Recommendations based on Me Talk Pretty One Dayby David Sedaris

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

    by David Sedaris
    A humorous collection of autobiographical essays reflecting on family relationships.

    David Sedaris plays in the snow with his sisters. He goes on vacation with his family. He gets a job selling drinks. He attends his brother’s wedding. He mops his sister’s floor. He gives directions ... (Goodreads)

  2. Naked

    by David Sedaris
    Collection of humorous essays exploring the absurdities of everyday life.

    Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked , Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, ... (Goodreads)

  3. Holidays on Ice

    by David Sedaris
    Collection of humorous essays, exploring the absurdities of the holiday season.

    David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two ... (Goodreads)

  4. Assassination Vacation

    by Sarah Vowell
    A comedic travelogue exploring the history of presidential assassinations in the United States.

    Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no ... (Goodreads)

  5. Running with Scissors

    by Augusten Burroughs
    An autobiographical story of a young boy's difficult upbringing and his unconventional family.

    Running with Scissors covers the period of Burroughs' adolescent years, beginning at age 12 after a brief overview of his life as a child. Burroughs spends his early childhood in a clean and orderly ... (Wikipedia)

  6. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

    by Eric Schlosser
    An exploration of the industrial food system and its effects on U.S. society.

    Fast food has hastened the malling of our landscape, widened the chasm between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and propelled American cultural imperialism abroad. That's a lengthy list ... (Goodreads)

  7. Nickel and Dimed: On

    by Barbara Ehrenreich
    A journalist's exploration of poverty in the U.S., exposing the struggles of low-wage workers.

    Millions of Americans work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which ... (Goodreads)

  8. I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence

    by Amy Sedaris
    A hilarious guide to entertaining and living with style, grace, and a generous spirit.

    The inspiration for the TV show, At Home with Amy Sedaris,, here is a hilarious, helpful, and informative guide on how to entertain.,Are you lacking direction in how to whip up a swanky soiree for ... (Barnes & Noble)

  9. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

    by Bill Bryson
    A humorous account of a man's attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, reflecting on the beauty and history of the American wilderness.

    The book starts with Bryson explaining his curiosity about the Appalachian Trail near his house. He and his old friend Stephen Katz start hiking the trail from Georgia in the South , and stumble in ... (Wikipedia)

  10. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

    by Michael Pollan
    Exploration of the modern food chain, examining the impact of food choices on our health and the environment.

    What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire , how we answer it today, at ... (Goodreads)

  11. America

    by Jon Stewart
    A satirical take on American politics and democracy, filled with humor and wit.

    Jon Stewart, host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show , and his coterie of patriots, deliver a hilarious look at American government. American-style democracy is the world's most ... (Goodreads)

  12. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

    by Marjane Satrapi
    Autobiographical account of a young girl's experience of the Iranian Revolution.

    Note: The summary of the English editions of the novel is divided into two sections, one for each book. Persepolis 1 begins by introducing Marji, the ten-year-old protagonist. Set in 1980, the novel ... (Wikipedia)

  13. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

    by Anthony Bourdain
    A humorous and unflinching account of life in restaurant kitchens, exploring the culture and camaraderie of the culinary world.

    A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute ... (Goodreads)

  14. Under the Tuscan Sun

    by Frances Mayes
    A woman's journey of self-discovery and renewal through a move to Tuscany.

    The story details the trials that Frances and her husband Ed had to go through to renovate their Tuscan property, an abandoned villa ( Bramasole ) in rural Cortona in Tuscany . As university ... (Wikipedia)

  15. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

    by Jon Krakauer
    A gripping narrative of the 1996 expedition on Mount Everest that resulted in tragedy.

    When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. ... (Goodreads)

  16. Joy of Cooking

    by Irma S. Rombauer
    A comprehensive guide to cooking techniques, recipes and culinary wisdom.

    In the nearly ninety years since Irma S. Rombauer self-published the first three thousand copies of, Joy of Cooking, in 1931, it has become the kitchen bible, with more than 20 million copies in ... (Goodreads)

  17. The Partly Cloudy Patriot

    by Sarah Vowell
    An exploration of American nationalism and identity, weaving in personal stories and reflections.

    Sarah Vowell travels through the American past and, in doing so, investigates the dusty, bumpy roads of her own life. In this insightful and funny collection of personal stories Vowell—widely hailed ... (Goodreads)

  18. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

    by Alison Bechdel
    An autobiographical story of a daughter's complex relationship with her father and her own journey of self-discovery.

    The narrative of Fun Home is non-linear and recursive. , Incidents are told and re-told in the light of new information or themes. , Bechdel describes the structure of Fun Home as a labyrinth , ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

    by Chelsea Handler
    Humorous memoir of self-discovery, navigating the ups and downs of life with wit and resilience.

    When Chelsea Handler needs to get a few things off her chest, she appeals to a higher power - vodka. You would too if you found out that your boyfriend was having an affair with a Peekapoo or if you ... (Goodreads)

  20. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

    by Anne Fadiman
    Exploring the cultural divide between the Hmong people and the medical establishment.

    Lia Lee was born in 1982 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, ... (Goodreads)

  21. The Year of Magical Thinking

    by Joan Didion
    A woman's reflections on life and death after the sudden loss of her husband.

    'An act of consummate literary bravery, a writer known for her clarity allowing us to watch her mind as it becomes clouded with grief.' From one of America's iconic writers, a stunning book of ... (Goodreads)

  22. A Short History of Nearly Everything

    by Bill Bryson
    A captivating overview of the natural sciences, spanning the history of the universe.

    In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory ... (Goodreads)

  23. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

    by Barbara Kingsolver
    A family's journey to eat locally grown, sustainable food.

    Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it ... (Goodreads)

  24. God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

    by Christopher Hitchens
    Criticism of organized religion, arguing it is the root of much suffering in the world.

    With his unique brand of erudition and wit, Hitchens describes the ways in which religion is man-made. "God did not make us," he says. "We made God." He explains the ways in which religion is ... (Goodreads)

  25. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

    by Maya Angelou
    Autobiographical account of a Black woman's journey to find her identity in a prejudiced society.

    Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Her life story is told in the documentary film And Still I Rise, as seen on PBS’s American Masters. Here is a book as ... (Goodreads)

  26. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

    by Chuck Klosterman
    An exploration of pop culture and its influence on contemporary life.

    Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman. With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an almost effortless ability to ... (Goodreads)

  27. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

    by Jon Krakauer
    An exploration of the fundamentalist Mormon faith, its history, and the power of religious extremism.

    A Story of Violent Faith A multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. This is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of ... (Goodreads)

  28. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

    by John Berendt
    A journalist's exploration of a mysterious murder in Savannah, Georgia.

    A sublime and seductive reading experience. This portrait of a beguiling Southern city was a best-seller (though a flop as a movie). ~ Shots rang out in Savannah's grandest mansion in the misty, ... (Goodreads)

  29. Dry

    by Augusten Burroughs
    A memoir of alcoholism, mental illness, and the search for redemption.

    You may not know it, but you've met Augusten Burroughs. You've seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at restaurants: a twenty-something guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular. ... (Goodreads)

  30. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened

    by Allie Brosh
    A humorous and candid account of the author's life, exploring the highs and lows of everyday life.

    #1, New York Times, Bestseller “Funny and smart as hell” (Bill Gates), Allie Brosh’s, Hyperbole and a Half, showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with ... (Barnes & Noble)