A melancholy coin purse...David Sedaris reading and signing at B&N

The great thing about this blog is that it’s really put me in an up-for-whatever mindset when it comes to NYC—it hasn’t just forced me to plan to do something cool every week or so, it's affected my whole outlook. So when my cousin mentioned that one of our favorite authors, David Sedaris, would be reading from his new book at the Union Square Barnes & Noble, my response was an obvious Let's Go! A few months ago, even without work in the morning and in even in warmer temperatures, I might have been lazier and less willing, but this week, it was a no-brainer.

For those of you who don’t know any of Sedaris’ work, he is HILARIOUS. Most of his books are full of anecdotes from his life, all recounted in the wittiest, most sarcastic, self-deprecating, amazing writing. I have to confess I have only read two of his books thus far, but there has never been a dull moment in either one (and I have one holiday-themed book on deck for December + I’ve just purchased his new book, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, to start ASAP). I sort of have reading ADD, I think right now I’m in the middle of four books. Woops! I like to keep it interesting :)

Anyway, my first Sedaris book was, I think his most well-known, Me Talk Pretty One Day. It is a hilarious recounting of two major parts of his life, one being his childhood, which is particularly relevant to me because he grew up in Raleigh (near Duke) and his dad’s side of the family is Greek (like mine!). But it’s not just the personal relevance that makes it great, it’s the stories. Everyone has a bit of a wacky family, probably not nearly as crazy as Sedaris’, but you’ll love reading stories about cooky family members with weird habits and personalities. In my favorite (slash preference of the two), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, I literally laughed out loud the whole time. Just wait for Christmastime--I’ve already planned to transcribe my favorite passage from the book (about Santa Claus). But to give you an idea, I’ll try to find something indicative of his writing style and subject matter that I can type up right now. Seriously, I recommend his books: easy, entertaining reads that will make you laugh out loud.

Excerpt: So this is a piece from Me Talk Pretty One Day and it is one of those relevant-to-me stories, but I suspect that a lot of my friends are familiar with the customs described as well, so I figured I’d go for it.

“As Greeks, we had our own Easter, which was usually observed anywhere form two to four weeks after what was known in our circle as “the American version.” The reason has to do with the moon or the Orthodox calendar—something mysterious like that—though our mother always suspected it was scheduled at a later date so that the Greeks could buy their marshmallow chicks and plastic grass at drastically reduced sale prices. “The cheap sons of bitches,” she’d say. “If they had their way, we’d be celebrating Christmas in the middle of goddamn February.” …

“In the evening we had the traditional Greek meal followed by a game in which we would toast one another with blood-colored eggs. The symbolism escapes me, but the holder of the table’s one uncracked egg was supposedly rewarded with a year of good luck. I won only once. It was the year my mother died, my apartment got broken into, and I was taken to the emergency room suffering from what the attending physician diagnosed as “house-wife’s knee.””

I promise the books do nottt focus on him being Greek, he’s not even REALLY Greek…I just happened to have this passage underlined and it was easy to find and is funny (I think so anyway!). Trust me, I didn’t note any other Greeks in the massive crowd on Monday. I’m telling you. He rocks. But anyway, that’s the end of me plugging Sedaris.

The point of this post is to tell you about the reading and let you know about other great events going on at Barnes and Noble. We clearly underestimated Sedaris’ popularity, to say the least. We got there 15 minutes early, thinking we even had time to look around the store, but once we got the fourth floor, where the reading was, it was a major shock. The entire floor was PACKED. They had set up maybe 250 chairs, which were completely full, and the back half of the store consisted of crowds of people standing in between bookshelves…we were mushed in there. Of course it doesn’t really matter how close you are since you are just listening, but I would recommend getting there an hour early if you even want to consider a chair, but still no guarantees. The reading was great, hilarious of course. Sedaris read a bit from his new book, then shared some funny notes from his personal diary and answered some questions, all for about 45 minutes. Afterwards we got on line to get our books signed and have a minute with the great author. Unfortunately, even though he apparently signed for an hour and a half before the reading, there were still at least a hundred people waiting afterwards. And after almost two hours of waiting, we finally bailed. We figured it would have been about another hour and hunger pains were kicking in. So again, if getting your book signed by the author is really important to you…go early! 

There are some cool author and artist events going on in the next few months at various B&Ns around the city. I'll list some of them that I thought would be interesting/fun, there’s really something for everyone… 

- For the more politically inclined: The author of Game Change, a NYT bestseller on the 2008 presidential election will discuss his book and The author of the Bill Clinton biography A Complicated Man, will discuss his book (both this Friday!!)

- For sports fans: Sportscaster and former Giants kicker Pat Summerall will discuss his book about the Giants and coaches Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry

- For the musicians out there: Various musical events (like jazz, broadway songs, or tributes to certain artists—Beatles this Thurs!), with CD signing, and some actual dance performances (ballet in barnes and noble? I mean I’d like to see that…)

- For the jokesters: Steve Martin will be here later this month to discuss his recent fiction book (who knew he was an author??)

- For the pop-culture obsessed: The Kardashian sisters (Nov 30) will be discussing I guess themselves and their book…about themselves. Sounds awesome!!

There’s just so much variety…and it’s free! Definitely check out this link to see more.  You can search by store or author/artist or type of event—very user-friendly. This is just another really great, different, entertaining thing to do in this awesome city. Take advantage of it!! 

Happy Sedaris Reading!!

- The Wandering New Yorker