Books Across America: An Introduction
You’re all in for a special treat with this interview-style post. Allow me to introduce for the first (and hopefully not the last) time here Mason Engel. Just who is this man and what creative things has he been up to? How about we dive right in and find out?
Aaron
Mason, it's been a real pleasure getting to learn about your upcoming film project. This is a bit off the beaten path from my typical posts on Creative & Beyond, but it's all the more exciting because of that.
For those of us who haven't heard of Books Across America, please give us some background.
Mason
I traveled to 50 states, read 50 books, and interviewed 50 authors, all in 50 days. And the question most people ask is: why? A road trip like that probably sounds fun to anyone who likes books, but it also sounds insane. And tiring. And difficult. Why in the world would I live out of a minivan for 50 days?
Let’s rewind to October 10th of 2022. I had already been dreaming about the road trip that would eventually become Books Across America, but I hadn’t yet broken ground on the project. I was working as a receptionist for Discovery (yes, I have a ton of Shark Week swag; no, I haven’t met the Myth Busters). My office closed as a result of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, and, oddly enough, the new mega corp didn’t want to pay a receptionist to sit around in an empty building. My position was set to be terminated.
But there was good news: I would have a new job in the new company. I would go from being a receptionist to being an executive assistant, perhaps a whole half-rung up the corporate ladder. The catch was the timing. My receptionist position ended in January, and my assistant gig would start in early March. If I wanted to take the 50-day road trip I’d been dreaming about, I had two options. Wait a couple years until after my new contract expired, or take the trip before I started the new job. Two years sounded like an intolerably long time, so I chose to take the trip beforehand.
Do you see the catch yet? Remember, this is October 10th. I had yet to send so much as an email about the new project, and if I wanted to be back in time for my new job, I had to hit the road by January 12th. I had exactly three months to plan a road trip to 50 states in 50 days. I had to find a crew. I had to find transportation. And oh yeah, I had to convince 50 authors I wasn’t a total lunatic, then pray that their schedules would line up. And I was supposed to do all of this while walking to Discovery’s receptionist slaughterhouse.
With the promise of my shiny new job dangled out in front of me, I got to work. I paid someone on Etsy to customize some books, got in an interstate wreck while picking up a super specific bookshelf, and finally cobbled together a teaser for the film (the Etsy and interstate wreck bits make a lot more sense if you watch the original teaser here). Then I compiled a mega list of authors and started to build my dream cast. I started reaching out. C.J. Box said yes. Kristin Hannah said yes. Veronica Roth. Hanif Abdurraqib. Ken Liu. James Patterson … and then the floodgates opened.
I reached January with an almost-full cast, but I was running on empty. The last three months had been a marathon, and I was stepping up to the starting line of marathon number two: it was time to start the 50-day road trip. That’s when I received some troubling news. My new boss, for whom I was scheduled to be an assistant in March, had been laid off in the last round of merger casualties. The job I had reorganized my life for no longer existed, and no longer did my sole hope of an income.
But the plan was already in place. So, tired, jobless, and seeing no further ahead than the shine of Chrissy the Chrysler’s headlights, I hit the road.
Aaron
Wow, the whole thing sounds crazy and unbelievable—yet you lived it! I can only imagine all the stories that have come from your quest for what makes the great American novel. Hopefully we can get a little sampling of them here. First, I'd love to know where your initial inspiration for the road trip came from? Was there anything in particular that influenced that idea?
Mason
My inspiration for the road trip began back in 2019. I had self-published a sci-fi novel and had exhausted the usual methods of online promotion. I decided to take my promo effort to real life. My plan was to give away a copy of my novel to 50 different bookstores in 50 days. I fell in love with bookstores on the trip, and the next year, I took another road trip and made a documentary called The Bookstour about why we should shop indie as opposed to on Amazon. Later I made another film about the origin stories of famous authors called Story Road. By then I'd fallen into a weird niche making bookish documentaries. Books Across America was an extension of that niche and motivated by my curiosity around two big questions: why do we read? and what exactly is a "Great American Novel"?
Aaron
That’s really cool and I love the progression from writing a novel to a documentary on bookstores and now this opportunity to hear firsthand from some of our favorite authors. Speaking of authors, which one surprised you the most?
Mason
It was more common for me to be surprised by an author than for my expectations to be spot-on. Literary writers I worried might be stuffy and pretentious were goofy, kind, and approachable. Genre writers who'd been stereotyped as writing "low" literature were whip smart and philosophical. So it's hard for me to point to one author who was particularly surprising, because I was so generally surprised at how little I knew the people whose books I'd been reading.
Aaron
After all that time on the road traveling across America, which state do you wish you could have stayed in longer?
Mason
We spent day zero and day one in Juneau, Alaska. It was January but the weather was mild. The mountains and water were beautiful. We stayed in an old inn that had once been a brothel, and that now hosts karaoke and open mic nights. My camera guy and I sang karaoke together before we really knew each other, and afterward we sort of fell into this community of bar-goers and musicians. I don't know what I expected of Juneau, but it wasn't this. I could have spent a month there and not been ready to leave.
