I was going to post this in the "favorite science fiction story thread but the answer I was going to give made me think of another aspect of favorite stories; stories that simply beg to be read out loud. The one I was thinking of for the other thread was “Repent Harlequin,” said the TickTockMan by Harlan Ellison. That lead me to thinking of another one which was written by him and (IIRC) Avram Davidson called Up Christopher to Madness. Both sound wonderful read aloud.
All the “Winnie-The-Pooh” stories. A close friend recommended that you never read the Illiad and the Odyssey silently- Mr. Lissar and I are looking for suggestions on the best translation so we can read it aloud.
Anne Of Green Gables is good aloud, too, and I think My Name Is Asher Lev would be great, although I haven’t read it aloud, yet.
Almost any play. Of course, they are meant to be seen and not read, but T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral is particularly fantastic. I had great fun reading that one aloud to myself when I read it for school.
Most poetry begs to be read aloud. I pick most of my favorite poems that way – the ones that sound nicest. John Donne is one of my favorites almost solely for that reason. Goodness knows I rarely understand half of what he writes.
I once started to read The Hobbit to a girlfriend of mine, but she wasn’t all that into it. It was fun, but we only got a little past the trolls. I’d like the oportunity to read it aloud some more, though.
This is a ridiculous proposition to most people, but I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy aloud to my little sister (voices, accents, foreign words, everything) and found that it really made the book for her. Of course, doing pages of Gandalf’s voice made me lightheaded, and I could only do Gollum when I had a cold, but it was still quite an experience. Tolkien writes in a very read-aloud-able style.
Second Just So Stories– beautifully rythmic. Attend, and listen, o best beloved: the phrase “On the banks of the great grey-green greasy Limpopo River, all set about with Fever-trees,” is wondrously therapeutic for both tongue and ear.
And James Joyce must be read aloud to extract the full measure of Joy-- but only when there there’s no one else about and the house is as otherwise as silent as death.