Customer Reviews

The Ultimate David Sedaris Box Set

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great collection whether you are a long-term Sedaris fan or are just beginning to discover him. It's a pretty good deal if you don't have any of his audio books yet. While I don't usually go for audio books, I find that I am not only hooked on the writing but also on Sedaris's hilarious delivery. The "live" performances are best.

As rightly pointed out by another reviewer, the packaging is the biggest disappointment. At $100 retail, one would expect (1) a sturdier and more elegant outer case, (2) individual packaging of each set inside the outer case (the current split into 4 inner booklets does not adhere to the component volumes), and (3) track listings. Of these, #2 is the most glaring shortcoming: the four inner booklets are too thick, have too much cardboard, are unwieldy and inconsistently organized, and have no artwork or even any labeling at all: you have to open each booklet to find a particular disc or set. In fact, the only writing on each booklet is a US Patent number (why this idiotic design was ever patented and why they feel the need to stress that is beyond me). I could easily have designed a nicer, slimmer, and more ergonomic packaging (anyone from Hachette reading this? Feel free to contact me next time.)

Finally, here are the track listings, since there are none in the whole bulky package. Note that the longer segments are divided in multiple tracks: the first track of such segments is listed below.

*** Barrel Fever: Disc 1 ***
01. Intro & Drag
03. Giantess
05. The Curly Kind
07. You Can't Kill the Rooster
10. Parade
14. The Last You'll Hear from Me

*** Barrel Fever: Disc 2 ***
01. Glen's Homophobia News Letter Vol. 3, No. 2
05. Barrel Fever

*** Barrel Fever: Disc 3 ***
01. Don's Story
05. Golden Moments
08. Tattle Tale
12. Credits

*** Holidays on Ice: Disc 1 ***
01. SantaLand Diaries

*** Holidays on Ice: Disc 2 ***
01. Based Upon a True Story
07. Season's Greetings

*** Holidays on Ice: Disc 3 ***
01. Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol
03. Dinah, the Christmas [...]
09. Christmas Means Giving
13. Credits

*** Naked: Disc 1 ***
01. A Plague of Tics
06. Get Your Ya-Ya's Out
11. Next Of Kin

*** Naked: Disc 2 ***
01. Cyclops
04. True Detectives
09. The Drama Bug
12. I Like Guys

*** Naked: Disc 3 ***
01. Ashes
07. Naked
14. Credits

*** Live at Carnegie Hall ***
01. Thanks
02. Repeat after Me
05. Why Them? [Introduction to NPR's Ira Glass and Terry Gross Show]
06. Who's the Chef?
08. The Feminine Mistake
09. With a Pal like This You Don't Need an Enemy
10. Six to Eight Black Men
13. Q & A
14. Credits

*** Me Talk Pretty One Day: Disc 1 ***
01. Go Carolina
06. Giants Dreams, Midget Abilities
11. The Youth in Asia

*** Me Talk Pretty One Day: Disc 2 ***
01. Twelve Moments in the Life of the Artist
13. The Learning Curve
17. Today's Special
18. City Of Angels

*** Me Talk Pretty One Day: Disc 3 ***
01. A Shiner like A Diamond
04. [...]
07. See You Again Yesterday
12. Me Talk Pretty One Day
15. Jesus Shaves

*** Me Talk Pretty One Day: Disc 4 ***
01. The Tape Worm Is In
03. Make That a Double
05. Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa
08. 21 Down
09. The City Of Light in the Dark
11. I Pledge Allegiance to the Bag
14. Picka Pocketoni

*** Me Talk Pretty One Day: Disc 5 ***
01. I Almost Saw This Girl Get Killed
05. I'll Eat What He's Wearing (Live)
08. Bend Over and Say "Ah" (Live)
10. Precious Moments (Live)
19. Poems about Dogs (Live)
20. A Million Bubbles (Live)
21. Credits

*** Dress Your Family In Corduroy And Denim: Disc 1 ***
01. Introduction
02. Us and Them
05. Let It Snow
06. The Ship Shape
10. Full House
13. Consider the Stars

*** Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim: Disc 2 ***
01. Monie Changes Everything
07. The Change in Me
11. Hejira
12. Slumus Lordicus

*** Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim: Disc 3 ***
01. The Girl Next Door
07. Blood Work
11. The End of the Affair
12. Repeat after Me

*** Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim: Disc 4 ***
01. Six To Eight Black Men
04. Rooster at the Hitchin' Post
09. Possession
11. Put a Lid on It

*** Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim: Disc 5 ***
01. A Can Of Worms
03. Chicken in the Henhouse
08. Who's the Chef?
10. Baby Einstein
14. Nuit of the Living Dead
18. Credits

I agree that the packaging is awful-half of the CDs have no listing of tracks anywhere in the packaging; the other half have listings on the CDs themselves (which makes it difficult to find a certain track). And the awful, cheap cardboard sleeves, which all look alike, doesn't help you to find the CD you're looking for. But if you're just putting them on your MP3 player anyway, what difference does it really make?

The material is hysterical. My favorite tracks are from "Me Talk Pretty One Day"-the self titled chapter and "Jesus Shaves." The live stuff is great too, especially the Carnegie Hall track "With a Pal like this, you don't need an enemy" (a live version of him reading this on Letterman can be found on YouTube-good stuff!).

This was one of my favorite Christmas gifts, the other one being David's sister Amy's new book "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence." If you're not familiar with "Strangers With Candy," you'll know her as the sister that loves to dress up and impersonate people. The one with the fat suit.

I first heard David Sedaris read The Santa Land Diaries on NPR a decade ago & became addicted to not only his stories, but his delivery too. I've picked up most of his books (even getting a few autographed), but never got around to actually getting them read by David himself. This CD set contains the exact same discs from all of the individual audio CD books that he has released up to 2006. If you don't have any of them & already know you enjoy both the stories and the way he reads his own stories, this is a pretty good deal to pick them all up at once. I won't go into a review of the content, since you can go into the individual books to read others' comments on them. I would give this set 5 stars, except that I docked a star for the packaging. It's as bare-bones as it gets. No literature or artwork to accompany it. Just a thin cardboard box containing 4 thin cardboard booklets, containing 5 CDs each. The booklets could have been designed better. They hold the disc vertically so you have to slide them up along the cardboard (scratching them in the process) to get them out. The last leaf holds 2 (one on top of the other) is particularly annoying since they don't fit very well and you have to get the top out to get to the one below. While it's nice to have so many discs fit into a small space, it would have been nicer to have a little bit sturdier and more scratch-proof packaging. The only information (besides the description on the outside of the box) on these is the label on the discs, so you have to pull out the cheap black booklets from the box (which has to be opened to pull out and is likely to fall apart from multiple uses) and pull out the cd's to see which book you are getting a cd from. There's also no guide to which story is on which disc of each individual book.

Dave Sedaris is hilarious, and this set has a lot to laugh at. Don't mind what the other reviews say about the lack of track listings. Each CD now comes with track listings printed right on them. The packaging is weak, but I don't care; It's not like it's going to be on display. I'm going to rip the content to my Zune and be on my way.

As all these reviews have said, the packaging is horrendous: Mixed and matched CD's in shoddy thin cases that have no discernible differences to find the right ones, no overall unity in how these tracks are named and some completely missing titles, recycled reading tracks (Live at Carnegie Hall readings of Dress Your Family...Denim used on the book disc when the rest is him alone reading it), it is not in audiobook format so it mixes right in with the rest of the music on itunes (making for an interesting shuffle option), and it has no extras at all.

"But you gave it a four!" the reader says.

So I have! My explanation -- A bootlegger could have done a better packaging job, but as far as I know this is the cheapest way to hear David Sedaris read his complete works and that is a real gift. He knows how each inflection is supposed to be and delivers it perfectly. Amy Sedaris teams up with him on a wide variety of tracks, adding another humorous voice to the collection. I am a bigger fan of reading the words, but if audiobooks are better suited to your situation then pick this up, but be careful not to slide in to a ditch after swerving the truck you nearly front ended while in the oncoming traffic lane because you were so drawn into these stories and seized by a laughing fit.

