The Best of Me
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Narrated by:
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David Sedaris
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Written by:
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David Sedaris
About this listen
“Genius.... It is miraculous to read these pieces.... You must read The Best of Me.” (Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review)
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.
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice
A CNN and Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Month
For more than 25 years, David Sedaris has been carving out a unique literary space, virtually creating his own genre. 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 listen 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, more fellow-feeling than derision. Nowhere is this clearer than in his writing about his loved ones. In these essays, 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.
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.
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 listeners deep into the world of one of the most brilliant and original writers of our time.
©2020 David Sedaris (P)2020 Little, Brown & CompanyYou may also enjoy...
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Happy-Go-Lucky
- Written by: David Sedaris
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- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask—or not—was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes. But then the pandemic hits, and like so many others, he’s stuck in lockdown, unable to tour and read for audiences, the part of his work he loves most.
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disappointed
- By Thought this would be a brilliant efficient time saver, but after a few uses found it more frustrating than helpful, and just went back to handwashing brushes on 2023-01-06
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A Carnival of Snackery
- Diaries (2003-2020)
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- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Tracey Ullman
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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If it’s navel-gazing you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street, pedestrians being whacked over the head or gathering to watch as a man considers leaping to his death. There’s a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party - lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs.
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Very nice
- By Stephen Sooley on 2021-10-25
Written by: David Sedaris
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Calypso
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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 it's 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 - and dark humor - toward middle age and mortality.
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Great Narration
- By designaholic on 2019-01-16
Written by: David Sedaris
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When You Are Engulfed in Flames
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Once again, David Sedaris brings together a collection of essays so uproariously funny and profoundly moving that his legions of fans will fall for him all over again. He tests the limits of love when Hugh lances a boil from his backside, and pushes the boundaries of laziness when, finding the water shut off in his house in Normandy, he looks to the water in a vase of fresh cut flowers to fill the coffee machine.
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Witty and Poignant
- By Michelle Holmes on 2018-02-15
Written by: David Sedaris
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Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From the unique perspective of David Sedaris comes a new collection of essays taking his listeners on a bizarre and stimulating world tour. From the perils of French dentistry to the eating habits of the Australian kookaburra, from the squat-style toilets of Beijing to the particular wilderness of a North Carolina Costco, we learn about the absurdity and delight of a curious traveler's experiences.
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another great David sedaris book
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-01-19
Written by: David Sedaris
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Theft by Finding
- Diaries (1977-2002)
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For nearly four decades, David Sedaris has faithfully kept a diary in which he records his thoughts and observations on the odd and funny events he witnesses. Anyone who has attended a live Sedaris event knows that his diary readings are often among the most joyful parts of the evening. But never before have they been available in print. Now, in Theft by Finding, Sedaris brings us his favorite entries. From deeply poignant to laugh-out-loud funny, these selections reveal with new intimacy a man longtime fans only think they know.
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I really wanted to like it.
- By David R on 2020-01-12
Written by: David Sedaris
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Happy-Go-Lucky
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Back when restaurant menus were still printed on paper, and wearing a mask—or not—was a decision made mostly on Halloween, David Sedaris spent his time doing normal things. As Happy-Go-Lucky opens, he is learning to shoot guns with his sister, visiting muddy flea markets in Serbia, buying gummy worms to feed to ants, and telling his nonagenarian father wheelchair jokes. But then the pandemic hits, and like so many others, he’s stuck in lockdown, unable to tour and read for audiences, the part of his work he loves most.
-
-
disappointed
- By Thought this would be a brilliant efficient time saver, but after a few uses found it more frustrating than helpful, and just went back to handwashing brushes on 2023-01-06
Written by: David Sedaris
-
A Carnival of Snackery
- Diaries (2003-2020)
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Tracey Ullman
- Length: 17 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If it’s navel-gazing you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street, pedestrians being whacked over the head or gathering to watch as a man considers leaping to his death. There’s a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party - lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs.
-
-
Very nice
- By Stephen Sooley on 2021-10-25
Written by: David Sedaris
-
Calypso
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 it's 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 - and dark humor - toward middle age and mortality.
-
-
Great Narration
- By designaholic on 2019-01-16
Written by: David Sedaris
-
When You Are Engulfed in Flames
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Once again, David Sedaris brings together a collection of essays so uproariously funny and profoundly moving that his legions of fans will fall for him all over again. He tests the limits of love when Hugh lances a boil from his backside, and pushes the boundaries of laziness when, finding the water shut off in his house in Normandy, he looks to the water in a vase of fresh cut flowers to fill the coffee machine.
-
-
Witty and Poignant
- By Michelle Holmes on 2018-02-15
Written by: David Sedaris
-
Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the unique perspective of David Sedaris comes a new collection of essays taking his listeners on a bizarre and stimulating world tour. From the perils of French dentistry to the eating habits of the Australian kookaburra, from the squat-style toilets of Beijing to the particular wilderness of a North Carolina Costco, we learn about the absurdity and delight of a curious traveler's experiences.
