Vampires and baseball are two longtime passions. Underrated The Hunger and praised Bull Durham are among the best modern movies of the two. But though both star Susan Sarandon, I had never quite been swept onto her bandwagon.

Until now.

Three years after Confessions of a Movie Addict, her humorous, human reflections on a half-century love affair with the world of cinema, Betty Jo Tucker’s Susan Sarandon: A True Maverick (both Hats Off Books) does the same for her more specific subject, the ageless/gracefully aging fifty-six-year-old superstar out of Edison, New Jersey.

This is thankfully not your cradle-to-now biographical chronology of fan factoids like baby steps and foods and adolescent crushes. Nor is it content simply to unleash the standard-issue encomium-after-praise. Balancing lots of compliments from a variety of sources, are the complaints of nay-sayers (particularly regarding her public stances on political and social issues), many conveniently grouped in the chapter, “Her Critics Speak Out.” Instead, it is a portrait of la Sarandon in her many facets as high-profile celebrity, woman, mother, significant other and social activist as well as a performer who tackles a range of on- and off-screen rôles which reflect on one another.

In this age of information and misinformation blitz, Tucker’s book seamlessly organizes a literal ton of material and makes it fun (even to the 1867surname origin of the word maverick). Combining interviews, reviews (favorable and negative), articles and Web sites to bring her subject to readable reality, Tucker equally includes unfortunately lesser known activities such as the star’s work as Special UNICEF Representative, spokesperson for The Myelin Project (growing out of her portrayal of Michaela Odone in Lorenzo’s Oil) and fund- and consciousness-raiser for a number of human rights, women’s and health causes. Tired of sometimes not especially aware entertainment figures espousing this or that, I find myself convinced here, won over by the reasonableness of Sarandon’s giving something back, not telling the public what to think but helping it to know enough to make intelligent choices.

Adjectives recurring in others’ comments indicate the versatility of the woman and the actress--from tough/aggressive and yet vulnerable, sexy and also mature, crazy and at the same time no-nonsense--who herself speaks of a fondness for those “with a passion for their stories.” Tucker, too, is obviously such a person. The only regret is that there are not more pages of the author here. The book is short, with fully half taken up by a filmography, bibliography, list of Web sites and selected reviews, which are helpful but available elsewhere and in some cases already noted within the text. Though this is a way of saying that one wants more of this good thing, still the book will reward fans and amaze and convert others (like myself).