This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.

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This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 3,680 ratings · 809 reviews

If you're fat and fail every diet, if you're thin but can't get thin enough, if you lose your job, if your child dies, if you are diagnosed with cancer, if you always end up with exactly the wrong kind of person, if you always end up alone, if you can't get over the past, if your parents are insane and ruining your life, if you really and truly wish you were dead, if you f...more

Hardcover, 240 pages

Published May 8th 2012 by St. Martin's Press

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May 29, 2012 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: av, how-to, nonfiction, four-star-nonfiction

May 25, 2012 UPDATE: News flash for Burroughs fans. I wrote this review long before the book was released. Now it has been out for a few weeks, and it is receiving a big thumbs down from people who have loved his other books. Personally, I found his previous books more dark than funny, but I seem to be in the minority. So pay attention here. THIS IS NOT LIKE HIS OTHER BOOKS. There are a lot of angry readers out there who ordered the book without reading advance reviews, and now they're all bent...more May 25, 2012 UPDATE: News flash for Burroughs fans. I wrote this review long before the book was released. Now it has been out for a few weeks, and it is receiving a big thumbs down from people who have loved his other books. Personally, I found his previous books more dark than funny, but I seem to be in the minority. So pay attention here. THIS IS NOT LIKE HIS OTHER BOOKS. There are a lot of angry readers out there who ordered the book without reading advance reviews, and now they're all bent out of shape because it's not what they expected.

If you've read the author's autobiographical works, you know he's been through more ugliness than most of us. Here he shares a distillation of his life's lessons, and the techniques that did and did not work for him along the way.

This Is How is a catch-all self-help book for the desperate, the disillusioned, or the merely curious. The laughs are there, as expected, but Augusten Burroughs is very much in earnest with his messages. There are 28 short chapters ranging from How To Be Fat to How To Let a Child Die.

Burroughs is the kind of friend you want to have around when it's time to stop whining and wallowing and get serious about change. He'll give you that boot in the backside followed by a gentle exhortation to be hopeful and optimistic. "Stop lying to yourself, but don't you dare give up" is the overarching theme in the book.

A lot of what you'll find here is common sense, but Burroughs's delivery motivates you to use that sense in a practical way. His style is often hard-hitting, occasionally punctuated by coarse language. What's surprising, though, is the tenderness and insight that accompany his boldness.

One-size-fits-all looks a little different on each person, but there's something here for everyone. What I found irrelevant may be just what someone else needs to hear. Even the parts that don't apply to you will have information to help you be more sensitive to the struggles of others.
For me this is the best out of all of Burroughs's books.

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Apr 08, 2012 Talyn rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: just-didn-t-interest-me, opinions-on-life, despise-the-author, heavy-duty-sarcasm, dislike-hated-it, books-i-ve-won, yammering-on, nonfiction, bio-autobio-memoir

EDITED FOR SPELLING ERRORS. SORRY, I WROTE THIS ORIGINALLY ON A TABLET

I won this in a book giveaway and I was very grateful to win. Forget the lottery. Winning free books in a giveaway is where its at!

I didn't really know what this book would entail. I assumed something along the lines of a sarcastic but witty collection of silly ideas with some grain of truth and possibly a lesson learned by the author that would tie in all the jokes through personal experience.

I got the personal experience....more

4 likes · like · see review

May 22, 2012 Teresa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I am not a fan of "self-help" books. The few I've read have been full of unrealistic psychobabble, generic & overused cliches and generally not applicable to me and my problems. Having said that, I couldn't resist entering the Goodreads giveaway for this particular book simply because of it's title. I was interested (and skeptical) to see how one book could address all of these issues. I half-expected it to be a satirical work. I was just plain curious.

Having sat down and in a matter of a fe...more

20 likes · like · see review

Nov 25, 2012 Melody rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked this up from my library's Lucky Day shelf and thought "Oh, I dig Burroughs. Can't wait to read his latest snarkful memoir!"

This is NOT a snarkful memoir. This is what it says on the front cover, a self-help book. My heart sank as I realized this, but I figured I'd wade in anyway in the interests of a snarkful review. Ha.

