Who Would Like This Book:
David Sedaris delivers a masterclass in darkly funny, deeply personal storytelling with this handpicked "greatest hits" collection. If you love sharp wit, outrageous family stories, and laugh-out-loud observations on the human condition, this book is right up your alley. It's a fantastic entry point for Sedaris newbies and a nostalgic walk down memory lane for long-time fans.
Who May Not Like This Book:
Those who aren't fans of irreverent or sometimes biting humor may find some essays off-putting, especially when Sedaris turns his observational lens onto sensitive topics. Readers looking for a traditional, linear narrative, or those averse to recycled material, might not enjoy this best-of compilation as much. If you’ve already read most of his work, it may feel like déjà vu.
About:
"The Best of Me" by David Sedaris is a collection of 46 essays that spans the author's career, personally chosen by Sedaris to represent the best of his writing. The book offers a mix of uproariously funny and sad stories, with a unique way of recounting incidents and an unusual view of the world. The essays cover a range of topics, from humor and biographical essays to family issues and relationships common to us all, providing a different perspective on life.
The book presents a solid collection for both longtime Sedaris fans and those new to his writing, offering a mix of tender, respectful essays and moments of humility, alongside laugh-out-loud humor. The writing style is fast-paced, with flashes of humility and moments of seriousness, creating an enjoyable reading experience that showcases Sedaris' ability to translate both common and unusual aspects of life into engaging written pieces.
Genres:
Tropes/Plot Devices:
Topics:
Notes:
From The Publisher:
"Genius… It is miraculous to read these pieces… You must read The Best of Me." -Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review
David Sedaris's best stories and essays, spanning his remarkable career-as selected and read by the author himself. Featuring fresh and classic recordings, including a new essay and an interview exclusive to the audiobook.
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A CNN and Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Month
For more than twenty-five years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. A Sedaris story may seem confessional, but is also highly attuned to the world outside. It opens our eyes to what is at absurd and moving about our daily existence. And it is almost impossible to listen without laughing.
Now, for the first time collected in one volume, the author brings us his funniest and most memorable work. In these stories, Sedaris shops for rare taxidermy, hitchhikes with a lady quadriplegic, and spits a lozenge into a fellow traveler's lap. He drowns a mouse in a bucket, struggles to say "give it to me" in five languages, and hand-feeds a carnivorous bird.
But if all you expect to find in Sedaris's work is the deft and sharply observed comedy for which he became renowned, you may be surprised to discover that his words bring more warmth than mockery, more fellow-feeling than derision. Nowhere is this clearer than in his writing about his loved ones. In these essays, Sedaris explores falling in love and staying together, recognizing his own aging not in the mirror but in the faces of his siblings, losing one parent and coming to terms-at long last-with the other.
Taken together, the performances in TheBest of Me reveal the wonder and delight Sedaris takes in the surprises life brings him. No experience, he sees, is quite as he expected-it's often harder, more fraught, and certainly weirder-but sometimes it is also much richer and more wonderful.
Full of joy, generosity, and the incisive humor that has led David Sedaris to be called "the funniest man alive" (Time Out New York), The Best of Me spans a career spent watching and learning and laughing-quite often at himself-and invites listeners deep into the world of one of the most brilliant and original writers of our time.
The Best of Me AUDIOBOOK TRACK LISTING
Introduction (new recording)
From Barrel Fever 1994
Glen's Homophobia Newsletter Vol. 3, No. 2.
From Holidays on Ice 1994
Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol (new recording)
Christmas Means Giving (new recording)
From Naked 1997
the incomplete quad (new recording)
From the New Yorker
Girl Crazy (new recording)
Card Wired (new recording)
How to Spend the Budget Surplus (new recording)
From Me Talk Pretty One Day 2000
You Can't Kill the Rooster (new recording)
Me Talk Pretty One Day (new recording)
Jesus Shaves (new recording)
From the New Yorker
Dog Days (new recording)
From Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Demin 2004
Us and Them
Let It Snow
The Ship Shape
The Girl Next Door
Repeat After Me
Six to Eight Black Men (live recording)
Possession
Nuit of the Living Dead
From When You Are Engulfed in Flames 2008
Solution to Saturday's Puzzle (live recording)
The Understudy
Town and Country (live recording)
In the Waiting Room (live recording)
From The New Yorker
Undecided
From Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk 2010
The Cat and the Baboon (live recording)
The Motherless Bear (new recording)
The Faithful Setter (new recording)
From Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls 2013
Dentists Without Borders (live recording)
Memory Laps
Think Differenter (new recording)
Loggerheads
If I Ruled the World
Easy, Tiger
Laugh, Kookaburra (live recording)
Just a Quick e-Mail
A Guy Walks into a Bar Car
Standing By (live recording)
Understanding Understanding Owls
From Calypso 2019
Now We Are Five
A House Divided
The Perfect Fit
Leviathan
A Modest Proposal
Why Aren't You Laughing?
The Spirit World
From The New Yorker:
Unbuttoned (new recording)
Audio Exclusive
Interview with Paul Constant (new recording)
Ratings (7)
Incredible (2) | |
Loved It (4) | |
Did Not Like (1) |
Reader Stats (15):
Read It (9) | |
Want To Read (6) |
What can you read after
The Best of Me?
When you click the Amazon link and make a purchase, we may receive a small commision, at no cost to you.
