David Sedaris Crams Rainy Day Books

By JEN CHEN

Katie, Nedra and Maria brought a picnic to the parking lot of Rainy Day Books.

On Monday night, David Sedaris was the guest of honor at what turned out to be a parking-lot party at Rainy Day Books. I’d never seen him in person, so I excitedly headed over to Fairway to hear him read excerpts from his new book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames.

I got there around 6 p.m., an hour before the reading. Sedaris had set up shop outside the store to sign copies of his book. A crowd of about 60-plus people (and an ice-cream truck) lined up around the side of the building. Just half an hour later, the line snaked around the entire parking lot. I’ll guess that there were about 400 people waiting for their special Sedaris moment.