Stories for Christmas by Augusten Burroughs (2010-09-28)

Don't introduce yourself to Burroughs with this one, but if you appreciate the art of his prose, you'll enjoy this volume as well. The stories follow the standard arc of Burroughs' life, providing vignettes from childhood through the present.

This book is barely one star. I will probably not finish reading it. I am past the halfway point. I found his story of Santa Claus disgusting. I am not homophobic, but this was just way beyond what I expected in this book. I had never read Burroughs before and now I know I never will. I thought this would be a whimsical and fun holiday book. It is depraved! Be warned!

Reviewed by J.Litman (New York)
How many people does it take to change one light bulb? How many books does it take to tell your life story? Having read Mr. Burroughs' other memiors, I thought I knew everything there was to know about his life; but apparently not! Using Christmas time as the running setting, Mr. Burroughs continued to enrich our knowledge of his various life experiences. In this short collection of recollection stories, the reader laughs, smiles, ponders, and is left dazed by the weirdness of Mr. Burroughs' life. Who wakes up with a 65 year old French speaking Santa in his bed? Who attempts to eat the face off of a Santa statue? Who turns a gingerbread house into a gingerbread tenement? Chapters 3 and 5 were forgettable; however, chapters 6 and 7 were memorable. Two quotes from Mr. Burroughs' writing stands out for me: (1) "Nothing worth having comes easy" and (2) "I attract disaster!" He certainly does in this book. Enough is enough with the memiors Mr. Burroughs; please write about something else.

What imbecile would pay $500.00 dollars for this book when you can buy this all day long for under $10.00?? Please the store get these kind of sellers off this site!!

This review in no way is about the book which I love and can't recommend highly enough but come on with that price even a signed copy which this is not wouldn't be worth that unless Mr. Burroughs himself brought it to my door.

I am giving this a ONE STAR FOR THE SELLER NOT THE BOOK

Mr. Burroughs's stories may well be worth recording, but his vocal delivery of his own words is monstrously annoying. He reads in a painfully slow fashion and over-enunciates as if he were a mentally-challenged child at theater camp. Then there are the misfired inflections and ill-placed pauses, like he'd simply run out of oxygen or energy. Maybe there are fans who find this sort of thing charmingly idiosyncratic. I just find it terribly annoying.

Augusten Burroughs is a terrific storyteller, and he tells some wonderful stories in You Better Not Cry. Burroughs is at his best when writing about his unconventional childhood, and the first story in this book is a great example of that. This is a great collection of essays for any time of the year.

A continuation of the f'ed up lifeof Augusten Burroughs. I was hesitant in buying this at first, but I enjoyed it- not as much as his others. Really, I found myself feeling bad for him more than anything.

This book starts out great - very amusing and well written. Lots of funny anecdotes about his youth. Then, suddenly, he's an adult and the whole second half focuses on his homosexual relationships! Bizarre.