Wish I Was Jen Lancaster

Wish You Were Here – Jen Lancaster

Back from vacation! Thought I was gonna read a whole lot more than I did, but alas, not so much. I love sitting on the beach with a book… but apparently I love sleeping on the beach (and burning the bejesus out of my back) more. Did finish one book and make it half way through another. First, the finished one. If I ever finish the civil war non-fiction (don’t ask), I’ll get to that.

I am yet again floored by and super jealous of Jen Lancaster. Seriously, this is how I want to write. Except without the whole plagiarism thing. She is just so… funny. And poignant. And smart. And totally into the same things that I am that I repeatedly found myself thinking, “Yes! I think so too!!” or “I totally said that the other day!” I also found myself laughing out loud and trying to explain what was so funny to The Boyfriend who just smirked and turned over to continue working on his own sunburn.

Wish You Were Here is Jen’s first attempt at a novel, not her usual memoir. But, I read her blog, and know that she and her husband did actually buy a house in the ‘burbs – so this story, about an HGTV obsessed young-adult (Amish Zombies! Take that Twilight!) author and her husband who buy a house and spend a year rehabbing it – is technically fiction, I can’t help but assume a lot of this is based in real life.

I think that’s part of what makes me love her so much. Her life is so relatable because I see so much of myself, my relationship, my self-deprecating tendencies, my addiction to HDTV (actually watching Design Star as I write this. No joke. And not planned.)in her stories.    

“Chick Lit” gets a bad rap. Maybe because of the pepto bismol covers and pretty fonts. Which makes me crazy because things like Pride and Prejudice and House of Mirth were once seen as silly women’s novels and now we revere them as classic LITERATURE. I always wanted to teach a class on “Chick Lit” and put Jane Austin next to Laurie Notaro to examine women’s literature and how it has evolved, and stayed the same, over the years.

When you peel back the fluffy pink covers though, what Lancaster (and her fellow “Chick Lit” authors) do is portray all the complexity that makes up today’s woman. All the confusion around issues of relationships and marriage and babies and careers and friendships, it’s all there, with all the humor, tears, confusion and absurdity and intelligence of reality.  It’s inspiring. As a woman, and as a writer. This book make me want to be better at both.

Ok. I am gushing at this point. But, I really did love this book. And I really want to be friends with Jen Lancaster.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, House Hunters is starting.