The only self-described self-help books I've ever liked have been by Byron Katie. The rest are useless, warm and fuzzy and in my opinion at least, totally worthless. T...more

13 likes · like · see review

May 16, 2012 Katheter, all the world's a. rated it 2 of 5 stars

In Which Augusten Burroughs Teaches You Merely How to Get Through The Day, Everyday (no small task)...these days add up and up.

Never been a fan of Augusten Burroughs, but I was given this as a joke gift from an extreme optimist to satirize my extreme pessimism. Surprisingly, it's a decent stab at self-help-for-those-who-refuse-help or at the very least induces a few nothing left to lose laughs.

My favorite bits include a new interpretation of confidence and a critique of positive thinking. The s...more

8 likes · like · see review

Aug 17, 2012 Israel Weber rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'd never read Burroughs before. I've never even seen the film based on his book, Running with Scissors. For some reason, I mistakenly placed him on the same pedestal with David Sedaris or Nick Hornby. But wow! AB is much more depressing, much less humorous and uber-serious. I simply didn't enjoy this. It's a "How to", which I thought may have A FEW heavy moments, but no, it's all serious. Then he throws some curve balls, i.e: the chapter on the girl who preceded Rosa Parks which led to Obama. T...more

5 likes · like · see review

Apr 14, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: book-challenge-2012, first-read

This is, without a doubt, the most candid self-help book I have ever read. It covers a vast range of subjects, from how to deal with optimist do-gooders when you're down, all the way to mourning the death of a child. And the ironic part-? All of these situations, the book teaches, can be handled with a single, powerful, simple tool:

Absolute honesty with yourself.

"This Is How" spends 230 pages repeating the same honesty mantra in so many different ways, that it's a profound experience when it fin...more

10 likes · like · see review

Jul 24, 2012 Brett rated it 2 of 5 stars

While I can respect the energy it must take to write a book - ANY book - and while I admire Augusten Burroughs's skill, I would kindly suggest that he stick to what he does best and leave 'self-help' books to those who do them best. It is obvious that Burroughs is speaking from a place of experience and yet I found his advice facile to the point of making me uncomfortable. If I have learned anything in my life, it is this: we all assimulate life experiences (grief, happiness, anger, pain, etc.)...more

9 likes · like · see review

Jan 09, 2013 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I am not one for self-help books...not a believer in some pat answers to life's myriad amount of questions. But I have to say, this guy makes a lot of sense. I cried during some of this chapters, and even though I still think no cookie-cutter commentary applies to everyone, his advice resonated with me on many levels about a lot of things. I think many people can actually BE helped by his advice, if they would open themselves up to the possibility of change.

1 like · like · see review

May 19, 2013 Sabrina rated it 5 of 5 stars

I enjoy self help books that actually have something to teach, I am quickly bored with hype filled bullshit. This book that I am about to reread, is the be all end all of self help books in my opinion. There are two kinds of people that read self help books, those who want the help and those who want to brag about reading them. I use them as tools..I consider myself relatively self aware but realize that I can always be a better me.

That said, I have been holding myself back and I see this but fe...more I enjoy self help books that actually have something to teach, I am quickly bored with hype filled bullshit. This book that I am about to reread, is the be all end all of self help books in my opinion. There are two kinds of people that read self help books, those who want the help and those who want to brag about reading them. I use them as tools..I consider myself relatively self aware but realize that I can always be a better me.

That said, I have been holding myself back and I see this but felt powerless to make big sweeping changes until recently..but I still felt that weight of something in me disagreeing with my purposeful evolution.
One review on Raptitude.com later I find myself on Amazon.com, ordering it. I read the first half the night I got it and fell in love with the tone and realism in the delivery. He's no holds barred, punch in the gut blunt throughout. It was refreshing, until it got to the parts that were the reason I, wanted and feared, reading this book. Facing the music of my own bullshit for one, and another more fresh pain, losing someone I loved dearly. So for several days I eyed the book on the chair..not picking it up - almost flirting with the thoughts of facing that pain that looks like a mountain.. To find that no..it won't get better, that will always hurt. But the very same words that made me bawl, gave me clarity, words that I could not find, pain that I couldn't name.

"..they are not the only ones that die: you die, too. The person you were when you were with them is gone just as surely as they are.

This is what you should know about losing someone you love. They do not travel alone. You go with them."

