Journal Entry 1 by RebekkaRyan from Virginia Beach, Virginia USA on Saturday, July 26, 2003

Very, very funny; his attempts at (mangled) French while living in France made me laugh out loud. His take on life through these personal, humorous essays are a riot.
Pat 

Journal Entry 2 by JesseBC from Duluth, Minnesota USA on Monday, November 17, 2003

Received today! Thanks! 

Journal Entry 3 by JesseBC at postal release in San Antonio, Texas -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, December 18, 2003

Released on Thursday, December 18, 2003 at postal release in San Antonio, Texas Controlled Releases. 

Journal Entry 4 by synergy from San Antonio, Texas USA on Saturday, February 21, 2004

I received this book a couple of weeks ago and totally forgot to put in a journal entry. So here it is. :-) I have a stack of books to read so it's on my to-do list. I'll make another entry once I've read it and re-release it. 

Journal Entry 5 by synergy from San Antonio, Texas USA on Wednesday, April 28, 2004

I think I first picked out this book because I'd read in several places including BC where people mentioned this book and said how funny it was.

Well, it certainly had its moments. There were several times it gave me a chuckle and a few laugh-out-louds, but there were a few essays where I did a lot of eye-rolling. Those were mostly the ones where he just talked about himself, ESPECIALLY the ones where he was talking about his meth habit and his disgusting lifestyle with the artist freaks/druggies. The ones I liked most were when he was talking about friends and family.

I smiled when he was frustrated with masculine and feminine French nouns and his friend said children didn't mix them up because: "It's just something we grow up with. We hear the gender once, and then think of it as part of the word. There's nothing to it." I smiled because english speakers complain about this very thing when learning spanish and when I read this and thought about it, I realized it's true for spanish m/f nouns. You learn it once and then memorize it and always use it the same way. What drives me bonkers is the english language which has no set rules on grammar, spelling, and often pronunciation. In spanish you spell it one way and you pronounce each letter (or occasionally groups of letters) exactly the same every time.

He mentioned one of my pet peeves in one of his essays, that "Everywhere you turn [in America], the obvious is being stated." Of course signs of this sort are only to avoid lawsuits mostly from either Darwin-Award nominees and/or people looking to cash in on "easy money." I felt for him when he said "It's hard trying to explain [to the French] a country whose motto has become You can't claim I didn't warn you." Most of the time this type of thing makes me embarassed.

But another one of my pet peeves is the arrogance and "provincial" attitude of Americans, especially while visiting other countries! How most either assume that the locals are too stupid to understand english or expect EVERYONE to know English annoys the hell out of me. The couple that assumed he was a "ripe froggy" and that he was a pickpocket and talked about him right in his face assuming he didn't understand them really had me fuming! Unlike him, though, I would have said something to deeply embarass them right before I stepped off the train!

Oh and yet another pet peeve he mentions: must most Americans speak like they're trying to be heard by someone on the next hill without aid of a cellphone or microphone??? ARGH! My husband isn't American (he's Canadian-close enough), but I'm always saying shhhh!!! I'm right here!

On one hand I can appreciate his deep-abiding desire for utter silence during a movie, but on the other I have to confess that I sometimes talk during the movie. However, I have to say that I try to be as quiet as possible about it and I'm not like the people who are too cheap to find a sitter for their wailing child or have no relatives in town to care for them or even worse refuse to take them out to the lobby. Or how about the people holding conversations on their cellphone in the above mentioned hill-people voice after letting it ring 8 times with the annoying musical ring on high???

The most hilarious essay was the last one about his father's habit of squirreling away fruit and other food for weeks if not decades. In a way it made me laughed because I can be like that, but not to such an extreme. Just somewhat from coming from a poor childhood. The banana resembling a turd about had me cracked up and the potatoes mashing themselves from age had me unable to decide whether to puke or laugh until I puked. lmao

But finally, the reasons for which I might have enjoyed this book more is the parts where he's being self-indulgent and shallow. I think the part that encapsulated what I found so annoying was in the essay where he talked about the soap operas he made up in his head about himself. I just don't care for folks/characters like this. In short what they're like is what he says: "In imagining myself as modest, mysterious, and fiercely intelligent, I'm forced to realize that, in real life, I have none of these qualities. Nobody dreams of the things he already has." There's a reason why I could NEVER stand that show "Ally McBeal." Bleh!

