Author Study

I joined forces with John to do our author study. MY plan of not researching worked very well. Not only did I not do any work, but I didn't have to argue with John about who we should pick. It turned out that the guy he found is very, very interesting.

Augusten Burroughs lived a very rough childhood, which became the inspiration for his writing. Almost all of his books are memoirs, so his early life would have had to be very important. His parents were both writers, but split up while Burroughs was just a child. Burrough's parent's psychiatrist adopted and took care of Burroughs. His reflections on life became his main theme, but he didn't present it in a horrible, feeling-sorry-for-himself way. Burroughs makes his literature funny. In one instanse, he tells about how sometimes, though his parents weren't religious, they would use Jesus' full name: Jesus Fucking Christ. That night, he prayed to Jesus Fucking Christ. Things like this made Burroughs considered the 15th out of 25 of the funniest writers on earth.

I was talking to a friend of mine, who knew who Augusten Burroughs was. She said, "Yeah! That's the guy who wrote Running With Scissors!" She told me that it was a really funny book, and movie. Since this is one of Burroughs' most famous books (possibly because it is also a movie), both John and I are going to read it. I will borrow it from this friend, who has and likes it.