Naked

I've been ripping through audio books lately since I drive such a long ways to and fro work. I've been listening a lot to David Sedaris because I really enjoy his humor and his true-to-life stories.

Between Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs, they both have inspired me to record many of my own true, odd stories from my past, and I've been doing so in my spare time. It's really incredible with the amount of material you can dig up and relive, and still attempt to make it funny and quirky. I acknowledge both of these fine men to pushing my writing in this direction.

Anyway, today I finished Sedaris' Naked, but when I went to Wikipedia to check out the various chapters, I realized that the audio book only includes certain true stories. So, I've read most of Naked, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. He is very entertaining, and his writing is very easy to understand. He uses very humorous images and is very honest about himself, which is a relief. So many people hide who they are, but not Sedaris. He puts it all out there--his OCD, his homosexuality, his strange family and habits--and I admire that.

I read the following stories and enjoyed them very much:

"A Plague of Tics:" Sedaris' OCD and Tourettes-like behaviors as a child.

"Get Your Ya-Ya's Out!:" On Sedaris' grandmother (who lived in Cortland, C-State shout-out) who gets an illness and needs to live with the family. His parents eventually split.

"Next of Kin:" Literary pornography Sedaris read in a trashy novel and it circulated throughout his house.

"Cyclops:" Cautionary tales to Sedaris by his much-too-careful father which almost causes phobias and fears in Sedaris.

"True Detective": Sedaris' love of detective shows, and he reenacts mysteries in his household pretending he's involved in a show.

"Dix Hill:" Sedaris' job at a mental hospital with a crazy lady named Dix Hill.

"I Like Guys:" Sedaris recalls becoming aware of his homosexuality and recalls his first sexual experience with a crush in summer camp.

"The Drama Bugs:" Sedaris gets the acting bug, falling headfirst into Shakespeare and plays in high school.

"Ashes": Sedaris' sister's marriage and the death of his mother.

"Naked:" On Sedaris' trip to a nude colony.

Overall, I really enjoyed the stories. I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys something a little out of the ordinary, something a little strange and bizarre. If you liked Running with Scissors, this book is for you, but it's broken up in chunks of stories. Burroughs also has two books like this: Magical Thinking and Possible Side Effects which are much like this one and are quite enjoyable.

So, what do you think of David Sedaris or Naked?