With his newest collection, When You Are Engulfed In Flames (Little, Brown, $25.99), David Sedaris chronicles the seemingly irrelevant minutiae of his life, twisting the most mundane situations into riotously memorable events.  At a time when everyone needs a laugh, these essays are perfect. Sedaris captures the tone and rhythm of everyday dialogue so well that the reader feels a part of the scene. Sedaris has a gift for making the stories relate to each of us, whether discussing acquiring a skeleton as a gift, or the difficulties of quitting smoking.  His account of sitting in a French doctor’s waiting room is so awkward and so universal, it can’t help being funny.