Do you like it when someone reads to you?

Cafe Society
41

Interesting - on Sunday, we attended a reading of ‘A Christmas Carol’. John D. Huston (the living actor/director, not to be confused with John Huston, the late director of ‘The Maltese Falcon’, ‘The African Queen’ and ‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre’), dressed as Charles Dickens, performed from memory the entire story, taking on all 40+ characters. (I could have counted, but the story and its performance were too compelling.) It was fantastic.

I love it when an actor, author or poet does a reading.

42

Reading, reading aloud, and being read to are three different kinds of pleasure for me. A couple of years ago, I ran a reading group with a likeminded group of people, and it’d probably still be going strong if we didn’t all live in five different places in three countries. We made our way through the Moomin books (I remember getting in by book three, it had started off spontaneously and then grown by word of mouth), the Narnia series, lots of Astrid Lindgren, Bilbo (at that point we got a spin-off group who wanted to read The Lord of the Rings), about half of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books and half the Harry Potter series. Good times, good times. I’d do it again, but I don’t think there are good odds for that kind of thing happening twice in a lifetime.

43

Don’t like it.

I can read faster than people can talk. I don’t care too much for audiobooks, either. I sometimes get distracted when the reader tries to affect an accent or another gender.

Nah, rather read.

44

It’s two different experiences. When a play is being performed, the actors aren’t just reading the lines, they are ACTING, and I can pick up visual clues in addition to the spoken words. Even if the play directions indicates (looks shocked) or (crying), seeing the actor looking shocked or crying adds more information to the play. Assuming that s/he’s a good actor, of course.

45

Nope. I find myself wanting the reader to get to the point.

46

hate it…it’s like my brain locks up when trying to listen to someone else’s speech patterns and rhythms. I have to fight the urge to snatch the reading material from their hands while they insist on carrying on, but then have to go back and read it for myself later to make any sense out of what was just read.

47

I’ve heard stories read on BBC radio 4 and I love it.

I envy the o.p.

48

My partner loves being read to and we always have a book on the go. We’ve just been through Pillars of the Earth and are now on to the sequel. As much as anything I think it’s the intimacy she likes. Can’t say I’m that fond of it but I do as good a job as I can, she loves it when I find a different voice for every character.

49

Ditto. I always said I was going to find a woman that gave great backrubs and decent children’s book readings. My wife has no interest in either.

50

Boring. Sorry, but I read fast.

51

Last night my husband and I sat by the fire and he read cocktail recipes aloud. It was awesome.

52

There seems to be a theme here that people who consider themselves to be fast readers can’t enjoy being read to.
I am when necessary a speed reader,(for work usually) though when reading for enjoyment I don’t bother.
And yet I enjoy being read to.

Maybe if I were being read to by someone who stumbled over long words or pronunciations then I most certainly wouldn’t enjoy the experience.

It seems a little strange otherwise that people make this claim.

Do they get impatient in normal conversations because the other people speak at normal speed?

Are they unable to watch movies and T.V. for the same reason?

Is it impossible for them to attend the theatre ?
There seems to be some contradictions here.

By the way I typed this as fast as possible so that the fast readers wouldn’t get too bored.

53

I’m probably somewhat above average in reading speed and I love being read to. The thing is, I’m not being read to in order to get information. Most of the time, I already know the story. So someone saying they can read faster than that is a bit, for me, like someone saying they can read the lyrics of a song in less time than it takes the singer to sing them. It’s true, but it misses the point, again for me, of reading aloud.

54

When I was little I loved hearing my mother read to me at bedtime. Then when I was learning to read, she had me read to her every other night. I loved that even more.

55

I love reading aloud! Anybody want me to read to them? I’ll do it!!

56

I read very quickly, but I’m not a speed reader for the most part. I CAN skim large walls of texts to pick out which bits have information in them, but then I’m not reading for pleasure, but for information.

If I’m reading a story, and I’m having to skim parts of it, chances are that I’d be better off just setting the book aside, or going on to the next short story.

