Genius.... It is miraculous to read these pieces.... You must read The Best of Me .” (Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review ) Book Genre: Autobiography, Biography, Biography Memoir, Comedy, Essays, Humor, LGBT, Memoir, Nonfiction, Short Stories, Writing

I absolutely blew through this. David Sedaris is a once in a generation talent and this collection of stories is no exception to that rule. Some of his die-hard fans might find this redundant, but as I’ve only ever read Calypso (and loved it), a greatest hits album is exactly what I want from this author! Humorist David Sedaris put together some of his best previously published stories in this book. The author is almost always funny, but some of his anecdotes are melancholy and nostalgic. In addition to recounting humorous incidents in his life Sedaris writes about his sister's suicide; his mother's alcoholism; and his father's disapproval. The following are examples of his anecdotes. 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. 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." When Sedaris was small his family moved to North Carolina, where young David heard that a neighboring family, the Tomkeys, had no television. David went to school with two of the Tomkey children, and he sometimes tried to view the world through their eyes.For months after this, it was as if David Sedaris dropped off the planet. Nothing on social media, no followup about his father. As a loyal fan for years, I was quite put out. ‘He told us about his family for years,’ I screamed, ‘he made us care.’ How could he leave us hanging. 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. 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.

One of the funniest—and truest—books in recent memory and a must-have for fans of the poet laureate of human foibles. For more than twenty-five 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 read without laughing. 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." The following is a list of the essays in Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, with brief notes about their contents: Musicians release “Greatest Hits” compilations all the effing time. Why can’t an essayist do the same?Sedaris did this on a trip to Germany, with German audio programs. In one program, the teacher explains that German and English are closely related and thus have a lot in common. In one language the verb is 'to come', and in the other its 'kommen.' English 'to give' is Germen 'gebben.' America's 'That is good' is Germany's 'Das ist gut.' What could be a more tempting Christmas gift than a compendium of David Sedaris' 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. Sedaris notes, "It's an excellent way to start and leaves the listener thinking, 'Hey Ich kann do dis.' Every summer the Sedaris family rented a vacation home on the North Carolina coast, where the houses had clever names like The Skinny Dipper, Lazy Daze, Loony Dunes, etc. The family was in the car one day when David's dad said he would BUY a summer house. Last but absolutely not least, “The Best of Me” concludes with an hour-long Q&A session between the author and Paul Constant from the Seattle Review of Books. This is a new interview recorded during the 2020 pandemic, which is a treasure trove of insight. Topics include how he’s been biding his time riding out COVID restrictions, the various ways he’s tweaked these essays for republication here, his advice to upstart writers, and a lightening round of random questions like where his collected papers are going upon his death. (Spoiler alert, they’re going to Yale.)

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. 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." 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. 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.This isn’t the greatest hits that I was expecting, which I realize is as subjective a view as any since what’s great to one is not to another, especially the author himself. While I was hoping for more of a cross section from every one of his many books, what I found were stories of a more recent vintage. Because humor is a life saver and a tried and true vent valve much needed these days, this collection of the best work of David Sedaris couldn't have come out at a better time. Perfect for old and new fans alike, it serves generous helpings of his witty prose. It often takes a sharp turn towards sadness and, at times, even morbidity but never misses a beat in casting a comic light on everything, EVERYTHING, that makes us flinch. His essays are mostly autobiographic, his recurring themes focusing on an assortment of social embarrassments (especially in-flight ones), his middle-class suburban childhood, life abroad and the awkwardness of trying to fit in and absorb a foreign culture, his relationship with his quite normally dysfunctional large family. The earlier ones are hilarious, insolent, a tad unforgiving. As the years pass his writing changes, becomes more sensitive and charitable but never falters in finding the droll side in every misfortune, small or big. As each story unfolds you find yourself eagerly awaiting for the twist that will unfailingly offer the anticipated comic relief. David repeated the story to his sister Lisa, who told him that neglect had nothing to do with it. Lisa then prepared a cappuccino, setting the stage for her parrot Henry's pitch perfect imitation of the milk steamer. "He can do the blender too, she said." When sober, David's mother was sunny and likable, and when drunk, she was dark, belligerent, and - when other people were around - embarrassing. Still, the family never confronted her.

Realizing their Moroccan classmate was unfamiliar with Christianity, the students used their minimal knowledge of French to respond. 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. 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. He doesn’t take himself seriously, and he doesn’t want the reader to take him too seriously either, which is what makes this book so fun. Author David Sedaris David observes that Paul once juiced "What I think was a tennis ball mixed with beets and four-leaf clovers."Genius… It is miraculous to read these pieces… You must read The Best of Me.”—Andrew Sean Greer, New York Times Book Review 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. 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: 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. 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).