Brooklyn on its own, would be America's fourth-largest city. From cobblestones and fishing boats to cutting-edge art and restaurants, it's New York City's most authentic borough. We've got more ethnic communities and one-of-a-kind neighborhoods than you can shake a stick at. We've got things to do like you wouldn't believe. We've got more than two million realy New Yorkers. And that ain't half the story.A complete handbook for the resident or visitor, Brooklyn! includes:Neighborhoods: From hip Williamsburg to classic Sheepshead Bay, every street has a story.Restaurants: African, Middle Eastern, French, Latino, Russian, Italian, delis, soda fountains, and more.Culture: World-class museums, theater, music, cinema, dance, art, you name it.Activities: Horseback riding? Kayaking? Golf? In Brooklyn!? Who knew?Shopping: Vintage clothes, trendy boutiques, fresh mozzerella, Russian furs, SCUBA gear, and just about anything else you can think of.So what's not to like?

News from Doubleday & Anchor Books

The controversy over James Frey's A Million Little Pieces has caused serious concern at Doubleday and Anchor Books. Recent interpretations of our previous statement notwithstanding, it is not the policy or stance of this company that it doesn’t matter whether a book sold as nonfiction is true. A nonfiction book should adhere to the facts as the author knows them.

It is, however, Doubleday and Anchor's policy to stand with our authors when accusations are initially leveled against their work, and we continue to believe this is right and proper. A publisher's relationship with an author is based to an extent on trust. Mr. Frey's repeated representations of the book's accuracy, throughout publication and promotion, assured us that everything in it was true to his recollections. When the Smoking Gun report appeared, our first response, given that we were still learning the facts of the matter, was to support our author. Since then, we have questioned him about the allegations and have sadly come to the realization that a number of facts have been altered and incidents embellished.

We bear a responsibility for what we publish, and apologize to the reading public for any unintentional confusion surrounding the publication of A Million Little Pieces. We are immediately taking the following actions:

We are issuing a publisher's note to be included in all future printings of the book.*James Frey has written an author's note that will appear in all future printings of the book.* Read the author's note.The jacket for all future editions will carry the line "With new notes from the publisher and from the author."

*Customers should find the Author's Note and Publisher's Note in copies purchased from Amazon.com after April 15, 2006. Note: The following editorial reviews were written before the recent revelations by James Frey and the publisher.

Amazon.com
The electrifying opening of James Frey's debut memoir, A Million Little Pieces, smash-cuts to the then 23-year-old author on a Chicago-bound plane "covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood." Wanted by authorities in three states, without ID or any money, his face mangled and missing four front teeth, Frey is on a steep descent from a dark marathon of drug abuse. His stunned family checks him into a famed Minnesota drug treatment center where a doctor promises "he will be dead within a few days" if he starts to use again, and where Frey spends two agonizing months of detox confronting "The Fury" head on:

I want a drink. I want fifty drinks. I want a bottle of the purest, strongest, most destructive, most poisonous alcohol on Earth. I want fifty bottles of it. I want crack, dirty and yellow and filled with formaldehyde. I want a pile of powder meth, five hundred hits of acid, a garbage bag filled with mushrooms, a tube of glue bigger than a truck, a pool of gas large enough to drown in. I want something anything whatever however as much as I can.

One of the more harrowing sections is when Frey submits to major dental surgery without the benefit of anesthesia or painkillers (he fights the mind-blowing waves of "bayonet" pain by digging his fingers into two old tennis balls until his nails crack). His fellow patients include a damaged crack addict with whom Frey wades into an ill-fated relationship, a federal judge, a former championship boxer, and a mobster (who, upon his release, throws a hilarious surf-and-turf bacchanal, complete with pay-per-view boxing). In the book's epilogue, when Frey ticks off a terse update on everyone, you can almost hear the Jim Carroll Band's brutal survivor's lament "People Who Died" kicking in on the soundtrack of the inevitable film adaptation.

The rage-fueled memoir is kept in check by Frey's cool, minimalist style. Like his steady mantra, "I am an Alcoholic and I am a drug Addict and I am a Criminal," Frey's use of repetition takes on a crisp, lyrical quality which lends itself to the surreal experience. The book could have benefited from being a bit leaner. Nearly 400 pages is a long time to spend under Frey's influence, and the stylistic acrobatics (no quotation marks, random capitalization, left-aligned text, wild paragraph breaks) may seem too self-conscious for some readers, but beyond the literary fireworks lurks a fierce debut. —Brad Thomas Parsons