-
-
another great David sedaris book
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-01-19
Written by: David Sedaris
-
Theft by Finding
- Diaries (1977-2002)
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For nearly four decades, David Sedaris has faithfully kept a diary in which he records his thoughts and observations on the odd and funny events he witnesses. Anyone who has attended a live Sedaris event knows that his diary readings are often among the most joyful parts of the evening. But never before have they been available in print. Now, in Theft by Finding, Sedaris brings us his favorite entries. From deeply poignant to laugh-out-loud funny, these selections reveal with new intimacy a man longtime fans only think they know.
-
-
I really wanted to like it.
- By David R on 2020-01-12
Written by: David Sedaris
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Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In his newest collection of essays, David Sedaris lifts the corner of ordinary life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface. His world is alive with obscure desires and hidden motives, a world where forgiveness is automatic and an argument can be the highest form of love. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim is another unforgettable collection from one of the wittiest and most original writers at work today.
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David Sadaris is a national treasure
- By Chelsea Suik-Thomas on 2021-05-10
Written by: David Sedaris
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Naked
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Amy Sedaris
- Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins
- Abridged
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Welcome to the hilarious, strange, elegiac, outrageous world of David Sedaris. In Naked, Sedaris turns the current mania for the memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and his unique worldview, a sensibility at once take-no-prisoners sharp and deeply charitable.
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Heartfelt and hilarious
- By Jennifiend on 2023-01-25
Written by: David Sedaris
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Me Talk Pretty One Day
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
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David Sedaris' collection of essays - including live recordings! - tells a most unconventional life story. With every clever turn of a phrase, Sedaris brings a view and a voice like no other to every unforgettable encounter. You can also listen to Sedaris in an interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air.
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Worth the listen
- By Anonymous User on 2017-12-29
Written by: David Sedaris
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Barrel Fever and Other Stories
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Amy Sedaris
- Length: 2 hrs and 59 mins
- Abridged
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In David Sedaris' world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Lebowitz, and the National Enquirer, Sedaris' collection of essays is a rollicking tour through the national Zeitgeist: a do-it-yourself suburban dad saves money by performing home surgery; a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world; a teenage suicide tries to incite a lynch mob at her funeral; a bitter Santa abuses the elves.
Written by: David Sedaris
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David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 1 hr and 13 mins
- Original Recording
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If you are driving, pull over. If you are at work, close your door, unless you don't mind your colleagues seeing you doubled over, in tears, on your office floor. With this recording, taped before a delirious sold out audience at Carnegie Hall, you are there as David Sedaris performs new stories from his upcoming book. A parrot who mimics an ice maker, lovers quarreling over a rubber hand, and a Santa Claus who moonlights from his job as bishop of Turkey, the cast of characters is like no other.
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Love! Love! Love! 👌
- By Anonymous User on 2019-07-15
Written by: David Sedaris
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Themes and Variations
- An Essay
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Dismissed by a bored author at a book signing, a betrayed young man named David Sedaris made a vow. Someday, when it was his turn at the table, he’d connect with his readers. The experience has been even more revealing than he’d hoped.In this hilarious and perceptive essay, the celebrated humorist reflects on the unusual patterns of forced socialization between author and audience, and the obligations and sometimes surprising returns of not-so-chance encounters with strangers: jokes, secrets, insights, and even charity.
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There is no trivial or dull moment....
- By Anonymous User on 2020-11-04
Written by: David Sedaris
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Calypso
- Written by: David Sedaris, Georg Deggerich - Übersetzer
- Narrated by: Devid Striesow
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Abridged
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Den betörend geheimnisvollen Namen "Calypso" teilen sich unter anderem eine griechische Meeresnymphe, ein afrikanisch-karibischer Tanzrhythmus und ein Saturnmond. Fragt man David Sedaris, ist Calypso ein besonders bescheuerter Name für eine Katze. Aber auch ein betörend geheimnisvoller Titel für die lang erwartete neue Geschichtensammlung eines der erfolgreichsten Humoristen unserer Zeit, der es wie kein anderer versteht, zarte Schönheit im Hässlichen zu entdecken und die banale Komik des schönen Scheins zu entlarven.
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Calypso
- By nicole on 2021-11-05
Written by: David Sedaris, and others
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I Must Say
- My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend
- Written by: Martin Short
- Narrated by: Martin Short
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Martin Short takes you on a rich, hilarious, and occasionally heartbreaking ride through his life and times, from his early years in Toronto as a member of the fabled improvisational troupe Second City to the all-American comic big time of Saturday Night Live and memorable roles in movies such as ¡Three Amigos! and Father of the Bride.
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Nothing Short of Spectacular!
- By Justin Lahey on 2020-01-27
Written by: Martin Short
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Holidays on Ice
- Featuring Six New Stories
- Written by: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 4 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two very competitive families, are Sedaris's tales of tardy trick-or-treaters ("Us and Them"); the difficulties of explaining the Easter Bunny to the French ("Jesus Shaves"); and what to do when you've been locked out in a snowstorm ("Let It Snow").
