Julie's Review: Here I Go Again

Author: Jen Lancaster
Series: None
Publication Date: January 31, 2014
Publisher: New American Library
Pages: 352
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 3.75/5
Bottom Line: Quick and good fun
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Library

Summary: Twenty years after ruling the halls of her suburban Chicago high school, Lissy Ryder doesnt understand why her glory days ended. Back then, she was worshipped…beloved…feared. Present day, not so much. Shes been pink-slipped from her high-paying job, dumped by her husband, and kicked out of her condo. Now, at thirty-seven, shes struggling to start a business from her parents garage and sleeping under the hair-band posters in her old bedroom. Lissy finally realizes karma is the only bitch bigger than she was. Her present is miserable because of her past. But its not like she can go back in time and change who she was...or can she? ~amazon.com

Review: Lissy Ryder is a bitch. She's spiteful and thinks only of herself, so what she needs is a little education on how hideous she really is. So, she gets sent back in time to her senior year to fix things. Except by now everyone know that if you change one little thing in the past, it totally screws up the future. Plus Lissy is so full of herself she doesn't quite get that it isn't really about making herself look or feel better. She is pretty damn self-absorbed.

Can I just say that I laughed pretty regularly through this one? It might not have been one of her memoirs but it has her same bawdy humor. It's definitely the same style of writing as her memoirs. Is it earth shaking literature, nope but it's fun. Especially for those in the same generation as Ms. Lancaster I appreciated all the hairband references and the ode to WhiteSnake.

Lissy is a lost cause for most of the book. It takes a pretty big loss to get her head screwed on straight. It's pretty obvious to this reader that Lissy is headed down the road to being her mother. That alone should scare the crap out of her.  While life might not be exactly what she thinks in the end, she's pretty much where she should be. 

Here I Go Again is a perfect summer poolside read. It's also a little fun to think about how you might change things you did in the past as well.

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Julie's Review: The Tao of Martha

Summary: One would think that with her impressive list of bestselling self-improvement memoirs Jen Lancaster would have it all together by now. One would be wrong. After all, shes no Martha Stewart. And thats why Jen is going to Martha up and live her life according to the advice of Americas overachieving older sister—the woman who turns lemons into lavender-infused lemonade. By immersing herself in Marthas media empire, Jen embarks on a yearlong quest to take herself, her house, her husband (and maybe even her pets) to the next level—from closet organization to party planning. Maybe Jen can avoid food poisoning if she follows Marthas dictates on proper storage. Maybe she can rid her workout clothes of meatball stains by using Marthas laundry tips. Maybe she can create a more meaningful anniversary celebration than getting drunk in the pool with her husband. Again. And maybe shell discover that the key to happiness does, in fact, lie in Marthas perfectly arranged cupboards and charcuterie platters. ~powells.com

Review: Thinking I might give audio another go, I went with Michelle's recommendation of The Tao of Martha by Jen Lancaster. As you know, I adore her. I've seen her in person a few different times and she is super funny and friendly. So when Michelle told me JL narrated this one, I knew it was perfect for me.

Jen needs a little organization in her life and so she turns to the goddess of it, Martha Stewart. Determined to live by Martha's edicts for a year, she begins her journey. 2011 was a crap year from Jen and Fletch, so she's determined to have a better 2012. She truly thinks her life would be that much easier if she just was more strict and more organized.

It is when Jen shows her heart that she is at her best. It is through Maizy's illness that we see just how much she adores her furry children. How she will do anything to help them. Listening to this at work and trying not to cry was difficult. Thank god for the invention of Kleenex.

Jen always makes me laugh and this experiment is no different. I admire her gusto and her "be awesome" credo. Not every thing she aspires to do under Martha's tutelage goes well but that's why I love her.

I loved the part where she made fun of Fletch for his prepping but then went all gung-ho with it herself. She justified it by saying she was planning and that canning was essential to the Tao of Martha. I also love how Fletch is still her voice of reason. He knows how to talk her down from the ledge and reminds her what the the true meaning of her year long project is.

Final Take: 4/5


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Author Events: 4 Awesome Authors on One Hot Night

This post is so long overdue (almost 2 months) but I want to add it any way because I love these ladies so much. Well as much as any one can truly love an author.

Back in July my sister and I went to a middle school near us to see Jennifer Weiner, Jen Lancaster, Stacy Ballis and Sarah Pekkanen speak. I've seen Jennifer and Jen a few times but was truly excited to see Sarah because I adore her books. I will admit that I haven't read Stacy's books yet, but they are on my TBR list.

The school that hosted the event didn't have air conditioning so the ladies didn't spend a lot of time talking about their books because they wanted to get to the most important part: book signing and fan meet/greet.

Authors to me are like rock stars, I am in awe of them. All four of them were so kind and thoughtful. They all talked to their fans like they were long lost friends. Which, let us be honest, we all kind of wish we were.

All four authors were extremely personable and Jennifer Weiner even knew me by my twitter handle and the conversation we had on there months prior. I was pretty excited and my sister just chuckled.
I got the big hug that Sarah promised me. If you haven't read any of these authors then I highly encourage you to pick their books up.

