When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

I am sad to say When You Are Engulfed in Flames is not the best David Sedaris book ever. Most of the stories are based on things that have happened in the recent past and they are just not was funny as the stories he tells of his family growing up. Perhaps he has mined all he can from that vein and this is the end of Sedaris. I hope not and I think the last, and by far the longest, story in the book gave me hope. "Smoking Section" is a great play by play account of the effort to quit smoking. Sedaris seems to have read every self help book that is available on how to quit, then decided to throw each maximum a curve. One recommendation is to change your environment, try to get away from the places you smoke most. For many this would mean cutting out the neighborhood tavern. Sedaris on the other hand took a month long trip to Japan, where smoking is the national pastime. The story is sprinkled with funny observations of Japan and his struggle to learn the language while going through some powerful cigarette cravings. Maybe he should have stretched this out into an entire book.