Overview

David Sedaris returns with his most deeply personal and darkly hilarious book. If you've ever laughed your way through David Sedaris's cheerfully misanthropic stories, you might think you know what you're getting with Calypso. You'd be wrong. When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself. With Calypso, Sedaris sets his formidable powers of observation toward middle age and mortality. Make no mistake: these stories are very, very funny--it's a book that can make you laugh 'til you snort, the way only family can. Sedaris's powers of observation have never been sharper, and his ability to shock readers into laughter unparalleled. But much of the comedy here is born out of that vertiginous moment when your own body betrays you and you realize that the story of your life is made up of more past than future. This is beach reading for people who detest beaches, required reading for those who loathe small talk and love a good tumor joke. Calypso is simultaneously Sedaris's darkest and warmest book yet--and it just might be his very best.

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9780316392365

Table of Contents

Reviews

Sedaris hasn't lost his capacity for bemused observations of the people he encounters...But bad news has sharpened the author's humor, and this book is defined by a persistent, engaging bafflement over how seriously or unseriously to take life when it's increasingly filled with Trump and funerals. Sedaris at his darkest--and his best. --Kirkus Reviews Sedaris collects 21 essays largely about family bonds and getting older in this hilarious yet tender volume...The author's fans and newcomers alike will be richly rewarded by this sidesplitting collection. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) The king of the humorous essay returns with a brand-new collection -- his first in five years. Sedaris fans will find plenty of familiar delights: His misanthropic charms and wry wit are as delightful as ever, even if some of the subject matter has changed. From his new vacation home on the coast of North Carolina, he writes about the concerns of health and aging, treating us to a story about the persnickety doctor who refused to let him keep a noncancerous tumor that he'd planned to feed to a snapping turtle once removed. We can only assume that the audiobook version of Calypso will be the perfect travel companion during road trips and getaways this spring and beyond. --Maris Kreizman, New York Magazine David Sedaris has become a signifier of taste and intelligence....Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls was the kind of book that I finished and just immediately wanted to start reading again. ---Anna Peele, Esquire The funniest writer in America....Sedaris is thoughtful and sweet in addition to being slyly hilarious. ---Leigh Haber, O, the Oprah Magazine Over-the-top ruminations on life, death, and the joys of French dental work... Sedaris makes the mundane hilarious. --Danielle Trussoni, People Sedaris is a remarkably skilled storyteller and savvy essayist. He weaves together vivid images and sensations into a coherent whole that packs a serious emotional punch....Yes, David Sedaris is really that good. And based, on this latest collection, he's getting only better. ---Heather Havrilesky, Los Angeles Times Quintessential Sedaris....Essays on everything from air travel to today's child-rearing techniques by a writer who's a master of pointing out the absurd in everyday life. ---Craig Wilson, USA Today PRAISE FOR LET'S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS Deeply satisfying.... Sedaris can bring to mind Anthony Trollope, P.G. Wodehouse, Alice Munro, and Woody Allen, sometimes in the same paragraph. --David Carr, New York Times Book Review Scintillating... Sedaris is a latter-day Charlie Chaplin: droll, put-upon but not innocent, and besieged by all sorts of obstreperous or menacing folks... Sedaris's storytelling, even in diary jottings, is consistently well-crafted and hilarious. