I read "A Million Little Pieces", pre-Oprah (like Franzen I'm anti the O-seal of approval), and I thought it was very good. Well, in a lengthy article the Smoking Gun has raised substantial questions about the truth of numerous incidents depicted in James Frey's best-selling memoir. NYTimes picked up the story: Go to Article.

I haven't been able to review the book in light of this article because I lent this book to someone about two years ago who never gave it back and then I moved away. And then the one person who is my contact to that other person was corresponding with me about the book (as it had just been picked Oprah) because she remembered that I had mentioned that book in the past, and I mentioned that her friend had my copy of the book. To which she replied something like, "yeah, you're not going to see that ever again." What kind of person accepts a loan of a book and doesn't give it back? The worst kind.

The good news: the printing I had never made it paperback, but now there are millions of copies and I can pick one up on the cheap.

The bad news: it's sure to have one of those damn Os on it.

Eugene e-mailed me today and told me something to the effect of: If people think the memoirs they are reading are all true, then they're stupid. True, it's not an abuse of the nature of Stephen Glass or Jayson Blair, but part of what made his story so compelling is some of the outrageousness of the facts now being challenged. I would think this is not a major crime in the literary world. In my book, it's a minor misdemeanor, but he's the one that said it was non-fiction, so I guess he's got it coming. That said, I still think it's a good read and I hope he doesn't lose his movie deal. I haven't picked up his sequel, as the first book dragged at the end, and one helping was enough for me.