Non-Fiction Reading List by Jayne
The Great American Retro Road Trip: A Celebration of Roadside Americana by Rolando Pujol
Celebrate the nostalgic pleasures of America’s vintage signs, quirky roadside attractions, and offbeat fast food relics in this irresistible retro road trip across the country.
The Great American Retro Road Trip is a coast-to-coast journey chronicling retro roadside America. Discover classic giant roadside attractions, from The Coffee Pot and The Big Duck to the World’s Largest Paint Can and the Haines Shoe House. Or iconic signage, like the dazzling Yoken’s neon sign, and the classic Moon Motel sign. Still-standing vintage locations of America’s favorite chain restaurants, from Pizza Hut to McDonald’s to Taco Bell. Through author Rolando Pujol’s anecdotes and clever narrative, readers will come away with a sweeping sense of roadside charm that still exists, as well as a desire to see it all for themselves.
These lingering traces of America’s past are an archive of disappearing roadside signage and architecture, and they tell a story of American ingenuity, creativity, and community. Whether you pick up this book for the nostalgia-inducing photos, the heartwarming stories, or as a reference for planning your own trip, you’ll be encouraged to, as Pujol says, “Let your curiosity guide you.”
Review
Seeing this book’s cover I have to be honest and admit that the first thing I thought of was the opening sequence for “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” And yes, this is sort of an expanded coffee table book version of that. Pujol divides the book into regions of the lower 48 (no Alaska or Hawaii entries) and then subdivides what he covers by categories such as motor court inns, restaurants, businesses, tourist (trap) attractions, etc.
The section for the South was a bit of a trip down memory lane as I remember stopping at Stuckey’s as well as seeing barns painted with the enticement to “See Rock City” and the endless signs to stop at South of the Border during summer vacation trips.
Some original businesses are still open and doing what they’ve always done while others have become new ones but with the original sign there. Other iconic signs have been saved by public support. If you watch the opening scene of “Vacation” you’ll see many of the images that are in the book. There’s lots of neon, elephants, clowns (many creepy), dinosaurs, and mid century modern space stuff galore. Oh, Barb in Maryland, there’s a picture of the UFO shaped McDonalds in Roswell in it. B
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A Dog’s Devotion: True Adventures of a K9 Search and Rescue Team by Suzanne Elshult and James Guy Mansfield
In late March of 2014, death descended upon the community of Oso, Washington in the form of a massive landslide. Ten million cubic yards of dirt and mud crashed through homes, sweeping a 20-foot-high wall of debris before it and scouring the valley floor.
This is the moment when the story of A Dog’s Devotion begins. Suzanne, along with her 4-year-old Labrador Retriever, Keb, and her teammate Guy, was one of the SAR teams to respond to this disaster. In subsequent chapters, readers will accompany Suzanne, Guy, and Keb as they are inserted by helicopter to search high snowfields on Mount Rainier, or as they traverse steep, forested slopes searching for the clandestine grave of murder victims.
Readers will follow this intrepid K9 and her teammates as they face the challenges of changeable weather, deep northwest forests, high mountain slopes, and menacing coyotes to find dead bodies, missing hikers, and even the bones of murder victims from long ago. It’s their story about evolving as search and rescue volunteers while overcoming harsh conditions, inner demons, a rust-bound bureaucracy, and back-stabbing teammates. While internal conflicts threaten their larger K9 team, Keb’s training, loyalty, and perseverance inspire them, and help them find the resolve to carry on their service to the community.
Review
I am in awe of the willingness of humans and their dogs to train for thousands of hours to work in often difficult environments all while volunteering to help find the lost and the dead. The title for this book, while heartwarming, isn’t really what is covered. Instead (mainly) Suzanne and Guy detail what goes into training SAR dogs, the set-up of SAR operations, some searches they’ve done, and sadly a lot about the bickering and backstabbing that went on in their original group.
Some warnings I’ll add are that Keb is a trained HRD (human remains detection) dog and Suzanne talks in detail about how and what goes into that training. Some of the victims had mental health issues and suicide is mentioned.
I had heard about the Oso Landslide disaster but most of the missing persons cases they work never made the headlines in my neck of the woods. It’s disheartening to learn that most SAR teams won’t make “a find” yet despite that, they gladly show up, day after day, get their assignments and head out, often into challenging conditions to help others. There is good in the world to go along with wonderful dogs whose devotion we are so unworthy of. B
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Spam by Kelly A. Spring
The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, a conflict that solidified SPAM’s place in global food culture. Created by Hormel Foods in 1937 to utilize surplus pork shoulder during the Great Depression, SPAM became an essential resource during the Second World War, and helped shape perceptions of American culture.
This book explores SPAM’s complex history, from its inception to its resurgence during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting its enduring legacy in places like Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, Okinawa and South Korea. It demonstrates how SPAM, a long-lasting and valuable protein, played a crucial role during wartime and continues to influence dietary practices worldwide.
Review
Man: Well, what’ve you got?
Waitress: Well, there’s egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam.
Wife: (shrieks) I don’t like spam!
(Monty Python comedy sketch “Spam”)
I will admit that right now, I’ve got a can or two of Spam in my pantry for those moments when the power is out. Pop the lid and there’s some protein you don’t have to cook. Those who sneer at Spam might want to consider that this is a great example of the immigrant American dream as Hormel was begun by the son of German immigrants and is now world known – and disdained by some. But in its heyday, it fed a nation in a depression and a world at war.
Sold to the British public as a way to emulate the glitz of Hollywood (yes, really) while on ration points, it provided quick meals that could be dressed up via recipes in women’s magazines. Of course pretty soon palates got tired of it and the image of Spam sank to being a lesser source of meat mainly for women as working class men needed real meat. As the US military spread through the Pacific and later Korea, Spam followed them in rations and as a way to feed liberated (and food insecure) populations. Now firmly entrenched in local taste buds it has also unfortunately changed traditional diets and helped introduce major health problems.
Spam is a popular gift in Korea, has been used in movies and TV shows, has a museum dedicated to it in its hometown in Minnesota, and comes in a variety of special location/seasonal flavors including (gag) Pumpkin Spam. Love it or hate it, Spam has helped feed the hungry, spread American culture and foodways and has become a world wide known American food product. B
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The old Route 66 goes through Albuquerque, and you can still see some classic neon signs, mainly from motels. Not nearly as many as just 15 or 20 years ago though.
@Kris Bock: Yeah. Sadly, the author mentions that many of the signs have either been removed or have fallen into disrepair.
My daughter has been living in South Korea for a dozen years and would agree that Spam is a common gift. Fortunately, she has no problem finding someone to whom to regift it. I WILL NOT be giving her the Spam: A Global History book though I did enjoy reading that review, Jayne, as well as the others.
@Kareni: I’m sure your daughter knows all about Spam then! Does anyone in Korea ever actually eat it or is it like fruitcake?
A British cooking YouTuber that I follow posted a recipe for Spam fritters for VE day a couple months ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvyk1OBmK_0 I was never a Spammer, but I suppose canned corned beef falls into the same category. Great in hash with a fried egg on top.
@Jayne, I believe that Spam is broadly liked in South Korea.