I’m terribly far behind in my books reviews — I have at least seven books that I’ve read just waiting for me to write about them. So I thought I would get this “monkey off my back” and write five quick reviews for you.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris — Humorous Essays and Short Stories
I’m a huge David Sedaris fan, and this was one of the only books of his that I hadn’t read (although I realize now it contains some material from his other books). This is a slim volume (only 134 pages) that contains six “Christmas” stories. (I put Christmas in quotes because, you know, this is David Sedaris. These are not your run-of-the-mill stories. After all, one of them is called “Dinah, The Christmas Whore.”) The centerpiece is the amazingly funny “SantaLand Diaries,” which recounts the authors experiences working as an elf at Macy’s during Christmas. This insider’s view of SantaLand from a sarcastic, hilarious gay man in his 30s is totally worth the price of the book. It is classic Sedaris. The other stories were amusing and include some outlandish short stories, such as the spoof on the holiday letter. I prefer his real-life stories though. Although this would be appreciated by Sedaris fans (and the SantaLand Diaries is vintage Sedaris), new Sedaris readers would be better off starting with Naked or Me Talk Pretty One Day or When You Are Engulfed By Flames. If you are looking for witty, humorous real-life personal essays, I would recommend any one of these books without reservation. 3 stars

Wallflower at the Orgy by Nora Ephron — Essays
Sometime last year, I read Nora Ephron’s fantastic book Crazy Salad, which was a collection of columns she had written in the 1970s for various magazines. I loved that book and her writing. Even though the essays were dated, I enjoyed her wit and writing style. After all, Ms. Ephron is the genius behind When Harry Met Sally. After finishing Crazy Salad, I went on to read Scribble Scribble (collections of her columns about the media), I Feel Bad About My Neck (more recent book; focusing primarily on aging) and then this one, which is a collection of various magazine articles she wrote mostly in the late 1960s. Again, her good writing transcends the dated material. Funny is funny even if she is writing about the making of a movie in 1968. These collections of essays focus primarily on her journalistic stories (hence the title … the journalist is always a wallflower at an orgy and not a participant). Although this is a fast easy read and a must for Ephron fans, I would recommend Crazy Salad over this one. 3 stars

The Sister by Poppy Adams — Fiction, Gothic Mystery
This is a book that I was really excited about and had great hopes for but ultimately I was disappointed. Part of me wonders if this was because I missed something along the way or the “unreliable” narrator misled me. It could also have been that I read this book on vacation and kept picking it up and putting it down and may have lost my train of thought. Ultimately, I was confused about what actually happened in the book, which left me dissatisfied. The story is narrated by Ginny, who lives alone in the huge, crumbling family mansion. She is waiting for her little sister Vivi to return home after years away. The book alternates between Ginny’s present day and the childhood that she and Vivi shared — a childhood that was a bit unorthodox to say the least. The book covers the reunion of the sisters and fills you in on the circumstances that kept them apart for more than 50 years. As I said, with Ginny as the narrator, you are privy only to her thoughts and feelings, which eventually led me to become mistrustful of what she said. Although I understood what happens at the end, I became confused about what happened in the middle. I felt that this book had a lot of potential but ultimately it didn’t satisfy me. If you are a fan of gothic mysteries, this might be a good fit for you. But be warned, the book includes a lot of information about moths — probably more than you really want to know. 3 stars

Obedience by Will Lavender — Fiction, Thriller
The setting is the fictional Winchester University. Students who enrolled in the mysterious Professor Williams’s class, Logic and Reasoning 204, are unprepared for the unconventional syllabus set forth by the teacher: Find a hypothetical missing girl named Polly. If after being given a series of clues and details, the class has not found her before the end of the term in six weeks, she will be murdered. At first, the students are intrigued and excited. This is not your average college class! But excitement turns to dread and mistrust as the stakes get higher and higher and the boundaries between what is true and what is false start to blur. Could Polly be a real person? Is this real life or a class exercise? Readers follow along with two students as they struggle to solve the mystery and save Polly — and possibly themselves. This was a great, intriguing premise for a book, and it moves along quickly. Although the author gives you enough information to make you uncertain as the eventual outcome, I felt the characterization was weak. This was the classic case of a book where the plot seems to take precedence over the writing or characters, which kept it from being a really great book. However, if you enjoy fast-paced thriller that is a bit different from the norm, this might be a good read for you. 3 stars

The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy by Robert LeLeux — Memoir
I’m a huge fan of memoirs — particularly funny memoirs about messed up childhoods. Think Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs or some of David Sedaris’s books about his childhood. This memoir is along those lines, and it was a fun, fast read. Like Sedaris and Burroughs, Mr. LeLeux grows up as a gay son of a unusual and different mother (though Mr. LeLeux’s mother takes the cake in terms of flamboyance). His mother is pretty much the star of the book. A Texas Blonde (but only because she wears a wig) who is left by her husband, Robert’s mother puts Operation Snag Another Rich Husband into play when Robert is in his early teens. The story of her attempts to turn back the clock and get a man forms the heart of the book. Plastic surgery, hair replacement attempts — his mother’s attempts to regain her former lifestyle are both sad but hilarious. The bulk of the book chronicles his mother’s various antics. These remembrances are a kick to read — but I’m sure glad I didn’t have to live them. The book also covers Robert’s realization that he is gay (a shock only to him) and his subsequent love affair with Michael LeLeux. Although his mother moves to California during the last third of the book, she is never far away — even though you wish poor Robert could just get a chance to be out from under her drama. This is a wonderfully written and fun memoir. I really enjoyed it and I hope the author continues to write more about his life and his larger-than-life mother. 3 stars