Book

[mothwing]

I really should stop reading several books at the same time. It usually means I don't finish all of them.

25.

Dress Your Family in Cordoroy and Denim, David Sedaris.
I have to admit that after reading the enthused voices of various newspaper critics on the first page I would have expected something completely different, but I am by no means disappointed. I love the main character, Sedaris' style and the way he effortlessly combines autobiographic episodes with social commentary and humour.
Not as "Hilarious!!!" as the critics said, but I love it nontheless. Or maybe I misunderstand the meaning of "hilarious". I always thought that that meant something like "pant-wettingly funny", but that's not what this book is to me; it has a rather heart-warming, if sometimes slightly wry humour? Hmm.

     ("They banded together in third grade. Ann Carlsworth, Christie Kaymore, Deb Bevins, Mike Holliwell, Doug Middleton, Thad Pope: they were the core of the popular crowd, and for the next six years my classmates and I studied their lives the way we were supposed to study math and English. What confused us most was the absence of any spcific formula. Were they funny? No. Interesting? Yawn. None owned pools or horses. They had no special talents, and their grades were unremarkable. It was their dearth of excellence that gave the rest of us hope and kept us on our toes. Every now and then they'd select a new member, and the general attitude among the student body was 'Oh, pick me!' It didn't matter what you were like on your own. The group would make you special. That was it's magic.
     So complete was their power that I actually felt honoured when one of them hit me in the mouth with a rock. He'd gotten me after school, and upon returning home, I ran into my sister's bedroom, hugging my bloody Kleenex and crying, 'It was Thad!!!'
     Lisa was one grade higher than me, but still she understood the significance. 'Did he say anything?' she asked. 'Did you save the rock?'")

Comments

[fennyfen.livejournal.com]

:D

I love David Sedaris.

[mariebernadette.livejournal.com]

I love Sedaris, too. I've gotten to meet him twice - his boyfriend's family is from here.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

OMGWTFBBQWHAT

Why does everybody around here get to meet David Sedaris? Fen up there met him, too.

His boyfriend needs to move.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Me, too. Good that you mentioned that you met him the other day, otherwise I probably wouldn't have remembered to finally take out this book from the library.

[rizardofoz.livejournal.com]

WHAT!!! I be jealous from hearing this.


"Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" is my favorite of his: the last story in the book is simply amazing. This isn't the funniest of his books, but I found quite a few parts humorous. There are some very serious moments in this book as well...

[mariebernadette.livejournal.com]

His next book is supposed to be released in the next couple of weeks. He read a few on This American Life and at the last reading he did here, animal stories, fables.

[fennyfen.livejournal.com]

I want to meet him again. But his site says he's not touring around where I live again for quite a while. D: I guess I'll just have to wait.

Hopefully I'll see him enough times in the future that he recognizes me. >> That would be sickeningly awesome. I could be like, "Hey, what's up, David?" and he wouldn't look at me like I was nuts. :D

I've only read Me Talk Pretty One Day, but that's mostly because I haven't been to the bookstore or library in months. xD Otherwise I'm sure I'd've read much more of his.

By the way, Moth, I love the poem on your journal. Bukowski's my favorite poet. He's wonderful.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Oh yes! The mixture of serious moments and funny bits is what makes this novel awesome for me.

What I really don't like is his temporal organisation. The frequent changes between analepsis and prolepsis make me slightly dizzy.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Oh, right, you mentioned it in your post the other day! There seems to be some sort of a Bukowski fad going on online at the moment, users in several poetry comms I'm in are posting his works all over the place.

Don't you live really close to a library? Shooo shoo! "Dress your family" is absolutely awesome.

[fennyfen.livejournal.com]

I've liked Bukowski for quite a while. He's really just phenomenal. I love the emotion he can stir within me. Every poem - or story - of his I read makes me shudder.

Nah, I don't live close to a library at all. And my dad won't drive me. :( But, I'll try to get it as soon as possible.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

I sort of forgot about him. I remember that I once read a poem during one of my late-night-reading exploits, during my early uni years, and liked him. And then I forgot about him, sort of. I couldn't even say for sure which poem it was. It's good that he's so en vogue right now.

Really? I must be mixing you up. O_o I could have sworn you once told me you lived close to a library. Huh.

[fennyfen.livejournal.com]

Well, I learned about him through the Modest Mouse song 'Bukowski' - and, when I looked him up, he just blew me away.

About a year ago I lived near a library, but I moved. =P That could've been it.