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) A David Sedaris book is always a welcome addition to any personal library -- his hilarity, his self-deprecation, his compassion for (and amusement with) the human condition, and his clear joy at making his readers laugh out loud are all what make a David Sedaris book great. --E. Ce Miller, Bustle Raw glimpses of the humorist's personal life as he clambered from starving artist to household name... Though the mood is usually light, the book is also a more serious look into his travails as an artist and person... A surprisingly poignant portrait of the artist as a young to middle-aged man. --Kirkus (Starred Review) Sedaris's diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (Starred Review) Sedaris fans will thrill to this opportunity to poke around in the writer's personal diaries, which he has faithfully kept for four decades and used as raw material for his hilarious nonfiction as well as his performances. --Paul S. Makishima, Boston Globe The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with...polish and comic timing. --Boris Kachka, New York This is Sedaris, who can be wickedly funny as well as deliciously insightful about modern mores... His eccentric existence is eminently enthralling. --David Holahan, USA Today Randomly open to any page in Theft by Finding and you'll find a gem... Sedaris's gift is to make you stop and think one moment and laugh out loud the next. --Rob Merrill, Associated Press Sedaris, a master of incisive and comic cultural criticism, is about to get more personal than ever...Theft by Finding reveals intimate details of this literary luminary's life and mind--all told with his singular sense of humor. --Harper's Bazaar Sedaris has become a reigning master of crystalline social commentary and blisteringly humorous self-reflection. His unforgettable autobiographical essay collections have become modern classics. They reveal the author's life in unsparingly personal, often gritty, always poignant detail. --Lauren Christensen, Los Angeles Times Whether he's in an IHOP in Raleigh or his apartment in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, Sedaris's eye for the absurd and the vulgar is infallible and his deadpan prose style inimitable...His personal essays are put together so carefully that none of the seams show; they often ingeniously build to a sneak attack of wisdom or poignancy in the final lines. --Marion Winik, Newsday Mesmerizing... Delightful... Sedaris describes the world around him... the vast and splendid array of human life that can be observed at IHOP, or the vagaries of fruit picking... Reading Theft by Finding is like watching a favorite play from behind the scenes, in the company of a friend who can identify what is absurd and heartbreaking and human about every person on stage. --Annalisa Quinn, NPR If it's hard to be funny, it's an astounding feat to stay funny--wildly, wickedly, ingeniously so--for more than twenty years. Yet David Sedaris has somehow pulled it off, in exhilarating essays that zero in on the absurd and the poignant with eviscerating wit and radiant humanity. --Fiona Maazel, O, The Oprah Magazine PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: An observant, acidic writer... The prickly Southern wit is still intact and sparkling... It's helpful to see that a voice as original, hilarious and sometimes as infuriating as his was put through the same Struggle and Starve meat grinder that most of us go through. --Patton Oswalt, New York Times Book Review

