
Welcome to the United States of Anxiety
Observations from a Reforming Neurotic
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Narrated by:
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Jen Lancaster
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By:
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Jen Lancaster
About this listen
A Wall Street Journal bestseller.
New York Times bestselling author Jen Lancaster is here to help you chill the hell out.
When did USA become shorthand for the United States of Anxiety? From the moment Americans wake up, we’re bombarded with all-new terrifying news about crime, the environment, politics, and stroke-inducing foods we’ve been enjoying for years. We’re judged by social media’s faceless masses, pressured into maintaining a Pinterest-perfect home, and expected to base our self-worth on retweets, faves, likes, and followers. Our collective FOMO, and the disparity between the ideal and reality, is leading us to spend more and feel worse. No wonder we’re getting twitchy. Save for an Independence Day-style alien invasion, how do we begin to escape from the stressors that make up our days?
Jen Lancaster is here to take a hard look at our elevating anxieties, and with self-deprecating wit and levelheaded wisdom, she charts a path out of the quagmire that keeps us frightened of the future and ashamed of our imperfectly perfect human lives. Take a deep breath, and her advice, and you just might get through a holiday dinner without wanting to disown your uncle.
©2020 Jen Lancaster (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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self absorbed
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Super Jen Lancaster Fans Be Warned...
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- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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One would think that with Jen Lancaster’s impressive list of bestselling self-improvement memoirs that she would have it all together by now. One would be wrong. Jen’s still a little rough around the edges. Suffice it to say, she’s no Martha Stewart. And that is exactly why Jen is going to Martha up and live her life according to the advice of America’s overachieving older sister - the woman who turns lemons into lavender-infused lemonade.
-
-
Not as light as previous books, still witty
- By Dogs & Horses on 05-10-15
By: Jen Lancaster
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I Regret Nothing
- A Memoir
- By: Jen Lancaster
- Narrated by: Jen Lancaster
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author Jen Lancaster has lived a life based on re-invention and self-improvement. From Bitter Is the New Black to The Tao of Martha, she’s managed to document her (and her generation’s) attempts to shape up, grow up, and have it all - sometimes with disastrous results...Mistakes are one thing; regrets are another. After a girls’ weekend in Savannah makes her realize that she is - yikes! - middle-aged (binge watching is so the new binge drinking), Jen decides to make a bucket list and seize the day.
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The Smug Is Strong With This One
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By: Jen Lancaster
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- Narrated by: Jen Lancaster, John Fletcher
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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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.
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self absorbed
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By: Jen Lancaster
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Housemoms
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Overall
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Performance
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How fast can charity fundraiser CeCe Barclay’s unimpeachable society life come tumbling down? One minute she’s speaking before Chicago’s glitterati. The next, her financier husband is wanted for embezzlement. Her assets seized and her fall mortifyingly public, CeCe grasps for refuge—and employment—as a sorority housemom at Eli Whitney University, her daughter Hayden’s alma mater.
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Had potential, but fell flat
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Jeneration X
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- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
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In Such a Pretty Fat, Jen Lancaster learned how to come to terms with her body. In My Fair Lazy, she expanded her mind. Now, the New York Times best-selling author gives herself - and her generation - a kick in the X, by facing her greatest challenge to date: acting her age. Jen is finally ready to put away childish things (except her Barbie Styling Head, of course) and embrace the investment-making, mortgage-carrying, life insurance-having adult she's become.
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Super Jen Lancaster Fans Be Warned...
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Overall
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Meh. Maybe funnier with a different narrator
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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So so
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Not accurate
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Overall
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Performance
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All Things Aside is a punchy, honest, incisive book that shares a view of the world through the eyes of the inimitable Iliza Shlesinger. From the macro to micro, Shlesinger tackles it all with her no-bullshit comedic style. Throughout the book, Shlesinger dives from one subject into the next, making her hilarious asides the basis of her stories, much like she does in her stand-up comedy. Topics range from dissecting social expectations to the notion that products marketed specifically to women are scams, and all manner of things in between.
