به نسبت دیگر آثاری که از سداریس خونده بودم طنز تلخ‌تر و سیاه‌تری داشت.
اما در کل ارزش خوندن داشت.

I love David Sedaris, but I had two problems with this collection. First, almost all of the personal essays here were previously published in different books, and I had read all but two. Second, the rest of the material is fictional, and, other than "Season's Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!," I didn't care for the others.
If you happen to be reading this, and are intrigued by Sedaris, but haven't embraced any of his books yet, go read "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" or "When You Are Engulfed in Flames," two of my personal favorites!

The least funny of any of his books. It was a chore to get through it.

4.5/5 - David Sedaris' take on the holidays, need I say more???

This is Sedaris’ best book, in my opinion. “Six to Eight Black Men” is easily one of the funniest essays I’ve ever encountered. I heard it on the radio while driving through Vermont shortly before this book came out and I was in danger of crashing the car because I was laughing so hard.

The other standout is “Santaland Diaries”, where he recounts his time working as a Christmas elf at a department store. I don’t know for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some aspect of this inspired the part of the movie Elf where Buddy has a similar job.

OK, I am a huge fan of David Sedaris and I knew what to expect from his writing. This just isn't my favorite collection of his works. Of the 12 stories, I really did like a fair majority of them. The first story about his personal experiences as a 33-year-old elf in Santa Land at Macy's in New York City is a classic, full of the self-deprecation and sarcastic observation of humanity that I have come to associate with David Sedaris' writing. But the next four stories really got me down, especially "Season's Greetings to our Friends and Family!!!" That was a dark, dark story. The baby in the washing machine did not sit well with me. Sarcasm, black humor. OK, whatever. Didn't like it. The other three were a mess.

I dreaded to continue reading (which is not like me). After a two-day break, I decided to press on. The story of David's experience in French class, comparing holiday traditions in different cultures using only the words available to him and his classmates in their limited French vocabulary was exactly what I needed to keep going. Happily, I found the second half of the book was much better. I liked the last three stories the best and would give them four or five stars each. Considering that I didn't like the baby in the washing machine, I liked the story about the cadavers and the story about the cow and the turkey before the turkey was beheaded.

Maybe if I read this collection again at another time, I will react differently to the stories I didn't like. I hope to start reading "The Best of Me" soon. I am optimistic that I will like that collection better.

Just the kind of book to get me into the spirit of Christmas (no sarcasm intended).

This book gets one star instead of zero because I did not completely hate "Dinah the Christmas Whore" and thought "SantaLand Diares" was just kind of okay. I didn't like any of the other stories even the slightest bit.

A collection of humorous short stories. Years ago I saw someone perform a one-man show of Santaland Diaries and I howled with laughter. I wanted to read this for that story. It's a brilliant and funny story. Sedaris seems very Jaded. I found another story that had me coughing up a lung in my car with laughter Six to Eight Black men. That story was too much. He recounts how other countries describe their idea of Santa and the Netherlands takes the cake. He also goes into hunting laws and how the state of Michigan will give a hunting license to a blind man. I was rolling in the car and had to pull over.

The rest of the stories in the collection have some funny moments or humorous moments. Some of them were ok and some weren't too good. But the two stories above are enough for me to give this uproariously funny book 5 stars. I wanted to laugh and it gave me my laugh. The fluff in the middle can be read or skipped.

The stories:
1 SantaLand Diaries
Us and Them
Jesus Shaves
Let It Snow
Seasons Greetings to our friends and family
Dinah, the Christmas Whore
Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristoll
Based on a True Story
Christmas Means Giving
Six to Eight Black Men
The Monster Mash
Cow and Turkey

I do have to say that I was amused by 'Front Row Center...' How absurd for a real musical critic to use that critical eye against 6 year olds. It makes you think about critics and how they are ridiculous doing that to their peers. It's interesting. What do I really have to say in my reviews? Interesting right?

I had fun with this and I might just have to read it again next Christmas.

I only liked 2 of the 12 chapters. Halfway through I speeded up from 1.25 to 1.5. For the last hour I listened at double speed. I love the Santaland story. I identify with his (imagined?) response to a woman who threatens "I'll get you fired" and him whispering, "And I'll have you killed". Years ago I was constantly bullied (although we didn't call it that then) by a fellow teacher who was very right-wing. Whenever there were atrocities around the world he'd say the people got what they deserved. One dsy after this kind of comment, he asked me "So what do you think about that?". So I said to him, "Well Gio when the revolution comes, you're the first person I'm going to kill". He NEVER bothered me again. I heard via friends that I really scared him. I told them "Good because I meant it!".
Yes I am usually a peace loving person but this was Boston in the 1980's.

There was one other holiday story that made me laugh. There was a horrifying story involving a family Christmas letter, and one about working in a morgue that was so graphic I skipped it. So many of these stories contained sheer nastiness that I was really taken aback. Sedaris is (or used to be) well loved. I hope some of the worst stories were pure aberrations.
I wouldn't recommend this to ANYONE.

“I think I’ll be a low-key sort of elf.”

I first read HOLIDAYS ON ICE over 20 years ago in my 20s, back when I was a big fan of David Sedaris. As I’ve gotten older, however, I find his work less satisfying. To be fair, I haven’t yet read his two most recent books.

Many of the pieces in this collection left me feeling unsatisfied. That said, this edition includes some additional stories, and the ones carried over from the original edition remain enjoyable. HOLIDAYS ON ICE opens with the famous “Santaland Diaries”, which has been adapted into plays and other formats. It details Sedaris’s experience working as an elf in Macy’s Santaland at their flagship Manhattan store. The piece is good for a laugh and remains a highlight of the collection.

Another standout is the wonderfully sharp Christmas letter written by the fictional matriarch of the Dunbar family. In “Season’s Greetings”, Sedaris creates a wholly believable and hilariously passive-aggressive persona in the voice of Mrs. Dunbar. This piece is so wrong on so many levels, but I can’t help grinning every time I read it.

My favorite piece in this collection, however, is one I don’t remember from my initial reading: “Front Row Center”. In it, a character reviews local elementary school holiday productions as if they were legitimate professional theater performances. The satire had me in stitches, with numerous laugh-out-loud lines. At the same time, it acknowledges the absurdity and charm of those productions, which we endure and enjoy only because someone we love is performing. The final lines of this story are unexpectedly moving, as Sedaris makes an important and poignant point. For me, it’s by far the standout piece in this collection.

Quotes:
•t“All of us take pride and pleasure in the fact that we are unique, but I’m afraid that when all is said and done the police are right: it all comes down to fingerprints.”
•t“Under certain circumstances parental pride is understandable but it has no place in the theater, where it tends to encourage a child to believe in a talent, that more often than not, simply fails to exist.”
•t“If I could believe in myself, why not give other improbabilities the benefit of the doubt?”

Overall, HOLIDAYS ON ICE is a quick and entertaining read for the season, though it’s not exactly a feel-good book. It’s more for the grown-up who wants a day of biting humor amidst the sugary kindness of the Christmas season.

(3.5 stars, rounded up)