The woman I’ve just started dating is studying to be a librarian and loves reading aloud. I didn’t know how I’d feel about this, but I have to say I’m enjoying it! She loves Harry Potter and has started with the first book and reads it to me over the phone each night. I must say it’s a great story and when read by someone who does it well is very enjoyable!
How do you feel about being read to?
I don’t care for it. I stop paying attention really shortly. That’s also why I don’t read aloud to myself either, my mind starts to wonder.
I like it less than RandMcnally, but mostly for the same reasons.
I’ll just add that if the reader applies that “reading” tone to his or her voice, I want to reach for the nearest flamethrower, stab myself in the face with the barrel, and pull the trigger.
I’m very poor auditory processor, even if I am focused and engaged I almost instantly forget what I heard. As a kid I would look over my mom’s shoulder to what she was reading from. I liked the rhythm of being read to, but I had to follow along visually.
Not for something I’ve never read before, but I like my boyfriend to read stuff out loud because he’s very good at it. I think he missed his calling as a radio drama reader. But I don’t like to get information that way - I hate books on tape.
I enjoy it only if I’m otherwise occupied. Sometimes we’ll take turns reading to one another on a road trip, that’s pretty cool. But if I’m not somewhat distracted and just listening to the story, hearing it read aloud is a metric ton slower than I can simply read it to myself and that drives me batty.
I hate it. My reading speed is extremely fast, and I don’t skim, either. I can read and process the information a gazillion times faster than if someone reads something to me. Even when I was a little kid, I preferred to read something rather than be read to.
I think that this is why I really don’t care for watching TV and movies as much as most people do.
Think of the hundreds of dollars he could’ve made!
(Ignore if you live in a country where radio dramas are still popular ;))
I lovelovelove it (and I’m also a very fast reader).
My mother used to read me bedtime stories, so maybe that’s where it comes from. When I give someone a birthday card or something, I’ll usually ask them to read it to me. I had a boyfriend who used to read the funnies to me- I’d ask him to describe the pictures, too. I love to have people read articles aloud to me, too.
I also like audio books, and I have a hour-long commute, so they are handy. One of the most sublime experiences I ever had with a book was listening to the 22-hour “All the King’s Men.” I know I would not have had the same experience reading the book. When I got to the end of the book, I was so in love with the reader’s voice that I hated to part from him.
I enjoy it. I listen to audiobooks on my iPod and it’s very entertaining. I find that my memory for it isn’t quite what it is for reading the words themselves, but it’s kind of a different experience. A good reader will make it a performance in and of itself.
I love it. I don’t really love audiobooks, but my husband used to read to me and I found it one of the most soothing and relaxing things ever.
I do recall one audiobook that was done more like a drama, with different characters reading their parts, and it worked really well for me. It was World War Z. Interesting too, because it’s not something I ever would have gone out of my way to read in book form.
It’s great if the reader is good; most people aren’t good readers.
What is the “reading tone”?
I would have proposed to this woman by now.
I almost did, once upon a time. I had a girlfriend in college with whom I’d spend rainy afternoons taking turns reading children’s books to each other. *sigh… *
The sound of a book adds a whole other dimension to the experience, and is worth sacrificing some speed for. In fact, I’m sure some writers compose/edit their work out loud, or recite it in their heads for the rhythm, the assonance, the poetry.
BTW, also handy when driving. Hmmm, would your girlfriend call me up on a regular basis for a price? Hey, how about a conference call with a bunch of Dopers!
[If I think a good book is better than phone sex, does that make me a nerd?]
I don’t usually, but Harry Potter reads very well out loud.
My wife and I have read them multiple times out loud and don’t read much else out loud to each other.
Narnia works pretty well, too, though.
I love both reading aloud and hearing books read aloud.
As an elementary school teacher, I’ve always read aloud to my kids. I put on voices and accents, create drama and humor and joy and sadness depending on the book. My students love to hear me read Roald Dahl’s **The Twits **with my lame English accent. I’ve struggled not to burst into tears while reading Kensuke’s Kingdom or Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
One of my finest listening experiences was hearing Bill Bryson read his In a Sunburned Country. I bought it from Audible, and have listened to it 3 times. His **At Home **is on my wish list, but I don’t want it on my Kindle or on paper–I want to hear him read it to me.
Listening to a book and reading a book are different experiences. Sometimes I’m in the mood to listen and sometimes listening is just the ticket.
I’m a big fan of reading out loud to one another, and I think it’s a crying shame that very few people actually do it.
As several posters have pointed out, as a way of achieving information transfer, reading aloud isn’t very efficient and usually isn’t all that enjoyable either. But that’s not what I’m talking about.
For two people who are in some sort of affectionate relationship, anywhere on the scale from close friends to lovers, reading out loud to one another can and should be wonderfully enjoyable. It’s fun, intimate, pleasant and a marvellous way to spend time together. It’s also fun finding well-written material to read for one another. (I think ‘A Christmas Memory’ by Truman Capote is hard to beat.)
It’s true that not everyone is naturally good at reading out loud (although many say this when they have never tried, and most can improve with a little practice). But I maintain that for all except the very poorest speakers, reading out loud to a close friend or lover can be a wonderful experience. Not only is it fun, but you are developing a useful skill at the same time. Many successful business people find it very important to be able to present well at meetings, presentations, sales pitches and so on, and a lot of this simply comes down to reading out loud.
I like being read to, but I tend to space out after awhile. My mom used to read aloud to us, and after about five minutes my mind would be elsewhere. I like to read aloud myself, though.
I’ll listen to audio books on long drives and it doesn’t bother me, but I have zero interest in someone reading to me live and in person. I don’t go to author events for this reason, for fear they’ll read something extensive an my disinterest will be obvious enough as to be insulting.
That said, some texts are better when read out loud (I’m thinking particularly of essays or non fiction books that have their origins in spoken lectures). And when that happens I’ll read them out loud myself, but only if alone.
Yeah, my husband read me Narnia until he got bored with it. He really struggled trying to read the end of Charlotte’s Web. 