Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?

1991, 1992 Vintage Books edition 
Molly Ivins
Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?
Original price $13.00, purchase price $5.95
Very worn paperback
B-

This book understandably reminded me of Roy Blount, Jr.'s collections, as well as Linda Ellerbee's And So It Goes.  Like Ellerbee, Ivins is a Texan feminist and has had to figure out how to not make that a contradiction in terms.  Ivins seems to appreciate that the prejudice and stupidity in Texas are right on the surface, not hidden like in the urban North, but so are the kindness and down-to-earthness  More than Ellerbee (who had to develop a network smoothness) but as much as Blount, Ivins has a folksy style, rich in often pungent imagery.

Unlike Blount, her essays are mostly on politics, local as well as national.  She's funny on Reagan but even more on Bush of course.  And it's interesting to see such nationally known Texans as Ross Perot and Ann Richards pop up. She also explains the importance of football and cheerleaders, and of course food, in Texas.  I found the book slowly improved as it went on.  I didn't laugh out loud, but I was grinning more and more.

We've got her Nothin' But Good Times Ahead ahead in 1994.  For now, this completes a bookshelf, although I'll probably do some shifting by the time I finish '91.