Writing a book is probably not something you think about doing 140 characters at a time. But that’s exactly what Dan Sinker did with “The F*cking Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel.” He might not intended for his parody of Rahm Emanuel’s 5 month long mayoral campaign to become a book, but that’s what happened.
I originally read the @MayorEmanuel twitter feed in real time. It was one of the reasons I finally ended my boycott of twitter. The feed was hilarious then and it translated well as a book. The annotations in the book provided additional background of the characters featured in the twitter feed – both fictional and non fictional. Most tweets on their own are comedic gold, but read again in book form you can see the whole story come together.
It’s not just a parody of Rahm Emanuel’s campaign for Chicago mayor, but a little bit of a history and lesson in Chicago politics. The fact that former Mayor Richard Daley was not running for re-election for the first time in 21 years was a Big Deal. Between him and his father a Daley had run the city of Chicago for 43 of the last 56 years. Until (the real) Emanual announced that he was running, the race seemed like it was wide open. His path to the mayorship was not smooth sailing as he struggled with some residency issues along the way and was even off the mayoral ballot at one point.
In the book’s epilogue, Sinker discusses how this twitter feed became a citywide sensation. Late in the campaign, Emanual offered a reward of sorts for anyone who revealed the author’s true identity. Only Sinker’s wife and four of his closest friends knew he was behind the feed. In the book Sinker talks about how at that point he had already been found out and had already decided that he would end the twitter feed once the election was over.
While reading the book, I wanted to retweet just about every tweet in the book, especially the ones about coffee. With most of the story coming at you in 140 characters (or less) at a time, it is a total breeze to read. If you’re looking something to take your mind off the stress that all the upcoming family time will bring, or to pass the time while traveling, I suggest you pick this up.
Top photo by clarity83.
Photo on the bottom, right via Flickr.
