Summer Reading: Pretty in Plaid

Since it's summer and new TV that I actually like is restricted to HBO, the general focus of the blog is going to switch to summer related topics, books and movies.

First book I read this summer was Jen Lancaster's fourth, and to my opinion funniest memoir, so far. I've read all of Jen's books...and I follow her on Twitter and read her blog Jennsylvania. She's hilariously funny, and I always feel like we're on the same wavelength.

Pretty in Plaid chronicles the first thirty years of Jen's life as she remembers them, through her clothes. We see her life in her girl scout uniform, in her prom dress, in her sorority lavalier, in the first suit she bought before embarking on her journey through coporate life in Chicago. This is all punctuated by her razor sharp wit, her funny footnotes, and her pop culture references.

It ends on a lengthy epilogue where Jen espouses the philosophy that she put forth originally in her third book, Such a Pretty Fat. That as great as taking care of the outside is, it means nothing if you don't like the inside. In the end for all of her bitchiness, all of her whining, Jen is our friend. She's the best of us, and that's why I keep reading her stuff. And why you should all start.