Stories

On Friday, I went to a reading by Brian Doyle. It was great. He read a few short pieces he had written and talked about his writing process. He was very funny, but also very moving. He was able to switch from something touching and serious to something more lighthearted smoothly.

One thing that he talked a lot about throughout the reading was story telling. He talked about the importance of stories. Stories are things that can move people, they can bring so many new perspectives. Stories are memories or things that help you remember. He said stories are food. That every story is important and everybody has an interesting story.

I loved how he talked about stories, it was so interesting. I have always loved reading books and when I was younger on road trips my mom would make up stories on the spot and tell them to me and my siblings and I loved it. But I never thought of stories as vital, as food. I think Brian Doyle is right about the importance of stories. Stories help us to understand things. They help us to see new things. They are entertainment. When you look at different groups in history, you can really see the importance of stories. Stories are how we pass on memories in our lives and how we pass on history. It is so cool to think of how important stories are to life.

Something else I loved about the Brian Doyle reading was hearing the author read his own writings. It’s different from reading the pieces yourself because he knows how he was feeling when he wrote it, he knows exactly what he means. He was able to make me feel so much more emotion then I would feel reading the pieces myself. He also was able to explain some of the context of his writing, which I also really liked. It was really great and I really enjoyed listening to him talk and read his work.