Book Club

Sometimes we all just need a good laugh. We need to read something trashy and hilarious, something that allows us to escape our troubles and simply entertain us. My best friend and I are notorious for reading a vast variety of materials. We are both obsessed with owning paper copies of books (screw you Kindle), and lots of them. The 3rd bedroom in my house has three 6-foot tall books shelves filled with books. And on said bookshelf, I might have a copy of the Bible, next to a copy of Ernest Hemingway (I own every book he has ever written, so he shows up a lot in my personal library), next to a copy of Harry Potter. I don't discriminate, I read everything. There is a time and a place for every type of literature. Right now in my life, I am in the mood to read something mildly inappropriate and laugh out loud funny. Alas, a care package arrived in the mail from my best friend with some books she has recommend for my current state of being. Which brings me to the fine piece of literature I am sharing today...

Today I'm sharing...

Here is a synopsis/review of the book from Amazon: 

After winning Southern women's hearts with her SEBA bestseller Bless Your Heart, Tramp in 2000, Rivenbark has penned a new-and equally sidesplitting-collection of essays, offering Northern and Southern sisters alike a woman's "take on those irksome little yuks in daily life." Although she warns certain readers (Yankees, namely) that they may need a Southern lexicon to decipher her folksy, down-home prose style, Rivenbark's focus on familiar topics like family, relationships and child rearing should appeal to most females, regardless of geography or age. Marked by a feisty, sarcastic tone and tempered with plenty of cries of "yoo hoo" and "Well, shit," even chapter titles (e.g., "Stop Watching Your Plasma TV and Start Selling Your Plasma: How to Become Honest-to-Jesus White Trash" and "Here Comes the Bride: Let's Just Get 'Em Hitched Sometime Before We See the Head") don't escape the author's wry humor. The most mundane situations become laugh-out-loud scenarios. When, for example, Rivenbark is confronted by the "Pre-School Nazis" and intimidating "granola moms" at her four-year-old's school, she admits asking her daughter to lie about what she had for breakfast (a foil-wrapped breakfast bar instead of the required "scrambled eggs, a bowl of real oatmeal-the kind you have to cook on top of the, uh, you know, stove-two slices of whole wheat toast and a glass of soy milk"). Rivenbark is a hoot, and her book will be best enjoyed while listening to the Allman Brothers Band and eating "a plate of, what else? collards and cornbread."

My thoughts...

I loved this book. I literally laughed out loud throughout the entire thing. If you are truly a Southern lady, you need to read this book. Her observations and witty sarcasm are so spot on, honest and no-holds-barred that you can't help but laugh because you know that she is so right. Warning to all you Yankee folk out there, you probably will find this book trashy, stupid and offensive so better to not waste your time. This book is written as a collection of essays so it is quick and easy to read at any given time. It is a perfect read from your beach chair or your couch with a glass of wine (perhaps some Boone's Farm?) in hand. Don't worry, when you finish this one there are plenty more where that came from. Rivenbark wrote a whole series of these books, complete with even more hilarious and inappropriate stories and titles as this one.