Sarah Vowell reads

by Lori Hill

books

Sarah Vowell will understand if you don't make it out to Wilmington to see her on Super Bowl Sunday. A football fan who once lamented the passing of legendary Cowboys coach/"existentialist" Tom Landry, Vowell herself might regret having booked a reading on the same night that the Patriots go up against the Panthers in Houston. But then again, she's a fan of just about everything. On NPR and in her collections of essays, Vowell delivers skewering social commentary in a (somewhat) lovable whine. She hones in on what might appear to be life's footnotes (the under-appreciated lunchroom in Carlsbad Caverns, Al Gore's place in nerd culture), making them seem all-important, with more humor than her peers.

Though she calls herself a partly cloudy patriot, her passion for this country is palpable. See essays like "What He Said There," about the prose of the Gettysburg Address, and "Rosa Parks, C'est Moi," about the nasty habit of comparing any good deed with one of the most important social actions in American history. Besides previewing her next book, Assassination Vacation, on this tour she's sure to make witty hay out of the Democratic primaries, Mars rovers and our president's latest thoughts on "weapons-of-mass-destruction-related-program-activities." And any democracy lover worth her salt knows that taking issue with her country's politics, lamenting its residents' myopic vision and mourning the loss of real electoral process are the marks of true citizenship.

Sarah Vowell reads Sun., Feb. 1, 7 p.m., $20-$24, Grand Opera House, 818 N. Market St., Wilmington, Del., 302-652-5577.