I am reading a book called ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’ by David Sedaris. The book is making me laugh, like I haven’t laughed in a long while. Here is one of the passages which made me laugh and I am still not able to stop laughing, while I am typing it 🙂
I tried to creep by unnoticed, but he stopped me, claiming that I was just the fellow he’d been looking for. “Do you have any idea how many grains of sand there are in the world?” he asked. It was a question that had never occured to me. Unlike guessing the number of picked eggs in a jar or the amount of human brains it might take to equal the weight of a portable television set, this equation was bound to involve the hateful word googolplex, a term I’d heard him use once or twice before. It was an idea of a number and was, therefore, of no use whatsoever.
I’d heard once in school that if a single bird were to transport all the sand, grain by grain, from the eastern seaboard to the west coast of Africa, it would take…I didn’t catch the number of years, preferring to concentrate on the single bird chosen to perform this thankless task. It hardly seemed fair, because, unlike a horse or a Seeing Eye dog, the whole glory of being a bird is that nobody would ever put you to work. Birds search for grubs and build their nests, but their leisure time is theirs to spend as they see fit. I pictured this bird looking down from the branches to say, “You want me to do what?” before flying off, laughing at the foolish story he now had to tell his friends. How many grains of sand are there in the world? A lot. Case closed.
Oh this is so cute! What a nice passage, I too am laughing as I am writing this! 😀
Glad to know that you liked the passage, Swati 🙂
Glad this is making you laugh! 🙂
Perhaps I need to give Sedaris another chance. I never really took to his style, it felt like he was too pleased with himself and his writing.
I liked your comment ‘it felt like he was too pleased with himself and his writing’ 🙂 It felt like that for me too 🙂 But I am liking this book till now – though the initial chapters have been more humorous till now.
I enjoyed this book too, but I wish he had concentrated more on the learning of the new language and living in another country than on his childhood and young adulthood. I can’t remember why in too much detail because I read the book a few years ago now, but I didn’t find those parts as engaging at times.
Glad to know that you liked the book, Dominique 🙂 I am getting into the section now, where he talks about learning a new language and I am hoping that it will be interesting and entertaining to read.
Sedaris is hilarious 😀 I need to read more of his books.
Glad to know that you like Sedaris’ writing Ana 🙂 Some of the pages are really making me laugh aloud 🙂
Oh! I have this book! I never got around to read it! But now I must! Waiting to see how you find the rest of the book :d
Thanks for stopping by, Smitha 🙂 Hope you get to read this book. It is really humorous and makes one laugh 🙂
This is the only David Sedaris I’ve read but I remember enjoying it. I must read more. Glad you’re having fun. 🙂
Glad to know that you liked this book Michelle 🙂 I have finished more than two-thirds of it and it is nice till now.
Hi Vishy,
Wow!!! You r doing a great work both in blog and groupmail!
How much time you spend daily man?
Eventhough i couldn’t go through full, first time i am visiting. I am wondering how you maintain blog with lengthy comments.
Keep going!
syed ismail
Thanks for stopping by, Syed 🙂 Glad to know that you liked the blog. Hope you enjoy reading some of the posts.