If we are sitting side by side reading…and I start laughing out loud…and then I insist that I read you a line or paragraph or page of a book, there is a 96% chance that its author is David Sedaris.
Okay – so I pulled that number out of the air, but suffice to say, there is a really good chance that at that moment I’m reading something that he has written.
I first become aware of David Sedaris while I was in college, when a professor assigned his “A Plague of Tics” (from his book Naked) to our creative writing course. The story begins:
When the teacher asked if she might visit with my mother, I touched my nose eight times to the surface of my desk.
“May I take that as a ‘yes’?” she asked. (Sedaris 7)
I can’t remember the context of the assignment, but what I do recall is that I enjoyed the story so much that I immediately went out and bought Naked – closely followed by Me Talk Pretty One Day. Other publications – and purchases on my part – have followed, and his pieces are well-worn residents of my bookshelf, spines broken and pages lose from repeated readings. When he visited my alma mater – Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina – while I was a student there, I attended his reading and was delighted to find that hearing him speak and chatting with him for a moment while he signed my new copy of Barrel Fever only made me love his work more. (Side note: His inscription in the book was a reference to my own writing and how he looked forward to reading my own book. ::sigh:: As long as I continue to teach high school English, I’m not going to hold my breath on that one. And to be fair, it has taken me a year just to get back to posting on this blog…)
So it likely comes as no surprise that as soon as I heard he was coming out with a new book called Calypso, I began counting down the days until I could descend upon my local bookstore Kepler’s (Do yourself a favor and check it out if you’re in the area!) to get a copy. I made myself wait until I had finished inputting the last of my students’ final grades, and then – within a couple of days, I had purchased and finished the book.
And as usual, I loved it. For someone who has read his earlier works, it’s part new stories and part trip down memory lane. More focus on his interactions with his family – his father especially – and less outrageousness, but so funny and thoughtful, as always. It says something about an author, by the way, when you categorize his latest book – which features an after-hours surgery and the feeding of a previously frozen tumor to a snapping turtle (his second choice, as Grandaddy/Godzilla had died) – as less outrageous.
Which brings me to a question: If you aren’t reading David Sedaris, what are you doing with your life?
And a suggestion: Go to your local bookstore or library, start with Naked, and enjoy. You can thank me later.
As for the bike ride, let’s just say that – while it is not running – the fact that I got up and
did something physical for the first time in a while (the last month or so of school always renders me useless in that area unless I am coaching) is pretty significant at this moment. My husband and I headed out to Cañada Road via Ralston Road for a 16+ mile ride, and while I likely worried a few people with my heavy breathing and pained facial expressions, the weather and backdrop were gorgeous, and I’m fairly certain I will live to do something similar another day.
Whether it’s reading or working out or anything else, you have to start somewhere, right?
The Running Bibliophile 