When You Are Engulfed in Flames, by David Sedaris

My latest review is available at Pajiba, this time on the latest by David Sedaris, When You Are Engulfed in Flames.

Many critics complain that this latest collection of personal essays isn't as hilarious as previous collections, such as Naked, which, to be fair, made me wet my pants from laughing too hard. However, comparing Engulfed to Naked is, in my mind, a bit unfair, and you can read what I say in response to such criticism here.

In a nutshell: Perhaps not as hilarious as previous works, but that doesn't mean When You Are Engulfed in Flames isn't worth the read.

Bibliolatry Scale: 5 out of 6 stars

Soldier's Heart, by Elizabeth Samet

How do you convince an eighteen-year-old cadet that poetry has any relevance to his life? Poetry seems pretty unimportant in the face of roadside bombs and suicide bombers. Hell, I have a hard time justifying poetry to my eighteen-year-old students, and none of them will ever come close to Iraq. So I read Samet’s Soldier’s Heart with a special interest, although one does not need to be an English teacher to enjoy this memoir.

Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout

This is another book that I received through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program, and at first I was worried it would prove to be another Larryisms. This belief was aided by the cover, which just gave off a whiff of boring (I’m glad to see they changed the design for the final edition). But still poor Olive sat for weeks on end as I delayed and delayed reading it.

The Terror, by Dan Simmons

I’ve been told there are two types of people in the world: those who read the whale parts of Moby Dick, and those who skip them. I proudly admit to being among the latter, even though the above maxim omits a larger section of the population: those who don’t read Melville’s masterpiece at all. Whale parts notwithstanding, I’m proud I managed even 85% of it, and for one very simple reason: boats confuse the shit out of me.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark

On a good day, I believe in signs. I’d like to believe that a superior being guides our lives, and in so doing sends signs, omens, and portents to direct or forestall our behavior. On a bad day, I feel there is only chaos, and while I know some who manage to find comfort in such disorder, I am not one of them.

Happily enough, I never find more signs than when searching for my next book to read. Without a set course of action, I bebop from book to book, author to author, period to period with no special plan. Many times, I feel a distinct “call” to read a particular novel, and I know its time has come. With few exceptions, each book I’ve been “called” to read has been essential to understanding some facet of my life at that moment. And so it was with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The bookish fates worked their magic again.

Immortal, by Traci L. Slatton

If you had been gifted with an abnormally long lifespan, how would you spend your time? It is lofty to imagine spending your days in the pursuit of knowledge or beauty, but I imagine I’d probably do a whole lotta dicking around, just like I do now. When you account for the state of the world, the environment, my own vices, etc., I figure I have about a week left to live, and yet I STILL can’t tear myself away from my playstation 3. However, don't say I'm not making progress in life: I'll have you know I've graduated from the "easy" level and currently play Guitar Hero on medium.

The Book of Dave, by Will Self

In the future, religious extremists rule. They are not, however, Christian or Muslim, but Davist.