Rating: 
Summary: The Gift of Laughter!
Review: David Sedaris could be one of the funniest writers of our generation. His semi-autobiographical essays make me laugh out loud. Sedaris views the world through cynical, yet witty eyes. His brutal commentary on society makes one blink and then chuckle. The Santaland Diaries is one of the 6 essays in the book, and by far the best. This biographical tale of Sedaris' time as a Christmas elf in a department store is critical of himself, parents, the tiny children and Santa himself. Now made into a hit play that tours the nation, especially at Christmas, there's nothing like reading Sedaris' first hand account of slightly bored, slightly crazy out of work actors struggling to make a buck. Dinah, the Christmas Hore, is my other favorite holiday offering in this collection. This tells the story of Sedaris' sister, who brings an unexpected guest to the family's holiday celebrations. Suddenly, David sees everyone in his family in a whole new way--sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's not. In the end, David Sedaris comes through with another winning collection. Every book he writes is funny, but this one makes an especially nice holiday gift. Also with this great purchase, I would also like to recommend two other enjoyable, lesser-known books: The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, Will@epicqwest.com by Tom Grimes. I purchased both books through Amazon to avoid the bug-eyed holiday madness at the mall. Happy and safe holidays everyone!
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed drink
Review: On the Friday after Thanksgiving 2003, a news report circulated telling us of a woman trampled nearly to death during a mad rush in an early morning sale at her local Wal-Mart. Underneath her bruised and broken body was discovered a sad cardboard box containing an ultra-cheap DVD player, which the store managers kindly put on hold for her. The above story is something that isn't a million miles away from the non-fiction Christmas stories told in HOLIDAYS ON ICE. All these stories have the ring of truth about them even (as in the anecdote I mentioned above) if one suspects that the facts may have been somewhat embellished. It's their inherent believability that makes them funny. But once David Sedaris moves towards outright fiction, his stories are less successful. It feels as though he is constantly trying to outdo himself, making the stories more and more outrageous for fear that the mundane may not be as funny as the shocking. In any case, here are some quick comments on each of the five essays that make up this short collection: "SantaLand Diaries" -- David Sedaris entertains us with his stories of working a terrible job as one of Santa's elves in a Macy's department store. This is the highlight of the collection - a very funny piece indeed. People are funny to Sedaris. From the utterly bizarre people who take on the role of Santa and his elves to the equally strange people who show up to wander through SantaLand, all of them provide us with many laughs. "Season's Greetings to Our Friends And Family!!!" -- Not one of the more successful efforts in this collection. Oh, the initial idea is amusing enough, but the execution leaves much to be desired. In short, this is a parody of one of those over the top generic Christmas letters than some people will mail out to everyone they know in an attempt to compress an entire year's worth of news into a single newsletter-sized message. The essay is funnier when it's mocking the little things that go into these communications (the overuse of multiple explanation points, the disturbingly flowery language), but less funny when it tries to tell it's story. "Dinah, The Christmas Whore" -- The story of the Sedaris family taking in a lady of the evening. This essay is rather short, and ends up feeling more sweet than funny (though it's definitely amusing). "Front Row Center With Thaddeus Bristol" -- An even shorter essay than the previous offering, but it is hilarious. Yes, one of the more annoying things about the holidays is being dragged to the inevitable children's production of some Christmas themed story. Or, to be more specific, an adult directing a group of unenthusiastic children in a horribly boring play. Sedaris perfectly captures the deep, deep horror that each self-aware member of the audience will experience if forced to attend one of these ghastly affairs. "Based Upon a True Story" -- Yikes. I didn't care for this one at all. An amoral television producer comes to a small town on Christmas to ask permission for the filming of a Based On A True Story TV Movie. This might have been much more amusing had Sedaris not beaten us over the head with his satire. "Christmas Means Giving" -- Again, a fictional story, and, again, not as successful as the true-life memoirs. This details the escalation that two families undergo in their attempt to become the biggest present-giver in the neighborhood. Sedaris abandons any attempt of subtlety and instead goes for over-the-top laughs. As you may have gathered, all of the stories in this small collection revolve around the holidays, and there's a lot of comedy fruit to be harvested from that time of year. But for as many as he successfully picks, he bludgeons others to pulp. It was a short collection so even the uninteresting pieces don't drag on for too long. HOLIDAYS ON ICE makes for a handy antidote to anyone feeling overwhelmed by the "holiday cheer" that comes around without fail every year at this time.
Rating:
Summary: Impossible Not to Laugh
Review: There are few authors who make us laugh out loud. David Sedaris will.
Rating:
Summary: Scintillating
Review: I limit my reading of Mr. Sedaris's works to the privacy of my home, as the involuntary bouts of snorting laughter his works produce in me prove too disruptive in public.
Rating:
Summary: I laughed until I cried.
Review: Possibly my favorite book of all time, Holidays on Ice is Sedaris' best book. Each story will have you literaly laughing out loud.
Rating: 
Summary: Be wary, just a collection
Review: This book is an excellent collection of some of Sedaris' earlier works, and the story for which the book is named is one of his best. But beware, if you are already familiar with Sedaris you may have already read this one without knowing it; all of the stories contained within appear either in Naked or Barrel Fever.
Rating:
Summary: Twisted
Review: David Sedaris gives us a book on Christmas with a twist. This is not a book about how wonderfull Christmas is but how sick and screwed up the world is with Christmas as the backdrop. My personal favorite story is about working as an Elf with Santa at a department store for the holidays. The little vignettes within the story about the going ons in the Santa department is truly funny because it is true. I worked at a famous toy chain one year and the same stories happened to me. Not one of the stories is traditional, but written with a New York sense of humor. "Front Row Center With Thaddeus Bristol" is about a serious review of children's Cristmas pagents and is every bit as blistering as if they were a Broadway play. "Christmas Means Giving" is about one-up-man-ship of trying to keep up with the Joneses and is every bit as funny as it is sick. If you want a book with a warped sense of Christmas that is funny, this is for you. This is definitly not for children, but it is for their parents.
Rating: 
Summary: Maybe the book is better?
Review: David Sedaris, author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, is normally one of my favorite authors. His essays and short stories are usually humorous and enjoyable. However, Holidays on Ice proved to be the exception. This was an audio edition of four of Sedaris' essays/stories about Christmas. While the first story about a department store elf was marginally funny, the rest were horrendous. Sedaris' normally charming narration was grating and whiney and while I did listen to the very end, I honestly wish I hadn't. Perhaps this one would be better if read, rather than listened to, but I think not. I'm not a fan of the Christmas holidays and, seemingly, neither is Sedaris, but his stories didn't prove amusing - they were just annoying.
Rating:
Summary: Dysfunctional Families are Fun!
Review: I love this book. I've given this book as a pre-holiday gift to my friends heading home for the dreaded winter get-togethers. It's a must have survival tool!!!
Rating: 
Summary: From Delight to Disgust
Review: This book goes from being brilliant in Santaland Diaries (hence the 2 stars) to being offensive against minorities to being simply disgusting and appalling: children being raped and murdered. During his "delightful" trek through the holidays, one baby dies after being thrown into the dryer, and two other children are given away and found raped and murdered. And this is funny?
| 
