Come to think of it, NPR stories on the arts almost always fascinate me, and I can tell I am not alone. I am one of those people who sit in the garage in the cold after turning off the engine but not the radio–I want to hear the story to the very end.

So, of course, I loved it when Ben Yagoda’s new book got 29 minutes of NPR Talk of the Nation airtime on Dec. 24. Even though I was not listening at the time, I found the story in my Google Reader, and now share it with you.  I am reading the book on my Kindle and will review it in a few days or weeks. Have a more scholarly review to write now that is taking some time. In the meantime, enjoy this segment on your own by clicking on this link!

We have already looked at the huge role memoir played in the last political campaign.  We have chronicled the six-word memoir, the 25 Things About Me phenomenon, Facebook, and reviewed many memoirs here.  Now it is time to begin thinking about radio, especially NPR.  Think about your favorite shows:  Story Corps, “This I Believe” and “This American Life.”

“This American Life” has been the top podcast on iTunes for years.  I love listening, often laughing, always engaged in someone else’s world and more reflective about my own.

Here’s just one show you can listen to now by clicking the hot link in this sentence.  If you don’t have time to listen to the whole show, let me pull out one sentence for you to contemplate here.

We always ask people “how did you meet?”  We never ask “what has kept you together?”  Consider this post the exception to that rule.

What has kept you and a loved one together–whether that togetherness has been one year or fifty years?