Reviews (55)

Efron Is Real
As a university professor originally from New York City and definitely past the "baby Boomer" stage, I still found time to read Nora's essays and thoroughly enjoyed them."Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail," are not "Hilarious" as so many people expect, but rather poignant portrayals of real-life human dilemmas presented in a lighter voice.Nora has been the one who can capture the rare moment within the chaos of reality, and her essays in the "neck" book do just that. This was obviously not meant to be the "book of the year," but a snapshot of the woman behind the captivating novels and films.The essays allow us to see that, she too, is aging with the rest of us, and it comes on all so quickly.I plan on gifting this book for the holidays, along with Gangi's "Forget The Cures, Find The Cause," and "Crazy Salad."The combination will help to get many minds and bodies on a better track.

A disappointment
I ran to get a copy of Nora Ephron's newest book, as I always liked her work. I'm glad I didn't spend the money, and instead got it from the library. I expected a very funny book that would be filled with wisdom and wit. Instead I found a slightly funny book that lacked originality and really had nothing to say. It would be too harsh to call it self-indulgent, but in a way it was. So she had a rent-controlled apartment that she loved, so parenting has changed,and so she has to dye her hair (often). Yawn yawn.
Women (and men) Will Love This Book
I was one of the 5 women in Azzarella's car going to Rayna Gangi's book signing(another great book, by the way) and all of us are at least over 50.Nora, the Golden Girls, even Oprah, will love these stories. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Aging    2. American Satire And Humor    3. Form - Essays    4. Humor    5. Women's Studies - General    6. Humor / Essays   

Reviews (33)

You're kidding me, right?
Not insightful, not even humorous. I am willing to admit that maybe I just don't get his writing style, whatever that might be. I hope Mr. Rakoff gets into a new line of work

Well Written, but Non-Productive
This is some brilliant writing.It moves right along, it keeps you interested, and it has a very clear voice and strong point of view.I defintely think it's worth reading, but it's like a bucket of KFC -- delicious, satisfying, but probably bad for you.

ShoppersParadise
If you're like a man like me, you hate to shop. But my wife is a shopaholic, that's why I've found this book to be so delightful, I didn't actually have to leave the house, to go shopping. Too bad it doesn't really count with my wife, I'm going to the mall where I'll sit on anything stationary this afternoon
Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. American Satire And Humor    3. Essays    4. Form - Essays    5. Humor    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. Social Science / Essays   

Editorial Review

David Sedaris became a star autobiographer on public radio, onstage in New York, and on bestseller lists, mostly on the strength of "SantaLand Diaries," a scathing, hilarious account of his stint as a Christmas elf at Macy's. (It's in two separate collections, both worth owning, Read more

Reviews (637)

Caution, this book will make you laugh....hard.
I reread this recently and I laughed as much as I did the first time I read it.David Sedaris is quite a national treasure even though most people don't know who he is!His writing is wonderful, poignant, sentimental and hilarious.The man knows how to write well and you can tell he continues to love his craft.
Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive.
David Sedaris just might be the funniest man alive.
Me tAlK PRettY ONe DAY
"I know the thing that you speak exact now. Talk me more, you, plus, please, plus," Says David Sedaris, "talking pretty" in his book, Me tAlK PRettY ONe DAY. (page 173) The quote above is from a story about the absurdities of taking French lessons. The book is a collection of funny memoirs about such awful experiences as speech therapy in elementary school, his father forcing him to take guitar lessons from a midget and moving to France and not being able to speak French. Most of the stories center around his bizarre siblings and parents, including his obsessively swearing brother Paul, his alcoholic, chain-smoking mom and his drama-obsessed sister Amy. As the book progresses the stories take place later in his life and follow him into adulthood. We see him growing older but still being the same timid, disturbed outsider. While this book is not part of a series, David Sedaris has written many other humor books like it, such as Naked, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Americans    2. Essays    3. Form - Essays    4. France    5. Humor    6. Paris    7. Paris (France)    8. Humor / Essays    9. American Satire And Humor   

Editorial Review

Star radio storyteller David Sedaris presents his collected works in one audio box set. The longest (at five hours) is his latest, Read more

Features

• Audiobook

Reviews (25)

