I just finished reading Sarah Vowell's Assasination Vacation and liked it very much. My liking this book very much is a bit of a coup for Vowell and historical essayists. I admit it, I don't usually start books about (gasp) history, let alone finish them. But Vowell made the histories of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley's respective assassinations rather fascinating.
It may be that Vowell is just so fascinating that I was willing to go along with whatever it was she was talking about. She put just enough of herself in it (both her literary voice and mentions of phobias) that even if she was talking about Garfield's power struggle with some guy I had never heard of before, I found it compelling.
I think this is the sort of book they should have made me read in eighth grade. But they didn't. She also makes a lot of less than subtle remarks on her feelings about George Bush's administration (not so positive). The above picture makes her look awful, the two below less so--but she does this weird intense face that is rather odd...I've seen her on Conan O'Brien a bunch of times and it's always really neat to see how truly interested and entertained O'Brien is by Vowell.
Read this book....I liked it a lot more than Friends of Freeland.
It may be that Vowell is just so fascinating that I was willing to go along with whatever it was she was talking about. She put just enough of herself in it (both her literary voice and mentions of phobias) that even if she was talking about Garfield's power struggle with some guy I had never heard of before, I found it compelling.
I think this is the sort of book they should have made me read in eighth grade. But they didn't. She also makes a lot of less than subtle remarks on her feelings about George Bush's administration (not so positive). The above picture makes her look awful, the two below less so--but she does this weird intense face that is rather odd...I've seen her on Conan O'Brien a bunch of times and it's always really neat to see how truly interested and entertained O'Brien is by Vowell.
Read this book....I liked it a lot more than Friends of Freeland.
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