On Monday, June 9th, famed humorist author and North Carolina native David Sedaris gave a talk and book signing at Politics & Prose to promote the paperback release of his New York Times bestseller Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. During his remarks he previewed his latest short story which will run in The New Yorker in the coming weeks. Photos were not permitted but my iPhone accidentally snapped this one before I was told of this policy.
If you aren’t familiar with his works, you should be. His off-the-cuff satirical style humor has something for everyone, but is certainly more suited for an older crowd. Leaving everyone in stitches, David told jokes about his family life, his North Carolina beach house named “Sea-Section”, and his OCD-style relationship with his FitBit, resulting in a garbage truck in England being named after him due to his long walks to rack up miles and pick up trash along the way.
However perhaps most amusing was the time he spent with each audience member that packed the entire top floor of the bookstore, and the quotes he wrote in books. He remarked he recently started signing books by peering into peoples lives envisioning them doing certain activities. One such inscription read, “I picture you picnicking in Rocky Mount with a runaway and a Mayor who is bleeding,” or “I picture you picnicking with teens and lobbyists not far from the sea,” just to give you a few hilarious examples.
But he didn’t just sign books. A friend asked David to sign her Amazon Kindle. Clearly having some beef with Amazon for I assume licensing or royalty issues, or maybe something else all together, the author inscribed the back of the Kindle with “Kindle can go to hell with Amazon,” adding squiggly lines above the Amazon logo he said representing stench.
If this isn’t reason enough to check out his books, I’m not sure what is. You can buy them all here, if you wish.