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Toil & Trouble: A Memoir
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Published:
St. Martin's Publishing Group 2019
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description

From the number one New York Times bestselling author comes another stunning memoir that is tender, touching...and just a little spooky.
"Here's a partial list of things I don't believe in: God. The Devil. Heaven. Hell. Bigfoot. Ancient Aliens. Past lives. Life after death. Vampires. Zombies. Reiki. Homeopathy. Rolfing. Reflexology. Note that 'witches' and 'witchcraft' are absent from this list. The thing is, I wouldn't believe in them, and I would privately ridicule any idiot who did, except for one thing: I am a witch."
For as long as Augusten Burroughs could remember, he knew things he shouldn't have known. He manifested things that shouldn't have come to pass. And he told exactly no one about this, save one person: his mother. His mother reassured him that it was all perfectly normal, that he was descended from a long line of witches, going back to the days of the early American colonies. And that this family tree was filled with witches. It was a bond that he and his mother shared—until the day she left him in the care of her psychiatrist to be raised in his family (but that's a whole other story). After that, Augusten was on his own. On his own to navigate the world of this tricky power; on his own to either use or misuse this gift.
From the hilarious to the terrifying, Toil & Trouble is a chronicle of one man's journey to understand himself, to reconcile the powers he can wield with things with which he is helpless. There are very few things that are coincidences, as you will learn in Toil & Trouble. Ghosts are real, trees can want to kill you, beavers are the spawn of Satan, houses are alive, and in the end, love is the most powerful magic of all.

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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
10/01/2019
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781250019967
ASIN:
B07NCRRS4X
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Augusten Burroughs. (2019). Toil & Trouble: A Memoir. St. Martin's Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Augusten Burroughs. 2019. Toil & Trouble: A Memoir. St. Martin's Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Augusten Burroughs, Toil & Trouble: A Memoir. St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2019.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Augusten Burroughs. Toil & Trouble: A Memoir. St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2019.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Date Added:
Sep 27, 2019 12:49:47
Date Updated:
Nov 19, 2023 03:14:55
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OverDrive Product Record

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      • value: witchcraft
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      • value: humorous writing
      • value: Autobiography
      • value: Personal narratives
      • value: Spirituality
      • value: LGBT
      • value: gay authors
      • value: creative nonfiction
      • value: funny memoirs
      • value: humorous essays
      • value: real magic
      • value: gay writers
      • value: wiccans
      • value: paranormal abilities
      • value: male witches
      • value: memoir humor
      • value: occultists
      • value: self help memoirs
      • value: austin burroughs
      • value: witch memoirs
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      • bioText: Augusten Burroughs is the author of Running with Scissors, Dry, Magical Thinking: True Stories, Possible Side Effects, A Wolf at the Table and You Better Not Cry. He is also the author of the novel Sellevision, which has been optioned for film. The film version of Running with Scissors, directed by Ryan Murphy and produced by Brad Pitt, was released in October 2006 and starred Joseph Cross, Brian Cox, Annette Bening (nominated for a Golden Globe for her role), Alec Baldwin and Evan Rachel Wood. Augusten's writing has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers around the world including The New York Times and New York Magazine. In 2005 Entertainment Weekly named him one of "The 25 Funniest People in America." He resides in New York City and Western Massachusetts.
      • name: Augusten Burroughs
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St. Martin's Press
publishDate
2019-10-01T00:00:00-04:00
isOwnedByCollections
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title
Toil & Trouble
fullDescription

