When You Are Engulfed in Flames

by Sedaris, David

• ISBN13: 9780316143479
• ISBN10: 0316143472
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-03
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Summary

"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

Author Biography

David Sedaris lives in France and England. Raised in North Carolina, he has worked as a housecleaner and, most famously, as a part-time elf for Macy's. Several of his plays have been produced, and he is a regular contributor to Esquire and Public Radio International's "This American Life." His essays have been featured in The New Yorker and Harper's. He is the author of the books Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim,Barrel Fever, Naked, Holidays on Ice, and Me Talk Pretty One Day.

Table of Contents

It's Catching	p. 3
Keeping Up	p. 11
The Understudy	p. 20
This Old House	p. 33
Buddy, Can You Spare a Tie?	p. 49
Road Trips	p. 63
What I Learned	p. 73
That's Amore	p. 82
The Monster Mash	p. 109
In the Waiting Room	p. 117
Solution to Saturday's Puzzle	p. 125
Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool	p. 135
Memento Mori	p. 148
All the Beauty You Will Ever Need	p. 158
Town and Country	p. 166
Aerial	p. 176
The Man in the Hut	p. 183
Of Mice and Men	p. 195
April in Paris	p. 205
Crybaby	p. 217
Old Faithful	p. 228
The Smoking Section	p. 240
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