Items related to Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World
Synopsis
This publication comprises a series of funny, mordant pieces on the American experience, mostly seen through some aspect of popular culture. Vowell writes about her obsession with "The Godfather" that almost ruined her emotional life; about Frank Sinatra's home-town Hoboken and his ghostly presence there; about Springsteen and the pleasures of home-taping; and about her relationship with her right-wing Christian gunsmith father.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Sarah Vowell grew up the daughter of a gunsmith in Montana, and now lives in New York City where she writes and presents a highly acclaimed Saturday morning radio show. She is in her thirties.
From Kirkus Reviews
Broadcaster and columnist Vowell (Radio On: A Listener's Diary, 1998) presents a wonderfully eclectic mix of smart-witted, often hilarious personal essays. For every reference Vowell makes to The Great Gatsby, Huck Finn, or the Book of Revelations (three of her favorites), she quotes a combination of Sinatra, Elvis, Springsteen, and Johnny Cash a dozen times, resulting in refreshing writing with attitude. Throughout, Vowell's passion for music, sound, and rhythm are manifested in her words and her topics, whether firing a cannon with dad or making a mix tape for a friend's girlfriend. Many of the stylish essays are ``on assignment'' accounts, in which Vowell allows herself to be dressed up for a night of goth clubbing, attends Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp, checks into the grimy and ghostly Chelsea Hotel, and tries to learn to drive at 28. Her title track, ``Take the Cannoli,'' is not about music, but takes its namesake from a sound byte in The Godfathera film Vowell obsessed over when in college. The film's ``made-up, sexist East Coast thugs'' taught Vowell a valuable lesson about family, guns, and dessert. But not everything is sugar-coated in Vowell's world: she claims that ``even as a six-year-old I knew I'd never be good enough to get into heaven,'' and she recounts whining her way through Disney World in ``Species-on-Species Abuse.'' She gets cranky and sardonic, but at these moments her talent may shine brightest. In ``Dark Circles,'' Vowell, coffee in hand, comes to grips with her insomnia: lying awake in bed, she recalls her day, arriving at the less-than-soporific conclusion that ``everyday, no matter how cheerful, how innocuous, always contains within it some little speed bump of anger or hate, some wrong place, wrong time, hell-is-other-people moment of despair. Nighty night.'' Vowell's crafty writing, often free-spirited and sometimes neurotic, is like literary stand-up comedy with a lot of heart and perfect delivery.-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherViking
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 0670911917
- ISBN 13 9780670911912
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages224
- Rating
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantIf you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!
Create a Want