As brilliant and hilarious as anything Sedaris has previously published. --Zack Ruskin, SF Weekly Scintillating... Sedaris is a latter-day Charlie Chaplin: droll, put-upon but not innocent, and besieged by all sorts of obstreperous or menacing folks... Sedaris's storytelling, even in diary jottings, is so consistently well-crafted and hilarious that few will care whether it's embroidered. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) A David Sedaris book is always a welcome addition to any personal library - his hilarity, his self-deprecation, his compassion for (and amusement with) the human condition, and his clear joy at making his readers laugh out loud are all what make a David Sedaris book great. --E. Ce Miller, Bustle For those curious about the mind of a comic genius, this is a great place to start. --Melissa Kravitz, amNewYork Raw glimpses of the humorist's personal life as he clambered from starving artist to household name... though the mood is usually light, the book is also a more serious look into his travails as an artist and person... A surprisingly poignant portrait of the artist as a young to middle-aged man. --Kirkus (starred review) Sedaris' diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review) An illuminating autobiographical journey through decades' worth of his diaries. --Harper's Bazaar Sedaris fans will thrill to this opportunity to poke around in the writer's personal diaries, which he has faithfully kept for four decades and used as raw material for his hilarious nonfiction as well as his performances. --Paul S. Makishima, Boston Globe PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with enough polish and comic timing to wonder how true they are (after you've stopped laughing). Now we'll finally have access to the raw material -- fragments of the writer's personal diaries that you might recognize from the banter in his prolific and hilarious live readings. --Boris Kachka, New York