Aaron
Sounds pretty fantastic to me! While visiting some great locations I’m sure you experienced many ups and downs along the way. What would you say was the hardest day of your journey?
Mason
The hardest day of our journey was day 15 in Chicago Illinois. That evening we were scheduled to interview Veronica Roth (of Divergent fame), and I was a super-blend of nervous excitement. Still, we had some footage to get beforehand. A tour of the American Writers Museum, obligatory selfies with the giant reflective “bean” in Millenium Park, and so on. Our first stop took us to the birthplace of Ernest Hemingway. We parked on a suburban curb. Nick got out to launch Jerome the drone. Olivia split off with the camera to Hemingway’s house, and I hung out in the back seat of Chrissy the Chrysler to finish Veronica’s latest book, Arch-Conspirator, before the interview. Who among us was safe?
As Olivia skidded across icy sidewalks to the Hemingway House, as Nick flew Jerome to get our snazzy aerial footage, I heard a voice from outside.
“Oh shit.”
I turned in my seat. Nick stood outside my door, holding Jerome’s controller and staring up into an oak tree across the street. Jerome the drone, lodged precariously in the foliage 40 feet up, stared back at us.
I got out of Chrissy. Olivia returned with the camera. Nick fiddled with Jerome’s controls to no avail. I suggested we climb the tree to get him down … the 40 foot tree coated in snow and ice. Nick seized upon the idea with the ferocity of a mother bear defending her cub. He started to climb, but 10 feet up the tree, the trunk branched into two smooth, unscalable chutes.
“We have to go.” It was Olivia, and she was right. Our appointment at the American Writers Museum was in 30 minutes, and we still had to drive through downtown traffic.
Left with no choice, we marked the tree with a line of rope and abandoned our small friend high in the branches. With the temperature dropping, and with several hours of filming standing between us and a potential rescue mission, Jerome’s chances looked bleak.
His fate?
I guess you'll have to watch the film to find out
Aaron
Man, I can’t wait. You’ve left us with a real cliffhanger! Back to some lighter fare, what was your favorite meal?
Mason
I'll give you three. In Juneau we ate at a hole-in-the-wall place called Pel'meni's. They serve Russian dumplings, which I had never encountered before. I'm so glad I did. Hearty, warm, filling, and just spicy enough to activate your sinuses, they were the perfect compliment to the chill of Juneau.
The barbecue we had in Kansas City was incredible. It was a place called Q39. I had overslept that morning for our interview with Adib Khorram (this was day 12 and sleep deprivation was already taking its toll), so the morning was a scramble. We made the interview, got set up in time, and had a great chat with Adib. We celebrated with a lunch at Q39: pulled pork, brisket, and burnt ends, all drowned in the best barbecue sauce I've ever had. Top that off with some apple cobbler, and that's a nap waiting to happen. Back at the hotel that afternoon, I fell asleep once again ... and once again overslept for our afternoon filming session. But my body was somehow healed by that meal. I overslept only one other time the remaining 38 days, and then only by a few minutes.
I've saved the best for last. There's no story around this meal, only an exquisite taste that I'm incapable of describing. Ekiben in Baltimore. If you're within 500 miles of the place, go there. That's all I'll say.
Aaron
Well now I’m hungry. Speaking of food, I’m sure we’ve only gotten a taste of your experiences while creating this documentary. What is one way that you were changed by the end of the trip?
Mason
I was different in a number of ways at the end of the trip. I was exhausted. I had covid (what a present for day 51 in Honolulu?). I was a certified speed reading maniac. But the most profound change was my sense of time and place. Have you ever gone on a long bike ride and gotten off the bike and felt like your legs were still pumping the pedals? I felt that on day 50 in a different way. It was a kind of constant dissonance. Why was I standing still? Why was I standing at all? Why wasn't I in the back of a minivan en route to the next stop? After being in motion for so long, being still again took a lot of practice.
Aaron
I can only imagine what it’s like having to slow down after such an extended rush. I’m looking forward to hearing more of your insights when the film is released. And what do you hope others will learn from watching your film?
Mason
What we discovered on the road, what I think we discovered is a characteristic of reading that's distinctly American. That might sound strange. Outside of the US, our country isn't necessarily known for our books. We're known for Hollywood. We're known for our music, our celebrities. And yet I believe reading is more "American" than any more "modern" form of medium. I want our viewers to realize that. I want them to understand why they read, if they do read, and I want them to want to read if they don't. If we can affect those changes and realizations in just a few people, the film will be a success.
Aaron
Thanks so much for your time, Mason, and for this amazing project you’ve been working on. I’m already inspired by what I’ve heard about it, and the courage it takes to even attempt something of this scope. Having only a small bit of film editing experience myself, I’m sure there’s still plenty more work for you to do. Let’s plan to have you back here again when your documentary is nearing completion. Until then, where can our readers go to find out more about you and Books Across America?
Mason
The best place to learn more about the film is BXA-Kickstarter.com. Until 11:59pm EST this Tuesday, 8/15, you can reserve your copy of the film and get some other bookish rewards. After Tuesday, that link will redirect to our main site
