Fiction & Literature · Editor Review

A Carnival of Snackery

By David Sedaris Narrated by David Sedaris ⏱ 17 hrs 8 mins 📅 2021 ★★★★½4.7 · 3,012 ratings

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Narrated by David Sedaris and Tracey Ullman, A Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris has a runtime of 17 hrs 8 mins on Audible.

Publisher’s Summary

There’s no right way to keep a diary, but if there’s an entertaining way, David Sedaris seems to have mastered it.

If it’s navel-gazing you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, David Sedaris’s observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street, pedestrians being whacked over the head or gathering to watch as a man considers leap­ing to his death. There’s a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party—lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs.

These diaries remind you that you once really hated George W. Bush, and that not too long ago, Donald Trump was just a harm­less laughingstock, at least on French TV. Time marches on, and Sedaris, at his desk or on planes, in hotel dining rooms and odd Japanese inns, records it.

The entries here reflect an ever-changing background—new administrations, new restrictions on speech and conduct. What you can say at the start of the book, you can’t by the end. A Carnival of Snackery is a sort of sampler: the bitter and the sweet. Some entries are just what you wanted. Others you might want to spit discreetly into a napkin.

“Sedaris is a singularly talented humorist.” —The Washington Post

A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

Audiobook Details

  • Narrated by: David Sedaris and Tracey Ullman
  • Length: 17 hrs 8 mins
  • Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
  • Release year: 2021
  • Audible category: LGBTQ+ / Biographies & Memoirs / Literature & Fiction

Listener Ratings

A Carnival of Snackery holds an average listener rating of 4.7/5 from 3012 Audible ratings.

On Audible, ratings for this title break down into narration performance and story separately:

  • Performance (narration): 4.7/5
  • Story: 4.7/5
  • 5-star ratings: 79% of all ratings

What Audible Listeners Are Saying

5/5 stars — “Why use another narrator. Ugh”
David David David. Don’t you know I fall asleep to your voice every night. Now I have stories with Tracy speaking. Ugh.

— JUDY ORR, Audible listener

4/5 stars — “David only, Please!”
I have always liked Tracy Ullman but not when I’m. “Jonesing” for David Sedaris.
Even when I could read I always purchased David’s books in audio.

— Cheryl A. Brander, Audible listener

5/5 stars — “Very poor performance from Tracy Ullman”
As many have noted, the magic comes from David’s style and delivery. I tried listening to Tracy but then fast forwarded her parts. Must return so I’m not aggravated any longer. Can’t get past 2007.

— Audible customer, Audible listener

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