When You Are Engulfed in Flames

David Sedaris's remarkable ability to uncover the hilarious absurdity teeming just below the surface of everyday life is elevated to wilder and more entertaining heights than ever in this new book of essays. Sedaris proceeds from the bizarre conundrums of daily life -- the etiquette of having a lozenge fall from your mouth into the lap of a fellow passenger or how to soundproof your windows against neurotic songbirds with LP covers -- to the most deeply resonant human truths. Taking in the parasitic worm that once lived in his mother-in-law's leg, an encounter with a dingo, and the purchase of a human skeleton, and culminating in a brilliant account of his attempt to quit smoking -- in Tokyo -- David Sedaris's sixth collection is a fresh masterpiece of comic writing. David Sedaris's half-dozen books have been translated into twenty-five languages, including Estonian, Greek, and Bahasa. His essays appear frequently in The New Yorker and are heard on Public Radio International's This American Life. Live Recordings of "Memento Mori," "In the Waiting Room," and "Town and Country" Courtesy of Palace Theatre, Columbus, OH, Adam Troy Epstein, CAPA and "Solution to Saturday's Puzzle" Courtesy of Fargo Theatre, Fargo, ND, Jeff Conrad