The Tao Of Martha: My Year Of LIVING; Or, Why I'm Never Getting All That Glitter Off Of The Dog (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
Jen Lancaster spends a year of her life emulating Martha Stewart and solving her problems the way Martha would. I like Jen and Martha and thought this would be a nice read. Jen isn't as funny in this book as she is in others, but her Martha adventures work out well for her. At the end of the day, though, reading about someone cooking, gardening and doing craft projects just isn't that interesting, espectially when no detailed recipes or patterns are included. The book includes black-and-white photos that often occupy only a small portion of the page, and are difficult to decipher. Also, a large portion of these photos are of her dogs. Those pictures all looked the same. The book leads me to believe the dogs occupy a central portion of her life, not to mention this book, and stories about other people's dogs are really boring. If she shut up already about the dogs, she might have earned another star. Sorry, Jen. I have read and reread four of Jen Lancaster's other books; I'm a fan. I read this book, despite iffy reviews, because glancing at a few lines of it in a bookstore one day cheered me up when I was feeling down. At first I really liked this book and the concept at its core. I am not domestically gifted (this week I have failed at cooking pasta, a hot dog and most disappointingly, toast) and wanted to see what effect introducing some of Martha's ideas to one's home would produce. As I read on, though, I found the book disappointing. Getting through the information about roses was a struggle. Perhaps it would have been worth the effort had there been a conclusion other than she was using the wrong setting on her hose. Later, I was concerned about her mental state reading about all of the stockpiling of goods she did as she prepped for impending disaster. That was a lot of goods that must have cost a lot of money.Parts of the book were good enough but it was very different than the other books of hers that I've read. She mentioned in the acknowledgements that she has a new agent. I wondered if someone different had edited it as well although there was no indication of that. As well, she has credited Fletch before for many of the funny comments she's used in books. Perhaps Fletch has stopped being funny. I don't know.The book I wanted to read would have either had practical solutions for home organization or a really funny take on efforts at domesticity, some successful, some not. I found this book to be neither. I still like Jen Lancaster and it was nice to spend a bit of time with her but this book was, for me, something of a disappointment.
What do You think about The Tao Of Martha: My Year Of LIVING; Or, Why I'm Never Getting All That Glitter Off Of The Dog (2013)?
Can't get into this. Not very funny, mildly irritating, self-indulgent. Putting it out to pasture.
—ally
Listened to this as audio book on my commute. Super funny, highly recommend!
—pattie
Not supported by my tablet, wrong format
—Lastsurvivingbabe
