Pensée magique
by Augusten Burroughs
published
April 28th 2008
by Editions Héloïse d'Ormesson
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binding
Broché, 285 pages
isbn
2350870731
(isbn13: 9782350870731)
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avg 3.91
Read in January, 2008
A few years ago I read Running with Scissors and found it over-the-top but tolerable. Then I read the sequel (Dry) and thought it was okay. Last year, I read Sellevision and detested it, swearing off Burroughs forever. But then I realized something: Burroughs is not a fiction writer – he’s a memoirist. So I decided to give Magical Thinking a chance because Burroughs was going back to his strength, and because rather than a full-length memoir, Magical ...more
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Read in June, 2008
Heh. I bet this guy gets compared to David Sedaris- they have similar writing styles (as in, short memoir-essays), and they are both seen as clever and funny. And they are.. but Sedaris is moreso. Sedaris comes off as charming and a bit self-depriciating; Burroughs (while occasionally realizing his douchy ways) constantly references his horrible childhood as an excuse for some of his less-than-nice behavoir. Which is fair enough in a lot of ways.. but at the same time.. makes him come across as ...more
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Read in May, 2008
I'm really enjoying this book! I can only deal with a collection of short stories when they're about the same person; and in this case the main character of each story is the author, Augusten Burroughs. Who knows if all the details are true, i don't care. What is evident, and wonderful is that the stories are each little gems that i don't want to end. Each chapter has wonderful sentences that make me run into the room where jason is, or poke him on the train, and read aloud.
I also believe ...more
I also believe ...more
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Read in February, 2007
So Anthony bought me this book last weekend and I finished it in 3 days.
It's a collection of his essays, much like the style of David Sedaris. And just like David Sedaris, only a couple of these essays are "laugh out loud" funny.
The first 5 essays feel like he's just trying to fill space in the book with nonsense "what if" stories that are obviously all taking place in his head. This led me constantly think, "I thought this was a memoir based on things that actua...more
It's a collection of his essays, much like the style of David Sedaris. And just like David Sedaris, only a couple of these essays are "laugh out loud" funny.
The first 5 essays feel like he's just trying to fill space in the book with nonsense "what if" stories that are obviously all taking place in his head. This led me constantly think, "I thought this was a memoir based on things that actua...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone with a dark sense of humor
I really love this book. Because the stories are short, pretty quick reads, it's great for those times when you want something to read but have a lot of distractions around. That's why I took it to the DMV with me a few weeks ago when I was getting my driver's license renewed. It was a long wait, and the lobby was packed with all kinds of cranky people and their unruly kids. As I read about Burroughs' experiences dating an undertaker, getting blowjobs by priests and dealing with a psychotic hous...more
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This one, like the others by Burroughs that I've read, is hilarious!
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Read in October, 2008
recommends it for:
sophisticated humor fans, but David Sedaris doesn't compare - sorry, David.
Augusten Burroughs has done it again. He takes chances and his honesty goes over the line. Who cares? He is like Dave Barry on drugs. Slice of life stuff with a lot of twisted thinking that only people that love Burroughs can love. He is writing and saying what you are thinking. He is not afraid to speak his mind about the grittiest and miniscule things about real life. What sums it up is the time slip he mentions in his last story( which I love because they are called stories, but are true, ...more
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Read in November, 2006
According to the opening page of this book: "Magical Thinking: A schizotypal personality disorder attributing to one's own actions something that had nothing to do with him or her and thus assuming that one has a greater influence over events than is actually the case." Hmm, this doesn't sound like anyone we know... and yeah this came out like a year before the Joan Didion book The Year of Magical Thinking, so apparently it is a cultural trope and not just a popular page in the ...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommended to Philip by:
whim
I got this book on a whim after reading all it's praise on the front cover. I mean 237 positive critiques from the worlds most reputable sources can't be all wrong, can they?
Besides, I love David Sedaris, and out of the 237 reviews, 235 of them had a fond comparison.
One of the things that gets under my skin is the way he approaches his homosexuality. It defines him. And he comes across as saying, "I don't want to be defined by my homosexuality, but let me tell you about the cat...more
Besides, I love David Sedaris, and out of the 237 reviews, 235 of them had a fond comparison.
One of the things that gets under my skin is the way he approaches his homosexuality. It defines him. And he comes across as saying, "I don't want to be defined by my homosexuality, but let me tell you about the cat...more
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Read in June, 2008
Heh. I bet this guy gets compared to David Sedaris- they have similar writing styles (as in, short memoir-essays), and they are both seen as clever and funny. And they are.. but Sedaris is moreso. Sedaris comes off as charming and a bit self-depriciating; Burroughs (while occasionally realizing his douchy ways) constantly references his horrible childhood as an excuse for some of his less-than-nice behavoir. Which is fair enough in a lot of ways.. but at the same time.. makes him come across as ...more
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Read in June, 2007
So I already knew I was deeply in love with the writing of Mr. Augusten Burroughs before reading this book (because I had already fallen for Running With Scissors and Dry)...but, this! It touched me on many levels. Man, I even devoted a whole post to it earlier today, but then made it private because I felt it was whiny because I was talking about how I was crying straight for hours as I read it...but it's the truth. I was having a bad night, and sat for two hours reading the book without a wink...more
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recommends it for:
martin gore
Even though this book was recently a best seller it was only 2$ at borders. I was quickly disappointed when i realized it wasn't a series of essays about being manic depressive. It includes only one essay on 'Magical Thinking' and it is more the every day try to concentrate on the plane not crashing if you are scared of while flying sort, not the deeply delusional can hear others thoughts sort I was hoping.
