Book: When you are Engulfed in Flames

Genre: Comedic Nonfiction

Julia Rating: 10

Comments:

Let me first apologize for not posting any reviews for quite a while. Tsk tsk on me. Now, When you are Engulfed in Flames is a freaking hilarious book of autobiographical short stories. My favorite was Town and Country.  I practically died laughing when I read that story.

There are many hilarious stories with some valuable life lessons… like when Mr. Sedaris quit smoking.  That’s a pretty tough thing to do.  Actually, after reading that story, I thought, “Aha!  That’s where the title came from.”  You can think that too, but you’d be wrong.  The story that mentions the title of this book does take place while Mr. Sedaris is in the middle of breaking his habit, but has nothing to do with smoking itself.  I would tell you, but I think you should just read the book.

If you do end up reading When you are Engulfed in Flames, let me know what you think!

Book: Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

Author: Douglas Adams

Genre: Sci Fi

Julia Rating: 9 (for humor)

Comments:
Douglas Adams introduces Dirk Gently – a private detective who does his work “holistically” (meaning he believes that if one thing happens in his life, he’s bound to have other things happen which have something to do with that thing). This makes for huge bills – since everything he does is supposed to have something to do with solving the problem of his client.

Dirk finds himself at St. Cedd’s College with an old Professor, who insisted on being called Reg, and a wayward horse. He is flung in an adventure through time (Hitchhiker’s Guidestyle), opening up a portal to… somewhere else and letting a thing called The Electric Monk through. Apparently, The Electric Monk’s chief function is to believe people and tell them that he does believe them. This, of course, can create some inconsistencies in his belief system and therefor causes issues with earthlings.

This book has my favorite description EVER. When describing Reg, Douglas Adams says: “The other was small, roundish, and moved with an ungainly restlessness, like a number of elderly squirrels trying to escape from a sack.”

Douglas Adams always takes me on a wild journey through very improbable territory and I find his books fun – though sometimes it’s honestly very hard to remember what they are really about. He is always very funny and have an offbeat sense of humor – so if you like any of his work, you’ll like this book.

Title: Blood Sucking Fiends

Author: Christopher Moore

Genre: Fantasy

Julia Rating: 9 (for humor)My Comments:
This book had me laughing my socks off. I read it while on vacation in Italy (on the plane, then in Rome between tours). I probably should have read Roman history or something instead, but this book was so darn funny! It’s about a girl named Jody who becomes a vampire because this really old vampire assults her and makes her one – a game he plays every once in a while. She has to find a way to survive – though the bad guy (the old vampire) doesn’t want her to. In the process she meets C. Thomas Flood (Tommy to his friends) and they hook up.

Christopher Moore has some wonderful and wacky characters in this book that are so much fun. Also, he describes San Fransisco like a pro – and since I’m from there, I love it.

The only negative thing I could say about this book as that the composition isn’t great and sometimes it’s hard to follow along. But, because it was so funny, I give it a nine.