#39: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
For me, Sedaris’ best essay collections are Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Courderoy and Denim, and that hasn’t changed with When You Are Engulfed In Flames, which, while entertaining, isn’t as hilarious as the some of his previous output, but this book is worth the read for the seventy-page essay on quitting smoking that lays in wait like a surprise party at the back of the book—however, these are not what I would call “humorous essays”, they are just essays, and I have to wonder if Sedaris isn’t maybe taking himself a bit too seriously these days.
