The break’s a great time to catch up on reading for fun—something the school year makes a little too difficult. Even though I wanted to be transported into a different world, I still wanted to stay in the holiday atmosphere, which is why I chose to read Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris.

Anyone who took English Language and Composition last year should be familiar with his piece on the “Inheritance of Tools.” While the essay itself is a great piece of writing on its own, it doesn’t showcase Sedaris’ complete voice. He’s funny and witty, and his writing seems conversational—basically, even if you aren’t an English person, you’ll enjoy reading it.

I started loving collections of essays after writing my Tapestry project. While the stories are short, they all connect in the end. What’s also great about essays is that they’re convenient in the sense that they provide the same satisfaction of a novel, but you can reach the ending a lot faster.

His stories are hilarious, and I like that instead of talking about the joy and love during the holiday season, he’s just brutally honest (in a good way) about the aspects we don’t think about, like what it’s like to apply as a department store elf or puzzling holiday traditions in other countries. These stories will definitely balance out the traditional eggnog, and give you a little unexpected holiday surprise.

Image source: larasreadingroom.blogspot.com