James Frey's New Novel Needs A Dude With A Sock Puppet

James Frey, the author who got an Oprah smackdown after it was revealed that his memoir A Million Little Pieces was more fiction than non, is back with what his publisher is calling his first novel. Maybe they should say second just to be safe. An activist reader group might sue.

Bright Shiny Morning (available May 13) is described as a “sweeping chronicle of contemporary Los Angeles.” It delves into the lives of a handful of lost souls who represent the many faces of the city: a struggling immigrant, a self-absorbed action-movie star, a young couple transplanted from a small town, a homeless alchoholic and a meth-addled teenager. He forgot stripper, wannabe rock star, the guy with the sock puppet who sits in front of the Hollywood Bowl singing opera, and my white trash neighbor who preferred sex outdoors, and who never once bought lemonade from my son’s stand, but sent her kids over to borrow cups and a pitcher when they decided to set up shop in their own driveway.

Future Butterfly Past

Elliott Smith's music was startling in its genuineness. His haunting and deceptively simple melodies balanced on the knife edge of raw vulnerability. Such fragile beauty made his death in 2003 seem all the more shocking. The universe simply could not let such broken perfection slip away so early. And yet, there it was.

Chronicle Books' recently released photo-bio by Autumn de Wilde, an art director and photographer noted for her portraits of indie musicians, provides a poignant look at the life of a brilliant, though tragically troubled, artist. Interviews with friends, family, and fellow musicians provide context for de Wilde's intimate snaps. You'll also get a look at some of Smith's handwritten lyrics, personal ephemera, and insights from those closest to him. The book includes a 5-song CD of previously unreleased live recordings, along with a foreward by Beck and Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla.

It seemed he only lived a day, but it was brilliant anyway.

Peg Bracken Stirred Up The Sixties And Beyond

The news last week that noted cookbook author and humorist Peg Bracken had died at the age of 89 in Portland, Oregon might have escaped my notice, as I wasn’t even born when her best-selling The I Hate To Cook Book was released in 1960. But two facts in the NPR report caught my attention. First, that she hoped her book would afford women more time to smoke cigarettes and drink cocktails, not because I’m a big fan of either one. I don’t smoke, and only rarely drink anything harder than a glass of wine. But any woman in the Ward and June Cleaver era who would espouse such rebellion was somebody I wanted to know more about. Secondly, she began her career as an advertising copywriter, my line of work. These facts made me sorry that my introduction to such a funny and fearless woman was her obituary.

In the uptight context of the early sixties, her recipes like Skid Row Stroganoff, which instructed the cook to "add the flour, salt, paprika and mushrooms, stir, and let it cook five minutes while you light a cigarette and stare sullenly at the sink,” must have been shockingly liberating to some, and just plain shocking to others. But despite the initial reactions of the male publishers who turned it down because they feared women would be offended by the lack of sanctity for the sacred rites of the kitchen, the book quickly sold more than three million copies.

It may not seem surprising that Ms. Bracken was married four times. It was while she was married to her second husband that she wrote The I Hate To Cook Book. When she showed him the manuscript, he told her, “You’re wasting your time. Who’d want a book like that?” It wasn’t long before she was on to husband number three.

Before she found her voice as a spokesperson for an emerging anti-drudgery movement, she worked as an advertising copywriter at a Portland agency. It was there that she began to unleash her gin-dry wit. She co-wrote a syndicated cartoon called “Phoebe, Get Your Man” with co-worker Homer Groening. Yes, that Homer, the father of “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening.

The I Hate To Cook Book is currently out of print, but I’ve tracked down a copy on www.alibris.com. I plan to check out her other books, I Hate To Housekeep (1962), her guide to etiquette, I Try To Behave Myself (1964), and her memoir, A Window Over The Sink (1981).

Just for the record, I don’t hate to cook. In fact, I enjoy it most of the time. But I am not above opening a can on those off nights, and I’m grateful to this woman who helped usher in the era of convenience foods while showing America that humor and intelligence are as important to a happy home as a hearty meal.