How to Make Yourself Feel Less Weird

I first read Augusten Burroughs right before the movie Running with Scissors came out (I have the movie printing of that book). I immediately loved his style and honesty. It's insane, off the wall, frightening, disturbing and uplifting all at once. Burroughs had a topsy-turvy childhood to say the least, and he is a recovering alcoholic.

In Magical Thinking (his third and the one I most recently read), Burroughs is sober, and he finally finds a guy he can truly get serious with. All of his memoirs are really short essays compiled together, so it's a quick read. Most of them are no longer than 10 pages, so it's a good book to pick up for a few minutes and put down if needed.

I will admit he's not always easy to read. He's brutally honest about his flaws, which is probably good for his recovery, but it's not easy to see those flaws in someone else. This one, however, gives hope that he's finally on the right track - and chances are will make you feel like you are REALLY normal.

Talking to Girls about Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield

I absolutely LOVED Sheffield's Love is a Mixed Tape memoir. It was very touching, very witty, and written in my favorite style: reporterese. I've been wanting to read his second one since it came out, but I'm usually too cheap to buy hardcovers. So, on an ill-fated trip to Barnes and Noble last week (it was unsupervised and unplanned, which meant I left with seven books in a bag. Sigh.), I was elated to see it in paperback.

It didn't take long to read (this is why I love reporterese). But, it wasn't as great as the first one. I loved all the chapter titles (I was typically singing the song in my head), but I wasn't always sure on how the title fit the chapter. Sometimes he did a great job of tying it to his life; sometimes, not so much.

It wasn't as heartfelt as the first, which was disappointing. This seemed to just trail his bumbling through girls, and teaching ninth grade, I see enough of that every day.

This one seemed a little forced - one of those "Hey, writer, we as your publisher loved your first one, so do it again." I wish publishers would realize that you can't recreate things like that. That's not how writing works.