Another memoir from Auster, this time of his childhood and adolescence, as usual with Auster it's evocative, self-aware, and an almost universal story. Also, as usual with Auster, the book is digressive, eccentric, and wholly original. The first part is a true childhood memoir, and for me is the strongest part of the book; honest, moving, funny and real. Then, as he so often does, he move to film studies - long descriptions of two films which formed his life-long love of movies. Then there is a selection of letters he wrote to a girlfriend, later his first wife, during a period of miserable separation in Auster's late teens. The book closes with a photographic album representing the earlier sections. If you've read Winter Journal, you need to read this as well, although the earlier book is, I think, a little stronger.