Theft by Diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris | Conversation Starters
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EVERY GOOD BOOK CONTAINS A WORLD FAR DEEPER than the surface of its pages. The characters and their world come alive, and the characters and its world still live on. Conversation Starters is peppered with questions designed to bring us beneath the surface of the page and invite us into the world that lives on. These questions can be used to..
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My undergraduate writing seminar prof told me the piece I'd written based on my diary entries was just too pedestrian, basically. Diary entries are fundamentally meaningful only to the diarist. With a few exceptions, that was my reaction to this book. The best parts were, of course the Santa's elf lead-in, and David's Alliance Française experience, especially with respect to the toll "Me Talk Pretty One Day" took on his reviled teacher (about which btw there wasn't enough.) Stick to his dedicated writing.
"Theft by Finding" was just what I needed. I found myself laughing out loud, waking my daughter up. His dry wit and dark sense of humor come up in the strangest situations. My favorite story is when he is an Elf in Santa Land. I first heard about it in "Holidays on Ice," and am seriously thinking about listening to the book again because of it. David Sedaris is a gifted storyteller whose humor sheds light on the ridiculousness of what we do.
I love David Sedaris's essays, but these diary entries did not interest me at all. Yes, they're brutally honest, but I just don't care to know his day-to-day activities from 50 years ago.