In his July book roundup, Martin Chilton selects David Sedaris’s "The Land and Its People" as the non-fiction book of the month. The collection of 28 essays, Sedaris’s first in four years, delivers his trademark caustic humour on topics ranging from caring for a partner after hip replacement to his father’s stinginess and literary gossip. One essay reveals Buster Keaton’s father’s bizarre attempt at self-surgery and Philip Larkin’s blunt manuscript notes. Chilton praises it as "hugely entertaining" and free of any "HSofA" (horrible smell of ass) moments.