Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

I put this book on my TBR shelf because it seemed that every time I stepped into a bookstore there it was staring at me with some sort of "National Bestseller!" and "Laugh Out Loud Funny!" sign up above it.

Now that I have finished the book - in less than 24 hours, mind you - I feel like the kid sitting at the popular table faking a laugh while thinking to myself, "these kids are not even remotely funny."

So, I didn't like the book. I didn't hate the book, I just didn't like it and I feel like I was supposed to.

Me Talk Pretty One Day is a collection of short, supposedly humorous, autobiographical stories about Sedaris. Yes, he's sarcastic and self-deprecating. And yes, sometimes it's funny. But most of the time I found myself annoyed with him. Maybe I'm a stick in the mud and therefore have trouble relating to a man who dropped out of college twice and has a serious fondness for methamphetamines.

Of the 28 stories included in the book, I was most fond of those that take place when Sedaris is a little more mature and has relocated to France with his partner, somehow in this setting his self-deprecating humor becomes more charming. Though my favorite of the stories is the last in which he describes his father's habit of hording food as if the country could plunge back into a depression at any minute.

I won't say I never cracked a smile or laughed a little while reading this book - because I did - just not enough to make me want to pick up another of his books, no matter how large the "BESTSELLER!" sign is in the bookstore.