nonfiction


sorabji.com: Worst book you've ever read: nonfiction
THIS IS A READ-ONLY ARCHIVE FROM THE SORABJI.COM MESSAGE BOARDS (1995-2016).

By droopy on Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 02:20 am:

    i accepted an invitation from a friend to hear frank mccourt (author of 'angela's ashe') speak tomorrow night. he's promoting his new book - 'teacherman', or something like that. i read 'angela's ashes' when it came out years ago, and really liked it. then i started hearing accusations that he'd embellished the details of life in limerick.

    was just reading about a writer named james frey, whose oprah winfrey-endorsed memoir "a million little pieces" - supposedly a gut-wrenching story of drug addiction and other shit - was at least partly fictionalized.

    then there's the "unmasking" of j.t. leroy as a hoax perpetrated by three people. and which eerily reminds me of crimson and that kid they were supposed to have rescued from some family from hell. whatever happened to them?

    people sometimes tell me that i should write about my life. but i've always known i could never do that. every time i think i've got the story straight, i mention it to some else and they say, 'nah, that's not how it happened." nothing i ever wrote could be wholly the truth. better just to make it all fiction.

    the truth is not out there.


By TBone on Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 02:49 pm:

    Facts just get in the way of a good story.


By Antigone on Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 08:49 pm:

    Exactly.

    Write, you fucker.


By agatha on Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 09:39 pm:

    Wow, I always assumed that Angela's Ashes was published as a fiction book. I just looked it up at our library,and it's cataloged as nonfiction. Now I'm all confused.


By agatha on Thursday, January 12, 2006 - 09:40 pm:


By droopy on Friday, January 13, 2006 - 01:53 am:

    we'll see. apparently, i've got time. this evening frank mccourt, who's 75, called himself a poster boy for geriatric writers - "get up and write, you old farts!"

    i have to say that i had a good time. had some fairly good italian food (the only calamari i've ever had in this state that didn't taste like fried rubber bands) and a bottle of wine before going to the thing. i don't know what to call it because mccourt didn't do a reading, he just talked. he was entertaining and funny and unpretentious. at least as far as i could make out, since i was as far as i could possible get from him - the very back row of the highest balcony seats which i had to ride an elevator 4 stories to get to.

    sarah, the person who'd invited me, waited in a long-ass line to get mccourt to sign her book. i went outside for some fresh air. after a while a guy came out of the bass hall and came over to me.

    "didja get a book signed?"

    "the person i came with is inside waiting in line. i didn't want to be stuck in a line"

    "me neither. those women in line are mean. i mean shoving and things like that. there was a fight and i left."

    eventually, sarah came out unharmed.


By V on Monday, January 16, 2006 - 07:47 pm:

    droopy,hi from v.


By droopy on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 12:48 am:

    hi, v.

    happy martin luther king day.


By sarah on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 12:20 pm:


    according to actual public record, james frey only has a fraction of the criminal record he claims to have in his memoir. but i guess that's the thing about memoirs...

    sometimes the way you remember it is very different from the way it actually happened - compounded by drug abuse.


    has anyone read The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt?

    (no, it has nothing at all to do w/ the movie starring Tom Cruise)


    best book i've *ever* read.




By droopy on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 02:16 am:

    i know someone who read that james frey book. she was suspicious of this guy even before these allegations came out. she said that when he wrote about the worst stuff he did - like beating up a priest - he told the story with gusto, like he was bragging. i've also heard that he originally tried to sell the book as fiction, but no one would take it.

    i'm reading "the chronicles of narnia" right now. my boss - mickie, who was born jewish and then somewhere along the line became a born-again christian - gave it to me. she keeps asking me about it, so i guess i'll have to finish it.


By dave. on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 11:46 am:

    2 no 6 no 12 -- BAKER'S DOZEN!!!!!


By TBone on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 02:49 pm:

    Mr Pibb + Red Vines = CRAZY DELICIOUS


By wisper on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 04:04 pm:

    You can call us Aaron Burr from the way we're dropping Hamiltons.


By droopy. on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 11:31 pm:

    apparently these are references to the snl skit, according to a google search. i haven't seen that bit and probably never will 'cause my computer is exactly as stupid as i am.

    one question: explain "mr pibb + red vines = crazy delicious". at first i thought it was something like "beer + amaretto = dr pepper". but, as far as i can find out, "red vines" is licorice. that's a little disappointing.


By dave. on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 02:04 am:

    dr. oop, i wish i could come down there and fix yer computer for you.

    and i don't mean "fix yer computer".

    i mean fix yer computer.

    you should see the video once. i've seen it dozen's of times because i stuck it on my ipod and showed a bunch of people, so i'm good to go.

    i think, besides being funny to say, the red vines and mr. pibb are merely referring to theater snacks. i guess they could have said "orange crush and raisinettes = crazy delicious", but it wouldn't have been as funny, or as true.


By droopy on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 02:55 am:

    guess you had to be there.

    what i really need is someone to fix my stove. it nearly burned my apartment down this evening.


By droopy on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 03:17 am:

    or it's possible that the entire bottle of bull's blood wine i drank tonight caused me to forget to turn down then burner in the first place.

    so...nevermind.


By V on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 11:17 am:

    droopy,dave,hi


By sarah on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 02:18 pm:


    it doesn't help that just about everything in this state is prone to burning down right now. we gotta get some rain.



    but you won't hear me complaining about the warm, beautiful weather!





By lapis on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 04:09 pm:

    you could take some of our rain.

    urban landslides, oh my!


By heather on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 06:48 pm:

    some people use the red vines as a straw...

    i would not recommend it.


By droopy on Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 11:25 pm:

    huh. now, if people had been snorting cocaine through red vines, it would've made sense to me.


By sarah on Friday, January 20, 2006 - 10:32 am:


    heather.





By patrick on Friday, January 20, 2006 - 02:11 pm:

    that was my thought at first, but she probably meant using it as a straw with your soda at the movies. right.


    heather.


By agatha on Friday, January 20, 2006 - 09:24 pm:

    <...heather...>


By wisper on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 02:41 am:

    8==> HEATHER <==8


By dave. on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 03:16 am:

    nice dp.


By heather on Saturday, January 21, 2006 - 02:28 pm:

    oh my


By patrick on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 01:07 pm:

    hot
    8=======D


By wisper on Monday, January 23, 2006 - 06:35 pm:

    oh shit, D goes on the end of it. I forgot.
    (you can also use a 3 for balls if it's facing left!)
    I fail at cyber-penis.


By Antigone on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 03:24 am:

    Set sail for cock!


By patrick on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 02:02 pm:

    D doesnt go on the end of mine.


By droopy on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 03:12 pm:

    i'm not sure exactly what you're all talking about, except that it has something to do with heather, cocaine, and long-lasting erections?


By heather on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 08:33 pm:

    oh my


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