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The Red Notebook: True Stories
by
Paul Auster has earned international praise for the imaginative power of his many novels, including The New York Trilogy, Moon Palace, The Music of Chance, Mr. Vertigo, and Timbuktu. He has also published a number of highly original non-fiction works: The Invention of Solitude, Hand to Mouth, and The Art of Hunger. In The Red Notebook, Auster again explores events from the
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Paperback, 104 pages
Published
June 17th 2002
by New Directions
(first published August 10th 1993)
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The Red Notebook, Paul Auster
The Red Notebook is a story-in-a-story collection by Paul Auster. The book consists of four parts, all stories which had appeared previously: The Red Notebook (1995), Why Write? (1996), Accident Report (1999) and It Don't Mean a Thing (2000).
They are true stories gathered from Auster's life as well as the lives of his friends and acquaintances and they have all one thing in common: the paradox of coincidence. Auster narrates things he writes about in his fiction, m ...more
The Red Notebook is a story-in-a-story collection by Paul Auster. The book consists of four parts, all stories which had appeared previously: The Red Notebook (1995), Why Write? (1996), Accident Report (1999) and It Don't Mean a Thing (2000).
They are true stories gathered from Auster's life as well as the lives of his friends and acquaintances and they have all one thing in common: the paradox of coincidence. Auster narrates things he writes about in his fiction, m ...more

60th book of 2020.
I have a story to tell: In my first year of University, I believe in a Poetry module, we were given a passage (of prose, bizarrely) by a writer about his friend (J.) and the end of their friendship. The reason? The writer has had only four flat tyres in his life and all four of which happened with J. in the car. The writer admits it was not the only reason, surely, but that fourth tyre must have been symbolic of something, and they both knew it. Now, for some reason, that stor ...more
I have a story to tell: In my first year of University, I believe in a Poetry module, we were given a passage (of prose, bizarrely) by a writer about his friend (J.) and the end of their friendship. The reason? The writer has had only four flat tyres in his life and all four of which happened with J. in the car. The writer admits it was not the only reason, surely, but that fourth tyre must have been symbolic of something, and they both knew it. Now, for some reason, that stor ...more

And here is the little red notebook the author tells us in the New York Trilogy. First, Paul Auster records special events that happened or had said to him. Then, he explains how he came up with the idea of "The City of Glass".
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Vintage Auster: the man in miniature. Occasionally mawkish, occasionally so precise it takes your breath away, a kind of balancing act where every action is at once banal and loaded with meaning, like a sort of weird combination of Chekhov and Guy de Maupassant: O Henry stories without the trick endings, or as if the story was all trick. The back cover calls this "a singular kind of ars poetica, a literary manifesto without theory," which is true enough. Because the pieces in this book are so sh
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This book inspired me to write (one day,but not today) my own experiences which are full of "coincidence" ))))
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Gold. Not two days ago, I was complaining to a friend about having to read genre fiction instead of beautiful writing during my morning commute because it was more suited to the constant interruptions and stop-and-go of the tube. And then, this book fell into my hand.
Auster's bite-size true stories are intense and powerful, capturing lovely moments of chance and possibility in just a few pages each. "Perhaps it is a way to remind myself that I know nothing, that the world I live in will go on es ...more
Auster's bite-size true stories are intense and powerful, capturing lovely moments of chance and possibility in just a few pages each. "Perhaps it is a way to remind myself that I know nothing, that the world I live in will go on es ...more

"If there's a pencil in your pocket, there's a good chance that one day you'll feel tempted to start using it."
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Oh, Paul Auster! I love this man so much. The simplicity his writing is just beautiful, and the stories themselves- all of which are about extraordinary moments or coincidences- kind of restored my faith in humanity, in fate, in life. It's so wonderful to know that moments like this exist, and that someone has taken the time to recall them. It's rare that I stumble upon a coincidence as profound as some of the ones in this book (Nazi prison guard's daughter falls in love with prisoner's son, a g
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In 1947, a friend of mine, P., was born. He went on to live much of his life in New York or Europe. He was particularly attached to France, spending much of his time there even when there was no real reason for him to do so, and that might have contributed to his fame in that country. P. became a writer of banally meta stories, another reason that the French love him so much, and I thought that he would go there and never return. Perhaps that's why I never read his work.
He published many novels ...more
He published many novels ...more

