David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day

David Sedaris' new collection of essays - including live recordings! - tells a most unconventional life story. It begins with a North Carolina childhood filled with speech-therapy classes ( " There was the lisp, of course, but more troubling than that was my voice itself, with its excitable tone and high, girlish pitch " ) and unwanted guitar lessons taught by a midget. From budding performance artist ( " The only crimp in my plan was that I seemed to have no talent whatsoever " ) to " clearly unqualified " writing teacher in Chicago, Sedaris' career leads him to New York City and eventually, of all places, France. His move to Paris poses a number of challenges, chief among them his inability to speak the language. Arriving a " spooky man-child " capable of communicating only through nouns, he undertakes language instruction that leads him ever deeper into cultural confusion. Whether describing the Easter bunny to puzzled classmates or watching a group of men play soccer with a cow, Sedaris brings a view and a voice li