The Best of Me
“Genius… It is miraculous to read these pieces… You must read The Best of Me.” —Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review

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. 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 read 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. Nowhere is this clearer than in    his writing about his loved ones. Here, 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.
 
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 readers deep into the world of one of the most brilliant and original writers of our time.
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The Best of Me
“Genius… It is miraculous to read these pieces… You must read The Best of Me.” —Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review

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. 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 read 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. Nowhere is this clearer than in    his writing about his loved ones. Here, 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.
 
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 readers deep into the world of one of the most brilliant and original writers of our time.
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The Best of Me

The Best of Me

by David Sedaris
The Best of Me

The Best of Me

by David Sedaris

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Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

David Sedaris is a unique talent. He's funny, a great observer of human nature, slightly neurotic and an excellent writer. The last part is what really comes out in this compendium of awesomeness that showcases Sedaris' best work over the past 25 years. It's hard to believe he has been at it this long and the mere act of culling through all the great stuff and picking "the best" was a difficult one. It's a great and funny journey though, and an excellent book to pick up and put down when you need a good laugh.

“Genius… It is miraculous to read these pieces… You must read The Best of Me.” —Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review

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. 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 read 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. Nowhere is this clearer than in    his writing about his loved ones. Here, 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.
 
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 readers deep into the world of one of the most brilliant and original writers of our time.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780316242400
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication date: 09/07/2021
Pages: 400
Sales rank: 94,990
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

About The Author
David Sedaris is the author of ten previous books, including, most recently, Calypso and Theft by Finding. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and BBC Radio 4. He lives in England and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Hometown:

London, England

Date of Birth:

December 26, 1956

Place of Birth:

Johnson City, New York

Education:

B.F.A., School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1987

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Glen's Homophobia Newsletter Vol. 3, No. 2 9

Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol 19

Christmas Means Giving 23

The Incomplete Quad 33

Girl Crazy 43

Card Wired 47

How to Spend the Budget Surplus 51

You Can't Kill the Rooster 55

Me Talk Pretty One Day 63

Jesus Shaves 69

Dog Days 75

Us and Them 79

Let It Snow 87

The Ship Shape 91

The Girl Next Door 101

Repeat After Me 115

Six to Eight Black Men 127

Possession 133

Nuit of the Living Dead 139

Solution to Saturday's Puzzle 149

The Understudy 157

Town and Country 169

In the Waiting Room 177

Undecided 185

The Cat and the Baboon 189

The Motherless Bear 193

The Faithful Setter 199

Dentists Without Borders 207

Memory Laps 213

Think Differenter 225

Loggerheads 229

If I Ruled the World 241

Easy, Tiger 245

Laugh, Kookaburra 253

Just a Quick E-mail 263

A Guy Walks into a Bar Car 267

Standing By 279

Understanding Understanding Owls 287

Now We Are Five 297

A House Divided 311

The Perfect Fit 323

Leviathan 333

A Modest Proposal 345

Why Aren't You Laughing? 353

The Spirit World 365

Unbuttoned 375

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