When You Are Engulfed in Flames

David Sedaris

Jun 2008 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this ebook

"David Sedaris's ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art," (The Christian Science Monitor) is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this remarkable new book.
Trying to make coffee when the water is shut off, David considers using the water in a vase of flowers and his chain of associations takes him from the French countryside to a hilariously uncomfortable memory of buying drugs in a mobile home in rural North Carolina. In essay after essay, Sedaris proceeds from bizarre conundrums of daily life-having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger on a plane or armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds-to the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris's sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from "a writer worth treasuring" (Seattle Times).

Praise for When You Are Engulfed in Flames:

"Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, Sedaris...defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life." --Kirkus Reviews

This latest collection proves that not only does Sedaris still have it, but he's also getting better....Sedaris's best stuff will still--after all this time--move, surprise, and entertain." --Booklist

Table of Contents:

It's Catching
Keeping Up
The Understudy
This Old House
Buddy, Can You Spare a Tie?
Road Trips
What I Learned
That's Amore
The Monster Mash
In the Waiting Room
Solutions to Saturday's Puzzle
Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool
Memento Mori
All the Beauty You Will Ever Need
Town and Country
Aerial
The Man in the Hut
Of Mice and Men
April in Paris
Crybaby
Old Faithful
The Smoking Section

Ratings and reviews

Well it is descriptional tail of False and total obscure Faults and fancy's of a psycotic gay man of the world. It despicates a abscure seen of the Gay population that is quite obtrusive to the adverage viewer.

My high school senior English professor always read his books to us. I found him through her. She was an amazing teacher. These are amazing books. The stories remind me of adolescence and growing up with a cynical and sarcastic sense of humor. I have recently purchased this book to read since I'm going through a fairly rough period in my life. But I always enjoy these tales of life, friends, and family. It's relatable in the most important way; cherish the little things.

I am pleased yet again, agreeably sedaras is for quite a selective group of readers, although overall has good style and undeniably fantastic humor. I look forward to reading the 3 others i gathered up during my haul at the book store ;after completing this book..the 2nd time. Good job David, keep them coming.

About the author

David Sedaris, born in Raleigh, N.C. in 1957, is a popular radio commentator, essayist, and short story writer. He is the partner of the painter Hugh Hamrick. Sedaris held many part-time and odd jobs before he moved to New York and got a job reading excerpts from his diaries on National Public Radio in 1991. In 1994, Little, Brown published Barrel Fever, a collection of his works. He has since published such other works as Naked and Holidays on Ice. Sedaris has also written a play with his sister, Amy, called Little Frieda Mysteries. It was produced in 1997 in New York.