David Sedariss 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 lifehaving 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 songbirdsto the most deeply resonant human truths. Culminating in a brilliant account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking David Sedariss sixth essay collection is a new masterpiece of comic writing from a writer worth treasuring Seattle Times. 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 hes also getting better....Sedariss best stuff will stillafter all this timemove surprise and entertain. Booklist Table of Contents Its Catching Keeping Up The Understudy This Old House Buddy Can You Spare a Tie Road Trips What I Learned Thats Amore The Monster Mash In the Waiting Room Solutions to Saturdays 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 Paris Crybaby Old Faithful The Smoking Section show more