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Kara DioGuardi, songwriter and former American Idol judge, reveals some dark episodes from her past in her new memoir, A Helluva High Note. In the book, out next week, she touches on multiple instances of sexual assault, beginning with an attack by a family friend when she was only 11. READ FULL STORY »
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Last week, 60 Minutes announced allegations that Greg Mortenson’s best-selling memoir, Three Cups of Tea, was inaccurate and at least partly fabricated. CBS aired its investigation last night, and Viking Press, Mortenson’s Penguin Group-owned publisher, released this statement Monday morning:
“Greg Mortenson’s work as a humanitarian in Afghanistan and Pakistan has provided tens of thousands of children with an education. 60 Minutes is a serious news organization and in the wake of their report, Viking plans to carefully review the materials with the author.”
Among other accusations, the newsmagazine claimed that Mortenson’s non-profit organization, the Central Asia Institute (to which President Obama awarded $100,000 of his $1.4 million Nobel Peace Prize money), didn’t actually build some schools in the Middle East, or that some schools were at least built by someone else. 60 Minutes also suggested that Mortenson was not actually kidnapped by the Taliban, as he claimed in the book.
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‘Three Cups of Tea’: Inspirational memoir inaccurate, says ’60 Minutes’
The inspirational New York Times bestseller, Three Cups of Tea, may be rife with inaccuracies, alleges 60 Minutes in a report due to air this Sunday on CBS. The 2006 memoir was co-written by Greg Mortenson, a mountaineering humanitarian who co-founded and directs the Central Asia Institute, a non-profit that’s supposedly built 170 schools in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan. But the CBS newsmagazine is claiming many of the schools the Institute built were either built by someone else, or simply don’t exist.
After attempting to climb K2, an exhausted Mortenson says in his book that he stumbled upon a Pakistani village, and hospitality and warmth he experienced inspired Mortenson to build a school there. Into the Wild author Jon Krakauer is one of Mortenson’s doubters who 60 Minutes will cite in its broadcast Sunday night.
Penguin, Mortenson’s publisher, did not return EW’s requests for comment.
Tiger Mother Amy Chua’s high-achieving daughter Sophia, 18, has been offered a spot in Harvard’s class of 2015. In her controversial memoir, Chua described her ultra-strict parenting style, which runs counter to what she believes is the Western way of putting “the self-esteem of their children before academic success.” With her daughter accepted to one of the country’s most notoriously selective universities, it looks like Chua can tell her many detractors, “I told you so.” Or maybe, without a Tiger Mom growling in her ear, Sophia will rebel at Harvard by practicing the piano only two hours a day and minoring in theater. Here’s hoping for a Confessions of a Tiger Cub book in four years.
No stranger to spin-offs, Lauren Conrad has inked a deal with HarperCollins to write The Fame Game, a series that will follow Madison Parker, the Heidi Montag-esque villain of Conrad’s popular L.A. Candy YA books. READ FULL STORY »
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The dusty-voiced radio host and author Garrison Keillor is planning to retire his Prairie Home Companion radio show spring of 2013, but as will come as relief to fans, he will not be putting away the pen (or whatever he uses to write — I like thinking he uses a manual typewriter). Currently, he’s writing a screenplay about Lake Wobegon, and next up is a Guy Noir mystery.
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Tina Fey and Steve Martin are putting on a show together in Los Angeles April 19th to talk about their books. Unlike lower profile authors who often have to road-trip to near-empty bookstores to hock their tomes, Fey and Martin will be gracing the Nokia Theater stage for a paying audience (tickets are on sale for $29 to $119). Martin will be talking about his art world novel An Object of Beauty, and Fey will be promoting her highly anticipated Bossypants.
If he can survive a verbal beatdown from Oprah, he can survive anything: James Frey clearly isn’t afraid of controversy. His new book, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, centers on the second coming of Christ, only his Messiah is a pot-smoking, prostitute-soliciting alcoholic from the Bronx. Yikes–let the firestorm begin!
Great memoirs often come from people who have experienced a lot of pain in their lives, which is why I expect Steve-O’s to be nothing less than brilliant. I’m hoping for something on the level of Mary Karr or Jeannette Walls, but with more exploding port-o-potties and fart machines. The book, which hits stores on June 7, is going to be called Professional Idiot and “recounts Steve-O’s glory days, drug addiction, and his path of recovery and redemption—all while maintaining the bravado and humor for which he is famous.” While I’m pretty sure that actually isn’t what he’s famous for, you have to at least be somewhat interested in the story of a man who can describe being kicked in the testicles repeatedly as “glory days.”
Image Credit: Henry S. Dziekan III/Getty ImagesEver since I read her first insightful, funny collection of essays, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, I haven’t been able to get enough of Sloane Crosley. In moments of boredom, I sometimes scour the Internet for mentions, profiles, or any interviews she’s given. I find her endlessly fascinating. Sloane has broad appeal, I’m sure, but to me, she’s like my nonexistent cool older sister’s even cooler best friend. She’s 32 now to my 25, and I look to her as an example of someone who’s made the transition from clueless upstart to real New York publishing power player in the most enviable fashion. Sloane’s absolutely gorgeous — shiny hair, a great figure, and an ample posterior–but it’s clear from reading her work and hearing her speak that she’s gotten to where she is by being smart, hard-working, and really, really nice. But I love that she’s no Girl Scout, either. By her own admission in Cake, her early-twenty-something self seems to have been way flakier than I ever was or currently am, yet she managed to grow up and eventually have it all: She kicked serious ass at her day job as book publicist extraordinaire, wrote two best-selling essay collections in her spare time, and is now adapting her own work for an HBO pilot. Plus, she does well at fancy parties and seems to go out more nights than she doesn’t. Do I need to explain any more why she’s my hero? READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Showalter: Charles Eshelman/FilmMagicThose who have seen the criminally under-appreciated film Wet Hot American Summer can attest to writer/actor Michael Showalter’s truly unique humor. The same can be said for fans of his various television credits, which include Michael & Michael Have Issues and The Michael Showalter Showalter. The Brooklyn comic (and one-third of the comedy team Stella) has brought his wit to bookshelves everywhere — except approximately 200 Borders locations — with his first book, Mr. Funny Pants. We caught up with he of the humorous trousers to discuss the book as well as his latest foray into viral videos.
Image Credit: Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesAnother unbelievably tasteless tell-all memoir in the works: Jesse James has reportedly signed on with Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, to write a book that will divulge intimate details about his marriage to Sandra Bullock and his engagement to Kat von D. The only book by James that I’d maybe read is a tattoo book. And I’d only flip through it at the bookstore, not pay good money for it.
Perry Moore, gay author and executive producer of the Narnia series, died last week of unknown causes. He was the author of the novel Hero, a delightful, empowering story about a gay teenage superhero.
Sure, the Kindle now lets you highlight and take notes, but there’s nothing like a well-worn, scribbled-over book. The Times examines the fading of marginalia and the importance of preserving the side-notes of Twain, Austen, and Whitman. I have to admit, I love highlighting and taking notes on books with my iPad, but I’d never be able to create an amazing stick figure swordfight flipbook in an e-Margin like I did with my seventh grade copy of The Hobbit.
