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		January 2009 Selection: When You Are Engulfed in Flames By: David Sedaris Copyright: 2008

About the Book:

Once again, David Sedaris brings together a collection of essays so uproariously funny and profoundly moving that his legions of fans will fall for him once more.

He tests the limits of love when Hugh lances a boil from his backside, and pushes the boundaries of laziness when, finding the water shut off in his house in Normandy, he looks to the water in a vase of fresh cut flowers to fill the coffee machine.

From armoring the windows with LP covers to protect the house from neurotic songbirds to the awkwardness of having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a sleeping fellow passenger on a plane, David Sedaris uses life's most bizarre moments to reach new heights in understanding love and fear, family and strangers. Culminating in a brilliantly funny account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, David Sedaris's sixth essay collection was avidly anticipated, and proved to be one of the top books of 2008.

Related Web sites:

David Sedaris page on Wikipedia (many links)

David Sedaris bits on NPR

David Sedaris interview at January Magazine

10 Questions for David Sedaris - Time Magazine

Publisher's page for David Sedaris

If You Like When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Try:

Me Talk Pretty One Day
By: David Sedaris. 2000.

Holidays on Ice
By: David Sedaris. 1997.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
By: David Sedaris. 2004.

Barrel Fever and Other Stories
By: David Sedaris. 1994.

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence
By: Amy Sedaris. 2006.

Reader Comments:

Wacky but real. Sedaris is always fun to read, and to listen to as well, if you catch him on NPR or listen to the Books-on-CD versions of his titles.

-- Kelly G.
patron of Bennett Martin Public Library.

My family is not dysfunctional, yet we share many traits with the Sedaris kids. I laughed aloud when I read this collection.

-- Margo Y.
patron of Walt Branch Library.

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