Holidays on Ice: With Six New Stories

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Some of the stories, (such as the Dunbar family Christmas circular), are certainly more poignant than funny - almost tragic, and his brilliant but biting cynicism sometimes left me feeling deflated. Two final things — this collection is snarky and often pitch dark — if that doesn’t fit your holiday spirit, move along.

I think Sedaris thought he was being clever with these stories but really they were just sad and unfunny. The opinions written in my original review below still stand, but I can't imagine a time when I won't have this on audio while I decorate . I bought this book, not because I knew anything about it but because it was one of the ones they had still available that was the cheapest. We were asked to read "Santaland diaries" for our book group, and I found it both dissappointing and irritating, the more so in view of the "laugh out loud" hype.I feel weird reviewing this book right now because the honest truth is: I really genuinely did not like it.

Sadly, it seems David doesn’t know when to stop when it comes to fictional works and takes the joke to the point of it being the literary equivalent of a beaten dead horse.Hot dogs, peanuts, tacos, video cameras, these things make me sad because they don't fit in on the streets. It’s cynical and depressing and really I don’t know what I was expecting, setting it aside to read later all these years later. 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 looking for a dark Christmas comedy, "The Stupidest Angel", was in my opinion, head and shoulders better than this mess. There were only three stories in this collection that I didn't absolutely despise; Santaland Diaries, Dinah the Christmas Whore, and 6 to 8 Black Men were the only ones that were even remotely funny.