Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

I never realized David Sedaris wrote fiction until finding this book in a box of cast-offs in my apartment hallway. Sedaris' first publication, this collection of stories and essays is enjoyable, but lacks the refined wit of his later work.

The stories are undoubtedly funny, often taking an unconventional form. One story is a suicide note to be delivered at the funeral, another is a holiday letter from a family who has experienced a bizarre tragedy, and one of my favourites - a homophobia newsletter from an oversensitive young man. A reader familiar with Sedaris' later work can almost feel him trying things out, learning how to approach comedic writing and adopting the intelligent deadpan he is famous for.

Similarly, the essays are not as polished as I'm use to, lacking strong conclusions and feeling more like anecdotes. A quick and fun read, but his later work is really when he starts to shine.

"louis riel: a comic-strip biography" by chester brown

i think it is appropriate that i finally got around to reading this now that i'm living in winnipeg. louis riel is a hero 'round these parts, with numerous establishments named after him and a couple imposing statues.

a graphic novel portraying part of the very interesting life of manitoba founder and politician, and metis rights activist, louis riel. a beautifully drawn, interesting read, i like this book more for what it is than its literary quality.

"goja" by suniti namjoshi

don't read this book unless you have to.

"when you are engulfed in flames" by david sedaris

when i discovered david sedaris a few years ago, i was almost livid that no one had introduced me to his work before. here was a writer i wanted to be; how easy, i thought, to simply write funny moments from your life, turning them into stories that are as enjoyable as they are intelligent. i attempted to write my own personal anecdotes, but i never came close to sedaris' brilliance and realized that he has a superhuman talent for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary.

his newest collection of essays suggest a wiser and more mature sedaris. he's settled down, stopped smoking and recalls his days of drinking and drugging rather than living them. while his sardonic wit and wonderful observations are in tact, i found myself not often laughing out loud or smiling as i had when reading his other books. as i sped through this book in a few days, there's no question it's immensely readable, hilarious and entertaining, but perhaps this older sedaris is mellowing out, preferring subtleness to extravagance. and i'm ok with that.

"do travel writers go to hell?: a swashbuckling tale of high adventure, questionable ethics and professional hedonism" by thomas kohnstamm

like many lovers of travel, i always thought writing for the lonely planet would be a dream job. if i got anything from thomas kohnstamm's book is that the reality of being a lonely planet writer is far from the fantasy in my head. the money you're paid and the time you are given are not enough to cover the extensive research that's expected to put together a guidebook.

the book follows kohnstamm on his first lonely planet project as he attempts to cover the entire north-east corner of brazil in an impossibly short time frame. during his travels, he drinks to excess, parties until all hours, sleeps with random women and even resorts to selling ectasy to tourists to help his funds.

a quick and entertaining read, "do travel writers go to hell?" squashed my lonely planet writer dream, but perhaps that's for the best. one less option to consider.

"quiet please: dispatches from a public librarian" by scott douglas

what i liked most about this book was the chapter titles.

it's not that it is bad, it's just not very good. if i didn't work in a library, i would have stopped reading it. considering how much i love douglas' regular mcsweeney's column, "dispatches from a public librarian", i thought this book would be just as great. not so. the humour is often stupid, the writing is sub-par and his grand philosophical statements about a librarian serving the community come off as shallow and narcisstic. stick with mcsweeney's mr. douglas.

"the know-it-all: one man's humble quest to become the smartest person in the world" by a.j. jacobs

after tremendously enjoying a.j. jacobs newest book, "the year of living biblically" in which he lives by the bible for an entire year, i had to read this one in which he embarks on reading the entire encyclopedia britannica.  

while not as refined as his latest offering, this book was a very good read.  the humour is often a bit hammy and too obvious, unlike the wit in "the year of living biblically", but it's kind of nice to be able to actually notice a writer getting better.

 

"the year of living biblically: one man's humble quest to follow the bible as literally as possible" by a.j. jacobs

this is the best non-fiction book i've read in quite some time. a.j. jacobs, a new york agnostic jew, decides to live by the bible for a full year. we're all familiar with the ubiquitous ten commandments, but the bible has hundreds of rules that are a lot less straightforward than "thou shalt not kill".

who knew that the bible forbid the wearing of clothes made of wool and linen? and not only that, but there is an association of people who will test your clothes for the offending mix. huh.

jacobs' year takes him to a creationist museum, the wailing wall in israel, a mega church, a hasidic dance party and many other wonderful and fascinating sites. he consults rabbis and pastors and other clergy on his quest to divine the interpretation of biblical passages that could be taken literally or metaphorically.

a touching, hilarious and insightful memoir, "the year of living biblically" had me up past my bedtime many nights.

"early bird: a memoir of early retirement" by rodney rothman

i don’t know about memoirs. some are masturbatory (“a heartbreaking work…”), some unbelievable (“running with scissors”), some just plain untrue (“a million little pieces”). (note: i haven’t actually read “a million little pieces”) i don’t know if i’ve ever read one i’ve really enjoyed, but the cover of this book really appealed to me, plus there was a jon stewart quote on the front and if jon stewart endorses it, how can it possibly be bad?

rodney rothman was a writer for the david letterman show when he got fed up with his 70 hour work weeks and decided to retire at the age of 28. he moved into a senior’s residence in florida where he takes up shuffleboard and eats supper at 5pm.

it is books like these that give me hope of one day writing a novel. not that it’s bad, but just very simple and, in a word, cute. it’s funny, but not the laugh-out-loud david sedaris funny that rothman was going for. it’s not going to make any best-of list’s, but it’s well-written and i enjoyed reading it.