false <![CDATA[When You Are Engulfed In Flames]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1213019094m/2128697.jpg 1044355 19 "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). Note: As per <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6529763.html">Publisher's Weekly</a>, tentative titles for this collection have included <i>Indefinite Leave to Remain</i> and <i>All the Beauty You Will Ever Need</i>. 3255908 3 6 2008 When You Are Engulfed in Flames total:21811|5:5451|4:9613|3:5500|2:1036|1:211| 21811 84490 34370 4908 3 18 false false Wed Jul 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 11 06:23:47 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 11 06:29:08 -0700 2008 Naked is easily his best work because it's his most thorough, his most unencumbered by his own fame. If we were to compare his oeuvre to MTV's The Real World, Naked is the original New York season (despite not be...more...]]> 3 20 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 23 20:47:13 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 02 19:52:26 -0700 2008
That’s my review: eh.

With maybe a shoulder shrug.

Someone better read than I recently remarked something to the effect of, “Once you’ve read one David Sedaris book, haven’t you read them all?”

Yes.

And Kurt Vonnegut.

An...more...]]> 4 12 false false Fri Oct 24 06:41:15 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 30 09:31:17 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 7 false false Thu Jun 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 11 15:42:16 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 13:20:49 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 5 false false Sat Jun 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 12 08:27:32 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 06:20:08 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 5 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 26 08:34:04 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 16:00:33 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 4 false false Tue Jun 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 10 12:03:05 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 12 14:32:40 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 7 false false Mon Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 04 20:12:57 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 12:15:49 -0700 2008 Chip Kidd's part. Kidd completely redeemed himself with this cover, though, wh...more...]]> 2 6 false false Thu Jun 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat May 31 11:31:14 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 06 01:57:10 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 3 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 12 22:44:13 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 02 17:49:17 -0700 2008
When You Are Engulfed in ...more...]]> 5 4 false false Mon Feb 09 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Apr 26 06:00:31 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 09 12:38:32 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 3 false false Thu Jul 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 17 20:03:22 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 31 22:12:29 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Aug 19 13:36:38 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 19:41:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 19 13:36:38 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Fri Jun 20 20:53:50 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 13:27:18 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Thu Jun 19 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 15 22:08:33 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 19 06:54:47 -0700 2008
This very funny man’s book of personal essays only sporadically reaches the wacky heights of his other book. I laughed quite a few times, but there were very few stories I...more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue Jul 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 04:12:05 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 08 16:53:47 -0700 2008
When You Are Engulfed In Flames makes Sedaris' previous collection, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, seem like a disaster, a complete tra...more...]]> 3 2 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jun 27 17:31:44 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 11:09:45 -0700 2008
David Sedaris didn't charm me with this one, possibly because most of the material wasn't new to me. I'd read many of the essays in previous collections or in The New Yorker, and had heard him read some of the p...more...]]> 2 2 false false Fri Oct 31 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 13:25:20 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 18:09:03 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue Sep 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 05 16:15:28 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 03 14:08:06 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 18 07:24:41 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 21 17:41:11 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2128697