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I bought this to RABACK to ghir because she needs a pick-me-up!

Received safely today.

Thank you for sharing this with me, piggydiva! I look forward to reading it and passing it along to other Oahu BookCrossers who are also Burroughs fans.

Hmmm. I kept feeling this book was too similar to David Sedaris. Now that Augusten's life is going fairly smoothly (he's in recovery, has a long-term relationship, got published), this seems like another collection of essays of the trials and tribulations of a neurotic gay guy, rather than the strong themes (Abuse and Alcoholism) in his first two autobiographical works. I feel bad for being disappointed that his life doesn't suck more.

Still, an absorbing read.

Taking to TOC. No takers among the Oahu BXers. Sending to gnissorckoob to fulfill a Cliffwish.

It's here in Miami. That was super nice of you to send it, ghir. Will read asap.

Finished it tonight. I had already read Running with Scissors and Dry, and jumped at the chance when ghir offered this to me as a "random act of bookcrossing kindness." It did not disappoint. Wonderfully entertaining and hard to put down. Plus -- I am pleased to learn the turn Augusten's life is taking. I think he's a very deserving guy.

My favorite was the first part of the chapter on "roof work." You may find yourself reading it aloud to your friends -- if you have neorotic enough friends. But WARNING: You might want to stay away from the "rat-thing" chapter. Too much cruelty to animals (which Burroughs later regretted, at least).

Since I rec'd this as a RABCK, I'm going to check Cliff's Wish List site and try to do the same for another bookcrosser.

Sending off to SqueakyChu in Maryland to fulfill a Cliffwish.


Mailed 04/12/06.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

The book arrived today with it's colorful red bookmark. That's one botanical garden it looks as if I shouldn't miss if I ever get back to Florida.

I hope it won't be too long before I get to read this book. I did read both Dry and Running With Scissors and enjoyed them both.

I appreciate your kindness, gnissorckoob.

I started reading this book today for this challenge on LibraryThing.

Join me! :D

Either I've become a cranky, old woman, or this book is really terrible. I forced myself to read all of the essays in this book because reviewers from such notable newspapers as The New York Times and The Chicago Sun-Times have described other works by Augusten Burroughs with such words as "entertaining", great", "breathtaking", and "funny". I found no reason to laugh or smile throughout this book. Rather, I found this book lacked any grace. Additionally, I was offended by lines such as the following which might have found entertaining:

"But Dennis and I will have none of this madness. Neither of us wants to accept the special challenges presented by a severely handicapped Romanian child or a baby who was born addicted to crack and has only half a head."

"After a year, my body was transformed. But only from Auschwitz into lean."

"When I get a craving for Nature, I turn on the Discovery channel and watch bear-attack survivors recount their horror and show the results of their reconstructive surgery."

I think I've had my fill of this author's crude attempts at humor.

Happy reading!

I selected this book from the Little Free Library of Twinbrook (#7720) to travel elsewhere...

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