Hilarious
I would've given it 5 stars but it should get about 4.8 stars.
Lost in Translation...
While it's great hearing David Sedaris' voice, it ultimately takes away from the experience.Sedaris' books are amazingly funny and dark; very witty stuff.They are best enjoyed in print form though, when the reader can inject their own tone and inflection into the words of the printed page.Hearing David Sedaris' interpretation somewhat lessens this experience.
How Can You Beat This Price?
As a big fan of David Sedaris, I have loved listening to him read his stories on NPR even more than I have enjoyed reading his books. While I had wanted to purchase some of the audiobooks, they always seemed so pricy.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Humor    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Fiction    5. Form - Essays    6. Short Stories (single author)    7. Fiction / Short Stories (single author)   

Subjects:  1. American Essays    2. American Satire And Humor    3. American wit and humor    4. Essays    5. Form - Essays    6. Humor    7. English    8. Humour    9. USA   

Editorial Review

With his Read more

Reviews (71)

Hilarious
Funniest book I've read in a long time, had me laughing aloud through a flight from Boston to Dublin.

What? Is this supposed to be funny?
Another east coast know it all making fun of the things Americans hold dear, even 9-11.
First book I could not listen past the first CD and even that was difficult
I have listened to 15-20 audio books during the past year and this was definitely the worst and perhaps the only bad buy I have had.There is no humor here.I was looking for ideas and styles of telling jokes since I do many keynote talks at conferences but I found nothing here except a style to avoid.What a bunch of totally worthless crap this is.Unless, you are teaching a course on how to generate creative names for things, I would pretty much say pass on this one.The people who like this book must sure be patient or have nothing better to do with their lives, since I had difficultly listening past the introduction.I got through the first CD and could not stand anymore.I tried to put the next CD in to have a go, but by mind kept telling me not to.I am spending more time writing this review than this book deserves.If I was the publisher of this book, I would be embarrassed.If I was Jonathan (John Hodgman's friend), I would be embarrassed too.Stop yourself from buying this book. Please!
Read more

Subjects:  1. American wit and humor    2. Form - Essays    3. Form - Parodies    4. Humor    5. Fiction / General    6. Humour   

Editorial Review

Read more

Reviews (132)

Funny but odd.. Buy with caution.
Very good book but only buy it if you are looking for a book with a very strange sense of humor. In the first story he explains his job as an Elf at Santaland and describes his daily life. It is so funny, some of the things people do there are amazing and crazy at the same time.
David Sedaris
Another collection of essays from a brilliant wit who you know you love to read. It's like I've said in my reviews before. There's no need to review each book when I can just give the author a blanket endorsement and guarantee you'll love whatever you find by the guy. I love it when that happens. I may have annoyed Jan by laughing out loud too often. Sedaris is like that.
I enjoy sick humor!
If you laugh at children falling down this is the book for you.He may push it sometimes but isn't that what a good writer should do?Knowing he is half Greek, so am I, I was hoping for a good egg cracking story or roasting lamb in your backyard.Unfortunately there wasn't one.Santaland was my favorite. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Christmas stories, American    3. Fiction    4. Form - Essays    5. General    6. Humor    7. Humorous    8. Humorous stories, American    9. Short Stories (single author)    10. Short stories    11. Fiction / Humorous   

Reviews (3)

Absolute Joy
I have always enjoyed Larry Miller's stand up, and now I am delighted to find his point of view in book form.I love his take on marriage and family (his wife is a hoot!) to the everyday nonsense that we all do.I feel this book is very relatable and smart -- even though there where times I didn't understand one of his many historical refrences, I still understood what he was saying.Mr. Miller is a terrific writer, who is not afraid to reveal all sides of his personality.If you want a good laugh, then get this book!You will not be dissapointed.

Laugh-outloud funny, but wait - it's great writing, too!
That Larry Miller is a crafty one all right.You think you're reading a book of comic essays but then it suddenly dawns on you: this is really good!Impressive!It's got my brain - and my heart - pumping.How'd he do that?
This is not only delightful writing and fun reading, it is wonderfully funny!
I love Larry Miller.Ever since I heard his "Five Levels of Drinking" years ago, and his comment that woman is the most powerful magnet in the universe and all men are cheap metal, well, I knew we had found a mind that could tell the funny truth.This is not a simple thing.Most of what is passed off as comedy is just awful and obscene twaddle that gets laughs by punching the audience in the gut.The laughs are more explosive exhalations than expressions of delight and joy.Miller brings delight and joy.
Read more

Subjects:  1. American Satire And Humor    2. American wit and humor    3. Form - Essays    4. Humor    5. Topic - Political    6. English    7. Humor / Essays    8. Humour    9. USA   

Reviews (40)

Hilarious!
This was one of the funniest books I ever read in my life! I like how it's a religion that makes more logical sense than "real" religions, but is totally asinine. And some of the entries are just so out there they should make anyone laugh. It does make more sense that the creator of the universe was either stupid or drunk, given the state of things, than an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent being.

