In the framing device of the book, the author starts with a box of matches. Each morning, he lights a fire in his fireplace with one of the matches, eats an apple and then ruminates about his domestic life, along with tangential minutiae that only Nicholson Baker can come up with. The book ends when the box of matches runs out.

“When elements are handled well, it is okay to make a matchbook out of a book called A Box of Matches. This makes it seem like the perfect solution.” Archie Ferguson