Obligatory Book Review for The Well Read Wife

Hello, welcome to Ketchup with the Frys.

If you are visiting here from The Well Read Wife, welcome.  This is the official, obligatory, honest review that was required to receive the free book.  You can skip the next part that is meant for my regular readers  reader and go straight to the review.  Or you can read the next part too, because you probably like to read since you are here from a book club, right? I mean, don't you read everything?  Cereal boxes, random blogs, whatever.  Reading is reading.  It's like pizza.  It might not be great, but it's still good.

For my regular readers  reader, let me give you a little background before you proceed with reading this post.  I was trolling the internet one night and stumbled across The Well Read Wife.  Her blog featured an online form to complete in order to receive a free book.  There were a few strings attached.  One being you had to have a blog.  Check.  Another being you have to be age 18 or older.  Check, check.  Another being you have to post an honest review of the book on your blog.  Thus, this post.  To be honest, I never thought I would be one of the 47.  I am one of those people who never wins anything.  But I did win a copy of this book.  Maybe winning is not the right word.  But I like to think of it as a win.  Anyway, the book is one that I would never purchase myself.  It's called America, You Sexy Bitch by Michael Ian Black and Meghan McCain.  First of all, it involves politics, which is a topic I abhor.  And, the title contains profanity, which I detest.  Wait, maybe I detest politics and abhor profanity.  Whatever.  It wasn't a book I was particularly excited about reading.  But I do love to read.  And I filled out the form and agreed to the terms, so here I am, posting an honest review on my blog.

The Well Read Wife also requested the 47 lucky book recipients to take a picture of themselves with the book.  Here's my picture:

That's me and Buster, our donkey.  I figured that since it was a book about politics, a picture with a donkey was appropriate.  Also, I do not own a baby elephant or I would have totally done that instead.  Also, for those who might be interested, I am wearing the same pants, shoes and socks that I wore in the S'more Butt fiasco.  And, as an added bonus, Buster & his donkey wife Jelly had their baby today!  You can see the new baby on my facebook page.

Anyway, back to the book.  First of all, I removed the dust jacket so that Superfrykid, my seven year old daughter, would not see the title of the book.  She is an avid reader, and I did not want her to read the title and suddenly tell everyone she learned a new word.  After removing the dust jacket, I had to duct tape the spine of the actual book so she could not read the title.

Of course, she noticed the duct tape and asked me why it was there.  I told her it had a bad word that I didn't want her to know and she said, "Okay," and went back to playing with her Barbies.  

Ok, so that's the background as to why I am posting a book review on KWTF.  

Here's my official, obligatory, honest review: 

America, You Sexy Bitch by Michael Ian Black and Meghan McCain is about an RV road trip across America with people from differing backgrounds and political viewpoints.  

The back of the book says, "They hoped to find out what Americans are thinking about. After talking with strippers, senators, soldiers, anarchists, Mormons, and Muslims, they ended up learning that the country they love is both more confused and more hilarious than they ever thought possible."

I have to say that I came away learning less about what Americans are thinking about and more about the personal hygiene and social drinking habits of the traveling duo and their "people".  True, they talk about many of the things that seem to polarize people in America.  Gun rights, gay rights, religion, the economy, Elvis.  Elvis?  It seemed to me that they had more to say about their visit to Graceland than they did about their conversations with actual people.   To me, the book felt more like a place to spout off their own opinions rather than scoping out what "people in America" are actually thinking about those topics.  

Meghan McCain is the conservative Republican on the trip.  She points out that her mother was pregnant with her at the 1984 Reagan convention.  Does this give her bonus points for being a super-Republican or something?  It's kind of like saying my mother was pregnant with me at a John Lennon concert, therefore I love the Beatles more than you do.  Who cares?  I understand that she's trying to say that she's grown up in the world of politics, but it just felt odd to me to keep pointing out the fact that her father is a senator in every single chapter.  We know.  That being said, I found I liked Meghan more than I thought I would.  Clearly, Meghan McCain loves our country.  And we like the same Real Housewife of Beverly Hills.  (Adrienne Maloof)

Michael Ian Black is the liberal Democrat on the trip.  I won't lie.  I did not know who he was.  I still kind of don't.  Much like Meghan including attending the Reagan convention in utero, Michael seems to think that having a lesbian mother gives him extra brownie points with the Democrats.  Maybe it does.  Who am I to say?  Michael is a family man, which I respect.  He also was funny from time to time.  But I suspect that Nermal, the crunchy trip facilitator, is funnier.  I'd be curious to hear her thoughts on the topics they discussed and on the trip in general.  

America,  You Sexy Bitch kind of gives away what kind of book it's going to be with the title.  A little irreverent, with unnecessary words thrown in to make it seem edgy.  But it's still about America, land that I love, so I guess it's not all bad.  But like our great nation, it could be better.

Like me on Facebook, follow me on Pinterest, follow me on Twitter or join my blog.  And if you just read all of that, I'm sure you have the time, so go ahead.  Get in while I'm still unknown and then when KWTF blows up you can be all hip & cool and say you've been a fan all along.  Also, if I ever do a giveaway like my girl over at The Well Read Wife, then maybe you'll be one of the winners because with only 24 followers, your odds will be spectacular.  Also, you can follow the discussion about the book on Twitter via #MBBCWRW.  Thanks to Mandy at The Well Read Wife for the free book and thank you for visiting Ketchup with the Frys.