble", and everything in between. i also read this obsessively during 1,5 days - easy 5 stars.

Because no matter how "escapist" the pop culture, when we turn off the TV, flecks of it come back with us - and often remain with us. Oh, I LOVED the first few chapters and I LOVE popular culture! The essays were fun and relatable, even though the author is older than me. I love that she included shows like the OC and Gossip Girl, but also Harry Potter because no matter how problematic they are today, they did play big parts in the 2000s. "When we say a movie doesn't "hold up" today, what we're really saying is that, assuming we loved it at the time, we've changed - the audience has evolved, our shared values and understanding of what's okay what's not has shifted." I really liked the humor. I couldn't relate to the chapters about Dawson's Creek, Glee, Taylor Swift or Grey's Anatomy because I don't care about these shows so a couple of chapters fell flat for me.