Some Light Nonfiction Reading

For my summer book I chose to read Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris. All of Sedaris's books were recommended to me by a friend last school year so I decided this summer would be a great time to test them out. Also, many of his recollections are from trips he took in Europe and seeing as I traveled there this summer it was a perfect fit.

This may be a challenge to blog about due to the fact that the book I chose to read was a collection of autobiographical stories from multiple times in Sedaris's life. The short stories don't follow any sort of timeline to outline his life, they are simple anecdotes from his past that would seem boring if written by anyone else, but his writing style really turned normal daily events into an entertaining read.

I absolutely fell in love with Sedaris's writing style from page one. You wouldn't think that playing with your sisters in the snow would be something you needed to stick into your autobiography, but one of the things Sedaris has down to a science is pointing out the little absurd parts of life that make little puppies cock their head to the side as if to say, "huh?" There is humor with every page turn and the fact that he is a homosexual gives him a free pass to make his little cracks about that as well. If you are the type of person who hates being that person on the bus snickering to himself because of the book he is reading, then this is not the book for you.

My personal favorite is the short story "Six to Eight Black Men" where he discusses the different legends that children of different countries have concerning Christmas. The main focus is the Dutch Christmas. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that Sedaris finds quite a bit of humor in the fact that their St. Nicholas resides in Spain, travels with six to eight black men (no one really knows how many), and if the child was naughty he would be kicked (although now they just "pretend" to kick you).

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is apprehensive about reading nonfiction. It honestly felt like I was reading fiction except that everything I was reading was entirely true.