David Sedaris

Having chronicled his days as an elf at Macy's, the sexual politics of naming your own guitar, and the wedding of his brother "the Rooster," David Sedaris continues to mine the habitual for the hysterical in When You Are Engulfed in Flames. A unique voice in American literature (as any fan of his audiobooks can attest), Sedaris recounts experiences that range from attempting to quit smoking to purchasing a skeleton—on which he has definitely located the funny bone.