In the bold and heartbreaking My Friend Leonard, James Frey picks up the story of his extraordinary life pretty much where things left off in his breakout bestseller and Amazon.com Best Book of 2003, A Million Little Pieces, the fierce, in-your-face memoir about Frey's kamikaze run of self-destruction and his days in rehab. Fresh from a stint in jail from pre-rehab-related charges ("On my first day in jail, a three hundred pound man named Porterhouse hit me in the back of the head with a metal tray."), clean-living Frey returns to Chicago and gets sucker-punched with a cruel blow that will leave readers ducking for cover in anticipation of the blinding bender that's sure to come. But then the titular Leonard, the larger-than-life Vegas mobster ("West Coast Director of a large Italian finance firm") whom James befriended in rehab, steps into the story and serves equal parts unlikely life coach, guardian angel, and father figure for the grief-stricken author, adopting him as his "son" and schooling him in the fine art of "living boldly":

Be not bold, be f-cking BOLD. Every time you meet someone, make a f-cking impression. Make them think you're the hottest shit in the world. Make them think they're gonna lose their job if they don't give you one. Look 'em in the eye, and never look away. Be confident and calm, be f-cking bold.

Hurricane Leonard storms into James's life, showering his young charge with multi-course feasts at steakhouses and Italian restaurants, courtside seats at Bulls' games, Cuban cigars, and an elaborate Super Bowl party in Los Angeles, all the while doling out wisdom on life and love and motivating James to stick to his burgeoning writing career. James even has a brief stint as an employee of Leonard's, though occupational hazards—like having a nine millimeter shoved in his face—prove too much for the novice bag man (though he does make enough to invest his earnings in a Picasso drawing). When Leonard drops out of sight for an extended period, his absence leaves readers aching to hear the familiar refrain of "My Son!" just one more time.

Frey sticks to the taut, staccato style that shot through A Million Little Pieces with such raw electricity. Surprisingly, the tone feels equally at home with this book's focus on friendship and extreme loyalty, and works to intensify the always-looming, adrenaline-rush threat of violence and the lure of the Fury that courses like a riptide throughout the book. Ultimately, it's a sense of hope, and humor even, that prevails and makes My Friend Leonard a stand-alone success. Despite his shady pedigree, you'll long to have a friend like Leonard just a phone call away. —Brad Thomas Parsons

James Frey's List of Books You Should Read

Paris Spleen
Tropic of Cancer
The Great Santini
See more recommendations from James Frey

Amazon.com's Significant Seven
James Frey graciously agreed to answer the questions we like to ask every author: the Amazon.com Significant Seven.

Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
A: Tao te Ching by Lao Tsu. Completely changed how I think, behave, live my life. Nothing else comes close.
Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD—what are they?
A: The book would be the Tao te Ching, the CD would be some compilation of love songs from the 70’s and 80’s, and the DVD would be highlights from the history of the Cleveland Browns.

Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: No way I can answer that.

Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: I've been working at the same desk since I started writing. It's old and beaten-up and black. The rest of my workroom is empty, except for some crazy sh— on the wall in front of me: pictures of people I admire, reproductions of artwork I dig, sayings that motivate me, things like—bare your soul, be bold, page a day motherfu—er page a day. I listen to music while I work, have a pile of nicotine gum and a couple cans of diet coke. My dogs are usually a couple feet away from me. I've always worked this way, probably always will.

Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: "Loved, lost, laughed, left."

Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: Winston Churchill

Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
A: Immortality.

Dell celebrates the l0th anniversary of this groundbreaking bestseller (3 million now in print) just in time for Mother's Day. Hailed by Publishers Weekly as "a landmark study," My Mother/My Self explores a daughter's search for her own identity.

One of the many collections of articles from the world of zines, The Factsheet Five Zine Reader, has the distinction of being edited and selected by R. Seth Friedman. Friedman is the zine fanatic behind Factsheet Five, the world's leading source of zine information, and the first zine dedicated solely to the subject of, well, zines. Commencing with a brief, informative history of his subject, Friedman then goes on to present 73 extracts from almost as many little magazines. Some of the most surprising include the pieces from two different Momzines (magazines dedicated to the subject of motherhood); some good advice on how to sell out; and a disturbing compendium of the 25 partners that Sky Ryan, of the zine How Perfectly Goddamn Delightful It All Is, amassed in the two years since she lost her virginity. Although you'll also find the usual assortment of articles on '70s pop culture, lounge music, eight-track tapes, and Hello Kitty, this collection offers quite a few pleasant surprises, and would be a good introduction to the world of zines, in case you're looking for a hipifying gift for your Aunt Hettie.

The streets of New York are full of characters-eccentrics, tourists, and residents-who don't care who's around to hear them. This collection offers some of the most bizarre, hysterical, and mysterious conversations overheard on the sidewalk, in the subway, or from the next table.

