Editorial Review

David Sedaris became a star autobiographer on public radio, onstage in New York, and on bestseller lists, mostly on the strength of "SantaLand Diaries," a scathing, hilarious account of his stint as a Christmas elf at Macy's. (It's in two separate collections, both worth owning, Read more

Reviews (637)

Caution, this book will make you laugh....hard.
I reread this recently and I laughed as much as I did the first time I read it.David Sedaris is quite a national treasure even though most people don't know who he is!His writing is wonderful, poignant, sentimental and hilarious.The man knows how to write well and you can tell he continues to love his craft.
Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive.
David Sedaris just might be the funniest man alive.
Me tAlK PRettY ONe DAY
"I know the thing that you speak exact now. Talk me more, you, plus, please, plus," Says David Sedaris, "talking pretty" in his book, Me tAlK PRettY ONe DAY. (page 173) The quote above is from a story about the absurdities of taking French lessons. The book is a collection of funny memoirs about such awful experiences as speech therapy in elementary school, his father forcing him to take guitar lessons from a midget and moving to France and not being able to speak French. Most of the stories center around his bizarre siblings and parents, including his obsessively swearing brother Paul, his alcoholic, chain-smoking mom and his drama-obsessed sister Amy. As the book progresses the stories take place later in his life and follow him into adulthood. We see him growing older but still being the same timid, disturbed outsider. While this book is not part of a series, David Sedaris has written many other humor books like it, such as Naked, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice.
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Subjects:  1. Americans    2. Essays    3. Form - Essays    4. France    5. Humor    6. Paris    7. Paris (France)    8. Humor / Essays    9. American Satire And Humor   

Reviews (7)

Another gem
I have loved Klosterman's work for a while now, and IV does not disappoint. Funny, sad, cynical, bitter, but a wonderful reading experience. I don't think I understand what anyone is talking about any more, but I come closer to understanding Chuck than anyone else.
Don't waste your time...
Read all of Chuck's other books and this is the worst of the bunch.SD&CP was funny.This is just a bad collection of articles that he has written.If you want to read about femal cover bands, or the scene in Fargo ND when he was 23, go right ahead.It feels like you are reading the Village Voice cover to cover...one crappy article at a time.Torture.

Chuck's Common-Sense Is In Short Supply In the Culture
The title of "Chuck Klosterman IV" hearkens back to Led Zeppelin's classic untitled, "Stairway to Heaven" album.It's typical of Chuck's approach, which is to examine our significant pop culture landmarks with ironic, self-deprecating wit.This book collects some of the highlights of Klosterman's journalism over the past decade.He has been hailed as the successor to Hunter Thompson, but I think he has a quality that Thompson lacked (as much as I admired the work of the Good Doctor).That quality is American common-sense, in abundance.Klosterman's method is to examine pop culture with the close reading usually reserved for so-called "high culture."And then he takes the contrarian view, which can yield some surprising insights.A lot of these icons have been only worshipped their whole careers, so the combination of Klosterman's ruthless scrutiny and heartland human sympathy produces strange and wonderful new wisdom.
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Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Essays    3. Literary    4. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    5. Popular Culture    6. Popular Culture - General    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Social Science / Popular Culture   

Subjects:  1. American Essays    2. American Satire And Humor    3. American wit and humor    4. Essays    5. Form - Essays    6. Humor    7. English    8. Humour    9. USA   

Reviews (1)

An absolute must
I went to sleep last night angry that I had to sleep and got up early, angry that I had not gotten up early enough to finish "Through the Children's Gate." As I finish this short review, I finish the book. Its last paragraphs I delayed reading because, as I neared the end, I realized how much I dreaded reaching the end. Now that I have, I'm eagerly awaiting the next collection. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Description And Travel    5. Family    6. Gopnik, Adam    7. Home    8. New York    9. New York (State)    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Psychological aspects    12. Social Psychology    13. Social aspects    14. Travelers    15. United States - Mid Atlantic - New York City    16. United States - Northeast - Middle Atlantic (General)    17. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Reviews (6)

very clear
I am a non native speaker, and even though my grammar is not too bad, my writing style has always been a source of frustration. At work, when comparing the texts I would write with the one of good native writers, I could see that theirs were better, but could not find why.
a gem
I found an used copy of " The Basics of Clarity and Grace" at bookstore. After reading 3/4 of the book I orderedtwo more copies. One copy for my son who is a journalist major and the other for my eldestson who writes good comedy. I liked its size and its no nonesense approach.