Sedaris hasn't lost his capacity for bemused observations of the people he encounters...But bad news has sharpened the author's humor, and this book is defined by a persistent, engaging bafflement over how seriously or unseriously to take life when it's increasingly filled with Trump and funerals. Sedaris at his darkest--and his best. --Kirkus Reviews Sedaris collects 21 essays largely about family bonds and getting older in this hilarious yet tender volume...The author's fans and newcomers alike will be richly rewarded by this sidesplitting collection. --Publishers Weekly (starred review) The king of the humorous essay returns with a brand-new collection -- his first in five years. Sedaris fans will find plenty of familiar delights: His misanthropic charms and wry wit are as delightful as ever, even if some of the subject matter has changed. From his new vacation home on the coast of North Carolina, he writes about the concerns of health and aging, treating us to a story about the persnickety doctor who refused to let him keep a noncancerous tumor that he'd planned to feed to a snapping turtle once removed. We can only assume that the audiobook version of Calypso will be the perfect travel companion during road trips and getaways this spring and beyond. --Maris Kreizman, New York Magazine David Sedaris has become a signifier of taste and intelligence....Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls was the kind of book that I finished and just immediately wanted to start reading again. ---Anna Peele, Esquire The funniest writer in America....Sedaris is thoughtful and sweet in addition to being slyly hilarious. ---Leigh Haber, O, the Oprah Magazine Over-the-top ruminations on life, death, and the joys of French dental work... Sedaris makes the mundane hilarious. --Danielle Trussoni, People Sedaris is a remarkably skilled storyteller and savvy essayist. He weaves together vivid images and sensations into a coherent whole that packs a serious emotional punch....Yes, David Sedaris is really that good. And based, on this latest collection, he's getting only better. ---Heather Havrilesky, Los Angeles Times Quintessential Sedaris....Essays on everything from air travel to today's child-rearing techniques by a writer who's a master of pointing out the absurd in everyday life. ---Craig Wilson, USA Today PRAISE FOR LET'S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS Deeply satisfying.... Sedaris can bring to mind Anthony Trollope, P.G. Wodehouse, Alice Munro, and Woody Allen, sometimes in the same paragraph. --David Carr, New York Times Book Review Scintillating... Sedaris is a latter-day Charlie Chaplin: droll, put-upon but not innocent, and besieged by all sorts of obstreperous or menacing folks... Sedaris's storytelling, even in diary jottings, is consistently well-crafted and hilarious. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) A David Sedaris book is always a welcome addition to any personal library -- his hilarity, his self-deprecation, his compassion for (and amusement with) the human condition, and his clear joy at making his readers laugh out loud are all what make a David Sedaris book great. --E. Ce Miller, Bustle Raw glimpses of the humorist's personal life as he clambered from starving artist to household name... Though the mood is usually light, the book is also a more serious look into his travails as an artist and person... A surprisingly poignant portrait of the artist as a young to middle-aged man. --Kirkus (Starred Review) Sedaris's diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (Starred Review) Sedaris fans will thrill to this opportunity to poke around in the writer's personal diaries, which he has faithfully kept for four decades and used as raw material for his hilarious nonfiction as well as his performances. --Paul S. Makishima, Boston Globe The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with...polish and comic timing. --Boris Kachka, New York This is Sedaris, who can be wickedly funny as well as deliciously insightful about modern mores... His eccentric existence is eminently enthralling. --David Holahan, USA Today Randomly open to any page in Theft by Finding and you'll find a gem... Sedaris's gift is to make you stop and think one moment and laugh out loud the next. --Rob Merrill, Associated Press Sedaris, a master of incisive and comic cultural criticism, is about to get more personal than ever...Theft by Finding reveals intimate details of this literary luminary's life and mind--all told with his singular sense of humor. --Harper's Bazaar Sedaris has become a reigning master of crystalline social commentary and blisteringly humorous self-reflection. His unforgettable autobiographical essay collections have become modern classics. They reveal the author's life in unsparingly personal, often gritty, always poignant detail. --Lauren Christensen, Los Angeles Times Whether he's in an IHOP in Raleigh or his apartment in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, Sedaris's eye for the absurd and the vulgar is infallible and his deadpan prose style inimitable...His personal essays are put together so carefully that none of the seams show; they often ingeniously build to a sneak attack of wisdom or poignancy in the final lines. --Marion Winik, Newsday Mesmerizing... Delightful... Sedaris describes the world around him... the vast and splendid array of human life that can be observed at IHOP, or the vagaries of fruit picking... Reading Theft by Finding is like watching a favorite play from behind the scenes, in the company of a friend who can identify what is absurd and heartbreaking and human about every person on stage. --Annalisa Quinn, NPR If it's hard to be funny, it's an astounding feat to stay funny--wildly, wickedly, ingeniously so--for more than twenty years. Yet David Sedaris has somehow pulled it off, in exhilarating essays that zero in on the absurd and the poignant with eviscerating wit and radiant humanity. --Fiona Maazel, O, The Oprah Magazine PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: An observant, acidic writer... The prickly Southern wit is still intact and sparkling... It's helpful to see that a voice as original, hilarious and sometimes as infuriating as his was put through the same Struggle and Starve meat grinder that most of us go through. --Patton Oswalt, New York Times Book Review As brilliant and hilarious as anything Sedaris has previously published. --Zack Ruskin, SF Weekly For those curious about the mind of a comic genius, this is a great place to start. --Melissa Kravitz, amNewYork Sedaris' diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review) An illuminating autobiographical journey through decades' worth of his diaries. --Harper's Bazaar PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with enough polish and comic timing to wonder how true they are (after you've stopped laughing). Now we'll finally have access to the raw material -- fragments of the writer's personal diaries that you might recognize from the banter in his prolific and hilarious live readings. --Boris Kachka, New York

