James You Know It’s True
Written byPosted on January 11, 2006
Filed Under Frey, James
Some scientists have observed that rats start scurrying around in their cages once the cyanide pellets drop. And sure enough, it looks like Big Jim Frey himself is in denial, grasping at straws, claiming that Random House isn’t offering a special refund on A Million Little Pieces, that it is standard policy to issue refunds on all books, and that there were fewer than 15 calls to Random House customer service. While the policy has been confirmed by the Book Standard’s Kimberly Maul, you have to wonder why Frey thinks that anyone will trust a man who has been so clearly identified as a liar.
Frey needs to understand something. Nobody likes a bullshit artist. This morning at the bus stop, I got into a conversation with two people. One of them had just started A Million Little Pieces and the second person had informed this reader that it was all a lie. It broke my heart to see the guy’s face crack like that. This reader really thought the book was real and was in utter disbelief. And that had to be a horrible way for this guy to start his day. I told the guy that most writers were liars and recommended him Caroline Knapp’s Drinking: A Love Story as a good memoir to pick up. Since the book has sold 1.7 million copies, I can’t imagine how many others are going to have the same kind of horrible wakeup call.
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Books To Jump Up and Down Over
Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan. The famed writers behind Smart Bitches, Trashy Books have written a very funny and thoughtful volume about romances, both Old Skool and New Skool. Here is a book that any smug and humorless literary manboy beating his flabby passive chest over Banville or Bolano should probably read pronto, if only for the distant possibility that he might get over himself. While the Choose Your Own Adventure segment at the end caused me to have a very disturbing dream involving Shelley Long (don't ask), Sarah and Candy did have me rethinking many of my own misperceptions when I wasn't busy laughing. They're not afraid to take on the New York Times Bok Review or even the groupthink within certain sectors of the romance community.
Alice Fantastic by Maggie Estep. This wild and highly enjoyable narrative involves two sisters (presumably, the third one was still being rented out by Chekhov), a hippie ex-junkie mother who lives with seventeen dogs, a murder, gambling, and libidinous Hollywood actresses who live in Woodstock. But this is the wonderful Maggie Estep we're talking here. And what seems at first like a quirky yarn becomes something unexpectedly moving about connectivity. What I love about Estep's work is the way that she'll juxtapose an extremely astute observation (now that you mention it, why do cab drivers always have somebody to talk with on the phone past midnight?) with an often outrageous story development.
Generosity by Richard Powers. It doesn't come out until September 29th, but Richard Powers's latest will have anyone committed to books reconsidering their literary fervor. I foresee some animosity from the vanilla critics hostile to idea-driven novels, but book bloggers, YouTube chroniclers, and MFAs would do well to plunge into this chance-taking narrative, which introduces vital questions about what the reader's relationship is with media, scientific dissection, and "creative nonfiction." Are we rats fleeing to happy cities? Or can we find the humanism within the purported plague?
Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon. Lennon is one of the most underrated fiction writers working today. Much as On the Night Plain proved that Lennon had a lot more in the toolbox than heartfelt (and often very funny) suburban satire, this slim but fascinating volume juxtaposes 100 small-town anecdotes -- arranged by category -- in a manner that reads, at times, like Nicholson Baker's passions for minutiae and, at other times, Stewart O'Nan's concern for psychological detail. The result is fiction that makes us wonder about whether one person's subjective view of particulars can entirely be trusted. This book never found a publisher in 2005. But thankfully, Graywolf has released it in the United States, along with Lennon's latest novel, The Castle.
Wonderful World by Javier Calvo. This wonderfully raucous volume has been completely ignored by the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. But it's probably one of the most delightful reading experiences I've had this year. Calvo cavalierly mashes up multiple genres and manages to mix up familial subtext with larger-than-life, almost cartoonish characters. (Indeed, one might argue that one mobster's penis is a character of its own in this sprawling novel.). This is not an easy thing to pull off, but Calvo makes it work. And it's helped immeasurably by Mara Faye Lethem's idiom-specific translation. (See longer post.)
The Means of Reproduction, Michelle Goldberg This thoughtful book tackles the complicated (and little discussed) subject of reproductive rights from numerous angles, which includes a number of unpleasant but necessary ones. The upshot is that there isn't a quick fix solution for declining birth rates and fundamentalist abuses. Just about every political faction has contributed to the friction. But you'll want to read this book anyway to refamiliarize yourself with the topic, but also to understand just what's occurred during the past several decades to get us where we are today. (See also podcast interview with Goldberg.)
Or send materials to:
315 Flatbush Avenue, #231
Brooklyn, NY 11217
- The Possibilities of Small
- Ben Macintyre: The Latest Sourpuss to Run Away From Possibilities
- Untapped Currency
- Reminder: Live Conversation with Sarah Hall on Tuesday!
- Five Three Oh
- The Bat Segundo Show: Marjorie Rosen
- When Parody Replaces Opportunity
- The Benefits of Notebooks
- Hate Mail Dramatic Reading Project #8
- Slowdown
Jame’s post is actually confirmed by this story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10807257/
I wish I had cable to catch the Larry King appearance tonight! Didn’t someone say he was bringing his mom, or am I making that up?
I’ve heard that rumor, CAAF. I’m thinking about doing a live/DVR’d blog of it if I can clear my schedule.
I don’t have cable either, but my guess is that this has become so big that the folks at Crooks & Liars will have something.
Yay, LIVE BLOG!!
Oh, that is so sad about the guy on the bus! I hate to even think about it… Caroline Knapp’s book is superb; I think Augusten Burroughs’ DRY is great too.
CAAF: Two words: rushed transcript!