[wombat]

--- eta --- Sorry to be pissy, there, and I don't mean any disrespect to people, but I am somebody who really busts ass to use my creative mind and intelligence and public image to escape my small-town, kinda middle class, kinda poverty life.

And people with pampering and connections that are not recognized for what they are is a peeve of mine.

A big peeve. I mean, I feel like I am held by my feet, dangling over the abyss, trying to prove myself again and again, while what I work for is handed off to people straight out of grad school whose rent is being paid for by their folks.

They're the best, by golly. Well, really they're not, and it kind of makes us *uncomfortable* so -- will you just never, never mention it?

But, I respect people's feelings about works they encounter.

[wombat]

If "simply solid middle class!" is taken to mean your parents move with you to Southern France, and you never have to work a job a day in your life, and you can make "your own" money from "making your own fame" by living in expensive Manhattan and having a ton of media connections and just copying old hipster clichés-- a woman wearing a fifties mom apron!! How "cutting ede" hilarious!! - then I guess they're "simply solid middle class" and "have made all their own money off of just their incredible art, making such sacrifice, struggle, and risk taking", ......

but, that would be MY definition of "wealthy"

Oh yeah, and, everyone will stick up for them at all times. *-- precious! -- *

NEVER criticize the privileged! They're just like you and me! You don't need to be wealthy to move to France or live in Manhattan without a job!! Of COURSE not!

They did it all themselves...

[mr_falljackets]

This CoD/Sedaris thing reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend of a friend once. She was a huge film buff and had just seen The Thin Red Line and Saving Private Ryan which opened the same weekend (I think) and was raving on and on about The Thin Red Line. I'd just seen Saving Private Ryan and thought it was exceptionally moving, so much so that I assumed it would have been a universal sentiment. So I asked her how the two films compared. "Saving Private Ryan was great," she said derisively. "If you like your movies served on a platter."

It's just funny how we take to things differently.

[karianne]

Polly...ditto on A Confederacy of Dunces . I wanted to like it but couldn't even get through it.


superscience..I haven't read Kitchen Confidential , thanks for the rec! I will check it out.

I love both of the Sedaris siblings for different reasons. You're right, Polly, some of David's stuff makes me laugh out loud, other bits just make me smile. Amy's comedy is so much more physical than David's and it usually cracks me up.

[pollystyrene]

I'm a big David and Amy fan, and I don't think they were particularly wealthy growing up. Solid middle class, I think, but by no means rich.

I think different people react to their humor in different ways- I LOL quite a bit at David's stuff, but a lot of it is more "smirk-inducing" than belly laugh. I like Amy as a person and as a character (caricature?) but I found Wigfield to be a little disappointing. If it was just pictures of Amy in costumes with silly background stories of the characters (which is what I was sort of expecting), that would be funny, but there was all that continuing story and plot in that book (I use the term "plot" loosely there) that was so distracting. I have the hospitality book on my list because it does sort of have a point and purpose, and I like her as this sort of anti-Martha Stewart.

I got about 1/3 into Confederacy of Dunces before I just couldn't take it anymore. I thought it was funny, and really well-written (ever read O'Toole's other book The Neon Bible? Excellent. Don't waste your time with the movie, though) but I just hated the characters so much. It was like that movie Welcome to the Dollhouse. None of them are likeable and there's a small part of you that thinks they all got what was coming to them. I'll try CoD again though. Someday.

[mouse]

i haven't necessarily detected classism in amy's work (and please note, any of my criticism is directed only at amy, i LOVE david....and i love amy to a point) but more a sort of disregard of humanity at large. i've met a lot of people like her, actually, and they're fun and hilarious until you actually need them to be serious, and they can't do it. the thing i didn't like about wigfield--which, to be fair, i only flipped through at the library--was the attitude of, sort of, "people like this aren't ever going to see this book, so we can make fun of them with impunity". it's hard to articulate...i don't know. it doesn't seem like an understanding sort of making fun, it just seems mean and ignorant.

that said, i think a lot of her stuff is hilarious, i really do--some of it just rubs me the wrong way, and maybe because i've met so many people like her it doesn't seem as original and groundbreaking as it probably should.

[roseviolet]

I have found that I enjoy David Sedaris' work much more when I hear him read it. I've tried just reading his books, but some of his stories fall flat for me when I read them on my own. But I can hear him read the same story on This American Life, & suddenly it's great.

I never detected any classism in the work of either Sedaris. I always felt that David was just exploring the quirks inherent in human behavior. A lot of David's stories seem to make fun of himself and his family. I'm not that familiar with Amy's work, though, other than the plays she wrote with her brother, episodes of Exit 57, and a few other things.

[superscience]

For the record, the Sedaris family weren't kids-of-rich-parents. I'm sure that Amy and David are super-wealthy now, but I'm not sure where the snippy rich guy thing came from. And, for the record, I grew up poor, and I think they're both hilarious. I think it just depends on your sense of humor.

Mr.falljackets--you should try Me Talk Pretty One Day. It's definitely laugh-out-loud. But, then again, I'm not a huge fan of Confederacy of Dunces... I had the same reaction to that one that you describe for Barrel Fever--I got the wit, but just didn't find it all that funny.

