Memoir Fraud

One would think that after the fiasco with James Frey's A Million Little Pieces a few years ago publishers would be more diligent in verifying the backgrounds of writers. Apparently not. Just in the last week two authors have admitted that their memoirs were complete fiction.

The first, Misha Defonseca, author of Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, which was translated into 18 languages and adapted for the French feature film Surviving With Wolves, admitted that the story is completely false. She said, "The story is mine. It is not actually reality, but my reality, my way of surviving."

Margaret B. Jones, author of Love and Consequences, which was published last week about her life as a half-white, half-Native American girl growing up in South-Central Los Angeles as a foster child among gang-bangers, also admitted her story is completely false. She said "I thought it was my opportunity to put a voice to people who people don’t listen to...I was in a position where at one point people said you should speak for us because nobody else is going to let us in to talk."

While this is completely reprehensible on the part of the authors, I can't help but put a certain amount of blame on these publishers. If they are publishing a memoir, shouldn't they have some sort of responsibility to verify that the works they publish are truthful? Their negligence is insulting to consumers and insulting to the people who actually lived through these difficult situations. In the case of Margaret Jones, it seems like a simple background check would have unmasked the deception. What makes this worse is that there are honest people who write wonderful, moving, truthful memoirs, but because of writers (and publishers) like this, a shadow of doubt will always fall over their work.

Waking Brigid

I don't normally read fantasy, but I read a good review of Waking Brigid by Francis Clark and it sounded like it could be good. It's not fantasy in the sense that there are elves or fairies or it takes place in another world, but there is a paranormal element to it, so I guess I call that fantasy. Anyway, the story takes place in Savannah just after the Civil War. A prominent citizen is admitted to the psychiatric ward, and one night, after what seems to be a psychotic episode, he dies. After examining what seems to be a suicide, the doctor determines that the death was a murder. But with no one else in the room with him, it seems there are supernatural forces at work. The doctor alerts the bishop, who calls in a group of priests and nuns who are magicians, trained to deal with exorcisms and other dark forces. The group discovers that they are facing a powerful demon that has been summoned by a group of prominent Savannah citizens. Brigid is a local nun who was born with magical powers but suppressed them when she was sent to the church at age 7. When the group of magicians learn of Brigid's natural powers, they request her assistance and the powers that she has suppressed for so many years begin to wake. After several of the magicians are killed, it will take all of Brigid's strength to battle the powerful demon. Despite the paranormal element, I found that I actually enjoyed this book. When the demon was first introduced, I was a little put off and I kept thinking there would be a logical explanation for the first murder, but there isn't, so you just have to go with it. Magicians within the Catholic church, the history of witchcraft in Ireland and the local Voudou circle are all compelling aspects of this story that kept me hooked.

Those Crazy Tudors

The film adaptation of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl was released this weekend to mixed reviews. Personally, I enjoyed it. The acting was great, the costumes were sumptuous, the scenery and settings were fantastic and although it deviated from the book in several places and condensed the events down in short amount of time, I thought it was pretty good. I'm a huge fan of historical fiction novels (and movies) and whenever I finish a good novel, like The Other Boleyn Girl, I want to know how much of it is based on fact. I want to know more about these fascinating people and their unbelievable lives. Fortunately, Bookmarks magazine is just in time with a list of recommended reading (both fiction and nonfiction) on the Tudors.

For nonfiction try:
The Extravagant Life of Henry by Carolly Erikson
Henry VIII: The King and His Court and The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives
The Perfect Prince: The Mystery of Perkin Warbeck and His Quest for the Throne of England by Anne Wroe
Queen Elizabeth I by J. E. Neale
The Armada and Catherine of Aragon by Garrett Mattingly
Henry VIII: The Mask of Royalty and A Tudor Tragedy: The Life and Times of Catherine Howard by Lacey Baldwin Smith

For fiction try:
The Secret Lion: The Spymaster Chronicles, Book 1 by C. W. Gortner
Dear Heart, How Like You This? by Wendy Dunn
Murder Most Royal: The Story of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard by Jean Plaidy
The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George

I would add Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir. I am also interested in reading Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford by Julia Fox about Jane Parker, George Boleyn's wife who reportedly told the king Anne was having an incestuous relationship with her brother.

Who is your favorite novelist supporting for President?

With the election heating up, I think it's interesting to see which candidates are endorsed by celebrities. One of my favorite blogs, Nonfiction Readers Anonymous, has posted a link to a website that lists campaign contributions, which can be searched by name, city or occupation. A search by occupation for "novelist" shows that $36,811 was donated by people who described themselves as novelists, with $14,770 to Republican candidates and $22,041 to Democrats. There are several other well-known authors that contributed, but did not come up under novelists, which you can see compiled here.

A bathtub, a chair and a bookshelf all in one!

Looking for a new way to display your book collection? Today I discovered a great blog, the Bookshelf, which is devoted to interesting bookshelves and bookcases. My favorite would be the library bath-what more could you want??

All the latest...

Jon Krakauer will release his next book in October, titled The Hero, which will tell the story of Pat Tillman, the football player-turned soldier who was killed in a "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan. Krakauer is known for his riveting adventure accounts, such as Into Thin Air, Into the Wild and Under the Banner of Heaven.

The driver of the car crash that killed David Halberstam last year has been sentenced to 5 days in jail, 200 hours of community service, 2 years of probation and will have his license suspended for 1-3 years.

Philippa Gregory's next historical novel will be released in September of this year. The Other Queen will focus on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots. The movie version of her book The Other Boleyn Girl, will be in theaters this Friday!

Target's latest book club pick is Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Target has a book club?

The Man Booker prize, which is awarded every year for best original novel written by a citizen of the British Commonwealth and Ireland, has announced a Best of the Booker prize in celebration of its 40th anniversary. The award will honor the best overall novel to have won the prize since it was first awarded in 1969. A panel of judges will choose a shortlist of 6 titles, from which the public will be invited to help select the winner.

James Frey (author of the controversial A Million Little Pieces) has a new book coming out in May called Bright Shiny Morning. Wisely, it is being published as fiction.

Stephenie Meyer, who is known for her widely popular young adult series (Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse), will publish her first adult novel in May titled The Host.

Exile

I finally finished Richard North Patterson's Exile! I've been working on this one since Christmas, so I was glad to finally finish it. It's not a bad book, but it was just sooo long and I bought my own copy, so I set it aside several times to get through the library books that were due. This was actually a really great read. Israel's prime minister is assassinated on a trip to the United States. When one of the would-be assassins survives the suicide bombing, he implicates Hana Arif, a Palestinian woman visiting the United States at the time of the murder. Hana contacts her law school classmate and former lover, David Wolfe, to defend her. David is a Jew, so his decision to defend the woman on trial for murdering the prime minister of Israel does not sit well with his fiance or his friends. But David strongly believes in Hana's innocence and as he attempts to unravel the conspiracy, he uncovers a frightening plot.

I've never read Richard North Patterson before, but I picked this up on a recommendation from a library patron. Although it is a mystery/suspense novel, it's meatier than many in this genre. Patterson weaves quite a lot of the Palestinian/Israeli history into the story, and for those like me who know little about this conflict, it provides a good unbiased background. As I mentioned before, the book is quite long and a few times I found myself thinking "get on with the story" but it's very well written and the plot will keep you hooked!