Painfully Effective!
This is, hands down, the absolute best parody of chemical evolution I have ever seen!

Science Triumphs!
Purchased after reading a review in Scientific American.It is a truly wonderful "defense" of Intelligent Design, written by a physicist using purely scientific methods and sure to sway any doubters.A truly hilarious work, it will be found particularly offensive by those who would most benefit from serious consideration of its contents.(I suspect will at least slightly offend nearly every reader.)I loved it! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American Satire And Humor    2. Fiction - General    3. Form - Essays    4. Humor    5. Humorous    6. Religion    7. Topic - Religion    8. Fiction / Humorous   

Editorial Review

Let's get this out of the way: David Rakoff is not David Sedaris. When you hear him being incredibly smart and funny on Read more

Reviews (54)

Keep it simple, stupid

Very good, very clever
Comparing David Rakoff to David Sedaris, while probably unavoidable, is more than a little disinginuous.David Sedaris writes in a way that is understated, even simplistic, yet which makes him easy to relate to.Reading David Rakoff, by contrast, is not effortless.His writing is more complex and more obviously literary, which makes it less immediate, and less relatable.He has a considerable intellect, and skill as a writer, and is not afraid to show it.As a result, there is a sense of effort, of him trying to say things in a way that is probably not as straightforward as it could be.That's only bad when it doesn't work, and during those times when it seems that he is trying too hard, or at least, too hard to be clever.Fortunately, that is not often.
brilliant!!
No other word to describe this collection of short stories, or rather essays on life in general.
Read more

Subjects:  1. American Essays    2. Essays    3. Form - Essays    4. Humor    5. Literary Collections    6. Literature: Classics    7. Humor / Essays   

Editorial Review

It's been 25 years since Garrison Keillor first began charming audiences with the goings-on of the strong women, good-looking men, and above-average children in his mythical Minnesota town. Keiller's storytelling alchemy (part literary orchestra, part gossip), gentle humor, and deadpan (or is that just Midwestern?) delivery are what have made Read more

Features

• Audiobook

Reviews (9)

More Fun Than A NPR Membership Drive
As someone who has relied heavily on NPR almost since its inception in 1970, I've logged many an hour on the banks of Lake Wobegon, smiling as Dusty and Lefty chewed on cowboy philosophy and thrilling at the adventures of Guy Noir, Private Eye.What I found most alluring about Prairie Home Companion was the format itself, homage to the great days of radio when audiences imagined pictures for themselves.This was a marvelously collaborative process whereby, as Stan Freiberg once observed, it really was possible to fill the Grand Canyon with Jell-O.
Narrow Slice of the Pie
I purchased this 25th anniversary collection with great anticipation and, have to say, I was surprised and disappointed to find that this compendium consists ONLY of Garrison's monologues with a few musical selections thrown in.This collection has none of the short skits, Guy Noir bits, or cast-inclusive pieces of brilliance that punctuate and vary the pacing of the live radio show.Don't get me wrong, Garrison's stories are wonderful in themselves and quite enjoyable, but I feel that a 25th anniversary collection should consist of more than just this one aspect of the show.If, like me, you want a more rounded Prarie Home experience, you'll need to buy some of the other Prarie Home CD releases to suppliment this purchase which, I think, is a shame.This collection should be clearly labelled as monologues & music, not as an overall collection of the show.

