David Sedaris
Caitlin, it's difficult to think now that whatever I write will be worth reading. I'm a destined-not-to-be-famous Auntie Slob. Well, may my fingers be more worthy than the rest of me for the sake of your entertainment. (So you're moving in the dorms today?? How is it??!!)
If I had to be famous -- and art dealers don't get famous, do they? -- I would love to be like David Sedaris. He's one of the funniest writers there is, period. And all he seems to do is pay attention. People are funny. Life is funny. He just writes it down, in deceptively simple language.
The following list could be called one of two things: "Some of my favorite books," or "All David Sedaris' books." Whichever you prefer, here it is, in order of how much they almost made me pee:
- Holidays on Ice, which contains The Santaland Diaries about his time spent making money as an elf at Macy's Manhattan, is probably my favorite.
- Me Talk Pretty One Day about moving to France and being able to say only "ashtray" and, ooh, what was it? One other utterly unhelpful word.
- Naked about some time he spent at a nudist colony.
- Barrel Fever which I barely remember but I hope is the one in which he describes his childhood. He was a compulsive and hyperactive child, and felt compelled to lick light switches and touch his forehead to his desk over and over.
- Dress Your Children in Corduroy and Denim. When he came to Cincinnati last year to speak, Eileen and I went. He told a story like this: his boyfriend had a dream that he was standing outside a house looking in the window, and on the shelves he saw a book called Dress Your Children in Corduroy and Denim. He woke up and asked David who would buy a book with that title. (A good question!) And David said, "Let's find out." In this manner the new Sedaris book was named. It isn't as funny as any of the others, but it has its moments. My favorite is the swimming mouse. You'll see.
He also wrote a play called something like The Book of Liz with his sister Amy. Has anybody read it? It's supposed to be bizarre.
posted by terry at 5:30 PM
1 Comments:
Terry-
Cousin...er...2nd cousin...Doug Frueh here. I've been needing to hunt you down and thought I'd just google you this evening and look what I found! A cornucopia of Sullivan family delights. This David Sedaris bit caught my eye as I'm an enormous fan as well. Although I missed him in town last year.
But the real reason I need you is that my daughter Bella is a math nerd and and I hardly speak the language. I remember liking Algebra 1-but that was the pinnacle of my math experience. Bella, however, got an 800 on her SAT math section-meaning SHE GOT 'EM ALL RIGHT (as if I need to spell that out for you)! She'll be a senior at Turpin High School this fall and is starting the college search. She's also pretty bright in other subjects as well (like she received 5's on both History and Chemistry AP tests this summer) but all she really wants to do is math. She can't really walk and chew gum simultaneously, but that comes with the turf. Anyway, if you'd be willing to chat with her about where she might think of heading career-wise with her big math brain, we would both muchly appreciate it. Please give me a call at home 321-3550 or cell 607-3811 or email at dfrueh@current.net and we'll catch up and chat. Cheers! -Doug
8:13 PM
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