I like my epiphanies blunt, I don't want to dig through flowers to get to the meat of it. Serve it up, let me swallow it and go on. This book does that. If you have ever lost a friend because they told you the truth, this book is not for you. It's an in your face, smack you silly, deal with your shit because you have shit to do, serious book.

The candor in his style makes it not at all condescending, it's like talking to that friend whose known you since you were 12 that you trust implicitly to give you time to feel your pain but then swiftly assist you in slapping yourself back to reality if you, for some lie to yourself reason, can't.(less)

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Mar 04, 2013 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, adult-non-fiction

I could not get into Burroughs memoir, Running with Scissors. But, like many others, I was intrigued by the title, and as a matter of morbid curiousity started flipping through this book. Wow! I could not put it down! His dark, bleak world view contained an inner spark of hope that I found facinating.

"Pain is interesting" -- he's so right about that. That quote should be in all book on labor and deliver for new mothers. No one lamments the pain of an intense yoga class, but so many women freak...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Susannah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Zen with swearing.

I liked this, but I think the author must be getting all kinds of criticism for his bold suggestions for anorexia (give your daughter a credit card and make her move out of the house) and the death of a child (given the lack of personal experience). I was pretty impressed with the way he tied a lot of vices--addictions, eating disorders, etc.--together and found a unifying solution that makes lots of sense: "Will power" lasts about two weeks; you have to want to be sober, thin,...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Kristen rated it 3 of 5 stars

This read like a cross between a memoir and self-help. For the record, I didn't know this was a self-help book when I'd ordered it.
As far as self-help goes, it has a tough-love 'get over yourself' kick-in-the-ass approach which I believe self-loathers are much more apt to respond to than the gentle and encouraging "you-can-do-it" crock o' bull.
The memoir aspects are of course witty and entertaining and why - if such a fuck-up can get by then surely we all can too right?
I'd recommend this readin...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 28, 2013 Allie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: american, enlightening, memoir, postmodernity, self-help

Hilarious book. Burroughs is incredibly aware of the nuances of human self-deception. If you're a pathological person, you might need to read this.

"Real optimism is not the pep talk you give yourself. It is earned through the labor involved in emotional housekeeping."

"...are these negative feelings you're experiencing the results of something in your life right now? Or have they been simmering away in your cauldron of mental sickness for years and years?"

"If you spend twenty years trying to get...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars

When I first picked this up and looked at the title, I thought it was going to be similar to what Augusten Burroughs usually writes, you know like “Running with Scissors” – shocking, hilarious and a little bizarre. But no, this is actually a self-help book - and to tell you the truth, I’m not at all disappointed. In fact, I would go so far as to say (IMHO) this is one of the best books of its ilk that I have ever come across.
If you’ve ever wondered “how am I going to survive this?”, in ‘This is...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Katy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Since I was thirteen years old, I've had an interest in self-improvement, or perhaps the psychology behind why the problems, mistakes, and pain of our lives can become the only way we see life - whether we caused it ourselves or it was caused by a loved one. In my time reading these books that were supposedly cures to - ultimately, feel like a better person, or someone who can conquer feelings of isolation, guilt, loner, and even the pain that had been caused in our lives. They all told me to lo...more Since I was thirteen years old, I've had an interest in self-improvement, or perhaps the psychology behind why the problems, mistakes, and pain of our lives can become the only way we see life - whether we caused it ourselves or it was caused by a loved one. In my time reading these books that were supposedly cures to - ultimately, feel like a better person, or someone who can conquer feelings of isolation, guilt, loner, and even the pain that had been caused in our lives. They all told me to look for religion in certain ways or to be spiritual, I had to do this and this. The books I read, and like I said there were plenty, felt more like things I was forcing upon myself to deal with the past rather than ways to heal it.

When I'd just about giving up on reading good "self-help" books I checked out This Is How by Augusten Borroughs. And, I think it's one of the very few books I've read that have spoken to me on so many levels.

Almost every chapter I learned something new about myself. Almost every page I had several ah-ha moments. Borroughs doesn't sugarcoat life. Some of what he says may offend you in the way he explains how to just deal with your shit. But, all that he writes makes sense.

I can't even say which chapter is my favorite. How To Love, How To Feel Like Shit, How To Be Thin, How To Be Confident. I'm only halfway through the book right - partially because I'm very busy but also I think a small piece of me is trying to hang on to reading the rest to savor it.

