A good dose of laughter!
Annotation: A humorous autobiographic novel by David Sedaris outlining random events in his life. His unusual life stories tell of his childhood lisp troubles and speech therapy classes, his guitar lessons taught by a midget, his struggle to become an artist and trying to learn and survive the French culture and language.

Author bio: David Sedaris was born in New York and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He's openly and happily gay. He lives in Paris with his boyfriend Hugh Hamrick. He has worked as a housecleaner and, as a part-time elf for Macy's. Many of his plays have been produced, and his essays are featured regularly in The New Yorker, Harpers, and Esquire.

Evaluation: This was a very very good book. My sister had read it and recommended it to me. This was the first book I had picked up in a long time and was pulled into it by Sedaris' humor. At times, especially during class, I would find myself trying to hold in my laughter as to not make a scene. I usually have a hard time getting into a book when I first start reading, but this book started out with an interesting and of course humorous tale of Sedaris' speech therapy classes. I finished this book in about a week because every time I picked it up, I didn't want to stop reading it. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs a good dose of laughter.

From the older books, a real standout is "True Detective," which affected me in a way few stories about childhood ever have. This one story alone convinced me Sedaris knows what he's talking about...but there are dozens of others, too! This latest book is also a delight to read, but I mostly want to HIGHLY recommend the *recorded* version...if only to hear Sedaris actually sing his Billie Holliday jingles in "Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities." Classic comedy!

One of the earlier reviewers said Sedaris was "too sarcastic" for them. Well, he *is* that...no doubt. But that's only half of what he's about. The ultimate resolution in his writing is anything *but* sarcastic. He doesn't just leave you in absurd pain. He shows you, instead, that life really does lead somewhere. The only requirement...leave the dysfunctional behind. Think you can do it? Good luck....

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