[t]he fifty states differ in landscape, topography, and weather; in political outlook, cultural preference, and social ideals; in accent, temperment and sense of humor. . . The fifty states themselves have individual places in our collective imagination, and they offer their natives a mind-set, even a world-view.  For all of the talk of identity in American life, the personal fact that defines American lives as much as gender, ethnicity, or class is where you’re from, which more than anything means your state.

As a Californian who can’t imagine living anywhere else, I read William Vollmann’s California essay first.  I didn’t like it, in fact I almost stopped reading the book.  Much of it felt like a re-hash of what is written over and over again–Owen’s Valley per “Chinatown,” sensationalizing San Francisco, four paragraphs into the essay the author mentions The Day of the Locust.  Yawn.

Yet, as a fan of “This American Life,” I moved on to Montana written by Sarah Vowell.  Within five pages, I discovered a sense of place and culture that I didn’t feel after spending two weeks boating, hiking and touring the state.  That is the purpose of State by State, to paint a word portrait, and Sarah Vowell fulfills it.  Guess what?  Clark County in Nevada is named after a Montana businessman who opened a supply store on his railroad line between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, a supply store that grew up to be Las Vegas.  Without Ms. Vowell’s essay, I never would have known the importance of the Montana State University traveling Shakespeare program.  Every summer acting troops travel across the state performing Shakespeare and other classics outdoors for free.  An alumnus of the program, Bill Pullman remarked that the audiences from

isolated towns . . . really felt compelled to think about the stories and the characters from Shakespeare.  They weren’t going to the performance to just say they went or for the sheer entertainment.  They wanted to think about how a character in the play might be like some parts dealer they had known or how chance can bring calamity in short order.

I wish I had that level of concentration and commitment every time I went to the theatre.

I wonder if my reaction to the California essay would have been different if I weren’t a native.  I read David Eggers essay on Illinois and loved it.  I laughed by the end of the first paragraph describing how “Land of Lincoln” is the best license plate slogan (apparantly points were given for alliteration); therefore, Illinois is the best state. Who else has ever worked in sex appeal when talking about Lincoln?  But if I was an Illinoisan, maybe I would sigh that the essay started with Lincoln (what, him again?) and then yawn when it moved to Chicago and Oprah.  As an outsider, I enjoyed every word.

Matt Weiland describes us as a nation “united by rhetoric and musket nearly 250 years ago, reaffirmed in [our] unity by rhetoric and rifle a century later, and bound together today as tightly as any confederation on earth–somehow stubbornly resist blending into a single undifferentiated whole.”  As I read these essays, learning about history and lore across our nation, I saw some of myself, but a different world also.  As a nation, we’re at a time of making significant decisions and while State by State doesn’t discuss those issues, the opportunity to learn about each other, to see a different perspective, helps enrich the conversation.

Two hundred and thirty-three years ago, many families gave up their lives and livelihood so that we could develop into the nation we are today.  Take some time and read about who we are with State by State:  A Panoramic Portrait of America.

I’ll be keeping track of my challenges through the Kim’s Nightstand page, please follow along.  Let me know if you’re joining any challenges and maybe I won’t feel quite so obsessive compulsive.

And check out our own Independent Bookstore Reader’s Challenge, we’d love to have you join!

Thank you Robin for the image!

I recently found scores of reader’s challenges on the Internet, I’d never heard of them.  There is a reader’s challenge for everything:  short stories, WWII books, world citizen (history and politics), art history, graphic novels (Claire should join this one), RYOB (read your own books), essays, chick lit (everyone participating in this challenge should read Claire’s three fiction books), Notable books, chunkie books (books longer than 450 pages), young adult books, and many more.  Then it occurred to me, Claire and I could do the same thing.  I’m really excited about hosting our own challenge right here on Bookstore People.  So we’re announcing the Independent Bookstore Reader’s Challenge.  Claire’s a bit terrified about the prospect, but I’m confident she’ll love it. 

Challenge Guidelines

Here are the rules: go to independent bookstores that are new to you between January 1 and December 31, 2009 and have some sort of interaction.  The challenge comes with different levels you can sign up for:

• Scout – Visit 2 independent bookstores (easy!)
• Specialist – Visit 2 subject matter specialty bookstores (i.e., travel, children, cooking)
• Nationalist – Visit 2 independent bookstores and 1 additional bookstore in a state you do not live in
• Continental – Visit 2 independent bookstores and 1 additional bookstore in another N. American country (that would be the USA, Canada or Mexico)
• Globetrotter – Visit 2 independent bookstores and 1 additional bookstore on a different continent (if you’re going to Europe, check out Bookstore Guide)
• Type A Personality to the Max – Satisfy any two categories

We’ll have a page dedicated to the challenge where you can sign up and leave comments.  Plus, we’d love to have a review of the stores you’ve found and liked (we ignore stores with bad service or stock), we’ll post it with a description of you and a link back to your blog (if you have one), just e-mail it to me at kim@bookstorepeople.com.  In fact, we encourage cross posting bookstore reviews so post on your blog, Indiebound, Yelp, City Search, City Guide and any other place that would like it. 

We’ll Give out a Prize!

But wait, there’s even more, at the end of the year we’ll have a random drawing among everyone who satisfied their challenge for a gift certificate from BookSense.  What more could you want?  Sign up now and start exploring the wonderful world of independent bookstores.