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The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

spectator.co.uk

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Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#61

Post by ztjio »

I generally hate reading aloud. I find that most writing is really NOT meant to be "heard" in reality, only in the mind. However, recently I decided to show my daughter (who has taken an interest in popular RPG video games like Undertale) some older games that I liked when I was younger. As you might guess, these games lack a voice track and while we can both read fine, we read at different speeds. So there is always an awkward wait before continuing to the next dialog screen.

So we solved it by just reading the dialog and that actually turned out to be pretty fun. We'd split up the characters and sometimes make some funny voices and just go for it. As a bonus, it helps you realize just how awful the writing is in some of the most beloved old video games (Square, I'm looking your way, you spoony bard.)

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#62

Post by bench_soup »

ztjio wrote: post #61

I generally hate reading aloud. I find that most writing is really NOT meant to be "heard" in reality, only in the mind. However, recently I decided to show my daughter (who has taken an interest in popular RPG video games like Undertale) some older games that I liked when I was younger. As you might guess, these games lack a voice track and while we can both read fine, we read at different speeds. So there is always…

I find that most writing is really NOT meant to be "heard" in reality

As a counter-example, Flaubert used to scream his texts in his "gueuloir" as a way to perfect them.

wrong written sentences do not resist this test; they oppress the chest, hinder the heartbeat and thus are apart from real life conditions.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#64

Post by Nition »

beachy wrote: post #41
kenjackson wrote: post #11

I used to read to my kids and what is interesting is that for the first time in my life I discovered some things that I never learned as I went through school. 1) Reading poetry is really enjoyable. To this day, if my son asks me to read to him, I'll probably try to read poetry. It just feels so good to read. 2) There are certain books that I really enjoy reading aloud and others that I don't. And its not the content…

Try reading Dr. Seuss's "Fox in socks" for a chore.

Fox Is Socks is hard to read on purpose of course. I actually reckon most other Dr Seuss books are particularly good to read aloud. The metre and general flow of things is always spot on and there's lots of expression.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#65

Post by yoz-y »

ztjio wrote: post #61

I generally hate reading aloud. I find that most writing is really NOT meant to be "heard" in reality, only in the mind. However, recently I decided to show my daughter (who has taken an interest in popular RPG video games like Undertale) some older games that I liked when I was younger. As you might guess, these games lack a voice track and while we can both read fine, we read at different speeds. So there is always…

I also read aloud texts when playing games with my wife. She appreciates it much less than I do though.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#66

Post by ycombinete »

I travel a lot, and while I'm on the road my fiance often struggles to get to sleep. I've got a small microphone that I travel with, and I record myself reading Winnie the Pooh stories, and chapters from The Hobbit. I host them on my website, and she can open it up and listen to a chapter.

Children's stories are better for this, as they are usually written with the view of being read aloud. Plus they also make better bedtime stories :)

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#67

Post by Vinnl »

wyclif wrote: post #48
mikepurvis wrote: post #8

My wife and I had a long-distance courtship. We used to read novels to each other over Skype. It was a nice change from chatting when we'd run out of things to say, and a fun way to share favourite stories. We didn't ever try to read anything really ambitious, but that was part of what made it enjoyable— even just kids' chapter books, stuff like Gordon Korman, Louis Sachar, Sid Fleischman. We don't read to each other…

I've begun reading Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" to my 6 year-old boy, and it's been a wonderful experience for both of us— I've enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and just as much as our boy does. I hadn't read it since childhood, and I'd forgotten just how richly whimsical it is and how formative it was for me and how much it informs my imagination today.

Heh, my girlfriend and I have been reading that to each other for about two years I think now. It's highly enjoyable, although a bit hard to follow when one falls asleep while the other is reading it.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#68

Post by mikehain »

I was reading Augustine one day and was struck by a passage that referred a silent reading in a way that made it seem quite uncommon in those days. Here it is, referring to Ambrose of Milan:

"When he was reading, his eyes ran over the page and his heart perceived the sense, but his voice and tongue were silent. He did not restrict access to anyone coming in, nor was it customary even for a visitor to be announced. Very often when we were there, we saw him silently reading and never otherwise. After sitting for a long time in silence (for who would dare to burden him in such intent concentration?) we used to go away. We supposed that in the brief time he could find for his mind's refreshment, free from the hubbub of other people's troubles, he would not want to be invited to consider another problem. We wondered if he read silently perhaps to protect himself in case he had a hearer interested and intent on the matter, to whom he might have to expound the text being read if it contained difficulties, or who might wish to debate some difficult questions. If his time were used up in that way, he would get through fewer books than he wished. Besides, the need to preserve his voice, which used easily to become hoarse, could have been a very fair reason for silent reading. Whatever motive he had for his habit, this man had a good reason for what he did."

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#69

Post by mikepurvis »

thret wrote: post #56
mikepurvis wrote: post #8

My wife and I had a long-distance courtship. We used to read novels to each other over Skype. It was a nice change from chatting when we'd run out of things to say, and a fun way to share favourite stories. We didn't ever try to read anything really ambitious, but that was part of what made it enjoyable— even just kids' chapter books, stuff like Gordon Korman, Louis Sachar, Sid Fleischman. We don't read to each other…

I loved Gordon Korman as a child, does he hold up as an adult? I practically memorised "I Want To Go Home".

You definitely know you're reading a book for kids, but it's pretty funny still. I think my favourite is The Chicken Doesn't Skate, but the MacDonald Hall series are great too.

Re: The Lost Pleasure of Reading Aloud

#70

Post by cafard »

My wife had cataract surgery this summer. (We are not kids.) She had a book club meeting coming up shortly, so with her eyes still bothering her, I read about 30 pages of the club's next book to her. She then bought an audio version from the iTunes in the next day or so, and said that the narrator read much better than I did. I did not doubt this.
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