Joanna Topor

Looking at him, you'd never guess that Augusten Burroughs has had the most surreal life imaginable, if he weren't telling you so. In his recently published memoirs, "Running With Scissors" and "Dry," Burroughs took us through a childhood spent growing up in the home of his mother's deranged psychologist, which led to his drinking and sobering up. Sounds depressing, but Burroughs doesn't want you to feel sorry for him; he tells his stories with a sharp, acerbic wit and an air of self-deprecating glee. He doesn't see himself as a survivor, but believes that his environment growing up--along with issues of Tiger Beat and platform shoes--is directly responsible for who he is now. This quasi-morbid yet strangely refreshing self-awareness is still present in his newest offering, a collection of true stories titled "Magical Thinking."

Magical thinking is a psychological term for the notion that you have more influence over people than you actually do, and each story in the collection seems to reaffirm Burroughs's lack thereof. In almost blog-like fashion, Burroughs spends time discussing topics ranging from trying to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming famous by attending a modeling class ("Model Behavior"), to his pseudo-reconciliation with his Asperger's Syndrome-afflicted brother ("Ass Burger").

Burroughs' matter-of-fact approach to his neurosis is refreshing: he laughs at his own misfortunes and narrates them with acceptance. Still, even Burroughs realizes that sometimes he can get carried away. After laying all his psychological stuff on the table for Dennis on their first date, in the aptly titled "My Last First Date," Burroughs quickly realizes that `too much of me too fast is toxic." Nonetheless Dennis, even with his "superior mental health," is drawn to Burroughs--just as readers seem to be.

Magical Thinking: True Stories
by Augusten Burroughs
St. Martin's Press, $23.95, 288 pages

(2004-10-06)

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