I am ashamed to admit that it really does matter to me whether or not a book is true

Whenever there's a scandal in which it is revealed that a popular memoir is largely fabricated, I like to sneer and say, "Well, what does it matter, so long as it's a good story?"

It feels good to affirm the essential fictiveness of the world. It's all just stories, man. Some stories can be pinned down a bit more than others, but when we attach narrative…