Monday, December 22, 2008

Review: Holidays On Ice by David Sedaris


Christmas is almost here, have you had enough of the sweetness and light? All the festivity leave you feeling ho-hum? David Sedaris has the antidote with his biting wit and snarky sense of humor in Holidays On Ice.

In this book you will find twelve short stories that poke fun at all kinds of holiday happenings. "Santaland Diaries" recounts the author's memorable employment as one of Santa's Elves:

"This afternoon I worked as an Exit Elf, telling people in a loud voice, 'THIS WAY OUT OF SANTALAND.' A woman was standing at one of the cash registers paying for her idea of a picture, while her son lay beneath her kicking and heaving, having a tantrum.

The woman said, 'Riley, if you don't start behaving yourself, Santa's not going to bring you ANY of those toys you asked for.'

The child said, 'He is too going to bring me toys, liar, he already told me.'

The woman grabbed my arm and said, 'You there, Elf, tell Riley here that if he doesn't start behaving immediately, then Santa's going to change his mind and bring him coal for Christmas.'

I said that Santa no longer traffics in coal. Instead, if you're bad he comes to your house and steals things. I told Riley that if he didn't behave himself, Santa was going to take away his TV and all his electrical appliances and leave him in the dark."

The traditional family Christmas newsletter is lambasted in "Season's Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!" and the media/tv industry gets the treatment in "Based Upon a True Story." There are Halloween and Easter tales, as well. It is a very funny book. There is some adult language, this book is not appropriate for children.

Holidays on Ice is published by Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-03590-3

Order Holidays on Ice from Amazon

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like the book for me this season. I'm quite the grinch this year.

Anonymous said...

I listened to this one and hearing David Sedaris reading it is hilarious. His tone is perfect for his humor.

S. Krishna said...

DEFINITELY not appropriate for children, but Sedaris is hilarious.

Michele said...

I laughed at the excerpt you chose...too funny!

I've got to find this book before Christmas! :)

The Tome Traveller said...

It is hilarious, I laughed till I cried at one point. I think it would be even funnier to listen to it read aloud.

tashiana said...

oh this look so cool! i love collected short stories
especially from odd points of view like santa's elf or the wicked witch in wicked lol
and the title and cover art are sweet


Thoughts from an Evil Overlord

Thank you!!

Thank you to Beth at Beth Fish Reads and to The Blogger Guide for helping me to customize my template and to Andrea at The Little Bookworm for improving my header!!

About Me

My photo
New Hampshire, United States
Bibliophile, Anglophile, Traveller... I have been an avid reader all of my life, since I took the Dr. Seuss Dictionary away from my Mom when I was less than a year old because I wanted to read it myself. In college, where I earned my degree in English Literature, I was often asked "What are you going to do with it?" Now I finally have the answer to that question!!! Being employed as a Flight Attendant for twenty years has given me a lot of life experience and, better still, a lot of time to read. I love to travel for fun, too.