Assignment time! (Almost)
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| Mandy's Blogger Book Club |
I read the book in three days. If I had received it on a day
off, I probably would have sat down and read through the whole thing (instead,
between work and home duties, I had to break it down). The reading was light, it
kept my attention, made me laugh out loud several times, and even provoked some
thought. Plus, I was reading to write a book review. That meant serious reading.
I’ll admit it, though. I have not written a book review in
nearly three years. While in school, I wrote many reviews and felt particularly
confident about my book reviews towards the end of my coursework. School
assignments often also had some form of framework to operate within. Opinions
“I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” were generally frowned upon. Rather, the
review argued the positives or negatives in light of the field, the argument,
the historiography, or other intellectual mechanisms. And if I chose to review
a book negatively, I operated within the comfort of a classroom. My paper was
not accessible to the world. My points could be debated within the class and
generally, what happened within the classroom, stayed within the classroom.
This review is different, however. I am free to say what I
want. But I also recognize that my thoughts will be published to the vast
unknown that is the interwebs. Granted, I don’t imagine a number higher than a
class population will read my thoughts on the book, but writing for the
internet definitely changes my approach. I also consider myself a particularly
positive person, generally seeking the good. I can relate to Meghan McCain’s
continual approach to picking out the positives in her world. I keep tripping
up on how to approach this review. Do I do it Reading Rainbow-style? Do
I offer suggestions on improvements? Do I only say what I liked about it?
This whole reviewing thing is becoming much more difficult
than I expected. Mostly because I am making this way harder than I need to.
So like I said, I enjoyed reading the book. There were many
aspects to the book that made me want to talk to somebody about it, say, like
in a book club. (Oh, wait…) From
the crocs and linen pants style choice of Michael Ian Black to the sad Waffle
House scene to the distinctions described between Memphis and Nashville. Blogging
is going to be different than an actual discussion, for I get to write my
thoughts into space and may or may not have further discussion. I think America, You Sexy Bitch would be an
excellent airplane ride book. It’s funny, it’s light, it will help any flight
go by faster, and its style lends itself well to being interrupted during
travel. Its content would complement a trip, as well (seeing as the foundation
of the book is essentially about a road trip across the United States). I don’t
think the book was designed to be more than the thoughts of two people as they
rode across the United States (for Cousin John actually did the driving,
Gumdrop). So maybe, I wasn’t expecting much more than some light summer reading
interspersed with giggles. The book served as that. But then again, the idea
of the book provides much potential: two people coming from different
backgrounds, both claiming a different political party, to write about their
shared experience of trekking across the continental U.S. in an RV. So maybe I
was expecting a little more?
Based on a comment my [awesomest] brother in law [ever] made
when talking about the book and reviewing the book, I decided to leave this
post be (a post where I write about reviewing) and write a separate, official
review. Consider this my preface post. I am historian, what can I say? I like using
a lot of words.
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