I can't tell if this book was supposed to be a joke or not. (I'm sure that says something about me, but I don't care!) I picked up this book because I really like David Sedaris and I wanted to see what his sister's 'work' was like. But my dear friend at the library circulation desk was scandalized when he saw the picture on the back where she looks at first glance naked from the waist down--turns out she's wearing panty hose, but still.... Does anyone actually make the recipes? Or are they more enchanted by her jokes about serving alcohol to homosexuals and being careful not to have overnight guests that will pee the bed or wake up in their own vomit? Maybe this book would have been titillating when I was younger, but now it just seems like a mockery of true hospitality!

Funny hostessing guide with some actual helpful tips among the jokes.

Huh, this book was definitely not what I expected it to be. Maybe less than 1/3 of it met my expectations of it being a humorous and parody-like novel - there was some truly hilarious stuff and there was some that was waaaay overboard. It starts with Amy's mocking and sarcastic description of hospitality, unfortunately later on it turns a bit boring.

The other part, the one that took me by surprise was for the large part of it recipes and the rest was some creative ideas. I'm not saying it was bad, actually there were some pretty good ones that I might go back to when I'm in the mood. It's just that I'm slightly disappointed, I was hoping for a good laugh, I got it in a way but it was far too small portion of the book and I found myself mostly scrolling through directions of how to cook various meals.

Given to me by a girlfriend who said "This was a Christmas book we all thought would be funny, but..."

I opened it and the first page I came to told how to get blood stains out of panties and how to clean my what's-it.

I'll give it another thumb through, though. My friend may be right.

From the Publisher
Are you lacking direction in how to whip up a swanky soiree for lumberjacks? A dinner party for white-collar workers? A festive gathering for the grieving? Don't despair. Take a cue from entertaining expert Amy Sedaris and host an unforgettable fete that will have your guests raving. No matter the style or size of the gathering--from the straightforward to the bizarre--I LIKE YOU provides jackpot recipes and solid advice laced with Amy's blisteringly funny take on entertaining, plus four-color photos and enlightening sidebars on everything it takes to pull off a party with extraordinary flair. You don't even need to be a host or hostess to benefit--Amy offers tips for guests, too! Readers will discover unique dishes to serve alcoholics (Broiled Frozen Chicken Wings with Applesauce), the secret to a successful children's party (a half-hour time limit, games included), plus an appendix chock-full of arts and crafts ideas (a mini pantihose plant-hanger), and much, much more!

About the Author: AMY SEDARIS lives in Manhattan with her imaginary boyfriend, Ricky, and her pet rabbit, Dusty.

“Commit or decline. If you cannot come to the party, do not cancel at the last minute or give a message to a child to inform the host. And don’t bother explaining why you can’t attend because anything after “because” is bullshit.”

I love listening to David Sedaris' audiobooks and thought I would give his sister Amy's book a try. I found 'I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence' quirky, funny, a mixed bag of nuts, with some practical advise on hospitality. Amy, our eccentric hostess, even shares some of her favorite recipes such as: Zucchini Fritters, Southern Green Beans, Li'l Smokey Cheeseball and Smack Snacks for Rabbits (can't leave them out of the party).

I really liked listening to Amy Sedaris read her book. She is much more upbeat than her brother and I thought almost as funny. I would recommend this to young people who are starting out on their own or those who just want to lighten up or liven up their normal cocktail/dinner parties.

Note: This was a book that I received from a member at
Bookcrossing.com

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The cover shows a slightly pixilated-looking hostess in a long white strappy dress with a flared skirt and a brilliant fire engine red gauzy ruffled petticoat peeking from underneath the hem. She is sporting silver lame stiletto-heeled shoes and a transparent gauzy pink apron to go with her ensemble. She’s holding a (fake) cooked turkey but it might as well be a martini, judging by the slightly glazed grin she has on her face. This looks exactly like an advertisement of a 50s housewife showing that a woman can cook all day and still look fabulous for her husband when he comes in from a hard day’s work.

Amy’s recipes feature down-home cooking and are illustrated in a way that is strongly reminiscent of 50s cookbooks, complete with more pictures of her in vintage clothing. The book itself is about hospitality: being a good host, guest, moocher, whatever. She wants people to have a good time, not worry too much about the rules of serving etiquette and know when to help out around the house.

Whether it’s serving lumberjacks, helping your host to dig a grave or knowing when to get the hell out, she’s got rules and observations about the proper way to behave. Ms. Sedaris is being ironic when she states this isn’t a joke book but it’s clear she’s not exerting any pressure on her readers to be Escoffiers. Served up with a dry, laidback tone, this is a cookbook that manages to be useful and amusing. It proves that Sedaris humor runs in the family like a recipe that’s been handed down through the generations.

