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The arch and bemused essayist David Sedaris returns with another collection of humorous pieces that delight in the inanity of contemporary life. Topics for consideration inclu...Read more
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The Best Book I've Read in a Very Long Time
by:rbclarkson
David Sedaris writes with such ease, honesty, and brilliant self constraint, that you are never left floundering through the pretentious over-writing of many young authors. H...Read more
Queer Eye For the Semi-Literate!
Skip "When You Are Engulfed In Flames"; I wish I did. It was a gift, so I felt obligated to read it in it's entirety. It was a real chore, though. The back cover has...Read more
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris (2008, Hardcover)
Author: David SedarisPublisher: Little, Brown & CoLanguage: English
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![WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES [2008] [ENGLISH] - DAVID SEDARIS (HARDCOVER) NEW](http://thumbs1.ebaystatic.com/m/mwJeDUeKOIefnV5yOflFKYA/140.jpg "WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES [2008] [ENGLISH] - DAVID SEDARIS (HARDCOVER) NEW")
Product description
Synopsis
The arch and bemused essayist David Sedaris returns with another collection of humorous pieces that delight in the inanity of contemporary life. Topics for consideration include his family's horror at his depictions of them in his books, a randy tow-trucker driver, and his misadventures and misunderstandings in Paris, London, and Japan as he travels around with his lover Hugh. Though his tone is acidic to the point of cruelty, Sedaris' essays are at their finest when elements of desperate pathos and surprising sentimentality break through the witty veneer.
Publisher's Note
"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 ruralNorth Carolina Tokyo
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 inParis
Crybaby
Old Faithful
The Smoking Section
A collection of essays celebrates the foibles of the author's everyday life in France and America, from an attempt to make coffee with water from a flower vase to a drug purchase in a North Carolina mobile home.
A new collection of essays by the author ofDress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim celebrates the foibles of his everyday life in France and America, from an attempt to make coffee with water in a flower vase to a drug purchase in a North Carolina mobile home. (Literary Collections)
Industry Reviews
"Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, Sedaris...defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life....Just when Sedaris seems to have disappeared down the rabbit hole of ironic introspection, he delivers a cracking blow of insight that leaves you reeling." (starred review)
(04/15/2008)
The arch and bemused essayist David Sedaris returns with another collection of humorous pieces that delight in the inanity of contemporary life. Topics for consideration include his family's horror at his depictions of them in his books, a randy tow-trucker driver, and his misadventures and misunderstandings in Paris, London, and Japan as he travels around with his lover Hugh. Though his tone is acidic to the point of cruelty, Sedaris' essays are at their finest when elements of desperate pathos and surprising sentimentality break through the witty veneer.
| Key Details | |
| Author: | David Sedaris |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: | Little, Brown & Co |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| ISBN-10: | 0316143472 |
| ISBN-13: | 9780316143479 |
| Size | |
| Length: | 323 pages |
| Thickness: | 1 in |
| Weight: | 15.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
"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
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
Crybaby
The Smoking Section
A collection of essays celebrates the foibles of the author's everyday life in France and America, from an attempt to make coffee with water from a flower vase to a drug purchase in a North Carolina mobile home.
A new collection of essays by the author of
Industry Reviews
(04/15/2008)
eBay Product ID: EPID63873458
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The Best Book I've Read in a Very Long Time
Created: 30/11/10
David Sedaris writes with such ease, honesty, and brilliant self constraint, that you are never left floundering through the pretentious over-writing of many young authors. His wit is dry, his tongue is never mean or rude, as he wisely lets the characters arround him curse or act ugly.
Not once did I find a story boring or long as one does in many collections. The Smoking Section and The Man in The Hut are my favorites. Hi delicious descriptions of Japan an then Normandy place you right there with him, experiencing his curious never cruel take on events, places, and people who you can imagine knowing.
This is a book which will have you laughing out loud. And the twisted description of this writer as being in your face gay and crude is an absolute mis-truth. He writes as a person who happens to be gay, as would any confident author would write if thye happened to be straight.