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A Christmas Tradition
- By Ryan on 2019-12-20
Written by: David Sedaris
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I'm Just a Person
- Written by: Tig Notaro
- Narrated by: Tig Notaro
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In the span of four months in 2012, Tig Notaro was hospitalized for a debilitating intestinal disease called C. diff, her mother unexpectedly died, she went through a breakup, and then she was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Hit with this devastating barrage, Tig took her grief onstage. Days after receiving her cancer diagnosis, she broke new comedic ground, opening an unvarnished set with the words, "Good evening. Hello. I have cancer. How are you? Hi, how are you? Is everybody having a good time? I have cancer."
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The best book I have ever listened to.
- By Amazon Customer on 2018-08-11
Written by: Tig Notaro
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The Best Audio Storytelling 2022
- Written by: Julia Barton - editor, David Sedaris - foreword
- Narrated by: Julia Barton, David Sedaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Original Recording
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The Best Audio Storytelling is a new collection of thirteen of the year’s best nonfiction audio stories from podcasters, radio journalists, authors, independent creators, and more. The stories within this anthology transport you to a lush garden, to life in prison, to a cruise ship bar, and even into outer space. Curated by Pushkin Industries Executive Editor Julia Barton, a longtime editor of podcasts and radio, with a foreword by lifelong audio junkie David Sedaris, The Best Audio Storytelling is a celebration of the most innovative and powerful audio storytelling of the year.
Written by: Julia Barton - editor, and others
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Don't Get Too Comfortable (Unabridged Selections)
- The Indignities of Coach Class, The Torments of Low Thread Count, The Never- Ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems
- Written by: David Rakoff
- Narrated by: David Rakoff
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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David Rakoff's best-selling collection of autobiographical essays, Fraud, established him as one of today's funniest and most insightful writers. Now, in Don't Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff moves from the personal to the public, journeying into the land of unchecked plenty that is contemporary America. Rarely have greed, vanity, selfishness, and vapidity been so mercilessly and wittily skewered.
Written by: David Rakoff
What the critics say
“The genius of The Best of Me is that it reveals the growth of a writer, a sense of how his outlook has changed and where he finds humor… The subject, in many of the pieces Sedaris has selected, is the judgment and pain we inflict on one another, and by ‘we’ Sedaris does not mean people in general. He means him. And he means you. And he means me… You must read The Best of Me. It will be a new experience, knowing that enough time has passed to find humor in the hardest parts of life. More than ever—we’re allowed to laugh.”—Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review
"An excellent introduction to Sedaris’ work if, somehow, you’re not among the millions who have made him a mainstay on bestseller lists and flocked to his ticketed readings. Even if you’ve read or listened to every word he’s ever written, it’s a terrific highlights reel and a chance to view the arc of Sedaris’ development as a writer over 25 years… In his more serious moments, Sedaris expresses surprise and gratitude for his good fortune. Even his father, “that perpetual human storm cloud,” has finally, in his late 90s, acknowledged his elder son’s fantastic accomplishments. The Best of Me is a well-earned victory lap.” —Heller McAlpin, Christian Science Monitor
“The collection magnifies many of the attributes that have made Sedaris such a beloved writer, not least of which is the sense of wit... Across 46 stories and 400 pages, Sedaris’ clarity as a writer comes through. The pieces can be painfully funny and painfully poignant for the same reason: He’s economical with words, thoughts, jokes and emotions.”—Andrew Dansby, Houston Chronicle
What listeners say about The Best of Me
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JohnS
- 2021-02-11
A wonderful collection
David Sedaris is a master essayist. He weaves his stories with great language, humour and pathos that feel real and deeply felt, especially the essays about his family and the sister who died young. There is nothing in this book that is flawed, in my humble opinion. Bravo!
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- Q
- 2022-06-13
Be Careful
Listening to this on train or plane will
create the kind of cackling laughter that will ruin the day for your fellow passengers. oh well
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 2020-11-13
You can't go wrong with Sedaris
Brilliant, dark, hilarious. This collection of Sedaris's previously published favourite pieces includes some of his fictional pieces and many of his most poignant essays. Narrated, as always, by Sedaris himself. A must read, even if you've already read/heard all of these essays before. In this new collection, juxtaposed against each other, these collected works really sing.
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- Brianne
- 2023-09-03
Excellent collection
This was a great Sedaris sampler - fiction, non-fiction, and laughs throughout. Sedaris also includes real family moments that, while funny, can also be serious and heartfelt.
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- Michelle Holmes
- 2021-02-21
The Best of the Best
David Sedaris is a talented writer and performer. He had me laughing out loud, and also contemplating my own existence and relationships. I will re-visit this book again and again.
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- Paula Vicente
- 2022-11-19
nice
if you like David Sedaris you will like this collection. I wish he would come out with a live album of his essays. live read essays are my favorite
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- peej678
- 2021-05-10
How do people think this is funny?
Everyone recommended this book for a good laugh. I only made it 1/3 of the way through. this is my first time giving up on a book but it really is a waste of time. I really don't understand how it's so popular. It's like listening to a depressed news caster try to slip in a joke he was instructed to say with a monotone voice that blends right back into the news.
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1 person found this helpful