Amy Sedaris’ I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence is about food the same way “Field of Dreams” is about baseball. In Kevin Costner’s film, the National Pastime is a vehicle for exploring family relationships. In Sedaris’ book, food is the gateway to an explanation of a philosophy of entertaining. Recipes take a back seat to advice on how to counsel a grieving neighbor or host a rich uncle. Every dish is just as much an opportunity to say something about your home to your guests as a platform to display culinary ability, if not more so.

The first line of Sedaris’ book jacket biography explains that the author has “appeared often on screen, both large and small” and it is as an actor that most readers will recognize her. In her roles – Comedy Central’s “Strangers with Candy” series and movie are her most famous appearances – Sedaris disappears behind her character. I Like You challenges the reader to decide how much of the entertaining advice is dished out by the real Amy Sedaris and how much is the work of a character – call her Amy the Entertainer.

To her credit, Sedaris addresses that challenge by introducing herself (at least, it seems like the real her) at the very beginning. In the first of three, or more accurately two and a half, open letters to her readers following the table of contents, Sedaris says, “Whether you live in a basement with the income of a ten-year-old girl or on a saffron farm in the south of Spain, the spirit of hospitality is the same. It’s the giving of yourself, a present of you to them from me for us.” Her enthusiasm expresses itself most openly in these opening letters and in the section about her rabbits and their cupcake business. In fact, the book is almost worth reading just for the stories about her early experiences with her pets and their home-baked business plan.

Apart from those two sections, the book often feels like a labor of self promotion, rather than a labor of love – entertaining advice given under an obligation to forced enthusiasm, hospitality and familiarity.

That first introductory letter is honestly written and straightforward about the purpose of the book. As the author says, “This is not a joke cookbook… This book is full of real information.” Unfortunately, the next two letters somewhat belie that intention. It may not be a joke cookbook, but it is a cookbook (or more accurately a hospitality guide) full of jokes. Her second letter is addressed to readers who have no interest in hospitality and explains that the book also instructs on how to be the perfect guest. The final letter seems completely superfluous – though keeps the introduction lighthearted. A picture of a fully asleep Sedaris slumps from the opposite page toward the torn piece of typewriter paper on which the final letter sits. Sedaris claims to “go bananas for entertaining” (then why the sleepy pose in the picture?) and closes her final missive “Cordialliest.” Indeed.

The real content is presented in short narrative sections describing party themes or entertaining situations about stereotypical, broadly drawn types of guests – the rich, old relatives, the businessmen, the drug-addled or alcoholic acquaintances. The most incredible aspect of these segments is how much entertaining Sedaris, or her character, seems to do for people she doesn’t really know. The book is written with a tone that suggests that her readers are closer friends than the people who visit her home. Even with that misplaced familiarity, the narratives are clever, and the party ideas, particularly some of the more prosaic suggestions for children’s parties, might actually work well.

While I Like You obviously is more than just a cookbook, the recipes do deserve a few words. They are written in the way that Sedaris suggests hosts write their invitations. Of party invitations, Sedaris says, “whether you send a formal invitation, a written invitation, or make a phone call, invitations need to include specific information. Be crystal clear about the time, place, and location of the party.” True to her own advice, she writes her recipes exactly that way.

Her example of a well-written party invitation reads:

The Kelehers would enjoy your company in their home for cocktails @ 6:30 P.M. on Saturday, March 6. (Dinner to be served @ 8:00 P.M. on the patio) Please RSVP.

And the instructions from one of her recipes (for Broiled Seaman’s Red Snapper) reads:

Sprinkle salt and pepper on fillets, to taste, and place them under broiler. Set aside one tablespoon olive oil. Mix the lemon, oregano, and the rest of the olive oil together and pour over the snapper. Broil until it is tender. While the fish is broiling, dice the garlic and fry it in the tablespoon of oil. When the fish is about to be served, top with the garlic mixture.

Like that recipe, the food sounds (and looks, according to the up-close photography of the dishes in the book) accessible – you feel like it would actually be possible to plan and execute most if not all of the party menus in I Like You. Whether the book was written in the voice of Amy Sedaris or Amy the Entertainer, either seems like someone you might want to play host at your party.

• I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris, Grand Central Publishing, 304 pages