# My love of Sarah Vowell is purely paternal **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169 "2013-05-01T02:12:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/1 "2013-05-01T02:12:18Z")
My wife and I have been listening to audiobooks during our commute and I got Sarah Vowell’s _The Wordy Shipmates,_ which is about the New England Puritans. Wife is descended from Pilgrims on one side, via the One-D Adamses (her mother is a dead ringer for John Adams without the male-pattern baldness and her aunt completed the John Alden-Priscilla Mullins-Miles Standish triangle by marrying Miles the XVII, or so) but is unfamiliar with Ms Vowell’s oeuvre and we listened to it for a while until I got tired of its Puritan theology and dearth of snark. I said, “I’m not used to that woman with a little-girl voice…” Wife interrupted, “Being thoughtful and erudite?” “No. Being nice.” I next got Vowell’s _Assassination Vacation,_ which is more up my alley. In it she visits sites associated with the deaths of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley. At one point she said, > [@Sarah Vowell](#): > > The Museum of Funeral Customs is on the edge of Oakridge Cemetery, a five-minute walk from (Lincoln’s) tomb. Supposedly the fellow who swoops over to greet me is the museum director but he speaks in the hushed, low voice of a funeral director. He warns me about “the sensitive nature of our exhibits.” Please! I actually giggle when he tries to steel me for seeing the recreated 1920s embalming room. As if I’m not wearing Bela Lugosi hairclips. As if I hadn’t just bought a book for my nephew called “Frankenstein and Dracula are Friends.” as if I were never nicknamed “Wednesday,” as in “Addams.” As if in eight-grade English class, assigned to act out a scene from a biography when all the other girls had chosen Queen Elizabeth or Anne Frank I hadn’t picked Al Capone and staged the St Valentine’s Day Massacre with toy machine guns and wadded-up red construction paper thrown everywhere to signify blood. As if I’m not here to see the replica of Abraham Lincoln’s casket. As if I’m not the kind of person who would visit the freakin’ Museum of Funeral Customs in the first place. As I drove I watched from the corner of my eye mine goodwife nodding with understanding and approval and thought about our own daughters, especially the one who went Goth in second grade and graduated to Pink Goth by high school. I asked, “We don’t have any daughters you haven’t told me about, do we?” It turns out Vowell was born several years before Goody **zone** and I met, so I’m relieved of any responsibility, and she denies having been in Muskogee in 1969, but young Ms Vowell has a masters in art history (not-quite-as-young Ms **zone** has a bachelors in art history) and a distinctive nose, though not the Adams Nose, from which Wife was also spared (though not her sister), so the jury’s still out. Whatever; I think she’s ready for _This American Life_ podcasts and David Sedaris. Actually, she’s always been ready for them to fill holes in her soul she didn’t know were there, and I’m simply God’s instrument to fill them. 😉 And maybe we can go back to the Pilgrims; I know she thinks it would do me some good. But first, _SantaLand Diaries!_ ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/2 "2013-05-01T17:01:44Z")
I’m a huge history buff and Sarah Vowell is probably my favorite author. Her sense of humor closely matches mine. She basically has my dream job - traveling around, visiting various historical museums and sites and writing snarky things about them. But she also has a way of making history extremely relatable and accessible to young people without dumbing it down too much. I didn’t enjoy her book about the Puritans so much, but the one about Hawaii was very good. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/3 "2013-05-01T18:06:09Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > I’m a huge history buff and Sarah Vowell is probably my favorite author. Her sense of humor closely matches mine. She basically has my dream job - traveling around, visiting various historical museums and sites and writing snarky things about them. But she also has a way of making history extremely relatable and accessible to young people without dumbing it down too much. > > I didn’t enjoy her book about the Puritans so much, but the one about Hawaii was very good. I was about to say: _Unfamiliar Fishes_, her book about Hawaii, was great. I think it’s her most recent. It tells a fascinating story about a part of American history most people probably are unaware of. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/4 "2013-05-01T18:41:08Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I was about to say: _Unfamiliar Fishes_, her book about Hawaii, was great. I think it’s her most recent. It tells a fascinating story about a part of American history most people probably are unaware of. Huh, I had the exact opposite reaction. _Assassination Vacation_ was great, as was _Take the Cannoli_. I was very excited for _Unfamiliar Fishes_ but was surprised to find much of it a slog. It’s a shame, because it’s a perfect topic for her. ETA: Though, to each his own. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/5 "2013-05-02T01:17:20Z")
Yeah, _Unfamiliar Fishes_ looks like a downer. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/6 "2013-05-02T02:06:55Z")
I liked Assassination Vacation the best. For me that one was laugh out loud funny. Wordy Shipmates was good, Unfamiliar Fishes I didn’t get through, but should retry. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/7 "2013-05-02T02:12:43Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Unfamiliar Fishes I didn’t get through, but should retry. Why? There are ever so many other books you haven’t read! ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/8 "2013-05-02T05:22:15Z")
All her audiobooks are excellent (though I remember at least one Doper who can’t stand her voice) but I’d definitely recommend a hard or electronic copy of _Unfamiliar Fishes_ to read along with. The Hawaiian names eventually get really confusing if you just go audio on that one. _Unfamiliar Fishes_ and _Assassination Vacation_ tie for my favorite of her books. Hawaiian history is a pretty esoteric subject but it’s actually fascinating stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/9 "2013-05-02T12:26:11Z")
I find as she progresses in her career she’s turning more into a legitimate historian - not that she hasn’t always been “legitimate” - just that her percentage of pure clever snark for snarks sake is diminishing - she is maturing, yah? ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/10 "2013-05-02T12:30:18Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Why? There are ever so many other books you haven’t read! I re-read a lot. And frequently I didn’t finish a book because the mood wasn’t right, if I go back, I enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/11 "2013-05-02T14:56:58Z")
I wish she would release a new edition of _Assassination Vacation_ with copious photographs, or as a flat out travel guide even. Same with _Unfamiliar Fishes_- I was going to Google images constantly during that book. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/12 "2013-05-03T00:52:15Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I find as she progresses in her career she’s turning more into a legitimate historian - not that she hasn’t always been “legitimate” - just that her percentage of pure clever snark for snarks sake is diminishing - she is maturing, yah? Noooooooo! Mature historians, like snarky teenagers, are a dime a dozen. Sarah, please, if you read this or hear my thoughts through the Collective Unconscious, pay no attention to those who say you need to “mature.” It takes decades of experience to build a Queen Bitch of the Universe. Forget using David McCullough and Shelby Foote as your guides because you have Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers leading the way. > [@Sampiro](#): > > I wish she would release a new edition of _Assassination Vacation_ with copious photographs, or as a flat out travel guide even. While I can see [how Sarah and her friend got lost looking for Dr Mudd’s house](https://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF-8&q=dr+mudd%27s+house&fb=1&gl=us&hq=dr+mudd%27s+house&cid=0,0,13275623757307414753&ei=6gCDUcCuB6m4yQGdoICICw&ved=0CLQBEPwSMAI) (yeah, she’s right: guilty as hell) I would think that planning your route your own self would be half the fun. But then, as a supposed engineer, I use the drawing process as a way to perfect the thing inside my head and consider the finished product boring and inconsequential. I mean, I already knew what it would look like and that it would work, so I’m a “getting there is all of the fun” kinda guy. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-love-of-sarah-vowell-is-purely-paternal/657169/13 "2013-05-03T01:13:37Z")
Ms Vowell is _also_ the World’s most adorable Sub-Deb Super-heroine.