David Sedaris, who writes wonderful books about his wacky family and the strange things that may or may not have actually happened to him, is coming out with a new book, WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES. (The guy really does have a way with titles.)
With all the sound and fury lately over how "true" memoirs really are, Sedaris has taken the precaution of describing his work in the preface as "real-ish." (And if you want to read more about that and the controversy surrounding memoirs, I highly recommend clicking on the link to The Christian Science Monitor article from which this news was taken.)
Says Sedaris, "I guess I've always thought that if 97 percent of the story is true, then that's an acceptable formula."
Given the vagaries of memory, I would think getting it right 97 percent of the time would be pretty spectacular, actually.
It's funny. When I read my sister's copy of Sedaris' HOLIDAYS ON ICE, while spending some vacation time with her and her family in Oregon, I found myself questioning the veracity of a lot of it. I asked my sister, "How could all this weird stuff have really happened to him? How can he remember it all in such detail?"
Her response: "Who cares?"
I have to admit, I think she was onto something.
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