logblog

If you DO get to watch Vowelette, you’ll find that the voice behind little Violette is popular history essayist Sarah Vowell. Vowell is also a frequent contributor to NPR’s This American Life (you can check out some of her episodes here). She is both incredibly smart and super hilarious. Having seen her read some of her work live, I can tell you her readings are more like comedy shows than public readings of history essays. I know what you’re thinking. “How could history essays be interesting?” I don’t know what to tell you other than pick up one of her books and you will soon know. Actually, skip the book and go for the audio book read by the author. That way you get her witty writing said in her particularly witty way.

My personal favorite work of her’s is The Partly Cloudy Patriot [audio link here]. That one isn’t so much historical in subject matter, but given that it’s her obsession, there’s lots of tid bits in that subject throughout. Most of it is just interesting stories and musings she has on her life as an awkward geeky writer.

You’d be surprised how interesting her historical stories can be too, though, as in her other book Assassination Vacation [audio link here]. This work deals specifically with the assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. I found it so interesting and entertaining that I was actually sad the audio book version is abridged. For instance, did you know that the Oneida company that makes tea pots started as a sex cult? You would if you read Assassination Vacation.

The reason you should be paying attention now is Vowell’s new book, The Wordy Shipmates, comes out next Tuesday, on October 7th. This one apparantly is about the Puritans, and though that specific subject doesn’t directly interest me, I’m pretty sure this book will deliver as much as if not more than her previous ones. Look for it to be in book stores AND on iTunes come Tuesday for your enjoyment, and believe me–audio is the way to go.

I know this all may seem like a bit of a departure for me, it being non-technology-related and all, but that being said, Partly Cloudy Patriot and Assassination Vacation are available in Kindle format. I’m sure Wordy Shipmates will be as well, being new.

Also, let us not forget that October 7th also sees the release of Sleeping Beauty in Blu-Ray format and 30 Rock Season 2. Gooooood Tuesday!!!