I love the way this book looks like an old textbook. The inside cover has a map of the U.S. illustrated with highlights from each state. Each essay has a cover page of fun facts about the state to get the reader primed for excitement. My favorite so far is Arizona (I'm well into the Ns by now though, swear), written by a woman who moved there on a whim from New York City. Living 40 miles from Tucson in the middle of the desert, she writes about trying to fit into the local scene, a gas station called the Minit Mart. "I didn't want to be a class warfare cliche with my dismissal of all the Kools and Kid Rock CDs and necklaces bearing the flowery, gold-washed words Angel/Slut. I told myself I could reach an accommodation with these items. I tried to develop a companionable familiarity with them; I referred to the store fondly as the Mullet Market, started drinking four-packs of Red Bull, and sometimes stood in the parking lot for long periods of time doing nothing but smoking, quaffing my Bull, and leaning against the faded hood of my pickup watching traffic.
