And now for something completely different – David Sedaris’ Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002. For those of you unfamiliar with his work (are there any of you out there), David Sedaris is a humorous essayist raised in North Carolina and currently living in England with his longtime partner Hugh. He became famous in the 90s with autobiographical essay collections like Barrel Fever and Naked, and continues to put out new books every few years. Apparently he has been keeping a diary since 1977 and after […]
“Barrel Fever” is the DTs, FYI
I’ve only ever read non-fiction by David Sedaris, and generally really enjoyed it. This book is primarily fiction, with a few non-fiction stories thrown in at the end. Maybe I’m just hopeless, but I hated the fiction stories in this book. I thought they were mean and not funny. The non-fiction at the end is pretty typical of what I expect from Sedaris, and saved this book from a 1 star rating. The short stories, most if not all written from first person view, generally tell stories about […]
“I was a smart-ass, born and raised. This had been my curse and would continue to be so.”
I have my Goodreads goal set at 260 for the year, and it says that I’m currently 4 books ahead of my goal. Unfortunately, I’m 7 books behind in my reviews. So please excuse me if the next few are short and sweet! I would also like to apologize to David Sedaris, since it took me until he mentioned his Greek grandmother in chapter 2 to realize that this wasn’t an Augusten Burroughs book. I mean, it says David Sedaris on the cover. But I guess that […]
Long Time Listener, First Time Reader
As a loyal listener of “This American Life,” I’ve been listening to stories from David Sedaris for ages. I rarely find him shocking (do people find him shocking?), but actually, hilarious and delightful. I would go so far as to say that I find him to be a comfort, and a familiar. This is the first of his books that I’ve actually listened to with my eyes. His voice is immediate and steadily present for me, in the best possible way. A series of stories […]
Let’s Explore David Sedaris’s Colonoscopy (no, really).
After thoroughly enjoying David Sedaris read his own work, I decided it was time for Part II. I chose Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls on audiobook, since that’s his latest. I am sure I will get around to the others, as well. I’ve had friends who read this work and said they were starting to wear thin on Sedaris’s schtick. I totally get that. My sister believes he’s plumbed his life thoroughly, and I don’t disagree. However, since I’ve only read two books (and on […]
Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
There was quite a bit I liked about this book, but unfortunately, there was more that I didn’t like. Since the funny bits were just slightly outweighed by the rather annoying bits, I give it about 2 1/2 stars. David Sedatris is back with another book full of essays about his childhood, his life overseas with his partner Hugh, and other random stories about his life. Some of them are very, very funny. I particularly like stories about his rather insane family. Others were dull. […]