Sedaris, a funny Greek gay man, retells stories of his youth in this collection of short stories, most of them are quite comical and give us some good insights in growing up being him in his family. Very well written, it's not straight up gay but it progressively develops into it as we read along, mimicking the author's path to his own sexuality. A lot of the stories are about his family: his dad, mother, his sisters and his brother

Interesting to note that Sedaris moved to Paris and resides there with his partner. The city is the center of a couple of quirky stories. There is one mistake in the very last story, Sedaris tries to talk about a French word a kid used to describe his gift to him, it's not null with 2 L's but nul. As French often do, efforts are appreciated

I've noticed this book with the long title and strange cover since it was lauded in a few magazines, the Today Show selection is a plus.

Was great as a work out book (stationary bike)

Notable
The story "Six to Eight Black Men" was published in the Dec 2002 of Esquire, Sedaris is also an occasional contributor to the New Yorker (thats Gladwell platinum status)