This is not a novel by Paul Auster. This is a collection of true stories written by about 180 authors for a weekly radio show presented by Paul Auster.

These stories are emotional, mysterious, touching, funny, sometimes difficult to read, entertaining, heartbreaking, and full of love and kindness. I don't know if I ever read a book that shows in such an extensive way aspects of humanity and life. The parts that I remember most vividly, are accounts about life, and how it should or should not be. Accounts that hint at what it is that makes us human. These are stories from an America that we rarely get to see these days; an America very different from George W. Bush and the likes; an America that we can only hope will not seize to exist and not be forgotten.

On the wooden bench close to the left river bank

on the bench at Platform 3

The topics of the stories in this book vary from love to war which I find quite intresting and it's convenient to have such a wide range of content in just one book. What I liked a lot about these stories was the fact that they are all part of a real person's life, which made them more appealing for me to read.