Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious! Deliciously Irreverent! Wickedly Absurd!
Review: Delightfully twisted collection of Sedaris' off-beat tales and observations. As most other reviewers have noted, you will laugh out loud again and again. The stories are quite brief though. I adored 'Barrel Fever' and 'Naked.' I was left somewhat disappointed only because I wanted more! (I highly recommend all three books, but BF is the best of the lot.) David Sedaris has a way of presenting the absurd much like his sister Amy, of 'Strangers with Candy' fame. Sedaris is like early John Waters - either you love it fanatically (as I do) or you don't get it at all. A word of caution...if you are sensitive to political correctness, are easily offended by left-leaning irreverence or scatological humor, or vote Republican, then this book is definitely not for you! FYI: You will NEVER think of Jodie Foster quite the same way again.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: "Laugh out loud funny" seems to be a recurring description of this book, and for good reason. I tried to stretch out the book by only reading a few chapters every night in bed, but the laughs I tried to stifle turned into snorts and kept waking my partner. I then tried reading parts to him, but had trouble getting the words out without cracking up. I finished the book a few days ago and he is trying to read it now, but I keep stealing it from him to re-read my favorite parts (which include most of the book). I will never look at some of David Sedaris' topics (speech therapy, learning French, American tourists) again without thinking about his astute and/or warped comments. Buy it and enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: me talk pretty someday
Review: This new collection of real-life accounts of the life and times of David Sedaris was an amazing bore. If there ever was an example of the Emperor's New Clothes, me talk pretty, tops the list, evidenced by the heights it has scaled on the best-seller list. Clearly a book need not have any true quality to achieve best-seller status but just clever marketing and previous reputation. Unlike the wacky but fascinating, self-depricating Naked, me talk pretty is a collection of stories one might over hear and tune out during a morning commute. If I were Mr.Sedaris, and thank goodness I am not, I'd be more than embarassed. In fact, me talk pretty is the kind of book that, in better circumstances, Sedaris himself would have used his sharp wit to make fun of.
Rating:
Summary: Something for Everyone
Review: This is the first book by David Sedaris I've read and I have to say it certainly is among the funniest. The brilliance of his wit lies within his ability to find the humor in everyday situations and people, whether it be the humiliation of a young boy having to attend speech therapy class for his lisp or the awkward embarrassment of screwing up French translations in a language class run by a teacher who would have been more suitably employed as a Gestapo agent, Sedaris finds the ridiculous in the everyday. One minor criticism, I found the book peters out towards the end. The last two or three stories aren't nearly as interesting or humorous as what comes before them. But gay or straight, there's something for everyone in this book.
Rating:
Summary: A bit inconsistent, but the payoff is worth it
Review: My reactions to David Sedaris's new book ranged from a slight smile, to such hysterical laughter that I was asked to leave the ICU of a hospital where I was visiting a relative. The book is split into two parts. The first is made up of stories about his family, including his foul-mouthed but tender brother, and his father, who apparently will eat no food before its time. The second half concerns his life in France, especially his attempts to learn the language. A million writers have used this theme before, but I've never read anyone who does it so well. The short dialogue of cowed language students trying to comfort each other before their teacher attacks again is worth the price of the book. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A Typo Away from a Fiver
Review: I'm withholding a five star rating because of the typo on page 269: "We used to returned home for Christmas every year . . . " Is there no one at Little, Brown and Company whose responsibility it is to make sure errors such as the above don't ruin the reading experience? I feel cheated.
Rating:
Summary: My inner Vichette Loved it.
Review: I was lucky to hear Mr. Sedaris read excerpts from this book on a visit to Milwaukee as he was writing this book. I also hear him from time to time on "This American Life" I find him to be one of the funniest authors of our time. I think I know how he would feel about being called "the gay Dave Berry of our time", so I won't. I had the opportunity to have a cigarette with him when he was here. I asked him why he moved to France and he said, "Because I can smoke EVERYWHERE"! Thank God for David Sedaris, I laugh myself to sleep every night. More More Please Mr. Sedaris, MORE
Rating:
Summary: Me Talk Pretty One Day - Audio Version
Review: I was laughing out loud as I listened to the audio version of Me Talk Pretty One Day. Mr. Sedaris' narration adds a vital dimension to this wry, insightful, sarcastic set of stories. I particularly loved hearing his Billie Holliday impression in the story about his guitar lessons. His direct translations of dialogue from French into English were also truly entertaining. I highly recommend this book on tape, especially for any long road-trips. Just remember to pull off the road if you start laughing too much.
Rating:
Summary: Sedaris Bites A Froggy
Review: Although "Me Talk Pretty One Day" is an excellent collection of stories, it is not Sedaris's best work. However when it's "Holidays on Ice" you're comparing it to, how can it live up to expectation? Though it does have some truly hilarious stories, check out "You Can't Kill the Rooster" and "A Shiner Like A Diamond", the whole of the book is not nearly as funny as earlier work. For a writer as gifted as Sedaris, France seems too easy a target and it often falls a little flat. But when the subject is his wonderfully insane family, the words are absolute bliss. It is not that this is a bad book, in fact it is a great book. But after reading the other work, I have come to expect more and I know Sedaris can fulfill his readers high expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Me think pretty this book
Review: Ok, let me get one thing straight. Mr. Sedaris is as humorous a writer as I know. There is a deep spiritual need within me that is fullfilled by the fall off your chair laughter that he provides. He continually shocks me with the wide open insanity of subject matter (performance art - a bunch of wacked out dropped-out artists hopped up on speed). This book isn't quite as funny as the two predecessors Barrel or Naked, but to borrow a quote from a prior reviewer, "I would read a grocery list if David Sedaris wrote it". His worst material is head & shoulders above the crowd. If these stories are real, I mean even close to real and anywhere near autobiographical,....what am I saying? How could anyone make these stories up? There aren't enough mind-altering substances out there. Read this book. You will like it.
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