What: David Rakoff seemed like the kind of person you'd like to have for a friend. He's grumbly enough to make you feel bracingly sunny in comparison. He's clever but not lofty. He can be quite cutting, but often toward himself, and always in a very funny way. And in this collection of essays, he endures many absurdities of contemporary life so we don't have to.
His experiences (and essay topics) include foraging for wild edibles in Prospect Park, participating in an all-night scavenger hunt, working as a cabana boy in a South Beach hotel, having a consultation with a plastic surgeon, and standing in the crowd outside the Today show.
Comparable to: David Rakoff is often lumped together with that other David, David Sedaris, but Rakoff is (dare I say it?) funnier.
Representative quote: "It's a lucky thing the metal content of glitter glue does not set security wands to beeping. Otherwise the line stretching halfway down Forty-eighth Street would move even more slowly."
You might not like it if: You are not in the mood for highly subjective first-person essays, no matter how funny they are.
How to get it: Look! Kindle people! This is Kindle-able! Also available at bookstores, libraries, etc.
Connections to previous Wreckage: Rakoff's first collection of essays was Fraud (Rec. #171).
Comparable to: David Rakoff is often lumped together with that other David, David Sedaris, but Rakoff is (dare I say it?) funnier.
Representative quote: "It's a lucky thing the metal content of glitter glue does not set security wands to beeping. Otherwise the line stretching halfway down Forty-eighth Street would move even more slowly."
You might not like it if: You are not in the mood for highly subjective first-person essays, no matter how funny they are.
How to get it: Look! Kindle people! This is Kindle-able! Also available at bookstores, libraries, etc.
Connections to previous Wreckage: Rakoff's first collection of essays was Fraud (Rec. #171).
Rakoff actually hits on a few of the same subjects that Adam Gopnik did in Paris to the Moon, which was Rec. #39. (Different tone, though.) Also, Rakoff himself has cameo appearances in Sarah Vowell's Take the Cannoli (Rec. #32).
[Originally posted 3/16/11.]
[Originally posted 3/16/11.]
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