2.5 to 3 stars - rounded up to 3 on the official rating to give Sedaris the benefit of the doubt.

I did not enjoy this quite as much as previous Sedaris titles I have read. While it contained the cynicism I have come to expect from him, it seemed to overpower the humor a lot more than usual. So, instead of being amused, I was left feeling uncomfortable.

Also, since this is a much shorter compilation of holiday related stories, it did not have the full satisfaction of one of his full length books with all original material. (Note: I say "holiday related" in the previous sentence, but there is one story in here about cadavers that I was not quite sure how it related to holidays).

If you are a die hard Sedaris fan, check it out. If you are just starting with Sedaris, there are much better places to begin. (When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim)

I enjoyed "SantaLand Diaries". The book is worth getting just for that. I also liked "Dinah, the Christmas Whore", which I have read before in one of Sedaris's other collections - I don't know how well it would work for someone otherwise unfamiliar with his writing about his family.

The other four stories are satirical fiction, and they did nothing for me. They're the first non-autobiographical pieces I've read from Sedaris, and they're lacking that bizarre worldview that is so entertaining about his (semi) non-fiction. I've heard that Sedaris is very entertaining when he's reading his own stuff out loud, so maybe these work better in that format.

I didn't find this audiobook engaging or funny. I kept listening hoping it would get better (and it's short). Perhaps he's just not the author for me with the exception of last year's Calypso, a book that I found excellent, especially on audio.

Okay. Let it be said: "Santaland Diaries," the first essay of this book, is wonderful. But the rest of the book is basically filler; this was before Sedaris found his niche (humor essayist), and it really shows. He should never, ever write fiction, for example, and yet he tries to here. The results are not pretty, or even very readable.

It's also notable that half of the pieces in this short book have appeared in other collections of his. So, really, this is not worth buying; get "Santaland Diaries" some other way, and regret nothing about missing the rest of this collection.

I feel very torn about this review.

When I originally read this book back in 2010 I remember crying - shaking - with laughter. I enjoyed it immensely and I gave it four stars.

This time around not so much. This time I laughed a grand total of three times and those I would describe more as single barks/snorts of laughter. Now, I want to give it a two star rating, but I'm not sure if this is because I listened to the audiobook this time around, the book hasn't aged well (I was put off significantly by some of the "jokes" that felt lazy and mean), and/or I simply wasn't in the right mood this time. There were several of the stories that I was thinking "oh my god just end already," which I don't think is an experience I've ever had with Sedaris prior to this.

Such an irreverent and awesome way to spend your Christmas drive. We spent many hours in the car this year, and this made us giggle for 4.5 of them.

You will never look at visiting Santa the same way. The other stories were a bit hit and miss. I did enjoy the review of the children's plays though.

I have enjoyed listening to David Sedaris on NPR and reading his books for a long time, but I question the wisdom of the choice of this for my Book club's next selection. I am sure that it can be viewed by some as a "fun" read, but I would prefer something with more substance for an interesting discussion. Perhaps it is also because I have never leaned toward summer, or beach reading or holiday reads.

As I suggested prior to reading the book, I did not enjoy reading this, despite its brevity of 166 pages. I have heard the selection about "Department Store Elves" on NPR's This American Life several times and have chuckled each time. However, the book's tone of mockery of others and its attempts at satyr struck me painfully flat.

The first story in this book was HILARIOUS. A great story about the author's experience working as Santa's elf at Macy's in NYC. I was dyinggg laughing. The rest of the stories, however, were disjointed and didn't even make much sense. They weren't funny and I didn't even understand the point of some of them. Like was the author being ironic? They just didn't resound with me past that great first story.

This was a book filled with 6 different stories, they were funny, but some of them were a little lame...

I listened to this as an audiobook and David Sedaris actually read the book, which was both parts entertaining and annoying. His voice is high and slightly annoying to listen to.

Not sure if I would do another audiobook by him... :/

I feel weird reviewing this book right now because the honest truth is: I really genuinely did not like it. And yet I’ve been called out recently by a bunch of helpful strangers on Goodreads for not liking their favorite books—this asshole telling me I should avoid all literary fiction, this one here saying that my problem is with fiction in general—and I fear I’m going to develop a reputation for hating books, and then Otis will kick me off Goodreads and all the mean girls in the Feedback Group will cheer and the only people who will care are the one hundred sixty-four people in my friends list, but then a huge chunk of those people are real-life friends who have only ever logged into Goodreads once, so in the end there are about five people who will care. Maybe six.

And that’s not to mention some of these other pressing fears a reviewer has to deal with: what if I rate too many books lowly (will people think I’m just trying to stir the pot and call negative attention to myself?), or what if I rate too many books highly (will people think I’m indiscriminate about which books are my favorites and therefore consider me unreliable?). I suppose there’s also the potential for too many mediocre reviews, and I guess that’s the guy whom everybody thinks can’t make up his freaking mind.

In the end, I’m going to just opt for honesty. I disliked this David Sedaris book. I have never read a David Sedaris book before but I understand him to be a very popular comedian and I usually enjoy very popular comedians. Except this book isn’t funny. The initial story around which the entire collection is based, “SantaLand Diaries,” is about Sedaris’s stint as a Christmas elf at a Macy’s department store. The observations of his boss, of the other elves, of parents and children waiting to see Santa, and of the other shoppers are pretty standard fare—there is nothing particularly noteworthy about his comments that made me laugh or even raise an eyebrow in amusement. Of his other stories, there is really only one that is mildly memorable; the rest rely heavily on shock value which is not something that can successfully stand on its own in my opinion. Having said that, I don’t know that I will give up on Sedaris altogether. This book seems sort of thrown together, most of the stories not relating to anything in particular, whether to each other or to any unified theme, but I would expect some of his other collections to have better focus, and I will retain his other books in my “to read” list based on that expectation.

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.