David Sedaris has long been a NightsAndWeekends.com favorite (see Tony’s review of .nightsandweekends.com/articles/02/NW0200179.php>Naked and Karin’s
review of Me Talk
Pretty One Day), so I figured it was high time I checked him out for myself to
see what all the fuss was about.
His latest collection, Dress Your
Family in Corduroy and Denim, features unusually witty, always sharp observations
about his childhood, his family, his neighbors, and his friendships. The essays cover
everything from pre-teen run-ins with the popular crowd at school to his brief career as
a hippie. Smart and satirical, Sedaris’s comments are often funny-cuz-it’s-true or
funny-cuz-his-family-is-even-crazier-than-mine—and, at the same time, they make you stop
and think.
Dress Your Family is one of those books that you’ll
find yourself reaching for whenever you’ve got a spare minute. It may cause you to burn
dinner because you “just want to finish this part…” And it may compel you to read
sections to friends, family, and even total strangers. I, for example, read my favorite
essay, called “Six to Eight Black Men,” in its entirety to my parents. I found it
painfully hilarious, since it’s about both gun laws in Michigan (where I grew up—and
where my parents still live) and the unusual Christmas traditions of the Dutch (and I
happen to be purebred Dutch). My parents may have been slightly offended by Sedaris’s
joking about some of the things they hold dear, but at least they were amused by the way
I kept giggling through my reading. I just couldn’t help myself—and you won’t be able
to, either. Pick up a copy of Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and you’ll
get just as caught up in David Sedaris’s unusual everyday life as I was.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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