Rating: 
Summary: His Best
Review: Very very funny ,i tell everyone to buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe He Write Better Next Time
Review: Mr. Sedaris has a great talent--unfortunately he puts little of it to use in Me Talk Pretty One Day. Compared to his earlier works, the best of which exhibited sardonic abandon tempered with genuine humanity, his latest autobiographical foray will most likely disappoint eager readers looking for a good laugh. Sure, there are moments where the author whips off a zinger, like when he conjures an image of his heavily accented speech therapist ("Her people undoubtedly drank from clay jugs and hollered for Paw when the vittles were ready..."). But more often than not, Sedaris gives readers uninspired chapters devoted to base topics, like large turds that won't flush down the toilet. (Okay, fecal humor is not my bag, but even if you get off on this sort of thing, the execution is flat.) In previous works a sharp wit like Sedaris would have made something more out of an Information Age commentary or a vindictive French teacher, but what he offers up in "Nutcracker.com" and part "deux" of his book is surprisingly flaccid and not just a little bit predictable. It seems to me that the big idea for this book was to sell massive amounts of product. That being the case, our author should have wrapped the pages around a roll and placed them on the shelf in Aisle 5, along side the other packages of toilet paper.
Rating: 
Summary: Embarrasingly Funny
Review: Don't ask me why, but I read a few of the stories from this book in the bathroom at work. Which wouldn't have been a problem had I not had to worry about others who were also using the bathroom at the same time. I know that had it been me that walked into a bathroom and heard muffled laughing coming from a closed stall, I'd have been pretty concerned for its occupant. To which I say to anyone who might have been there, or could imagine being there, I dare you to read any three of Sedaris' latest stories and not laugh outloud. Embarrasingly loud. Let he who is without a sense of humor cast the first stone. Like Naked, Holidays on Ice and Barrel Fever, MTPOD is riotous fun with a good bit of scathing social commentary thrown in for good measure. Almost every story is a classic in its own way, from the bathroom humor of Big Boy, to the foul-mouthed sentimentality of You Can't Kill the Rooster. The second half of the book, mostly stories of Sedaris' move to France, is a change of pace from the remembrances of his North Carolina upbringing which make up most of the first half, but doesn't disappoint at all. Picka-Pocketoni, Jesus Shaves and the title story are wonderfully drawn and Sedaris writes comically without being a comedian. I read this book to my in-laws on vacation recently. Every night, before we'd go to bed, I'd read a couple stories to put a humorous ending on another day at the beach. I like to think that they just like to hear me read, but I know the real reason everyone gathered every night was the feeling a Sedaris story leaves you with. Is there a more sure way to go to bed with a smile on your face. I'm not sure there is. I can't give a book of humor five stars, but I can highly recommend this offering by David Sedaris. Just don't read it in the bathroom at work.
Rating:
Summary: Laugh out loud hilarious
Review: After the somewhat somber tone of his last book, "Naked" I'm glad to say David Sedaris is back with a hilarious vengeance. To pinpoint one story over another would be unfair since they all have their individual charm and merit, but to hear him talk about his sister Amy, (of Comedy Central's "Strangers With Candy),I almost needed a Depends undergarment! Another treat is to hear the books on tape since he reads most of his own material, and his voice is...unique.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous
Review: You know how somethings strike you as SO funny that you laugh so hard your eyes sqeeze shut, you cry and you cannot breathe? That's what this book is doing to me every time I sit down to read some more!
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly Down to Earth--I laughed so hard I nearly cried!!
Review: What a fantastic book! I couldn't put this one down. I highly recommend it! The essay about the family pet was VERY AMUSING and reminded me of my own family.
Rating:
Summary: David Sedaris has figured it out
Review: In his previous collections, Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, and Naked, Sedaris' works have been sometimes hilarious, sometimes disturbing and grim, and sometimes all three. His best works, though, were always the funny essays based on his own life. (Fortunately, he's weird enough that this works.) And in Me Talk Pretty One Day, he shows that he's realized where his strength lies. The first portion of Me Talk Pretty, prosaically named One, contains more of his reminisces about his family. These stories are often funny, usually with an underlying tension, and their conclusions are usually wry or bittersweet. "Go Carolina" is a perfect example of these, talking about Sedaris' years in speech therapy as a child, and suggesting that perhaps his parents, teachers, and therapists were trying to fix something other than just a speech impediment. Deux, the other half of the book, concerns Sedaris' life in France, especially his attempts to learn French. Most of the essays in Deux are truly hysterical. They're the kind of thing where, after a few minutes of reading, your eyes are tearing up from lack of oxygen and your loved one has awoken from a sound sleep (probably because the bed was vibrating with your laughter) and is threatening to call an ambulance or suffocate you with a pillow. Deux has attractions in addition to the humor in the stories. It's nice to see that Sedaris can write - and write well - about something other than his screwy childhood and screwed-up history. Sooner or later Sedaris is bound to run out of humorous anecdotes about his past, and Me Talk Pretty is an indication that when he does, he'll still have good stuff to write about - his present. In fact, if this book is anything to go by, Sedaris' works will only improve on that day - in the distant future, of course - when he puts the past in, well, the past. (Caveat: do not read this book in public places unless you enjoy looking like someone with a major nervous system disorder and a bronchial problem. Books like this are best enjoyed either by yourself or in the company of people who have to love you, no matter how strange you look.)
Rating:
Summary: If you've studied French abroad (or not), you're gonna laugh
Review: They say that laughter is good for your health. Read ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY and you'll be feeling healthier! I read this book when I was having a very bad day and I felt myself starting to guffaw! David Sedaris' experiences in France and learning to speak French and feeling stilted and awkward made me laugh! Thirty years ago I studied French and I remember the French people correcting me in such a way that seemed humilating at the time, but pretty funny when I read about David Sedaris' similar experiences. I felt like calling him up and saying, "I know just what you're talking about!" This is the first book that I read of his, but I'm going to get the rest... FUNNY!
Rating:
Summary: funniest yet
Review: I wish that I had purchased the tapes because part of the enjoyment of David Sedaris's stories is hearing him tell them. I still enjoyed reading the book, but found myself trying to hear his voice reading it to me as he does on NPR. I was amused by every story and often laughed out loud.
Rating:
Summary: Countless Belly Laughs
Review: Anyone who read Naked would be wise to read this latest collection--Me Talk Pretty One Day is a suitable encore to Sedaris' previous book; it is full of residual laughter that may feel like it comes more from one's familiarity with his world view than these actual pages but is hilarious nonetheless. MTP1D doesn't hang together the way the brilliant Naked did but it's well worth the purchase (especially at this price) because it will have you quivering with laughter, countless times.
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