Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
This is my first book from Sedaris and I think I'll try another. It was entertaining throughout with many parts that made me laugh out loud. He is kind of a modern, politically incorrect, cigarette-loving, drug-addled, openly gay, extra-pathetic Woody Allen with some of the clever and biting observations of George Carlin or Chris Rock. There was one or two low points where his stories dragged, and especially the one on the metro where the ending was a major letdown. His phrasing and comic timing are excellent.
I got the audiobook which had some of his live bits mixed in. These were the best ones. He narrated the book himself and as a narrator his voice was thin and high-pitched but it fit here... especially since these was his own true (hah, probably not without some small exaggerations) life story.
Very Funny
I've read this book too and agree with your review. Some of it is laugh out loud funny (setting objects on dates so he can remember their gender, etc) but occasionally some of the pieces drag. I heard him talk on NPR a few weeks ago doing a discussion/research project about the male bladder control device that allows men to avoid using the restroom while, at sporting events, driving, etc. Very, very, funny. Sedaris is a funny guy and knows how to point out the humor in all kinds of situation.
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Life is a lot like caving: Most of the time you grope around in the dark.
If you liked Me Talk Pretty One Day...
you have got to read Barrel Fever. That was the book that got me started on David Sedaris (after hearing him read the Santaland Diaries as I was driving home from work and laughing so hard I had to exit and spend several minutes in a convenience store parking lot until I recovered). All of the short stories in Barrel Fever are hilarious--some of them are really, really demented, but they're all wickedly funny, with some marvelous twists, and no letdowns. A couple of stories which left me wondering if Sedaris should remain in normal society, but no letdowns. :twisted:
Pohl's Law: A sufficiently advanced form of technology is indistinguishable from magic. Programmer's Corollary: A sufficiently rigged demo is indistinguishable from magic.
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