David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium

Diaries

by David Sedaris, Jeffrey Jenkins (Editor)

A remarkable illustrated volume of artwork and images selected from the diaries David Sedaris has been creating for four decades

In this richly illustrated book, readers will for the first time experience the diaries David Sedaris has kept for nearly 40 years in the elaborate, three-dimensional, collaged style of the originals. A celebration of the unexpected in the everyday, the beautiful and the grotesque, this visual compendium offers unique insight into the author's view of the world and stands as a striking and collectible volume in itself.

Compiled and edited by Sedaris's longtime friend Jeffrey Jenkins, and including interactive components, postcards, and never-before-seen photos and artwork, this is a necessary addition to any Sedaris collection, and will enthrall the author's fans for many years to come.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor, Biography, Biography Memoir, Diary

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2017

About the author

David Raymond Sedaris is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "Santaland Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next book, Naked (1997), became his first of a series of New York Times Bestsellers, and his 2000 collection Me Talk Pretty One Day won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.
Much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating and often concerns his family life, his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, his Greek heritage, homosexuality, jobs, education, drug use, and obsessive behaviors, as well as his life in France, London, New York, and the South Downs in England. He is the brother and writing collaborator of actress Amy Sedaris.
In 2019, Sedaris was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Reviews

[jv poore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whenever I have the pleasure of visiting "my" students, I try to bring one book specifically for the self-declared "non-readers". Since I found this Visual Compendium to be interesting and entertaining, I hope some of them will enjoy it as well.

[Elizabeth A · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, let's get a couple of things out of the way:

1. Many have complained that this book costs $50 and is not worth that. While I read a library copy, I would suggest that value is in the eye of the beholder. Don't believe me? Spend half an hour at a modern art gallery and then look at what those pieces actually cost.

2. Whether you are a Sedaris fan or not, this is not a book for everyone. If you get this looking for witty, finished essays, you will be sorely disappointed. There are no essays here. None. Zip. Zero.

Now that we've got that out the way, let me gush about this book. It's large. Some have called it a coffee table book, but those books tend to not to handled, and you'll want to handle this one. Sedaris has been a journal keeper for decades, and this lovely book showcases how his style has changed over the years. It turns out he not only keeps a written record of his days, but he also collects discarded things of interest he comes across and binds them into his journals as well. This book is a beautiful, full color, work of art, and almost feels like actually looking though some of his journals. One can clearly see how his art and writing evolved over the years. I was also delighted by the section that showcases his index of journals. How can one not be inspired?

I would recommend this to any creative soul out there who loves journals, books about journals, and ephemera. Even if you've never heard of Sedaris before, pick this up from your library and settle in for a visual and tactile feast.

[libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anything to do with this man and this is no exception - really well put together and really surprising! I had no idea he was so arty in his approach to journalling and the collages and the stuff he collected and thought to put in the collages was really interesting!

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I paid .99 for this, and it was too much. There are some great diary entries, but they are few and far between, and chances are that you've read them all already. There is a ridiculously pretentious introduction that takes up a lot of real estate, and the rest of the book is, to be honest and blunt, collages of literal garbage that Sedaris has plucked out of trash cans. I guess you could look at this as a form of genius, but let's be honest.....Sedaris is mentally ill. Funny as hell, yes, but nuts. I almost felt that I could catch his crazy from looking at hundreds of pages of moldy old garbage. Yeech.

[da AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

as much as I love Sedaris, totally expected this to be a yawn - so happy (& jealous!) that he's as talented an artist as he is a writer & performer!

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're David Sedaris fan 3.5 to 4.0 repetitive stars.
If you've never read his books or a new fan 4.0 shiny stars.

