scoopmorris's Full Review: Joy Dickinson - Scarlett Slept Here: A Book Lover'...
When I saw this book sitting by it's lonesome on one of my coworkers desk, it was screaming Pick me to review!!!" Boy did I make the wrong choice. By the time I finished this book, my brain was numb trying to absorb all the facts that Joy Dickinson tried to cram into 200 pages.
I work at a newspaper where we get all kinds of books that need reviewing. Thing is, this book was sitting on that desk for like, a year before anyone picked it up. And that was me. I can't believe I subjected myself to that kind of horror. I can't account for why this book was so boring to me. When I saw it, it looked so interesting. I thought to myself 'Hum, girls road trip.' Wrong.
And I love southern fried books.
The story
Dickinson tries to make the book interesting by discovering an uncharted path - the sites on a booklover's map. The book puts each southern state in a chapter and then categories the chapters by cities. Within each city, Dickinson list which authors lived where, and whatnot. When an author was born in a city, she listed that stuff too, along with which house it was.
This should be interesting - in theory. Most scientist will tell you though, theory is far from reality. There are just too many good southern writers to cram into one book. Dickinson must have put every one of the older writers into this book. All of them.
For example, in Georgia, there are six cities listed with authors from each. The only problem with this is the confusion. When I was reading this book, I felt like I should have had a pad of paper handy to take notes.
In the books defense, I have to say Dickinson had some really interesting anecdotes. I will use Georgia again as an example. Dickinson told a story where Margaret Mitchell, sitting in her "dark, cramped Crescent Avenue apartment that Margaret had affectionately dubbed the Dump," was told by her husband he wished she would just write a book.
I like anecdotes and enjoyed reading them in Dickinson's book. For that reason, she got her first star. Along with anecdotes, Dickinson added contact information for each state and city. She also includes a section at the end of each city for "Literary Lures and Southern Sites." My thoughts are this: If you are going to put these in the book, there's really no reason to write the book Really. The Lures and Sites are just a recap of the chapter.
Dickinson gets points for adding details about the books and movies made about them. For example, when Vivian Leigh was in Georgia shooting Gone with the Wind, she stayed at ___ and ate at ___. This was about the form Dickinson used for this book. You get the point. So, Dickinson decided a good title would be Scarlett slept here. Obviously, it was, since I picked this book up. This got her the second star.
I was impressed that she actually visited all these places, if she did. If not, that was a heck of a lot of research (hence star number 3). I read the book before I actually took the road trip, so I know now everything isn't as it seems.
Scarlett should have thrown her computer out the window
This book took forever for me to read. I can usually read a 200-pager in about three hours (I'm a fast reader). This one took a couple of days. I wanted to read the book fast, because then I could plan that road trip. I just couldn't read it fast. I kept falling asleep. I bet it took Dickinson forever to write this book.
To put it plainly, this book bit the big one. It was well written and researched, but boring as all get out. I mean really, if one of my girlfriends ever tried to take me on this road trip, I would kill her.
It's not all bad though. Dickinson deserves credit for proofing this book before passing out with boredom and tried to make the book interesting. She just should have tried something different. Maybe 200 less pages.
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