A while ago, I remembered Miss Graystorm mentioned about Running with Scissors. He seemed to be in insanely love with his books. Insanely? Maybe I am exaggerating. The truth is that he likes them. He finds them hilarious. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get his entry link specifically, only archives based on a month. I will just copy and paste the month of February link. You have to scroll down, until you see February 13, 2006, titled Magical Thinking. The link is here.

Anyway, I was wondering why does he like it so much… I checked the movie trailer out. I can see why he like it. I can see that. I will check that book out some day. I have so many books that I have to read ahead of me. But that book is definitely on my list.

The book, Running with Scissors, is a true story. You can read the summary below:

This memoir chronicles the pre-adolescent and adolescent years of the author, the son of an alcoholic, abusive mathematics professor father and a psychotic Anne Sexton-wannabe confessional poet mother. The only family member who does not abuse the boy in any way is estranged–an older brother with Asperger’s syndrome. Meanwhile, the amount of trauma to which young Burroughs is subjected boggles the mind. Just when one thinks it couldn’t get any worse, it does.

Burroughs, who loves bright, shiny, orderly things, also likes doctors–paragons of cleanliness, virtue and wealth. Unfortunately, his mother’s psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, described as a charismatic Santa Claus-look-alike, is unethical, bizarre and squalid. As Mrs. Burroughs becomes more and more dependent on Finch, she allows her son to be adopted into the crazy Finch household.

This family includes wife Agnes, who copes with her husband’s infidelity by sweeping madly; son Jeff, daughters Kate, Anne, Vickie, Hope and Natalie; grandson Poo; and adopted son, Neil Bookman, who is twenty years older than Burroughs and homosexual. When Burroughs is thirteen, and has told Bookman that he, too, is gay, Bookman forces the boy to have oral sex. They become lovers.

The Finches, meanwhile, exhibit their quirks and weird tendencies in multiple ways. “Bible-dipping” is popular to read the future, as is prophesying by examining Dr. Finch’s turds. A patient with agoraphobia, Joranne, lives in one of the rooms–in fact, she has not left the room in two years. Young Burroughs is allowed to smoke and drink. When Burroughs says he doesn’t want to return to school, Dr. Finch facilitates this desire by giving Burroughs alcohol and pills to fake a suicide gesture, then hospitalizes the boy.

Yet Burroughs manages to befriend a couple of the Finch daughters, and to survive his childhood. The book closes with his departure for New York City and with an epilogue outlining various people’s outcomes. Finch lost his license due to insurance fraud.

You can read the excerpt of Running with Scissors here. The sequel to Running with Scissors is Dry. You can read the excerpt here for Dry.

Now they are making a movie. It will come out in October 2006! You can watch the trailer, just clicking the image on the left. Also, you can click “Enter the Site” for more features, information, and gallery there.