Even though I had a spot of trouble finding the original story (damn you, Chicago Tribune website but thank you, Technorati) the wires are inundated with carbon copies of reports that last week, a class-action suit was filed against James Frey, Doubleday and other Random House imprints. Thomas Pakenas, who is representing the plaintiff, says his client bought A MILLION LITTLE PIECES after watching that Oprah episode and when it was revealed to be a big lie...voila -- consumer fraud. Let's see how this progresses, although personally I'm not sure this will wash, though I think some others might have a very good case on defamation grounds...

But what's James Frey up to anyway? Well, his website won't tell you (at least as of 9:30 EDT) because it's been password-protected. Guess the message board chatter proved a bit too loud?

And then there's La Kakutani, who decides to play op-ed columnist and offer her opinion on the whole truthiness aspect. A part of me is slightly taken aback in that she invokes Godwin's Law in her own way, but then again, it's a point that bears repeating nonetheless:

The dangers of such relativistic theories are profound. As Deborah Lipstadt, the author of "Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory," has argued, the suggestion that no event or fact has a fixed meaning leads to the premise that "any truth can be retold." And when people assert that there is no ultimate historical reality, an environment is created in which the testimony of a witness to the Holocaust - like Mr. Wiesel, the author of "Night" - can actually be questioned.

And that, to me, is as scary a prospect as one can have.