Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

by Lori Hill

Books

In one of his best stories to date, "The Ship Shape," David Sedaris recounts his family's quest for the perfect summer home — and more importantly, what to call it. An offhand comment by a "classy" lady in line at the dry cleaners ("my home — well, one of my homes ") leads the 11-year-old Sedaris and his mother to analyze the woman's intonation and intention for the rest of the day. It also leads to that quest for a house at the beach — which is really a search for something else entirely. It's a particularly good example of the author's piercing insight into human motivation and the small, unspoken turning of emotional tides. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (Little, Brown), Sedaris' latest collection of observational gems, is, of course, full of such moments, most related to his family's seemingly endless idiosyncracies and his new life in France: the continuing misadventures and unfortunate diction of his younger brother (aka the Rooster); the realization that his slovenly youngest sister Tiffany is "living in a Dorothea Lange photograph"; the difference between his and boyfriend Hugh's reactions to the melodrama of the movie The End of the Affair; the irreverent but irresistible notion of buying Anne Frank's house-museum and turning it into an apartment ("First I'd yank out the wood stove and reclaim the fireplace."). Die-hard Sedaris fans have likely read or heard these before, but it's not like a second read is a chore, and it's always nice to have things all in one place, isn't it? The author's Borders appearance is a marked departure from other visits to town, which have packed the Irvine Auditorium and The TLA. Start lining up on Broad Street — like, now.

David Sedaris will read and sign Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Mon., June 7, 7 p.m., Borders, 1 S. Broad St., 215-568-7400.

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