Read the STOP SMILING interview with Amy Sedaris:

In white heels and a blue dress embroidered with the words “I like rum,” the petite, livewire comedian and actress Amy Sedaris stands on a white platform in front of a large square wired to spin as she shifts her position. “I feel like I’m gaining weight,” she mutters. During a visit to the 86collective gallery of digital arts in Chicago, Amy returned to the town where she cut her teeth as a member of the Second City improv troupe. Sedaris has since starred in Comedy Central’s Strangers With Candy as the endearing, ex-junkie/prostitute-turned-high school-newbie Jerri Blank and written the homemaker classic I Like You, among hundreds of other collaborations.

Sedaris spoke to STOP SMILING about her love for little projects, envisioned Jerri Blank’s raucous birthday party and broke the news of her imaginary boyfriend Ricky’s new lease on life...

Read the interview...

This is what happens when you join a GR reading group to widen your genres- you end up reading stuff like this. This book is a complete piss-take (as my father would have said) and although it purports to be a guide to entertaining guests,or being the perfect guest. It has moments of complete madness. I mean, a couple of pages on how to put on panty-hose, the process requiring a pair of cotton gloves, changing to rubber gloves for the final bit. Hmmm? It does contain numerous recipes, with photographs (untouched by one of those professional food photographers who make everything look perfect, so it actually looks like food you might make)but there are strange ingredients for a kiwi reader: pasteurised egg whites? Huh? Also, apparently butter comes in sticks, pumpkin comes in cans, and spinach comes frozen in packets. Weird.
Watch for: lots of photos of peanuts with glued on "googly eyes", the jacket flap (arguably the funniest part of the book), and useful hints like this one "Fill your medicine cabinet with marbles. Nothing announces a nosey guest better than an avalanche of marbles hitting a porcelain sink".
And then there is the crafts section. Full of stuff you would pay NOT to have in your house, though I think she may be onto a winner with the fuck-it bucket.

I love this book! It reminds me of every cookbook and craft book I looked at as a kid. Amy Sedaris is the author and a comedian who is quirky, perky and cute. I've seen her on television talk shows and she has an unusual sense of humor that is very apparent in her book. She uses real recipes and craft projects and adds her own twist. Her hospitality advice is very real too. What makes this so funny is that it's straight out of 1968 (approximately, I was only 4 then so my time frame may be a little off). Every last detail has been included in the photos and drawings on each page. There are several pages of a step-by-step pantyhose demonstration performed by Amy herself. How to put them on, how to untwist them as you're putting them on, crafts you can do with all of the pantyhose you snag and ruin while putting them on and recipes for cocktails to drink after the whole unsuccessful process. Remember the styrofoam wig heads? In the book. The grease can, labeled as such, that often sat on the counter or back of the stove and contained leftover grease from cooking to be used for another meal? In there. Rick rack on sewing projects? In there. Macrame plant hangers? In there.

My grandparents had the very same dishes and glassware found on several of the pages. They also had the wallpaper, glass candy dish, teakettle, pie plates and Tupperware containers. They still have the plastic, floral letter holder hanging on their wall. (pg 196 if interested) I remember my mom having some of these poofy hairdos and polyester clothes. Of course she was beautiful but everything else...ick.

I took this book to our family Thanksgiving dinner. We had such a good time going through the different chapters and found new things every time we looked at it. Bravo to the team that helped put this book together. Ebay should be calling you for the collection of goodies you have there.

Special thanks to Booking Mama and Hatchette Books where I won this copy

this book is shelved in humor, but really, there are some good entertaining ideas in here. actually, i just remembered that this book is shelved in humor at the harvard bookstore (the independent bookstore in harvard square, not to be confused with the harvard coop, which is actually a barnes & noble masquerading as a community bookstore), but it's shelved in entertaining at the library. i learned a lot from this book (& from "real simple" magazine) about things like making sure you're done fixing food before guests arrive & how it is traditional to bring a gift for the host/ess of a get-together, even if it's just some chocolates or a bottle of wine or something. but amy sedaris takes the whole hospitality-martha stweart thing & turns it on its head. plenty of references here to hiding your drugs from guests, dealing with guests who get so hammered that they throw up in the bathtub, hosting children's parties near open wells & threatening to throw badly behaved children down the well, procuring a pet in order to charge people to have their photos taken with your pet at parties, etc. there were parts that were laugh out loud funny, & i am not a laughing-out-loud-at-books kind of person. & the pictures were really nice to look at. made me wish i was a) a little more crafty, & b) tolerant of even the most artful & elegant degree of clutter, but alas, i am not.

I flipped through some pages at the Virgin Megastore.

How to make crafts using various colored pantyhose and small wooden rings, how to host a party, and how to remove stains from bloody undergarments. Gross. There's no need to say anymore..I will buy this book soon.

Ok, I haven't read the entire thing but I did read the chapter about houseguests and you bet I'll be placing marbles in my medicine cabinet to "hear" who goes in there.

I ended up taking my copy of this book to BUST Magazine's Craft Fair in December and the line was wrapped around 18th St to 7th Ave so I never did get to meet Amy Sedaris to tell how much I dig this girly comedy book! Buy it as a gift for someone.