Theft by Finding - The Library of the Uncommons

Paperback, 528 pages

Published May 29, 2018 by Back Bay Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-316-15473-4

(3 reviews)

For forty years, David Sedaris has kept a diary in which he records everything that captures his attention-overheard comments, salacious gossip, soap opera plot twists, secrets confided by total strangers. These observations are the source code for his finest work, and through them he has honed his cunning, surprising sentences.

Now, Sedaris shares his private writings with the world. Theft by Finding, the first of two volumes, is the story of how a drug-abusing dropout with a weakness for the International House of Pancakes and a chronic inability to hold down a real job became one of the funniest people on the planet.

Written with a sharp eye and ear for the bizarre, the beautiful, and the uncomfortable, and with a generosity of spirit that even a misanthropic sense of humor can't fully disguise, Theft By Finding proves that Sedaris is one of our great modern observers. It's a potent …

For forty years, David Sedaris has kept a diary in which he records everything that captures his attention-overheard comments, salacious gossip, soap opera plot twists, secrets confided by total strangers. These observations are the source code for his finest work, and through them he has honed his cunning, surprising sentences.

Now, Sedaris shares his private writings with the world. Theft by Finding, the first of two volumes, is the story of how a drug-abusing dropout with a weakness for the International House of Pancakes and a chronic inability to hold down a real job became one of the funniest people on the planet.

Written with a sharp eye and ear for the bizarre, the beautiful, and the uncomfortable, and with a generosity of spirit that even a misanthropic sense of humor can't fully disguise, Theft By Finding proves that Sedaris is one of our great modern observers. It's a potent reminder that when you're as perceptive and curious as Sedaris, there's no such thing as a boring day.

4 editions

Matthew Royal reviewed Theft by finding by David Sedaris

Review of 'Theft by finding' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

All of David Sedaris's self-read audiobooks worm themselves into your brain, replacing any inner monologue they find with his voice. However, "Theft by Finding" is the most "Being John Malkovich" of them all, as we're catapulted into fragments of his life over nearly three decades. Initially I could only stand it in pieces, waiting in line at the airport for sandwiches, but I finally decided to finish it in one, big gulp. It's a window into his writing process, but also "It's my head, Sedaris. It's my head!"

Mike Amundsen

rated it

Nov. 15, 2022

georgedpeterson

rated it

Aug. 23, 2020