He may pick at the foibles of others, but his biggest target is usually himself. In a later essay we learn of his time as a creative writing teacher, where he is very forthright about his own lack of qualifications, to hilariously embarrassing effect. By the end however, we get a more human look at her, with the flaws in her approach being something she could possibly learn from. In the opening essay he covers his childhood experiences with a speech therapist, forced upon him by his school to correct his lisp, and he doesn’t shy away from how overbearing and antagonistic her approach with him was. He manages to strike a good balance of making fun without coming across as too mean-spirited or bitter. I really enjoy his wry, deprecating perspective on himself and the world, which this book offered in spades. It’s been a number of years since I read my last Sedaris book, and I must say that his writing has been sorely missed.

Underpinning many of these essays is a motif of communication and/or self-expression. Though these essays offer a bit of an eclectic mix of topics, altogether they serve as an unconventional telling of Sedaris’s life story up to that point, covering some of his experiences in school, the eccentricities of his family members, numerous relocations, and career changes.

Me Talk Pretty One Day is a 2000 collection of humorous, anecdotal essays by David Sedaris, and is the author’s fourth book.

Me talk pretty