January's pleasure reading: part 2

Well this month I exceeded my expectations! I read another book yesterday/this morning, although granted a relatively short (134 pages) book of essays.

I have mentioned David Sedaris a few times on here and the second book I read this month (other than two Harry Potter books which I don't really count seeing as how I read them while on the treadmill) is called Holidays on Ice and it's a collection of Christmas-related stories.


While this book still had some funny moments, I didn't enjoy it as much as all the other Sedaris books I have read (Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and When You Are Engulfed in Flames). There were six stories in the book and only 3 of them dealt with his life and 3 of them were just funny little stories about cynical observations he's made about the Christmas season (like the materialistic tendencies of people). I personally enjoy his stories about his own life because, like Firoozeh Dumas, so much seems to happen to him! He also grew up in North Carolina so it's funny to read things about North Hills Mall and Cameron Village and D.H. Hill Library (one of the campus libraries at NCSU).

One of the things I did notice in the book is that he tends to use a lot of stereotypes and makes observations that, while sometimes humorous or funny only to a certain extent, aren't strictly P.C. But I guess since he's gay he feels it's okay for him to use them? That's one thing that's always confused me, like how black people can call each other derogatory names (either in total seriousness or jesting) but if other people do it it's racist. Not that I have the desire to call people things like that, I'm just saying it's a bit of a double standard. I guess it's like how older siblings can torment younger siblings but when unrelated kids torment the younger siblings it's time to step up... ?

So in short, for anyone who wants to read Sedaris books, I would read one of his others first (Me Talk Pretty One Day and Naked were the first two I read) to get a feel for his style. He didn't have the excessive use of stereotypes in the other books, I think because they are all based on his life and the stories in this book containing the stereotypical humor were not the autobiographical ones. I think there is only one other Sedaris book I haven't read; it's called Barrel Fever and I received it for Christmas, along with Holidays on Ice, so I'll probably write a post about that one in the coming months. :-)