Me Talk Pretty One Day

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

     The second book I've picked up by humorist David Sedaris, was funny and easy, but this time I didn't weep with hysterical ecstasy.  I had a good time reading it like I would have a good time eating a cheeseburger.  It was good........but not the best thing ever.
     The funniest parts for me where when Sedaris is half heartedly learning French.  His translations made me laugh outloud.  Even giving this book a three.......I still wish that I were Sedaris funny enough to write wee vignettes about random parts of my dull life.

Rating 3
Rating PG 13 language, sexual content, homosexuality

Blue is for Nightmares

Blue is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Stacey has been having nightmares of something horrible happening to her roomate, Drea.  Even worse for Stacey is that the nightmares are accompanied by bed wetting.  Stacey uses the spells handed down to her by her grandmother to help make the nightmares clearer.  At the same time, Stacey is falling for Drea's old boyfriend. 
The teens aattend a boarding school.  There is very little adult interaction with the kids.  The story was fun and fast to read, but lacked any depth.  By the end, it really fell flat for me.  I didn't think the reason for Drea being threatened, and for the nightmares, held a lot of water.  There were no adults or authority figures to help or guide, which seemed a little off.  Also I felt like some of the language was strong for the target audience.

Rating 3 Fun fluff
Rating PG 13 Language and sexual situatuions

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

Hello.........I just laughed so hard I wept.  I'm not kidding.  When I first heard of this book.....and it came highly recommended.....it sounded less than 'meh'.  I was uninspired by the title.  But I figured my girl knew her stuff and so I read it anyway (even my librarian looked at me like my time would be better spent elsewhere).

There were some giggles as Sedaris described his family relationships and silly vignettes of childhood happenings.  Then I get to the chapter 'Six to Eight Black Men'.  My husband heard my hysterics from the other room.  He asked me to read aloud what I thought was 'so funny'.  I couldn't do it.  I couldn't hold it together.  I laughed until tears leaked down my face.  Now I will grant you that I was under abnormal stress and the hour was late....but I stand by my opinion......David Sedaris is a riot.  I am beyond slightly disappointed that he is gay because that leaves very little room for me to marry him, live in a foreign country, and laugh the rest of my life away.

Rating 4.5
Rating   um I laughed so hard I don't remember anything else that happened.....I think there may have been swearing, oh yeah.......there was a masterbation scene and homosexual content......so erm...maybe R.

This Perfect Day

This Perfect Day by Ira Levin

     "Christ, Marx, Wood, and Wei
       Led us to this perfect day."

In the spirit of George Orwell's 1984, 'This Perfect Day' gives us a glimpse of life in the future.  There are human outposts on other planets.  The cities of Earth are filled with parks, scanners, government appointed jobs and families, and bracelet wearing, drug numbed Members.

Everything is run by Uni....the unified government made up of a gigantic computer compound.  Uni dictates your schooling, job, living arrangements, names (they've whittled it down to 4 for each sex) attached to numbers (namebers), the sex life of the Members, and freedom of movement throughout the continents.  Big Brother is present in this instance........because the members are drugged monthly, or more often, with drugs that make them 'healthy'.  The drugs cause the Members to rat each other out, be satisfied with once a week sex (which they call f ing), never question Uni, and lead productive lives void of feeling, and then kills them at the age of 62.

Chip begins to 'question' Uni when his grandfather draws attention to the fact that Uni 'appears' to be one thing, but in reality is something much more cold and sinister.  It takes Chip years to even get near breaking away, or having an 'awakening' because every Member is plugged full of drugs that won't let them question the authority of Uni.  And even if they did, all of the other Members would turn them in for being 'sick'.

After many years and life altering set backs, Chip feels that he has successfully escaped the life Uni had planned for him. In a creepy turn of events, he finds that all he has worked for, may in fact be just what Uni wanted him to do.

Fantastic read!  This is one of my favorite genres.  I enjoyed Levin's take on future government control.  By the end it was feeling fragmented, which may have come from Chips break with being sedated....but it didn't seem to flow as well.
Rating 4.5
Rating R Sex, crude language.