Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with davidsedaris

Alternatives to Christie, Sedaris, Bryson

fatbird — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:20:59 -0800

Looking for recommendations for authors similar to Agatha Christie, David Sedaris, and Bill Bryson. I've exhausted those three authors, and am looking for others who are similar.

Generally I want something entertaining, not depressing, not a difficult read, and somewhat the same style. We're talking fall-asleep-while-reading-at-bedtime writers, not soul-searching.

Another mystery author would be great. Already done Dashiell Hammett.

What I like about David Sedaris and Bill Bryson is the funny life-story aspect.

Thanks for any and all recommendations.

shouldn't there be a whole website of david sedaris readings?

Mael Oui — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:06:45 -0800

When I saw David Sedaris in 2007, he told a story about a monotonous college professor who would overaccent the word 'Nicaragua'. Even Wil Wheaton liked it. It was my favorite story of the night, and, as far as I know, it was never published. I guess it wouldn't really lend itself to the written page since the hilarity depends upon Sedaris' imitation of his professor, but does anyone happen to know if the full text has been published or, better yet, if there is some kind of recording of him reading the story? It's not in either the printed or audio versions of When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I did check Google, YouTube, and archive.org but to no avail!

How can I find a track listing for the David Sedaris CD box set?

jmevius — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 13:36:25 -0800

How can I find a track listing for the David Sedaris CD box set? This seems like a internet no-brainer, but I'm coming up blank. Does anyone have the track-by-track listing (or know where it can be found) of the 14 CD set (Amazon Link)?

I know which disc is which, but I'm looking for something like this:

Barrel Fever, Disc 1/3: Tracks 7-9 - "You Can't Kill The Rooster"

Any ideas?

How did David Sedaris become famous?

c:\awesome — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 11:20:48 -0800

How did David Sedaris rise from obscurity to fame? His wikipedia page kind of glosses over the issue, saying that after he worked "a string of odd jobs ... , Sedaris achieved prominence with the radio essay The SantaLand Diaries."

How do you go from working a string of odd jobs to being featured on This American Life and NPR? Did he publish a book, and then get picked up for the radio bit? Does he better explain how he got discovered in an interview or essay somewhere that I haven't read?

I've always wondered this, and hopefully someone can chime in with an answer.

Is blog plagiarism now just customary?

tula — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 14:14:10 -0800

Can or should I bother to bust a blogspot blogger for blatant plagiarism? I found a old blog entry where some dope posted an entire David Sedaris story as her own, changing so few words--the title of the story (the youth in asia) is the same for chrissake! Can anything be done? Stealing creative works rankles me. I'm unfamiliar with blogspot, and blogging in general. Is there such a thing as a cross-site pile-on? Or is this kind of thing so common that I should just get over myself and go take a walk?

Merry Christmas

ducksauce — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 14:35:46 -0800

Is there any place I can download or purchase the complete NPR broadcast of the SantaLand Diaries, read by David Sedaris? I've been able to find the 9 minute 16 second excerpt on npr.org, and it seems like the David Sedaris box set on amazon might contain it somewhere amongst its 14 discs, but I don't want to have to buy everything else just for this. Either a file to download or a cd to buy would be acceptable -- I can't find anything.