Broken into a Million Little Pieces.. Memoir Fact or Fiction

American book-buying public duped again?

The Washington Post reported today author James Frey's publisher, Random House, will offer refunds to disgruntled book buyers after allegations that his memoir "A Million Little Pieces" was not factual. Frey's book has sold approximately 1.77 million copies and was reported to be the best selling non-fiction book of 2005.

An exerpt:

"Central to Frey's book, published in 2003, is his assertion that he was charged with assaulting an Ohio police officer with his car, with inciting a riot, with possession of crack cocaine and felony drunk driving -- charges that he wrote resulted in a three-month prison term.

The Smoking Gun, owned by Court TV, reported that most of those claims were not borne out by police records or by interviews with police and court officials. The Web site published the police officer's report of the key 1992 incident which shows Frey was found drunk in his car without a driver's license but did not, as he wrote, serve time the incident or behave in the outrageous manner portrayed in his book.

Smoking Gun editor William Bastone told Reuters, "In off-the-record interviews with us, Frey admitted embellishing facts in the book for dramatic impact."

Frey has since threatened to sue The Smoking Gun.

Frey's book was published in hardcover in 2003 and then in trade paperback with the coveted Oprah's Book Club endorsement in late September. Winfrey has not commented on the controversy surrounding the book.

Frey's October appearance on Winfrey's talk show made him an overnight literary sensation. Since the controversy, "A Million Little Pieces" has remained the No. 1 selling book on Amazon.com."

Frey's response, "I stand by my book, and my life, and I won't dignify this bullshit with any sort of further response," written this week on his personal Web site, www.bigjimindustries.com.