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There are no praises I can sing David Sedaris that have not been sung a million times over on the many book blogs that have reviewed this or any other of Sedaris's books. Suffice it to say that I have not laughed this hard since I read Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys
. But the author is not all fun and games. There are serious, soul-searching moments also, and that is what keeps his work from being frivolous and shelved in the "Humor" section of the bookstore. You'll find yourself laughing until you cry, then trying to swallow the lump in your throat. And some of the little things in life will never look quite the same again.During my commute, I listened to David Sedaris himself read When You Are Engulfed in Flames
on an audiobook. Instead of trying to explain how I was continually having difficulty driving while attempting to clear tears of hysterical laughter from my eyes, here is a clip from David Letterman of Sedaris reading an excerpt from this book. Don't watch this while eating or drinking or your keyboard will be in grave danger. :-)Now I know exactly which books to look for when I need to ease those winter blues in a couple of months! :-)
repeatedly, gleefully trying to memorize the "
was published in 2004 and is loaded with anger and offense. That's not to say it's not funny. But the truly funny moments are fewer than the ones that make you look around to see if anyone knows what you're reading. And that's not to say that I don't agree with some of what he was angry about. He has some good reasons. You can't live in this world today and not have a few things to be angry about. But I miss the hysterically funny. And I'll miss George Carlin. RIP.
is a quick, humorous, but unsettling look at the behaviors of the people that lately have been the movers, shakers and "deciders" of the United States. Everyone from elected officials of all levels and parties to journalists, lobbyists and lowly staffers are open game. Written loosely in the form of an anthropological study, the book would be outright hilarious if it didn't make you want to cry at the pathetic, selfish, greedy and often criminal activities that are rampant in Washington D.C. There I go again using my outdoor voice. . . :-) I'll go back to my 
fits the bill. Unlike 
is a really long book, and had I not listened to it on audio (unabridged, of course, because I refuse to listen to abridged books), I'm not 100% certain I would have made it to the end. There are stretches of real dry material. However, with the assitance of a CD player, I enjoyed the book overall. I liked that I learned a lot about more than just John Adams. There is a ton of information about his wife Abigail and son John Quincy Adams, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton. . . . The list goes on and on. There are large portions of actual letters written by not only John and Abigail, but many other famous folk of that time, and it was fascinating to hear their actual words regarding not just the Declaration of Independence, the Revolution, the Constitution, and the like, but every day concerns about raising families, the decline of the education system and of the moral values of the country. I found the continuing debate over the issue of slavery most interesting. Probably because it seems so obvious to me that it is a vile institution, I find I have a hard time comprehending any argument that existed in its favor. (Adams, for the record, strongly opposed slavery and never owned any himself.)
