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Topic: Discussion of November general book - We're Just Like You....Only Prettier

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Barb S. (okbye) - ,
Subject: Discussion of November general book - We're Just Like You....Only Prettier
Date Posted: 11/6/2012 4:02 PM ET
Member Since: 3/14/2011
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I'm not seeing a thread for this so since I listed the book I guess I'm supposed to do it :) I am having an equilibrium issue which is being made worse by the computer so I have to seriously limit my online time. If anyone has a question or wants to jump in go right ahead. There are some questions in the book but if I remember right they were kinda dumb so we'll have to play it by ear.

Let's start by seeing whose in - anyone read it?

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Date Posted: 11/7/2012 12:46 AM ET
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I read it but I didn't really enjoy it :/ I honestly kind of forgot about it. I normally would have asked if you were up to it to do the discussion and if not I would have taken over. If you want me to I'll take it from here if anyone is on board to discuss it.



Last Edited on: 11/7/12 1:53 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
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Barb S. (okbye) - ,
Date Posted: 11/7/2012 2:28 PM ET
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I didn't enjoy it either, it was not what I thought it would be from the description. If we don't get any discussers we can just trash it and forget about it, lol.

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Date Posted: 11/8/2012 6:11 AM ET
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Doesn't look like anyone is going to join in with us. I'm guessing they got started and realized how much of a harpie the author was and put it back down.

eta This is my review of the book:

I can say with easy certainty that if I ever met the author of this book I would dislike her, intensely. How can I know that for sure? I know tons of women just like her and can't stand any of them. She's so smug and ass backwards elitist that it made me want to throttle her half the time. It boils down to the idea that she's not hoity toity so she's better than everyone else. Somehow not eating caviar and Grey Poupon while driving a single child around in a gas guzzling SUV makes her the greatest person alive. If you're a man and you do anything other than things real 'Mercan men do like drinkin' beer and watchin' baseball on giant tv's then you're, "as gay as JC Penny ads". Oh and gender related smarts are apparently a thing in her world because she has a "girl math brain" which means she can't figure out what $145 times twelve is but men have no common sense period. I gave a two out of five because she can turn a phrase and I laughed a few times but this woman has a seriously whacked view of the world.



Last Edited on: 11/8/12 6:17 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
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Barb S. (okbye) - ,
Date Posted: 11/8/2012 1:03 PM ET
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I grew up with Erma Bombeck books and loved them, I lived in that world. My childhood neighborhood in the suburbs of Chicago was exactly like a Bombeck book with a bit less drinking, aside from the oh so stereotypical drunk Irish priest I didn't know of anyone who had a drinking problem. I get the impression that this woman is trying to be a redneck Erma Bombeck but not succeeding, which probably makes me dislike her more than I would otherwise. She has some funny in her but not really a book's worth. She says she is a newspaper columnist, that is much more appropriate for her. She has a column's worth of funny. She seems to think that southern is the equivalent of redneck, and it is so not. Nothing she describes of her life is redneck yet she keeps claiming to be proud to be one. She's clearly middle class. I 'hang around' with a lot of southerners online on one particular message board. Most of the members are from the Atlanta/Nashville/Texas areas and I have been a member for over 10 years, so I have a pretty good grasp of the southern ethic. I don't even think her idea of southernness is very accurate. She could be from anywhere. I don't remember what rating I gave it but I didn't like her at all, didn't believe what she was saying, and didn't think she was funny enough to be worth reading. All in all not a success.

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Date Posted: 11/8/2012 2:25 PM ET
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I've lived in Mississippi for nearly thirty years so I can attest to this type of person being somewhat prevelant here but no one here really considers them "true" Southerners.
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Date Posted: 11/8/2012 5:50 PM ET
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I didn't read this one, the synopsis didn't appeal to me at all.  It seemed like it would be a bit too contrived.  Chris, I voted for your review, as we generally agree on books.  Maybe if a few more of us would do that, a dissenting opinion would work its way to the top.