The Book You Have to Read

David Sedaris recommends Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware (Pantheon, $27.50) It’s the little details that make this book so haunting and perfect: Jimmy’s long-lost father arranges bacon strips into a message reading ”Hi,” a boy dreams of a horse walking up the stairs, and a poster in a family restaurant pictures a rose lying on the keys of a piano above the word Jazz. On top of that, the dialogue is so real and awkward, it almost feels wrong to read it. I think Chris Ware must be a genius.

David Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever and Naked. His most recent collection, Me Talk Pretty One Day, will be issued in paperback this June.