David Sedaris's remarkable ability to uncover the hilarious absurdity teeming just below the surface of everyday life is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this new book of stories. Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life - the etiquette of having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger or how to soundproof your windows with LP covers against neurotic songbirds - to the most deeply resonant human truths. Taking in the parasitic worm that once lived in his mother-in-law's leg, an encounter with a dingo and the purchase of a human skeleton, and culminating in a brilliant account of his attempt to quit smoking - in Tokyo - David Sedaris's sixth story collection is a fresh masterpiece of comic writing.

About the Author

David Sedaris lives in Paris. Raised in North Carolina, he has worked as a housecleaner and most famously, as a part-time elf for Macy's. Several of his plays have been produced, and he is a regular contributor to Esquire and Public Radio International's 'This American Life.'

Prizes

* A brilliant new collection of stories from the number 1 bestselling writer named by TIME magazine as America's Favorite Humorist

Reviews

Sedaris once again enchants and amuses with his observations about the absurdity of ordinary life situations in this, his sixth collection of essays. As wonderful as it is reading Sedaris's work, it's an even greater pleasure listening to him read it himself, as he provides just the right delivery and cadence to maximize the humor (four of the recordings are live). Track listings with titles are printed on each CD, allowing listeners to find their favorites easily. Highly recommended for all collections. [Audio clip available through www.hachettebookgroupusa.com; the Little, Brown hc, released in June, was an LJ Best Seller.--Ed.]--Gloria Maxwell, Metropolitan Community Coll.-Penn Valley, Kansas City, MO Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.

'A virtual Klondike of darkly glittering anecdotes.' Adam Mars-Jones, Observer 'Sedaris' anecdotes play off his sublime talent for turning the absurdly neurotic into the hilariously funny.' GQ 'Howlingly funny, jaw-snappingly honest and endlessly perceptive... Sedaris' wellspring of quirky yet strangely universal comic experiences show no sign of drying up.' Tom Cox, Daily Mail 'The most popular American humorist since Woody Allen... As a prose stylist he is often compared to that other great New Yorker writer James Thurber - dry, mordant, pitch perfect. As a human being, the most obvious comparison is with the comedian Larry David.' Ngel Farndale, Sunday Telegraph It's a cracker. David Sedaris, acid tongued transatlantic humorist, knows his way around an opening line.' Andrew Collins, Word Magazine 'Reading this new collection of memoir-essay-stories by the master US humorist David Sedaris is like being tickled on the ribs by someone you love: you laugh hysterically, feel a mixture if excitement and irritation, and instinctively wiggle away as exhaustions sets in... Everyone of these 22 essays has something unique and extraordinary to offer.'Rebecca Loncraine, Independent 'His writing seems a perfect mirror of a confessional culture that revels in personal revelation - a self dramatising, post Seinfeldian talkshow culture which nothing is too embarrassing or too private or too trivial to recount... These pieces remind the reader of what Sedaris can do at his best.' Michiko Kakutani, Scotland on Sunday

Starred Review. Sedaris, king of the poignantly absurd, triumphs in this sixth essay collection (after 2004's Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim). There is less focus here on the Sedaris clan as a whole, though the various members make memorable and often hilarious appearances. In The Understudy, the Sedaris siblings band together to battle the odious babysitter Mrs. Peacock, while in Town and Country, Sedaris and sister Amy discuss what their father would be most offended to find on his daughter's coffee-table (hint: The Joy of Sex comes in a distant second). Leaving America behind, Sedaris also regales readers with his experiences around the globe, from sitting in a Parisian doctor's office wearing only his underwear in In the Waiting Room to warding off birds in the French countryside with record albums in Aerial. In the collection's longest essay, The Smoking Section, Sedaris recounts his three-month stay in Tokyo, where he successfully quits smoking and unsuccessfully attempts to learn Japanese. Sedaris records in Buddy, Can You Spare a Tie? his more glaring mistakes in life, but he should be satisfied with the knowledge that this latest endeavor is anything but. (June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.