When You Are Engulfed in Flames

When You Are Engulfed in Flames

"David Sedaris's ability to transform the mortification of everyday life into wildly entertaining art," (<I>The Christian Science Monitor</I>) is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this remarkable new book. <BR>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 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">North Carolina</st1:State></st1:place>. 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 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Tokyo</st1:City></st1:place> in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris's sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from "a writer worth treasuring" (<I>Seattle Times</I>). <BR><BR><STRONG>Praise for <EM>When You Are Engulfed in Flames</EM>:</STRONG><BR><BR>"Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, Sedaris...defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life." --<I>Kirkus Reviews</I><BR><BR>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." --<I>Booklist</I><BR><BR><STRONG>Table of Contents:<BR></STRONG><BR>It's Catching<BR>Keeping Up<BR>The Understudy<BR>This Old House<BR>Buddy, Can You Spare a Tie?<BR>Road Trips<BR>What I Learned<BR>That's Amore<BR>The Monster Mash<BR>In the Waiting Room<BR>Solutions to Saturday's Puzzle<BR>Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool<BR>Memento Mori<BR>All the Beauty You Will Ever Need<BR>Town and Country<BR>Aerial<BR>The Man in the Hut<BR>Of Mice and Men<BR>April in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Paris</st1:place></st1:City><BR>Crybaby<BR><st1:place w:st="on">Old Faithful</st1:place><BR>The Smoking Section