Product Description

The charismatic and multi-talented Amy Sedaris is many things: actress, author, and yes, David Sedariss sister. Now, she takes on the world of entertaining in this blisteringly funny collection of bizarre tips, recipes and craft ideas (like mini pantyhose plant-hangers!) perfect for hosting an unforgettable fete. Your guests will rave.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2327 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-16
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Sedaris's sidesplitting guide to throwing parties hopes to return readers to the times when the word "entertainment" was "charmingly old-fashioned, like courtship or back alley abortions." While her tongue is firmly in cheek, novice party-planners will actually find some helpful hints along the way as Sedaris offers instructions and real recipes. Her tips run the gamut from how to properly freeze meatballs (freeze them on a cookie sheet before putting them into a freezer bag so they won't stick together) and deal with the inebriated ("Better to cut them off rather than pretend it's not happening and then allow them to stay over and wet your bed"). She's a generous but crafty hostess ("A good trick is to fill your medicine cabinet with marbles. Nothing announces a nosey guest better than an avalanche of marbles hitting a porcelain sink"). Etiquette pointers include inappropriate introductions ("This is Barbara, she can't have children") and things to avoid saying to the grieving ("Did she smoke?" "Was he drinking?" "Where were you when this happened?"). Her advice is both practical and hilarious; her instructions on removing vomit stains ends with "or just toss it, chances are you've stained it before." Sedaris's first solo effort (after Wigfield with her Strangers with Candy co-stars, as well as several plays with her brother, David) is an outrageous and deadpan delight, greatly enhanced by her deliriously kitschy illustrations and photos. (Oct. 16)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Aw shucks, Amy Sedaris, we like you too. Here is yet another charming, albeit slight, book by the comedian/author (sister of David Sedaris), who has cooked up a very funny book that, in some strange way, actually sometimes gives good advice on entertaining guests. Of course, a person would have to be as quirky as Amy to take the book seriously. After all, she doesn't really lay out trinkets to sell to her guests whenever she throws a bash, right? Then again...Sedaris reads her own work, which is only logical since no one else could do it justice. With her slight Southern twang, she delivers a breezy, witty winner. And includes a whole bunch of recipes. What more could you ask for? M.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
The actor, caterer, film star, comic, and sister of David Sedaris charms, seduces, entertains, instructs, amuses, and just plain invites readers into her somewhat eclectic life. Readers will revel in the more than 100 recipes with menus for dozens of occasions (or not), from blind date at home to table for one (an evening alone, that is, with steak and salad). Her recipes, by the way, are no rivals to the Culinary Institute of America; for instance, the directions for "carrot coins" call for slicing carrots so they look like coins and sauteing with butter, salt, and pepper. Readers can choose from any number of easy items to craft--a Greek dress, a calf stretcher, or a mini-pantyhose plant hanger. Among the various tips shared: "One possible origin of the term 'monkey dish' [is] originally a dish made from a monkey's skull." But everyone can simply enjoy her wisdom-filled one-liners, with at least one appearing on every page. (About entertaining the elderly, she says, "Keep them engaged or it's the express train to nappy-land.") This is hardly a Reader's Digest compendium, but David Letterman would be pleased with it. Media tours and promotions alone should drive demand. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

This book is not for ladies who want to serve tea and sandwiches...
I love this book. She is a genius. Writing & photos are funy, and I want to try the recipes! BUT, it isn't for everyone. I was reading the 1 star reviews, and was sorry to see how people weren't getting it. It is a Kitschy, Rated R, humorous book on hospitality. If you don't like swear words, "ladies parts", and 70's photos, don't buy it. If you love all those things, get it! You won't be dissappointed. PS: I now own a planter in the shape of a log with a squirrel sitting on it. It reminded me of this book so forcefully, I HAD to buy it! We should all be more like amy ;-)

entertaining but not as:"off" as her previous work
enjoyable but would have liked it to be a little more off than if was.

Wow! This Is Good Stuff!
Can you believe this book???? Practical, funny, creative, liberated, boy it just racks up positive adjectives, doesn't it? But be forewarned, it's also revoltingly gross here and there and above all this is comedy, not a foray too far into Martha Stewart territory. But then again, if you needed me to tell you that you probably don't know who Amy Sedaris is. I had fun reading Amy Sedaris' assault on vulnerable Eisenhower-era values, actually learned a thing or two, and, who knows, might try a few of her recipes next time I'm feeling antidisestablishmentalitarian. And, oh yeah, her, ahem, charming wit is amusing too. (Marbles in the medicine cabinet?! What to do with organic lemons? Where the heck does she get that stuff?) I'm a fan of books that walk the thin line between parody and information, offensive and endearing, and gods help us, the irreverent I Like You does that extremely well.