anisia

Finished True Tales of American Life by Paul Auster Book Description (taken from Amazon) 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. Personal Note: As I’ve always been a bit fascinated with American Life/Culture, when I saw this book a while back I decided to get it, despite the big reading list I already had (and still have). It was a good choice and reading it was an interesting journey. Not all stories are spectacular, but they all have this “real” vibe to them. I think what I liked most was the fact that those writing the little stories were from absolutely all backgrounds, like the author writes, “a postman, a merchant seaman, a trolley-bus driver, a gas-and-electric-meter reader, a restorer of player pianos, a crime-scene cleaner etc”. They’re little stories that keep you interested, some sad, some funny, some very simple.

I'm horrible at remembering the books I read and it's always annoyed me. There are books I know I've loved and yet I can barely say two words about them.

I'm very happy, I seem to have found my rhythm with reading again! Today, I read about 50 pages of "True Tales of American Life" by Paul Auster and about 50 pages of "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke. Enjoying them both so far

Biscuits, chocolate and drinking tea.

I've always wanted to read this!

Finished "The Mummy at the Dining Room Table" by Jeffrey A. Kottler & Jon Carlson, really liked it. I'll start "True Tales of American Life" by Paul Auster, very soon.

Thank you and sorry my reply is well...I'd say late but this is an understatement I seem to have gotten my mojo back a bit especially with the book I currently finished! Finished The Mummy at the Dining Room Table by Jeffrey A. Kottler & Jon Carlson Book Description (amazon.com) A wife pretends to hang herself in the basement so she can time how long it will be before her husband comes to rescue her. . . .a woman whose dead aunt was made into a mummy so the family could better grieve her passing and on occasion dine with her at family gatherings . . . a man wants his nose cut off to escape an annoying smell that haunts him . . . a teenage boy would only come to therapy if he could bring his pet snake These and other fascinating and revealing stories are told by some of the most famous therapists in the world. Collected in this extraordinary book, well known practitioners recount the most memorable case histories of their illustrious careers. Engaging and surprising stories of human behavior are dramatically and often humorously portrayed. Each chapter gives a behind-the-scenes look at how therapists work with clients whose problems and behaviors aren’t found in standard psychology textbooks. The book also shows how these eminent therapists often cure these apparently intractable problems and learn something about themselves in the process. Personal Note I got the book as a recommendation from a couple of my teachers and I wasn’t disappointed at all. The therapy stories mentioned are incredible and you learn something from each one. You read stories that were told by some of the most famous therapists (Albert Ellis, Scott Miller or William Glasser to name a few) and it’s interesting to see what they faced, some at the beginning of their careers, including having to use some never before seen techniques in order to have progress with their client. Some of the stories had a bigger impact than others and I know the one that gives the title of this book is not one I’ll easily forget.

Only have a few more pages from the book I'm currently reading. Makes me happy to finally finish a book after a long time of not finishing anything!

Grey's Anatomy

Yes, sometimes, if I'm really not enjoying the book. I usually try to also finish reading the books I enjoy less so by the end it can sometimes become a bit annoying.

It

Another episode of The West Wing. I can't get enough of this show.

I read National Geographic, Elle and Cosmopolitan every month.

I find it difficult to make a difference because even when I read work related stuff (Psychology or Sociology), I almost always enjoy them. Anyway, not taking in consideration that my reading habits have been awful for over a month, I try and keep an equilibrium between fiction and non fiction books.

The West Wing.

That's a great review, I'm adding this to my TBR list!

I finally watched the last few episodes of season 7 and I was honestly just a tiny bit disappointed with the ending. It seemed rushed! This being said, I think I'll start rewatching season 1 soon, it's been quite a long time since I've seen it!

It's horrible, I know I never did get what exactly happened... something about the main branch needed to do I don't know what and the workers from the local branches (mine was at the corner of the street I live on!) moved to the main one. I should go by and ask about it sometime and see if I'll ever use my permit again.

You sound so much like me haha. It's a good thing I have a link to my own reading list as it never gets bumped with this lack of reading

I'm glad you enjoyed The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, I thought it was a really good book

Welcome to the BCF!

I don't use the local library because it got closed about a year ago and they still haven't reopened it! But before, I'd go and get books from them too... it's good when I am trying not to spend money on books. I use the British Council library all the time. They don't have such a big selection but usually it means finding new authors

I just pick a random book from the TBR list. Or, sometimes if I really can't decide, I tell someone a few titles and ask him/her to pick for me.

There are a few book shops here that rather encourage you to do that since they have armchairs and cushions near the shelves. I'm not a fan of the idea though.