Listening is an Act of Love edited by Dave Isay
My library decided to do a community reading program this year, and Listening is an Act of Love is the book chosen. Ever since I finished graduate school, I resist when I have to read something, so I'd been putting off reading the book for longer than I really should have.
That was totally a mistake.
The stories presented in Listening is an Act of Love are moving, descriptive, funny, endearing, and so very vivid. These aren't stories that authors have invented but actual interviews with average people, like you and me.
There's a man who worked as a school janitor for 15 years before going back to school to become a teacher (and teach at the school where he was a janitor!), a fantastic and beautifully described story of how steel is made, grandchildren interviewing grandparents, the story of a bus driver in New York, interviews with inmates in a state prison, stories of Hurricane Katrina and September 11th; each story was incredible. I haven't teared up so much in one book probably since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (but that was all out crying).
The StoryCorps Project is amazing in and of itself--its goal is to record these stories people have and to share them with another person, to always have a record of that story, to not fade away. Thinking that your life isn't story-worthy? Life is made up of moments, and that is what the StoryCorps records--moments in people's lives. The stories in Listening is an Act of Love are all moments in people's lives: a few hours, a day, a week. That's what life is made of: moments. The book has definitely encouraged me to ask more questions of my family, and just to hear moments in their lives.
Listening is an Act of Love is a quick read and really is, as the subtitle states: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project. And we're very fortunate to be able to read these stories.
That was totally a mistake.
The stories presented in Listening is an Act of Love are moving, descriptive, funny, endearing, and so very vivid. These aren't stories that authors have invented but actual interviews with average people, like you and me.
There's a man who worked as a school janitor for 15 years before going back to school to become a teacher (and teach at the school where he was a janitor!), a fantastic and beautifully described story of how steel is made, grandchildren interviewing grandparents, the story of a bus driver in New York, interviews with inmates in a state prison, stories of Hurricane Katrina and September 11th; each story was incredible. I haven't teared up so much in one book probably since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (but that was all out crying).
The StoryCorps Project is amazing in and of itself--its goal is to record these stories people have and to share them with another person, to always have a record of that story, to not fade away. Thinking that your life isn't story-worthy? Life is made up of moments, and that is what the StoryCorps records--moments in people's lives. The stories in Listening is an Act of Love are all moments in people's lives: a few hours, a day, a week. That's what life is made of: moments. The book has definitely encouraged me to ask more questions of my family, and just to hear moments in their lives.
Listening is an Act of Love is a quick read and really is, as the subtitle states: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project. And we're very fortunate to be able to read these stories.
Labels: nonfiction
posted by austentatious at 9:07 AM
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