From the number one New York Times bestselling author comes another stunning memoir that is tender, touching...and just a little spooky.
"Here's a partial list of things I don't believe in: God. The Devil. Heaven. Hell. Bigfoot. Ancient Aliens. Past lives. Life after death. Vampires. Zombies. Reiki. Homeopathy. Rolfing. Reflexology. Note that 'witches' and 'witchcraft' are absent from this list. The thing is, I wouldn't believe in them, and I would privately ridicule any idiot who did, except for one thing: I am a witch."
For as long as Augusten Burroughs could remember, he knew things he shouldn't have known. He manifested things that shouldn't have come to pass. And he told exactly no one about this, save one person: his mother. His mother reassured him that it was all perfectly normal, that he was descended from a long line of witches, going back to the days of the early American colonies. And that this family tree was filled with witches. It was a bond that he and his mother shared—until the day she left him in the care of her psychiatrist to be raised in his family (but that's a whole other story). After that, Augusten was on his own. On his own to navigate the world of this tricky power; on his own to either use or misuse this gift.
From the hilarious to the terrifying, Toil & Trouble is a chronicle of one man's journey to understand himself, to reconcile the powers he can wield with things with which he is helpless. There are very few things that are coincidences, as you will learn in Toil & Trouble. Ghosts are real, trees can want to kill you, beavers are the spawn of Satan, houses are alive, and in the end, love is the most powerful magic of all.

reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: Booklist, starred review
      • content: "Burroughs' unique ability to translate his fears, anxieties, and dreams into something universal that feels a little like, well, magic...This hilarious and spellbinding memoir will generate a whirl of requests."
      • premium: False
      • source: Kirkus on Lust & Wonder
      • content: "A satisfying success story from a reliably outspoken raconteur."
      • premium: False
      • source: The Boston Globe on This is How
      • content: "All of the wisdom he dispenses in his new book-delivered with the dark, acidic humor we've come to expect is certainly well-earned."
      • premium: False
      • source: People on Dry
      • content: "Dry is more than a heartbreaking tale; it's a heroic one. As with its predecessor, we finish the book amazed not only that Burroughs can write so brilliantly, but that he's even alive."
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        June 10, 2019
        In his whimsical but thin latest, Burroughs reveals another odd facet of the famously dysfunctional family life he recalled in his bestselling Running with Scissors: witchcraft. Having received the “Gift” of witchcraft powers from his mother and grandmother, witchery for Burroughs is not about flying broomsticks but rather visions, premonitions, and intense desires, focused by improvised “magick” rituals, that somehow nudge ordinary life in a fortunate direction. (His first try ends in a schoolyard bully getting his comeuppance via a poetically fitting medical condition.) In adulthood, a series of spells enable him and husband Christopher to move from Manhattan to a dream house in rural Connecticut, and the book is at heart an affectionate, gently humorous portrait of their neurotic version of domestic tranquility, told through picaresque anecdotes sometimes tangentially related to magic. A ghostly voice sounds at the 200-year-old manse; a tornado blows through; raucous local eccentrics show up; Christopher soothes Burroughs’ manifold anxieties; Burroughs fusses over Christopher and dramatizes his own obsessions with decor, cleaning chores, landscaping, and dogs. The material is sometimes funny and touching, but too often it’s mundane—“the puppy is so perfectly behaved, not peeing once indoors.” Burroughs’s fans will love his comic riffs, but others may not fall under the spell of this uninvolving saga.

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        July 26, 2019

        The No. 1 New York Times best-selling author of numerous riveting memoirs, starting with Running with Scissors, Burroughs here reveals that from childhood he always knew things he couldn't have known but told only his mother. And she explained that he was descended from a long line of witches. With a one-day national laydown on October 1.

        Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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From the number one New York Times bestselling author comes another stunning memoir that is tender, touching...and just a little spooky.
"Here's a partial list of things I don't believe in: God. The Devil. Heaven. Hell. Bigfoot. Ancient Aliens. Past lives. Life after death. Vampires. Zombies. Reiki. Homeopathy. Rolfing. Reflexology. Note that 'witches' and 'witchcraft' are absent from this list. The thing is, I wouldn't believe in them, and I would privately ridicule any idiot who did, except for one thing: I am a witch."
For as long as Augusten Burroughs could remember, he knew things he shouldn't have known. He manifested things that shouldn't have come to pass. And he told exactly no one about this, save one person: his mother. His mother reassured him that it was all perfectly normal, that he was descended from a long line of witches, going back to the days of the early American colonies. And that this family tree was filled with witches. It...

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publisher
St. Martin's Publishing Group
bisacCodes
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      • code: FAM052000
      • description: Family & Relationships / Dysfunctional Families
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      • description: Self-Help / Personal Growth / General