If there's one book, or one thing, I'm asking for this Christmas - if my family can afford it, it's this book. Because I can't wait to write in the margins, highlight my favorite lines, and use this for the rest of my life as reference of moving on with life and going with the flow.

I really think if there's one book every college student should read - especially a college student who have may have had a dysfunctional family, horrible relationships, crappy friendships or distorted body image - all things I've experienced. Or if you have something in your past or future that terrifies the crap out of you - you may find some answers. It's this one.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 29, 2012 Molly rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-non-fiction, audiobooks

Audiobook.

I don't get it. The title sounds like a self-help book, the call number was in the humor section, and what it actually felt like was a self-help book that was trying to be funny but failed. Furthermore, to me, the vibe I got from reading this was one of contempt for people who read self-help books. It felt like the author thought, 'oh my god, it's so easy- just GET OVER IT- look, i'll write a book that even says that- problem solved.' I realize he has lived through more than his share...more

3 likes · like · see review

Oct 11, 2012 Craig added it

I had not yet joined Goodreads when I purchased "This is How" and it is possible that I might not have made the purchase if I read the most recent review showing on my page right now. I would have saved my money and waited for the book to be available for free through the library because I still would have wanted to read it eventually, having read all of Burroughs' previous books.

I am going to add only a very brief critique to the catalog of reviews that are already on the site. I echo a sentime...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Marie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Big fat thumbs down. I was so disappointed. Mr. Burroughs, I think you've gotten a little big for your britches, sir! There has always been some egotism to your writing, but it was in a dark twisty way. This... this is like you've discovered the keys to the kingdom yourself. You bash a particular 12 step program, yet most of what you ramble off in what is supposed to be this shocking "can he really say that" way, has the same principles & foundations learned in other places... some of which...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Dan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm reading through "This is How" by Augusten Burroughs for the second time now, and I have to say I love it. I hope you do too.

One caveat to begin with: I've never read an Augusten Burroughs book before. Going in, I had little idea what to expect. Sure, I'd read some reviews by people who say that Burroughs is 'hilarious', that they love EVERYTHING he writes -- well, except for this book. This book is, apparently, an anomaly.

Well, I like it.

"This is How" is sometimes spoken of as a self-help...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Meghan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Having never read any of Burroughs other books, I was pretty clueless on what to expect. Overall, I liked the book because it made me think. He gives his opinion pretty straight, and when someone is that forward, it really makes you question if you agree with him or not. He writes as if he were talking to you, which makes it an easy read. I think I would enjoy having a conversation with him, and being able to stop him and disagree from time to time. Even though some of my feelings/beliefs differ...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Mimi Jones rated it 4 of 5 stars

Funny, wise. A collection of essays about how to cope with the wide array of challenges mentioned in the subtitle. Burroughs has survived a lot - an abusive childhood, suicidal intentions, alcoholism, and the death of his lover. So he writes with knowledge and compassion. And also with laugh-out-loud wit. For instance, talking about people who bemoan their inability to find their soul mate while being unwilling to venture beyond the six-square-mile range that, research has shown, most of us conf...more Funny, wise. A collection of essays about how to cope with the wide array of challenges mentioned in the subtitle. Burroughs has survived a lot - an abusive childhood, suicidal intentions, alcoholism, and the death of his lover. So he writes with knowledge and compassion. And also with laugh-out-loud wit. For instance, talking about people who bemoan their inability to find their soul mate while being unwilling to venture beyond the six-square-mile range that, research has shown, most of us confine ourselves within, he says: "Maybe you aren't even aware of how small a geographic circle you live in. But until you stretch your borders just a little, you can't say you've so much as lifted a finger when it comes to finding love. What you've done is wait for love to quit its job, apply for work as a FedEx driver, and put in a request to work on your particular route. This isn't leaving it in God's hands; this is tying God's hands behind His back."

There is a lot of very good sense in his advice and most of it boils down to: Always seek the truth, face it, tell it.

