Take the Cannoli: Stories From the New World, Sarah Vowell

I have to admit I had high hopes for this book of essays. I've heard Sarah Vaughn on NPR where she is fresh, original and so very funny. Surely a book of essays, many of them written during the same time period, would have the same dry, wry tone? It does, but ultimately Take the Cannoli is unsatisfying. Every essay leaves you wondering if you missed a page, or a paragraph. Her writing simply isn't as tight as her radio delivery. Certainly my expectations have influenced the rating I've given "Take the Cannoli," but I'm allowed to have high hopes, am I not? Still, the book is worth reading and if you aren't as familiar with Vaughn's radio work, you may find it a better read than I did.

21 Dog Years: Doing Time @ Amazon.com, Mike Daisey

"21 Dog Years" is a laugh-out-loud look at the insanities of working for the web's biggest retailer in the early days of the dot-com boom. Daisey began his tenure with Amazon working in customer service, where even the lowliest temp worker obsessed hourly about the stock prices of the company. He takes a humorous tone, but doesn't sugarcoat his ultimate message, which is that the economic environment in the company was highly corrupting, superficial and self-centered from the lowest to the highest levels. "21 Dog Years" is a must-read for anyone interested in the evolution of the Internet economy, Amazon itself, or the nature of the Seattle job market.