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Magical Thinking: True Stories
by Augusten Burroughs

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79790.Magical_Thinking_True_Stories?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Magical Thinking: True Stories" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170971510m/79790.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79790.Magical_Thinking_True_Stories?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Magical Thinking: True Stories</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3058.Augusten_Burroughs">Augusten Burroughs</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24727341?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 4 of 5 stars 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 a bit of a bald-headed-douche.
 
 But I don't care. Reading his stuff is kind of like watching TV, in that you don't really need to be THAT mentally engaged and it isn't going to change your life; but it will momentarily amuse you. And it does. Also.. to continue with the TV analogy.. he's a bit of a bad person in the way that everyone on Seinfield was a bad person. Which is amusing to read about, at least, but I don't really want to be bffs with this guy in person (Sedaris, I kind of do.. so that's another difference..)
 
 Anyway. This is perfect gym-reading.. something to read whilst on the elliptical machine or treadmill.. it's distracting and amusing enough to hold my attention but not so much so that I can't focus on something else at the same time. So..good times. I will definitely be reading more of his writing. 
 
 Also Chip Kidd designs this guys covers. Yaychipkidd.
 
 Also! You'd think this guy would be a little more...practical. I mean, just in general, being a person of his age, with his background. In one of the stories he like.. visciously kills a "rat/thing" that was in his bathtub... though he admits in the essay that it was more of a "tiny mouse" than a "rat/thing". The death was brutal. Poor mouse-erson. Also.. when there was a possum in his backyard he just thought HOW DO WE KILL IT. I'm like WHATS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU RODENT KILLER?! At least he realized it and made some kind of remark about how Americans think it's an acceptable strategy to kill things that displease them. Anyway..Burroughs.. for next time... catch it in a box and release it outside (the mouse, I mean.. the possum I don't know) instead of subjecting it to a horrible slow death. 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/65207?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Shannon's review
rating:
bookshelves: lulz, short-stories

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 a bit of a bald-headed-douche.

But I don't care. Reading his stuff is kind of like watching TV, in that you don't really need to be THAT mentally engaged and it isn't going to change your life; but it will momentarily amuse you. And it does. Also.. to continue with the TV analogy.. he's a bit of a bad person in the way that everyone on Seinfield was a bad person. Which is amusing to read about, at least, but I don't really want to be bffs with this guy in person (Sedaris, I kind of do.. so th...more 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 a bit of a bald-headed-douche.

But I don't care. Reading his stuff is kind of like watching TV, in that you don't really need to be THAT mentally engaged and it isn't going to change your life; but it will momentarily amuse you. And it does. Also.. to continue with the TV analogy.. he's a bit of a bad person in the way that everyone on Seinfield was a bad person. Which is amusing to read about, at least, but I don't really want to be bffs with this guy in person (Sedaris, I kind of do.. so that's another difference..)

Anyway. This is perfect gym-reading.. something to read whilst on the elliptical machine or treadmill.. it's distracting and amusing enough to hold my attention but not so much so that I can't focus on something else at the same time. So..good times. I will definitely be reading more of his writing.

Also Chip Kidd designs this guys covers. Yaychipkidd.

Also! You'd think this guy would be a little more...practical. I mean, just in general, being a person of his age, with his background. In one of the stories he like.. visciously kills a "rat/thing" that was in his bathtub... though he admits in the essay that it was more of a "tiny mouse" than a "rat/thing". The death was brutal. Poor mouse-erson. Also.. when there was a possum in his backyard he just thought HOW DO WE KILL IT. I'm like WHATS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU RODENT KILLER?! At least he realized it and made some kind of remark about how Americans think it's an acceptable strategy to kill things that displease them. Anyway..Burroughs.. for next time... catch it in a box and release it outside (the mouse, I mean.. the possum I don't know) instead of subjecting it to a horrible slow death. ...less

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