Rating: 
Summary: sooooooooo funny
Review: I have about 20 pages left and I don't want it to end so I'm procrastinating by writing this instead. This book is a series of essays about Dave's different jobs, his childhood, his family and -- the absolute best -- his stories about moving to France and trying to learn French. Maybe because I also took French and visited France with a very small grasp of the language did I find those chapters in particular quite hysterical. Also I live in NY and his stories about NY and the tourists (especially around Christmas) are quite true and very funny to me personally. This is my first Sedaris book and I fear I may run out and buy all of his books and try to read them all too quickly -- better to space them out over a few months and make them last. There are some short chapters so if you're not sure if you want to buy this read a few chapters in the bookstore and then come back and buy it on amazon for cheaper if you liked it. I read the first couple pages and decided I would like this book and I was correct. I had to leave the library today because I was the only one laughing and I looked just a teeny bit insane. Better to read in the privacy of your own home!
Rating:
Summary: Not gripping, but a fun read
Review: I rather liked this book, though the humor wasn't consistent throughout. Several chapters were laugh out loud funny (for instance, the descriptions of David's french lessons) but large sections of the book in between were only moderately amusing. He certainly has lead an interesting life.
Rating: 
Summary: He write better book one day!?!
Review: Normally I write fairly long reviews, but for this book it's pretty simple, so I'll keep it short. David Sedaris is at times very funny (the scene where he and his classmates attempt to explain Easter in French to a Muslim from Morocco is absolutely hilarious), but at other times it's like he's straining too hard, or maybe he just ran out of good material. In one case he LITERALLY resorts to toilet humor (his desperate efforts to flush someone else's giant turd down the drain) for a cheap laugh. Overall, if you want some really funny moments, interspersed by long stretches of -- at best -- mild amusement, then buy this book. If not, don't, and instead wait until David Sedaris "write better book one day!"
Rating: 
Summary: Literally, laugh out loud funny
Review: How many times have you read a review on the jacket sleeve of a book that coins the phrase "laugh out loud funny", you bought the book, and then wondered if you had missed the section of the book referred to has "laugh out loud funny"? Well, this is truly a book that will make you laugh out loud. It took several chapters, but starting with "You Can't Kill the Rooster" and continuing on for several more chapters I couldn't help but laugh as though I were watching a comedy movie in the theater. Although the book tends to trail off near the end, the middle portion is well worth the investment. Irreverent, honest, poignant, enrapturing ... all descriptives that capture this book. I was taken in from the first page and didn't let go until I was finished.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing compared to "Naked"
Review: With his latest book I got the distinct impression that David Sedaris had run out of amusing episodes in his own past to write about other than a few things that were clearly from the bottom of the barrel. So a lot of the book is written about experiences he has had since becoming a well known writer and there is a "gosh aren't I unique in my way of life and attitude" aspect to these that just isn't endearing in the way that his self view from Naked and Barrel Fever were. A good part of the attempted humor is his restructuring into English of conversations he and others had in the process of learning French. Funny for the first paragraph, but gets old quickly because it is such a blatantly manipulative humorous device.Coming to this book alone I would have given it 3 stars, but having enjoyed Naked and Barrel Fever so much, points off for disappointment in light of high expectations. . .
Rating:
Summary: Tito hand me a tissue, Jermaine stop teasing
Review: I laughed so hard reading this book that snot came out of my nose.
Rating:
Summary: Truly the hardest I have ever laughed!
Review: This book was so hilarious I listened to it twice, bought a tape for my parents and sister to listen to, then gave my copy to a friend to enjoy. There were times I laughed so hard that I was as close to crying as I could get...actually, I WAS crying and I think I looked hysterical with grief while listening in my car! I will DEFINITELY order and listen to other books by Mr. Sedaris!
Rating:
Summary: Laugh-Out-Loud Funny!
Review: David Sedaris' stories frequently are so funny that I laugh out loud, making those around to grow a little concerned. The author relates a story concerning speach therapy in school where he is "treated" for a lisp. Instead of being guided as intended, he uses a thesauris to find alternate words and resorts to stilted language to avoid the use of the letter "S," (such as "the pet of the teacher"). Another hilarious story involves traveling on a Paris train along with American tourists who believe that no one on the train could possibly speak English. The tourists make derogatory comments about him and he mentally cuts them down. This book will certainly brighten your day and leave you hungry for other stories by Sedaris. I wish him a long life and many years of creativity ahead.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read!
Review: Laughed outloud. This book is hilarious, sometimes a little twisted, every story a page turner!
Rating:
Summary: Quirky, wry humor, with overtones of bittersweet
Review: A colleague loaned me "Me Talk Pretty One Day," thinking I would enjoy the description of his encounter with a speech therapist, being that I *am* a speech therapist. She was right; I laughed my way through his observations of his abduction and his efforts to be cured by never using words containing the offending sound. I have had any number of students who would bond immediately with Mr. Sedaris! The rest of his personal narratives kept me at least, if not more, entertained than this first one, however. His self-deprecating voice casts the reader in his corner, even when he is describing the vices of his misspent youth in performance art, his efforts to find value in Paris by going to American movies, or his total boredom with his father's enthusiasm for music. Underneath the humor, though, I sensed a searching for meaning or connection when at times he could find neither. Most readers have had experiences in which they felt completely out of place, or feeling that their lives were at a standstill, and his humorous yet sensitive musings on such themes add a depth to these very funny stories that move them beyond simple comedy.
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