Jeannette Hynes' Book Club, etc.

You may know author Sarah Vowell best as a regular contributor on NPR’s “This American Life” or you may know her best as the voice of Violet from the animated Disney movie “The Incredibles.”

If you’re daring enough, you’ll want to know her for the books she’s written.

The first book I read of hers was “Assassination Vacation.”  The title alone begs for you to at least read the jacket cover.

She takes us through U.S. history of three presidential assassinations (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley), but where she takes us and what we learn aren’t found in traditional textbooks.  She tours the out-of-the-way, obscure landmarks – all related to the time before, during, and after the presidents’ untimely deaths.  Gruesome?  A bit.  More importantly, Vowell manages to uphold the integrity of the office and the humanism of the people involved – victims or assassins.  And all the while, I’m laughing out loud.

So satisfied with “Assassination Vacation” I had to find more of  Vowell’s wit mixed with the salt and grit.  I picked up “The Partly Cloudy Patriot.”

The book is a collection of her personal essays about American history, life, opinion, fear, greed, etc.  She does not apologize for her political views, and if you’re not on her political team and don’t like being made fun of (past or present), then I suggest you find a different book to read.

She has a passion for American history like no other and she provides unique information and perspective that makes reading the book enjoyable – whether you agree with her perspective or not.   She writes with a lot of passion, fueled at times by the attacks of September 11th, which brings a certain tone to some of the essays that are tough to read, but necessary.

I just finished Vowell’s latest book “The Wordy Shipmates.”  She is the only person on the planet who could make Puritans interesting.  I do want to say, however, this book was a disappointment for me, but like most books I start, I finished it.

Maybe it was the subject matter.  Maybe it was trying to track too many New England settlers with the last name ending in “W” (Williams, Winthrop, etc.).  Maybe Puritans are just that boring.  Vowell would disagree with me on this point, but I applaud her for teaching me about these men and women with that same wit and attention to detail that I enjoyed in her other books.

What she manages to do is show me certain ideas, philosophies, and foundations that plagued the settlers of our country continue to trouble us today.  We may not banish people for the differences, but we find other ways to banish those ideas that we don’t share with others.

Even though I struggled to finish “The Wordy Shipmates”,  I plan to take on “Take the Cannoli” at some point.