Holiday's on Ice - Sedaris

Holiday's on Ice

David Sedaris 

Holiday's on Ice is a compilation of, you guessed it, holiday themed stories. These stories include Sedaris's short career as a Macy's elf, his sisters surprising friendship with a lady of the night and several fictional pieces. Several of these stories have been published in Sedaris's other collections, but come together here to create a fun, festive read.

Holiday's on Ice reads, mostly, like everything else I've read by Sedaris. I love the cynical tone he takes while writing about his life, and how he takes situations that to the average person would just be a family antidote and makes them into a laugh out loud essay. I've never been very impressed with Sedaris's attempts at fiction. Especially those in Holiday's on Ice. They read kind of flat, and while the Christmas letter was enjoyable, it was long and lost it's steam before it got to it's shocking finale.

Overall Holiday's on Ice was exactly what I wanted it to be. Holiday stories that made me laugh and reminded me that things could always be weirder then they are at my home. Isn't that what we're all looking for during the holidays? To know that we're not the only crazy ones?

Now that my love for Sedaris has been rekindled I can't wait to start Squirrel Seeks Chipmonk, maybe it'll change my mind about his fictional pursuits!

  

How Did You get This Number

How Did You Get This Number

Sloane Crosley

Much like Crosley's first collect (I Was Told There'd Be Cake), How Did You Get This Number peers inside her slightly quirky life, including a spare of the minute, midlife crisis trip to Lisbon, reasons why she feels she isn't allowed in Paris and how she isn't stupid, she is just ridiculously right brained and has no spacial recognition.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit disappointed in Crosley's sophomore attempt at life oriented humor. I remember laughing out loud at parts of I Was Told There'd be Cake so when I finally got How Did You Get This Number in the mail over a month after ordering it I was ecstatic. The book as a whole is short, coming in at around 280 pages, but where my main issue lies is in the length of the stories. Averaging at 30 pages I started to feel like Crosley's point, and the humorous intent got left behind within the first five pages of each story.  The sheer amount of stories about traveling were redundant. What started off as interest in a trip to Lisbon in winter gone wrong with the help of clown college students gave me hope of belly laughs to come, but when endless talks of getting lost everywhere, going to confession in Notre Dame as a Jew and a epic trip to Alaska to be a bridesmaid started to blend together, I started to wonder if I was missing the point.

I know not every story should be 5 pages long with humorous events every other line and that humor is very subjective. It's entirely possible that I just had unachievable expectations for How Did You Get This Number and my own hopes got in the way of enjoying what could have been a fun read. What it comes down to is that  yeah, I laughed a few times, and more than once thought "YES, I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH A CRAZY ROOMMATE" but when it comes to that wow factor, that thing that leaves you wishing for endless pages of the same thing,  it seems to be MIA.