AMERICA'S FINEST HUMORIST RETURNS WITH HIS LATEST COLLECTION OF ESSAYS THAT ARE
BOTH UPROARIOUSLY FUNNY AND PROFOUNDLY MOVING...

WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES
by
DAVID SEDARIS

U.S. 1st Edition/1st Printing HANDSIGNED by David Sedaris on the
full title page.
Includes commemorative bookmark from the signing event.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

DAVID SEDARIS (born December 26, 1956) is a Grammy Award-nominated American humorist, writer, comedian, bestselling author and radio contributor. Sedaris was first publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "SantaLand Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. Each of his five subsequent essay collections, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004), and When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008), have become New York Times Best Sellers. As of 2008, his books had collectively sold 7 million copies.

FROM THE CRITICS:

"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

2008 New York: Little, Brown & Co. David Sedaris tallies up the last 25 years -- the prime of his life -- and isn't impressed by the sum: "How had 9,125 relatively uneventful days passed so quickly," he writes, "and how can I keep it from happening again?" As usual, WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES has lots of answers to the first question but not many to the second in this delightful compilation of essays circling the theme of death and dying, with nods to the French countryside, art collecting and feces.

Older, wiser, smarter and meaner, David Sedaris defies the odds once again by delivering an intelligent take on the banalities of an absurd life. The author still draws from the well of familial tragicomedy in pieces that dissect his parents' taste in modern art ("Adult Figures Charging Toward a Concrete Toadstool") and their reactions to what he wrote about them in his first book ("fifty pages later, they were boarding up the door and looking for ways to disguise themselves").

Most of the essays ion WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES, however, chronicle expatriate life in England, France and Japan with his long-suffering and improbably talented boyfriend Hugh. Sedaris positions himself as a hapless Bertie Wooster to Hugh's Jeeves, lazily allowing his partner's mother to clean their apartment ("I just sit in a rocker, raising my feet every now and then so she can pass the vacuum") and marveling at Hugh's interest in, well, doing things. A highpoint is "All the Beauty You Will Ever Need," which starts as a rant about his boyfriend's ludicrous self-sufficiency ("Hugh beats underpants against river rocks or decides that it might be fun to grind his own flour") but twists into a sharp declaration of love that's all the more touching for its lack of sentimentality.

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, the author consistently delivers a cracking blow of insight that leaves you reeling.

This copy of WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES is a U.S. 1st Edition/1st Printing in NEW/UNREAD condition. It has a flawless dustjacket protected by a clear plastic archival cover and is a pristine copy, clean and tight, and most suitable for collectors. Also included is a very attractive commemorate bookmark designed to promote the event. The book was signed by David Sedaris on the title page during a tickets-only signing event in his honor at Barnes & Noble in Baton Rouge, LA on June 18, 2008.

David Sedaris is the most significant humorist of our generation. His very infrequent book tours are always one of the biggest literary events of the year, and the crush of people in attendance makes him a difficult author for signed book dealers to carry. Don't miss your chance to add this remarkable collection of essays to your contemporary collector's library!

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