The Red Notebooks: True Stories by Paul Auster

In this collection of vignettes, grouped under four headings, Paul Auster uses what he claims are true stories to illustrate life's shocking coincidences. I think they are meant to show the point of writing--some are gathered under the heading "Why Write?" and one explains why Auster always carries a pencil around. While Auster writes with a beautiful touch, and while some of the stories have gorgeous moments, at other times, the collection veers into the false, the unacceptably improbable, and the cliché.