That being said, once I realized what it was, a serious of autobiographical essays, Davi...more
That being said, once I realized what it was, a serious of autobiographical essays, Davi...more
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recommends it for:
everyone
My favorite part of the book, and some of the most profound and prophetic writing ever:
"The truth is, Dennis has no bad qualities and no faults. When he's working late and I'm alone, or sometimes when we're in bed together, the lights off, I try to make even a small list in my mind of his faults: Things I Put Up With Out of Love. But I haven't been able to think of a single thing that I am not able to first overlook and then come to cherish. Even the fact that he sometimes loses things h...more
"The truth is, Dennis has no bad qualities and no faults. When he's working late and I'm alone, or sometimes when we're in bed together, the lights off, I try to make even a small list in my mind of his faults: Things I Put Up With Out of Love. But I haven't been able to think of a single thing that I am not able to first overlook and then come to cherish. Even the fact that he sometimes loses things h...more
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The best way to guarantee exposure in this day and age in the literary world -- or so James Frey's publishers would have you believe -- is to write a memoir. A few years prior to the publication of this book, Burroughs did just that and scored a major bestseller with Running With Scissors. That was followed up with Dry, which chronicled his attempts to become sober. Magical Thinking, on the other hand, details no one particular period of his life, but instead gives us a disjointed look at many d...more
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Read in October, 2004
recommends it for:
people who like memoirs, personal essays, and quirkiness
OK, so some of these memoir-essays are about as unique in their subject matter (dating an undertaker, fending off a psycho cleaning lady) and writing style as the things you'll find on some of the above-average weblogs.
OK, I barely made it through "The Rat/Thing," too -- there's no way to include something like that in a memoir if you still want people to like you after reading it.
OK, so Augusten Burroughs seems to find himself extremely compelling.
Here's the thing -- I fin...more
OK, I barely made it through "The Rat/Thing," too -- there's no way to include something like that in a memoir if you still want people to like you after reading it.
OK, so Augusten Burroughs seems to find himself extremely compelling.
Here's the thing -- I fin...more
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Read in May, 2005
I have a fondness for Augusten Burroughs and his steady stream of memoirs: Running with Scissors, Dry, and now Magical Thinking. This collection of stories isn't as outlandish as his bizarre sojourn with a deranged psychotherapist or as thematically cohesive as his tales of alcoholism and rehab, but he's still got a healthy stock of amusing anecdotes and enchanting turns of phrase (laugh-out-loud funny, touching, wry, sarcastic, self-lacerating, insightful, etc.).
I particularly liked Commercial Break,...more
I particularly liked Commercial Break,...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in May, 2007
It gives me comfort that I'm not the only one with the habit of narcisstically writing about myself for hours everyday.
Sheri gave me this book (and Possible Side Effects) for my birthday last year and I finally got around to reading it. I'm sure I'll read Possible Side Effects soon. The only other Augusten Burroughs book I've not read is Dry. I seem to be the only one of the opinion that the best Augusten Burroughs book is Sellevision, his only "fiction". I don't understand...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
beachgoers, suntanners
I was in Target, looking for some lunchtime reading, and picked this book up at random. (At checkout, I was told that the book had actually already been taken out of their inventory, but they would sell it to me anyway -- how about $5.00? I thought about haggling, as for a Persian rug, but paid $5.00 like a Midwestener.) It was the first book by Augusten Burroughs that I read; he has at least 2 other books out there in print. About halfway through the first chapter, I thought that this book ...more
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I really liked Dry, but i have not been as impressed with Mr. Burroughs other efforts. While I read Magical Thinking, I found myself wondering whether the author was trying to get the reader to like him and to think he was witty. It reminded me of the kid at school who isn't well liked and tries to ingratiate himself to a group of his piers by making fun of someone else (an example-his story about some of his stranger readers) or by telling stories that are (i think)intended to be endearing a...more
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Read in October, 2008
I must make amends to Mr. Burroughs. After I bitched about Running with Scissors and modestly acknowledged that Dry was pretty good, I read Possible Side Effects and had to admit the guy is hilarious. This is just as good. The mousie chapter had me visibly cringing on the train. The housekeeper chapter had me pouring oil all over my wood floors (don't try this at home, kids. Debby must have had some secret formula.) I don't know if Augusten Burroughs can keep churning out bestselling books with ...more
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