Great Entertainment for a Road Trip
We listened to this CD set on a recent trip between California and Colorado.The time just flew.Garrison Keillor moves so smoothly from hysterical silliness to poignant truth-telling.He's an absolute master storyteller... we keep thinking he just can't get any better, but he does. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Form - Essays    3. Unabridged Audio - Humor    4. Religion / Spirituality   

Reviews (1)

Classic Pilkington
For those of you who are familiar with the Podcasts done by Ricky Gervais, Steven Merchant, and everyone's favorite round-headed idiot, Karl, this is a great book, albeit somewhat redundant but never tiresome.It is comprised primarily of the transcripts from the show, yet there are many pictues and musings straight from Karl that are very funny.I thought it was great and I never get tired of listening to Ricky and Steve gang up on Karl, and reading it was great too, especially when you only have to imagine Ricky's high-pitced cackle as opposed to letting it rip through your ear drums every 10-15 seconds.
Read more

Subjects:  1. English Satire And Humor    2. Form - Essays    3. Humor    4. Humor / General   

Editorial Review

A travelogue by Bill Bryson is as close to a sure thing as funny books get. Read more

Reviews (244)

A major disservice to the book
The book THE LOST CONTINENT is an amazing captivating read.Bryson is truly brilliant in his descriptions.This CD totally KILLS that.First of all the narrator reads at a mile a minute, sometimes to the point where you can't understand him.And second, they abridged the CRAP out of it, cutting some of the most interesting commentary and actually cutting the entire SECOND HALF of the book!While the book is amazing, this particular recording of it should be avoided at all costs.

NOT HIS BEST WORK
I think Bill Bryson can be very funny. "In A Sunburned Land" was hilarious, whereas this was pretty much trite and dated humor. In fact it reminded me of the kind of humor undergraduate English Majors at overated eastern liberal arts colleges would find funny. The beginning of the book is an ongoing insult of everyone, the middle he calms dawn, and he ends really trying to force some funny. It's a very dated and poor effort by a usually funny man. Skip it.

dark job by a whiny hatchet man--read the later works
My overall recommendation is to read Bryson's brilliantly funny recent works, then go back to less recent works, then stop before you get to this one.As other discerning reviewers have noted (especially Amer-Aussie, whose spot-on review you really must mark as 'helpful'), Bryson looks for the worst in America and, surprise, he finds it.Sure, there's much that's funny here, but the humor gets swallowed up by the mean.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 1971-    2. Cities and towns    3. Description and travel    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. Form - Essays    6. General    7. Humor    8. Social life and customs    9. Travel - United States    10. United States    11. United States - General    12. Travel / Essays & Travelogues   

Reviews (47)

Hilarious........
This book kept me laughing for hours on end. I am from the south and had an occasion to spend 6 months in Greenville, Miss. recently, so having been there, met lots of natives, etc. made it even more comical. While reading the book you can almost hear the accent of the "Southern Ladies" in conversation. Gayden really has a way of turning mundane everyday life in the Delta, into one hilarious situation after another. I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and great recipes as well.

A taste of the deep south
I found this such a humorous and, for me, sentimental read. For each incident and character, I have enough life experiences in the deep south to be able relate the tale to characters and events in my past, including seeing ladies examine invitations from an angle to be sure they are engraved ("that beauty-graving is so tacky"). I am going to buy a couple copies for family members who I am sure will love this book as much as I do.

Sorry, but I didn't like it that much
The book was recommended to me by an elderly Southern lady with a great sense of humor, so I had high hopes.
Read more

Subjects:  1. American Regional Cookery    2. American Satire And Humor    3. Cookery, American    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Entertaining - General    6. Etiquette    7. Form - Essays    8. Funeral rites and ceremonies    9. General    10. Humor    11. Regional & Ethnic - American - Southern States    12. Southern States    13. Southern style    14. Cooking / General   

Editorial Review

It just isn’t fair: most of us would be lucky to be able to express ourselves in writing half as well as David Sedaris does in his new book, Read more

Reviews (274)

Love Sedaris!
I have now read all of Sedaris' books (just finished dress your family in Corduroy and Denim), and I have loved them all.They are great coming of age type of stories for any orientation and very funny.not just gay literature -- just funny literature.Not quite as funny as "Running with Scissors," but probably more poignant and identifiable to more of us.Running with Scissors is hilarious, but seems out of this world. Sedaris as 99% as funny, but much more identifiable to us and seems much more like a family member of ours gone awry in a funny, funny way.Plus, we all know that if our siblings were to rant about us, we'd be characters in a book like Sedaris' too!I highly recommend this.Quick read, and very, very good!

