You Better Not Cry by Augusten Burroughs

Stars: ****

St. Martin's Press (2009)
224 pages

Summary: You’ve eaten too much candy at Christmas…but have you ever eaten the face off a six-foot-stuffed Santa? You’ve seen gingerbread houses…but have you ever made your own gingerbread tenement? You’ve woken up with a hangover…but have you ever woken up next to Kris Kringle himself? Augusten Burroughs has, and in this caustically funny, nostalgic, poignant, and moving collection he recounts Christmases past and present—as only he could. With gimleteyed wit and illuminated prose, Augusten shows how the holidays bring out the worst in us and sometimes, just sometimes, the very, very best. - from GoodReads

Did you read the summary? I have no idea what gimleteyed is but the stories were pretty funny but more in a "I can't believe that happened" sort of way. I received this book almost a year ago for review but due to the crappy mail system, it came AFTER Christmas, like in February and I didn't feel like reading a Christmas book that much after Christmas.

Augusten Burroughs is the author of the popular Running With Scissors (along with other books.) This however is the first book by him I've read. Augusten had a very interesting life and certainly seems to be cursed during the holidays and I'm not even sure I believe in curses.

I'm not usually a lover of short stories but for some reason I don't seem to mind them at Christmastime. However I have to warn that not everyone will enjoy this book. The stories are dark, about alcoholism, AIDS and death. Also although it doesn't matter to me, the author is gay so his relationships are with other men. I know this bothers some people.

PS - I looked up gimlet-eyed... it means sharp sighted according to Merriam-Webster.

Links of Interest: NONE YET
Other Reviews: Reviews by Lola, The Girl from the Ghetto,

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24-Hour Readathon Mini-challenge: Book Score/Soundtrack

This mini-challenge is from I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read.

Here's what I'm doing:

Choose a song (sung or instrumental) that represents a chapter that you are currently reading or have read during the read-a-thon thus far. If the book was turned into a movie, and this chapter was shown, what music would you want in the background to convey the emotion or environment.

 The book I'm reading is:

Without Sin by J. Tomas (Prizm 2008)
Summary: 16-year-old Jacob Smithson has quite a temper. He’s picked on by other kids because he likes boys, and recent fighting has kicked him out of public school. His parents have placed him in the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Boarding School for Boys. It’s at his first mass at St. Thomas where he sees Avery Dendritch, a senior who serves as altar boy during the service. When they meet, the attraction between them is hard to deny. The two become fast friends, and as the school year progresses, their friendship deepens into something more. For the first time, Jacob has found a place where he belongs ... and someone with whom he’s falling in love. But the other students gossip about their growing relationship, and while Avery can ignore them, Jacob cannot. As the rumors and slurs start up again, can he curb his temper, or will his penchant for fighting get him expelled from St. Thomas, as well?

I myself am not gay but I have no problem reading gay literature. I had a hard time coming up with a good song but I ended up choosing "It's a Sin by The Pet Shop Boys" for the following reasons:

1. The title is "It's a Sin" while the book is "Without Sin." Close but also opposites.
2. It's about being gay although it doesn't directly say that.
3. The video shows nuns and Jacob is at a Catholic boarding school with nuns.
4. This version shows many kids and it's a boarding school.

It's actually quite a catchy song.

Short Review of Many Books

I don't like doing this because I feel I owe a full review to those who sent me books to review but I read these all months ago and got behind on reviews and I just don't remember enough about them to write full length reviews. That's part of why it's taken me so long to get to them. If I don't write some short reviews, I'll never catch up.

Understand that just because I'm putting a bunch of short reviews in one post, doesn't mean these books weren't good or weren't memorable.

Confessions of a Former Child: A Therapist's Memoir by Daniel J. Tomasulo
Stars: ****

This book is exactly what it sounds like, a memoir of a therapist's life from thinking eating seeds will make him pregnant to accidentally locking himself in a psych ward rubber room. Hilarious!

You can read a small excerpt of the book at the author's website.


Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter
Stars: ****

I think most people have heard of this book by now. You can read all about the most famous library cat and all his adventures in the book. You can also check out the webpage. I really enjoyed the book although I didn't like it quite as much as I thought I would because it's not only about Dewey but about the library and the people who run the library too and I guess I felt it should be only about the cat.

Not Remembered Never Forgotten: An adoptee's search for his birth family by Robert Hafetz
Stars: ****

This is a true story, not too long at only about 130 pages. I enjoyed reading it though. The idea behind the title is that although he doesn't remember his birth parents, he's never forgotten them. I think it's quite a poignant title.
A quote from the introduction about why he wrote the book:

"One pictures the smiling baby held by his adopted mother, hugged, nurtured, cherished and kept safe from harm. My adopted family loved me as their own. I coudln't have asked for better parents. What more could a human being ever want? Their love and affection sustains me, and gives me what I need to grow and survive but it doesn't replace what has been lost. I want what others have; a name given at birth, a heritage, and a memory of my mother's face. " - pg. 8

I've read quite a few adoption books, from all different points of view (the adopter, the adoptee, the birth parents) but this is the first one that really made it clear why an adoptee may not be content with not knowing his or her birth parents, no matter how much he or she loves the adopted parents.


Outside the Lavender Closet by Martha A. Taylor
Stars: ***1/2

This is a collection of stories about homosexual women (I don't really like that term but not sure what is the preferred term, hope I haven't offended anyone.) It's really more than that though. The author wanted to get some answers to the age old questions such as "What is it that makes us straight or gay? and Are relationships between two women really all that different than heterosexual ones?"

The stories were mostly quite interesting. One was a bit too long but for the most part, I learned a lot about women to women relationships and it was very interesting. I realize this book is not for everyone but I feel like it helped me to understand these women more.