Watch Your Marbles

I don’t know how it happened that I missed noticing that Amy Sedaris had a book out almost before it was too late to report on it (yes that Amy Sedaris: brother of David and entertainment goddess in her own right).

Meanwhile, Sedaris’ I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence (Warner Books, 2006) has been screaming up the charts. And it’s no surprise: the book is built on generous dollops of what appears to be the engagingly insane Sedaris family humor, carefully interspersed with advice and even recipes that actually work. Readers had best tread cautiously, however (or maybe that’s part of the fun?) because the lines of fantasy and reality are at times blurred.

My favorite piece of advice from I Like You is a good example of this. Something silly you’d never, ever do, and yet... wouldn’t we all like to: “Try filling your medicine cabinet with marbles. Nothing announces a noisy partygoer more successfully than an avalanche of marbles striking a porcelain sink.”

Future guests at my dinner parties be warned: I’ve been armed by Amy Sedaris.