Better than Strunk & White, better than Turabian
The longer version of Joseph Williams "Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace" has been justly praised for many years. But as a director of writing programs at NYU, Princeton, and Yale, I never felt right adopting that text: it was too expensive, and more than the average student needed. This "Basics" Style is the perfect solution. All the brilliance of the longer book at 1/3 the price, "Style" perfectly balances explanations of style rules with practical examples. The rules that Strunk and White encourage are good ones, and American prose would be leaner if their precepts were universal. The problem with that book is that the advice is not explained systematically. You can use their suggestions when you face similar cases, but only Williams' text breaks down topics like elegance, coherence, and cohesion in ways that will let you carry the ideas into every text you write. I would not recommend this book for the casual 10th grader; although it's clearly written, its ideas are somewhat advanced. But for professionals, college writers, and any teenager who takes writing seriously, "Style" is an indispensable tool, a book you'll use for the rest of your life. For learning to write good college papers, I also highly recommend his "Craft of Research." ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business English    2. Composition & Creative Writing - General    3. English language    4. Language    5. Language Arts & Disciplines    6. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    7. Rhetoric    8. Style    9. Technical English    10. Creative writing guides    11. English literature: essays, letters & other non-fiction prose works    12. Language & Linguistics    13. Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing    14. Literature: History & Criticism    15. Press & journalism   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (49)

Different Approach to Relationships
I used to think that if I just found the "perfect" way to do relationships, I would never get hurt or have my heart broken.
True Love
C. S. Lewis is a great thinker and whatever he writes, he writes well. This book compares and contrasts the four kinds of love that one can personally experience and personally manifest towards others. It can definitely improve your love life!
Amazing analysis of loves
I was not especially expecting to be engrossed by a book about four greek words, but I was wrong.This was one of the better books that I have ever read.Lewis overviews each of the four types of love:storge (affection), phileo (friendship), eros (romantic love), and agape (charity or God-love).Each discussion was extremely insightful, especially the friendship one.
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Subjects:  1. Christianity    2. Christianity - Christian Life - General    3. Christianity - Christian Life - Interpersonal Relationships    4. Christianity - Literature    5. Inspirational - General    6. Interpersonal Relations    7. Love    8. Love (Theology)    9. Religion    10. Religion - Classic Works    11. Religious aspects    12. Essays, journals, letters & other prose works    13. Religion / Christianity   

Editorial Review

Let's get this out of the way: David Rakoff is not David Sedaris. When you hear him being incredibly smart and funny on Read more

Reviews (54)

Keep it simple, stupid

Very good, very clever
Comparing David Rakoff to David Sedaris, while probably unavoidable, is more than a little disinginuous.David Sedaris writes in a way that is understated, even simplistic, yet which makes him easy to relate to.Reading David Rakoff, by contrast, is not effortless.His writing is more complex and more obviously literary, which makes it less immediate, and less relatable.He has a considerable intellect, and skill as a writer, and is not afraid to show it.As a result, there is a sense of effort, of him trying to say things in a way that is probably not as straightforward as it could be.That's only bad when it doesn't work, and during those times when it seems that he is trying too hard, or at least, too hard to be clever.Fortunately, that is not often.
brilliant!!
No other word to describe this collection of short stories, or rather essays on life in general.
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Subjects:  1. American Essays    2. Essays    3. Form - Essays    4. Humor    5. Literary Collections    6. Literature: Classics    7. Humor / Essays   

Reviews (17)

He never disappoints
One thing about the books of Chuck Palahniuk...they are never boring. Here, he takes his typically dark yet hilarious tone to the realm of nonfiction. Entertaining with stories from the depressing (his father's murder) to the strange (his summer spent with 'roid obsessed buddies and their quest to pump up) and the disgusting (sperm and Margaret Thatcher is all that needs to be said). All fans of Palahniuk will love it, and he may even make a few new ones with this interesting effort.

