I just finished reading Assassination Vacation, the new book by Sarah Vowell. This is my second exposure to her work, after the voiceover duty and essay extra she did on The Incredibles DVD.
My favorite parts were the interchanges that made relics of history so personal to her. I couldn't identify, but I found it amusing when she and a tour guide fawned over how handsome John Wilkes Booth was. On the flip side, she takes her Native American heritage quite seriously: she goes so far as to call Andrew Jackson a "genocidal monster."
I was hoping she'd spend a little more time on Robert Todd Lincoln, or as she calls him, Jinxy McDeath. Honest Abe's son was near (or at least in town during) the shootings of his father, Garfield, and McKinley.
I'll have to take a look at her earlier work. In the meantime, anyone out there share Ms. Vowell's tendency to long for the hotties of the past? I'm pretty sure that I'm only attracted to people who are presently alive, but hey, that's just me. If you'd like to learn more about historical babes, visit your local library.
I'm moving on, I believe, to Hotel Babylon.
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6 comments:
I have a massive crush on William Butler Yeats. He's dead. Does that count? He wasn't an assassin, but he was a stalker.
AN: Oh, he counts. To hear him recite poetry...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Butler_Yeats
Is it the Hugh Grant-ish floppy hair that does it for you? Would you prefer that he wore those professor-style blazers with the elbow caps sown in? (And is this all a little "Don't Stand So Close to Me" for anyone else?)
C: Nice of you to use impersonal examples. I found that Ms. Vowell often reminded me of you, so I figured you two probably shared this quality in common as well. Give us the info.
Yeats was passionate and sexy. And he was also devoted to Irish nationalism, which is hot.
Sarah rocks!! I'll bring you my favorite of her stuff "Take The Cannoli"...and then maybe someday I'll tell you MY goth makeover story.
That would be, um, incredible. As great as the Las Vegas library system is, they don't have Take the Cannoli.
Will I be treated to your Extreme Makeover: Goth Edition come Wednesday?
Oh...we so need to write the producers on that one. Can I nominate Hillary Clinton as the first make-over???
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