the rooster

[agatha]

you cant kill the rooster. thats all i have to say.

[Meredith]

F#@* no, you can't

[shruti]

I am rendered completely helpless with laughter when I read this one. My personal favorite scene is the one where the students try to describe Easter/Christianity in French. The part where they say "on...morsels...of lumber" makes me laugh every time.

[mercy]

oh, god. 'f*** it bucket'

[[deleted user]]

My wife loves his books, but hates his voice. Any others experience that?

[Guy]

Lone voice of dissent here. I'd heard so many great things about Sedaris, I wanted to check him out so I picked up this book. First essay didn't do anything for me, but I figured they can't all be gems. Second one ditto. I perservered and each time felt the same. I could see where he was going for laughs, but I didn't think he was funny in the least (and if there's nothing worse than someone trying to be funny and failing).

But so many people I respect adore Sedaris. So what I want to know is if there are better examples of his work out there or if this is as good as it gets.

[erin]

You might want to try Naked - I liked it a lot more than Me Talk Pretty One Day. Sedaris' holiday book is also a classic.

[Tiffany]

Dress your family in Courderoy and Denim has some really funny stuff. Especially the one about researching Christmas traditions in other countries.

My favorite part was the stuff about when he tried to be a performance artist. I have read it about twenty times and still fall off my chair.

[David]

no one can be brilliant all the time but its unfortunate that he has to illustrate that in this compilation of short stories. Don't get me wrong, I loved Rooster, the Easter Story, and the christmas elves, i just would rather not have read through the rest of his mediocre stuff to get to them.

[Dennis]

I think this book actually made me laugh out loud, which is wierd for a book to do.

[Rocket]

I read David Sedaris out loud to my husband as bedtime stories. But a lot of times I'm giggling so hard I can't read properly. Hilarious.

[Will]

put your two stars in the fuckit bucket risa! love you, miss you, 'haps we talk pretty soon one day.

[Hollyhocks]

I bought this book on itunes cuz I had heard it was good and was NOT let down. I listened to it at work and had to clasp my hand over my mouth to remind myself not to uncontrollably laugh out loud. I was crying though cuz of the laughter. I can see where his voice would grate on people but to me, his voice is the key to the humor. Especially w/ all the French stuff .. oh man, I loved this book .. bottleneck! ashtray!

[Alex]

I think all The Rooster stories are funnier when heard on audio book simply because Sedaris does such a great impression of his brother.

Overall, I'm rarely disappointed by Sedaris and I prefer to listen to him on audio.

[Rstucky]

I don't remember which book it's in, but I just love his essay about the Dutch Christmas traditions. When he says, "Listen. . .you might want to pack a bag. . ." I laugh out loud every time. I teach High School AP juniors and use this essay in my class when we cover satire. The kids love it!

[Teresa]

I don't have that reaction at all. His voice just makes reading his books even funnier. Now that I have listened to him on tape and attended one of his live shows, his voice is in my head when I read his books anyway. Charming!

[Shula]

I heard him on This American Life before I read his books. I too had to try and hold in my laughter on buses and other public places. But when our bookclub read Dress your Family, people who had never heard him simply did not find the book funny.

[Genevieve]

I'd read a good amount of his stories before listening to him live. Once I'd heard his voice I was pretty suprised, not the voice I had in my head. But I've gotten use to it- Who can read a peice better than the author? Plus he's fantastic to his fans. If you get a chance- don't miss him!

[Lee]

One of my favorite David Sedaris pieces is really not funny at all. It is the episode of This American Life that was produced a couple of weeks after 9/11 and in it, Sedaris talks about experiencing that terrible event while living in Paris. It is a brilliant and moving work that follows the shock and grieving, the sense of connectedness that seemed to be everywhere those first few days, and then the inevitable drift towards something less fulfilling. You can listen to it on the This American Life website. I don't believe it has been published as a written work, though I could be wrong.