MADreads

She doesn’t like being called sassy, but she certainly is spunky

July 27th, 2009 Amy S.

This is the first Sweet Potato Queens (SPQ) book I’ve encountered and I’m happy to report I was pleasantly surprised by it. For those of the uninitiated, SPQ is an organization based in Jackson, Mississippi started by Jill Conner Browne in the early 1980s. Every year they host a weekend of festivities where people from SPQ chapters around the world come to Jackson to celebrate. Browne’s Web site doesn’t give up any other information about the organization because she wants readers to buy her books to find out more, but according to newspaper articles the primary goal of the organization is to have fun while also empowering women. The most recent of Browne’s 8 SPQ books, American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Preserving Your Assets, does a great job of accomplishing both of these goals.

American Thighs is about getting older and offers plenty of “Asset-Preserving Tips.” I’m under 40 so I’m what Browne calls a “larva,” but I have no problem appreciating the advice she offers. Her tips range from true (“Go for REGULAR checkups”) to funny and true (“Karma does not like Smug”). Her anecdotes are amusing, although she mentions several times that she discussed certain topics in other books so I wonder if there is some rehashing of old stories going on.  I listened to American Thighs on my iPod (thanks to the library’s Overdrive service, which also offers 3 other SPQ books) and Browne reads her own words making this an especially enjoyable listen.  Hearing Browne’s voice further drives home the idea that she’s one of your girlfriends telling you these stories as you sit on her front porch on a breezy summer day sipping iced tea (or something stronger) and laughing until you pee your pants.

My only complaint about American Thighs is that at times it starts to feel like an advertisement for Browne’s other books and for the Web sites of her friends. She’s running a business, there’s no doubt about that, but I would have been more satisfied with the book if I didn’t always feel like she was reeling me in with her humorous anecdotes and then immediately trying to sell me something.  But it does help that she confesses she needs to sell books because her “Plastic Surgery Fund needs all the help it can get” and her southern humor, the recipes in the book, and her love of bacon also make it difficult to be mad at her for anything. Oh southern charm…

Entry Filed under: Nonfiction