Yes, there are times when I DO get bored when watching a movie or TV show. Usually, this is due to the stupidity of the script more than the time it takes for the actors to speak their lines, though. And yes, there are times when I get bored with a person speaking, usually because s/he is using various buzzwords and consciously inflating the word count to make the speech longer. Or because s/he’s using “like” or “ummm” or other filler words, because s/he hasn’t planned what to say.

On occasion, I’ve heard a story read in an interesting way. However, most people don’t have this skill. I should note that I read aloud to my husband, who has dyslexia, and when my daughter was younger, I read aloud to her. I don’t like reading aloud, but my husband struggles with reading so much that I take pity on him. Unless we’re playing Munchkin. Then I consider it totally within the spirit of the game to make up rules and try to fake him out about them.

57

Me too! With skype and such these days, should be so easy.

PS. I have an English accent with a sort of Canadian twist.
I will happily read some stories to anyone in need of a little lift this time of year. Just tell me what you want to hear - prefer non porno :smiley:

58

I loved it when my Mother or teachers would read to me.

As an adult, the only way anyone reads to me is books on tape (or disk). I don’t object to it outright; as in many things, it depends. My sister’s husband is on the road a lot and has tons of book tapes he listens to. He really enjoys it. I borrowed some and the enjoyment factor is all over the board. The reader makes a big difference. Listening while driving is too distracting for me, he says it doesn’t bother him at all. I don’t have a problem if I’m the passenger.

My MIL had a stroke and couldn’t read, had books on tape from an organization I can’t remember the name of. Tapes came in green shipping containers and used a proprietary tape and player. I listened to a few and they weren’t bad. The audio quality was mediocre so that affected the enjoyment. Again, the person doing the reading made a big difference.

The best book on tape I ever listened to was David Ogden Stiers doing Clancy’s “Cardinal of the Kremlin”. That was great for a number of things. I had previously read the book so I knew the Russian words would be tricky. My way of dealing with Russian names is to look at them, remember what they look like and don’t even try to pronounce them. Works pretty well for me. But Mr. Stiers’ reading was flawless, nuanced and made the book a new and very enjoyable experience.

Right now I am accidentally* listening to the biography of Robin Olds (World`s Greatest Fighter Pilot) read by a fella named Robertson Dean. He has a very pleasant voice and meter, but he does one thing that bugs the hell out of me. When it comes to military acronyms you really need to know when to say each letter or use the whole phrase even though the author wrote an acronym. Duty stations and units generally don’t go by letters when speaking. Ferinstance, Dean always says “eighth - tee - eff- double- u” when it should be “Eighth Tactical Fighter Wing, or “Eighth Fighter Wing” where the author wrote “8th TFW”. He says “Norton A-eff - bee” when it should be “Norton Air Force Base” or just “Norton” after the first usage. Nobody in the Air Force uses"you - ess - A - eff” in usual normal conversation. It’s either “Air Force” or “You - ess - Air Force”. When TFW, AFB, USAF, or other designators are understood, in normal conversation, just the name or number would be used. “I was with the 8th at Undorn”. “I served four years in the Air Force”. Dick Winters commanded “Easy Company” , not Company E, of the 101st Airborne. He even says “ess - A - cee” every time SAC (Strategic Air Command) comes up. LeMay’s spinning in his grave.

In official reports you use the accepted acronym. If you were reading it aloud, in an official capacity, you could say the letters, but most likely the entire word. Of course, none of the preceding is universally true. It’s more idiomatic than grammatical and exceptions abound, but Dean gets it wrong Every Damn Time. If you’re reading for an audience who understands militaryspeak, you really ought to get that sort of thing right. It’s like a poke in ear with a sharp stick. Other than that, a pretty good listen.

  • ( I had it sent from my local library but somehow I selected an audio version rather than print.)

Longtime reader, seldom time poster.

59

Bill Bryson’s “In a Sunburned Country” a.k.a “Down Under” is a simply sublime piece of writing and reading. I have listened to it in full more than 15 fifteen times. What is it, 13 hours long? That’s a lot of Bill.

His voice is MAGICAL. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, like listening to that man eruditely describe things that fascinate, horrify and intrigue him. Which is to say, most things in Australia.

60

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