Are they really true stories?
When you call your book true stories, especially in this year of heightened awareness about what is truth and what is fiction, you should expect a higher level of scrutiny from your readers.As such, I have to admit that I'm highly dubious as to the legitimacy and honesty of some of these stories.
A Diversion, But Not Really Stranger Than Fiction
I enjoy Palahniuk's other work, so picked this one up.It didn't disappoint, but it just wasn't that compelling.At its most interesting were the portions of the book where Palahniuk was directly experiencing the events, such as his experimentation with anabolic steroids and the horribly depressing essay on his simple day out in Seattle dressed as a big furry dog.His essays on his self-consciousness and naieve attempts to be cool and smooth for his brushes with Hollywood power and stardom as the Fight Club film took off are fascinating.
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Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Literary    3. Personal Memoirs    4. Popular Culture - General    5. Social Science    6. Sociology    7. Literary Collections / Essays   

Reviews (11)

McPhee is back!
John McPhee is arguably the greatest practitioner of literary non-fiction in America since Joseph Mitchell.Some of his works are more accessible than others, but his knack for making complex and obscure subjects interesting and approachable is perhaps the greatest of his gifts (although his flawless control of language is right up there).
Transported
For anyone with any interest at all in how commercial stuff is moved from place to place in our large country.
Travel tales
John McPhee is the ultimate observer.He has an uncanny ability to reveal interesting details in the most mundanesurroundings.Much of what he discloses are things we often overlook.Better yet, he imparts what he sees with impressive clarity and delightful wit.He draws on extensive experience, from purposely stalling aircraft [Table of Contents] to great ships roaming the seas [Looking For A Ship].The underlying theme of this volume is a bit more ground-based, as he joins truckers, bargemen, train engineers and his son-in-law.With these companions, he exposes a bit more of our world to us.McPhee may not be able to engage in "talking shop" with the men he deals with in this book, but he's a master at "listening shop".What he hears from them is conveyed to us in a way that puts us right next to him, attending closely.
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Subjects:  1. American Essays    2. Essays    3. Freight and freightage    4. General    5. Literature - Classics / Criticism    6. Transportation    7. Transportation (General)    8. Transportation / General   

Reviews (32)

Wallace (finally?) delivers the goods
Probably no contemporary writer has to meet higher expectations than David Foster Wallace. He's a genius. Ask anyone. In some cases, this works against him; as someone who survived reading Wallace's essay collection A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING..., I can testify that Mr. Wallace sometimes has aspirations that even his prodigious skills can't meet, and the results ain't pretty.
Do you have any idea how many lobsters die each year...?
Do you have any idea how many lobsters die each year in order to satisfy our culinary cravings? I've no idea, but after reading the essay `Consider the Lobster,' I have to say - too many.
Filosphical Fun
This collection of essays will make you laugh out loud and also think about popular culture and politics and unique and uncomfortable ways.What good writing should do.The essay on the porn industry alone is worth the price of the book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American Essays    2. Collections Of Monographs, Essays (Multi-Subject)    3. Essays    4. Literary Collections    5. Literature - Classics / Criticism    6. Literature: Classics    7. Literary Criticism & Collections / General   

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Didion, Joan - Prose & Criticism    3. Essays    4. Literary Collections    5. Literature - Classics / Criticism    6. Literature: Classics    7. Current Events / American   

Reviews (11)

