Prior to the Joseph O’ Connor’s literary reading, I had never heard an author read his or her work. When I was in elementary school, I met Frank McCourt among others, but I never had the chance to listen to them read their own work. Did they have specific voices for each character? What tempo did they read at? Mostly, I was interested in how my readings differed from theirs. Joseph O’Connor gave me the opportunity to analyze this. First and foremost, his Irish accent impacted his readings. There is a lyrical quality to Irish speech that is produced by the lack of articulation in the regionalism. Therefore, the slurring of words gives the accent a melody. In the reading, O’Connor had this melodic trait. His words flowed through his mouth rhythmically and created the effect that he was singing. In addition, he read with passion and inflected on words of importance or great meaning. In this way, he painted a vivid picture of every scene for the audience’s imagination. I felt as though I was sitting on a train in Ireland, running through England, or at a punk concert on the Lower East Side. Furthermore and much to my surprise, he didn’t change his voice for different characters. I suppose this is more effective when reading to children. His writing, however, was very powerful. My favorite piece was the love letter from Redemption Falls. The piece was heart breaking, but inspiring because I think everybody wants to be loved in such a way. I also enjoyed his final poem, but more for the composition rather than the content. I couldn’t see the strong connection between Baruch and September 11th. Having lived through September 11th as a New Yorker, I always feel very critical of art that touches this subject matter. In all, O’Connor was incredibly charming and witty. My English Professor introduced Deborah and I to him before he read. I was very embarrassed because I didn’t have anything to say, but I smiled and sheepishly backed away. During his reading, however, he gave the audience some interesting advice. He proposed letting your characters build your stories. In addition, he advised that writers play with the musicality of their words. He reminded us that writing can be very lyrical and that we should have fun with language. Walking away from this event, I had a thought. I haven’t steered far from the conventional essay in a long time and that I should start writing again.