Love this every time I listen to it -- amazing book, my favorite memoir, and could listen to Burroughs tell his stories all day while picturing us snarky at a NYC cafe. One of my nostalgic comfort audiobooks.

Should’ve saved this one ‘til January, huh????

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I snatched this selection by Burroughs when I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to walk to next during my lunch hour/on the weekends. I’ve had much success with his work before, but I have never listened to him. This wasn’t my fave, but it held my attention and that’s pretty much the only thing that I need for an audiobook to be a winner right now. And I listened to it in November, so yay me I'm smart and read nonfiction ; )

(I will say he’s atrocious at accents, so in spite of this being some bleak subject matter anytime he tried to be British or Southern my first inclination was to laugh – which just reaffirms I’m a heartless monster.)

Sequel to Running with Scissors in which Mr Burroughs despite no formal education and the most screwed up childhood manages to obtain a high powered advertising job and lives in Manhattan. He's now an alcoholic and Dry tells the story of his struggle with this, going to rehab, AA meetings, relapsing etc. Reading this though I could only think what a self absorbed horrible wanker. And he details everything - not sure how ethical that is, what does the second A in AA stand for afterall? He's nasty about his fellow addicts and after about 100 pages I just hated the guy and was willing him to mess up and start drinking again.

Apparently, I am drawn to books written by gay men. I've never read any of Burroughs' work before, but own a copy of "Running with Scissors" that looked good from the dust jacket summary. This one makes me laugh and question whether I, too, might be an alcoholic since I've justified my drinking with many of the same excuses: "That person criticizing me never has any fun," "What else am I supposed to do in my 20's?" and my favorite, "I hate people who don't drink." For the record, I am NOT an alcoholic. But if my boss sent me to rehab for 30 days I would be like, "Cool, 30 days paid vacation? Thanks!"

P.S. Now that I've finished I can comment more about the whole book. First off, 30 days of rehab no longer sounds like fun. It sounds like an extended version of a church lock-in I attended in high school that was full of awful self-esteem boosting exercises. Everyone talks about their feelings all day. No wonder they all wanted to drink more than anything in the world.

It was heartbreaking and funny, although I suppose the progression of the author's alcoholism from denial to acceptance to sobriety to relapse and back again was exactly the formula I expected. Imagine how bad the reviews would have been if he went to rehab and came out still thinking it was a load of garbage that did not teach him anything?

I suppose it was inspiring if you need help warding off the drink, but I'm not going there. I love the drink. I will say I could relate to the author's addiction to Foster, the hot crack addict. And I cried twice while listening to passages about Pighead, the author's best friend with HIV.

I loved this book! A family member recommended it to me and I thanked her for doing so. This is the story of Augusten Borroughs's journey to overcome his addiction to alcohol. He is an advertising copywriter and it's clear he knows how to tell a compelling story. I loved the nuances and descriptors in his stories. I'd recommend it even if one is not going through recovery.

I can't really say if I "liked" Dry or not. It felt true. It felt like a grown up dysfunction that I first read in Running With Scissors. So maybe being Mormon shades my feelings ever so slightly with the book ("Rick is Mormon and although this is not a reason to hate him, I hate all Mormons as a result of knowing Rick"). I kinda of felt like I wasn't really who Burroughs wanted reading his books.

However that doesn't change how much I appreciate his honesty. The reason it feels true to me, just like Scissors, is that he is not like-able through a good chunk of the book. He is rude, he is a sloppy drunk, and he is incredibly self centered. It's in such a way though, that even though I never drink, I can relate. It is human and real.

I will continue to read his books. He makes me laugh. He impresses me, that he is functioning and alive after everything he has been through in his life. So I suppose that means I liked it.

And I sincerely apologize to Augusten for being Mormon, I hope he doesn't mind that I read and enjoy his books. I like to think I'm nothing like Rick. But to be honest I like to think I'm not like Mormons either... So maybe he won't mind.

I read Running With Scissors years ago and loved it - didn't even realize that there was another book until this one came up on the Book Deals list - this book was a continuation but didn't feel like it (in ways) but just as real, just as funny, just as brilliantly written as his first book.

I was so moved by his struggle with alcoholism and dealing with the illness of his best friend. But he injects so much humor into everything he writes - his descriptions of going to rehab and the people he meets there had me laughing until I cried.


Really an amazing book and so beautifully written - raw and profane in places but just so real.

(Mid March).....Dear Book Cover,
I love you and I'm sorry it had to end this way. Remember when we first met? Remember how I tried to overlook you again and again but finally I broke down and pulled you off the shelf and you asked me to touch you, so I did. I spread my fingers and placed my palm flat across you. And then remember how I used my fingers to push up the palm and drug just my finger tips from the top to the bottom? and of course, the inevitable - the quick pull to the cheeck. The glances from side to side to make sure no one in the bookstore was looking and then, the eyes-closed-full-taking-in of your smooth matteness. Those were good times, I wont deny it - but it's over now.