I appreciate my sister for going to these events with me as she often acts as my "assistant" by carrying all the books I want signed and taking the pictures.

Also even though they weren't featured, I was also able to meet the wonderful Eleanor Brown, author of The Weird Sisters and see Kelly O'Connor-McNees, author of the superb The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott and the upcoming In Need of a Good Wife.

Here are the pictures I took of the event:

Julie's Reviews: Jeneration X

Summary: In Such a Pretty Fat, Jen Lancaster learned how to come to terms with her body. In My Fair Lazy, she expanded her mind. Now the New York Times bestselling author gives herself—and her generation—a kick in the X, by facing her greatest challenge to date: acting her age. Jen is finally ready to put away childish things (except her Barbie Styling Head, of course) and embrace the investment-making, mortgage-carrying, life-insurance-having adult she’s become. From getting a mammogram to volunteering at a halfway house, she tackles the grown-up activities she’s resisted for years, and with each rite of passage she completes, she’ll uncover a valuable—and probably humiliating—life lesson that will ease her path to full-fledged, if reluctant, adulthood. ~amazon.com

Review: I really don't read memoirs. I don't. I don't want to read about how horrible some one's childhood is or how they got through a tough time and persevered. Jen Lancaster's memoirs are nothing of the sort. Frankly, she's funny as shit. Bitter is the New Black wasn't my favorite read but obviously something brings me back to her. Oh yeah, it's because she's funny as shit. She says everything I would like to be able to say. She puts herself in situations so that she can mock herself and maybe learn a little something on the way.

In this book she made me cry too (see her story about Thanksgiving) but mainly I couldn't stop laughing. Not giggle, but full out laugh out loud in public and at home. I was often quoting this book to my husband, who didn't quite get it. I guess you can't take everything out of context or maybe if he had read her before he'd find my snippets more entertaining.

She is one person that I would love to have a bunch of drinks with and listen to her talk. She is my kind of person. She speaks her mind even if it gets her in trouble at times. She's real and honest and that comes through in her books.

In each of her memoirs, she's trying to better herself. In Jeneration X: One Reluctant Adult's Attempt to Unarrest Her Arrested Development; Or, Why It's Never Too Late for Her Dumb Ass to Learn Why Froot Loops Are Not for Dinner, she's taking steps to becoming a full-fledged adult. They buy a house, a generator and she quits snooping on her neighbors. She realizes that she likes where she's at in her life and that maybe being a grown up isn't so bad after all.

I still have a back log of her memoirs that I will definitely be making my way towards. Ms. Lancaster is perfect for laughs but there is always something you can learn from her as well. It's her journey to bettering herself that most of us can identify.

Sidenote:  I will be seeing Ms. Lancaster speak again along with Jennifer Weiner, Sarah Pekkanen and Stacey Ballis in July. Color me excited!!

Final Take: 4.5/5

Thanks to Penguin for sending me the book and having the Twitter chat with Ms. Lancaster.

 

Julie's Review: My Fair Lazy

Summary: Readers have followed Jen Lancaster through job loss, sucky city living, weight loss attempts, and 1980s nostalgia. Now Jen chronicles her efforts to achieve cultural enlightenment, with some hilarious missteps and genuine moments of inspiration along the way. And she does so by any means necessary: reading canonical literature, viewing classic films, attending the opera, researching artisan cheeses, and even enrolling in etiquette classes to improve her social graces. In Jen's corner is a crack team of experts, including Page Six socialites, gourmet chefs, an opera aficionado, and a master sommelier. She may discover that well-regarded, high-priced stinky cheese tastes exactly as bad as it smells, and that her love for Kraft American Singles is forever. But one thing's for certain: Eliza Doolittle's got nothing on Jen Lancaster-and failure is an option. ~amazon.com  

Review: A few years ago Alice introduced me to Jen Lancaster with her first memoir, Bitter is the New Black. Now, I didn't really like the book overall but I did find Jen to be honest, funny, bitter and a little self-involved.  It wasn't until a couple years ago when my sister and I went to see Jennifer Weiner and her at an event where she hooked me. She is so damn funny in person. I found her humor to be sarcastic, biting and refreshing. She pokes fun at herself easily and is a running commentary on the stupidity of people. I admit that was back in 2010, so it's been 2 years and almost 2 books later but I will catch up eventually.

My Fair Lazy is a recounting of Jen trying to become savvy again in a world where conversations don't revolve around reality tv. If it's a reality show, Jen watched it. What she began to realize was that not everyone thought that reality tv was relevant or really cultural. So Jen wanted to do a "Jenassiance". She wanted to quit being a dumb-ass and start learning about different things. As I read the book, I laughed out loud and I shook my head a lot. With the help of her friends she started taking in plays, reading classics novels, learning about wines and learning how to socialize without saying everything that comes into her head. Not only in Jen humorous but I learned something along the way as well. I learned that since reading Bitter is the New Black, Jen has matured. I guess going through ups and downs in life will make you reassess things. She begins to realize there are things in life that don't have you parked in front of the tv and that get you out of the house. Not only that but it brings her and Fletch a bit closer as they start to experience some of Jen's pursuits together.

