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

by Jen Lancaster

Buy new: $24.95 $12.47 Buy used: $10.00

Editorial Reviews

The hardcover debut from the New York Times bestselling author- the prequel to Bitter is the New Black.

In Pretty in Plaid, Jen Lancaster reveals how she developed the hubris that perpetually gets her into trouble. Using fashion icons of her youth to tell her hilarious and insightful stories, readers will meet the girl she used to be.

Think Jen Lancaster was always "like David Sedaris with pearls and a super-cute handbag?" (Jennifer Coburn) Think again. She 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 by her first encounter with a fax machine. In this humorous and touching memoir, Jen Lancaster looks back on her life-and wardrobe-before bitter was the new black and shows us a young woman not so very different than the rest of us.

The author who showed us what it was like to wait in line at the unemployment office with a Prada bag, how living in the city can actually suck, and that losing weight can be fun with a trainer named Barbie and enough Ambien is ready to take you on a hilarious and heartwarming trip down memory lane in her shoes (and very pretty ones at that).

Customer Reviews

Its just OK, 2009-10-21
by Robynn (Seattle, WA.)

I have read all her books and enjoyed them. However this one is hard to stick to and I have found myself skipping pages just to get to the end quicker. (I know, I could just stop reading:))
It doesnt have her usual wit. Almost as if she wrote it in a weekend to make some money...

Jen is my new BFF!, 2009-10-12
by Deanna Brock (San Francisco, CA)

Pretty in Plaid was my first Jen Lancaster book and I loved every moment of it! She is so funny and witty. Seriously, she's my new BFF (no, I am not a stalker)! I am a Preppy at heart and have been since 1982, so I could totally relate. I was so bummed when the book ended that I immediately picked-up her first book, Bitter is the New Black (highly recommend that one too)! Jen, you have so inspired me to wear my pearls with my Lacoste shirts, Merci!

Had Enough..., 2009-10-06
by Postit

I have read all of Jen Lancaster's books and it's like reading a train wreck. Through her books I have yet to understand her sense of superiority. She claims she was an average student, she's okay looking, she has no ability to save money or invest, no sense of compassion, people do not like her, she can't train her dogs or get along with her neighbors etc etc...

In every situation presented, she wants to be the queen bee. The problem: she's not qualified. She is not smart, glamorous, friendly or compassionate. Who would want to make her in charge of anything? She is socially inept and she keeps trying to reach the pinnacle of whatever her desires are but never learns the rules. If she would have gained some insight into herself, this would have been a better book. It comes off as a person who is bitter because she doesn't fit in socially the way she deems appropriate. In the footnotes (which are ridiculous on a kindle) she writes that she wanted to be Blair from Facts of Life. Maybe she should have faced the truth and realized she is Natalie.

Funniest woman alive, 2009-09-30
by Cara P. Lundquist

I think that Jen Lancaster is the funniest writer ever. Not only is she my favorite author, but book after book she just proves she's getting better and better. I think she's hilarious and I will pre-order every book she ever writes.

Um, that's argyle, not plaid., 2009-09-26
by Caroline

This isn't really a review b/c I haven't read the book -- I just saw it in the bookstore and was perplexed as to how this cover art got approved. I thought argyle was pretty recognizable...