Me Talk Pretty One Day

David Sedaris' new collection of essays - including live recordings! - tells a most unconventional life story.

It begins with a North Carolina childhood filled with speech-therapy classes ("There was the lisp, of course, but more troubling than that was my voice itself, with its excitable tone and high, girlish pitch") and unwanted guitar lessons taught by a midget.

From budding performance artist ("The only crimp in my plan was that I seemed to have no talent whatsoever") to "clearly unqualified" writing teacher in Chicago, Sedaris' career leads him to New York City and eventually, of all places, France.

His move to Paris poses a number of challenges, chief among them his inability to speak the language.