The Moth Presents All These Wonders

A stirring collection of short stories. Thanks to the Amsterdam Academy Book Club for recommending this one. So it turns out The Moth is actually a verbal storytelling institute, started in America but travels globally. Because we were reading this book, the AMS ABC went as a group to the Mezrab in Amsterdam which was one of the best experiences of the city for me. Opened me up to a whole new group of people and socialising that I didn't know existed beforehand.

Back to All These Wonders, I enjoyed pretty much every single story. There's a lot to cover but I'll briefly say this: the human condition is vast but relatable, and with the right framing anyone can empathise and understand your story.

Favourite stories TBC

If you've not listened to The Moth radio show, you're missing out. It's all about storytelling, and there are so many amazing stories to listen to. They're just stories of people – of love, of life, of pain, of wonder. This book is a collection of a bunch of those stories, and I loved reading every one of them. That said, as good as the book is, listening to the stories gives them something that just reading them can't. The voice and emotion of the person telling the story just gives a dimension that reading the story can't. Overall, though, recommended!

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I've finished two great books this week, and that is enough for me to say it's been a good reading week. Both books have a lot of similarities. Both On Living by Kerry Egan and All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown are nonfiction. Both books are about times in one's life when a person faces an enormous, potentially life-changing situation and about how those situations play out. All These Wonders is stories told at various locations around the world at The Moth on the storytelling stage. On Living has stories related by Egan, a hospice chaplain, that were shared with her in her role of talking with the dying. Both of these books are composed of powerful stories, stories that worked their way into my heart, into my bones, as I read them. Both books are reminders to live, folks, reminders that it is people and experiences we need. I highly recommend them both.