I feel like I should start every review of a Sedaris collection with, "Well, it's not as good as Me Talk Pretty One Day, but..." So, given that caveat, no surprise, but I enjoyed this. I had the pleasure of seeing Sedaris do a reading recently, and he read one of his essays from this book, plus one of the pieces he claims are meant for teenagers to memorize when they need to present monologues at school. That explanation (while made slightly in jest, I think) made some of the pieces in this book a little more understandable, but in general, I didn't enjoy those ones as much as the personal essays he is known for. What I love about Sedaris is his ability to go from completely inappropriate to completely poignant in a matter of paragraphs. His recent piece in the New Yorker about his sister's suicide is a perfect example. While there weren't any essays in this collection that stood out for me, for anyone who adores Sedaris, this is along the same lines of most of his work and certainly good for a laugh or two.
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