The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening
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Ari Shapiro. (2023). The Best Strangers in the World: Stories from a Life Spent Listening. HarperCollins.

Ari Shapiro. 2023. The Best Strangers in the World: Stories From a Life Spent Listening. HarperCollins.

Ari Shapiro, The Best Strangers in the World: Stories From a Life Spent Listening. HarperCollins, 2023.

Ari Shapiro. The Best Strangers in the World: Stories From a Life Spent Listening. HarperCollins, 2023.

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     Ari Shapiro is the award-winning cohost of NPR's All Things Considered, the most listened-to radio news program in the United States. In addition to his reporting, Shapiro makes frequent appearances as a guest singer with the "little orchestra" Pink Martini. He created the original one-man show, Homeward, in 2016, and since 2019, has performed and toured the stage show Och and Oy with Tony Award–winner Alan Cumming. He lives in Washington, DC.

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The Best Strangers in the World

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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"The Best Strangers in the World is a witty, poignant book that captures Ari Shapiro's love for the unusual, his pursuit of the unexpected, and his delight at connection against the odds."—Ronan Farrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and New York Times-bestselling author of Catch and Kill and War on Peace

From the beloved host of NPR's All Things Considered, a stirring memoir-in-essays that is also a lover letter to journalism.

In his first book, broadcaster Ari Shapiro takes us around the globe to reveal the stories behind narratives that are sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking, but always poignant. He details his time traveling on Air Force One with President Obama, or following the path of Syrian refugees fleeing war, or learning from those fighting for social justice both at home and abroad.

As the self-reinforcing bubbles we live in become more impenetrable, Ari Shapiro keeps seeking ways to help people listen to one another; to find connection and commonality with those who may seem different; to remind us that, before religion, or nationality, or politics, we are all human. The Best Strangers in the World is a testament to one journalist's passion for Considering All Things—and sharing what he finds with the rest of us.

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     Starred review from February 1, 2023
     

     In this engaging memoir, Shapiro (host, NPR's All Things Considered) gives insight into both his personal and professional life. As the only Jewish child in his elementary school and the first openly gay student in high school, Shapiro learned to make connections and communicate among disparate groups of people. His innate curiosity and natural storytelling ability led to an internship and eventual career with NPR. He reveals the personal side of various assignments, including his time in the White House press corps and as an international correspondent based in London. He also discusses his personal life, including his side job as a singer with the band Pink Martini and his musical show with Alan Cumming. Shapiro never shies away from telling of his missteps and embarrassing moments. Throughout, Shapiro elegantly and compassionately shares the stories of people he's encountered and how their individual experiences connect with humanity as a whole. VERDICT Shapiro's confident, clear voice and self-deprecating humor, familiar to his many fans, translates well to the written word. His writing will resonate with many and is a treasure for biography readers. Highly recommended.--Anitra Gates

     Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

2. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     March 1, 2023
     The longtime host of NPR's All Things Considered offers a topical and sanguine memoir in essays. "The best stories should surprise us," writes Shapiro, "they should defy our expectations and veer in directions we weren't expecting." The author sets a high bar for himself, and he mostly succeeds. This work encompasses subjects ranging from Shapiro's coming out when he was a teenager to his four years covering the White House. The opening piece is ostensibly about nature, but it serves as further introduction to Shapiro because it enumerates his driving, lifelong curiosity. "My parents raised me to believe that the more you learn about the world," he writes, "the more interesting life becomes." By extension, "the best journalists...enjoy the feeling of moving from ignorance or confusion to understanding." This ethos has guided Shapiro throughout his two decades at NPR. Other essays delve into more personal territory, including "You Can't See Schvitz on the Radio," describing how the author sweats profusely. Throughout, Shapiro comes across as appealingly relatable and, like any human, fallible. A singer in the band Pink Martini since 2009, he relays entertaining vignettes about this unexpected turn. "Going on tour feels like a reality TV show where nobody gets kicked off," he writes. The author's sense of humor is also on full display. Of his appearance in a photograph taken the day he accidently interrupted a meeting that included Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2010, Shapiro compares himself to "a meerkat who wandered off the savanna into the Oval Office." The organization of the essays feels random, which results in a lack of a flowing narrative arc. Still, the topics are varied and interesting enough to make the montage coalesce, and the writing is engaging. This collection's success is due to the author's companionable, ever sincere tone, his willingness to be vulnerable, and his unwavering magnanimity. A clever and compulsively readable crowd pleaser.

     COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

3. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     March 13, 2023
     In this genial debut memoir-in-essays, NPR host and occasional Pink Martini singer Shapiro mixes reported vignettes with reflections on his own life. As one of a few Jewish children at his North Dakota elementary school and later one of the only openly gay students at his Oregon high school, Shapiro describes how his lifelong “otherness” and natural capacity for performance launched his career as a professional raconteur. In brisk and lucid prose, Shapiro recounts the ups and downs of his impressive résumé, including clandestinely traveling aboard Air Force One with President Obama, touring with Pink Martini, and grieving beside Orlando’s LGBTQ community while reporting on the 2016 Pulse nightclub shootings. Shapiro reflects on these “seemingly effortless achievements,” however, by acknowledging, “I am aware of how blessed and lucky I am. I have a job I love, I’m happily married, and millions of people pay attention to what I have to say. But the cliche end of that sentence would be, ‘And I do it all without breaking a sweat.’ Well... I sweat like a goddamn snowman in heat.” Shapiro’s style is engaging and unfussy, and his spotlighting of other people—mostly those whose stories he’s told on NPR—adds depth and empathy to the proceedings. Longtime listeners and first-time callers alike will delight in this collection.

4. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from February 15, 2023
     Some readers may be familiar with Ari Shapiro from his hosting duties on NPR's All Things Considered. Others may know him best for his vocal contributions to the genre-defying Pink Martini Orchestra or his many podcasts or his time as a White House correspondent. His legions of fans will be delighted to know that this memoir embodies the qualities he's known for: self-deprecating humor, honesty, scrupulous attention to detail, and his ability to convey the impact of momentous world events through the stories of everyday people. Something of an outsider himself (the only Jewish kid in his Fargo, North Dakota, elementary school; the only openly gay senior in his Portland, Oregon, high school; probably the only public radio announcer who co-stars in a cabaret show with Alan Cumming), Shapiro shapes his stories around the fascinating individuals he's met, whether through his international investigative reporting or through audience interactions. The book keeps on giving, chapter after chapter, in turns humorous, introspective, or deeply serious, weaving together personal anecdotes, behind-the-scenes secrets, and heartbreaking profiles from war zones and refugee camps. Shapiro says he's built his radio career on ""empathy, connection, and listening""-- qualities that ring true in his writing as well.

     COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

popularity

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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"The Best Strangers in the World is a witty, poignant book that captures Ari Shapiro's love for the unusual, his pursuit of the unexpected, and his delight at connection against the odds."—Ronan Farrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and New York Times-bestselling author of Catch and Kill and War on Peace

From the beloved host of NPR's All Things Considered, a stirring memoir-in-essays that is also a lover letter to journalism.

In his first book, broadcaster Ari Shapiro takes us around the globe to reveal the stories behind narratives that are sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking, but always poignant. He details his time traveling on Air Force One with President Obama, or following the path of Syrian refugees fleeing war, or learning from those fighting for social justice both at home and abroad.

As the self-reinforcing bubbles we live...

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