Speaking of Crime...

[The Poisoned Pen Bookstore]

There has been some interesting buzz on the net about Herman Rosenblat's memoir, Angel at the Fence, being canceled(Click here to read story) after receiving information that the story was made up. Oprah had Rosenblat and his wife, Roma Radzicki Rosenblat on her show. Oprah said their romance was “the single greatest love story” she’d ever heard. Oops...Remind you of Million Little Pieces? and the event where Oprah Winfrey rebuked James Frey and kicked him out of her book club...(click to read story)

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Real life it pretty boring. I sure don't want to read many true bios. If Rosenblat's book is entertaining then why not label it as a fictionalized memoir and be done with it? Books are supposed to be entertaining. Isn't there some merit of it being “the single greatest love story”? Oprah has the power to create bestsellers. Her book club is one of the greatest force in publishing today "Having an Oprah Book Club selection is pretty much like the pinnacle for the industry," says Michael McKenzie, publicity director for Ecco, the small HarperCollins imprint that published The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.And indeed Oprah has picked some great books:

2008
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

2007
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier


2006
Night by Elie Wiesel

Click here for her list.

[The Poisoned Pen Bookstore]

Days after Berkley Books announced that it was canceling the publication of the memoir “Angel at the Fence,” after its author, Herman Rosenblat, acknowledged that he had falsified parts of his story, an independent publisher said it was negotiating to release the book as a work of fiction. (story Here)
Yeah! A good story should be told, true or not.