I needed a laugh and Sedaris didn't disappoint. A few times I was laughing so hard, I expected angry neighbors to kick in my door and duct tape my mouth shut while shaking their heads disapprovingly or sighing theatrically at the evidence that I have finally gone insane. It’s not just the jokes and the context they’re in, it’s also the parallels I can draw with my own life, with my own cynical personality and my facetious nature. And a bit of empathy is essential when it comes to memoirs.For ful...

When I told my mom what I was reading, she thought I said "Let's Explore Dead Babies with Owls."Bravo, Mr. Sedaris. 4.5 stars

I usually like the work of David Sedaris. He’s at his best when talking about his family or childhood memories, or wryly observing society’s foibles. Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls has moments of that trademark understated irony, but it’s more self-absorbed than his earlier collections. This book’s primary theme seems to be the travails of a successful author as he fulfills his tiresome obligations to accept invitations to read his work out loud in exotic locations like China, Rotterdam, and C...

Lets Explore Diabetes with Owls, David SedarisLet's Explore Diabetes With Owls is a collection of narrative essays by David Sedaris. The book was released on April 23, 2013. Essays: Dentists Without Borders; Attaboy; Think Differenter; Memory Laps; A Friend in the Ghetto; Loggerheads; If I Ruled the World; Easy, Tiger; Laugh, Kookaburra; Standing Still; Just a Quick E-mail; A Guy Walks into a Bar Car; Author, Author; Obama!!!!!; Standing By; I Break for Traditional Marriage; Understanding Unders...

You know I'm shocked by all the high ratings for this book. Maybe it's because I'm younger than the average David Sedaris reader, but my eyes were literally bleeding towards the end of Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. I don't even rate nonfiction, but I'm making an exception for this... thing that reads like the inane, self-absorbed ramblings of a Grampa Simpson type - 'when I was young...' I killed endangered animals, never got the approval of my dad, wrote a racist rant, got my passport stole...

The funniest book I have ever read.

David's mah dawg, yo! I love this little guy!I always listen to him read his own stuff in audiobook form, as opposed to reading it myself. I can't do his little elfin voice justice. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls is more of the same Sedaris: observations skewed by his quirky worldview, which produces within me squirmy giggles with the occasional guffaw explosion. This collection of essays gets an extra star on the rating from sheer worn-shoe comfort joy. It's no better than his previous books....

I love David Sedaris but I HATED his last book, 'Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk'. I'm hoping he redeems himself here. UPDATE: I read this book and I was happy to find short stories and essays. I laughed out loud many times. The story about the taxidermist is my favorite out of this collection.

A fast-moving collection of humor essays, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls takes on subjects well known to fans of David Sedaris. The essays center on the author's many travels, his writing, and his relationship with his father; several of the pieces rehash material he covers more effectively elsewhere, from early essay collections like Naked to his recent memoir Calypso. A set of short stories, more disturbing than entertaining, follows the essays, but it's best skipped. I think listening to th...

As part of the promotional tour for this book, David Sedaris made a stop in a Barnes and Noble in my city, and I ended up going sort of by accident (I bought a copy of the book on a whim the day before the event and learned that, by purchasing the book, I had also unknowingly purchased a ticket to the reading the next day). It was a fun event - Sedaris is charming and adorable in person, and was very polite to the requisite crazy people who tend to show up at every author reading I've ever atten...

Let's get one thing out of the way right now - David Sedaris is the preeminent satirist/essayist working and writing today. Maybe it's because of his radio readings or listening to his audio books, but his is a distinctive voice that fills your head as you read his work. For me, I can't help but think as I read a Sedaris essay that he's standing right there next to me, speaking word for word what is written on the page, which makes for interesting mental company.When I delved into "Let's Explore...

David Sedaris is a unique American humorist. Sometimes I love his essays and other times I hate them, so ranking a collection of his work fairly is difficult. I listened to the audiobook of Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls on my daily commute and he's a wonderful narrator. Actually, having read a handful of his other books, I'd recommend listening to him read his essays. His timing and inflections are perfection. He's one of the few humorists who has literally made me laugh out loud.The high poi...

’s Explore SedarisWhile I loved Sedaris' other book, Calypso, at first I was not so fond of this book and found it rather depressing. Not funny, Sedaris, I thought to tell him. Perhaps, Sedaris isn’t always supposed to be funny. I don’t know. There were just too many Dad stories. His verbally abusive father is a person that I would rather not think about or be around, much less desire to write about. Let sleeping dogs lie. So, I did not laugh much at all when listening to his father stories. But...

Yay! David Sedaris is even older than I am. (Every year it gets harder and harder to find someone who is...) BUT, he IS close enough in age that we are basically contemporaries, therefore, his gripes are my gripes, and this makes me happy.Like Sedaris, I can clearly remember mundane incidents that occurred in third grade - the day THAT BASTARD, Marty W., pushed me down in the playground and tore my favorite pants (true, they were plaid, so maybe he did it as a favor), but, no, I cannot remember

Given the times, I needed something light. And David Sedaris fits the bill of light but quirky. Driving down the road, I was laughing out loud at the image of buying a preserved human arm or head. The essays aren’t uniformly funny or interesting. But the good outweighs the bad. I had to wonder if younger folks would appreciate the stories involving David’s youth. We older folks remember the hard drinking, smoking parents that wanted nothing more than to be left alone. It brought back a lot of me...

Humorist David Sedaris rummages through his life to compose the entertaining anecdotes in his books. Sedaris's stories range from his childhood, through his drug-hazed young adulthood, to his successful career as a writer and speaker. Sedaris was brought up in a large family; had a varied higher education (he dropped out a lot); held an assortment of jobs; met his life-partner Hugh; traveled widely; lived in Europe; and met many memorable people.....and he writes about all of it. Among other ess...