Sunday Salon 5-3-09

Nothing like a little holiday cheer in the middle of Spring. I am a huge fan of David Sedaris. Holidays on Ice did not disappoint.  A few of the essays weren't quite up to his standards. Two stand outs were "Jesus Shaves" and "Six to Eight Black Men." Jesus Shaves deals with a group of students in a French class trying to explain what Easter is to a Moroccan Muslim woman.  The problem is the students are of varying nationalities, and their grasp of French is tenuous at best. Hilarity ensues.
Six to Eight Black Men is my favorite Sedaris essay ever. It deals with the concept of Santa in the Netherlands.

"Unlike the jolly, obese American Santa, Saint Nicolas is painfully thin and dresses not unlike the pope, topping his robes with a tall hat resembling an embroidered tea cozy. This outfit, I was told, is a carryover from his former career, when he served as the bishop of Turkey."

He later goes on to describe how Saint Nicolas arrives by boat with "six to eight black men." If you are good the former bishop and his helpers will fill your shoes with candy. If you are naughty, they might stuff you into a sack, kick you, and take you to Spain.

If you can read this essay without peeing in your pants from laughter you need to have your funny bone tuned up.

 

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister made me think of a cross between Maeve Binchy and Laura Esquivel, both delightful authors. The central character is Lillian who grew up with a mother obsessed with books. Lillian is increasingly turned off by the written word and learns how to communicate by means of food. She owns a successful restaurant, but her main joy is teaching cooking lessons on Monday nights. It is interesting to read vignettes of the students' lives, and to see how their emotions and lives are effected by cooking and eating. This was a very enjoyable read.

<3
Wendy

Comments

[The Kool-Aid Mom]

I've never read any of Sedaris's books, but I just got a copy of Me Talk Pretty Some Day. From what I've read of the reviews, I'm fairly certain I'll like him ;-)