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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2005 14:04:39 GMT
Have recently finished reading Dry, the sequel to Running with Scissors - about the time he spent as a recovering alcoholic. Good points:
[/li][li] Has made complete self-absorption a good thing [/li][li] Quite amusing [/li][li] Endless selection of buff hotties constantly passing through his life/autobiographies.
Bad points:
[/li][li] Not half as clever as he thinks he is.
I mean, they're readable and reasonably funny, but I just don't understand his desire to make a joke and then sit around explaining how funny the joke was for the next two sentences. This kind of puts me off them. But! They are still very good. What a conundrum. Anyone else have an opinion?
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Post by klee on Mar 21, 2005 14:55:41 GMT
I haven't read Dry yet, but Running With Scissors made my hair stand up on end.
In that book's case I think the utter absurdity of the subject matter overcame the writer's own tics (e sounded like a decidedly odd child to me, anyway). Funny but chilling, in the way that only 'true' stories can be.
I was quite upset when I saw my first picture of the author, mind. He wears baseball caps. Oh dear.
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Post by pauliepoos on Sept 15, 2005 18:42:23 GMT
I read Dry over a few days last week at at one point threw the book across the room. I then spend the weekend drunk (it was Mardi Gras!) and still can't imagine how anyone can drink that much.
I've just bought Magical Thinking and have yet to read Running With Scissors (knowing that Gwyneth Paltrow, Annette Bening, Vanessa Redgrave, Alec Baldwin and Joseph Fiennes as his abuser are in the film will probably colour things for me)
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Post by groopie on Sept 16, 2005 10:56:49 GMT
I read 'Dry' a couple of weeks ago. Tip for anyone who hasn't read it - don't use it as your on the way to work book, you will find yourself desperate for a pint at 9 o'clock in the morning.
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Post by smellslikesomeghost on Jan 13, 2006 15:24:57 GMT
I am currently reading "Running with scissors" and have "Dry" to read after. I had been looking forward to it as I had David Sedaris in mind for some reason. Sadly no comparison can be made. I also am a bit... shocked (which isn't the right word but I can't quite think what would be), not in a prudish way, but because I had no expectation that it would be like this. He writes in a very bitty style, jumping from one anecdote to another with no flow. Yet it is an easy read that I will persevere with. I think it's all so unbelievable (turd reading etc) that knowing that it is purportedly truth makes it far more readable than if it were fiction. That makes me wonder how succesful his novel is.
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Post by zaffra on May 9, 2006 14:42:22 GMT
I read his novel Sellevision recently - about a home shopping channel, at best it felt like a C4 home grown sit com, it made me smile and was amusing but really should have gone a bit further with the satire. It was a bit too predictable.
Trashy and an easy read but the subject matter made this a given.
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zsazsagabortion
Slabface
holographic hollyoaks hunks calendar 2007
Posts: 8
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Post by zsazsagabortion on Aug 28, 2006 12:06:43 GMT
ugh, god, so dull. quirky, my-fucked-up-life, bitter but sadistically funny, debatably truthful autobiographies have been done 100 times over and a lot more interestingly than his.
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Post by audrey notwhatsheusedtobe on Apr 3, 2007 13:44:17 GMT
Fopp are selling all his books at £3 at the moment and I remember seeing his name mentioned on here, so I got 'Possible Side Effects'. 'Running With Scissors' didn't appeal so much as I don't like reading about traumatic childhoods and I thought this would be more Sedaris-like. Hmm so far it's quite enjoyable, but no way as funny or as clever. I was quite upset when I saw my first picture of the author, mind. He wears baseball caps. Oh dear. In my book, there is no baseball cap on show, but he just looks like a bit of a twat. I'm not keen on author photos in general and this highlights why it's a bad idea. That said, not a bad writer, but then I still have much of the book to go. I think that being compared to Sedaris would backfire for most folks.
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Post by polyannapolyfilla on Apr 3, 2007 14:08:09 GMT
I'm not keen on author photos in general. Obviously you have never seen the many and varied works of art that can be found on the back cover (sometimes inside, sometimes outside - she likes to keep the reader in their toes) of a Danielle Steel book. They are often themed around the subjet of the book. She thinks of everything!
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Post by pauliepoos on Apr 3, 2007 17:29:55 GMT
I bought Possible Side Effects for £3 in Fopp but it'll have to wait until I finish The Amber Spyglass.
Vanity Fair did a great article on the Running With Scissors family a few months ago, and exclusively revealed how, they claim, Augusten Burroughs (real name Christopher Robison) fabricated most of what happened in the book, and how their lives have been ruined as everyone in their community knows who they are and how they were alleged to have lived their lives.
Augusten claimed that it was all true, and that he had proof as he had kept journals throughout that time, yet when he was asked to produce them, he said he'd destroyed them during one of his alcoholic hazes.
I thought Sellevision was vaguely amusing, but there's just something about him that I dislike. But I still plan to see the film at the end of the month when it's on here.
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Post by audrey notwhatsheusedtobe on Apr 10, 2007 10:12:10 GMT
Well, in all I found 'Possible Side Effects' to be a rather enjoyable read and it did make me chortle in places. It got better as it went on. I particularly liked the tales of Druggy Debby, the personal ad guy with the white shoes and Augusten's brother. ... the many and varied works of art that can be found on the back cover (sometimes inside, sometimes outside - she likes to keep the reader in their toes) of a Danielle Steel book. They are often themed around the subjet of the book. She thinks of everything! I have to check this out!
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