With these low prices, you really can't beat this book. If you enjoy humour, travel, or biography, this will be a great treat.
Not once did I find a story boring or long as one does in many collections. The Smoking Section and The Man in The Hut are my favorites. Hi delicious descriptions of Japan an then Normandy place you right there with him, experiencing his curious never cruel take on events, places, and people who you can imagine knowing.
This is a book which will have you laughing out loud. And the twisted description of this writer as being in your face gay and crude is an absolute mis-truth. He writes as a person who happens to be gay, as would any confident author would write if thye happened to be straight.
With these low prices, you really can't beat this book. If you enjoy humour, travel, or biography, this will be a great treat.
Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our Queer Eye For the Semi-Literate!
Created: 13/07/08
) Skip "When You Are Engulfed In Flames"; I wish I did. It was a gift, so I felt obligated to read it in it's entirety. It was a real chore, though. The back cover has half a dozen quotes attesting to this book's hilarity, but the only smile I cracked was when I reached page 326 (it's that blank page at the end of the book that let's you know you're finished). Sedaris should have put more energy into making his essays funny instead of reminding the reader of his homosexuality every three or four pages. It got old quick.
Here's an example of this "comic genius" at work: (I'm opening the book to a random page) In an essay titled "The Smoking Section" (not meaning the designated smoking areas in restaurants or bars... it's the smoking section of the book! Get it? Ha ha ha! Hold on, I've got to hold my sides together so they don't split), Sedaris mentions his predilection for certain crackers because they "taste like penis". Umm... sure, pal. You're gay, point taken. Bon appetit! Can we move on now? Granted, Sedaris is in Norway and might not appreciate how snack food that tastes like private parts never really caught on in the states. I've never heard anyone say, "These cookies taste like ass... give me another!" Whatever.
Sedaris' compulsion to constantly refer to his homosexuality is detrimental to the flow of his work. Mark Twain wouldn't be Mark Twain if he felt he had to proclaim his heterosexuality every couple of pages (ex: "Gee, Tom, this cornbread's a little dry. Let's go find Becky Thatcher and dip it in her vagina!" said Huck). See what I mean?
Again, don't bother with this book. It's the first one of his I've read, but there won't be another. I've wasted enough of my time on this guy. Thanks for reading.
Here's an example of this "comic genius" at work: (I'm opening the book to a random page) In an essay titled "The Smoking Section" (not meaning the designated smoking areas in restaurants or bars... it's the smoking section of the book! Get it? Ha ha ha! Hold on, I've got to hold my sides together so they don't split), Sedaris mentions his predilection for certain crackers because they "taste like penis". Umm... sure, pal. You're gay, point taken. Bon appetit! Can we move on now? Granted, Sedaris is in Norway and might not appreciate how snack food that tastes like private parts never really caught on in the states. I've never heard anyone say, "These cookies taste like ass... give me another!" Whatever.
Sedaris' compulsion to constantly refer to his homosexuality is detrimental to the flow of his work. Mark Twain wouldn't be Mark Twain if he felt he had to proclaim his heterosexuality every couple of pages (ex: "Gee, Tom, this cornbread's a little dry. Let's go find Becky Thatcher and dip it in her vagina!" said Huck). See what I mean?
Again, don't bother with this book. It's the first one of his I've read, but there won't be another. I've wasted enough of my time on this guy. Thanks for reading.
1 of 4 people found this review helpful.
whacky Title
Created: 04/04/10
Its a funny book with a few gut busters but having read four of his other books and seen him give a speech I begin to recognize some of his literary devices and some of the characters repeat with new names to fit new situations. I don't think any of this detracts from the book or author but every author becomes formulaic after enough books.
Another great book by Sedaris
Created: 08/08/09
In my opinion, you can't lose with this author. His quirky sense of humor always makes me laugh. Like his other books, I found it difficult to put this one down. Definitely check it out!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
When You Are Engulfed....
Created: 13/07/08
) I love David Sedaris' wit and this book is another great addition to his collection! However, his books are best HEARD and an audio book is the only way to go with him. His readings are excellent!
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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