• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2020 October #2
  In his introduction to the first best-of compilation of his work, Sedaris writes that it's impossible to know if he'd like his own writing if he were someone else; he would like, though, that so much of it has to do with family. Of the nearly 50 career-spanning stories and essays gathered here, previously published in Barrel Fever (1994), Calypso (2018), one of Sedaris' seven intervening books, or the New Yorker, later pieces especially bring family into poignant focus. Sedaris vacations with his siblings, ruminates on his mother's alcoholism, copes with his estranged younger sister's death, and visits his severely diminished father at the end of his life. Sedaris' distinctive voice is one of the delights of his work, and he embodies his childhood self and others—a theater critic eviscerating an elementary-school play; an Irish Setter who finally understands the pressures of monogamy—with ease. Readable is one thing Sedaris' work very enjoyably is; re-readable is another. Longtime fans are used to reading Sedaris in pieces, but the encompassing effect of his writing—sardonic, piercing, humorous, and humane—grows exponentially here. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.

David Sedaris is the author of Calypso, 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 and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.