Dear Diary,

Today I learned that my brand of humor does not live on the same planet with Mr. Sedaris' humor. Which is disappointing, because I decided to listen to this specifically for the humor. It didn't even make me smile, let alone laugh. Sad times, truly. Maybe I don't have a sense of humor at all, or maybe it was the audio (I found Amy Sedaris' narration particularly obnoxious). Who knows.

The topics covered in the texts were interesting, sad, troubling and peculiar, but the way they were handled was just truly the worst way for me. Could be the time period this was written in, too.

I've always been curious about David Sedaris' writing, but now I feel like picking up anything else he's written is too big of a risk. ( )

I admire his honesty and enjoyed his road trips more than passages where he came off too distanced and aloof from his companions, but that was where he was at then. ( )

Fresh on the heels of listening to Calypso by David Sedaris, I went back in time to a collection of his essays published in 1997 entitled Naked. This is a very short audiobook coming in at just over 3 hours and I got through it quite quickly.

Sedaris' caustic humour is back, as are the family interactions and dynamics. David Sedaris' sister Amy was involved in recording the audiobook and acts out some of the dialogue mentioned in the stories. I imagine this would have been a terrific collaboration between the two siblings (Amy is an actor) however the volume of her contributions were way too loud and jarringly contrasted with her brother's smooth delivery. As a consequence, I found myself regularly adjusting the volume and being taken out of the stories each time she spoke.

The title essay (Naked) is a story about the author's weekend stay at a nudist colony and was very enjoyable. I'm still enjoying Sedaris' sardonic take on the world and am listening to Me Talk Pretty One Day next. ( )

Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked, Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and his unique worldview—a sensibility at once take-no-prisoners sharp and deeply charitable. A tart-tongued mother does dead-on imitations of her young son's nervous tics, to the great amusement of his teachers; a stint of Kerouackian wandering is undertaken (of course!) with a quadriplegic companion; a family gathers for a wedding in the face of imminent death. Through it all is Sedaris's unmistakable voice, without doubt one of the freshest in American writing.

Sedaris is always a delight. Makes me more judgy and bitchy during/after I read but I actually think it's better this way. ( )