Memphis Reads Archive

Nonfiction/Memoir

Jeanie Condo reviews NAKED by David Sedaris (Little, Brown, 1997)

Naked is a book of vignettes, some hilarious, some zany, some bittersweet, about the author's most interesting family, his life, and the world as he sees it. In "Get Your Yayas Out," Sedaris describes his eccentric Greek grandmother, Yaya, who never referred to Sedaris' mother as anything but "the girl." Sedaris discusses his epiphany when he discovered he preferred guys instead of girls in the chapter "I Like Guys." In the hilarious chapter, "Dinah, The Christmas Whore," Sedaris shows how his rather dysfunctional family can pull together in a crunch and do the right thing. And in the final chapter, for which the book is named, Sedaris tells of his experiences while staying at a nudist colony. In Naked, David Sedaris has skillfully written a book that is alternatively laugh-out-loud funny and poignant.


Jeanie Condo, East Shelby Branch Library

Labels: Nonfiction, Reviews by Jeanie Condo

Fiction/Horror

Jeanie Condo reviews SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury (Bantam, 1963)

Two good friends, Jim Nightshade and Will Holloway, born just minutes apart on Halloween Eve and Halloween, are amazed when a traveling sideshow comes to town much later than usual. They soon learn that this is no average sideshow, but the Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show. Sinister events begin occurring as the sideshow people start mingling in town. Mr. Dark, who is also known as the Illustrated Man, leads his eerie sideshow carnies as they take what they need from the town's inhabitants.

Will has always thought that his father - Charlie Holloway - who is the janitor of the town library, to be an old, ordinary guy, hardly capable of performing daring feats. Will is amazed to discover his father can be quite the hero when called upon.

Filled with suspense, horror and the struggle between good and evil, Something Wicked This Way Comes is a delight because of Bradbury's excellent use of descriptions, metaphors and philosophy. It is a page turner to the end.

Jeanie Condo, East Shelby Branch Library

Labels: Horror, Reviews by Jeanie Condo

Fiction/Historical

Jeanie Condo reviews MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA: A Novel by Arthur Golden (Knopf, 1997):

I think you'll enjoy reading this wonderful book. It is a beautifully written novel by an excellent story teller who spent years researching and developing his tale. It's the story of Nitta Sayuri, one of the most prominent of the Japanese geishas. At the tender age of nine, Sayuri, then called Chiyo, was plucked from her family in a fishing village and sold into slavery to train to be a geisha in decadent Gion, the geisha district of Kyoto. She is trained in the arts to entertain gentlemen and endures a great deal of the cruelty. There is a ray of hope: a man known as the Chairman who was once kind to her. Beginning in the years prior to World War II, this is the saga of Sayuri’s life and what destiny holds for her. Although Memoirs of A Geisha is not a tear jerker, I did feel a lot of compassion for the heroine.

Why you'll love it!: beautiful writing, exquisite metaphors, and humor; the opportunity to learn about geishas and 20th century Japan.


Jeanie Condo, East Shelby Branch Library

Labels: Historical Fiction, Reviews by Jeanie Condo

Fiction/Genre: Mainstream

Jeanie Condo reviews THE PLEASURE OF MY COMPANY by Steve Martin (Hyperion, 2003):

Daniel Cambridge can tell you what day of the week April the third fell on five years ago or five years from now. Unfortunately, he suffers from a few debilitating symptoms. He cannot step from the curb to the pavement and has to cross the street at scooped out driveways facing each other. He must have exactly 1125 watts lit in his apartment at bed time. Ironically, he enters and wins the Tepperton’s Apple Pie Most Average American contest. The story is about the life of this appealing, quirky guy.


Jeanie Condo, East Shelby Branch Library

Labels: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews by Jeanie Condo