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Don't miss our first discussion of a nonfiction title at 3:00 pm this Sunday, April 11, on Zoom to discuss Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris. Make your favorite cup of tea and meet up with us on Zoom!
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Let's explore diabetes with owls
by David Sedaris
A new collection of essays by the humorist and best-selling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day traces his offbeat world travel experiences, which involved surreal encounters with everything from French dentistry and Australian kookaburra eating habits to Beijing squat toilets and a wilderness Costco in North Carolina. 800,000 first printing
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With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today. David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, and his most recent book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, each of which became an immediate bestseller. The audio version of Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls is a 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominee for Best Spoken Word Album. He is the author of the NYT-bestselling collection of fables entitled Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary (with illustrations by Ian Falconer). He was also the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. Sedaris’ pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” There are over ten million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 25 languages. He and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service. David Sedaris’ original radio pieces can often be heard on the public radio show This American Life. David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His latest audio recording of new stories (recorded live) is “David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Pleasure” (November 2009). A feature film adaptation of his story C.O.G. was released after a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (2013). Since 2011, he can be heard annually on a series of live recordings on BBC Radio 4 entitled “Meet David Sedaris.” David Sedaris’ new book is a collection of his diaries, entitled Theft By Finding, Diaries (1977-2002) (May 2017). An art book, about David Sedaris’ diary covers was also just published and edited by Jeffrey Jenkins, entitled: David Sedaris Diaries: A Visual Compendium (October 2017, Little, Brown and Company). The nationally bestselling essay collection Calypso was published in June 2018, and a second volume of his diaries is expected for summer 2021.
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Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls Discussion Questions - Sometimes I can’t read Sedaris essays for more than a few minutes because I get overwhelmed with chagrin. How does Sedaris use embarrassment and minor conflicts to draw the reader in to his essays?
- Ira Glass (This American Life) says that David Sedaris had to leave America because he needs outsider status to feel comfortable and he was getting too popular here. Do you see Sedaris as someone who cultivates otherness? In which essays did he explore belonging and outsider status?
- The essay Loggerheads parallels the sea turtles and the 2 boys. How does Sedaris use both sets of juvenile animals and put them at loggerheads?
- In the essay “Standing By,” Sedaris observes, “We’re forever blaming the airline industry for turning us into monsters; it’s the fault of the ticket agent, the baggage handler, the slowpokes at the newsstands and the fast-food restaurants. But what if this is who we truly are, and the airport is just a forum that allows us to be our real selves, not just hateful but gloriously so.” How is Sedaris reading American culture through the use of the experience of flying?
- In this collection of essays, Sedaris uses “Dentists Without Borders” and “#2 to Go” to talk about French and Chinese cultures. How does he use humor to mitigate his discomfort with these cultures?
- Some of the essays “If I Ruled the World” and “I Break for Traditional Marriage” use speakers that are hypocrites as a break from Sedaris’ normal speaker, who is a version of himself. How does this change up throw you off as a reader? Why do you think Sedaris does this?
- Some of Sedaris’ best stuff is when he uses his family as the focus of his humor. If you ever get a chance to read his essays about his brother Paul, do so. Paul or The Rooster, as he likes to be called, is really funny. This has caused stress in the Sedaris family over the years and one of his sisters, Tiffany, who had mental health issues, was particularly troubled by being part of his writing. Would you be okay with your sibling using you as fuel for comedy that was well known nationally?
- Would you classify Sedaris’ essays as autobiography or creative non-fiction? How true do we have to be when we present a story about our lives?
- Sedaris is famous for his obsessiveness. He used smoking for years as the way he covered up his problems with tick and gestures he couldn’t stop himself from making. We have a myth of writers as people who are “not like normal people”. Do you think Sedaris’ struggles with compulsive behavior and obsessiveness have served his writing well or ill?
- In “A Cold Case”, when Sedaris turns from the mystery of who stole his computer bag to the mystery of who returned it, he embraces a new kind of optimism. Why, then, does he turn to mocking this Good Samaritan, imagining him doing an impossible variety of charitable acts?
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To reserve a copy of next month's book, email: Kristie.Calvin@hooverlibrary.org Include your name, library card number and whether you would like a regular print, large print or audio book copy.
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Click on the link above to send a request to join our Sunday NovelTea Facebook Group! You'll find clips of our author interviews, advance notice when an author is joining us, ARC giveaways and much more! You will also be able to connect with other Sunday NovelTea members. Join us!!
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Sunday NovelTea 2021 Book Selections
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Need Help with Zoom? Not comfortable using Zoom? We can help! Our own Dr. Lea Davis and her assistant, Winston (the cat), have made two helpful videos. If you would like further assistance, please contact Lea at lea.davis@hooverlibrary.org. Individual help or group practice sessions can be arranged.
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