Since this book is billed as a companion book to the David Sedaris Diaries, with photos of David's diary covers over the years, plus an inside page or two, I won't be picky. Like David himself has said, "I can work a mood like nobody else."
I was excited for this book primarily because I was fixated on one word: PHOTOS. I forgot however, that photos can be of anything, not just people, which is what I wanted to see. There are a few, so okay.
And it is interesting to see David's artistic expression mature and change through the years. Especially, what "ephemera" he adds to the pages. That's their word for the junk picked up anyway and taped in the book; gives it a great Andy Warhol vibe.
In summary, the man has talent. Whether you're a new fan or forever-fan, you will find this book interesting. It's David Sedaris!

P.S. David is planning to publish a new book in May, 2018! Yay!

[Kallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so much fun, and inspiring. I write in a journal intermittently, am as interested in collecting ephemera and images that 'speak to me' at certain times. Also love thrift store art, old books, collaging, gathering what I write and collect into notebooks. Sedaris is much more disciplined and focused on this process than I. According to the introduction, he's a persistent hard worker, very focused. And of course a talented witty commentator, comedian. Still, I can make a stab at making/collecting covers, binding what I write and collect as memorabilia instead of keeping all that in scattered in boxes. That makes sense to the part of me that favors organization. And no one has to see the funky results but me!

[David A Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, very creative and beautiful. Even includes some postcards!

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for writers, actors, or musicians who are also artists. I really enjoyed all the elements of this book--the collage-ish layering of David's art, the funny journal entries and anecdotes, the running timeline of David's life, the quotes, the colors, the randomness, the found artifacts, and the overall design. Jeffrey Jenkins introduction and his photography of David's immense diary/journal-keeping collection is sharp and insightful. The photography is especially eye-popping, with the layers of David's personal creations looking as if you could pull them right off the page. I love this book as much as I love the fact that West Sussex named a garbage truck "Pig Pen Sedaris" to honor the author's daily habit of picking up litter on his long walks in 2014.
(I love how this article doesn't even mention that Sedaris is a world-renowned bestselling author. https://www.westsussextoday.co.uk/new...)

[dv · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title says, this is a visual compendium of the diaries Sedaris has been writing for some 40 years by now. The value of this collection lays - at least in my opinion - not so much in the visuals (which are actually really nice and well reproduced but after a while a little repetitive) but a) in the realization of Sedaris as a complete artists, at ease not “just” with words but with images as well (so a reminder of the invaluable ability to be a well-rounded person) b) in its ability to show in full power the value of the practice of writing any kind of diary, as a work of introspection, focus and perseverance / discipline over time. The creative work is fueled by rigorous habits, and Sedaris gives us a good example of this.

[Niki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool book. When I pictured Sedaris' diaries in my head, I failed to imagine any colorful, unusual ephemera paired alongside the entries. And really, given this writer's penchant for collecting small observations most of us would miss, how could collage NOT be included? Beyond ordinary image scans, this book has woven in a number of flaps and inserts to better capture the delightful multilayered effect of the real thing. A must read for any Sedaris fan.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a huge fan of Sedaris' "Theft By Finding." Many of his straightforward, incisive entries made me laugh out loud. A few of those hilarious anecdotes can be found peppered throughout the pages of this "visual compendium," but it is not merely a visual presentation of that samematerial. It is, like Sedaris' own style, both gorgeous and a little sad, at the same time wise and full of life. Though I am not much of a fan of contemporary or modern art, the author's expertly and deliberately collected photos, paintings, album covers and found notes mix together to form the 153 personal diaries that he has curated over the course of his life. This book includes the covers of each, and some pages from many of them. I don't know that this book would appeal to everyone, as it is very visual and kind of expensive, but I don't care, I got it for Christmas.

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank goodness I only paid $10 for a used copy and plan to pass it on to someone else. Yeah. Not much here unless you're a huge fan and then you will love anything this man deigns to publish. I wanted more diary entries to accompany the collages and covers. The art cries out for some kind of framing context. It's not strong enough to stand on it's own -- we're talking thrift store paintings and street ephemera, here. The author's preface is okay, but the "literary-esque" essay that introduces the book is ridiculous, ranging from childhood Boy Scout memories with the author to a survey of "famous" diaries anyone can Google. This was a disappointment for me. Find it at the library and see what you think.