Mangoes and Curry and so Much More, Oh My!
Mangoes & Curry Leaves is one of my favorite cookbooks and I have scores of Indian cookbooks, as I'm sort of a gourmet chef. I wrote a cooking column for a sailing magazine for a couple years and one of my favorite articles was my "Two Ways to Tandoori" which you can read in one of my "Amazon So You'd Like to Guides," if you want. Tandoori chicken is just delicious. Anyway, while I was making the guide, I listed fifty cookbooks from my collection. I have more. I know, I know, one would think a couple books would be enough, but it's sort of an obsession with me, making food taste great and I just love to see how others have done it.
Beautiful and authentic
I cannot imagine anyone writing anything negative about this book...my family and I come from Bangladesh and India and I have tons of Pakistani friends. The depth that the authors have gone into understanding ingredients and the cooking is remarkable. I cannot imagine how they came to know some of those details. Like my neighbor in PA who had written a negative review, I have also Jaffrey's books which i love but Alford and Duguid got into the very essence of real home cooking of the subcontinent.Other authors sometimes focus on party foods while this book advises the readers on what people really eat on a daily basis. The other travel advice is interesting and the photographs gorgeous although i understand the concerns of the Bethlehem, PA reviewer of pictures that are hard to interpret. Just let it go. They still do an even better job with this book than Hot Sour Salty Sweet. The book is great. I'm glad amazon offers it for a lower price than bookstores.

Good work in a cookbook/travelogue
I am a novice American learning to cook Indian style.I have studied enough books to know that sticking curry powder in a melange of stewing vegetables is not really "getting it" in terms of creating an authentic Indian meal.In my search for authenticity, I think Alford & Duguid go a long way in presenting just that, scouring the villages & cities of India.
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Subjects:  1. Cookery    2. Cookery, Asian    3. Cooking    4. Cooking / Wine    5. Essay    6. Essays    7. International And Ethnic Cookery    8. Regional & Ethnic - Asian    9. Regional & Ethnic - Indic    10. South Asia    11. Cooking / Asian    12. Indian sub-continent    13. National & regional cuisine   

Reviews (1)

"Happy Customer"
The item I purchased was on time.I was able to use the textbook in time for college. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Authorship    2. Composition & Creative Writing - General    3. English language    4. Essay    5. Grammar    6. Handbooks, manuals, etc    7. Language    8. Language Arts & Disciplines    9. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    10. Report writing    11. Rhetoric    12. Creative writing guides    13. Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing    14. Literary studies: general    15. Writing & editing guides   

Editorial Review

Kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk go the blueberries into the pail of a little girl named Sal who--try as she might--just can't seem to pick as fast as she eats. Robert McCloskey's classic is a magical tale of the irrepressible curiosity--not to mention appetite--of youth. Sal and her mother set off in search of blueberries for the winter at the same time as a mother bear and her cub. A quiet comedy of errors ensues when the young ones wander off and absentmindedly trail the wrong mothers. Read more

Reviews (60)

A Sweet Little Story
I purchased this book to read to my baby and it is just a sweet little tale about Mommies and their mischievious babies.I can't wait until she is old enough to sit on my lap and really understand the story when I read it to her.I highly recommend it.

It's an Oldie but a Goldie!
My kindergarten teacher had also read this book to me and now I'm reading it to my kids, but really to my son because he's 4 and my daughter is 8. She listens to it when it comes time for me to read it to him because she would find it amusing. Blueberries for Sal preserve a distinct since of life when tin pails and wood smoke, bobby pins and rambling dirt roads were routine. At the same time it is a timeless portrayal of curiosity and maternal instinct as Sal and her mother find themselves sharing their berry patch with a hungry bear cub and its mother. The words flow in a natural rhythm, creating patterns that build anticipation.
Good book
My daughter loved this book from the age of six and continues to love it now that she is just about eight.This book doesn't hold my six year old son's interest as long as it did my daughter's but he does like it.Makes a nice gift for any that age group. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Bears    2. Children's Baby - Picturebooks    3. Children's Books/Baby-Preschool    4. Children: Kindergarten    5. Classics    6. Fiction    7. Humorous Stories    8. Mother and child    9. English literature: essays, letters & other non-fiction prose works    10. English literature: literary criticism    11. Juvenile Fiction / Lifestyles / Farm Life   

Reviews (139)

