dress your family in corduroy and denim

I have finally read a David Sedaris book. I believe I attempted to read this book several years ago, but it didn't catch my interest. Did I not get his wit? Perhaps. Here's how most of the chapters go: David acts like a selfish prick; David repents. Either that, or it's a strange encounter, often with members of his own family, like his brother whose dialog is unlike anything I've ever heard (with corny jokes such as: "This coffee's like making love on a canoe. It's f***ing near water") or his self-employed sister who tears the linoleum off of her kitchen floor and sells it. A lot of the stories are funny, but sometimes they're simultaneously sad as he addresses peoples' loneliness, insecurities, irrational and bullying behavior, bigotry, and other foibles.

It's the school year, so I spend a lot of time reading for work, including Ender's Game, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and student papers, so Sedaris is a great read during the school year. Intelligent without being taxing; amusingly sharp and witty; and each chapter is its own little story rather than a long, ornate plot to try to untangle after a day of being intellectually drained.