Memoir

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

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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

Synopsis:

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.

Review:

It took me a while to get into My Fair Lazy, I read The Tao of Marth fairly recently so it was difficult to get back into reading another memoir by the same person, but once I did I really enjoyed it. I got to see how much Lancaster has changed since she first started writing. This book was published in 2010 but feels like it’s older, possibly because she hadn’t yet moved to the big house in the suburbs.

Lancaster makes me want to be a better person. Not like give to charity or volunteer, but make myself better by expanding my knowledge and trying new things. While reading this I made a mental note to really tackle my non-fiction backlog and learn something new, maybe even become an expert in something.

Recently I found an old document with goals written four years ago. I felt smug when I opened it because surely I’d get to cross something off and—I didn’t. I felt deflated and couldn’t help asking what was I doing with my life? The things on the list weren’t all difficult and were things I still want to do, so why am I not doing them?

Anyway, I really enjoyed My Fair Lazy and I could relate more to his Jen than the one from Tao of Martha. The only other memoir by Lancaster I have yet to read is Jeneration X and for obvious reasons I’m not in a rush to read it.

4/5

You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) By: Felicia Day

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You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) By: Felicia Day

Summary:

From online entertainment mogul, actress, and “queen of the geeks” Felicia Day, a funny, quirky, and inspiring memoir about her unusual upbringing, her rise to Internet-stardom, and embracing her individuality to find success in Hollywood.

The Internet isn’t all cat videos. There’s also Felicia Day—violinist, filmmaker, Internet entrepreneur, compulsive gamer, hoagie specialist, and former lonely homeschooled girl who overcame her isolated childhood to become the ruler of a new world…or at least semi-influential in the world of Internet Geeks and Goodreads book clubs.

After growing up in the south where she was “homeschooled for hippie reasons”, Felicia moved to Hollywood to pursue her dream of becoming an actress and was immediately typecast as a crazy cat-lady secretary. But Felicia’s misadventures in Hollywood led her to produce her own web series, own her own production company, and become an Internet star.

Felicia’s short-ish life and her rags-to-riches rise to Internet fame launched her career as one of the most influential creators in new media. Now, Felicia’s strange world is filled with thoughts on creativity, video games, and a dash of mild feminist activism—just like her memoir.

Hilarious and inspirational, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is proof that everyone should embrace what makes them different and be brave enough to share it with the world, because anything is possible now—even for a digital misfit.

Review:

Full disclosure I’m a big Felicia Day fan. For a time I bordered on obsessive. I’ve watched everything she’s done and purchased most of her stuff, still lacking a couple comics. At the height of my obsession I friended her on Goodreads and started reading her reviews. Our relationship soured a bit when I saw that she didn’t love Ilona Andrews as much as I did. So I backed off. I still loved her, but I didn’t hang on her every word. I think this has made our relationship more stable.

Anyway, my husband bought this book for me after a particularly horrible day at home with my daughter. The terrible twos have hit hard in our home and I believe my daughter has evolved into a monster. After a lovely BLT and my demon spawn laid to rest I started reading. The world was instantly better.

If my parents were liberal and not conservative Christian I could have been Felicia Day. Totally. We’re like totally the same. It’s awesome.

She loved Anne of Green Gables growing up. ME TOO!

She was homeschooled growing up. ME TOO!

She’s neurotic. ME TOO!

She took violin lessons growing up. Um… I took piano lessons and only for like six weeks because my parents couldn’t afford it. Kind of the same, right?

She is really good at math. Yeah…about that. My mom told me that girls weren’t good at math and science. I guess we aren’t the same.

*Sigh* Oh well.

Still, this book was so great and made me feel like I wasn’t alone. Which is weird, because I’ve never thought about feeling alone because of my geeky likes. I know that I can get on the internet and find all kinds of forums with people talking about my fandoms, I just never do for some reason. The one forum I post on I still agonize before every post afraid I’ll say something stupid and people will attack me.

Back to the book. I loved getting a glimpse into Felicia Day’s life. She could have very easily name dropped all the famous geeks she knows or talked exclusively about games, but she didn’t. She came off as humble, hard working, nice, and really funny.

5/5

 

tl;dr

LOVED IT!