It’s a great interview and David sounds relaxed as he chats and answers thoughtful and fun questions. He mentions his father is 97 and doing fine. Thank goodness!

A compilation of David’s essays from previous books. The one exception is “Unbuttoned,” which was published in the ‘New Yorker’ sometime in March or April of 2020, has been added. In the early version I listened to it wasn’t included, but I’m guessing fans were upset with that story because they were left wondering if David’s father died or not. I’m assuming there will be plenty of people/critics who call Sedaris’ latest release nothing but a money grab. To them I say . . . . . I’m someone who always has either a book in my hand or an audiobook in my ear. The former is often praised, while the latter is frequently questioned. "Listening to an audiobook isn’t really reading," "I just can’t stand someone else’s voice that long,” and “I zone out” are common things I hear. But occasionally people will say, “I just don’t know where to start.” To those friends I say, this is the place.I always give this author five stars because his insane humor appeals to my own twisted sense of what makes me laugh. I lowered it to four stars but it is not the fault of the author but my own. The title should have told me that these were his favorites from previous books. I have read all of his books and this collection of stories is taken from them with some additional columns/essays that he has written. So, I was basically re-reading chapters from books that I have read,, several, many times. It was a bit disappointing, although the blurbs from his essays/columns were new to me and I enjoyed them immensely. Sedaris travels around the world to promote his books. and uses Pimsleur audio programs to learn phrases in the language of the destination country, such as Japan, China, France, etc.

I won’t get too much into the specifics of the stories themselves, but it’s a good mix of work from him. Having only read Calypso, the majority of what I’ve seen has been stories about his life, particularly as it relates to his family. So I was pleasantly surprised at the number of works of fiction that Sedaris has authored as well! Glen’s Homophobia Newsletter was utterly fantastic. And the fact that it was written in 1994 but somehow completely holds up speaks to the lasting-power of his writing skills. David observes that Paul once juiced "What I think was a tennis ball mixed with beets and four-leaf clovers." One of the funniest—and truest—books in recent memory and a must-have for fans of the poet laureate of human foibles. His stories are ripe for reading aloud, which I took great pleasure in while on a romantic getaway with my husband. Often, I would be giggling so hard it was difficult for me to get the words out, which would then get my husband giggling, until we both roared with laughter at what I was reading. My husband isn’t a book lover like me, so the fact that he enjoyed these stories so much is a sure sign of how wonderful the the writing it. Although Sedaris’s collections of stories are meant as entertainment first and foremost, there’s enough seriousness to the points he’s trying to make that keep me interested. It’s not all funny because Sedaris has experienced some difficult things in his life, including the suicide of one of his sisters Tiffany, which he has written about often. In a particularly poignant moment, David’s father muses on Tiffany’s death: He (my father) came from behind and pinched her (my mother) on the bottom. She laughed and swathed him with a towel. Then we witnessed what we would later come to recognize as the rejuvenating power of real estate. It's what fortunate couples turn to when their sexual life has faded and they're too pious for affairs. A second car might bring people together for a week or two but a second home can revitalize a marriage for up to nine months after the closing."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. Once, at a dinner party, David met a woman whose parrot had learned to imitate the automatic icemaker on her refrigerator. "That's what happens when they're left alone," the woman had said. Taken together, the performances in The Best 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. Apparently I wasn’t the only fan who felt this way, because an interview with David is included at the end of the essays that also wasn’t in the earlier version. Yay! I’m happy you hear your fans. Just replace ‘vodka’ with ‘boxed wine’ and that would be my Dad (and I know he’s reading this!).The best part about this quote is that his father isn’t even the topic of the story, or the paragraph, it’s just the way Sedaris writes: quirky observations dropped in with fantastic comedic timing.

It is a party for the little boy of God who call his self Jesus and then he die one day on two....morsels of ....lumber." Genius.... It is miraculous to read these pieces.... You must read The Best of Me .” (Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review ) Genius… It is miraculous to read these pieces… You must read The Best of Me.”—Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review Realizing their Moroccan classmate was unfamiliar with Christianity, the students used their minimal knowledge of French to respond.What could be a more tempting Christmas gift than a compendium of David Sedaris's best stories, selected by the author himself? From a spectacular career spanning almost three decades, these stories have become modern classics and are now for the first time collected in one volume. Me Talk Pretty One Day, published in 2000, is a bestselling collection of essays by American humorist David Sedaris. The book is separated into two parts. The first part consists of essays about Sedaris’s life before his move to Normandy, France, including his upbringing in suburban Raleigh, North Carolina, his time working odd jobs in New York City, and a visit to New York from a childhood friend and her bumpkinish girlfriend. The second section, "Deux", tells of Sedaris’s move to Normandy with his partner Hugh, often drawing humor from his efforts to live in France without speaking the French language and his frustrated attempts to learn it. Prior to publication, several of the essays were read by the author on the Public Radio International program, This American Life. He was standing beside the sofa, wearing a shirt I clearly remember throwing into his trash can in the summer of 1990, and enjoying a glass of vodka with a little water in it” (p. 343). Book Genre: Autobiography, Biography, Biography Memoir, Comedy, Essays, Humor, LGBT, Memoir, Nonfiction, Short Stories, Writing

This book is the balm to a really raw and red year, but in the most atypical way. Like when Sedaris blandly hopes for the deaths of multiple children in his stories (largely fictional, calm down). It’s not the idea but the delivery that is so inherently funny. While listening to this you’ll just find yourself breaking down in obnoxious laughter at the most bizarre things, but unable to retell the joke without someone thinking you’re insane. I really can’t explain it any other way, but he succeeds so well at taking niche bits of darker humor and transforming them for consumption by a general audience, without losing any of the bite. An oddly entertaining collection of essays that covers more than 100 songs but doesn’t really explain the decade that created them—which may be beside the point. Taken together, the stories in The Best 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.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. David thought she had something in her mouth until he realized she was speaking in code. So David said, "Okay, but can you tell me WHICH hour ott?" When gay marriage became legal in the United States, Sedaris's accountant advised him it would be financially advantageous if David and his partner Hugh got married. Sedaris writes, "While I often dreamed of making a life with another man, I never extended the fantasy to marriage....The whole thing felt like a step down to me. From the dawn of time, the one irrefutably good thing about gay men and lesbians was that we didn't force people to sit through our weddings."