My fair lazy : one reality television addict's attempt to discover if not being a dumb ass is the new black, or a culture-up manifesto

Title:

Author:

Lancaster, Jen, 1967- author.

Summary:

Jen Lancaster chronicles her efforts to become more cultured and refined, describing her adventures in theater, opera, world cuisine, politics, and rubbing elbows with the social elite.

Audience:

Adult Follett Library Resources

Physical Description:

viii, 372 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Personal Subject:

Lancaster, Jen, 1967-

Subject Term:

Authors, American -- 21st century -- Biography.

Geographic Term:

United States -- Social life and customs -- 21st century -- Humor.

Publisher:

New American Library,

Publication Date:

2010

ISBN:

9780451229861

Publication Information:

New York : New American Library, c2010.

Call Number:

814 LANCAST

Holds: Copies:

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Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607002375148	Adult Nonfiction	814 LANCAST	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

It's a JENaissance! The New York Times bestselling author of Pretty in Plaid gets her culture on.

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.

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Author Notes

Jen Lancaster was born in November 1967. After graduating with a B. A. in political science, she worked for an HMO and then at a technology company. In December 2002, after being unemployed for over a year, she launched a website to air her frustrations about unemployment and it gained popularity quickly. Her first book, Bitter Is the New Black, was published in 2005. Her other works include Bright Lights, Big Ass; Such a Pretty Fat; Pretty in Plaid; My Fair Lazy; Jeneration X; If You Were Here, and the Tao of Martha.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

After embarrassing herself in front of her idol Candace Bushnell, popular memoirist Lancaster (Such a Pretty Fat, Bitter is the New Black) decides she needs more in her life than reality TV and hamburgers; to that end, she sets out on an Eliza Doolittle-esque project of cultural self-improvement to expand her knowledge of art, fine dining, and all the attendant trappings of "high class" life. Lancaster's latest will no doubt appeal to fans of her blog and her other books, but readers unfamiliar with her strident manner will have to get past her abrasive, initially judgmental façade; she puts on a proud display of her ignorance that can be off-putting, especially when couched in her excessively scattered writing style. Though she's unquestionably funny and comfortable in her own skin, for all the joking self-regard there's little actual exploration, and the analysis of what she does find doesn't go far beyond a sassy thumbs-up or thumbs-down. (May) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal Review

Flummoxed by a reference (from her idol Candace Bushnell) to Baudelaire during an interview, New York Times best-selling memoirist and reality TV junkie Lancaster vows to broaden her cultural horizons. The meandering accounts of her "Jennaissance" touch on her efforts to become comfortable with opera, literature, and other areas of culture neglected in favor of The Real World: Miami and Vince Vaughan movies. Lancaster's genial willingness to expose the gaps in her knowledge serves her well as she describes her transformation from couch potato to smart cookie and will appeal to fans of self-improvement sagas of the light hearted variety. Readalikes: Robyn Okrant's Living Oprah and Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project.-Therese Purcell Nielsen (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Library Journal Review