This incredible little book is a collection of almost unbelievable, true "happenstances" that one of my favorite authors compiled. Each vignette, only a few pages, is a story with amazing outcomes, neatly tied up into feel-good endings. I still question the veracity of the whole thing but it is a quick read, wholly satisfying and full of humanity that makes me happy and makes me close my eyes with a smile at each ending.
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This slim book has three parts: short descriptions of coincidental happenings in Auster's life; his short essays on some writers, artists and French poetry and interviews with himself. The snippets of unbelievable coincidences were nice to read but not too thrilling if you've read his work before. The French poetry analysis I skipped cos I have no deep interest in that subject. But the interviews. Those were really insightful and they make me understand his work so much better now. For example:
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" ...more

A slim red little notebook, just a few stories thrown in, all about this rather remarkable thing we call coincidences, or Chance. It's like a little amuse bouche of Paul Auster and the rest of his work. This is what it tastes like, only a crumble to wet the appetite.
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When you're a man as good-looking, beloved by the French, and utterly meta as Paul Auster, things happen to you. Exciting things. Surprising things. Coicidental and virtually impossible things. And if things aren't happening to you, then by golly, they are happening to someone you know. And so what are you to do, Paul Auster, but to write a book detailing the minute ways in which life (specifically yours) truly means something.
Because, Dear Reader, everything is connected.
Auster believes in a ...more
Because, Dear Reader, everything is connected.
Auster believes in a ...more

Bought The Red Notebook in a New York book store before heading to the airport to fly to Beijing. Thought I would finish it before the in-flight dinner was served, but found the first few pages so exquisite that I had to draw out the consumption as long as possible. Just finished it in my Beijing hotel room four days after the New York purchase. This is honest, direct, precise writing, at once unadorned and deeply complex. Regular practice at this way of writing would greatly enhance any writer'
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In 1973, I was offered a job as caretaker of a farmhouse in the south of France
It turned out to be a curious year
The place was beautiful: a large, eighteenth-century stone house bordered by vineyards on one side and a national forest on the other. The nearest village was two kilometers away, but it was inhabited by no more than forty people
It was an ideal spot for two young writers to spend a year
On the other hand, we lived on the brink of permanent catastrophe
L. and I were married in 1974
Ou ...more
It turned out to be a curious year
The place was beautiful: a large, eighteenth-century stone house bordered by vineyards on one side and a national forest on the other. The nearest village was two kilometers away, but it was inhabited by no more than forty people
It was an ideal spot for two young writers to spend a year
On the other hand, we lived on the brink of permanent catastrophe
L. and I were married in 1974
Ou ...more

I am not sure if I can count this as one of my read books, as I listened to a book-reading session by Auster himself. (https://www.openculture.com/2012/10/h...)
Anyhow, I liked the book, which is a collection are true stories according to the author. However, his unique style in retelling those true events makes them sound fictional. Who would believe that all those strange coincidences have actually happened in the real world, and we are not reading a story by Auster? ...more
Anyhow, I liked the book, which is a collection are true stories according to the author. However, his unique style in retelling those true events makes them sound fictional. Who would believe that all those strange coincidences have actually happened in the real world, and we are not reading a story by Auster? ...more