David Sedaris has become a signifier of taste and intelligence....Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls was the kind of book that I finished and just immediately wanted to start reading again. ---Anna Peele, Esquire The funniest writer in America....Sedaris is thoughtful and sweet in addition to being slyly hilarious. ---Leigh Haber, O, the Oprah Magazine Over-the-top ruminations on life, death, and the joys of French dental work... Sedaris makes the mundane hilarious. --Danielle Trussoni, People Sedaris is a remarkably skilled storyteller and savvy essayist. He weaves together vivid images and sensations into a coherent whole that packs a serious emotional punch....Yes, David Sedaris is really that good. And based, on this latest collection, he's getting only better. ---Heather Havrilesky, Los Angeles Times Quintessential Sedaris....Essays on everything from air travel to today's child-rearing techniques by a writer who's a master of pointing out the absurd in everyday life. ---Craig Wilson, USA Today PRAISE FOR LET'S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS Deeply satisfying.... Sedaris can bring to mind Anthony Trollope, P.G. Wodehouse, Alice Munro, and Woody Allen, sometimes in the same paragraph. --David Carr, New York Times Book Review Scintillating... Sedaris is a latter-day Charlie Chaplin: droll, put-upon but not innocent, and besieged by all sorts of obstreperous or menacing folks... Sedaris's storytelling, even in diary jottings, is consistently well-crafted and hilarious. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) A David Sedaris book is always a welcome addition to any personal library -- his hilarity, his self-deprecation, his compassion for (and amusement with) the human condition, and his clear joy at making his readers laugh out loud are all what make a David Sedaris book great. --E. Ce Miller, Bustle Raw glimpses of the humorist's personal life as he clambered from starving artist to household name... Though the mood is usually light, the book is also a more serious look into his travails as an artist and person... A surprisingly poignant portrait of the artist as a young to middle-aged man. --Kirkus (Starred Review) Sedaris's diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (Starred Review) Sedaris fans will thrill to this opportunity to poke around in the writer's personal diaries, which he has faithfully kept for four decades and used as raw material for his hilarious nonfiction as well as his performances. --Paul S. Makishima, Boston Globe The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with...polish and comic timing. --Boris Kachka, New York This is Sedaris, who can be wickedly funny as well as deliciously insightful about modern mores... His eccentric existence is eminently enthralling. --David Holahan, USA Today Randomly open to any page in Theft by Finding and you'll find a gem... Sedaris's gift is to make you stop and think one moment and laugh out loud the next. --Rob Merrill, Associated Press Sedaris, a master of incisive and comic cultural criticism, is about to get more personal than ever...Theft by Finding reveals intimate details of this literary luminary's life and mind--all told with his singular sense of humor. --Harper's Bazaar Sedaris has become a reigning master of crystalline social commentary and blisteringly humorous self-reflection. His unforgettable autobiographical essay collections have become modern classics. They reveal the author's life in unsparingly personal, often gritty, always poignant detail. --Lauren Christensen, Los Angeles Times Whether he's in an IHOP in Raleigh or his apartment in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, Sedaris's eye for the absurd and the vulgar is infallible and his deadpan prose style inimitable...His personal essays are put together so carefully that none of the seams show; they often ingeniously build to a sneak attack of wisdom or poignancy in the final lines. --Marion Winik, Newsday Mesmerizing... Delightful... Sedaris describes the world around him... the vast and splendid array of human life that can be observed at IHOP, or the vagaries of fruit picking... Reading Theft by Finding is like watching a favorite play from behind the scenes, in the company of a friend who can identify what is absurd and heartbreaking and human about every person on stage. --Annalisa Quinn, NPR If it's hard to be funny, it's an astounding feat to stay funny--wildly, wickedly, ingeniously so--for more than twenty years. Yet David Sedaris has somehow pulled it off, in exhilarating essays that zero in on the absurd and the poignant with eviscerating wit and radiant humanity. --Fiona Maazel, O, The Oprah Magazine PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: An observant, acidic writer... The prickly Southern wit is still intact and sparkling... It's helpful to see that a voice as original, hilarious and sometimes as infuriating as his was put through the same Struggle and Starve meat grinder that most of us go through. --Patton Oswalt, New York Times Book Review As brilliant and hilarious as anything Sedaris has previously published. --Zack Ruskin, SF Weekly For those curious about the mind of a comic genius, this is a great place to start. --Melissa Kravitz, amNewYork Sedaris' diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review) An illuminating autobiographical journey through decades' worth of his diaries. --Harper's Bazaar PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with enough polish and comic timing to wonder how true they are (after you've stopped laughing). Now we'll finally have access to the raw material -- fragments of the writer's personal diaries that you might recognize from the banter in his prolific and hilarious live readings. --Boris Kachka, New York

