If you know me very well, you know that I am a voracious reader and always have been. Reading gives me so much pleasure, it has really been a constant in my life. Going to the library for me is like going to a candy store. I'm still amazed that I get to read all these books for free. I always come out piled to the gills - then I leave some in the car so my husband doesn't see them all! We even have a designated "library book table" in the family room.
Anyway, I have noticed that I often seem to check out David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs at the same time. Maybe they're on the same schedule as far as book releases? For a while I've gotten them kind of mixed up in my head, so I had to think about their similarities.
- They both write about their childhood quite a bit. Sedaris, kind of whacky, Burroughs pretty horrific.
- They are both recovering alcoholics and/or drug addicts.
- They are both gay, in very long-term and committed relationships.
- They both have siblings that also write - Amy Sedaris and John Elder Robison (Burroughs changed his name)
So those are their similarities - but here is the big difference - Sedaris is really laugh out loud funny and Burroughs is sad and dark. Their books that I have just finished reading are A Wolf at the Table, a memoir of my father, Augusten Burroughs, and When you are engulfed in flames, David Sedaris.
Augusten Burroughs had a movie made from his book Running with Scissors- maybe you've seen it? Now when I read about his father, I "see" Alec Baldwin in my head. He plays morose very well.
I recommend both of them but if you want to bust a gut laughing, read Sedaris.
