I just finished listening to the audiobook of _The Partly Cloudy Patriot_ by Sarah Vowell. I downed it all in one sitting (a little over five hours).

Awesome. I love her on "This American Life". She and David Sedaris are the two whom I most look forward to appearing on that show.

She's funny, charming and full of great word pictures about the state of our nation.

The book is a series of essays, written soon after the September 2001 attack on NY. The essays range from a series of trips to presidential libraries (including Lincoln, Johnson and Nixon), an exploration into the appeal of Tom Cruise, post-9/11 jingoistic false patriotism, Thanksgiving rituals and more.

Awesome stuff and worth a read/listen.