Burroughs' book becomes truly transcendent starting with the chapter "How to Be Sick" in which he speaks, from personal experience, about loving someone with a terminal disease and accompanying your loved one to death. He offers the striking insight that, once the shock of the diagnosis has been absorbed, life can actually be really OK. Until, of course, it's not. "George no longer worked and could not leave the house. I wouldn't have noticed this unless I paused to realize it. We were so busy with a life that certainly would have looked horrifying to anybody peering through the window. I had spent all those years dreading what were now the best times we'd ever shared....It didn't matter that he couldn't go outside. We had all we needed inside. It was very warm and comfortable there, in the heart of the fatal disease. I hadn't expected that." He concludes this moving essay by identifying the rare gift that can lie at the heart of this shared experience -- a diamond, hard, brilliant, and found nowhere else. (less)

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Aug 16, 2012 Marcia rated it 3 of 5 stars

This would be a great book to discuss chapter by chapter. Some of the ideas are intriguing. I don't think a parent of a teenage girl with anorexia is going to kick her out of the house and tell her she is on her own. I know I wouldn't. But, the idea that a people have to take their own initiative to reach emotional health, non-addiction, personal fulfillment is not a bad idea. Yet, I couldn't help to be disturbed by some of the chapters. Would a mother who only lost her son to alcohol be comfort...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reference-how-to, nonfiction, auto-biography

It'll probably sound silly, but I wasn't quite expecting this to be a self-help book. I've read (and really enjoyed) some of his previous books which were autobiographical. It's because of those other books and the experiences he related that I believe his insights in this book have a lot of merit.

If you're asking yourself, "What qualifications does Burroughs have to write a self-help book?" go read Running With Scissors and Dry.

Simply put, this is my kind of self-help book. A bit cynical, some...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Mokamonkey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-books

This is self-help, but in a raw, unsophisticated (or maybe I should say un-professional psychologist), and, therefore, more appealing way. I like the often edgy examples and anecdotes the author uses to illustrate his ideas. I also agree with some of his advice. Self afirmations probably aren't useful in themselves, but I think they can be helpful if they aren't just uttered mindlessly, but with conviction behind them that you will make changes necessary to achieve that goal. I know I've persona...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Jo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: self-help-how-to

Very frank advice on some of the most painful experiences ever. But he talks sense, mainly from having gone through stuff himself.

QUOTES:
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This is how you survive the unsurvivable, this is how you lose that which you cannot bear to lose, this is how you reinvent yourself, overcome your abusers, fulfill your ambitions and meet the love of your life: by following what is true, no matter where it leads you.

Even the most terrible loss doesn't have to make you darker; it can make you deeper.

Like...more

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Jul 04, 2012 Alisha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Plain and simple: The best self help book ever, if you want to hear the blunt truth.

I loved this book, I gave it a shot because I had read Running with Scissors and liked his honesty about his dysfunctional life. If you have not read anything else that he's done, this may not be the person you want to take advice from. You kind of have to understand where he came from.

There is a chapter in this book called 'How to Find Love'. Although this speaks to me, I was skeptical because of so many other s...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Daniella rated it 4 of 5 stars

I can't even remember the last time I picked up a self-help book unironically. I wouldn't have even considered reading this one if it weren't for the fact that I've read everything else Augusten Burroughs has put out (except for Sellevision), even his incredibly painful books like "A Wolf at the Table" and "Dry."

Rank this one as "less painful than A Wolf at the Table" but "more painful than Dry." Even so, I'm going to recommend it to anyone in my life who I think is beyond "needing advice" and l...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Lisa rated it 2 of 5 stars

When I bought this book in Dulles Airport, I thought the title was satirical. It isn't.
Augusten Burroughs is being sincere. Not his best tone. And yet, for all that, I genuinely liked the guy I encountered in these pages. I admired the (I think misguided) sense of civic duty that motivated him to dispense his inarguably wise advice. As the mother of teenage boy, I do my best to dispense wise advice every day, yet even as the words leave my mouth, I know they are being transmitted on the Charlie...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Patti rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, memoir

There are a lot of people out there saying this book sucked because it wasn't funny. While it wasn't what I expected either (it's an honest-to-goodness self-help-type book), I found it really insightful. Sure, he doesn't have a degree in therapy or psychology, but the guy has been through A LOT - and personally, I'd rather take my advice from someone who's been there than someone who has simply been trained to say the right thing.

