Monday, January 09, 2006

Lies, Damn Lies and Ex-Drug Addict Authors This one is just too good to pass. I've been asked by several people, "Have you read that book on drug addiction?" referring to James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. I just learned it was second only to Harry Potter as the most popular book last year! This was in large part because Oprah picked the book for his book club and said it had her whole staff (they must certainly read what the boss reads) "up all night." Here's my confession: I have zero desire to read drug and alcohol memoirs by people under 30 who have yet to even publish a book. But that's me. I'm definitely in the book-reading minority on that one. Well, it turns out one of my favorite web sites, The Smoking Gun, has done extensive investigation of this self-described criminal who said he once tried to run over a policeman, finding extensive public documents that dispute story after story in Mr. Frey's book. In fact, the author himself admits he originally wrote it as a novel. I just saw "Capote" and loved it, and as manipulative as Capote (a fellow Louisianaian) could be, he at least wrote truthfully about real events. We've come a long way -- the wrong way -- from those days. 9:46:42 PM    comment []

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