I don't know if Jen will ever give up her reality tv addiction but the fact that she was able and willing to go out of her comfort zone is something that I think all of us adults could do a little more. I'm not addicted to reality tv like Jen is but I do like my scripted tv. I have scaled back since having kids but my DVR is almost always in use on a weekday night. I would love to take a wine class because I love a great bottle (ok, even a decent bottle) but I'd love to learn more or learn why I love the wines that I do.

What I also love about her books is that I know what she's talking about when she refers to places in Chicago. I love that familiarity when reading a book. 

I need to catch up on Bright Lights, Big Ass?; Such a Pretty Fat; Pretty in Plaid. Plus she's got a new book coming out called Jeneration X. I loved that title. If you are looking for a humorous book for a spring or summer weekend read than I can pretty much tell you to pick up on of Jen Lancaster's memoirs. If you are looking to keep up with her on a regular basis, then you need to check out her blog: Jennsylvania.  

Final Take: 4/5


 

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Teresa for winning an autographed copy of Jen Lancaster's new novel If You Were Here. 

Please contact Alice with you mailing address so she can mail that to you.

Girls Just Reading uses Random.org to choose our winner.

An hour with Jen Lancaster & If You Were Here Giveaway

Last week I had the pleasure of spending an hour with one of Girls Just Reading's favorite writers,  Jen Lancaster during her reading at Barnes & Nobel on Union Square in New York City. 

I love her, I think I fall a little more in love with her every time I see her.  She is funny, witty, real.  I love the pearls and the scarf. She read an expert for her very first novel, the newly released If You Were Here.  I have to admit, I was unsure if I wanted to read this novel.  I love her memoirs but I didn't know what kind of novelist she would make.  After hearing the excerpt, I know I had nothing to worry about.

The event consisted of an excerpt reading, a brief Q&A period and finally a book signing.  I enjoyed how candid she was with her readers. She shared stories of her new neighborhood, gave us updates on her animals.  She is the perfect “girls night out” author to go see. They only thing Barnes & Nobel needed was an old school push cart girl serving cocktails. My best bud Sharon brought along a male friend, someone who had never heard of Jen Lancaster (shocking, I know). He looked a little frightened considering he was one of about five guys in the audience. After I repeatedly insisted that he was going to love her, he was still skeptical. Afterwards I'm happy to say she won him over, just like I knew she would.  He said she was funny, witty, smart and appealed to everyone. And he’s right.

This time around I didn't ask her any questions, but I did get an autographed copy of her novel for one of you.  Fill out the form below to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Jen Lancaster's If You Were Here: A Novel.  In order to qualify, you must be a resident of the U.S. or Canada and enter by midnight Friday, May 27th EST.

As always, our winner will be chosen by Random.org.  Good luck to all.

Want to Laugh? See Jennifer Weiner and Jen Lancaster in person

Jennifer Weiner is on her book tour for Fly Away Home (debuted at #2 on the NYT Bestseller list) and the theme is "Cupcakes Across the Country". So, being that I will try to see her every time she show up in my neck of the woods; my sister and I went. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard at an author event before. You see, her opening act was Jen Lancaster of "Bitter is the New Black" fame. She was the "opening band" for Jennifer Weiner and it was the perfect pairing, similar to that of wine and cheese.

Jen Lancaster read a chapter from her 2nd book Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly, Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why it Often Sucks in the City, or Who are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door to Me? and well I don't think I've laughed as much with an author in a long time. Can't wait to read the book. In fact, my sister and I liked her so much we each bought 2 of her books. Plus I like her because she lives in Chicago and I know the area she's talking about.

Jen Weiner came to the stage and was just as funny, charming and engaging as last year. Her stories about her mom, her nana and life in general are just hilarious. Their family events must be non-stop laughs. One person asked her if she could teach her kids one thing what would it be? She answered with "a sense of humor". I liked that answer because sometimes life is rough and you have to find something to laugh about. She's just extremely genuine. It's always nice to meet someone and know that they are exactly how you made them in your mind.

So my sister and I wait around for a while to get our books signed and pictures. You have to know that my "newer" camera broke and I'm back to using my 8 yr old camera for the last few weeks. So my sis took a picture of me and Jennifer Weiner...that I love and we move to get her picture take. Nope, camera is frozen. My sis, who had a hair coloring incident on Sunday isn't too upset that she can't get it done. We move on to Jen Lancaster. Camera works for my picture, which is great of Jen L and HORRIBLE of me (what happened to my hair in the 2 minutes between authors?!!), so we move on to my sister. Can you guess what happened? Yup, camera conked out again. My poor sis.

We both agreed that we would see Jen and Jen together or separate again. So Jen and Jen be on the look out for your next tour together. We'll be there; with a working camera.

Here are the pictures I took of the event. Please pardon my hair.