To the tune of “Frosty the Snowman”

Da-vid Se-daris
Was a writer oh-so-droll
With a quirky style and take on life
That will put you on the floor.

Da-vid Se-daris
Writes the weirdest stuff you’ll see
About the Christmas whore and the Macy’s elves
And deathly children’s pageantry.

There must have been some crazy
In the Sedaris family tree
‘Cause David ain’t the only one
Have you seen his sister Amy?

Oh! Da-vid Se-daris!
Can your stories all be true?
It matters not when you write as hot
As in Holidays on Ice!

I listened to this in audiobook format, narrated by Sedaris, as usual. The Santaland Diaries, the first set of vignettes, was quite long and hilarious. Unfortunately, I didn't find any of the other vignettes funny at all.

DNF @57%

I love David Sedaris but I was disappointed overall with this novel because it was not what I expected. I thought the entirety of the novel would be whimsical autobiographical short stories but in the end it was a mix of true stories and fictional short stories.

I checked this out from the library and decided to read one short story leading up to Christmas and yet I had no deserve to continue it once I finished this ridiculous and sad story. Overall I guarantee you that everyone else will probably enjoy this book especially for his sarcasm but just know that its mostly fictional with some elements of autobiographical.

One of my favorite stories was David Sedaris experience as an Elf for Santaland at Macy's because you get major insight into how awful parents can be during the holidays with their children. I have to give a round of applause for everyone who has to work in any field dealing with children and parents because sometimes the parents are 100x worst than the children.

I debated for a long time whether I should finish this book or call it quits and since we are in a brand new year I want to start fresh and read books that I am interested about instead suffering through one novel for days only to have further disappointment by the time I complete it.

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

Holidays on Ice is great right down to the cover which features an alcoholic beverage with ice in in it (adorable and much like my family's holidays). It features Christmas themed stories some his holiday experiences, others just featuring his talent as a writer. Santa land Diaries is the first essay and it is the star of this show. These are journal entries from when David at the age of 33 worked as an elf at Macy's Santaland...at the age of 33.
n  n
It chronicles the insane parents, the unfortunate children, an interesting and multi-cultural array of Santa's and the policies Macy's enforces with regard to Santaland. There is so much gold here it is unreal, a Santa who never breaks character ( he is called Santa Santa) there is a gay elf (snowball) who leads all the other gay elves and a Santa on, there is a designated corner for children to vomit in, I could go on.

One of my fav bits
"The back hallway was jammed with people. There was a line for Santa and a line for the women's bathroom, and one woman, after asking me a thousand questions already asked, which is the line for the women's bathroom? And I shouted that I thought it was the line with all the women in it. And she said, I'm going to have you fired. I had two people say that to me today, I'm going to have you fired. Go ahead, be my guest.
I'm wearing a green velvet costume. It doesn't get any worse than this. Who do these people think they are? I'm going to have you fired, and I want to lean over, and say I'm going to have you killed."

Isn't he great!
If you don't love Sedaris you may not enjoy the rest of the collection Santaland by far outshines the rest.
I listen to the audio version which features Sedaris himself reading, I enjoy listening to him so much more then reading it,he brings that extra something.
At one point in Santaland Diaries "Santa" Santa demands that David sing "Away in A Manger" at first David claims not to know but when pushed by "Santa" Santa he decides to sing it as Billie Holliday would have sung it, then we are treated to this rendition which causes my dog EverlyBrothers to start howling as if he was singing with him,
n  n
it was like in 101 Dalmations when they used the friggen Twilight Bark for trying to find the puppies,anyway I found this made it even funnier, my neighbors maybe not. But I think David Sedaris would have got a chuckle from it.

This is my first David Sedaris, and it won't be my last. He's been recommended to me on the fringes for a while, but I finally took the plunge after someone compared him to Shirley Jackson, a favorite of mine. The comparisons are accurate. A good bit of humor with some very dark turns sprinkled with subtle social commentary define this collection of both fiction and non-fiction shorts. Yet, something about it just didn't work for me. I loved the opening story, SantaLand, as well as the one about getting locked out of the house on a winter day by their mother. Both nonfiction, and generally I found the nonfiction better in this one. As for the fiction stories, well, it seemed Sedaris isn't sure when to end a joke. I don't mind a good dark turn, but to tack one onto the end unnecessarily after the overall point has already been made is more manipulation by shock value rather than good writing. This collection intrigued me enough to want to read more even if I didn't love it.

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

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.

After hearing David Sedaris' books are laugh out loud funny, I couldn't wait to read one. I chose "Holidays on Ice" as my first. To my dismay, I hardly enjoyed this book at all. For one, I couldn't tell whose perspective some of the chapters were written from; many of them definitely weren't from David's, which I found odd. Secondly, most of the stories felt like pure rambling. And it wasn't funny rambling, it was what is the point of this? rambling. I literally only laughed twice throughout the entire book. This book is not funny. Or maybe it's just not my kind of comedy? I may give another one of his books a try, but it won't be any time soon.

It would be a lie to truly say I "read" this book, because I gave up on it & just started flicking through, in the hopes of something redeeming leaping out at me. Nothing did. I enjoyed the elf story but really disliked the rest. It left me feeling plain icky and upset. A cynical and depressing view of the world.

Annual #reread. It just isn’t Christmas until I’ve revisited “Santaland Diaries,” “Six to Eight Black Men,” and everything between. I never tire of Sedaris.

I finally met a David Sedaris work I hated. I admit, I was warned - but only that it "wasn't funny". I don't consider myself easily offended and, we are talking about David Sedaris here, so I wondered, "How "not funny" could it be?" I feel that a sense of humor is a personal kind of thing and I, myself, am often amused by cynicism, sarcasm, and irreverence so I went into it, if not with the usual gusto I feel when starting one of this author's books, at least with some expectations, however low. There isn't a low low enough. I couldn't even finish more than half the disks before I decided driving in silence was far more desirable. If you find dead babies, and earning popularity by giving away body parts amusing, and you relish a slightly horrified sense of nausea, then this book may be right up your alley. If, on the other hand, you want a holiday book which makes you feel good, or even one that makes you laugh by poking fun at family or religious observances: Run- don't walk - away from this disgusting mess.