Pretty in Plaid: A Life, a Witch, and a Wardrobe, or the Wonder Years Before the Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass Ph

by Jen Lancaster

Book Overview

Jen Lancaster's cultural inferiority complex had to come from somewhere...and now fans can find out where in this hilarious New York Times bestselling memoir from the author of Bitter is the New Black . Before she was bitter, before she was lazy, Jen Lancaster was a badge-hungry Junior Girl Scout with a knack for extortion, an aspiring sorority girl who didn't know her Coach from her Louis Vuitton, and a budding executive who found herself bewildered...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451228537
• ISBN13: 9780451228536
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Berkley Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

More from a long-time favorite

A gift for my wife, who has read and enjoyed all of Lancaster's previous books. She consumed this immediately, and has announced it as good as the rest, even reading sections out loud to me. This book explains where the blogger turned author came from, telling the stories of turning points through her early life illustrated with her typical fashion sidelights. If you've liked her work before, you'll like this.

Another hit for Jen.

I picked up Jen's first book, Bitter is the New Black, about a year and a half ago. It was funny and witty and made me want to read more. So I read the next book, and started following her blog. Then Such a Pretty Fat came, and Jen hit the New York Times Bestseller list. This book follows her through her childhood to young adulthood, to place her as an uncomfortable teenager defining herself through a certain size of a certain brand, or a child being made fun of for her accent and too-fancy clothes on her first day at a new school. Jen Lancaster is a funny, charmingly bitchy woman, who I would love to have drinks with. If anybody reads this review and has the opportunity to meet her on her book tour, DO IT. She's great in person. I met her in Atlanta, and my sister and I had a great time. My only complaint about this book is that it doesn't translate fantastically to Kindle. The footnotes do not display on the bottom of the page; instead, you have to scroll through and click. I went out and bought a hardcover copy instead.

Another hit for Jen.

I picked up Jen's first book, Bitter is the New Black, about a year and a half ago. It was funny and witty and made me want to read more. So I read the next book, and started following her blog. Then Such a Pretty Fat came, and Jen hit the New York Times Bestseller list. This book follows her through her childhood to young adulthood, to place her as an uncomfortable teenager defining herself through a certain size of a certain brand, or a child being made fun of for her accent and too-fancy clothes on her first day at a new school. Jen Lancaster is a funny, charmingly bitchy woman, who I would love to have drinks with. If anybody reads this review and has the opportunity to meet her on her book tour, DO IT. She's great in person. I met her in Atlanta, and my sister and I had a great time. My only complaint about this book is that it doesn't translate fantastically to Kindle. The footnotes do no display on the bottom of the page; instead, you have to scroll through and click. I went out and bought a hardcover copy instead.

Jordache jeans, flipped up collars, floppy ties

Pretty in Plaid is a "prequel memoir" from Jen Lancaster, as her fourth book takes us back to the times before the big city, the Prada bag, and the weight loss adventure. Each chapter uses an iconic fashion trend from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s as a backdrop for Jen's stories. If you lived during any of those times, who can forget the Jordache jeans, polo shirt with the turned up collar, navy blue knee socks, or the sweater (oh so casually) slipping off your shoulder. The chapters about Jen's first "real" job are laugh out loud funny; I could see so clearly the frumpy blue suite with the business blouse and the dreaded fax machine. When Jen gets promoted, you cannot help but to cheer her on, even though you have a pretty good idea about what will happen! Pretty in Plaid is a great book, well written, insightful, and very funny (I forget to mention the bits about her parents--wickedly funny!). Reading Pretty in Plaid reminded me of so many forgotten adolescent / young adult mortifying moments that are humorous now only in retrospect. Like the other three books by Jen Lancaster, you hate to come to the final chapter.

Another hit for Jen

I know I've already declared my love for Jen Lancaster so it should come as no surprise that I rushed out to buy it Tuesday morning. I couldn't put the book down. Covering her life from childhood to right before her boom in dot coms (covered in Bitter is the New Black), this book had me giggling from the start. It opens with a letter from 7 year old Jen writing to Mattel to inform them that Ballerina Barbie just fell apart in the bathtub and that they should send her another immediately, and all will be forgiven. They should also throw in a new Dawn for good measure. The book opens with an imperious Jeni informing the waitress that a menu is unnecessary, and she will be having the lobster. As her parents try to dissuade this, Jeni haughtily informs them that she was promised lobster for her eighth birthday, and lobster she will have. She gets her way and is faced with a lobster in lobster form. Pulling it apart she finds the egg sac, and green goo and is unhappy with her choice. She mentions this would have been avoided had her parents let her taste the lobster last year at their party. Following that is the tale of her moving on from boring Brownies to the fabulously uniformed Girl Scouts. Her tales of badge collection are quite funny. Every chapter is titled, and the subtitle is the outfit (or part of outfit) she was wearing in the occurrence. Her footnotes are still included, and still cause me to laugh a little more loudly than is polite in public. Her engaging, quick wit is evident throughout and makes for not a single dull moment in the book. Don't miss it!