When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Sedaris, David

2008

9/10

This book was my Christmas present to myself. As I walked into my favorite bookstore (San Francisco's Green Apple), just days before I was to leave for my holiday trip to DC, I saw it there on the most prominent display shelf, carefully placed at my eye level. It's like they knew. They knew my friend and I had recently spent lunch raving about about Sedaris's New Yorker contributions. They knew my tenth grade English teacher's reading of Santaland Diaries changed my literary life. And they knew that not twenty-four hours before; I was, myself, engulfed in flame. Needless to say, it caught my eye. That night, I added Flames to the pile of Green Apple purchases neatly wrapped in Christmas robots waiting for Christmas eve.

The book itself is a collection of essays: stories and reflections from the author's life. His accounts of ordinary life are simply hilarious. Much of what's in any of his books, this one included, is available elsewhere. I found myself recognizing several stories from New Yorker articles and This American Life appearances. But the volume is worth the repetition. It's nice to have a collection on hand to pick up when looking for a particular entry or for something to laugh at for an hour or two. A warning, though: it is addictive. I started it on Christmas eve and was done by New Year's day.

By the way, my flames may have more literal that Sedaris's. But his were funnier.