The Catastrophe Hour Book Club, Week Two - Same Life, Higher Rent

The Unspeakable Podcast

Meghan Daum

Society & Culture

4.8 • 784 Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The next meeting of The Catastrophe Hour Book Club is scheduled for Wednesday, June 18, at 3:00 p.m. ET. We will discuss the second essay of the collection, Same Life, Higher Rent.

The book club meets for 14 consecutive Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. ET, beginning June 11. The book club is for yearly paid subscribers only, so if you want to join, please upgrade your subscription.

To learn more about the book club and join, visit https://www.theunspeakablepodcast.com/p/the-catastrophe-hour-book-club

Same Life, Higher Rent was written in 2017, shortly after I returned to New York after nearly two decades away. At the time, I was 47 and, strangely, my life was a lot like it had been at 27, though of course I was older and the rent was higher. The essay also explores, among other things, the concept of the “situational setpoint,” which is the state of life I seem to find myself in no matter how long I spend trying to live a different kind of life.

About The Catastrophe Hour

"One of our most important essayists . . . The Catastrophe Hour is proof that writers and readers can choose to engage with their lives in a manner that is radically disengaged with the pointless noise of the day.” — Washington Examiner

From the acclaimed author of The Unspeakable and The Problem with Everything comes a new collection of unputdownable essays. Written between 2017 and 2024, these essays are classic Meghan Daum, showcasing her wit, her intellect and her uncanny ability to throw new light on even the most ubiquitous of subjects. Arranged in the order that they were written, the essays touch on themes of aging, solitude, creative life, money, the changing media landscape, death, and the meaning of home. Daum’s unflinching honesty and exacting observations secure her reputation as one of our most important and enduring essayists.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Megan.
0:04.4	This is a quick note to tell you about an exciting event that's coming up this October in New York City.
0:10.0	It's an unspeak easy retreat on steroids.
0:13.2	It's not only co-ed, since you guys have been asking for it, it is bigger than our usual retreats with more participants and a lot of speakers.
0:22.0	Those speakers include John McWhorter, Peter Moskos, Mike Peska, Carol Hoeven, Lisa Selen Davis,
0:29.8	Alana Newhouse, Ben Appell, Andrew Hartz, and a lot more.
0:34.3	We are still adding speakers.
0:36.0	Oh, and me.
0:37.0	I will be there. The way it's going to work
0:39.8	is the speakers will do panels or be interviewed, sometimes by me, sometimes by other people.
0:46.0	And pretty quickly, those panels will open up to include the attendees and it will turn into a
0:51.8	discussion, not just an audience Q&A, but a real conversation where you can
0:56.3	interact with your intellectual heroes. Like all unspeak easy retreats, it is totally off the record.
1:03.4	No social media, everything that happens, stays in the unspeakeasy retreat. Beautiful space.
1:09.8	It will be in a gorgeous space yet to be announced.
1:13.0	This is happening October 11th and 12th from about 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Lunch is included.
1:20.9	It's co-ed and it will be unlike anything you've ever experienced and unlike anything we've ever done at
1:26.6	the unspeak easy. Spaces are limited've ever done at The Unspeak Easy.
1:34.5	Spaces are limited. So go to theunspeakeasy.com slash retreats to find out how to sign up.
1:35.6	Hope to see you there.
1:45.5	Hi, and welcome to this special edition of the podcast. What you're about to hear is an excerpt from an essay in my new book,
1:50.6	The Catastrophe Hour, which was published in April. I am running a book club this summer,
	...

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