Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project Book

*I edited this* Listening is an act of love. Even if I weren't already a huge fan of NPR's StoryCorps, that statement alone would have caught my eye. Nine times out of ten I come into work on Friday mornings sniffly and red-eyed from having listened to StoryCorps during Morning Edition. Just getting 100 pages into the book today during my lunch hour already had me tearing up, so maybe I'll have to restrict reading it to only occasions when I won't look like a lunatic from weeping over a book. What could be more beautiful than shared stories? Even if they're not a direct link to my life and my family's stories, they feel so meaningful to me. In my dream life, I'd interview my Grandpa for StoryCorps -- he's already written his memoirs for our family, but I would love to record his voice. This project is such a treasure, and although I find myself missing hearing the voices, I still love it. It is almost so moving that I can't handle it. Almost. :)

EDIT:
Okay, I've finished the book. Page 146 nearly killed me, but the accounts of 9/11 really did me in. Throughout the book I kept thinking of my favorite StoryCorps account, of Danny and Annie, and wondering why it wasn't in the book. Then I got to the final chapter and read their story and read what I didn't know: that Danny died of pancreatic cancer. That there was one last StoryCorps conversation between them that I never heard. What a way to end my book! In tears, again. Still. I quote: 'Danny was not the type you'd necessarily peg for a great romantic; he was short, bald, nearly toothless, and cross-eyed. But Danny Perasa had more romance in his little pinkie than all of Hollywood's leading men put together.' Could there be a finer legacy?