American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queens' Guide to Preserving Your Assets

I admit that the title of this book had me at hello. I was almost certain that this would be a tongue-in-cheek look at the perils of aging gracefully and include sanguine wisdom about how to preserve your assets and your dignity (if at all possible) when making the journey from—as Browne puts it “cute girl to ma’m.”

Jill Connor Browne, New York Times best selling author of a whole series of Sweet Potato Queen books, writes with humor and aplomb about the small vanities that we humanoids tend to cling to as we pass from nubile youth, or “larva”—as Browne calls anyone under forty—to geezerdom, another word that Browne favors. And men are not immune to this very human condition.

A small disclaimer: I’m not one who typically gravitates to books that fall in the humor category. I always assume they won’t be that funny, but this book had me chortling, snorting and guffawing halfway through the first chapter. The following “Asset Preserving Tip” that she features at the end of each chapter might explain why:

Everybody’s always pretending to be something they’re not. When you’re thirteen, you’re always trying to make people think you’re eighteen. (Note: Girls can occasionally get away with this—so if you’re a guy—beware—be very aware—because you can end up in prison being called “Darlene.”) When you’re eighteen you want people to believe you are twenty-one. Then, when you close in on thirty, you start lying in the direction. So much simpler to just be what we happen to be, in my opinion. Lying, about anything, is just too tedious to fool with…"

Another small disclaimer: the larvae amongst you may not find this book as funny as I did, but any book that makes me laugh is one that I’ll give a thumbs up to.

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