Book: The Uncollected David Rakoff

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The Uncollected David Rakoff

Edited by Timothy G. Young, curator of modern books and manuscripts at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

(Penguin Random House)

This book contains the best of humorist David Rakoff’s previously uncollected material, most never before published in book form. Selections include travel features, early fiction works, pop culture criticism, and transcripts of his most memorable appearances on public radio’s “Fresh Air” and “This American Life.”

These writings chart Rakoff’s transformation from “fish out of water,” meekly arriving for college in 1982, to a proud New Yorker bluntly opining on how to walk properly in the city. They show his ability to capture the pleasures of solitary pursuits like cooking and crafting, especially in times of trouble; as well as the ups and downs in the life-span of a friendship, whether it is a real relationship or an imaginary correspondence between Gregor Samsa and Dr. Seuss (co-authored with Jonathan Goldstein). Also included is his novel-in-verse “Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish.”

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