By now, you probably know if you are a David Sedaris fan or not.  I’m a fan, but I have a friend that refuses to read any of his books, because the author’s voice on NPR drives him crazy.  I think it’s fair to say, my friend aside, that Sedaris is a wildly popular author.  His new collection of essays When You are Engulfed In Flames has been receiving some OK reviews in the press, but it seems to flying off the shelves anyway.

On the whole, I enjoyed the new book.  It seems to be a more serious book, but is often just as hilarious as his previous books.  Fans of the The Rooster, Sedaris’ brother, will be sad to learn that the family hillbilly makes only a passing appearance in this book.  Most of the stories seem to focus on regrets, missed opportunities, and less happy times.  However, there is one story - and it seems that each of his books has one - that fails miserably.  Skip What I Learned, you’ll thank me later.

The last story, The Smoking Section,  is 83 pages long!  Most of the author’s tales are significantly less than 10 pages.  At 80+ pages, It’s not quite a full length memoir - but it’s also longer than an autobiographical essay, too.  Unsure of what to call it, I’m coining what I think is a new word - a memoirlito.  The memorilito is the story of Sedaris’ attempts to quit smoking.  By moving to Japan for an extended period.  It’s like a Marx Brothers film crossed with Lost in Translation.  Funny and weirdly awkward.  I hope to see more in the memoirlito form from Sedaris in the future.

If you’re a fan of Sedaris, you’re likely to already have read it.  I don’t know that there is anything here (maybe the memoirlito) to convert non-fans to the Sedaris cause.  Either way, I enjoyed his latest, and I’m looking forward to the next one.