book data
105 ratings,
3.80
average rating, 19 reviews
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published
October 7th 2002
by Faber and Faber Ltd
(first published 2001)
details
Paperback
isbn
0571210708
(isbn13: 9780571210701)
description
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 t…more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 177)
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5 stars (30)
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4 stars (34)
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3 stars (33)
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2 stars (6)
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1 star (2)
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avg 3.80
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
This book is very dear to me for several reasons.
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 unsatisfying. They can feel un- or half-finished or they can fell like an author had an idea and did not know how to spin it into a longer tale. Most of these stories (no matter how long or short they ar...more
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 unsatisfying. They can feel un- or half-finished or they can fell like an author had an idea and did not know how to spin it into a longer tale. Most of these stories (no matter how long or short they ar...more
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Read in June, 2008
A collections of short essays and stories, this book made me feel tiny in such a huge world. There are stories of supernatural, unrealistic things happening in real life, as well as reflections and meditations on the smallest, simplest things, such as the way an olive floats in a fresh martini.
It's an eclectic collage of what all it is like to be an American. It seemed to heighten my senses as well as my appreciation of life and all its subtle nuances.
It's an eclectic collage of what all it is like to be an American. It seemed to heighten my senses as well as my appreciation of life and all its subtle nuances.
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Jan 28, 2009
Larraine Kelly
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Read in December, 2008
I have found this book realy enlightening about the lives of American people . It has given me the ooportunity to share some very personal and life changing experiences of indivuduals together with a glimpse of the 'sameness' of everyday experience of people from different times and different backgrounds.
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Bought this because of Auster, and was extremely surprised at the quality of both the stories and the writing. A pleasure to dip into.
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Bought this because of my cousin, and was extremely surprised at the quality of both the stories and the writing.
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Read in February, 2009
Good for dipping in and out of. All true stories... some are a bit hit and miss... but overall I enjoyed it.
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Read in January, 1998
An amazing collection of true stories with one of the best love stories included
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Aug 03, 2009
Tim Craig
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Read in May, 2009
Insightful summation of real America
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Read in October, 2009
The book version of a bunch of very, very short true stories that were submitted to NPR and read over the air. Pleasant enough, but the stories are so short that if you are bored and read them too quickly they kind of get mushed together. But I guess that would be the reader's fault.
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Read in July, 2009
Great collection of short stories - thanks NPR!
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Read in July, 2006
This really was a wonderful read. I *just* finished reading the final tale. I started when this arrived, but have been holding myself to reading a story here, a story there, in the hopes of prolonging the experience. May of these stories really touched me....B.C. in Prescott...Carol Sherman-Jones and her father...Era Rose Rodosta
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This is a wonderful collection of short stories and vignettes. The American version of this book is called 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 the stories are very short.
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Read in February, 2008
One of my favourite books. I borrowed it from the library a while ago and have recently bought my own copy. A book of true life short stories that were submitted by listeners of a radio show.
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Read in January, 2001
So beautiful. And beautifully book-ended; I love both the first and last story. There's definitely something in there to which almost anyone can relate.
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I implore anyone to read this and then tell me what more they could possibly want out of any book, ever
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This book is a collaboration of other people's individual crazy stories
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Read in July, 2008
Nice, quick stories, good for light reading with no thinking.
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Read in October, 2002
There are some entertaining stories there.
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Read in March, 2010
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