Mar 06, 2021
Em
added it
Came across this by accident and it's pretty short so I was like, why not? I like the self-reflexivity. Could be a good text to teach next year...
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I'll begin from the bottom line: in my opinion, you can't really go wrong with an Auster book - he's truly a master of writing, which is something that can be attributed to a very few novelists these days (among them you can also find Stephen King). Of course, some may not like their prose but one can not argue with their tremendous success and part of it must be attributed to their outstanding style.
"The red notebook" is actually a collection of snippets from Auster's autobiography and since h ...more
"The red notebook" is actually a collection of snippets from Auster's autobiography and since h ...more

This is the first Paul Auster book I've read. I've been aware of him for decades. Certainly, I've read a review or two he's written and I've seen him on panel discussions on TV. I have always MEANT to read him. About two weeks ago, friends gave me a copy of THE NEW YORK TRILOGY, in a Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition with a cover by Art Spiegelman. That is a handsome book. On my way home from work tonight I stopped at the library, as I often do, oasis that it is, and I thought that, since the book
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The Red Notebook provides a fascinating insight into a writer’s life, inspiration and outlook. Collected here are short essays, reflections and extracts from interviews where Auster talks about incidents from his past that have coloured both his life and work, from his early poetry and translation work onward. In particular, there is an emphasis on fate and chance, how commonplace unlikely meetings and coincidences are in everyday life, far more than in fictional works, where unlikely plot twist
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This is a great book to read on a Sunday, or any rainy day (yep, as cliché as it sounds). I read in other reviews of Auster's books that he writes stories that anyone could write, and I now understand why people seem to think that.
Auster writes in a contemporary style, about contemporary places, and typical relations, yet, it is precisely these set of characteristics that makes him apparently simple, but at the same time unique. It takes great intelligence to notice the small details necessary ...more
Auster writes in a contemporary style, about contemporary places, and typical relations, yet, it is precisely these set of characteristics that makes him apparently simple, but at the same time unique. It takes great intelligence to notice the small details necessary ...more

The most fascinated book which I was affected. I should say that "Thank you Paul Auster." Because he wrote such a realistic book that I couldn't help admiring of it.
He both introduced his life and mentioned the incidents which coincided with the people who has met so far.
This book was a sample of "bibliotherapy" on its own. Paul Auster not only referred to the incidents which was lived by him but also told about his touchy experiments about his life. The full density of sensitive sensations i ...more
He both introduced his life and mentioned the incidents which coincided with the people who has met so far.
This book was a sample of "bibliotherapy" on its own. Paul Auster not only referred to the incidents which was lived by him but also told about his touchy experiments about his life. The full density of sensitive sensations i ...more

I needed a short book to read between tomes and so I rescued “The Red Notebook: True Stories”, by Paul Auster, from my To Be Read stack. I picked it up years ago and hadn’t gotten around to reading it – at 103 pages it was a perfect “palate cleanser” of a book.
It’s a collection of essays/stories, in which coincidence, happenstance, “miracles”, and deus ex machina, feature. It will prompt you to ruminate on these types of stories in your own life; everyone has them!
It’s a collection of essays/stories, in which coincidence, happenstance, “miracles”, and deus ex machina, feature. It will prompt you to ruminate on these types of stories in your own life; everyone has them!

A collection of essays by and interviews with this most creative of all contemporary American writers. Fantastic insight into the creation of Auster's early work. In truth, one for aficionados only.
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Paul Auster is the bestselling author of Report from the Interior, Winter Journal, Sunset Park, Invisible, The Book of Illusions, and The New York Trilogy, among many other works. He has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature, the Prix Médicis Étranger, the Independent Spirit Award, and the Premio Napoli. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Ac
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“I learned that books are never finished, that it is possible for stories to go on writing themselves without an author.”
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“Descubrir el poder del azar es descubrir que somos terriblemente frágiles y vulnerables, que dependemos de la casualidad, que una coincidencia estúpida puede destrozarnos en un segundo. Que una palabra estúpida oída por casualidad también puede fulminarnos. Recordar que las personas son terriblemente frágiles es una obligación moral: Paul Auster dice que es cazador de coincidencias por obligación moral.”
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