It started out slow and strange for me, but by midway through I w...more

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About Augusten Burroughs

Augusten Burroughs born Christopher Robison, son of poet and writer Margaret Robison and younger brother of John Elder Robison.

Burroughs has no formal education beyond elementary school. A very successful advertising copywriter for over seventeen years, he was also an alcoholic who nearly drank himself to death in 1999. But spurned by a compulsion he did not understand, Burroughs began to write a...more Augusten Burroughs born Christopher Robison, son of poet and writer Margaret Robison and younger brother of John Elder Robison.

Burroughs has no formal education beyond elementary school. A very successful advertising copywriter for over seventeen years, he was also an alcoholic who nearly drank himself to death in 1999. But spurned by a compulsion he did not understand, Burroughs began to write a novel. Never outlining or consciously structuring the book, Burroughs wrote, "as fast as I could type, to keep up." Seven days later, Augusten Burroughs had written his first book. He had also stopped drinking. The book was published one year later. Burroughs remains sober to this day. And Sellevision stands as Burroughs's only published novel. It is currently in development as a feature film.

Augusten's second book was a memoir. It was also a publishing phenomenon that helped to ignite a kind of memoir fever in America and abroad. Running with Scissors was released in 2001 to virtually unanimous critical acclaim. The memoir would ultimately remain on the New York Times bestseller list for over four consecutive years, eight months of which were spent in the #1 position. The film, starring Annette Benning, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jill Clayburgh and Alec Baldwin was released in 2005.

He has since published four additional autobiographical volumes (Dry, Possible Side Effects, Magical Thinking and A Wolf at the Table), all of them bestsellers. Currently published in over thirty countries, Augusten's book readings have become massively popular events on numerous continents. He has also headlined for the most prestigious literary festivals in the world, most recently the 2008 Melbourne writer's Festival, where he and Germaine Greer delivered the keynote addresses on opening night. In addition, Burroughs speaks regularly at colleges and universities on topics ranging from alcoholism and sexual abuse to the art of authoring one's own life and humor as serious medicine.

Twice honored by Entertainment Weekly as one of 25 funniest people in America, Burroughs shocked fans and the media alike with the release of A Wolf at the Table in early 2008. The brutal, terrifying and decidedly unfunny book instantly generated a storm of publicity and controversy. Critics were deeply divided, and the book received some of the worst -and best- reviews of the author's career. The book tour for A Wolf at the Table, spanned some six months and four countries, as Augusten performed for the largest crowds of his career. A Wolf at the Table is Augusten's bestselling hardcover to date.

While critics continue to challenge the veracity of Burroughs's books, questioning everything from his alcoholism and advertising career to his earliest childhood memories, the author remains nonplussed, even philosophical. "To be a journalist with a major American newspaper or magazine, you have to have an A-list college education. And to get into that A-list college, you had to do very well in the right high school. So the chances are, you were not being fucked up the ass at age twelve by a pedophile. The facts of my life are generally questioned by extremely privileged and well-educated people who, more likely than not, learned most of what they know about life's dangerous, shocking and sometimes unbelievable underbelly from books, television and the occasional Quentin Tarrantino film. The reason my books continue to sell, despite frequently being dismissed as "unbelievable," is because the people who read my books recognize the truth that is in them. They know the scent. They have smelled it. The very details the media view with such suspicion are the same details that prove to my reader, this guy was there. I remember that, too."

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“If you have one parent who loves you, even if they can't buy you clothes, they're so poor and they make all kinds of mistakes and maybe sometimes they even give you awful advice, but never for one moment do you doubt their love for you--if you have this, you have incredibly good fortune.

If you have two parents who love you? You have won life's Lotto.

If you do not have parents, or if the parents you have are so broken and so, frankly, terrible that they are no improvement over nothing, this is fine.

It's not ideal because it's harder without adults who love you more than they love themselves. But harder is just harder, that's all.” — 59 people liked it

“The truth is that nobody is owed an apology for anything. Apologies are lovely when they happen. But they change nothing. They do not reverse actions or correct damage. They are merely nice to hear.” — 45 people liked it

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title link	preview: This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.
avg rating	preview: This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, L Goodreads rating: 3.56 (3680 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13167087-this-is-how?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344317003l/13167087.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13167087-this-is-how?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike. by Augusten Burroughs[/url]

This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.

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