• About
  • Cats Dig Hemingway
  • Guest Bookings
  • John King’s Publications
  • Literary Memes
  • Podcast Episode Guide
  • Store!
  • The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film
  • Videos
  • Writing Craft Discussions

The Drunken Odyssey

~ A Podcast About the Writing Life

The Drunken Odyssey

Category Archives: Recommendation

A Drunken Odyssey Review: Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, by David Sedaris

22 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in David Sedaris, Recommendation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

David Sedaris, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls

You might be thinking that at this stage of his career, reviews of any new David Sedaris books are superfluous.  He has his devotees, who might be impervious to any criticism, and if you aren’t already familiar with at least some of his work, then you have somehow missed a fairly ubiquitous vein in the NPR, New Yorker orbit of literary accomplishment.  If you are a serious reader, how could you have missed him?  You are under 22 years old?  Okay.

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

It has been five years since David Sedaris last released a book of essays, When You are Engulfed in Flames.  With its sardonic wit, idiosyncratic areas of curiosity, and personal revelations, this book culminated what was a series of humorous non-fiction collections that included Barrel Fever (1994), Naked (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004).  I had seen Sedaris read from Barrel Fever to a rather confused Miami crowd back when he was promoting his first book; no one knew what to make of his fictional satire about being in a passionate relationship with Mike Tyson.  I was also on hand when he made an appearance at the flagship Barnes and Noble store in New York City’s Union Square; that event brought thousands of people into the store, and it had the air of hysteria I usually associate with a rock concert.

In 2010, however, Sedaris surprised his readers with Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary. In this collection of new fables, there were no personal essays.  There were no new stories, or new remembrances of, his large Greek family, especially the exploits of his wild brother, Paul, who is nicknamed the Rooster, or his wickedly unusual sister, the actress Amy Sedaris. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk is, in my opinion, an excellent book.  It’s provocative, insightful about human foibles, funny, and does a lot to keep a valuable genre of writing in currency.  But the collection of fables wasn’t nearly as popular as his nonfiction collections.

I forget what first got me seriously interested in Sedaris’s work.  One of his essays, called “Full House,” was featured in one of the textbooks I was teaching from, and somehow I ended up with a copy of the audiobook for the collection the essay was in, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim.  Not long afterwards, my family was listening to those CDs, and then I got all of David Sedaris’s audiobooks.  If one of the purposes of literature is to make us less lonely, then Sedaris manages that so deftly, and more so than almost any other writer today, his ability to read his work entertainingly has become entwined with his appeal as a writer.  When you hear his audience laughing at his dry jokes, you have to be in a dire mood not to feel like you are there.  Only Billy Collins comes close to being this important in speaking his writing before live audience.

I’ve just read David Sedaris’s latest book, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls, which comes out on Tuesday, and it’s the best book he’s written.  What I find so surprising about this book is that when he revisits stories about his family, they feel differently than they did in previous books.  There is more tension in his narratives.  He feels less compelled to always be humorous in these essays—not that the funniness has disappeared—but the seriousness of his tales mingles with the humor in ways that are more evocative than in his previous, superior work.  While the endings of his essays have in the past often been open-ended, merely formal codas rather than dramatic resolutions, the essays in LEDwO also show him growing in his storytelling abilities.  His style is both more subtle and alive than I have ever remembered it.  Here he compares the beach at Normandy to a beaches in Hawaii:

            The water runs from glacial to heart attach and is tinted the color of iced tea.  Then there’s all the stuff floating in it; not man-made garbage but sea garbage—scum and bits of plant life, all of it murky and rotten-smelling.

            The beaches in Hawaii look as if they’ve been bleached; that’s how white the sand is.  The water is warm—even in winter—and so clear you can see not just your toes but the corns cleaving, barnaclelike, to the sides of them.

As if to resist the nonfiction classification of himself as a writer, Sedaris has also interspersed these essays with dramatic monologues meant to be performed as “forensics” by high school students who participate in debate teams.  These are wickedly funny, and satirize the political madness of contemporary America.  I would love to learn if high school students who might try to use these pieces will (1) understand their dramatic irony, (2) be allowed to perform such pieces, and (3) if both would occur at the same time.  It almost makes me want to judge debate competitions.

I am not sure I have challenged anyone’s beliefs about David Sedaris’s merits as an essay writer, except to say that if you already love him, you now have more reason to do so.  If you have never experienced his work, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls is an excellent place to start.

The Drunken Odyssey Attends The Odyssey

03 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Recommendation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Orlando Shakespeare Theater, The Odyssey, Theatre

Last night The Drunken Odyssey (i.e., me (John King)) attended Charlie Bethel’s one-man performance of Homer’s The Odyssey at Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

Here is a review of the play for listeners in the Central Florida area.

The Odyssey is one king-hell of an adventure story, but the old, dusty translations and ancientness of the tale and the epic scope can make it seem like a really long, not always-engaging read (if you know Greek, which I sure don’t, perhaps you feel differently).  In this performance, Charlie Bethel makes the story deeply immediate and wildly fun both to hear and to watch.  This show is a masterpiece of both writing, translation, acting, stage setting, and all-around good theater.

Charlie Bethel's Odyssey

Seats start at $17, so if you were thinking of going to the movies in the next two weeks, spend just a little more and get an unforgettable piece of entertainment.  Get yourself to Orlando Shakespeare Theater to see this before it goes away on March 17th.

Episode 38: Matthew Pitt!

02 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Craft of Fiction Writing, Drinking, Episode, Recommendation, Shakespeare

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Chuck Wachtel, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Disney, Fiction, Literary Magazines, Literature, Shakespeare, Writing Podcast

Episode 38 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to the fiction writer Matthew Pitt,

Matthew Pitt

plus Pamela Skjolsvik discusses David Sedaris’s Me Talk Pretty One Day.