Sedaris hasn't lost his capacity for bemused observations of the people he encounters...But bad news has sharpened the author's humor, and this book is defined by a persistent, engaging bafflement over how seriously or unseriously to take life when it's increasingly filled with Trump and funerals. Sedaris at his darkest--and his best. --Kirkus Reviews David Sedaris has become a signifier of taste and intelligence....Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls was the kind of book that I finished and just immediately wanted to start reading again. ---Anna Peele, Esquire The funniest writer in America....Sedaris is thoughtful and sweet in addition to being slyly hilarious. ---Leigh Haber, O, the Oprah Magazine Over-the-top ruminations on life, death, and the joys of French dental work... Sedaris makes the mundane hilarious. --Danielle Trussoni, People Sedaris is a remarkably skilled storyteller and savvy essayist. He weaves together vivid images and sensations into a coherent whole that packs a serious emotional punch....Yes, David Sedaris is really that good. And based, on this latest collection, he's getting only better. ---Heather Havrilesky, Los Angeles Times Quintessential Sedaris....Essays on everything from air travel to today's child-rearing techniques by a writer who's a master of pointing out the absurd in everyday life. ---Craig Wilson, USA Today PRAISE FOR LET'S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS Deeply satisfying.... Sedaris can bring to mind Anthony Trollope, P.G. Wodehouse, Alice Munro, and Woody Allen, sometimes in the same paragraph. --David Carr, New York Times Book Review Scintillating... Sedaris is a latter-day Charlie Chaplin: droll, put-upon but not innocent, and besieged by all sorts of obstreperous or menacing folks... Sedaris's storytelling, even in diary jottings, is consistently well-crafted and hilarious. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) A David Sedaris book is always a welcome addition to any personal library -- his hilarity, his self-deprecation, his compassion for (and amusement with) the human condition, and his clear joy at making his readers laugh out loud are all what make a David Sedaris book great. --E. Ce Miller, Bustle Raw glimpses of the humorist's personal life as he clambered from starving artist to household name... Though the mood is usually light, the book is also a more serious look into his travails as an artist and person... A surprisingly poignant portrait of the artist as a young to middle-aged man. --Kirkus (Starred Review) Sedaris's diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (Starred Review) Sedaris fans will thrill to this opportunity to poke around in the writer's personal diaries, which he has faithfully kept for four decades and used as raw material for his hilarious nonfiction as well as his performances. --Paul S. Makishima, Boston Globe The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with...polish and comic timing. --Boris Kachka, New York This is Sedaris, who can be wickedly funny as well as deliciously insightful about modern mores... His eccentric existence is eminently enthralling. --David Holahan, USA Today Randomly open to any page in Theft by Finding and you'll find a gem... Sedaris's gift is to make you stop and think one moment and laugh out loud the next. --Rob Merrill, Associated Press Sedaris, a master of incisive and comic cultural criticism, is about to get more personal than ever...Theft by Finding reveals intimate details of this literary luminary's life and mind--all told with his singular sense of humor. --Harper's Bazaar Sedaris has become a reigning master of crystalline social commentary and blisteringly humorous self-reflection. His unforgettable autobiographical essay collections have become modern classics. They reveal the author's life in unsparingly personal, often gritty, always poignant detail. --Lauren Christensen, Los Angeles Times Whether he's in an IHOP in Raleigh or his apartment in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, Sedaris's eye for the absurd and the vulgar is infallible and his deadpan prose style inimitable...His personal essays are put together so carefully that none of the seams show; they often ingeniously build to a sneak attack of wisdom or poignancy in the final lines. --Marion Winik, Newsday Mesmerizing... Delightful... Sedaris describes the world around him... the vast and splendid array of human life that can be observed at IHOP, or the vagaries of fruit picking... Reading Theft by Finding is like watching a favorite play from behind the scenes, in the company of a friend who can identify what is absurd and heartbreaking and human about every person on stage. --Annalisa Quinn, NPR If it's hard to be funny, it's an astounding feat to stay funny--wildly, wickedly, ingeniously so--for more than twenty years. Yet David Sedaris has somehow pulled it off, in exhilarating essays that zero in on the absurd and the poignant with eviscerating wit and radiant humanity. --Fiona Maazel, O, The Oprah Magazine PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: An observant, acidic writer... The prickly Southern wit is still intact and sparkling... It's helpful to see that a voice as original, hilarious and sometimes as infuriating as his was put through the same Struggle and Starve meat grinder that most of us go through. --Patton Oswalt, New York Times Book Review As brilliant and hilarious as anything Sedaris has previously published. --Zack Ruskin, SF Weekly For those curious about the mind of a comic genius, this is a great place to start. --Melissa Kravitz, amNewYork Sedaris' diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review) An illuminating autobiographical journey through decades' worth of his diaries. --Harper's Bazaar PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with enough polish and comic timing to wonder how true they are (after you've stopped laughing). Now we'll finally have access to the raw material -- fragments of the writer's personal diaries that you might recognize from the banter in his prolific and hilarious live readings. --Boris Kachka, New York