Dear inside of book,
lets not kid ourselves, it was only a physical attraction and in the end that is never enough.

*I found my brothers real life drug rehab stories to be more compelling (sarah, remember the kid that tried to prove his "recovery" by barking like a dog?)

*the was OK, whatever but I kept getting irritated with Burroughs for over explaining things. i.e. "He's a sex addict, I remember. And suddently, he ceases being a person and takes on the appearance of an anonymous roadside restroom stall." here enters one of the many overstatements that irritated the hell out of me, "The kind used by passing truckers for quick sex with people like Kavi."
Well no shit? was Burroughs afraid if he didnt' tell us what "kind" of stall it was, we might think it was a goat stall (the kind used to house goats)?
After three "no shits"! in a 2 page span - I gave up on the book.

(beginning March).... cool. i wanna be an alcoholic too!

"Dry." This book I read the next day... couldn't put it down.

The memoir follows Augusten in his success as a mid-20's creative advertiser, which seems like the most appropriate job between Burrough's self-confessed childhood ideal jobs of hairdresser & writer (in "Running w/ Scissors").

This one has a different flavor altogether, kind of like the Truffaut series of Antoine Doinel films. Eccentricity reigned supreme with the bunch of freaks in "Running w/ Scissors". "Dry" finds more misfits in Manhattan. Here, the psychology of Burroughs, his emotions raw & visceral, are on brilliant display. With age, it seems, comes a different mentality altogether... here is testament.

This one has a great, bulky climax: after Burroughs undergoes now-famous rehab... will he relapse? The reader cannot stop reading to find out exactly this.

The central question, and all the near mistakes Augusten makes keeps the suspense going. It is trainwreck drama/memoir!

Burroughs is a great writer, my second favorite Burroughs as a matter of fact. He can give relevance to any bizarre or tragic event unlike mere observers, like ourselves. He is not, it seems, just a spectator, nor is he, despite the fact that he is a rich Manhattanite, mega pretentious. Egads!

Both books are so different that you cannot believe that they occurred to the same individual. Because they did & because this fact means that our OWN lives are unexpectedly complex, sometimes truly symbolic and difficult to get through, it is a book to read. Clearly, it gives some bizarre sense of hope while remaining uber-entertaining.

Another amazing, honest, fun and funny book by Augusten Burroughs.

I thought it was just about alcoholism so it wouldn't appeal to me (not an alcoholic myself), but it's actually a window into addiction more generally, plus romance, work, friendship, dealing with the past. And that's right up my alley! It's not like Augusten simply goes to rehab and voila he's better. This takes you through the honest fits and setbacks that happen in a real recovery, and how Augusten learns to embrace sobriety.

I hardly write reviews for books, (isn’t that how everyone starts these things?) but this book was unexpected and I think that deserves a review.

When I began reading this book, I was uncomfortable and uneasy about my decision to read this. My eyes went wide and I shook my head, but I couldn’t put it down. This book was special - it had good characters, dark humor, and an ending like I never imagined (I won’t spoil it though).

This book was just the right amount of guilty pleasure and insight into the addict’s mindset. It was personal, but in a way that I didn’t expect. You could see how he changed, and how he didn’t, and how his mind was trying to keep up. You could see his world through fresh eyes and sometimes through half-opened and blurry lids.

Overall, I’m glad that I read this book and although I can not relate to substance abuse or rehabilitation, I can relate to love, to loss, to manic feelings, and to picking myself up when I fail.

"Dry" is Augusten Burroughs' autobiographical account about his life as a drunk while working in advertising in New York City. For the most part, it's a compelling, madcap read, but by the last few chapters, I was starting to tire of his ups and downs. He does have many humorous passages about his time in rehab, probably the most interesting part of the book. But he tends to be murky and vague when writing about his gay love life. The image that comes through is a young guy seeking quick gratification and unwilling or unable to make commitments to either friends or lovers. So any empathy we might have for him in his struggle with alcoholism gets trumped by our distaste for his conceit. Those who have read his first autobiography, "Running with Scissors," (which he references many times) may be inclined to cut him slack, since his childhood was so chaotic. Many alcoholics might question how typical Burroughs' journey was: even when he hit bottom, he never seemed to lack money or a few friends to rely on. For yuppies who manage to hold onto their jobs despite blackouts, the story may ring true. I much preferred his anthology of short stories, "Magical Thinking." He works better in sketching out short episodes than in sustaining a lengthy narrative.