Source: Library (audio)
Description: 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 life - having 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 songbirds, to the most deeply resonant human truths. (from Goodreads)
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir
Why I Picked This Book: I had just finished another audio book and this one was available. I have had mixed results with Sedaris but I figured I'd give this a try.
My Impression: There are some books that really should be listened to instead of read and When You Are Engulfed in Flames is one of them (so is Bossypants by Tina Fey and Yes Please by Amy Poehler if you were wondering). Quite a bit of this is done as a live performance and that's where Sedaris really delivers. His timing is spot on and there were a number of times where I literally burst out laughing. My favorites were when he bought his boyfriend a skeleton for a gift, when he gave up asking people to repeat things after moving to France and settled with just saying basically okay to everything with incredibly varied results, and the babysitter his parents left him with as a child. His travels with Hugh are often hilarious and I loved listening to him talk about his time in Japan.
Several stories went on far too long and I could've lived without his Princeton graduation speech entirely. There were a number of times that I thought "if I was reading this I'd be annoyed" but in audio form it was entertaining.
If you're familiar with Sedaris you know he's not family friendly and this is no exception. This isn't an audio you want to listen to with small children around since mine at least repeats everything. Sedaris quickly made it onto the list of top 5 people I really don't want to be trapped in an elevator with but I think he'd be okay with that. In fact he'd probably nominate himself. Despite the flaws I really enjoyed listening to this one and look forward to trying more of his books in audio form in the future.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Definitely though I'll probably continue to go the audio route.
Would I Recommend this Book?: Yes definitely though I would recommend the audio route.
Never heard about him but it looks like it's a book I would enjoy listening to ^^ I'll go see if there's a book by him at my library...
ReplyDeleteI have seen his books and always meant to check them out but haven't. Yet. That's good info about listening to it rather than reading. That certainly can make a difference.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you cracked me up saying it's my fault about that Pioneer Woman cookbook! But aren't you glad you have it now ?:-)
Not familiar with the guy. But he sounds like he could be kind of a jerk but in the funny I'll never meet him way so it's okay to laugh.
ReplyDeleteAnd I couldn't agree more; a lot of humour and biography type books are made for audio reading.
Not familiar with the guy. But he sounds like he could be kind of a jerk but in the funny I'll never meet him way so it's okay to laugh.
ReplyDeleteAnd I couldn't agree more; a lot of humour and biography type books are made for audio reading.
I tried listening to another of his collections and couldn't get through it. I don't know that I will attempt this one, to be honest.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the tip about listening rather than reading Sedaris. I haven't tried any of his books yet -- I'm not sure if I'll like his brand of humor -- but if I do try them, I'll definitely go the audio route.
ReplyDelete