Rating: 
Summary: Americana at its best
Review: I came upon a British publication of this book when I was in Vienna. I was very sick at the time, and as a young single woman travelling alone through Europe for the summer, was glad to have this company in my tiny hotel room for the three days I did not have enough strength to leave. Even if I was well, I don't know that I would have been able to put this book down.
The format of individual stories divided by genre is simple to pick up or put down without missing a beat, and the range of emotions, experiences, diversity, American geography.... it's beautiful. From sea to shining sea, the truth of what America is, what it has failed at, where its glories lay, what it can become. And just what life is. In the words of so many. I loved this book and was delighted it at home under a different title.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Many of the Same Stories...
Review: i enjoyed this book so much. once again it proves the adage that EVERYONE has a story. i like that the stories weren't polished, it made the stories much more transparent and meaningful.
Rating: 
Summary: very good read
Review: i enjoyed this book so much. once again it proves the adage that EVERYONE has a story. i like that the stories weren't polished, it made the stories much more transparent and meaningful.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Look at American Life
Review: I like this book because the stories are short and true to life. Some are sad, some scary, some unbelieveable but all are worth reading. The animals section is slow so don't let that deter you from reading the rest of the book. The only really interesting story in the animal section is the story about the pet parakeet that flew away from one family and landed with another, while the facts of the story were discovered years later at a dinner party. That is amazing and helps me understand that there is a force out there greater than us.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, touching, moving, chilling
Review: I love this book! The stories are uniformly fascinating. A couple of them nearly moved me to tears, and several made me laugh out loud. Many of them stayed with me-- I found myself telling my coworkers about the war photographer who "witnessed his own death." My only complaint is that it's a bit overedited-- the voice is very consistent, and you sometimes get the feeling that you're listening to one person tell several stories, rather than several telling one. Be aware that this book is very dense-- you'll only want to do only a few stories at a time. I read this on the train to and from work each day (a 15-minute ride) and that was about the perfect size for a bite.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, touching, moving, chilling
Review: I love this book! The stories are uniformly fascinating. A couple of them nearly moved me to tears, and several made me laugh out loud. Many of them stayed with me-- I found myself telling my coworkers about the war photographer who "witnessed his own death." My only complaint is that it's a bit overedited-- the voice is very consistent, and you sometimes get the feeling that you're listening to one person tell several stories, rather than several telling one. Be aware that this book is very dense-- you'll only want to do only a few stories at a time. I read this on the train to and from work each day (a 15-minute ride) and that was about the perfect size for a bite.
Rating:
Summary: Faith in Humanity
Review: I loved listening to the stories on NPR. It made long drives bearable and left a warm feeling in my soul. This book was recommended to me and it has been one of the best books that I have read all year. The stories are so much more than random words on paper, it is the story of humanity and the reselience of the human spirit. Not all the stories are sugar coated and I appreciated them so much more. It shows the flaws and the excellence of mankind. Share this book with people that you love. Read this book to renew your spirit!
Rating:
Summary: We all need a good story from time to time...
Review: I really loved this wildly diverse collection of brief stories. We all enjoy hearing the odd-but-true stories of our friends, families, and acquaintances, but how often do we get to sit around with complete strangers and hear about what's happened to them? This is a truly valuable and enriching piece of 21st century Americana and I hope there's a second volume in the works!
Rating:
Summary: unusual and frequently inspirational...
Review: I Thought My Father Was God is a collection of the best work to be read by Auster on his weekly National Public Radio slot. Instead of his own work he would read stories sent in by listeners. The rules were simple, stories could be about any subject matter with no restriction on style or content but they must be short. And they must be true. Grouped under headings such as Slapstick, Dreams, Death and Meditation we see all manner of American society. Stories of tragedy, hope, humour, pathos and the downright bizarre. This is a wonderful collection of short tales guided by the hand of one of America's leading writers. Auster fans will delight in the prevalence of coincidence and fate throughout the book, themes so strong within his novels, but a knowledge of his work is not needed here to truly enjoy this unusual and frequently inspirational collection.
Rating:
Summary: We are each in this book
Review: I was not looking for this book but in a thrift shop looking at other things. A woman came out of the back room with books in her arm that had just come in and she walked toward me with I Thought My Father Was God and handed it to me saying this looks like a good one, as if she knew me. I took it and have hardly been able to put it down since. I have read some of the stories aloud to my husband and we have laughed together and we have cried. When I wake in the morning I know the people are there waiting to tell their odd, miraculous, glowing, quiet stories and that in these stories I find threads of myself. I hope this is an ongoing book project because it is treasures like this that will spread the word that the world is not only about the dreaded stories on the 6 o'clock news - that these are the kind of stories that have the power to change the way we see our own lives and the lives of others no matter how small or insignificant they seem. These are the stories we need to understand that the world is more than the nightly news or the mostly violent movies on the screen today but the world is full of good, funny, clever, and an 'average sadness' of people trying to understand the Mysterious that happens to them in their lives.
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