Rating: 
Summary: Sedaris is on fire!
Review: If you have never read David Sedaris or heard him read portions of his books on David Letterman then you need to pick up one of his books and treat yourself. I have not read one of his books and not laughed hysterically. I also recommend any book by his sister, Amy Sedaris (I constantly wonder what Thanksgiving dinner is like at their house!)
Rating:
Summary: Be prepared to laugh out loud... repeatedly!
Review: I made the "mistake" of bring this book on a cross-country flight, and by the time we touched down, was asked by 3 people sitting near me who the author was. Any book that causes you to lose composure is a good one.
David Sedaris lets you in on his life experiences with wit, self-depracation and humor.
Do kids with lisps automatically end up gay? How do you let your music teacher know that you don't want to name your guitar after a woman? How stupid do Americans really look to Europeans?
The books feels like you're drinking one-too-many with a new friend, and getting lost in their unique family stories. He has an awesome abilty of writing in a voice that's at once easy to read, and equally as easy to see played out internally. You'll have trouble putting it down!
Rating:
Summary: Dont read it while you are outside..
Review: yOU know if you do care about what others would think of you, just do yourslef a favor and read this book when you are home. After reading the first story, I thought I could manage holding my laughs so I went out in public and start getting into it. Boy, I had to leave the cafe' soon cuz nobody in that place had any doubts that I am either lack some manners or crazy. The book is full of provoking jokes..But if you think of it, you just cant help but grining. From batteling with the letter "s" and all those trying hard to fix his flaws to putting up with his father saving up till starvation, Mr sedaris was helarious in dealing with every shot in his life...
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Pleasure
Review: Me Talk Pretty One Day is David Sedaris' very funny look at himself through both his family and his time in France. The good news that his sister's comedy, Strangers with Candy, is coming out on DVD made me pick this book up again and remember all over what a truly Talented Family this is (and Amy's appearances in David's essays are amongst the funniest sections, outside of the David learning French, of course). These essays seem fresh on second and third helpings. Since the first time I read this I have finally heard many of them on NPR and now can read them with the author's rather distinctive voice in my head. Now my brain is, sadly, changing all commerical jingles into rather nasally, high-pitched Billie Holliday-emoting songs. That may not be a blessing but this book is and will always be.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny But Not Solely About France or the French
Review: As I purchased this book simply because it appears on so many Francophile Amazon.com listamania lists, I prepared myself for a throughly enjoyable and hysterically humorous read based on the 400+ reviews that pumped up the pleasure factor of this book to the almost unrealistic level of master satirist Mark Twain. While the book is funny, I was disappointed to discover that it really was not about France or the French---the essay entitled "Me Talk Pretty One Day", indeed narrates the author's amusing and insightful struggle with learning the French language while at a language school in Paris, but it is only one out of perhaps four or five essays about France, the majority of the book deals with Sedaris' issues with himself and his colorful family back in the US. (Now, please, just because I am warning those Amazon customers who wish to purchase a book about France and the French and were directed to this book by listamania listings, don't immediately click the "no" button as if the rest of my review isn't worth reading. Alas, I was sadly misdirected as most likely others are, too and should not be penalized for telling the truth as I see it. Nor should anyone rate anyone's review negatively simply because it expresses an alternative opinion.) Because of this misdirection, I read the first half of this book--which has nothing to do with France--with anticipation of when France and the French were going to pop up in the author's humorous anecdotes and musings regarding this understanding of life. By the time I got to the second part, where Sedaris travels to Paris with his boyfriend, I had already realized that this book of essays was just that: a book of essays containing only a few essays about France. I confess to skimming through the contents of each essay before deeming it worthy of my time--sorry to those of you who simply love everything Sedaris--and I will say that the French essays in the book are well worth the read---I just wish there had been a whole book dedicated to just this topic.
Therefore, if like myself, you have happened upon this page simply to read a book about France, save your money and either read the few French themed essays in the library or bookstore. Buy instead "On Rue Tatin"--the telling of an American woman and her husband who buy an old convent north of Paris or any of the Provence books by UK author Mayle. These books are not meant to be funny in a satirical manner, but instead convey an idea of the French and their country from alien prospectives.
