{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0395901502?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0395901502","authors":["Russell Baker","Toni Morrison","Alfred Kazin","Annie Dillard"],"book_id":"9780395901502","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/inventing-the-truth-9780395901502","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780395901502.jpg?v=25d49d09ae80cf7d","description":"For anyone who enjoys reading memoirs—or is thinking about writing one—this collection offers a master class from nine distinguished authors, including Annie Dillard, Frank McCourt, and others. The events, memories, and emotions of the past often resist the orderly structure of a book. Inventing the Truth offers wisdom from nine notable memoirists about their process (Ian Frazier searched through generations of family papers to understand his parents' lives), the hurdles they faced (Annie Dillard tackles the central dilemma of memoir: what to put in and what to leave out), and the unexpected joys of bringing their pasts to the page. Featured authors include Russell Baker on Growing Up ; Jill Ker Conway on The Road from Coorain ; Annie Dillard on An American Childhood ; Ian Frazier on Family ; Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Colored People ; Alfred Kazin on A Walker in the City ; Frank McCourt on Angela's Ashes ; Toni Morrison on Beloved ; and Eileen Simpson on Poets in Their Youth.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780395901502","publication_date":"19980520","publisher":"HarperCollins","slug":"inventing-the-truth","subtitle":"The Art and Craft of Memoir","title":"Inventing the Truth"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"LAN005040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Writing / Composition","score":0.7939,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":0.7913,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Fiction Writing","score":0.7909,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"LAN005040","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Writing / Composition","score":0.7939,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":0.7913,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Fiction Writing","score":0.7909,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"ART025000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Art Reference","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"EDU024000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Education Resources","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LAN002000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Writing as a Career","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Creative Writing","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005040","confidence_band":"high","label":"Writing / Composition","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005050","confidence_band":"high","label":"Fiction Writing","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LAN005060","confidence_band":"high","label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LAN009020","confidence_band":"high","label":"Morphology","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Writing","score":0.7939,"slug":"writing"},{"label":"Writing Nonfiction & Memoir","score":0.7913,"slug":"writing-nonfiction-memoir"},{"label":"Fiction Writing","score":0.7909,"slug":"fiction-writing"}],"reader_fit":["Readers who enjoy memoirs","People thinking about writing a memoir"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Bill Roorbach"],"book_id":"9781582975276","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781582975276.jpg?v=5515f2b8219ba99c","score":0.7442,"title":"Writing Life Stories","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781582975276"},{"authors":["Mary Karr"],"book_id":"9780062223074","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062223074.jpg?v=67d4f830a8e94c01","score":0.7323,"title":"The Art of Memoir","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062223074"},{"authors":["Vivian Gornick"],"book_id":"9780374528584","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780374528584.jpg?v=48e9421a9597423e","score":0.7241,"title":"The Situation and the Story","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780374528584"},{"authors":["Donald Maass"],"book_id":"9781440348372","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781440348372.jpg?v=c830b33226df7b22","score":0.6984,"title":"The Emotional Craft of Fiction","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781440348372"},{"authors":["Lex Williford","Michael Martone","Bernard Cooper","Michael W. Cox"],"book_id":"9781416531746","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781416531746.jpg?v=af000038b94a62c3","score":0.697,"title":"Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781416531746"},{"authors":["Steve Almond"],"book_id":"9781638931300","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781638931300.jpg?v=9432443edce43d72","score":0.6968,"title":"Truth Is the Arrow, Mercy Is the Bow","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781638931300"},{"authors":["Stephen King"],"book_id":"9781982159375","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781982159375.jpg?v=83c75070cbfe73e2","score":0.695,"title":"On Writing","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781982159375"},{"authors":["Francine Prose"],"book_id":"9780060777050","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780060777050.jpg?v=4ca0e22a197bf21c","score":0.6904,"title":"Reading Like a Writer","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780060777050"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:science"],"label":"Science","score":0.1776,"slug":"science"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:science gifts for adults"],"label":"Adults","score":0.1173,"slug":"adults"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:coffee table book"],"label":"Table","score":0.0335,"slug":"table"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:coffee"],"label":"Coffee","score":0.0265,"slug":"coffee"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Memoir writing craft, Memoirists’ creative process, Memory and the past.","Themes: Science, Adults, Table.","Reading lane: Composition and Writing Nonfiction & Memoir."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.96,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers who enjoy memoirs","People thinking about writing a memoir"],"themes":["Memoir writing craft","Memoirists’ creative process","Memory and the past"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":209,"goodreads_ratings_count":785,"goodreads_reviews_count":106,"quality_score":0.9229}}