18 books like When You Are Engulfed in Flames

What to read after When You Are Engulfed in Flames — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Barrel Fever David Sedaris · 1994 · ★ 3.8 · 202p · ≈ 6h · Moderate In David Sedaris’ world, no one is safe and no cow is sacred. A manic cross between Mark Leyner, Fran Lebowitz, and the National Enquirer, Sedaris’ collection of essays is a rollicking tour through the national Zeitgeist: a do-it-yourself suburban dad saves money by performing home surgery; a man who is loved too much flees the heavyweight champion of the world; a teenage suicide tries to incite… Shares: American essays, American Humorous stories, American wit and humor, Essays

Thurber Country Lt James Thurber · 1901 · 276p · ≈ 9h · Challenging First published in 1949, Thurber Country remains a benchmark of satirical writing. This edition includes a new introduction by Lillian Ross. There are 26 short pieces. Most (including "File and Forget," a correspondence with his publishers which is not recommended to people who have a tendency to get bad hiccoughs from too much laughing) have already appeared in The New Yorker. Seven pieces have… Shares: Humorismo estadounidense, American Humorous stories, American wit and humor, Humor

How to Be Alone Jonathan Franzen · 2002 · ★ 3.6 · 306p · ≈ 10h · Moderate Collection of some of Franzen's essays, including the one known as "the Harper's essay". Some are edited or tweaked from their original printings. A mixture of topics but well-written and enjoyable; Franzen is as thoughtful as ever. Shares: Essais américains, American essays, Essays

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim David Sedaris · 2004 · ★ 4.1 · 257p · ≈ 8h · Moderate David Sedaris plays in the snow with his sisters. He goes on vacation with his family. He gets a job selling drinks. He attends his brother’s wedding. He mops his sister’s floor. He gives directions to a lost traveler. He eats a hamburger. He has his blood sugar tested. It all sounds so normal, doesn’t it? In his newest collection of essays, David Sedaris lifts the corner of ordinary… Shares: American essays, American Humorous stories, American wit and humor, Essays

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk David Sedaris · 2010 · ★ 3.4 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Moderate If animals were more like us, if mice kept pets and toads could cuss, if dogs had wives and chipmunks dated, sheep sat still and meditated, then in the forest, field, and dairy you might find this bestiary, read by storks, by rats and kitties, skimmed by cows with milk-stained titties. "I found the book to be most droll," might quip the bear, the owl, the mole. Others, though, would be more… Shares: Wit and Humor as Topic, American Humorous stories, American wit and humor, Humor

Bart Simpson's Guide to Life Matt Groening · 1993 · ★ 3.9 · 192p · ≈ 6h · Moderate Starved for the whole truth, man? Take a bite out of this bitsy but beefy package, brimming with flavorized morsels of wit, wisdom, and worldly knowledge brought to you by the one and only Bartholomew J. Simpson ~ get the hard-knocks facts of life from the guy who's seen it all, heard it all, done it all ~ and denies it all. NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION Serving Size: 192 pages, plus cover Number of… Shares: Humorismo estadounidense, American wit and humor, Humor

The decline and fall of practically everybody Will Cuppy · 1950 · ★ 3.2 · 240p · ≈ 8h · Moderate Why do unfortunates suffer from Montezuma's revenge? Just what was so Great about Peter, Catherine, Frederick and Alexander? What did Cleopatra see to admire in the fat man with a beard - Mark Anthony? Learn all this and more in Will Cuppy's humorous romp through the great names of world history. Shares: Wit and Humor as Topic, American wit and humor, Humor

The Widow Bedott papers Frances M. Whitcher · 1856 · 403p · ≈ 13h · Challenging "Following the twists and turns of an unimaginable crime, The Widow is an electrifying debut thriller that will take you into the dark spaces that exist between a husband and a wife. When the police started asking questions, Jean Taylor turned into a different woman. One who enabled her and her husband to carry on when more bad things began to happen. . . But that woman's husband died last week.… Shares: American Humorous stories, American wit and humor, Humor, Social life and customs

