Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls Essays, Etc. by David Sedaris was disappointing to me. The title is very misleading because I thought I'd learn more about Diabetes and wondered what the owl connection was. Then in small print on the cover it said "Essays, Etc." which is really what is in this book. It's a collection of 25 short essays on topics from doctors, to his dad, politics, traveling, etc. There are some humorous lines and I did enjoy the ones about the dentist and not buying a cell phone. I also found his relationship with his dad to be sad but interesting. However, most of the essays did not interest me and I did not like how he put his dad down. I read most of it but finally got tired of plowing through this and switched to something else before I finished. This is the last book I'll read by this author and cannot recommend it.
If I had realized this was the same author who wrote
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, I would not have gotten it.
(I started
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk because I like animals and thought the title was funny, but gave up half way through and didn't want to waste any more time on it because it wasn't at all like I expected. The language was very rough and the animals were not portrayed in a good light at all. The "fables" seemed long to me. This book got so much hype but I did not see why. I liked
Animal Farm much better!)
I do feel bad that the author's dad did not support or show him the love and acceptance every kid should have from his dad. However, I agree with his dad's opinion mentioned on page 39:
Number one on the Times list doesn't mean that your book is good--just that a lot of people bought it that week, people who were tricked, maybe, or were never too bright to begin with.
I am very thankful my dad was nothing like his and that is one of the reasons I wrote
My Funny Dad, Harry in his memory shortly after his death. I think people would like reading about a happy family and a good family man once in awhile instead of about all the bad childhoods people had.
Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!
True Legend by Mike Lupica is about a young man who finds that all of life's lessons are not found on a basketball court. The writing is really good and the characters in this book are believable and realistic. Even if you do not like sports books, give this teen one a chance because it is more about life lessons than basketball. I enjoyed it!
