Read All About It: Another Fake Memoir?

With the awesome headline "Greg Mortenson's 'Three Cups of Tea' may be two-thirds poppycock," Plain Dealer book editor Karen R. Long recounts the allegations presented in yesterday's Sixty Minutes expose on Mortenson's book.

I haven't read Three Cups of Tea, so I can't give my opinion on this particular book...yet.

I did, however, read Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Now, I realize that outrageous and hard-to-believe things do happen to people, but sorry, Oprah, I just don't see how you fell for that one. I also read Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. The family Burroughs wrote about on the book sued him for libel. He settled.

Here's the problem with memoirs: how do you fact-check people's memories?

Well, you can't. But you can check matters of public record, and it seems that in the case of memoirs, publishing companies are not doing their homework.

The Frey debacle has made me reluctant to read other "memoirs." And when I have, I find myself continuously questioning the plausibility of the author's story. (See my review of Orange Is the New Black.)

Know what's scary, though? Three Cups of Tea is required reading for soldiers sent to Afghanistan. What if it's not true?

What are your thoughts? Have you read Three Cups of Tea? Other memoirs? Do you think most memoirs are truthful, embellished, loads of horse puckey? This blogger wants to know.

Read All About It: So Much To Read, So Little Time

I have 322 books on my Goodreads to-read list. Here's a photo of some of the books I have to read at home. (I had to get another bookshelf just for my to-read books!)


This doesn't include the scraps of paper on which I've scribbled the titles of book I want to read, the blog posts in my reader and the articles I've marked on Read It Later.

I could read every minute of every day for the rest of my life and still not read everything I'd like to read.

This Monday "Read All About It" feature has brought me to a conclusion: I need to spend more time reading. Too often, I curl up on the couch and reach for the remote instead of a book. Case in point: this weekend I watched hours of the Deadliest Catch marathon...all episodes I had seen before! Yeesh.

For someone who loves to read, sometimes I sure don't act like it.

Read All About It: All the News That's Fit To...

Print? Broadcast? Tweet? Blog?

How are you getting your news these days? How is it different from five years ago? Two years ago?

Five years ago I read the actual newspaper every day. Two years ago, my online homepage was set to a news page. Today, I get my news from Twitter. Remember when Capt. Sully landed the plane in the Hudson? I heard it first from eyewitnesses on Twitter.

If a story really interests me, I'll Google it and read the report on the first news site that comes up (as long as I consider it to be reliable).

I also have news shows on in the morning while I'm getting ready for work and (if I get home early enough) in the evening while I'm getting dinner ready. And, as I've mentioned in a previous post, I'm a big fan on Sunday Morning on CBS.

So, how are you getting your news? How do you think we'll be getting our news five years from now?

Mind Your Manners - It Just Might Pay!

You've heard about the seven co-workers in Albany, New York who won $319 million in the lottery, right? But did you hear the really interesting part of the story?

The member of the group charged with buying the ticket was just about to make the purchase when he decided he wanted a candy bar. As he was reaching over to grab one, the man behind him pushed forward to purchase his lottery ticket. Had he waited his turn, he would have purchased the winning ticket.

His rudeness cost him $319 million. Think he learned his lesson?

Spring Has Not Sprung

Read All About It: Goodreads.com

Fellow avid readers - how do you keep track of your "to read" lists? I've written lists on scraps of paper, torn pages out of magazines and scribbled in notebooks.

The best tool I've found is goodreads.com. This site allows me to keep track of the books I've read and the books I want to read. It also allows users to customize their own "shelves," so I could keep track of books I own, books I've lent, books related to movies I want to see, etc.

There's also a social aspect to Goodreads. I can share my reading list with "friends," connect with Facebook, join groups with similar interests, "fan" and read blog posts by authors.

Even better, through the First Reads feature, I can enter to win prerelease copies of books from authors and publishers. I've received several - nothing beats a free book!

I haven't even begin to explore half of what the site can do, but it's certainly met my needs for keeping track of my reading habit.

Twestival CLE

Last week, I attended Twestival CLE. What's a Twestival, you ask? According to the Twestival website, "Twestival (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good by connecting communities offline on a single day to highlight a great cause and have a fun event."

And that's exactly what it was! Kudos to Amanda, Kasey and Kimi for organizing a fun event at AMP 150 to benefit We Run This City Youth Marathon Program, which teaches students from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to set and achieve goals as they prepare to run the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon.

I was especially excited for the Twestival as it would give me a chance to meet some of my fellow Twitter Twenty peeps in person and to make my first visit to AMP 150. It was great to see friends and meet new people, and AMP 150 did not disappoint.

The vibe is cool and comfortable. I would describe it as walking into the home of a friend who has the money to do some kick ass decorating and hire a wait staff. AMP 150 welcomed the Twestival with plenty of Happy Hour specials. I tried the Blood Orange Martini (delish) and the Pomegranate Poinsettia, a delightful champagne-based cocktail (pictured below.)


The menu offered great choices and I was pleasantly surprised to see a "small bites" menu. These selections would make great choices if you want to sample and share, or if you are looking for a reasonably-sized portion. I had the ricotta cavatelli (pictured below) and it was delicious - smooth, creamy, but with a bit of crunch from broccolini - and the portion was absolutely the perfect size. I felt full but not stuffed.