Ed snet me this NYT article on “The lost art of reading.” It’s short – take a moment and read (aloud is optional).
I had 3 thoughts upon reading it:
1) I just can’t seem to get into audio books. I tried in the last 5 years, but I alwasy seem to get annoyed by how long it is taking to finish a book. I either give up entirely, or go get the book and finish it in less time than I have already taken listening to it. I lack this skill of “listening” to an audio recording.
2) Reading aloud is *different* than just reading silently. And having someone reading to you is FAR more intimate than listening to the audio books. Althoug they are reading – the facila expressions and interaction are a ‘gripping’ element of being read to. That said, being read snatches of books, or articles over the back of the couch, while you are trying to do something else is NOT “being read to” for this conversation. I read to Solvi every night and often several times during the day. No one, however, reads to me much.
3) The author’s point about studets who are trying to read the “writer’s intent” rather than emphasize the “inner voice of prose, life of language” – totally escapes me. I was with him, up til then – when he got all uber existentially-artsy on me. But then, no one reads to me. So maybe, I’ve never been read to by a really good reader, one who is not ‘professional and flat’ for an audio book, but rather one who has read to audiences for a long time, who loves language, and who engages the group in that love.
Wonder what I’m missing…
pick something and have Will or Martin read it to you. I’m good at it too, but not as good as Martin.