I love fiction so much I won’t read a newspaper. I rarely listen to radio news and never watch television. I read books, mostly fiction. Well, not so much anymore. I’ve been distracted by this disclaimer: “Based on a True Story.” Movie marketeers and booksellers use this phrase as if truth is the most essential element in a story. What about plot and characterization? What about setting? A story can live without truth, but not without setting. Place and time establish foundation and breathe life into events. Imagine a tale about an uninhabitable planet where unnatural beings live on high frequency sound and self-procreate. Is this based on a true story? As René Descartes said to the bartender before he disappeared, “I think not.” Who really wants the truth? I recall a short story about a child who dupes a teacher with a phony report on a holiday parade. The child in the story concludes, “All people really want are beautiful lies.” Stories don’t have to be true, but they must be beautiful. Literary fiction has always been my safe haven. I could escape or hide from the world as easy as turning a page. I reveled in the beautiful lies and shunned the paradox of journalism, which, in the latter half of the twentieth century, was dedicated to the endless quest for truth. During that time we were obsessed with the truth about the Kennedy assassination, Vietnam, Watergate, drugs, who shot JR, Milli Vanilli, OJ, Tonya, and Monica. This quest, this truth hunt, was serious and seriously tedious. It all seems so quaint here in the future, where a child can find a truth, maybe not the truth, simply by asking Siri. Sandy Wolfmueller turned me on to Charles Bowden. She and her husband, Jon, own and operate Wolfmueller’s Books. It is a glorious bookstore that would be on the cover of a magazine if folks loved books as much as barbecue. Their place is host to thousands of used and rare books. It’s well organized, books are placed upright on shelves, and they don’t have a cat. Talk about rare.

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为什么要读查尔斯·鲍登？

我太喜欢小说了，我不会看报纸。我很少听广播新闻，也从不看电视。我看书，主要是小说。嗯，没有那么多了。我被这个免责声明分散了注意力：“基于真实故事。” 电影营销人员和书商使用这个短语，好像真理是故事中最重要的元素一样。剧情和人物塑造呢？设置呢？一个故事可以没有真相，但不能没有背景。地点和时间奠定基础，为事件注入活力。想象一个关于一个不适宜居住的星球的故事，在那里不自然的生物靠高频声音生活并自我繁殖。这是根据真实故事改编的吗？正如勒内·笛卡尔在酒保消失前对他说的那样：“我认为不会。“谁真的想要真相？我记得有一个关于一个孩子在节日游行中用虚假报告欺骗老师的短篇故事。故事中的孩子总结道：“人们真正想要的是美丽的谎言。” 故事不一定是真实的，但它们必须是美丽的。文学小说一直是我的避风港。我可以像翻页一样轻松地逃离或隐藏世界。我陶醉在美丽的谎言中，避开了新闻业的悖论，它在 20 世纪下半叶致力于对真相的无止境追求。在那段时间里，我们沉迷于肯尼迪遇刺、越南、水门事件、毒品、射杀 JR、Milli Vanilli、OJ、Tonya 和 Monica 的真相。这个追求，这个真相追寻，是严肃而乏味的。未来这里一切都显得那么古怪，在那里一个孩子可以找到真相，也许不是事实，只需询问 Siri。桑迪沃尔夫米勒让我找到了查尔斯鲍登。她和她的丈夫乔恩拥有并经营 Wolfmueller's Books。这是一家光荣的书店，如果人们像烧烤一样爱书，它就会登上杂志封面。他们的地方收藏了数以千计的旧书和珍本。井井有条，书直立放在书架上，而且没有猫。说稀有。