Pamela Skjolsvik

Texts Discussed

Attention Please Now

Me Talk Pretty One Day

great gatsby

Ishmael Reed’s WSJ blog about Django Unchained.

Kirtsen Holt’s new poem, Taxonomy.

Notes:Othello

Orlando Shakespeare Theatre presents Othello, now through March 16th.

Episode 38 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 37: Steve Davenport!

18 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Craft of Fiction Writing, Episode, Literature of Florida, Poetry, Recommendation, Shakespeare

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cormac mccarthy, Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Fiction, Literary Magazines, Literature, Poetry, Shakespeare, stephen king

Episode 37 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I talk to the poet Steve Davenport,

Steve Davenport

Joe Conley plums Cormac McCarthy’s Child of God,

Joe Conley

Plus I answer some mail…

Texts Discussed:

Overpass

Uncontainable NoiseDavenport Nine Poems and Three Fictions

Child of God

Laurence Sterne and the Visual Imagination

Print

Notes:

Othello

Orlando Shakespeare Theatre presents Othello, now through March 16th.

Winter with the Writers

Throughout February, Rollins College will be hosting its annual author series, Winter with the Writers.

Episode 37 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Winter with the Writers @ Rollins College

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Literature of Florida, Recommendation

≈ 1 Comment

I can’t wait to attend this Thursday’s reading.  Orlandoers, check this out!

Winter with the Writers

Episode 30: Francesca Lia Block!

29 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Drinking, Episode, Francesca Lia Block, Music, Poetry, Recommendation

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Francesca Lia Block, Jazz Poetry, Literature, Poetry, Writing Podcast

Episode 30 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this weeks show, I interview the fabulous Francesca Lia Block,

Francesca Lia Block

Plus Lillian-Yvonne Bertram reads her poem, “You Can’t Outdrink The Moon, O Sestina, Sestina Who Has Been Drinking.”

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram

Texts Discussed

The Elementals
But a Storm is Blowing from Paradise
Crazy Clown Time
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
This is How You Lose Her
Notes

Lillian-Yvonne Bertram’s poem ”You Can’t Outdrink The Moon, O Sestina, Sestina Who Has Been Drinking” is a remix of Steve Davenport’s “The Sestina Has Been Drinking,” which is available in his new book, Overpass.

Overpass

On January 6th, Ashley Inguanta will perform her debut collection, The Way Home, with musicians Mandy Burgan and Benoit Glazer, and with dancer Christin Carlow.  Find out more here.

The greatest new trend in libraries.

Matt Taibbi’s Readers’ list of 10 most pretentious moments in history.

James Franco is, umm, a poet. [Guardian] [The New York Times]

Episode 30 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

Episode 26: Martin Amis Event!

01 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Craft of Fiction Writing, Drinking, Episode, Francesca Lia Block, Recommendation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Creative Writing, Literature, Martin Amis, Miami Book Fair International, Writing Podcast

Episode 26 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I present Martin Amis’s event at Miami Book Fair International, which began at 11 A.M., November 17, 2012.


Martin_Amis_2012_by_Maximilian_Schoenherr

 Texts Discussed

The Elementals
Crazy Clown Time
Episode 26 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.


The Drunken Odyssey Xmas Party

27 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Recommendation

≈ Leave a comment

Announcing our Xmas Yuletide Funtime.  Admission is free and open to the public.

http://www.facebook.com/events/139411472873290/

 

Miami Book Fair International

07 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Literature of Florida, Recommendation

≈ Leave a comment

Next weekend, I’ll be traveling from my secret HQ in Orlando down to Miami Book Fair International to see and talk to some of my favorite writers.

The list of confirmed authors is both long and impressive (try to overlook the existence of Bill O’Reilly on this list).  This is the largest congregation of literary talent outside of, perhaps, AWP, and I am proud to say that it happens in Florida.  The variety of authors is also really amazingly fun.

I am sorely disappointed that I cannot be there for the Junot Diaz, Sandra Cisneros, and Lemony Snicket readings, which are scheduled for earlier in the week.

Miami Book Fair International lasts from November 11-18th, at the Wolfson campus of Miami Dade College.  If you live in South Florida and love writing, you owe it to yourself to make the trip.

Episode 20: Crossing the Creek with Anna Lillios

20 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by thedrunkenodyssey in Craft of Fiction Writing, Episode, Literature of Florida, Recommendation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Craft of Writing, Creative Writing, Fiction, Lidia Yuknavitch, Literature, The Chronology of Water, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Writing Podcast, Zora Neale Hurston

Episode 20 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

On this week’s show, I discuss Florida literature with the literary scholar Anna Lillios,

Alison Barker writes about Lidia Yuknavitch’s The Chronology of Water,

And I respond to mail.

Texts Discussed:

On November 1st at 6 P.M., Don Peteroy (Episode 19) will be giving a reading from his new novella, Wally, in room 316 of the University of Central Florida Student Union.

And On Saturday, November 3rd at 7 P.M., he’ll participate in Functionally Literate: A Literary Function, a new reading series organized by Burrow Press and The Kerouac Project, held at Urban ReThink.

N.B.: Please sign my petition requesting Disney Online to offer Disney historian Jeff Kurtti (our guest on episode 15) something like a straightforward, sensible space to blog in.

Episode 20 of The Drunken Odyssey, your favorite podcast about creative writing, literature, and drinking, is available on iTunes, or right click here to download.

← Older posts
Newer posts →

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • The Drunken Odyssey
    • Join 3,114 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Drunken Odyssey
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...