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Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000)

by David Sedaris

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
20,762360196 (4.04)426
Biography & Autobiography. Essays. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers and cashiers with 6-inch fingernails. Compared by The New Yorker to Twain and Hawthorne, Sedaris has become one of our best-loved authors. Sedaris is an amazing reader whose appearances draw hundreds, and his performancesincluding a jaw-dropping impression of Billie Holiday singing I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weinerare unforgettable. Sedariss essays on living in Paris are some of the funniest hes ever written. At last, someone even meaner than the French! The sort of blithely sophisticated, loopy humour that might have resulted if Dorothy Parker and James Thurber had had a love child. Entertainment Weekly on Barrel Fever Sidesplitting Not one of the essays in this new collection failed to crack me up; frequently I was helpless. The New York Times Book Review on Naked.… (more)
  1. 60
    Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (rosylibrarian)
  2. 10
    My Miserable Lonely Lesbian Pregnancy by Andrea Askowitz (lolo1978)
    lolo1978: Few books have made me laugh out loud. If Me Talk Pretty One Day made you laugh, give My Miserable Lonely Lesbian Pregnancy at read.
  3. 00
    The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz (cransell)
  4. 14
    Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (Southernlit)
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» See also 426 mentions

English (356)  Dutch (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (358)
Showing 1-5 of 356 (next | show all)
So I am officially giving up on this Sedaris audio, and I'll have to rethink reading Dress Your Family. There were at least two pretty funny essays on this morning's drive - the titular Talk Pretty and its follow up, both about Sedaris's french lessons in France. But overall I've been mostly bored, and as mentioned in my last update, I don't appreciate spouse-abuse humor. So this goes on the Lost Interest shelf and I'm moving on to expanding my audio horizons with Stuart Wood. ( )
  Kim.Sasso | Aug 27, 2023 |
This was a good book, but the humour exhibited by David Sedaris in these charming vignettes and stories from his personal life is not perhaps quite as mind-blowingly original as the blurb would have you think. If you are a fan of Fran Leibowitz you'll get the picture quickly enough. ( )
  soylentgreen23 | Aug 18, 2023 |
Another audio read. My introduction to Sadaris. ( )
  rebwaring | Aug 14, 2023 |
I've been told that this is meant to be humorous, and I get that.

I guess I just did not get it at the time, or I simply cannot appreciate his humor. Or maybe I just don't find this stuff funny at all.

I found myself to be extremely depressed after reading this. It gives such a bleak view of reality with a few moments of smiles that it just bears down on you. Maybe it's supposed to be really heavy parody about teaching or living or tourism but I feel like it was lost on me. It just read like a very sad and pathetic lifestyle without many deep morals outside of the homophobic education environment.

I did not enjoy this. ( )
  AnonR | Aug 5, 2023 |
Entertaining ( )
  mykl-s | Aug 4, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 356 (next | show all)
Whereas ''Naked'' reads like a series of overlapping autobiographical essays, this volume feels more like a collection of magazine pieces or columns on pressing matters like the care and feeding of family pets and the travails of dining in Manhattan. But if Mr. Sedaris sometimes sounds as though he were making do with leftover material, ''Talk Pretty'' still makes for diverting reading.
 
The gifted Sedaris has not been hard enough on himself. At the risk of sounding patronizing, I suspect there is a better writer in there than he is as yet willing to let out.
 
This collection is, in its way, damned by its own ambitious embrace of variety; with so many pieces assembled, the stronger ones always punish the weaker... But reading or listening to David Sedaris is well worth the lulls for the thrills.
 

» Add other authors (3 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
David Sedarisprimary authorall editionscalculated
Aison, Cathryn S.Designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Colombo, MatteoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Hayden, MelissaCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kaye, Michael IanCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pardoen, IrvingTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Dedication
For my father, Lou
First words
Anyone who watches even the slightest amount of TV is familiar with the scene: An agent knocks on the door of some seemingly ordinary home or office.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Biography & Autobiography. Essays. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) A new collection from David Sedaris is cause for jubilation. His recent move to Paris has inspired hilarious pieces, including Me Talk Pretty One Day, about his attempts to learn French. His family is another inspiration. You Cant Kill the Rooster is a portrait of his brother who talks incessant hip-hop slang to his bewildered father. And no one hones a finer fury in response to such modern annoyances as restaurant meals presented in ludicrous towers and cashiers with 6-inch fingernails. Compared by The New Yorker to Twain and Hawthorne, Sedaris has become one of our best-loved authors. Sedaris is an amazing reader whose appearances draw hundreds, and his performancesincluding a jaw-dropping impression of Billie Holiday singing I wish I were an Oscar Meyer weinerare unforgettable. Sedariss essays on living in Paris are some of the funniest hes ever written. At last, someone even meaner than the French! The sort of blithely sophisticated, loopy humour that might have resulted if Dorothy Parker and James Thurber had had a love child. Entertainment Weekly on Barrel Fever Sidesplitting Not one of the essays in this new collection failed to crack me up; frequently I was helpless. The New York Times Book Review on Naked.

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Book description
A recent transplant to Paris, humorist David Sedaris, bestselling author of "Naked", presents a collection of his strongest work yet, including the title story about his hilarious attempt to learn French.
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Hachette Book Group

3 editions of this book were published by Hachette Book Group.

Editions: 0316776963, 0316777722, 1570428654

 

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