You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Everybody knows by now that I love [a:Jen Lancaster|14577|Jen Lancaster|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1272347364p2/14577.jpg]. This was actually the most interesting book so far, purely based on subject matter. Finding herself awash in a pleasant but stagnant flow of pop culture and reality TV entertainment, Jen embarks on a "Jenaissance" project to make herself more cultured. This includes some things that sound awfully unfair to deduct on your tax return, like wine-and-cheese classes, but also things like live opera and modern theater performances and even Baudelaire. So while this book didn't seem to me to be nearly as funny as some of her others, I appreciated getting to read about her experiences and her reaction to things she'd generally avoided.
I guess what I'd really like to say is that it's a shame no one has offered to pay me to undertake a Mainonaissance project. But then again, I've never tried submitting a proposal for that, so maybe the shame is all on me.
I guess what I'd really like to say is that it's a shame no one has offered to pay me to undertake a Mainonaissance project. But then again, I've never tried submitting a proposal for that, so maybe the shame is all on me.
This book took longer than necessary to read because I had to stop in the middle to take a break and read something else. I do not like Jen. I think she is boring and that all her friends are more interesting than she is. I did smile in the beginning when she realized that she brought a whole party down to her level. The situation that brought her to the idea for this book "On the one hand, it's funny that everyone got dumber by having been around me. On the other, it's a bit of a hollow victory."
I want to like her books, the covers seem cute and the ideas seem good, I guess I just think it would be better for people who write memoirs to go out and live their life, and then decide to write a book about it. Not that people should say hey, I want to write a book, let me see what I can spend a lot of money on and then maybe someone will give me some more money to talk about it.
I think it is silly to think of ways to better yourself with the sole purpose of writing a book about it.
This book was: I need to write a book, and I am kind of dumber than all the people I know or want to know, so maybe I should try to let their coolness rub off on me and write a book about that.
It maybe would have been better if it was written in the style of: here is some cool stuff I learned, and now I am going to tell you. Instead it was: So then I went to this place and then that place and ate some food and heard some music and realized wow, I used to be dumb.
Anyway, a really long review for no reason. Only to make the point that, I knew better than to pick up a second Jen Lancaster book, but I decided to give her another chance because it was what my book club wanted to read. Anyway. Fail.
Added: Oh my gosh, I can't believe I forgot about the footnotes. I have to admit there were far fewer than what I remember from Bitter is the New Black, but there were still too many. Actually, to be fair, there should not have been any footnotes. I don't know why she uses them. To explain how pointless they are, here are some footnote gems: "Right?" "Whopper with cheese, holla!" "Team Jacob!" and "WHEW!"
I want to like her books, the covers seem cute and the ideas seem good, I guess I just think it would be better for people who write memoirs to go out and live their life, and then decide to write a book about it. Not that people should say hey, I want to write a book, let me see what I can spend a lot of money on and then maybe someone will give me some more money to talk about it.
I think it is silly to think of ways to better yourself with the sole purpose of writing a book about it.
This book was: I need to write a book, and I am kind of dumber than all the people I know or want to know, so maybe I should try to let their coolness rub off on me and write a book about that.
It maybe would have been better if it was written in the style of: here is some cool stuff I learned, and now I am going to tell you. Instead it was: So then I went to this place and then that place and ate some food and heard some music and realized wow, I used to be dumb.
Anyway, a really long review for no reason. Only to make the point that, I knew better than to pick up a second Jen Lancaster book, but I decided to give her another chance because it was what my book club wanted to read. Anyway. Fail.
Added: Oh my gosh, I can't believe I forgot about the footnotes. I have to admit there were far fewer than what I remember from Bitter is the New Black, but there were still too many. Actually, to be fair, there should not have been any footnotes. I don't know why she uses them. To explain how pointless they are, here are some footnote gems: "Right?" "Whopper with cheese, holla!" "Team Jacob!" and "WHEW!"
Anyone who quotes "Clueless" and referrences "Beavis and Butthead" can do no wrong.
Lancaster's quest for self-improvement is entertaining, but when she slips into the cheese-and-wine-snob vocabulary, she loses the self-deprecating and sarcastic humor that makes reading her so lovely. Quick and mindless read, great summer lit.
Not her best. It jumped around too much and I kind of couldn't wait for the book to end.
funny
reflective
fast-paced
I think I found a new favorite author! She is so down to earth and real that this book was totally relatable!
Solidly entertaining but not wowing
Her stories were pretty entertaining but her obvious wealth made a lot of this very unrelateable . The fact that her stories were so real and that she could be your friend talking to you is what makes her great, and it's just slightly missing here
Her stories were pretty entertaining but her obvious wealth made a lot of this very unrelateable . The fact that her stories were so real and that she could be your friend talking to you is what makes her great, and it's just slightly missing here
This book was pretty funny. I could relate to her friends and some of her experiences but the politics talk kinda turned me off. Other than that, it was well written.
Not as laugh out loud hilarious as some of her other novels but as Lancaster reminds you, she is 40 years old. There is a chapter that deals with sick pets that is especially poignent and the chapter involving the "Thundercats" is really great.