Click here to read reviewer Amanda Cuda's take on Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.

David Sedaris is known as one of the wittiest and most original writers at work today and, going by the last few books of his I’ve read, I would say one of the funniest. After reading Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day and laughing throughout them, I would have put Sedaris in the same category as Dave Barry (whom I think is absolutely hilarious). That’s why I was so excited to read his new collection, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. After completing the book, I would still be willing to call Sedaris witty and original, but now I’m not so sure about the funny part.

Sedaris’ books are compilations of essays, all about the author’s life growing up and in the present. In earlier books, almost all of the essays had something funny in them, even if it was a mean funny or sad funny. However, as I began reading his current collection, I only found myself being sad. Take the second essay, "Let it Snow," in which David’s mother locks him and his sisters out of the house in a snowstorm and they have to get their youngest sister to lie in the street to get their mother’s attention. Or "A Million Bubbles," where David talks about his father kicking him out of the house because he’s gay. Then there’s "Put a Lid on It," where David describes his sister living in a disgusting shack and going through garbage to make a living. There’s nothing really different about the subject matter, as all of David’s books concern his dysfunctional child and adulthood. The one difference is, these aren’t funny. In fact, they’re quite sad. David’s mother comes across as a selfish witch, and his father is a hard man who always breaks promises to his children. These same characters existed in David’s other books, of course, but he was always able to lighten the essays up to make them more humorous than sad.

Even though David may not be as funny in this book, he’s still witty and original. You won’t be bored by any of the essays, and the ones that include his brother are pretty amusing if not laugh out loud funny. If you want extremely humorous reading, I would recommend reading one of David’s older books (or something by Dave Barry). But, if you’re a fan of David’s writing or want to read something very well written, you could certainly do worse than Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.