Running with Scissors

In this unforgettable, and by turns hilarious and harrowing memoir, Augusten Burroughs recounts the bizarre events of his childhood. After his parents' divorce, his mother, a delusional poet, left him in the care of her psychiatrist, a man who might have benefited from a little therapy himself. Suddenly, at age twelve, Augusten found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian mansion with the doctor's bizarre family and a few patients. In the psychiatrist's house, there are no rules, only chaos. The Christmas tree stayed up until summer, Valium was eaten like Pez and, if things got dull, there was always the vintage electroshock-therapy machine under the stairs...

Running with Scissors is a true story, compelling and maniacally funny. Above all, it chronicles an ordinary boy's survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

About the Author

Augusten Burroughs, author of the bestselling memoir Running With Scissors, was born in Pittsburg in 1965. Raised in Massachusetts, he has lived in Boston, San Francisco, Chicago and New York. Augusten has been a dog trainer, candy store clerk, waitor, sail cutter, store detective and, since the age of 19, an advertising copywriter.

Augusten also happens to be the eighteenth grandson of King James The Second of Scotland. Although this has done him exactly no good in life. He now lives in Manhattan with his better half Dennis, and their beast, Bentley. His other books include A Wolf at the Table; Running With Scissors; Dry; Possible Side Effects; Magical Thinking; and Sellevision.