what new yorkers are reading on the subway


Saturday, August 2, 2008

Me Talk Pretty One Day

Manhattan bound A Train between Nostrand and Jay-Borough Hall
I have a confession to make. I don't find David Sedaris funny. I've read his stuff in The New Yorker. I've tried to read his books. I find them too wink-wink nudge-nudge, an assumption that his reader will be in on his jokes that, at least in my case, is wrong. I'm not proud of this fact. I meet people all the time who disagree with me completely, my wife included. Jessica is one of those people. "His writing his hilarious," she says. "It makes the subway ride go by fast." I want to jump up and down and stomp my feet. I hate not getting the joke. What is so funny? Jessica is a student adviser at Kaplan, the test-prep company. Mostly, she says, she listens to student problems, which as it turns out come in droves. She loves to read on the train, she says, and although she was packing an iPod in her bag, she felt too engrossed in the Sedaris book to strap on the earbuds. I ask anyone who reads this, please explain to me what is so funny.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yesterday I saw a woman in a Chinatown sandwich shop holding A Good Day to Die by Jim Harrison, and partly inspired by you, I said "I love that book." She gave me a tight smile with clenched teeth and turned around. Whatever happened to this website?

Billy.