Holidays On Ice

This book of short stories was actually prescribed to me by a friend. I was depressed and obsessing over Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones and I just could not snap out of it. It was a month before Christmas, and I couldn't get the rape/murder scene out of my head. A good friend of mine rescued me by giving me her copy of Holidays on Ice. It was my first experience with David Sedaris, and I have been hooked ever since.

The first story of the collection is the SantaLand Diaries; this is the funniest story of the collection. You will be laughing out loud; I had to put the book down a couple of times to catch my breath. This story recounts Sedaris's experiences working as an elf in Macy's in New York City; the excerpt on Dustjacketreview will explain that Sedaris was an adult during his time as an elf. This story has also been made into a short play that runs around the holidays.

The rest of the collection, with the exception of Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol, would be considered along the lines of dark humor. You need to read them with the tongue in cheek attitude that they were written with. They exploit the selfishness and greediness that prevails around the holidays. Seasons Greetings to our Friends and Family and Christmas means Giving are very dark, but very humorous as well. The entire collection is humorous, but thought a warning should go out that they are not all in the same tone as SantaLand Diaries.

Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol is a review of the local grade school's holiday pageant and is a riot. Those of us who have sat through these "productions" will appreciate this literary critic's review. This is a must read!

I have enjoyed this collection multiple times; they never fail to lift my "spirits" (check out the front cover). The only thing better than reading David Sedaris's work is listening to him read it. I am not usually a fan of audio books, but if you can get your hands on one of Sedaris's novels that is read by him, by all means grab it. After listening to him read, you will read the rest of his work using his tone and inflections. He is truly genius.

Since the publication of Holidays on Ice, Sedaris has published another Christmas story. I believe that this one is even funnier than SantaLand Diaries. It is called 6 to 8 Black Men. I wasn't able to find Sedaris reading this anywhere on the internet; I had his live CD when I heard it the first time. If you can find him reading it, you should listen to him instead of reading it yourself.

happy reading!