Stories I'd Tell in Bars

By: Jen Lancaster

Narrated by: Jen Lancaster, John Fletcher

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Unfiltered. Unapologetic. Older, but not wiser, Lancaster goes back to basics in this hilarious essay collection about everything from taking community policing classes to accidentally getting high with her waiter after a fancy dinner. These are the tales she'd tell if she met you in a bar... if she weren't too lazy to put on pants and go to a bar. Offering advice ranging from how to remain happily married to a man who refuses to blow his damn nose already to not creating An Incident at the cheese counter during an attempt at Whole30, she's you, only louder. As she details the chaos that will surely ensue if she has to learn to operate one more television remote control, you'll want to settle in and pour yourself a tall one. Because what's more fun than hearing a friend share her favorite stories?

©2017 by Jennifer Lancaster. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., published by arrangement with Folio Literary Management.

self absorbed

I find that this book along with her previous book, Such A Pretty Fat, has a lot of padding in it. This book starts out decent but the issue with the author is that her self absorption is eventually so exhausting that you can't take in the book all at once. You can only handle it in small doses, and that's when there's actually content and not just her rambling to meet what feels like some word quota. I would call this book a low on content high on fluff bit of nonsense. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's not a good thing either.

Too much nagging about younger people

By definition, I'm technically a millennial. I'm literally five years away from falling in the Gen x category. I rolled my eyes so hard through this story. She complains how she can't get in touch with millennials, clearly not understanding what a millennial actually is, but she tells too many side stories as well. she can't even get through one comment without telling us a story about how engrossed her dog is with begging for food - having nothing to do with what she's actually talking about. Too windy. Too whiny. Not impressed in the slightest.

Missing that old zest

I'm a fan of Jen and I pre-order each book on Audible, so I am obviously comfortable with her style in general. She's quite relatable to us Gen X women who have little patience for nonsense, but endless time for animals.

Unfortunately, Stories I'll Tell In Bars felt forced and like it was reaching and not quite getting there. The Italy trip story dragged and there were hints of the earlier bitey humor, but in a weird, obligatory way. Like trying to be funny vs natural flow creating raucous silliness.

I'm not giving up on Lancaster at all, Fletch and the dogs are far more interesting than most junk on TV. Let's just hope Jen finds her groove again

I liked this book

Until you get to the part where you repeated "MO JI TO" over and over again. We get the point after the first or second time you say it. I think you lost me after that chapter even though I tried to focus. It was annoying (to me) but perhaps it won't bother other readers. (And I like a good mojito) Up to that point, I thought your stories were good and relatable.

Jen Lancaster does it again!

I’ve been a huge Jen Lancaster fan and have read every one of her books and also have this one in print, but when I saw that it was actually read by her and parts by Fletch, I couldn’t resist listening instead of reading. I really enjoyed this. Jen has a very effective speaking voice as does Fletch. The book flowed easily and I was laughing and relating as were not very far apart in age and I guess I fit perfectly with her humor. I get her because my humor is a lot like her. If you like Jen Lancaster’s books, you will enjoy this book. It’s a fun and lighthearted side of Lancaster mixed with a little serious and a dash of heart. The perfect cocktail.

could not finish

The narrator was speaking as if to a child, with pauses in between almost every word. I think she was just trying to enunciate clearly, but it was very hard to listen to. I'm not sure if it was the narration or the book itself, but I did not find it very humorous.

love Jen Lancaster!

As usual, a hilarious book. I've read all of hers, and they never disappoint. I only wish she could write faster...

Another winner with bonus appearances by her husband

I love everything Jen writes (and if you haven’t read her YA novel, Gatekeepers, you should). When she self published this book I was a bit disappointed because I was afraid she wouldn’t have the chance to do an audio version. It was worth the wait! The addition of Fletch at the end of some chapters was a happy bonus.

I thought I'd die from boredom

I want my money back.
What was I thinking purchasing this wrinkled garbage bag with text?
I could not get through it. Impossible pointless re-chewed blah blah bad jokes. Bad bad bad and embarrassingly so.

skip it

I usually find Jen hilarious this time I found her disappointing. The book was riddled with GDs and Fletch is beyond lame. It was page after page of trying too hard and falling flat.