usmcsis's Diaryland Diary

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augusten burroughs

Running With Scissors: A Memoir
Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctor�s bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock-therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing and bestselling account of an ordinary boy�s survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

Dry: A Memoir
From the New York Times Bestselling author of Running With Scissors comes the story of one man trying to out-drink his memories, outlast his demons, and outrun his past.

�I was addicted to �Bewitched� as a kid. I worshipped Darren Stevens the First. When he�d come home from work and Samantha would say, �Darren, would you like me to fix you a drink?� He�d always rest his briefcase on the table below the mirror in the foyer, wipe his forehead with a monogrammed handkerchief and say, �Better make it a double.�� (from Chapter Two)

You may not know it, but you�ve met Augusten Burroughs. You�ve seen him on the street, in bars, on the subway, at restaurants: a twentysomething guy, nice suit, works in advertising. Regular. Ordinary. But when the ordinary person had two drinks, Augusten was circling the drain by having twelve; when the ordinary person went home at midnight, Augusten never went home at all. Loud, distracting ties, automated wake-up calls and cologne on the tongue could only hide so much for so long. At the request (well, it wasn�t really a request) of his employers, Augusten lands in rehab, where his dreams of group therapy with Robert Downey Jr. are immediately dashed by grim reality of fluorescent lighting and paper hospital slippers. But when Augusten is forced to examine himself, something actually starts to click and that�s when he finds himself in the worst trouble of all. Because when his thirty days are up, he has to return to his same drunken Manhattan life�and live it sober. What follows is a memoir that�s as moving as it is funny, as heartbreaking as it is true. Dry is the story of love, loss, and Starbucks as a Higher Power.

Magical Thinking: True Stories
To Be Released October 5, 2004
Augusten Burroughs�s break-out bestseller Running with Scissors reinvented and redefined the memoir. Dry proved that he could do it again. And now, with this collection, he sets a new standard for the personal essay. Whether he�s describing a contest of wills with a deranged cleaning lady, the simultaneous thrill and self-disgust that comes from killing a rodent in your home, or the instinctive desire for fifteen minutes of fame in a Tang commercial, these stories give voice to thoughts we all have but dare not mention. What makes the collection so original is Augusten�s sharp-eyed observations about things that are unique to him, but somehow universal to us all. Magical Thinking is contagiously funny, heartwarming, shocking, twisted, and absolutely magical.

Sellivision
Darkly funny and gleefully mean-spirited, Sellevision explores greed, obsession and third tier celebrity, in the world of a fictional home shopping network.

Welcome to the troubled world of Sellevision, America�s premier retail broadcasting network. When Max Andrews, the much-loved and handsome (lonely and gay) host of �Slumber Sunday Sundown� accidentally exposes himself in front of sixty million kids and their parents during a �Toys for Tots� segment, Sellevision faces its first big scandal. As Max fails to find a job in television, another host, the popular and perky Peggy Jean Smythe is receiving sinister emails about her appearance from a stalker. Popping pills and drinking heavily, she fails to notice that her husband is spending a lot of time with the very young babysitter who lives next door. Then there�s Leigh, whose affair with Sellevision boss Howard Toast is going nowhere, until she exposes him on air; and Bebe, Sellevision�s star host, who finds Mr. Right through the Internet� if she can just stop her shopping addiction from taking over.

Visit augusten.com. (Note: Augusten.com is currently closed for redesign. It will be reopened soon.)

11:25 pm - 28 Jul 2004

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