mcasebolt's review against another edition

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4.0

Jen Lancaster doing what she does best ... poking fun at girls like me by sounding, acting and thinking like girls like me. Every time I read a Jen book, I simultaneously want to rush to Chicago to become her best friend and to call everyone in my cell phone & apologize for what a bitch I am. It's a cathartic guilty pleasure.

hollie313's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

2.5

grayduck's review against another edition

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Reviewed on 6/13/2009

Jen Lancaster is a funny woman who writes about her goofy adventures. Her writing style reminds me of Laurie Notaro and Chelsea Handler: quick-witted urban woman fumbling to find her way through her 20's and 30's without losing her brilliant sense of humor. I recently read Such a Pretty Fat,, which is about her struggles to lose weight and get in shape. I found it hilarious as well as poignant. I never wrote a review of it because I was still deep in thought about it several weeks after finishing it, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who can laugh alongside a woman who hates dieting but really wants to do it.

Pretty in Plaid is a memoir of Jen's days as a Girl Scout in the 1970's, a Sorority Girl wanna-be in the 1980's, and an up-and-coming career woman at a huge HMO in the 1990's...each starting with the memory of what she was wearing at the time. There is a nostalgic value to revisiting the fashions she describes (ah, blue eyeliner slathered on the inside of the lower eyelid...), but she didn't need the device in order to come up with another hit. She is hilarious and witty, and her books are a ton of fun to read – especially the footnotes.

Good stuff. If you liked Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, I bet you'll like Jen Lancaster. Go on, give it a try. It was a short read but definitely worth it. 

lyricallit's review against another edition

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3.0

Still fun & amusing but it doesn't seem to progress towards a goal as Jen's other memoirs do. At times I wondered if some of these anecdotes were edited out of other memoirs and collected here. Too fun/funny to just leave out but not quite cohesive.

canadianreader's review against another edition

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2.0

While I loved the last book I read by this author, I had trouble handling what a brat she was as a child in her stories. While I'm sure this led to part of hilariousness, it just wasn't an enjoyable read for me.

jahncie's review against another edition

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5.0

This book might be Jen's masterpiece.Now i don't say that lightly seeing as all of her books are seriously the funniest things that i have ever read. Jen is witty, hilarious and truthful and i can't get enough! I read passages of this book to whoever i could find just so i would like crazy laughing out loud like i had lost my mind. Jen does it again!

spike0216's review against another edition

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4.0

There were seriously parts of this book where I was laughing so hard...you know the kind of laugh where no noise even happens but your shoulders shake and tears roll? Yeah, like that. Jen's writing cracks me up.

kstuppy's review against another edition

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3.0

Very funny. Probably even funnier if you were in high school in the 80s.

booksandbosox's review against another edition

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3.0

I downloaded this on a whim because I thought it would be entertaining to listen to on my commute. I don't know the order of Lancaster's memoirs and I didn't think it mattered enough to look it up or worry about it. It was an interesting listen but not as fully as I expected; still, I will probably try to listen to Lancaster's other memoirs.

penser's review against another edition

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4.0

I've read Jen Lancaster's blog for over a year. I figured it was time to try one of her books. This book was FUN. I loved the narrator. It was nice to have a fun fluffy book for once. On to another!