David Sedaris

I ended up finishing Real Live Boyfriends and while I would call it an adorable book I honestly don’t want to subject you to a review about high school love, I don’t even think I can stomach writing that sort of review. So I suppose I am onto another author. I think I’ll review David Sedaris; that man writes funny. I believe my,  what I like to call “trendy hipster,”  friend showed me Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris in Barnes & Noble one day and it rocked my reading world. I had never really tried to read comedy in books before and his is so subtle it’s great. He addresses humor in a way that he’s not outright telling a joke, but he is saying something either so outrageous or so true that it is hilarious. His humor can be dry, and it also can be very dark, and often times you just think to yourself did this really happen? His humor is very self-deprecating and he knows how to describe a funny situation perfectly and say it so it’s about ten times funnier.  Many of his stories focus on an embarrassing moment of his, but also the witty ways he deals with people. I highly recommend all his books, but Me Talk Pretty One Day had me laughing out loud which is so rare for me. I usually enjoy my books in complete silence unless something is really amazing and I might gasp or insult the book, my point being that making me actually laugh means this book is pretty freaking funny. I’ve heard from a past teacher of mine that listening to him read his books on tape is even funnier than reading them in print so I’ve attached a clip of David Sedaris reading the beginning of his book Holidays on Ice.

David Sedaris gets a 9.5 from me simply because his books make me laugh from cover to cover, and I still feel intelligent reading them.

-J.