When You Are in Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

From the publisher's website: "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).

I'm going to try really hard not to gush but I am IN LOVE with this man -so bad for me that he is both taken and gay. I listened to this book on CD so it was an extra treat to hear his anecdotes told in his voice with his great timing and intonation. He is just so funny. I listened in the car, and laughed and laughed so hard, I am certain other drivers must have thought I was nuts. Now I find myself replaying scenes from the book in my head, sometimes at the most inappropriate times...lying by my husband as we are about to drift off to sleep, laying in corpse pose during yoga class, while the priest is giving his homily...all times where my chest suddenly starting to heave in a fit of giggles is not good.

For those of you who have read it, I'll just put a few nuggets here about my favorite parts...Helen (of course!), dingos, guinea worms, Town and Country, Bangkok, and always Hugh. Go ahead - chuckle!

This book is my "W" for the A-Z Reading Challenge!Click on the logo to see my progress.








And it counts for the 2009 Audiobook Challenge too. Hooray for crossovers!