When Paul Auster was asked to join NPR's Weekend "All Things Considered" program to tell stories, and was reluctant to accept, his wife, Siri Hustvedt, turned the proposition on its head: He should let the stories come to him. He then invited listeners to submit brief, true-life anecdotes about events that touched their lives.
And so the National Story Project was born and it's now one of NPR's most popular features. The response has been so overwhelming, with more than 5,000 stories submitted so far, that Auster decided to cull the top works and make them available in a book -- and now an audiobook.
His selections -- hilarious blunders, wrenching coincidences, brushes with death, miraculous encounters, improbable ironies -- come from people of all ages and walks of life. This one-of-a-kind collection is a testament to the power of storytelling that offers a glimpse into the American soul. By turns poignant, nostalgic, funny and strange, it is an audiobook to be treasured and shared for years to come.
Listen to Paul Auster read select stories from the compilation "I Thought My Father Was God," courtesy of Harper Audio.
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