I'm lending this book to my husband to read.

Update May 30, 2004: My husband read it and has turned down the chance to make a journal entry. Instead I'm passing this book to another BXer, PaigeTurner124. 

Journal Entry 6 by PaigeTurner124 from Cibolo, Texas USA on Monday, May 31, 2004

Got this from Synergy in a book trade. Thanks!

6/28/04 Update. This has been requested by Choclaholic, so I'm reserving for her. 

Journal Entry 7 by choclaholic from San Antonio, Texas USA on Saturday, July 17, 2004

Ah, it's good to see that synergy writes novella length book reveiws just as I do. :) Thanks for the commentary and general warning about the areas that my make me cringe.

I asked for this book because I'd seen it around bookcrossing a lot, heard it was funny, but never had the impetus to pick it up until I saw a neighbor -- who turns out to be a reader!! -- reading at the pool, and she recommended this to me. So, seeking it out here on BC, I was pleased to discover that my SA meeting group had a copy kicking about. How serendipitous!

I will read, try to repair, then review and release. Thanks again! 

Journal Entry 8 by choclaholic from San Antonio, Texas USA on Friday, August 27, 2004

First of all, I (kind of) fixed the binding on this book. I was so proud of myself when I thought I had completely fixed it, and well, that was at least until I started reading it. Then big hunks of pages started falling out again. Oh, dear. So, please, kind finder, be gentle with this book. It's seen a lot of readers. But on to the the reveiw!

I'd give this one about 6 1/2 stars. I don't want to say a whole lot more than what Synergy had to say, but I'll give it a shot.

This is the life of David Sedaris, a self-proclaimed Greek Orthodox homosexual, which I guess makes him think his life is unusually funny and worth writing about. The book is a series of essays that more or less follows him from his pre-teen transplant from New York to North Carolina, then follows him through Art School in Chicago and his move to Paris into his mid 40s. It is full of mildly amusing antecdotes, starting with suffering through speech therapy class, enduring unwanted music lessons from a midget, on through the trials of pet ownership and re-pet ownership, foul-mouthed brothers and crazy-notioned fathers, and many more that if you care to read it you can discover for yourself.

The title of the book, Me Talk Pretty One Day is a reference to what I think is the funniest essay in the book, entitled "Jesus Shaves", which is about his course in learning the French Language. I was laughing aloud and reading passages out-loud to my eye-rolling husband while David and his classmates were trying to explain the concept of Easter in broken French to the Morrocan student. And I agree, Roman Bells that fly over France? Now that's f***ed up. I recommend at least skimming the book if only for that chapter.

In a way, this book kind of reminded me of Dave Egger's A HeartBreaking Work of Staggering Genius . So if you liked this, you might like that book too. Only that one's a little bit more morbid, but has an incredible way with words in it. Anyway, while this was a pleasant humorus break from some heavy philosophical stuff I've been reading lately, I think that's enough David Sedaris for me...I feel satisfied having read just this one book of his.

Thanks synergy and paigeturner124, and all the readers before, for giving me the opportunity to try this on. Be on the lookout for my release notes soon! 

Journal Entry 9 by choclaholic at Wolff Stadium in San Antonio, Texas USA on Friday, August 27, 2004

Released on Friday, August 27, 2004 at Wolff Stadium in San Antonio, Texas USA.

For the first time ever, I got to see a real live baseball game! Too bad our team lost :(

Anyway, I dropped this book off at about 6:15 PM before the game started. I put it on a table at the end of the concession stands, near the third base line section.

Upon leaving, I noticed it was not there any longer.

Well, here's hoping for a journaler!