Full disclosure: I actually thought this book was about owls and diabetes.

I also had no idea who David Sedaris was: a naturalist, I assumed. His name was familiar to me and I really like owls, plus the book was free. Thinking back, I’m pretty sure the only thing I actually knew about him is he was on Aisha Tyler’s fabulous podcast Girl on Guy once, but the interview has not stuck in my head in any way more memorable than, “He’s pretty funny. And he has a distinctive voice.” Apparently Sedaris is well-known in the USA from being on NPR? I guess that explains why he read the book so well – fabulous comedic timing and very easy to follow.

Recovering from my sense of betrayal that this wasn’t a book exploring diabetes from a new (and intriguing) perspective, I gamely kept listening, through stories of French socialist dentists, kookaburras being hand-fed at an exclusive restaurant, swimming meets won and lost against a background of appalling parenting, and being peer-pressured into getting a colonoscopy. Sounds all over the map? It really is. The only connecting thread is Sedaris: each story (I hesitate to call them essays, as I doubt the veracity of some!) is a result of his obsessive daily journalling – he makes note in an index of interesting occurrences or observations for easier look-up when it is time to write a new book.

This book made me laugh (quietly) out loud in public. While he cannot pronounce ‘kookaburra’ to save his life, he makes astute, almost ruthless social observations on the travel attire of people in airports, the mental state of people who litter otherwise picturesque English countryside, and squatting to shit in Beijing toilets. He is profane, brutal, honest, and quite disturbed. Well worth reading.