<![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]>

false 451 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

Auster wanted "true stories that sounded like fiction". In an age where talk shows (think Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake) demand that we tell our life stories as fiction--and encourage us to live our lives as fiction--it's a particularly timely and potent meeting place of reality and art, or in Auster's words, "an archive of facts, a museum of American reality" in fictional form. Unlike Auster, who regularly has to wade through 60 of these tales in a day to meet his weekly radio deadlines, the regular reader can dip in and out. And at a rate of, say, one story per day, this book will keep you fascinated with (and occasionally horrified at) American's true life tales for just about six months. --Alan Stewart

]]> 451 2 4719 2001 True Tales of American Life total:97|5:24|4:33|3:32|2:6|1:2| 97 362 166 17 296961 3.75 31007 3214 5819594 292717 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.72 93 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 5 1 false Fri Sep 07 00:08:42 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 07 00:15:10 -0700 2007
1. Paul Auster
I like Paul Auster's writing and it was mostly his name that drew me to this collection. He picked a few very, very good ones.

2. The Stories
Short stories can be tricky. Sometimes they are extremely uns...more...]]> 44687147 1968099 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 0 0 false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 28 15:38:52 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 15:42:52 -0800 2009 more...]]> 81707181 2825684 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 4 0 false Mon Dec 21 18:54:29 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 21 18:59:26 -0800 2009 80317280 3015253 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 3 0 false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 08 12:15:32 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 08 12:16:50 -0800 2009 1 73427997 2738567 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 5 0 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1998 Sun Oct 04 13:38:24 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 04 13:39:01 -0700 2009 65971267 2169459 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 0 0 false Sat May 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 04:48:37 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 04:50:04 -0700 2009 70644796 331266 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 3 0 false Tue Oct 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 09 15:22:55 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 17:09:45 -0700 2009 64017005 180940 238213 0571210503 9780571210503 2 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173010214m/238213.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173010214s/238213.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238213.True_Tales_of_American_Life 4.00 4 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 4 0 false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 18 15:04:50 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 21:41:17 -0700 2009 20299094 855228 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 4 0 false Mon Jul 17 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Apr 16 09:58:47 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 07 05:02:37 -0700 2008 more...]]> 19244890 620387 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 5 0 false Tue Apr 01 18:02:19 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 10:16:44 -0700 2008 I Thought My Father Was God; this is the UK title of the same collection. The stories range from extremely funny to extremely sad. It'd make a perfect "bathroom book" since most of...more...]]> 32457699 1512753 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 5 0 false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Sep 09 13:05:53 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 09 13:07:42 -0700 2008 13368578 804924 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 5 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Thu Jan 24 02:39:44 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 24 02:41:30 -0800 2008 26562506 387109 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 5 0 false Mon Jul 07 13:44:43 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 07 13:45:13 -0700 2008 43479 4657 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 3 0 false Thu Feb 15 08:51:53 -0800 2007 Thu Feb 15 09:01:40 -0800 2007 33593439 1496469 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 2 0 false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 04:13:38 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 27 05:14:21 -0700 2008 4441242 271163 238213 0571210503 9780571210503 2 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173010214m/238213.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173010214s/238213.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/238213.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 5 0 false Sun Aug 12 14:43:53 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 12 14:43:53 -0700 2007 16389395 920991 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 4 0 false Thu Oct 31 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Tue Feb 26 00:16:14 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 26 00:17:54 -0800 2008 81567982 1655642 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 0 0 false Sun Dec 20 10:11:38 -0800 2009 Sun Dec 20 10:11:38 -0800 2009 81456224 3054362 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 0 0 false Fri Dec 18 21:46:51 -0800 2009 Fri Dec 18 21:46:51 -0800 2009 80606247 3031122 451 0571210708 9780571210701 15 <![CDATA[True Tales of American Life]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444m/451.jpg http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1156917444s/451.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/451.True_Tales_of_American_Life 3.73 97 True Tales of American Life is a collection derived from a project launched by Paul Auster on US National Public Radio. Auster credits his wife with the idea of having listeners send in their own short pieces of true-life writing, from which Auster would choose half a dozen to be read on air each week. But, for all the success of the radio programme, as Auster writes, "you can't hold the words in your hands". Here, then, is the fully "holdable" book. Auster has selected 179 pieces from the 4,000 plus he had received by October 2000. Split fairly evenly between male and female authors, with an age range of 20 to "pushing 90", the collection revels in its multifariousness: the contributors include "a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner", and so on. The biographical detail is relevant because inevitably most of these true stories draw on the rawest of raw materials, the writers' own experience.

]]> 2001 0 0 false Thu Dec 10 18:24:24 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 10 18:24:24 -0800 2009 8 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=451