For several years now, I’ve refused to buy hardcover books. I don’t like the added expense, of course, but mostly, I just don’t like the extra bulk and really don’t like how they feel in my hand: too much like textbooks or hymnals. I don’t need to be reminded of either when I’m trying to read something fun. As a result, I’m consistently a year or two behind everyone else with my reading, a (discount) price I’m willing to pay. David Sedaris has long […]
First I got up, then I had a piece of toast…
There’s a stand up comedian who had a bit about how boring it is to hear about other peoples’ dreams, how the description is always surreal to the teller but just illogical to the listener; the punch line being “there’s a reason you were asleep for this.” There’s a reason your books were inspired by rather than directly published from your diaries, sedaris. It kind of hurt to write that. I love David Sedaris, I love his writing. I often say of writers I love […]
Familiar and Funny
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 […]