When I finished reading Barrel Fever, by David Sedaris, there was only one thing to do: Pick up another book by him and don't stop until I was done. His latest, When You are Engulfed in Flames, is one of the funniest I have read. I literally could not bring myself to put the book down. Each personal essay was as funny if not funnier than the one before, making me want to call my friends in the middle of the day or night to read favorite passages out loud to them. Here are some of my favorites:
He adopts a female spider as a pet, names it April and takes it to vacation in Paris, then spends all his time hanging out around garbage cans in public parks to trap flies for it. The title of this story is "April in Paris."
He describes how he once scared the birds away from hitting his windows by posting pictures of terrorists on the glass.
He talks about how he quit smoking after thirty years by living in Tokyo for three months and taking Japanese classes.
It doesn't matter what happens to him, David Sedaris has a peculiar funny way of recounting the story and I absolutely recommend reading his books, especially When You are Engulfed in Flames.