The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
Preparing For Christmas Season In The Harried Book World: Book #14
“As always, Vowell is darkly hilarious and freshly informative. She pokes fun at the buckle-shoed Puritans who first settled here, but she also tells a story of how their quirks and foibles, and love of words formed our country’s personality. her distinct and sharply witty voice makes this book an edifying delight.” — Laura DeLaney
Oh, I would have read this one any way. I freaking love Sarah Vowell and I loved this book just as much as I knew I would. Her interview on John Stewart was hilarious, and I was more than excited to finally begin this one. Also, an Asheville blogger compared Sarah Vowell to Susie Derkins in Calvin & Hobbes and I found that so incredibly apt.
My favorite quote from this book was:
“In fact, a handful of colonial New England women successfully sued for divorce on the grounds of impotence, including Ann Lane of Massachusetts Bay, who accused her husband in 1658 o failing to perform “the duties of a husband,” a detail not disputed by Mr. Lane. And speaking of marriage, in colonial New England weddings were “a civil thing,” civil unions one might say, performed by magistrates, not clergy. because a wedding wasn’t trumped up as the object in left that saves one’s soul – that would be God – but rather more like what it actually is, a change in legal status, an errand at the DMV, with cake.”
I LOVE VOWELL SO MUCH I WANT TO HAVE HER CONSONANT BABIES.
