Synopses & Reviews
A guy walks into a bar car and...
From here the story could take many turns. When the guy is David Sedaris, the possibilities are endless, but the result is always the same: he will both delight you with twists of humor and intelligence and leave you deeply moved.
Sedaris remembers his father's dinnertime attire (shirtsleeves and underpants), his first colonoscopy (remarkably pleasant), and the time he considered buying the skeleton of a murdered Pygmy. The common thread? Sedaris masterfully turns each essay into a love story: how it feels to be in a relationship where one loves and is loved over many years, what it means to be part of a family, and how it's possible, through all of life's absurdities, to grow to love oneself.
With Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, David Sedaris shows once again why he is widely considered the "the funniest writer in America" (O, the Oprah Magazine).
Review
"Sedaris is a remarkably skilled storyteller and savvy essayist....And based, on this latest collection, he's getting only better." Los Angeles Times
Review
"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
Review
"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."
USA Today
Review
"Artfully milked embarrassing personal incidents for literary laughs....There are plenty of well-cut gems, including one about an ill-fated adoption of some sea turtles that's both hilarious and touching."
Entertainment Weekly
Review
"Over-the-top ruminations on life, death, and the joys of French dental work....Sedaris makes the mundane hilarious."
People
Review
"The funniest writer in America....Sedaris is thoughtful and sweet in addition to being slyly hilarious."
O, the Oprah Magazine
Review
"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
Review
"David Sedaris still talks pretty."
Kathryn Schulz, New York Magazine
Review
"Fresh...funny, whimsical, unexpected, and never obvious....Who would anticipate that an encounter with an Australian bird could be so damn touching?"
New York Daily News
Review
"Ridiculously funny....A find for the reader who appreciates a sense of humor....Sedaris, like the great humorists before him, hits a nerve with his wit, which brings the reader into intimate contact with the human condition."
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Review
"An acute observer and master of the quick, excoriating takedown, Sedaris claims new territory in this exceptionally gutsy and unnerving collection."
Donna Seaman, Booklist
About the Author
David Sedaris is the author of the books 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 Public Radio International's This American Life. He lives in England.