The website overheardinnewyork.com has been featured in many publications, including The New York Times, Time Out New York, the Chicago Sun-Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and the New York Post. Now site creators S. Morgan Friedman and Michael Malice have compiled the greatest moments caught in passing, to create a hilarious panorama of the unique people who populate the city. The book features an introduction by Marc Shaiman, the Tony and Grammy award-winning composer of Hairspray, as well as a foreword by bestselling author Lawrence Block.

Why are large, illustrated works offhandedly relegated to gather dust on the corner of your coffee table? Sure, you will want to put Good-Faeries/Bad Faeries in an obvious place, somewhere your friends will see it and pick it up, but it's far more than mere decoration. Froud's illustrations have delighted readers since his first book, Faeries, introduced us to the little people of folklore. Good Faeries/Bad Faeries is a doorway to the faery realm of the 20th century, where you'll meet delightful characters like Quempel, who dances to celebrate when something is done well; or the Buttered Toast Faery, who decides which side of a dropped piece of toast will hit the floor—faeries who will call you back so often that Good Faeries/Bad Faeries won't have a chance to gather dust. —Brian Patterson

The Cottington Archive reluctantly announces that more information about the infamous Lady Cottington has surfaced: a scrapbook compiled by the fairy smasher herself of her correspondence with luminaries such as Queen Victoria, Annie Oakley, Igor Stravinsky, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Andrew Lang, P.T. Barnum, and more. All about fairies, these hilarious letters contain everything from wisdom to suggestions to chastisement. Lady Cottington has made notes in the margins not to mention smashed fairies throughout (will she EVER STOP this nasty habit?!). And the fairies...ah the fairies...they too have done their part, sprinkling magic and mayhem throughout.

Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Letters, a facsimile reproduction of Lady Cottington's original volume, combines the nutty artistry of the first two Lady Cottington books with delightful novelty components. Containing "actual" letters, invoices for "spiritual services," a fairy Valentine, an invitation from Alice Liddell to tea, and more, this newest interactive addition to the Lady Cottington series is the most innovative to date.

This perennial bestseller never loses its charm. It really happened-a hoax perpetrated by two girls who claimed to have photographed actual "fairies"; among the people caught up in the popular hysteria were Arthur Conan Doyle (who fell for it) and Harry Houdini (who did not). This remarkable parody, written by a former member of the Monty Python troupe, takes a riotously witty, visually extraordinary, and wildly original look at what went on. In every respect, this "handwritten diary" captures the look of the age-though the fairies, it is true, do sometimes have a more malevolent aspect than one might expect...
A fresh-and funny-take on the true story that inspired two movies.

The former member of Monty Python's Flying Circus presents a journal of fairy research by Quentin Cottingham that attempts to analyze the protoplasmic nature of fairy stains. 60,000 first printing.

Included are five stories, whose plots range from the tale of two young men stealing a mannequin to a bullfighter in the time of Goya and of today.

In Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller remembers her African childhood with candor and sensitivity. Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, it is suffused with Fuller’s endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fuller’s debut is unsentimental and unflinching but always captivating. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she stares down disaster and looks back with rage and love at the life of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.

Thomas Wolfe's trusted axiom about not being able to go home again gets a compelling spin through the African veldt in Alexandra Fuller's Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier. Fuller (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight : An African Childhood) journeys through modern Zambia, to battlefields in Zimbabwe and Mozambique with the scarred veteran of the Rhodesian Wars she identifies only as "K." Intrigued by the mysterious neighbor of her parent's Zambian fish farm and further enticed by her father's warning that "curiosity scribbled the cat" ("scribbling" is Afrikaans slang for "killing"), Fuller embarks on a journey that covers as much cratered psychic landscape as it does African bush country. Though she and "K" are both African by family roots rather than blood, she quickly discovers that 30 years of civil war have scarred them—and the indigenous peoples they encounter—in markedly different ways. "K" is a figure of monumental tragedy, a decent man torn by war-fueled rage, a failed marriage, and painful memories of an only son lost to tropical disease. His adopted Christianity offers him only partial absolution, and Fuller details his gut-wrenching confessions of quarter-century old atrocities with compassion and rare insight. Her prose liberally salted with a rich, melange of Afrikaans and local Shona slang, Fuller nonetheless struggles with a narrative whose turns are often unexpected, yet driven by humanity. There's a clear sense that the author's fitful journey into the past with "K" has opened as many wounds as it has healed, and spawned more questions than it has answered. It's that discomfort and frustration that often reinforces the honesty of her prose—and reinforces Thomas Wolfe's adage yet again. —Jerry McCulley