Rating:
Summary: Moderation
Review: Me Talk Pretty One Day was my initiation into the quirky and warped world of David Sedaris, and after the first few pages I knew I would like it there. This was a guy who tried to construct a vocabulary without using the letter "s" so that he could mask his lisp. As a child, he hilariously tells us, his midget guitar teacher had a voice like a recording played back too fast and he taught his students to love their guitars by suggesting they imagine them as a "stacked" woman. And that's just in the first two (short) chapters.But suddenly, the same sharp commentary that had me laughing out loud in public a few chapters earlier started to seem predictable, and the sarcastic wit I identified with early on had somehow eroded into a grating kind of pessimism. Fortunately, I put the book aside and read something else for a few days. When I picked it up again, it again seemed fresh and bitingly comical. And then I realized what I now think is essential to enjoying Mr. Sedaris' work: it needs to small bites in order to be digested correctly. So I end up with three stars -- an average between the two stars I would give it had I read the book straight through and the four I think it deserves when it comes in drips and drabs. I can't agree with my fellow reviewers who consider Mr. Sedaris a modern day Mark Twain or P.G. Wodehouse, but he is pretty damn funny. Just remember, like most things, the key is moderation.
Rating: 
Summary: Self indulgent and annoying beyond tolerance ZERO STARS
Review: ...Funny? When did cynicism and ...arrogance displace wit and insight in American comedy? If you think insulting anyone around is a sign of wit you have found your bible. A weak author, without charm or grasp of the language.
If airing the intimacies of family and friends in an insulting and exploitative way is your description of charm then get ready to be smitten. It'll make a good read in between episodes of Temptation Island and American Idol...
Rating:
Summary: No, funny as in funny. And yes, weird.
Review: One of the most consistently rewarding humorous essayists working the field today, Mr. Sedaris is just a damn funny Yankee. His warmth and conspiratorial tone draw a reader in, and by the time you clue into how strange is the thing he's relating, well then it's just too late. You're trapped, late at night in your living room, with the guy who spent too much time developing protective coloration in high school to assume his role as class clown. Nice work.
Rating:
Summary: Somebody help me....my sides have split open!
Review: OH MY GOD...that has to unquestionably be the most amusing book ever to be written by an actual member of our own species! How can such a man exist?! Sedaris is filled with a sense of humor and wit that cannot possibly be exaggerated. He has lived life in the most twistedly fantastic of senses and brings out the best of himself and everyone who reads this book. He understands something from each and every one of us and does not care what opinions he induces from people; he'll do his damn well best to write about those things people know about but don't sometimes say while baring his life and soul to us. This is a spectacularily unexpurgated edition of the book of not just his life, but ours, and it's wonderful.
He makes his experiences on Speed one of the most splendid events I could ever imagine going through: "`I'm thinking of parceling off portions of my brain,` I once told her. `I'm not talking about having anything surgically removed, I'd just like to divide it into lots and lease it out so that people can say `I've got a house in Raleigh, a cottage in Myrtle Beach, and a little hideaway inside a visionary's head.` Her bored expression suggested the questionable value of my mental real estate."
Sedaris is not only a master at self-deprecating humor but he manages to strip his family of their protection and cover of normalcy as well whilst successfully expressing their mutual bonds as a clearly deep and affectionate family who warms your heart: "My mother was, for the most part, delighted with my brother and regarded him with the bemused curiosity of a brood hen discovering she has hatched a completely different species. 'I think it was very nice of Paul to give me this vase,' she once said, arranging a bouquet of wildflowers into the skull-shaped bong my brother had left on the dining-room table. 'It's non-traditional, but that's Rooster's way. He's a free spirit, and we're lucky to have him.'" It's this funny, ALL THE WAY, people. Articulate, brutally honest, and blatantly hilarious, you'll find no better. The review done by Amazon.com really helps in describing what this book will give you as well. You really can't go wrong. Reap the benefits and GET IT!!!
Rating:
Summary: BOOM! POP! POW!
Review: This book is a pretty darn good read...quite funny even. I really like reading it on the bus because the essays are just long enough to get through in one trip. For some reason I can really relate to his cynicism; it takes a real talent to despise much of the world and still be happy. It also take real talent to write about the biggest turd ever...
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