Naked by David Sedaris

 

David Sedaris, author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, chronicles his life in a hilarious collection of essays. I listened to the abridged version on audiobooks, and enjoyed how he and his sister performed the book. It was fantastically done. Their voices made the story so hilarious.

Sedaris begins the book with his memories of his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder behaviors during his grade school days. Even though OCD is not something to laugh about, the way he describes it is hilarious. His teachers did not understand his disorder and year after year they made their way over to his house to talk with his mother about his compulsion to lick light switches 100 times a day. Sedaris's alcoholic mother always invited them in for drinks and to discuss her son. The subject matter could have been interpreted a completely different way, but how Sedaris decided to write about his past was with humor rather than sadness or seiousness.

Family relationships, his sexuality, and nudist colonies are some of the other topics explored in this memoir. The way Sedaris writes will have you laughing out loud. This book is unusual, funny, and memorable.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

 

Right now I am reading Fifty Shades Freed by E.L. James which is the third book in the Fifty Shades series. To be honest, I am SO over this series. I enjoyed the first one. It was a page turner and I read it in a few days. The second one was also worth the read up until the last 1/4 of the book. It started to get too mushy and I became bored. I am forcing myself to get through the third one. It's not THAT bad, but I am eager to get into my next book. I am learning that I am just not a trilogy or series book reader for the most past (NOT including my beloved Harry Potter series. I wish there were 15 of them). I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl who Played with Fire, but I needed a break from the stories before I could read The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and it has been about a year and a half and I still haven't started the third. I am hoping to read it by the time the movie comes out, so I figure I have a few years. Also, The Hunger Games series had the same effect one me. I loved the first two, but by the time I read the third one I was simply craving another set of characters and plot line. So, while I am finishing up my current read, I thought that I would let my friend Erin share her review of a book that she enjoyed. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby is a book that has been on my "to read" list for many years. In one of my SLP classes in undergrad, my professor told all of us to read it. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. After reading Erin's review, I am going to put it a little higher on my list. 

Review by Erin Andreani

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly

Anyone who can parallel his “last moments as a functioning earthling” with Beatles lyrics is genius. 

This is the all-too-true story is authored by a man with locked-in syndrome... all written by blinking his left eye at an alphabet board. Now, yes, I am a speech-language pathologist (and yes, I DID enjoy the chapter titled ‘Guardian Angel’, referring to his speech therapist), but this is an incredible book that should be read by the masses. It should be on high school reading lists, it should be discussed in college literature courses. The implications of your mind surviving what your body does not are just incredible. I recommend this to ... everyone.