Book Review: My Fair Lazy

I just finished reading 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 by Jen Lancaster. From Ellen Wernecke via The A.V. Club:

"To be fair, being intellectually shown up by Candace Bushnell might press a radical re-evaluation of self on anyone, as Lancaster is during a radio interview when she doesn’t recognize the name “Baudelaire.” She later diagnoses herself as stagnating in her reality-TV-and-Ambien life after a string of tony social events at which she’s ill at ease making conversation, even though she’s well-versed in John Hughes films and the musical choices of Adam Lambert. (Though her chapter on the shifting appeal of The Real World might well live to be quoted in semiotics dissertations 20 years hence.) A hazily defined “Jenaissance” finds her tearing through Edith Wharton on a Kindle, puzzling through a modern-dance performance she believed would contain tango, and sitting down for an avant-garde dish resembling a half-smoked cigar, with the help of her tolerant but somewhat incredulous friends."

While reading reviews of My Fair Lazy online, I came across this one from A Girl Walks Into a Bookstore & wholeheartedly agreed with it. Review here.

I've read & loved all of Jen's previous books & follow her blog, Jennyslvania, in Reader. While this isn't my favorite Jen Lancaster book, it is entertaining, especially if, like me, you watch more than your fair share of reality-TV. She does a chapter on The Real World that will make you cry if you're old enough to remember the first season. It's chapters like this that display what a powerful writer she is. Her writing style & her sense of humor are an inspiration to me, personally.

Like her other books, this book's chapters are divided by emails between Jen, her husband Fletch & her girlfriends. I've always loved the way she does this. This book does something new, it also prints some of her tweets. I've been following Jen on Twitter long enough to recognize some of these tweets. I just thought it was a neat thing to do. (Follow Jen on Twitter here.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book & definitely recommend it, especially if you share a slight addiction to reality-TV. It's a light, quick read & you'll laugh a lot. It would be a great beach/vacation read.

If you're new to Jen Lancaster, I highly recommend her first two books: Bitter Is the New Black & Bright Lights, Big Ass. They are, to date, the funniest books I've ever read.