i love me some david sedaris

David Sedaris, sharing his slights-of-life tales

By Monica Hesse

Washington Post Staff Writer  

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. -- Often when David Sedaris is bicycling alone along secluded Normandy roads of his adopted country, or when he is swimming laps in the neighborhood pool, his gray matter turns a few shades darker.

This is why he likes iPods. Instead of listening to the voice inside his head, he can listen, via podcast, to the pleasant liquid pitch of Terry Gross and whomever she happens to be interviewing. If he forgets the iPod, then he is left thinking about . . . about what, exactly?

"Everyone who has ever done me wrong. If I am in a swimming pool or on a bicycle, my thoughts turn to everyone who has Ever. Done. Me. Wrong."

His voice drops low, "wrong" left hanging in the air like a bitter semicolon. He is small, maybe 5-5, neatly ironed and tucked-in, and so he comes off like a malevolent wee mastermind..........