Sedaris always recommends a book by another author to the audience. It's usually a book he's been reading on his tour, or a book from a long time ago that he happens to be re-reading. Last night's recommendation was The Book of Deadly Animals, a non-fiction book by Gordon Grice. To hear Sedaris describe it, it's a collection of stories about how animals are real assholes to human beings, a miscellany of dogs, seals, hyenas, and other animals biting body parts off of unsuspecting human beings. His talk about the book convinced me to pick it up—I'll let you know what I think here on Slog. (I especially appreciated his plea that the audience buy Deadly Animals from Elliott Bay, who were selling books in the lobby after the reading. Sedaris said he knows audience members could save a dollar and seventy five cents by buying the book online, but he said "I urge you to save that money elsewhere" and to buy the book from a real, live bookseller instead.)
Related to all this: Tickets went on sale this morning for an evening with Ira Glass at Benaroya Hall on September 8th. The talk's official title is "Reinventing Radio," but I bet it'll wander, delightfully, all over the place. I'm also willing to bet that reading will sell out, so if you're interested, you should get your tickets now.