“Nonfiction master who finds most nonfiction boring - Boston Globe” plus 1 more |
| Nonfiction master who finds most nonfiction boring - Boston Globe Posted: Ben Mezrich has more than most riding on tonight's Academy Awards: Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-nominated screenplay for "The Social Network" was adapted from his account of Facebook's founding, "The Accidental Billionaires." Mezrich, who published a number of thrillers before turning to nonfiction with the bestselling "Bringing Down the House," grew up in New Jersey, went to Harvard, and now lives in the Back Bay. I'm just finishing "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. It's fantastic — I love it. I'm not that into vampires, but it's so well done. What kinds of books do you usually read? I read all sorts of fiction. I went through a phase of reading lots of science fiction, but then I'll switch over and read thrillers. I have to say, I really liked the "Hunger Games" trilogy. It was completely out of my element — it's young adult with a female main character — but it was well written and fun. I pretty much avoid nonfiction. Most of it's pretty boring. Often they're very heavy books, very long-winded, and they don't tell the story in a way that's that readable. I like Sebastian Junger a lot. I think he's fantastic. I like Michael Lewis. They keep the eye on their audience — they're not writing to get into every single detail. But those are pretty much the two nonfiction writers I like. All those political books and economics books, they're just overwhelming. A continuous stream of massive tomes on every detail of the political machine. What do you look for in fiction? Something where you can't stop turning the pages. It doesn't really matter what realm it's in. I love Michael Crichton. He's one of my heroes, and I've read everything he did. There's a Boston guy, Joseph Finder, who I read a lot. I've read a lot of Stephen King, which is great stuff. I thought Grisham had a few really good books. In your nonfiction books, you superimpose a thriller plot onto real life — which is often actually chaotic, or boring . . . Well, I don't think I'm superimposing it. It's there. All good true stories have this structure, with this main character who has to overcome obstacles to get somewhere. If they didn't, no one would write them, and no one would read them. That's what works. In presenting reality as a thriller, what do you gain or lose? What you gain is a readable book. There's dozens of ways to tell any true story. It all depends how you put the facts together. I don't choose to do an encyclopedic listing of the facts — I find the thread of the story that's worth reading. I realize that generates controversy, stylistically. Readers don't have an issue, and in terms of publishing or movies, there's no issue. It's just there are certain journalists who are old-school and want all people to write in one way. What I do is write the story the way it appears to me. That ends up being very visual and thriller-like. But that's how I see the world. When I get on the subway and ride to the airport, it's a thriller from beginning to end. Got suggestions for future Bibliophiles? Find us on Facebook, follow us at GlobeBiblio on Twitter, or email amanda@amandalkatz.com. © Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| "Big Short" author Lewis sued for defamation - YAHOO! Posted: NEW YORK (Reuters) – Michael Lewis, best-selling author of "The Big Short" about the mortgage meltdown, has been sued for defamation by an asset manager featured in the book. Other targets in the lawsuit are Lewis' publisher W.W. Norton & Company and prominent hedge fund manager Steven Eisman of FrontPoint Partners LLC in Connecticut, one of the sources for Lewis' book. Wing Chau and his firm Harding Advisory LLC believe Lewis made "false and defamatory" statements in the book "and want to redress that wrong," according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court on Friday and made public on Monday. Lewis and the publisher W.W. Norton & Company said they had not yet been served with the complaint. "Suits like this one are an unfortunate fact of life in our industry, particularly when a book is as successful as this one has been," W.W. Norton chairman and president Drake McFeely said in an email. "We stand by Mr. Lewis and his book The Big Short, and, assuming that Mr. Chau's suit has been filed, we expect that it will be dismissed." Eisman said he had not received any notice of being sued and could not comment. "In sharing the purported insider's view of the mortgage market meltdown, Lewis made false and defamatory statements about an experienced investment professional, Wing Chau, and his firm, Harding Advisory LLC," the lawsuit said. It said the book portrays Eisman as a "heroic" figure who foresaw the collapse of the market and made a fortune betting against it. In contrast, Chau and other managers with expertise in collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) were "villains" who "were according to Lewis, responsible for the crisis," the court document said. Chau seeks unspecified damages against all the defendants and punitive damages. The full title of the book is "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine." It was published in March 2010 and spent six weeks as No. 1 on The New York Times list of hardcover nonfiction bestsellers. The case is Wing Chau and Harding Advisory LLC v Michael Lewis, Steven Eisman and W.W. Norton & Company Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-1333. (Reporting by Grant McCool; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Bernard Orr) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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