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#BasedOnTrueStory
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dabbe
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#AboutABook
#memoir
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

The fake memoir that pissed off Oprah Winfrey. 😱

lil1inblue I had totally forgotten all about this controversy! 😨 3mo
dabbe @lil1inblue IKR? 🤩😂😱 3mo
vivastory I haven't read the book, but what stuck with me from interviews at the time was him saying that nobody would pick it up as a novel. I find that really interesting. 3mo
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Eggs I liked this book; read it fairly recently. Hardly ever watched Oprah. 3mo
Lesliereadsalot Loved this book when it came out and the sequel too. 3mo
dabbe @vivastory I do, too. I'm a much bigger lover of fiction than I am of nonfiction (though I love NF, too). 3mo
dabbe @Eggs Would you categorize it as a memoir? Quite a bit of it was embellished or not true. It makes me wonder where the line is between fiction/nonfiction ... a similar discussion occurred when I posted IN COLD BLOOD as #basedontruestory 3mo
Kitta Like @Eggs and @Lesliereadsalot I loved this, I found the sequel not as good but still entertaining. I was in a phase at the time of reading memoirs about disasters and drug addiction lol although I would have read it if it had been marketed as fiction or based on a true story. I feel like lying and marketing it as NF ruined his credibility though, he shouldn‘t have lied. It should have been fiction. 3mo
Lesliereadsalot @Kitta yes it definitely should‘ve been fiction but it wouldn‘t have slammed me the way it did as non fiction. Totally understand why Oprah was devastated to learn she‘d been lied to. I was shocked but even now I remember how the book made me feel when I read it, even knowing now that it was a lie. 3mo
Eggs @dabbe No on memoir…more like historical fiction. I haven‘t researched him, but if he was a tragic addict and embellished his experience , seems still like F. HF writers add/edit history all the time. 3mo
dabbe @Eggs @Kitta @Lesliereadsalot Labeling it as HF seems the best way to have gone, but one wouldn't have been as gobsmacked as you said, @Lesliereadsalot. I haven't heard much from him since, so I think this whole episode definitely had a negative impact on his career. 3mo
61 likes1 stack add11 comments
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JessClark78
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46 likes1 stack add1 comment
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PurpleyPumpkin
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Eggs Brilliant 👌🏼👏🏻 3mo
39 likes1 comment
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DebinHawaii
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#AboutABook

I‘m excited about our September #SundayBuddyRead which is #BasedOnTrueStory about American journalist Varian Fry‘s founding of the Emergency Rescue Committee, a volunteer-run network that helped remove art & persecuted Jewish artists, writers, and thinkers out of Nazi-occupied France during the Holocaust. There‘s a Netflix program based on it too.

TheBookHippie I‘m excited!!!! 💚💚💚💚💚 3mo
Eggs Sounds compelling 3mo
56 likes2 comments
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dabbe
In Cold Blood | Truman Capote
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#AboutABook
#BasedOnTrueStory
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Very close to nonfiction, but still considered fiction. Well, #faction. Or a #nonfictionnovel

TheLudicReader Interesting. I have never heard it called fiction. 🤷 3mo
dabbe @TheLudicReader It definitely has been debated since this “novel“ was first written. From a 1965 article in THE GUARDIAN, George Steiner states that Capote “has described IN COLD BLOOD as a 'nonfiction novel,' as a 'fact fiction' whose narrative imposes fictional techniques on rigorously documentary material.“
Link to article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/1965/dec/02/classics
3mo
TheLudicReader Haha, @dabbe. I would argue that it is impossible to have a non fiction novel, but what do I know? 🤣 3mo
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Eggs I have never been able to read this 😱 after so many years living in a rural community on the prairie, with the howling winds and the unwelcome strangers…I‘d feel I could never sleep again 3mo
dabbe @TheLudicReader One of our AP Language Teachers used this as an argumentative paper the kids had to write. They would have to prove one way or the other what kind of book it was. Both sides were fantastic to read, and the kids actually loved the assignment. I'd love to chat literature with you face to face! And many other things as well. 🩶🖤🩶 3mo
dabbe @Eggs In “TAO The Copper Beaches“ by Arthur Conan Doyle, the case occurs in the countryside. Watson tells Holmes how much he's looking forward to getting out of the crime and rot of London for the fresh air and open country. Here's Holmes's reply: “It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.“
😱
3mo
TheLudicReader Yes, @dabbe! I suspect we could talk for hours. 🤪 3mo
Amiable I‘ve always been under the impression that this book was the grandfather of the “narrative nonfiction” genre. That Capote basically invented the genre. Now, whether or not you can consider narrative nonfiction to be straight-up nonfiction is another question. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 3mo
Eggs @dabbe Love that and ‘tis true though seemingly incongruous. 💕 3mo
dabbe @Amiable Yes! And one that's still highly debatable today! 🤩 3mo
dabbe @Eggs #truth 🤩 3mo
Amiable @dabbe I come down in the “yes” camp. Obviously, dialogue is embellished/assumed —especially in cases like this where the entire family was murdered and the killers aren‘t talking. But are the facts correct? Did the events that are described really happen? Then I‘m calling it nonfiction. Particularly if I learned something. But I also love narrative NF—it‘s probably my favorite genre. (edited) 3mo
dabbe @Amiable Excellent points. It seems like there's a huge grey area here, but that's what makes life interesting. 🤩 3mo
Amiable @dabbe I would love to sit in on your colleague‘s AP Language class and listen to the discussion about this! 3mo
61 likes2 stack adds14 comments
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lil1inblue
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Eggs I liked this book! 3mo
lil1inblue @Eggs Same! 🥰 3mo
25 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Kshakal
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Eggs Great choice 💔 3mo
33 likes1 comment
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lynneamch
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#BasedOnTrueStory Spent my birthday exploring nearby Dayton Tennessee, site of the famous trial which found John T. Scopes guilty of illegally teaching evolution in 1925. A cautionary tale where too much sounds too familiar today. Drove by the courthouse and found this charming shop (Pizza, Books, & Ice Cream). #Aboutabook @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs Lovely photos! A few years back I attended the play performed in a county courthouse - so amazing 3mo
31 likes2 comments
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TheSpineView
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kspenmoll Great choice; great book!💙 3mo
Bookwormjillk So glad my son is reading this in his junior English class this year. 3mo
TheSpineView @kspenmoll 👍🤩😊 3mo
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Eggs Love this story❤️❤️ 3mo
50 likes6 comments
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Susanita
What the Dead Know | Laura Lippman
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This book is not #basedontruestory but “inspired” by one that was very much in the news when I was a kid. As I was first reading it, there were developments in the IRL story after a long dormant period. That was too strange for me, so I paused my reading. I recently picked it up again to finish and realized I wasn‘t interested in it anymore. Thus one of my reading goals for the year has been fulfilled. ⬇️
#aboutabook

Susanita At the end of 2023 I had eight books in “currently reading” status on Goodreads. Either by finishing or bailing, I‘ve cleared those books and now only have new ones on the list. 3mo
Eggs Congratulations on clearing your “currently reading”-that‘s awesome👏🏻👏🏻 3mo
39 likes2 comments