Rating: 
Summary: Great, laugh-out-loud funny essays
Review: This is my first experience with Sarah Vowell's work, having seen her on Letterman and Conan O'Brien, and I found it at a used book sale at the local library and decided to get it. I'm glad I did; this is one of the funniest collections of essays I've read in a while. Vowell's unique, almost Gen-X approach to life (though I hate to use the label "Gen-X", as that suggests someone much more mopey than Vowell really is). I'm perplexed by the reviews that cite this as being "boring" or "not funny", I suppose everyone's entitled to their opinion but I couldn't disagree more. Whether knock-down hilarious ("Take The Cannoli", "Shooting Dad", etc) or serious and well-thought historical and emotional ("What I See When I look at The Twenty-Dollar Bill", the Frank Sinatra-Hoboken essay), Vowell is excellent, and I look forward to reading more of her work. I highly recommend this to anyone who's looking for a good laugh, and hopefully I'll get a chance to hear her on NPR sometime. At any rate "Take the Cannoli" is a good primer for Vowell.
Rating:
Summary: An INCREDIBLE compilation of essays
Review: I received this book as a Christmas present and, taken by the Godfather reference, immediately began to read it. I read the whole thing sitting in my living room on Christmas day and LOVED every minute of it. Sarah Vowell is an incredible author with the wittiest comments on life, and as you're sucked into the Vowell state of mind you don't want to come back to regular earth. She shares stories of how she learned to drive in her late 20s, her visit to the hometown of Frank Sinatra, and her stay at the famous Chelsea Hotel. You get to know her mother, father and sister intimately through her essays, how her father is the political antithesis to Vowell, her sister the physical antithesis. She shares insights she gained going through high school, writing orchestral pieces, playing every instrument she could get her hands on, and her addiction to The Godfather. I eagerly await another compilation from Ms. Vowell.
Rating:
Summary: Genius!
Review: Sarah Vowell is the best writer in the world. She knows her vowels. No pun intended.
Sarah's mom
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book!
Review: I just finished reading "Take The Cannoli" after ordering it off of amazon.com. I'd seen Sarah Vowell on a late night talk show and thought she was hilarious and knew I had to have her book. Well, I was right, she is hilarious. She is also very intelligent and well read. She deals with both humorous and serious subjects equally well. If you are looking for joke after joke, then this book probably isn't for you, she tackles subjects such as the Trail Of Tears and manages to make the essay funny, touching, and a bit of a history lesson. I'm of Native American descent also and sadly, I found that I did not know much about the Trail Of Tears and learned a lot (and will read more) about it. However, that is just one essay in the book. Her other essays deal with everything from insomnia to music to getting along with her family. There is always wit and she makes excellent jokes. I wasn't disappointed by any essay. They are all wonderful. I recommend this for anyone that wants an entertaining read that also makes you think.
Rating: 
Summary: Sardonic and Educational
Review: If you taste for humor leans on the sardonic side -- this collection of essays by Sarah Vowell is for you. Vowell often finds herself to be the proverbial "fish out of water" with journeys that take her to many fascinating and diverse places such as Hoboken, NJ (home of Frank Sinatra), Walt Disney World, rock 'n roll "camp," and San Francisco "goth" clubs. You are guaranteed to be smiling or laughing out loud at some point as you read each essay.But if fun is not all you are looking for, Vowell is also a walking encyclopedia. Vowell gives us a history lesson in two essays in particular. "Michigan and Wacker" is a virtual history of Chicago in 13 pages, while "What I See When I Look at a $20 Bill" is an intriguing take on the Trail of Tears which forced Native Americans out of Georgia to Oklahoma. Embarassingly, I learned more about this ugly chapter in American history than was taught to me in high school. I recently had a chance to go to a Vowell reading (along with her NPR colleague, David Sedaris -- a wonderful pairing by the way). Vowell's speaking voice is very distinctive and made me enjoy reading this collection even more since I was able to "hear" her as I read. I encourage folks to seek her out on NPR to get the more complete Vowell experience.
Rating: 
Summary: Fairly Decent
Review: Take the Cannoli serves as a decent introduction to Sarah Vowell's writing, although it is not nearly as good as Partly Cloudy Patriot. The most appealing thing about her is the simple fact that one can disagree with her opinions without feeling argumentative. She has a way of presenting her opinions that does an excellent job of articulating why she feels the way she does without sounding like she is attacking any opposing opinion. Very civilized and enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Like a lively conversation at a bistro
Review: ...and speaking of a bistro, her take on the hidden meaning of your morning mocha is laugh-out-loud funny. This collection of essays deals with her historical, political, religious, and cultural experiences - and who could be more fun to wade through that with than a cynical, lyrical gen-X commentator?! This book has a little something for everyone. Well, O.K., probably not everyone. If you're a big fan of the Left Behind series, you might not like her take on premillenial dispensationalism. If you have little appreciation for Frank Sinatra, you may need to skip a couple of the essays. It reads like a lively road-trip passenger, full of random opinions and witticisms. Having heard her recently in a live reading, I think we would be well served by an audio version of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: I think that one word says it all. I read the other reviews and expected to be rolling around laughing at this book. The first essay was promising but turned out dull in the end and the book went down hill from there. I found nothing clever or at all funny in vowell's writing. After the fourth essay I skipped around trying to find the interesting parts, but in the end had to give up and toss it away. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Vowell is a storyteller to be reckoned with
Review: Reading this book, I found myself comparing it to the rest of the eccentric autobiographical genre, and found it to be of the best there is. Unlike David Sedaris, who's stories I can either give or take, Vowell seems to take even the most mundane subjects and bring them to life. When I got to the chapter dealing with the Trail of Tears, I noted it was the longest in the book. I was almost worried that I would be preached at, but Vowell made it fun. When she talked about her family, I was prepared to be shocked by their weirdness (ala Sedaris), but was pleased to learn they were just normal folks with a few quirks. In truth, I'm a {sap} for people like Sarah Vowell. I felt like I could fall in love with her just by reading her stories. She makes political statements in a very non-direct way and serves you a good deal of history without you ever realizing it along the way.
Rating:
Summary: True wit
Review: Like every great wit, Vowell is both wise and a wise-acre, smart and a smart aleck. I laughed out loud at these essays, but they still have depth to them. Even if you'd heard them on NPR, the book is worth having, reading, and re-reading. Vowell's whiney but somehow hopeful voice comes through, even on paper. I can't wait for "Partly Cloudy Patriot".
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