Bitter is the New Black

The best way to sell a non-fiction book? A great title. I picked up Jen Lancaster’s memoir Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office because of the title. How could you not be intrigued? I loved it so much, I eagerly picked up her next book, Bright Lights, Big Ass: A Self-Indulgent, Surly Ex-Sorority Girl's Guide to Why It Often Sucks in the City, or Who Are These Idiots and Why Do They All Live Next Door To Me?

Her first book, Bitter, is described as "the story of how a former sorority girl went from having a household income of almost a quarter-million dollars to being evicted from a ghetto apartment." This really sums it up. Lancaster is working in corporate America, making great money and suddenly looses her job. Her fiance is also downsized, so they leave their beautiful Chicago penthouse apartment, and she must learn to do without the designer clothes and bags, expensive martinis, manicures and haircuts. She braves the unemployment office carrying her Prada bag, and can't find a job because she is overqualified for everything. With all of her free time, Jen spends a lot of time online and develops her own blog, Jennslyvania, which leads to a book deal. Her second book, Bright Lights, picks up after Jen has sold her first book and is working on the second. Jen decided to continue writing, but she finds that being a writer isn't like Carrie Bradshaw's Sex in the City lifestyle. To pay the bills, she has to take temp jobs. She now shops at Target instead of on the Magnificent Mile and struggles with finding an affordable apartment in Chicago without living in the ghetto.

Lancaster reminds me of the character Karen from the TV show Will & Grace: funny, clever, crass, selfish, stuck up and sarcastic. To me, Karen was the best part of that show. I feel the same about Lancaster. Although her story is not uncommon, her personality, reactions to life and the way she tells her story is just hilarious. I made a spectacle of myself laughing uncontrollably while reading her books in public. These books are great fun! I believe she is working on her third book, which I am anxiously awaiting!