Lawgirl Book Reviews
Pretty in Plaid by Jen Lancaster
I really enjoyed this book. It gave insight into what made Jen into the person she is in Bitter is the New Black. I am sure that many women feel this way, but I recognize so many of the scenarios in which she finds herself – from trying to find her niche in high school, to having to start over agan in college, to thinking that making $24,000/year was great money (lol), to wanting some of the finer things in life. She stands up for what she believes in at work, only to find that management really doesn’t care – who hasn’t been there?!? Again, I laughed all the way through the book. I can’t wait for more books from her!
From Amazon:
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).
Prairie Tale: A Memoir by Melissa Gilbert
Okay, first of all, suck it. Yes, I loved Little House on the Prairie, and I thought Melissa Gilbert was super-cool. She’s always fascinated me and I was thrilled to see that she was going to open up and dish on her own life.
The book started off slowly, and at first I was a bit disappointed in her writing style. However, by the end she showed that she has really grown into the woman she is today. I wish that she had been able to avoid some of the Hollywood pitfalls – the cocaine and the alcoholism, but I suppose in that lifestyle, it’s as natural as me running my own errands or making my own lunch.
I wish that she would have written more about her costars – she rarely mentions them beyond Michael Landon (father figure), Melissa Sue Anderson (nemesis), Alison Arngrim (best friend in real life), and Jonathan Gilbert (brother in real life.) I would have loved to have had a backstory and opinion on all of them.
At the end, she really has it together and has a great outlook on life now.
From Amazon:
As a kid, I loved the Little House books and the series. Melissa Gilbert, as Laura, felt like a kindred spirit and the sister I never had. Maybe it was the same pale skin and freckles, her long reddish-brown braids to my long reddish-brown pigtails, my own run-ins with Nellies, and don’t get me started on the similar teeth…
So, that meant I bought the book as soon as I knew it existed, and it meant that I enjoyed it a fair amount. I do think you have to be a fan of the actress though — I don’t think it transcends that in the way that some autobiographies manage to do.
There are worse things that to have continued good will from work you did back during the Carter administration, and to be part of a classic. As much as I am a Buffy fan, her father is played by Almanzo Wilder!
Anyhow, Ms. Gilbert comes across as fairly honest while only having unkind things to say about a few people. After reading the book, her list is different from mine. She decidedly does not like Valerie Harper, and from her account of things, I can understand why. She also had a beautifully catty run-in with Shannen Doherty after she got Single White Femaled by her — even though Ms. Gilbert’s husband at that time deserved the lion’s share of her anger.
At the heart of the story, is Melissa Gilbert’s journey toward accessing her emotions in real life. At several key parts of her childhood she suffered losses — her parents divorced, her father died, a beloved pet passed away, and Michael Landon’s marriage fell apart when his family was like her second fantasy. None of these traumas were fully grieved at the time, and they had an effect on the woman she became, and led to some self-destructive choices.
I, of course, liked reading stories about the Little House set, but I also enjoyed reading about the real story behind her on and off again relationship with Rob Lowe, her time as a member of the brat pack, and her adult life in general. While I want to say it lagged at times, the fact that I stayed up late reading it shows I remained entertained.
Think Melissa Sue Anderson will write a retaliatory book about Melissa Gilbert free-basing with Mr. Edwards and Doc Baker, while losing her bonnet to Reverend Alden over gambling debts?