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a real fascination for journals. I love to read published journals, books of prompts, online and video journals, and personal podcasts. I am fascinated with the vast variety of self-expression using the written and spoken word.

David Sedaris' diaries are fascinating. I love that he has a cabinet full of diaries. He completes four a year, all of which are the same size and format. He's done this since 1977. I find this completely thrilling. The uniformity of size really pleases my love of order and tidiness. The complete variety in content and cover design pleases my love of creativity, passion, and art. I have two large tubs full of diaries, and I have often wished that they were uniform in size. They would be so much easier to store and more pleasing to look at en masse.

I love the way Sedaris takes his diaries seriously. He names the cover art and explains how the covers come about in some detail. His titles sound like painting titles in an art museum. For example, Loose Papers Collected in a Box is the title of Diary #1. Each of his diaries begins with a titled art cover. David Sedaris takes the time to work on his diaries each morning. Knowing this about his diary habit, gives the reader permission to take their own work, their own hobbies, their own fascinations seriously, too.

[Hannah Seeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does this count as a book? Technically, I’d say yes- I’m counting it at as one!! Not only did David Sedaris write his diaries, he also bound all of them with collages and art he both made and found.

It was cool to see some of the visual stuff he bound into his diaries along with all the entries I’d already read. It’s definitely just a book to flip through, not a ton of content, but interesting if you’ve read the diaries.

The best part for me was seeing all the covers Sedaris had selected for each of his diaries at the end of the compendium. He made collages, used photos, found art at thrift stores, made his own art, or increasingly as he aged, used art his boyfriend made for his covers. I over time, he went from predominantly using other mediums to using more and more of his boyfriend’s paintings. Totally not the point of the compendium, but it was a very sweet display of love.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Visual Compendium includes many of the collages from Sedaris's actual diaries that he creates from found, purchased and commissioned paintings, garbage and other ephemera, all lovingly presented by his childhood friend Jeffrey Jenkins. While the collection is impressive, it is the included excerpts of his writing that I found the most interesting.

The book itself is beautifully printed with overlapping cut pages and raised printing to complete the collages. It even includes a pocket on the back cover containing replicas of postcards that Sedaris has created. I would still recommend his writing over his art, but flipping through this book was a nice way to spend an afternoon.

[Alyssa · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this was cool and very interactive, I'm very grateful that I just checked it out from the library, because there's no way on God's green Earth that this book is worth $50.

I'm one of Sedaris' biggest fans and I appreciate all the time it takes him to make this diaries. I also appreciate how visual they are, but I just feel mehh about this whole book.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun for the writer and journaler in me. Wish I could be better about saving all my visual bits and bobs in one place like he has.

[Iroquois · Rating 5 out of 5]

He makes me laugh 😆

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful companion to the diaries. love his whole aesthetic.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very excited when I heard about this book, but it didn't do much for me. It was hard for me to connect the dots between these illustrations and his work.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most surprising thing about this book was finding out that David Sedaris’s diaries are not just a bunch of notebooks but rather 3-dimensional works of art. I hope to purchase this book someday in order to look at the amazing and sometimes disturbing artwork. 2023 update: I did buy this book and it’s even more incredible in person.

[Suzanne LaPierre · Rating 4 out of 5]

For die-hard Sedaris fans, this meta book of his personal notebooks gives you some new insight into how the author/artist's mind works. The images are from the pages and covers of the diary/sketchbooks Sedaris has kept diligently since the late 70's/early 80's at the rate of about four per year. The essay by editor Jenkins puts his work into the context of the Fluxus movement in which big impressive permanent Art with a capital "A" was rejected in favor of the personal, intimate and ephemeral. Jenkins also provides a history of the phenomenon of journal-keeping in human culture. I'm drawn to the elevation of the random and absurd which marks Sedaris' work, whether in text or imagery. I appreciate this window into his life as a visual artist before he hit it big in memoir and fiction.

