The other weekend, while waiting for my habitually late friend Ems for coffee and sympathy, I decided to sojourn my ennui by going literary window shopping. There is something satisfying about a shelf full of books. I rummaged through the coffee table books, scanned some unsealed biographies and even went shamelessly to the Self Help section. I was scanning Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah when a small green paperback book caught my eye.

That was the exact cosmic moment when I was introduced to David Sedaris. His name was vaguely familiar. Then I remembered Jessica Zafra making mention of him in her blog, but I never really took an interest. I read through the raves done by newspapers, but it was the title that made me buy the book, I have a thing about titles.


What a sight... David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day side by side with Parachutes by Coldplay. I was freshly 15th day compensated, so I also bought two other books and some kick-ass shades, but these two made me feel especially satiated that day. I've been desperately looking for a copy of this Coldplay CD. So imagine my joy when I found it beneath Bloc Party.

David Sedaris is a humorist and an essayist. His essays are mostly autobiographical. He writes hilarious and insightful stories about his family, his Greek heritage, his jobs, his move to France with Hugh and other mundane things like insomnia or his love affair with his typewriter.

In Go Carolina, the first essay in this book, David talks about his struggle with his childhood lisp. He pronounced esses as etheth. Instead of following Miss Samson's instructions on how to produce the S sound properly, he opted to increase his vocabulary. Instead of saying "Yes", he'd say "Correct" or "Affirmative". Instead or "rivers" he'd say "a river or two". When asked what he'll do on New Year's Eve, he replied "On the final day of the year we take down the pine tree in our living room and eat marine life". Anyone who can work around the letter S is a genius, don't you think?

I loved Big Boy, Nutcracker.com, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Jesus Shaves, Make That a Double, 21 Down, The City of Light in the Dark, I Pledge Allegiance to the Bag... arrghh... I love em all!

I knew I've turned into a David Sedaris addict when I found myself reading his book while I was blowdrying. Multi-tasking takes on a whole new form.

I'm on a book hunt now:










Targets:
Left: Barrel Fever (1994) At Large
Middle: Naked (1996) At Large
Right: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004) Last seen in National Bookstore

LR: What would a bad review (of Me Look Pretty One Day) sound like?

DS: It just talks about how weak most of the book is and the stories that don't belong in there and that the things I've written are obvious setups for jokes that don't work that well. I can give anyone 20 good reasons not to buy that book.

January Interview (Linda Richards)

Labels: Bookworms Anonymous