Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation , she takes us on a road trip like no other -- a journey to the pit stops of American political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and profit, for political and cultural advantage. From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry... (more)

Take the Cannoli : Stories From the New World

Take the Cannoli : Stories From the New World

by Sarah Vowell

Take the Cannoli is a moving and wickedly funny collection of personal stories stretching across the immense landscape of the American scene. Hailed by Newsweek as a "cranky stylist with talent to burn," Vowell has an irresistible voice -- caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged -- that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on This American Life. While... (more)

The Partly Cloudy Patriot (Unabridged)

by Sarah Vowell

Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell -- widely hailed for her inimitable stories on public radio's This American Life -- ponders a number of curious questions: Why is she happiest when visiting the sites of bloody struggles like Salem or Gettysburg? Why do people... (more)

Naked

by David Sedaris

The author recounts hitchhiking across the country with an odd cast of quadriplegics and deadbeats, working as a migrant worker in North Carolina, and other adventures.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

by David Sedaris

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is a 2004 collection of 22 autobiographical essays by American humorist David Sedaris. The essays address the author's upbringing in Raleigh, North Carolina, his relationships with family members, and his work and life in New York City and France.

Holidays on Ice: Stories

by David Sedaris

A new holiday classic--six of the most profound Christmas stories by the author of the bestselling "Naked" and "Barrel Fever"--is now in a paperback edition perfect for stocking stuffing.

Radio On: A Listener's Diary

by Sarah Vowell

There are approximately 502 million radios in America. For this savvy, far-reaching, and well-written diary, celebrated journalist and author Vowell turned hers on and listened—closely, critically, creatively—for an entire year. As a series of impressions and reflections regarding contemporary American culture, and as an extended meditation on both our media and our society, this keenly focused book is as... (more)

Fraud: Essays

by David Rakoff

From This American Life alum David Rakoff comes a hilarious collection that single-handedly raises self-deprecation to an art form. Whether impersonating Sigmund Freud in a department store window during the holidays, climbing an icy mountain in cheap loafers, or learning primitive survival skills in the wilds of New Jersey, Rakoff clearly demonstrates how he doesn’t belong–nor does he try to. In his debut... (more)

Me Talk Pretty One Day

by David Sedaris

A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as... (more)

Quimby the Mouse (ACME Novelty Library Series)

Quimby the Mouse (ACME Novelty Library Series)

by Chris Ware

A one-mouse theater of the absurd. Quimby the Mouse is the second book from Chris Ware; his first book, Jimmy Corrigan (Pantheon, 2000), has been widely acclaimed as one of the medium's finest graphic novels in history and was the winner of the prestigious Guardian First Book Award for 2001. Cleverly appropriated old-fashioned animation imagery and advertising styles of the 1920s and 1930s are put to... (more)

God Said, Ha!: A Memoir

by Julia Sweeney

1995 was, for Julia Sweeney, a truly horrible year. She got a divorce (amicable), bought a small bungalow in Hollywood, and looked forward to a life that said, "Here dwells a happily single young woman!" But then the ax fell. Her younger brother Mike was diagnosed with terminal cancer and moved in with her. Her parents came to be with Mike--and moved in with her. Suddenly her tiny bungalow for one was filled to... (more)

The Burn Journals

by Brent Runyon

I don’t want to get out of bed. I’m so stupid. I did so many things wrong. I don’t know what to do. I’m going to be in so much trouble. What am I going to do? I’m completely screwed. In 1991, fourteen-year-old Brent Runyon came home from school, doused his bathrobe in gasoline, put it on, and lit a match. He suffered third-degree burns over 85% of his body and spent the next year recovering in hospitals and... (more)

Schmelvis: In Search of Elvis Presley's Jewish Roots

Schmelvis: In Search of Elvis Presley's Jewish Roots

by Jonathan Goldstein, Max Wallace

It's a little-known fact that Elvis Presley—the most Christian icon of American pop culture—was Jewish. This book provides a behind-the-scenes account of the authors' search, from Israel to Graceland, to find the true roots of the King. With the help of a Hasidic Jewish Elvis impersonator, Dan Hartel, who performs at senior citizens' homes under the stage name "Schmelvis," and an eccentric Orthodox rabbi named... (more)

The Ballad of Abu Ghraib

by Philip Gourevitch

An utterly original literary and intellectual collaboration by two of our keenest moral and political observers has produced a nonfiction Heart of Darkness for our time: the first full reckoning of what actually happened at Abu Ghraib prison, based on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with the Americans involved. The Ballad of Abu Ghraib reveals the stories of the American soldiers who took and... (more)

Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America

Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America

by Paul Tough

What would it take? That was the question that Geoffrey Canada found himself asking. What would it take to change the lives of poor children—not one by one, through heroic interventions and occasional miracles, but in big numbers, and in a way that could be replicated nationwide? The question led him to create the Harlem Children’s Zone, a ninety-seven-block laboratory in central Harlem where he is testing new... (more)

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible!

by Jonathan Goldstein

A hilarious re-imagining of the heroes of the Old Testament for a modern world—and the neurotic, demanding reader. In the beginning...there was humor. Sure, it’s the foundation for much of Western morality and the cornerstone of world literature. But let’s face it: the Bible always needed punching up. Plus, it raised quite a few questions that a modern world refuses to ignore any longer: wouldn’t it be boring... (more)

The Santaland Diaries

by David Sedaris

This is one of the funniest collections of short stories I have ever read. Growing up in North Carolina very close to where David Sedaris is from, and having a smokey, swill-y mom, and moving to NYC, I can relate. I first got this book from my friend John Radanovich, author of Wildman of Rhythm: A biography of Benny Moré. I took Santaland Diaries, to the DMV in Kenner Louisiana when I went to sit in a room... (more)

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

by Anne Lamott

A step-by-step guide to writing and managing the writer's life covers each portion of a written project, addresses such concerns as writer's block and getting published, and offers awareness and survival tips. Reprint. Tour. K. NYT.

Barrel Fever

Stories and Essays

by David Sedaris

Short stories and essays by an apartment cleaner and a popular commentator for National Public Radio highlight the absurd behavior of modern Americans, such as the suburban dad who saves money by performing surgery at home. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Fargo Rock City : A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota

Fargo Rock City : A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota

by Chuck Klosterman

Empirically proving that -- no matter where you are -- kids wanna rock, this is Chuck Klosterman's hilrious memoir of growing up as a shameless metalhead in Wyndmere, North Dakotoa (population: 498). With a voice like Ace Frehley's guitar, Klosterman hacks his way through hair-band history, beginning with that fateful day in 1983 when his older brother brought home Mötley Crüe's Shout at the Devil. The... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: this american life

by Sarah Vowell

by Sarah Vowell

by Sarah Vowell

by David Sedaris

by David Sedaris

by David Sedaris

by Sarah Vowell

by David Rakoff

by David Sedaris

by Chris Ware

by Julia Sweeney

by Brent Runyon

by Jonathan Goldstein, Max Wallace

by Philip Gourevitch

by Paul Tough

by Jonathan Goldstein

by David Sedaris

by Anne Lamott

Stories and Essays

by David Sedaris

by Chuck Klosterman