BasedOnTrueStory

#AboutABook
#memoir
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

The fake memoir that pissed off Oprah Winfrey. 😱

lil1inblue I had totally forgotten all about this controversy! 😨 5mo

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. 5mo

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Eggs I liked this book; read it fairly recently. Hardly ever watched Oprah. 5mo

Lesliereadsalot Loved this book when it came out and the sequel too. 5mo

dabbe @vivastory I do, too. I'm a much bigger lover of fiction than I am of nonfiction (though I love NF, too). 5mo

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 5mo

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. 5mo

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. 5mo

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. 5mo

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. 5mo

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JessClark78

The Amityville Horror | Jay Anson

#AboutABook #BasedOnTrueStory

Eggs, Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 😱😱 6mo

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PurpleyPumpkin

The Agony And The Ecstasy | Irving Stone

Day 8 #BasedOnTrueStory #AboutABook #MyNeverendingTBR

Eggs, Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Eggs Brilliant 👌🏼👏🏻 6mo

40 likes1 comment

DebinHawaii

The Flight Portfolio: A novel | Julie Orringer

#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, Eggs, Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

TheBookHippie I‘m excited!!!! 💚💚💚💚💚 6mo

Eggs Sounds compelling 6mo

56 likes2 comments

dabbe

In Cold Blood | Truman Capote

#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. 🤷 6mo

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 6mo

TheLudicReader Haha, @dabbe. I would argue that it is impossible to have a non fiction novel, but what do I know? 🤣 6mo

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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 6mo

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. 🩶🖤🩶 6mo

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.“
😱 6mo

TheLudicReader Yes, @dabbe! I suspect we could talk for hours. 🤪 6mo

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. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 6mo

Eggs @dabbe Love that and ‘tis true though seemingly incongruous. 💕 6mo

dabbe @Amiable Yes! And one that's still highly debatable today! 🤩 6mo

dabbe @Eggs #truth 🤩 6mo

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) 6mo

dabbe @Amiable Excellent points. It seems like there's a huge grey area here, but that's what makes life interesting. 🤩 6mo

Amiable @dabbe I would love to sit in on your colleague‘s AP Language class and listen to the discussion about this! 6mo

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