Defines Droll
I have long delighted in David Sedaris's pieces in The New Yorker and on "This American Life."His humor is edgy, but--and granted this will seem contradictory--there is something familiar and down-to-earth to it.Perhaps this is because it's like the aphorism popularized by Homer Simpson: "It's funny 'cause it's true."
David Sedaris
Another collection of essays from a brilliant wit who you know you love to read. It's like I've said in my reviews before. There's no need to review each book when I can just give the author a blanket endorsement and guarantee you'll love whatever you find by the guy. I love it when that happens. I may have annoyed Jan by laughing out loud too often. Sedaris is like that.
Read more

Subjects:  1. American Satire And Humor    2. Form - Essays    3. General    4. Humor    5. Topic - Family    6. Humor / Essays   

Editorial Review

Who would have thought that a book about English would be so entertaining? Certainly not this grammar-allergic reviewer, but Read more

Reviews (110)

Imperfect perhaps, but a great read.
I disagree with several of the reviews here which cite several specific points of contention as making the book entirely worthless. I think it easily earns 4.5 - 5 stars. It IS over a decade old now, and I don't think it is intended as a source for scholars of English. But, for the amateur linguist and even the wannabe linguist it is a great read. I can't compete with some of the above reviewer's scholarly points, but I don't think replacing some of Bryson's dogma with their own is worthwhile. Mother Tongue is a great starting point and very educational. "Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words" is also a great introduction and gets 5 stars from me.

Not as good as other Bryson
Like any Bill Bryson book, this is a fun read, but in some passages the author pretends to find some bit of usage more confusing than he really does, just to make a point. This happens often enough to become a little irritating, but it's still pretty enjoyable.

Brilliantly witty and utterly enjoyable.
This is a lighthearted look at the intricacies of the English language: its history and development as well as colloquialisms, modern slang, and general language-mangling by non-native speakers.
Read more

Subjects:  1. English language    2. Form - Essays    3. History    4. Humor    5. Language    6. Language Arts & Disciplines    7. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    8. Linguistics    9. Language Arts & Disciplines / General   

Editorial Review

Hip radio comedy fans and theater folks who belong to the cult of Obie-winning playwright/performer David Sedaris must kill to get this book. These would be fans of the scaldingly snide Sedaris's hilariously described personal misadventures like Read more

Reviews (366)

Chuckle out loud humor!
"Naked" is a bizzare, yet humorous, glimpse into the life and times of David Sedaris, made even more bizzare when the fact sinks in that it's a memoir. Through his essays, Sedaris treats us to an insider's look at his warped childhood, and subsequent warped adulthood, touching upon subjects such as his golf-obsessed father, the relationship between his old-world-stalwart grandmother and his end-of-her-rope mother, and hichhiking days accompanied by a parapalegic. The essays are superbly written, perfect for reading out loud, enthralling, and endowed with a usually-hitting, self-depracating humor. Some jokes are hit or miss, but it averages out to a definitely amusing read. For anyone with a strange family, or a skewed view of the world, there's something in "Naked" to relate to.

Not too shabby
Sedaris' Naked is a quick, enjoyable read. The honesty and incisiveness he uses to portray his family members is excellent, although the accompanying cruelness from such honesty can be off-putting. Some of his essays, such as c.o.g., about his experiences as an apple-picker and then an Oregon-shaped clock maker's assistant who declares Sedaris to be a 'child of god' are both hilarious and incisive. However, other essays, while humorous, are largely forgettable. Looking back through the book I found essays that I barely remembered even though I had read them only days before. Sure, they were funny at the time, but a lot of them lack impact. However, when Sedaris is on, he is on, and some of his stories, such as his description of his grandmother, Ya-Ya, his attempt at being a childhood detective to clear his name, and his visit to a nudist colony, are both funny and memorable. It's these kind of essays that make the book really worth reading.

David Sedaris, laughter cover to cover
Brilliantly hilarious, carefully crafted, beautifully expressive! Thumbs up for David Sedaris' Naked.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Form - Essays    6. General    7. Humor    8. Humorists    9. Humorists, American    10. Sedaris, David    11. Biography & Autobiography / General    12. Humour    13. Other prose: from c 1900 -   

Subjects:  1. American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +    2. Comics & Cartoons    3. Fables, American    4. Form - Essays    5. Humor    6. Comics & Graphic Novels / Comics & Cartoons