Karianne--have you read Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain? I just read it. I found it to be a quick, entertaining read, but found Bourdain to be really annoying. But, my friend also read it, and is now obsessed with him.

[wombat]

Oh, I read the definitive source on the Sandman's "Delirium" character being Tori Amos. It was "Comics Journal" or something, a long interview with both Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos. I should have kept it, but, arrgh, we moved and were tired of keeping magazines.

I'm interested in what I've heard about Kathy Acker but have not read any of it.

I'm glad I am not the only one that is annoyed by the Sedaris' condescending cluelees rich kid humor. "Oh I suppose I should feel guilty that I've been given so much and I'm still such an ignorant lazy fuck-up, but I don't, ha ha ha!! And aren't THOSE PEOPLE ridiculous?" Well-put, mouse!

And so many kind of little snippy guys with wealthy parents who still haven't accomplished much by the time they hit 25 - 30- 40 .... just *love* them.

[mr_falljackets]

I haven't read Amy Sedaris but I did read Barrel Fever. I just didn't think it was as riotously funny as the friend who bought it for me said it would be. Is there a difference between amusing and funny? Can you recognize the wit of something without it causing you to actually laugh or even curve the edges of your mouth into the semblance of a smile? If so, I'm willing to concede that Barrel Fever was amusing but it wasn't Confederacy of Dunces funny.

[karianne]

I think I am going to buy my sister the Amy Sedaris book for Christmas, at her request.

Right now I am reading a good book...Heat by Bill Buford. He is a home chef who begins working as an apprentice for Mario Batali. I love cooking and I love reading about cooking, and Buford's writing style is captivating.

[oceandessa]

I thought Delirium (from Sandman) was based on Amos. Now I am confused. Either way, they are both fabulous.

I am hoping to get more Gaiman stuff for xmass. I am also gifting Amy Sedaris' book to a friend of mine who loves Strangers with Candy. I have flipped through it and it's wonderful. Other books I am giving: On Beauty by Zadie Smith, a biography of an 18th century female gardner (I think it's called Darling Heriott), a book on the cinema of Kirostami for my partner, a book on the art of Mizaki (sp?? you know the animator of Spirited Away) for my sis-in-law.

[mouse]

my friends gave a dinner party after buying the amy sedaris book. we ate cheese balls and bacon-wrapped meatloaf and were going to do a craft but got too drunk. i have to say though, i do think she's really funny, but at a certain point i get really annoyed/bored by her. "wigfield", in my opinion, was awful, but only because i've lived in that sort of town and the hipster-making-fun-of-people-and-not-realizing-they're-humans bothers me a lot. she just never stops. i like david better because, as snide and hilarious and mean as he is, he also clearly GETS humanity. and i don't think amy does, i don't think she ever cracks the surface.

[superscience]

go_kayte - I bought a copy of the Amy Sedaris book, and LOVE it. It's got lots of recipes and entertaining tips. Plus, tons of her bizarre humor. If you're a fan of Strangers With Candy or David Sedaris, I like you'll love it. You should stop by a bookstore and page through it; they have it everywhere because it's on the NY Times Bestseller list.

[go_kayte]

I'm giving three copies of I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris. It's freakin' funny, and I think my friends will dig it.

I was about to buy this on amazon but I scrolled down and saw a bunch of negative reviews... I know, I know, amazon reviews don't count, but I hesitated and picked something else. So what's the real deal on it???

[superscience]

I'm giving three copies of I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris. It's freakin' funny, and I think my friends will dig it. I'm getting The West Virginia Encyclopedia for my step-dad. And, Pippi Longstocking books for my neices. I hope I get some books, too.

I just started reading Half Life by Shelley Jackson. Anyone read anything by her? I'm only a couple of paragraphs in, and feel like I'm going to have an extreme love-or-hate relationship with it, but I'm not sure which way it's going to go yet.

[mr_falljackets]

I'm having a hard time getting through Love in the Time of Cholera and Notes From the Underground . Great books but... just cannot find it in me to finish them. I'm stuck in the middle parts of both. So I put them down and tried to find something that would energize my enthusiasm. I flipped through The Heart of the Matter, The Magnificant Ambersons and The Big Sleep to see if one of them would pique me. I finally settled on Their Eyes Were Watching God. You'd think I would have read that already back in high school being from North Florida and all but, no. Then again, they used to name the high schools in our district after Confederate generals who became klansmen. So anyway that's what I'm hoping will kick start my waning reading addiction.

[anna k]

I really like Gringa Latina, the memoir of an Italian woman raised in Peru, and Isabella Rosselini's autobiography Some of Me. Both present old-fashioned Italian traditions and make me wish I was there.

[go_kayte]

I'm 200 pages into Against the Day now, and I'm sucked in.
bunnyb, I haven't read V or Gravity's Rainbow, but I have them so I should really get to reading them sometime
maryjo, I read some Kathy Acker book a long time ago--I think I was 14. I can't remember what it was though! In the book she was kidnapped and forced into prostitution... or does that describe more than one of her books?

[maryjo]

I read that Delirium was based on Kathy Acker... not that that invalidates the Tori Amos thing, but it's interesting. I like Kathy Acker's work a lot.