I enjoyed these essays enormously, but really loved Dark Circles, Sarah Vowell's essay about insomnia. Suffering from the same malady, I SO identified with her. I've tried all those "cures" she mentioned and with much the same results. And when she talked about going a day without caffeine, well I had to pick myself up off the floor! ( )

I've enjoyed listening to Sarah Vowell's stories on "This American Life," so this book caught my eye from the library shelf. As a light summer read, it did not disappoint. I enjoyed these wry travelogues, musings on guns, insomnia, mix tapes, and various visions of the apocalypse, and also the romps through Disney World and the Chelsea Hotel.

Unlike David Sedaris, who made it big on NPR with a similar brand of intellectual, self-deprecating humor, Sarah Vowel writes stories that wrap her quirky childhood and more recent experiences in an informed perspective on American history. She has an astute eye for detail and an ear for a quick and comic turn of phrase. Her diction is distinctive, a finely tuned mix of high and low. As she says in the story "The End is Near, Nearer, Nearest," she has "a passion for unlikely words."

Having previously heard her read "Music Lessons" from this collection on the radio, though, I found I couldn't get her (likewise distinctive) voice out of my head. Vowell writes in a style better suited to speech, punctuating for dramatic pauses. While it's fun to listen to her stories read aloud, the book suffers from this stage-direction-like approach. ( )

What a truly delightful book! I so thoroughly enjoyed Sarah Vowell's essay in State by State that I decided to check out one of her books. I devoured it in less than 24 hours! Her writing voice - like her speaking voice - is distinct and quirky, though caustic enough that I wouldn't want to read all her books consecutively. But I do look forward to adding them to my reading list sporadically. ( )

LOVE. ( )