Take the Cannoli (Tpb): Stories from the New World - Tapa blanda

A brilliant series of funny, mordant pieces on the American experience, mostly seen through some aspect of popular culture. Sarah Vowell writes about her obsession with The Godfather that almost ruined her emotional life, about Frank Sinatra's home-town of Hoboken and his ghostly presence there, about Springsteen and the pleasures of home-taping, about her relationship with her right-wing, Christian gunsmith father... By turns caustic, sympathetic and insightful, this is a brilliant showcase for a highly talented young writer.

Sarah Vowell grew up the daugher 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.