Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

So, there I am in Tuscany, having paid for this book on my Kindle, thinking it would be a wonderful companion on the trip. For the first couple of chapters, it is, although the simplistic writing hovers at the fifth grade level. But I put up with it because, after all, I'm in Italy! He's in Italy! Then I notice the phrases "thanking the Lord" and "thanking god" start to creep into the narrative. I keep reading...after all, the man explains that he survived a terrible accident in his 30s. Who am I to judge him for turning to religion, although I didn't expect that to be the topic of a travel memoir... Plus, he's biking through Tuscany, working on farms...what a great story...right? Unfortunately, Mr. Shaw does not seem to share my predilection for refraining from judging others. Here's where it starts to get funky: "Feel good government aid is hard to be against, but the time may be coming when bureaucrats won't [sic] have to see the errors of their ways - that by paying money for kids born out of wedlock, they are encouraging the bastardization of America, of Italy" (loc 1351). I read on, thinking that perhaps this was a minor preachy moment that would pass. Nope. "I was thinking that giving extra money to single mothers discourages marriages, pure and simple. If we as a society dangle the carrot, should we be surprised that so many women take it?" (loc 1356) I keep reading from pure disbelief that this is in a book about "An Italian Journey". And then, he says to Pietro, "I just read that forty percent of the babies born in the United States are to unwed mothers", (loc 1360) RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE OLDER SINGLE MOTHER WHO IS HIS HOST. Wait...it gets better...he congratulates himself for not going further "because it might have hurt Aurora's feelings..." (LOC 1364) Duh, YA THINK?!?! Needless to say, I've deleted the book. What a disappointment. If I wanted to read about conservative moralistic thinking, I could have paid for something by Ann Coulter.