I’ve been a big David Sedaris fan for a long time. I think I have read every one of his 6 books, and dream that the observations I make in this blog could be as amusing as his take on things. I’m not as quirky, I don’t have OCD, I have never done drugs, and I haven’t quit drinking, and I never smoked, so maybe I have less to write about. Still, occasionally, I hope people are similarly amused.
I’ve been reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames at a snail’s pace. I’m not sure why, but this book didn’t hold on to me like all the previous books. Maybe because I’ve read most of his books while traveling, many times internationally, where you are in serious lock-down for 8 to 15 hours. It is easy to get through a collection of essays then.
In his latest book, the essay Smoking Section is about his attempt, apparently successful, to quit smoking. He decided that quitting smoking had to take place along with a major change, so he moved to Tokyo for three months to do so. In the essay are his musings on Tokyo, and life in Japan in general. His observations are quite consistent with the gaijin in Japan experience. It is somehow reassuring to see the same observations from a man whose job is to record and write about what he sees.
If you don’t know who David Sedaris is, here is a printable bio from his agency. Photo captured from here.
David Sedaris ~ NPR Humorist and Best-selling Author of Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
With sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has become one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. The great skill with which he slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that Sedaris is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition today.
David Sedaris is the author Barrel Fever and Holidays on Ice, as well as collections of personal essays, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and When You Are Engulfed in Flames, each of which became a bestseller. There are a total of seven million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 25 languages. He was the editor of Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules: An Anthology of Outstanding Stories. Sedaris’s pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.†He and his sister, Amy Sedaris, have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family†and have written half-a-dozen plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, which received an Obie Award, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and The Book of Liz, which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service. David Sedaris’s original radio pieces can often be heard on This American Life, distributed nationally by Public Radio International and produced by WBEZ. David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album.
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