My only complaint is that the small, light colored text annotating the illustrations is very hard to read. I understand the design decision, leaving the art work as the primary visual and minimizing the distraction of text, but I felt like I needed a magnifying glass to find out more about the images.

If you're not already a Sedaris fan, I'd suggest starting with his early memoirs, Naked and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and work your way up from there. This book is more likely to appeal to current Sedaris fans, or those with a special interest in diaries, journals, sketchbook art, or found art.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this at a recent David Sedaris reading. I’d never seen it before, and it seemed like everyone in the audience was holding one. While I stood I in the signing line, I perused the woman’s in front of me before grabbing the last available copy for myself.

It’s not essays or even many diary entries. It’s a beautiful book showcasing David Sedaris’ artistic growth. He writes about making cards and picking up trash, but I never envisioned the finished products, or even gave them thought. That he takes found items and turns them into something interesting and noteworthy is very much in line with his writing. As someone who used to love making collages, I would do desperate things to get my hands on the originals - high definition photography doesn’t do justice to what is surely textured and marvelous.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this compendium. Jeffrey Jenkins did an amazing job with this book. The photographs are stunning with great depth and clever layout. This visual compendium showed us that David is creative in a multititude of platforms, writing being only one. Hugh's cover artwork for each of David's diaries is exceptional and a great touch to the eccentricity of David's ways. I really enjoyed exploring the covers, the collages and artwork within the books, and the diary entries and quotes by David. There were great introductions by David and Jeffrey about the art of diary keeping that set the stage for the entire experience. Well done! A real treat for this fan!

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been reading the first volume of diaries and was surprised to find out that they are actually pulled from collage/found ephemera visual journals, rather than being the writing journals I had imagined. So of course I had to look at this book that was put together to represent what the journals really look like. Pretty interesting. But his visual style isn’t really my cup of tea, so this book was a little underwhelming. It’s a little truer representation than the all-word volume though, and I’m glad I read it. The photo of the cabinet full of journals was pretty cool and some of the covers were really interesting.

[Hollie Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly fantastic treatment of a really tough thing to replicate. Or perhaps I always just love a diary reproduced in such a way that we can see and experience what the original books were like and the kind of tactile and emotional weight they carry. (I can think of the way the diary of Kurt Cobain was reproduced as a similar example.) But all that aside, Sedaris is brilliant. The way he methodically crafted these books, long before he experienced fame, is truly a joy for a diaristic freak such as myself. I find some of the things that caught his eye to be deeply weird, and others delightful, but that matters not at all to the fact that I'm thrilled this book exists, as much as I am thrilled diarists like Sedaris exist.

[Lee Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a perfect companion to Sedaris' recent Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002. I picked it up as soon as I finished that book, and it was gratifying to see passages I had just read in their original form.

I was also relieved that this didn't end up being like one of those "ephemera" books that were so popular in the late 90s. There were a few cut pages, made to replicate the physical quality of the diaries, and a glassine envelope in the back with some postcards and such that replicated some of the covers, but it wasn't full of odds and ends to get lost or torn.

If you're a Sedaris fan, or a lover of collage and found objects, it's worth a look.

[John H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but not as interesting as DS's writing. This book is primarily artwork from David's diaries. If you're looking for lots of actual diary entries read Theft By Finding instead. My favorite part was the section showing various covers, including some that are thrift store paintings and some painted by David's husband Hugh. I wished the cover images were larger, but that would've made this a much longer book. I would say this is for completists only.

[Jenny Esots · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a big coffee table book.
It includes the covers of David's journal over the past 30 something years.
He uses mainly ring bound notebooks.
He is a collector of fragments.
Images and eclectic 'found items'.
Also included are occasional excerpts from his journal.
I enjoyed the visuals but David's writing is so comedic and twisted I was yearning for more of the journal entries.
Long may you roam David.