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For people younger than me
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The Magic of Found Objects
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Phronsie Linnelle was conceived at Woodstock in a serendipitous liaison between a free-spirited hippie and a farmer’s son and was born with magical wonder flickering in her DNA and rationality knit into her bones. All her life she’s been torn between the two. But now that she’s been betrayed by both love and the mother she once idolized, her rational side is winning. So when her best friend from childhood proposes that they give up on romance and marry each other, Phronsie agrees.
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I missed it when it was over
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Modern Romance
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- Unabridged
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Story
At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a deep connection. This seems standard now, but it’s wildly different from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have more romantic options than at any point in human history. With technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated?
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Entertaining and informative
- By ty on 08-23-15
By: Aziz Ansari, and others
Critic reviews
“As Lancaster is narrating her own work, we get the perfect tone for her often sarcastic comments and observations. Her personal delivery brings so much more to the text and makes for a delightful listening experience that will leave listeners laughing, despite feelings of unease.” --AudioFile Magazine
“Lancaster humorously considers the role of anxiety in American life in a delightful and perceptive book packed with tips on how to relax. Lancaster is very funny, and her insightful, always entertaining critique may motivate readers to back away from social media.” --Publishers Weekly
“Armed with wit and insight, [Lancaster] plots a simple, easy-to-follow course to navigate our anxieties and better manage our levels of stress…this is sound advice we all should heed.” --Kirkus Reviews
What listeners say about Welcome to the United States of Anxiety
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- smkd18
- 02-11-21
Good
I enjoyed the book overall. It was engaging and had facts to make it very interesting! Loved listening to it as the author made it seem more personal by her inflection and tone. I’m sure it’s better as an audio presentation than the book.
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- Linda L. Erbacher
- 10-12-20
humorous observations
Starting with Maslow's hierarchy as a guide to help understand the stressors in our lives, the author uses humor to help the reader get a sense of some of the unnecessary stress that we invite in to our lives.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Bohica
- 10-05-22
random wisdom
Enjoyable, diverse topics and humorous. It felt like a booking random wisdom from a comic.
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- KTV1986
- 02-29-24
Love Jen Lancaster; pretty good book
I found Jen during the pandemic and began following her on IG; I enjoyed this book and enjoyed its comedic value. I didn’t agree with some of the topics but appreciated the dive into it them. Good, not too serious read. Jen narration made it way better.
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- MARIE
- 12-27-20
Lectures with a touch of humor
I am a long time fan of Jen Lancaster and this book had its moments of glory. However other parts gave me college flashbacks of being in a lecture hall, the teacher trying to combine cited facts and humor. She did her research, crafted a story for each chapter/topic, but the narration fell flat.
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- chele1207
- 12-29-21
Get off my lawn!
I love Jen Lancaster. I’ve read, I think, all of her books. This felt like an elderly rant by my parents. A few good points and quite a bit of nostalgia, but it wasn’t my favorite.
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- Kindle Customer
- 10-13-22
worth it
insightful and amusing...caused me to think which I consider a huge plus in a book
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- My dogs' mom
- 10-20-20
Kept shaking my head while laughing out loud
Jen puts a mirror on our world with humor, but thought provoking insight. Her social media knowledge is vast and necessarily critical about the anger it reflects from our divisive society. Loved the ending as I’ve performed the same act of self preservation myself many times lately. Linking her book sections to Maslow’s theory was brilliant!
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- Bree Gale
- 06-16-21
Great narration
I have to say I enjoyed and loved this book. Even better was that Jen herself narrated it. Her timing and pauses were spot on. All the life stories were funny or something I experienced in some way. The best part was all the research she must have done and the information she shared. I will keep this in my library and listen again to this fine story/stories. Thanks, Jen, you are a powerhouse of fun and information.
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- Kathleen Hillmann
- 12-04-20
Hilariously insightful
This book was an eye opening, soul searching, laugh and cry at yourself winner! I’ve always appreciated Jen Lancaster’s delivery and this book did not disappoint.
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