The Best of Me Audiobook

Quotes

• “The essayist collects his best stories spanning his career.”

  — USA Today

• “The Best of Me is a well-earned victory lap.”

  — Christian Science Monitor

• “He gets you laughing even as he gently turns you toward the darkness we all must face.”

  — San Francisco Chronicle

• “A generous and rollicking collection.”

  — Vulture

• “When you’re craving a good old-fashioned belly laugh, turn to this new retrospective collection of Sedaris’ funniest and most heartwarming essays and fictional stories.”

  — CNN

• “Sedaris’s brilliant knack for observational humor is on full display in this terrific retrospective essay collection.”

  — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

• 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

• A comprehensive retrospective… The essayist collects his best stories spanning his career, from previously published volumes and magazine features.

  — Barbara Vandenburgh, USA Today

• Sedaris fans will gobble up this greatest hits compilation… When you’re craving a good old-fashioned belly laugh, turn to this new retrospective collection of Sedaris’ funniest and most heartwarming essays and fictional stories written over the last 25-plus years.

  — Lesley Kennedy, CNN

• 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

• If you’re looking for some comic relief, look no further than David Sedaris.

  — Tonya Mosley, NPR

• Longtime fans and astute readers will understand that the title doesn’t refer entirely to the author; he has chosen and arranged works to highlight his funny, often dysfunctional and always loving parents, siblings and partner, Hugh—the people he believes are the best of him.

  — Bethanne Patrick, Washington Post

• The Best of Me encompasses a wide swath of his past work, from early entries in The New Yorker’s Shouts & Murmurs section to fan-favorite essays like 2000’s ‘Me Talk Pretty One Day’ (in which he recounts taking French-language classes from a merciless teacher) and 2016’s ‘The Perfect Fit’ (about shopping for outrageous clothes in Tokyo).

  — Seija Rankin, Entertainment Weekly

• A generous and rollicking collection… Sedaris is a fun, wickedly funny companion. But for all his playful irreverence… he also brings a sharp moral eye to his subjects—which tend toward the eclectic. Writing about everything from family tragedy to international travel to taxidermied owls, he illuminates the manifold wonders (and weirdness) of everyday life. For those new to Sedaris’s work, this book will serve as a delightful introduction. For longtime fans, it will offer a familiar comfort, like catching up with an old friend.

  — Cornelia Channing, Vulture

• Sedaris’s brilliant knack for observational humor is on full display in this terrific retrospective essay collection… Sedaris finds ample fodder for his keen satiric sense in his life and the lives of those around him. Sedaris can take even the most serious subject and evoke both empathy and laughter. He can also be just plain hilarious… This is the perfect introduction for the uninitiated, while Sedaris’s fans will enjoy rediscovering old favorites.

  — Publishers Weekly (starred review)