Exhibit 11.8

Nebraska-related errors I was able to spot in the first 50 pages of Ann Patchett's The Magician's Assistant:

1. Alliance is not on the interstate

Okay, so that's it. I know it's a small thing, but how hard is it to open up Google Maps or visit the absolutely awesome Alliance Chamber of Commerce website?

(By the way, compare that to the North Platte Chamber of Commerce website. That town. Jesus. It's over twice as big as Alliance yet its website looks like it was designed by Adam Peterson circa 1997. Apparently the designer was too busy solving the mystery of the missing pot to finish that MS FrontPage night class he signed up for. At least it's not a Geocities page, I guess.

Even poor Dr. Boettcher, whose dental service ad bizarrely aims for "sexy," gets screwed over because his link doesn't work. My two experiences with Dr. Boettcher:

1. He was once my AYSO soccer coach
2. I once, years later, played shuffleboard at his house

Thus ends this completely arbitrary parenthetical.)

Anyway, The Magician's Assistant was our book club pick this month and no one seemed too into it, myself included. It's hard when someone is writing about your state when it's clear that they've never actually been to it. I didn't actually get far enough to see what happens when the protagonist actually goes to Nebraska, but I was assured by others that it wasn't pretty. Apparently the message is that everyone in Alliance rides their horses down the interstate to the barn dance and then they all eat apple pie while the women birth their babies and the men watch stoically in tight Wranglers before mending fence until dawn. Or something.

I'm very glad that I was able to put off reading this book long enough to not actually have to finish it. My book club pick is next, and barring unforeseen library shortages, I've settled on Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping.

You should read along.