David Sedaris has become a signifier of taste and intelligence....Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls was the kind of book that I finished and just immediately wanted to start reading again. ---Anna Peele, Esquire The funniest writer in America....Sedaris is thoughtful and sweet in addition to being slyly hilarious. ---Leigh Haber, O, the Oprah Magazine Over-the-top ruminations on life, death, and the joys of French dental work... Sedaris makes the mundane hilarious. --Danielle Trussoni, People Sedaris is a remarkably skilled storyteller and savvy essayist. He weaves together vivid images and sensations into a coherent whole that packs a serious emotional punch....Yes, David Sedaris is really that good. And based, on this latest collection, he's getting only better. ---Heather Havrilesky, Los Angeles Times Quintessential Sedaris....Essays on everything from air travel to today's child-rearing techniques by a writer who's a master of pointing out the absurd in everyday life. ---Craig Wilson, USA Today PRAISE FOR LET'S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS Deeply satisfying.... Sedaris can bring to mind Anthony Trollope, P.G. Wodehouse, Alice Munro, and Woody Allen, sometimes in the same paragraph. --David Carr, New York Times Book Review Scintillating... Sedaris is a latter-day Charlie Chaplin: droll, put-upon but not innocent, and besieged by all sorts of obstreperous or menacing folks... Sedaris's storytelling, even in diary jottings, is consistently well-crafted and hilarious. --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) A David Sedaris book is always a welcome addition to any personal library -- his hilarity, his self-deprecation, his compassion for (and amusement with) the human condition, and his clear joy at making his readers laugh out loud are all what make a David Sedaris book great. --E. Ce Miller, Bustle Raw glimpses of the humorist's personal life as he clambered from starving artist to household name... Though the mood is usually light, the book is also a more serious look into his travails as an artist and person... A surprisingly poignant portrait of the artist as a young to middle-aged man. --Kirkus (Starred Review) Sedaris's diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (Starred Review) Sedaris fans will thrill to this opportunity to poke around in the writer's personal diaries, which he has faithfully kept for four decades and used as raw material for his hilarious nonfiction as well as his performances. --Paul S. Makishima, Boston Globe The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with...polish and comic timing. --Boris Kachka, New York This is Sedaris, who can be wickedly funny as well as deliciously insightful about modern mores... His eccentric existence is eminently enthralling. --David Holahan, USA Today Randomly open to any page in Theft by Finding and you'll find a gem... Sedaris's gift is to make you stop and think one moment and laugh out loud the next. --Rob Merrill, Associated Press Sedaris, a master of incisive and comic cultural criticism, is about to get more personal than ever...Theft by Finding reveals intimate details of this literary luminary's life and mind--all told with his singular sense of humor. --Harper's Bazaar Sedaris has become a reigning master of crystalline social commentary and blisteringly humorous self-reflection. His unforgettable autobiographical essay collections have become modern classics. They reveal the author's life in unsparingly personal, often gritty, always poignant detail. --Lauren Christensen, Los Angeles Times Whether he's in an IHOP in Raleigh or his apartment in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, Sedaris's eye for the absurd and the vulgar is infallible and his deadpan prose style inimitable...His personal essays are put together so carefully that none of the seams show; they often ingeniously build to a sneak attack of wisdom or poignancy in the final lines. --Marion Winik, Newsday Mesmerizing... Delightful... Sedaris describes the world around him... the vast and splendid array of human life that can be observed at IHOP, or the vagaries of fruit picking... Reading Theft by Finding is like watching a favorite play from behind the scenes, in the company of a friend who can identify what is absurd and heartbreaking and human about every person on stage. --Annalisa Quinn, NPR If it's hard to be funny, it's an astounding feat to stay funny--wildly, wickedly, ingeniously so--for more than twenty years. Yet David Sedaris has somehow pulled it off, in exhilarating essays that zero in on the absurd and the poignant with eviscerating wit and radiant humanity. --Fiona Maazel, O, The Oprah Magazine PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: An observant, acidic writer... The prickly Southern wit is still intact and sparkling... It's helpful to see that a voice as original, hilarious and sometimes as infuriating as his was put through the same Struggle and Starve meat grinder that most of us go through. --Patton Oswalt, New York Times Book Review As brilliant and hilarious as anything Sedaris has previously published. --Zack Ruskin, SF Weekly For those curious about the mind of a comic genius, this is a great place to start. --Melissa Kravitz, amNewYork Sedaris' diaries are the wellspring for his cuttingly funny autobiographical essays, and he now presents a mesmerizing volume of deftly edited passages...Sedaris is caustically witty about his bad habits and artistic floundering...A candid, socially incisive, and sharply amusing chronicle of the evolution of an arresting comedic artist. --Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review) An illuminating autobiographical journey through decades' worth of his diaries. --Harper's Bazaar PRAISE FOR THEFT BY FINDING: The thrill of Sedaris's nonfiction lies in the absurd details of his memories, burnished with enough polish and comic timing to wonder how true they are (after you've stopped laughing). Now we'll finally have access to the raw material -- fragments of the writer's personal diaries that you might recognize from the banter in his prolific and hilarious live readings. --Boris Kachka, New York

Author Information

David Sedaris is the author of the books Theft by Finding, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Holidays on Ice, Naked, and Barrel Fever. He is a regular contributor to The New Yorker and BBC Radio 4. He lives in England

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