I adore David Sedaris, but after finding his last couple books less than stellar, I feared that perhaps I have overdosed. But, then a couple months ago, Ashley and I went to hear him read at the Opera House in San Francisco, and I fell in love all over again. He read a piece from the New Yorker about undecided voters, an essay from his latest collection When You are Engulfed in Flames, and snippets from works in progress - which I found fascinating as he talked about what he thought did and did not work in the stories. He was funny and charming, and there was nothing I wanted more at the holidays than more David Sedaris! So, while browsing for others at Stacey's Bookstore downtown, I picked up Holidays on Ice, a collection dedicated to Christmas and the holidays. As well as the usual Sedaris autobiographical essays, he also includes a few fictional pieces - a mock-sermon with some high points, and a what if barnyard animals did their own Kris Kringle - but my favorite was a story about two families who keep having to one-up each other in their annual Christmas cards. With respect to the stories from Sedaris's own life/thoughts, my favorite was "Six or Eight Black Men" about beliefs in other countries that differ from our notion of Santa Claus (obviously theirs are ridiculous - ours makes so much more sense!) The stories were a bit hit or miss, but when they hit, I always laugh out loud in spite of myself. As you can imagine, Sedaris's holiday cheer is filled with sarcasm and irony, and accordingly it managed to put me in a very good Christmas spirit.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris
I adore David Sedaris, but after finding his last couple books less than stellar, I feared that perhaps I have overdosed. But, then a couple months ago, Ashley and I went to hear him read at the Opera House in San Francisco, and I fell in love all over again. He read a piece from the New Yorker about undecided voters, an essay from his latest collection When You are Engulfed in Flames, and snippets from works in progress - which I found fascinating as he talked about what he thought did and did not work in the stories. He was funny and charming, and there was nothing I wanted more at the holidays than more David Sedaris! So, while browsing for others at Stacey's Bookstore downtown, I picked up Holidays on Ice, a collection dedicated to Christmas and the holidays. As well as the usual Sedaris autobiographical essays, he also includes a few fictional pieces - a mock-sermon with some high points, and a what if barnyard animals did their own Kris Kringle - but my favorite was a story about two families who keep having to one-up each other in their annual Christmas cards. With respect to the stories from Sedaris's own life/thoughts, my favorite was "Six or Eight Black Men" about beliefs in other countries that differ from our notion of Santa Claus (obviously theirs are ridiculous - ours makes so much more sense!) The stories were a bit hit or miss, but when they hit, I always laugh out loud in spite of myself. As you can imagine, Sedaris's holiday cheer is filled with sarcasm and irony, and accordingly it managed to put me in a very good Christmas spirit.
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