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls David Sedaris · 1960 · ★ 3.9 · 288p · ≈ 9h · Moderate From the unique perspective of David Sedaris comes a new book of essays taking his listeners on a bizarre and stimulating world tour. From the perils of French dentistry to the eating habits of the Australian kookaburra, from the squat-style toilets of Beijing to the particular wilderness of a North Carolina Costco, we learn about the absurdity and delight of a curious traveler's experiences.… Shares: American essays, American Humorous stories, American wit and humor, Essays

Take the cannoli Sarah Vowell · 2000 · ★ 4.0 · 219p · ≈ 7h · Moderate "While tackling subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history, these autobiographical tales are written with a biting humor, placing Vowell solidly in the tradition of Mark Twain and Dorothy Parker. Vowell searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts… Shares: American essays, American wit and humor, Social life and customs

Hey rub-a-dub-dub Theodore Dreiser · 1920 · ★ 4.0 · 312p · ≈ 10h · Challenging This collection contains numerous essays about the idea of the literary American character and several dramatic works from Dreiser. Dreiser held the collection in high regard, but it was panned by critics on its release. Many of Dreiser's unique obsessions, from the political to the scientific, are explored in these essays. Shares: American essays, Essays

Let Me Tell You What I Mean Joan Didion · 2021 · ★ 4.2 · 184p · ≈ 6h · Moderate From one of our most iconic and influential writers: a timeless collection of mostly early pieces that reveal what would become Joan Didion's subjects, including the press, politics, California robber barons, women, and her own self-doubt. Here are six pieces written in 1968 from the "Points West" Saturday Evening Post column Joan Didion shared from 1964 to 1969 with her husband, John Gregory… Shares: American essays, Essays

One Man's Meat E. B. White · 1941 · 350p · ≈ 11h · Challenging First published in 1942, this collection of essays on Maine life has been in print almost without interruption. The author began this collection as a series of pieces for Harper's Magazine when he left New York City and moved to a saltwater farm in Brooklin, Maine. His observations on town meetings, poultry, the weather, songbirds, compost, taxes, war, winter, and much more will resonate just as… Shares: Essais américains, American essays, Essays

Essays, first series Ralph Waldo Emerson · 1876 · ★ 3.5 · 376p · ≈ 12h · Challenging Emerson, Alfred Kazin observes in his Introduction, "was a great writer who turned the essay into a form all his own." His celebrated essays--the twelve published in Essays: First Series (1841) and eight in Essays: Second Series (1844)--are here presented for the first time in an authoritative one-volume edition, which incorporates all the changes and corrections Emerson made after their initial… Shares: American essays, Essays

Metropolitan Life Fran Lebowitz · 1978 · ★ 3.3 · 177p · ≈ 5h · Moderate In the vein of Lebowitz's acclaimed Netflix limited series, Pretend It's a City—The Fran Lebowitz Reader brings together two of the famed author's bestsellers, Metropolitan Life and Social Studies.In "elegant, finely honed prose" (The Washington Post Book World), Lebowitz limns the vicissitudes of contemporary urban life—its fads, trends, crazes, morals, and fashions. By turns ironic, facetious,… Shares: American wit and humor, Manners and customs, Humor, Social life and customs

Routledge Revivals David E. E. Sloane · 2017 · 332p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Originally published in 1979, Mark Twain as a Literary Comedian looks at how Mark Twain addressed social issues through humour. The Southwest provided the subject for much of Twain’s writing, but the roots of his style lay principally in north-eastern humour. In the mid-1800s the northern United States underwent social changes that reflected in the writing of the literary humourists like Twain.… Shares: American Humorous stories, American wit and humor, Humor

slouching towards bethlehem Joan Didion · 1967 · ★ 4.2 · 238p · ≈ 7h · Moderate American novelist Joan Didion's first volume of nonfiction essays, first published in 1968, consisting of twenty works that reflect the atmosphere in America during the 1960s, especially in California. Shares: American essays, Essays, Social life and customs

Bossypants Tina Fey · 2011 · ★ 4.0 · 277p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants is short, messy, and impossibly funny (an apt description of the comedian herself). From her humble roots growing up in Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early sketches on Saturday Night Live, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and self-deprecation. Some of the… Shares: Wit and Humor as Topic, American wit and humor

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