Medieval Bookworm

This is a collection of humorous essays drawn from the author’s life, covering fun topics from his elementary school speech counselor to the time a Frenchman thought he was a thief and went happily on in English about it to his girlfriend, not realizing that Sedaris was an American and understood every word he said.  Through his high drug years, his failed stint as a teacher, and even the time he almost saw a girl get killed, David Sedaris makes his readers laugh even as sometimes we know we really shouldn’t.

I had such a strange experience with this book.  It was my last choice for the read-a-thon and even though I wasn’t that tired, at first I didn’t find it all that funny.  I read the first few essays a little perplexed.  When I tried imagining someone reading the book out loud to me, I thought it was more entertaining, but still, sort of “eh.”  This mirrored the experience my husband had had with it a few weeks ago when he was looking for a humorous read.  Then, all of a sudden, it became hilarious.  I’m not sure whether I got used to Sedaris’s writing or whether the later stories were just funnier than the earlier ones, but I began laughing out loud more and more often.  And now that I’ve finished, I want to read more of his work.  I think for once an audiobook might be better; a lot of people have remarked that Sedaris is funnier in person.

I’ve lost most of the grasp of this book as it’s been a while and I’d read so much during the read-a-thon, so I’m just going to leave it at that.  Me Talk Pretty One Day is definitely a funny read; if it starts off not so much, keep reading, and hopefully you will also suddenly realize that this man is hilarious.

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