An elegiac last call from the greatest American author
Kurt Vonnegut has his detractors, some of whom can be found reviewing this book, but thankfully he also has numerous fans -- and you can put me at the forefront of his supporters any day. In this work (which will most likely be the now eighty-four year old author's last) Vonnegut looks back at the life he has lived, the people he has met, those who have influenced him, the world he has inhabited, and reflects on where the human race seems to be headed. Surely there will be people who disagree with Vonnegut's politics, but what he is preaching (if anything) is the importance of kindness -- and, really, who could possibly find fault with that? He challenges his readers to stand up to the political machines, the corrupt corporations, et al and to hold on to their integrity in a world that no longer rewards honesty and hard work. Vonnegut certainly has no love for President Bush and the current administration -- which naturally provokes a knee-jerk defensive position from the conservatively inclined reader, but if you take the politics out of the equation you are left with what Vonnegut recommends to a man on page 107: "There's only one rule that I know of: Go****mn it, Joe, you've got to be kind!" Again, who could argue with that? Wouldn't the world be a better place -- and wouldn't life be a lot easier to live -- if we just made the modicum of effort that it takes to be nice to each other? Perhaps, being apolitical myself, it's easy for me to put aside my differences with Vonnegut and focus on what he is trying to say. There are also those who complain that Vonnegut is overly simplistic. Well, if I've learned anything it's that oftentimes the most obvious things are the hardest to see -- and if everyone already knew what Vonnegut is saying the world wouldn't need much fixing in the first place. Turkish author Orhan Pamuk just won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, and I'm sure that he deserves it, but it just stupefies me that Vonnegut has never been honored with that prize during his long career. With a canon that includes "Mother Night" (my favorite Vonnegut book), "Slaughterhouse Five", "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater", "Breakfast of Champions" and so much more he just seems like a great choice. And at eighty-four Vonnegut has lost none of his mental prowess and signature wit. If this elegiac work proves to be Vonnegut's last it would be a fitting, melancholy note to end his career on. I just can't help but selfishly hold onto the hope that he will be around a while longer to entertain us with his unique blend of comedy, tragedy, and poignant themes. God -- or whatever is out there -- bless you, Mr. Vonnegut.

A master writer but not at his best
I have long been a fan of Kurt Vonnegut.Yes, he is a socialist and, yes, his writing is not balanced.He is espousing a point of view.Nothing is masked.I accept that and appreciate the wit and originality for what it is.He has written masterpieces of American literature and this is written as the words of an aging great man.
ICONOCLASM TRUMPS TALENT
Not having read any of Vonnegut's work for 30 years, I opened A Man Without a Country and remembered why I'd SO assiduously avoided him. As a natural conservative I much enjoy the thrust and parry of lively political debate. But KV, like almost every socialist I've ever met, doesn't do debate, preferring mockery, innuendo, myth and wilfully distorted facts. It's the superior sneer of the self-styled intellectual who doesn't know what he's talking about. His unwavering belief in doctrinal socialism brings to mind a line from Emerson: "Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
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Subjects:  1. 2001-    2. 20th century    3. American - General    4. Authors, American    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Biography And Autobiography    8. Biography/Autobiography    9. Essays    10. Form - Essays    11. General    12. History - General History    13. Literature - Classics / Criticism    14. Personal Memoirs    15. Political Process - General    16. Politics and government    17. U.S. - Contemporary Politics    18. United States    19. United States - 20th Century    20. Vonnegut, Kurt    21. History / United States / 20th Century   

Reviews (1)

Death, Grief, Dysfunction
If you're expecting the usual batch of essays this year, be warned.
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Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. American Essays    3. Collections Of Monographs, Essays (Multi-Subject)    4. Essays    5. Literary Collections    6. Literature - Classics / Criticism    7. Literature: Classics    8. Literary Collections / Essays   

Reviews (6)

good read.
We've used this in my english class a lot.Someone is selected to analyze an essay, write about its style, content, and other features, and then the student writes down a couple discussion questions and then leads a discussion each friday about the essay.I have found each of the essays informative and educational.Some are rather dry, some are sarcastic, some are flat out funny.There are essays of length