When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris

Proof that the Daily Show sells books. I bought three of Sedaris’ books based on this five minute interview.

Sedaris’ books are collections of short essays; usually humorous, always quirky. The title of this book refers to the main essay, where Sedaris moves to Japan in order to quit smoking. Although I found his attempts to understand Japanese culture amusing, I find the whole concept a bit of a soft target seeing as their culture is so…well…foreign to Westerners (and already quite extensively made fun of).

The highlights of the book aren’t Sedaris’ own escapades but when he describes the colourful characters in his life. In particular, his bigoted neighbour in New York and his flatmate when he was a college drop-out are stand outs. Although this wasn’t quite as funny as I thought it would be, it was quite smirk-worthy and I’ll definitely be reading his other books (seeing as I bought them already).