I love David Sedaris's audio and thought that this would be a tremendous boon for my collection. It was, but the packaging is horrendous and not having the tracks information on the individual discs is frustrating. (Thank you to a previous poster for providing all of the content information). Also, for some of you who are familiar with his individual discs you will be disappointed because some of those readings seem to, so far as I can recollect, have changed. I think I noticed this in "Go Carolina" and at least one other track. I think these are earlier versions of the stories and they lack some of the punch of other recordings. Overall the content is excellent except for these couple of hiccups. But the biggest problem quite obviously is the packaging which is weak, flimsy and difficult to navigate.

For the material and David Sedaris, 5 stars, no question. BUT - I bought this as a "new" product directly from Amazon, not from a third party seller, yet when I checked out all of the discs to make sure everything was in good condition, it was very clear that this was used, re-packaged merchandise. 5 or 6 of the discs had obvious fingerprints and dirty/greasy smudges. 3 of them had a sticky, glue-like residue on them which I managed to clean off with some lighter fluid and a tissue; this may have been glue from the packaging, I didn't really look further into that yet (that has been a problem on a few box sets I've owned). Overall, the packaging had plenty of scuff marks and was obviously worn - not that it was ripped to shreds or anything like that, but it just looked like something that had been used for a few weeks, then repackaged (the flimsy shrink wrap should have been my first clue).

Anyways, I was able to clean everything up and there were no fatal scratches on any of the discs, so I'm not going to make any further issue of it with Amazon... besides which, I'm just not in the mood to pack it all up again, send it back, and wait for another set - just wanted to share this experience in a public forum.

Now that I've listened to all of David Sedaris on audiobook format, I can assure you that it is a treat which will occupy you for hour upon hour with the sheer delight of listening. Gay, originally from New York but brought up in North Carolina, now living in France, an artist, a writer--really, a remarkable individual--but what he does best is tell the stories of his life and his family's lives aloud. I read one of his essays instead and it was far less of an experience. You absolutely must hear him read his essays instead. Put an audience in front of him and that adds even an extra dimension, such as his LIVE FROM CARNEGIE HALL audio book. These are not one liners or zingers like you might expect in stand-up comedy. Instead, these are very individual, very detailed stories about largely daily life with especially a reflection back on one's family, mother, father, siblings and the humor of dealing with one's family all of one's life. He has all of their voices down cold and it is hard for me to pick out my favorite family member. His father and his brother are sure strong contenders though. Sedaris has a family of tremendous characters in their own right. Sedaris 's work was featured a great deal on NPR and he has built up a big following from that. There is one audiobook not on this set, ENGULFED IN FLAMES. That too is excellent so you need to also obtain that to have the complete collection. I put it all on my ipod and took it everywhere with me, including long walks and convertible drives. If I had to pick someone who reminds me of Sedaris, it would be Mark Twain.

This set of audio CDs is worth the purchase price, but be warned that the packaging royally sucks, and if you convert it to digital for a hand-held music device be prepared to do some digital manipulation. First off there are no track listings. When importing the files they come into iTunes as music files and not audiobook files. You have to convert them to audiobook files via info. Also the discs come in differently and will not be listed in order in your library. For example discs might be listed as (Disc X), [Disc X], or my favorite DX. This varies from CD to CD and not just from one book to another. Whomever it was that prepared these CDs lacked the basic knowledge to set a format, and keep it from disc to disc. Overall the sound quality is good, and the stories are great. So I will take the bad with the good, but you have been warned.

I loved this set. It's a screamer. Lots of folks at my gym let me have a tread mill all by myself. I'm trotting along, listening to my headphones then huge guffahs, stop & get a drink, water coming out of your nose, the whole bit. If you put it on your ipod, better to walk the dog around the neighborhood than try to get your mileage at the gym. The holidays on ice were great. I sang happy birthday to my 20 year old daughter 'the way I imagined Billie Holliday would do it'. Life will never be the same.