Journal Entry 1 by MrFlakes from Springfield, Illinois USA on Tuesday, August 03, 2004

I'm almost finished with this one, and I'm really enjoying it. Second half is better than the first so far. Good, dry humor. I've a feeling I'll be reading much more of his work. 

Journal Entry 2 by MrFlakes from Springfield, Illinois USA on Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Finished this one a few weeks back. Not as funny as I thought it would be based on all the buzz, but still quite humorous. Second half of the book is substantially better. 

Journal Entry 3 by MrFlakes from Springfield, Illinois USA on Tuesday, September 07, 2004

I'm ringing this one. Cutoff will be Sunday, September 12th. 

Journal Entry 4 by MrFlakes from Springfield, Illinois USA on Sunday, September 12, 2004

Bookring has started! I'll be shipping out (hopefully) on Monday, September 13th.

I invite participants to sign the inside cover of the book, so I can see where it's been.

Here's the order:
tnkbl
raquelsita
nwadel
Antof9
cadelagarza
katilo
SandDanz
have2smile
ariesgirl29
trksh22
Infantrywife101
Sourire18
greenfrog03
Home 

Journal Entry 5 by tnkbl from Walnut Creek, California USA on Sunday, September 26, 2004

It's here! I'm very excited to read this, and will start as soon as I finish the book I'm reading now. 

Journal Entry 6 by tnkbl from Walnut Creek, California USA on Friday, October 08, 2004

I had such a good time with this book! I enjoyed it thoroughly from beginning to end, and laughed out loud many many times. I think Sedaris' humor struck a chord with my own sense of humor, and my favorite stories were those involving his father, who reminded me of my own father in many ways.

I put this in the mail to the next person in the ring yesterday. 

Journal Entry 7 by raquelsita from Camarillo, California USA on Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Came in the mail this weekend. As luck would have it, I have gotten 4 bookrays in the past week. I promise I will get to this as soon as I can! 

Journal Entry 8 by raquelsita from Camarillo, California USA on Sunday, November 14, 2004

I LOVED this book! I'd heard good things about it but didn't really know what to expect. I thought all the stories were hilarious. My favorite was probably the one about his brother.

Thanks MrFlakes for sending this out! I will sent this to nwadel this week. 

Journal Entry 9 by nwadel on Thursday, December 02, 2004

I just got this a few days ago, i'm almost done with it.
Definately an interesting book! I agree with MrFlakes, second half is better than the first. 

Journal Entry 10 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Wednesday, January 05, 2005

I was on vacation for a total of 10 days, and when I got our mail from "vacation hold", it required one of their big plastic mailbins! Pre-BXing, vacation mail came in a plastic bag. Now that I'm a BXer, we just have a whole lot more!

Anyway, it's here, and I'm excited to read it. Must be something about this book, though, because I have 3 other ring/ray books ahead of it. 2 should be quick, and I'll get to it as soon as possible.

I've been looking forward to reading this one for a while. Jarrett used to quote from it all the time, although he said he couldn't really recommend it "from the pulpit"!

Thanks for sharing, and I'll try to get to it quickly! 

Journal Entry 11 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Thursday, March 10, 2005

OHMYWORD! Have I really had this book THIS long?! EEK! I'm so sorry. I'm very bad at getting journal entries written. The stack of books is actually read, but the journal entries (*sigh*) loom over my head. So much so that I even started a forum thread on this once!

Anyway, I read this book quite a while ago and loved it :) I'd been wanting to read it ever since I heard the author read Picka Pocketoni once on NPR. Oh! It's so hilarious! His descriptions of American tourists being typically loud in the Metro, hogging the pole you hold on in the subway, etc. are just priceless. I was so glad to get to this chapter (it's near the end) -- I thought it wasn't included in THIS book either, and was getting concerned :)

I also loved the section titled Today's Special. One of my favorite parts: "As a rule, I'm no great fan of eating out in New York restaurants. It's hard to love a place that's outlawed smoking but finds it perfectly acceptable to serve raw fish in a bath of chocolate. There are no normal restaurants left, at least in our neighborhood. The diners have all been taken over by precious little bistros boasting a menu of indigenous American cuisine. They call these meals 'traditional,' yet they're rarely the American dishes I remember. The patty melt has been pushed aside in favor of the herb-encrusted medallions of baby artichoke hearts, which never leave me thinking, Oh, right, those! I wonder if they're as good as the ones my mom used to make."

LOL!

Thanks for sharing this book -- I have cadelagarza's address, and it will be out the door soon (for real this time). 

Journal Entry 12 by cadelagarza from Dallas, Texas USA on Sunday, March 20, 2005

I got this in the mail yesterday and am halfway through already! Hopefully I'll finish it this week! 

Journal Entry 13 by cadelagarza from Dallas, Texas USA on Sunday, April 03, 2005

This is my first Sedaris book, and it will not be my last! I loved this book! There were a lot of laugh out loud moments!

My favorite part of the book was where he talks about all the pets he's had in his life and the one cat his mom had that she fell in love with. That was just hilarious!

I'll be passing this book on to katilo soon. Thank you MrFlakes for starting this bookring! :)

 

Journal Entry 14 by katilo from Westmont, Illinois USA on Friday, April 22, 2005

Got this in the mail yesterday and have already started reading it! Thanks! 

Journal Entry 15 by katilo from Westmont, Illinois USA on Tuesday, May 24, 2005

I know that many readers have been enamored with David Sedaris for some time now, but this is the first of his books that I've actually picked up and read....and I wasn't as impressed with it as I had hoped considering all the reviews I've read concerning his writing. In fact, I'd say I was very disappointed in this book. I found it only mildly amusing as he wrote about his speech struggles through school as a child. I guess that might have been more amusing if I didn't have my own child who has struggled through speech classes and humiliation from other children.

I have to admit it was interesting to read about his career struggles. It's always intrigues me to hear about a famous person's bizarre path to fame and fortune. I especially liked that he never really seemed to know what he wanted to be as an adult because that's still something I struggle with myself...despite my age. I often wonder when I'll finally find my real job. *lol*

Overall, the book didn't live up to my expectations. It wasn't the outright funny book I was looking for and in fact, seemed more depressing to me than cheerful. But I liked his writing style, the short little essays made the book flow quickly because you don't want to stop in the middle of one but rather feel a need to finish each before setting the book down. I do plan on reading more of his work, in the hopes that I'll find something else more to my taste.

---I contacted SandDanz, the next name on the list, but was received a request to be skipped so I have since PMed the next person and when I receive a response and address I will ship the book out and make another entry. 

Journal Entry 16 by katilo from Westmont, Illinois USA on Friday, May 27, 2005

This book was sent on its way to the next person on the list (have2smile) this morning....