Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
David Sedaris, 2013
A collection of humorous essays about the author's life and family.
I adore David Sedaris. I especially adore David Sedaris when he reads audiobooks to me while I'm at the gym or doing chores around the house. While I think that Me Talk Pretty One Day is still my favorite, there were some excellent and hilarious stories in this most recent collection. While there were a few moments that made me cringe - the story about the turtles made me sad and while the one about learning languages ended up being really funny but started out with me wanting to make sure that I never, ever visit China - it was overall a really good collection of stories.
I've seen people complain that this book is darker or more judgmental than previous collections - and I'll actually agree with that assessment completely. Most of these stories are from his grown-up, famous life, which is inevitably going to lead to more "first-world problems" types stories. As for it being dark and judgmental, honestly, I think that Sedaris is just now famous enough where he can be a little bit of an ass in his stories and get away with it. This didn't bother me, but I can see where it might bother some people. I just saw it as him being honest.
I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of his previous work, although I probably wouldn't recommend this as someone's introduction to Sedaris. Me Talk Pretty One Day or When You Are Engulfed in Flames would work much better as a first read, in my opinion. And, as always, I highly recommend the audiobook, which he reads himself.
I adore David Sedaris. I especially adore David Sedaris when he reads audiobooks to me while I'm at the gym or doing chores around the house. While I think that Me Talk Pretty One Day is still my favorite, there were some excellent and hilarious stories in this most recent collection. While there were a few moments that made me cringe - the story about the turtles made me sad and while the one about learning languages ended up being really funny but started out with me wanting to make sure that I never, ever visit China - it was overall a really good collection of stories.
I've seen people complain that this book is darker or more judgmental than previous collections - and I'll actually agree with that assessment completely. Most of these stories are from his grown-up, famous life, which is inevitably going to lead to more "first-world problems" types stories. As for it being dark and judgmental, honestly, I think that Sedaris is just now famous enough where he can be a little bit of an ass in his stories and get away with it. This didn't bother me, but I can see where it might bother some people. I just saw it as him being honest.
I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of his previous work, although I probably wouldn't recommend this as someone's introduction to Sedaris. Me Talk Pretty One Day or When You Are Engulfed in Flames would work much better as a first read, in my opinion. And, as always, I highly recommend the audiobook, which he reads himself.
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