I’ve done a lot of voice recordings of poetry, both mine and other poets’, and it’s something I really enjoy doing. I commented in another thread that I’d like to try recording prose, but I’d like to try recording something that someone else on the planet would actually like to listen to, so here I am asking you.
Is there any public domain book you think would be interesting to have in audio format?
One of the Oz books *springs *to mind. I mean, Wizard of Oz, etc.
Some of the original versions of fairy tales? Some of them are nice and short.
Aesop’s Fables?
It’s easy to find versions of any of those just typing ‘fables’ or ‘fairy tales’ into the advanced search of Project Gutenberg. They’ve got Japanese, Chinese, Celtic and other fairy tales too.
I’ve actually never read those. That might be an interesting choice.
Are you familiar with Librivox? It’s a website where people make public domain recordings of novels, short stories, poetry, non-fiction and even plays.
In the case of long works (novels, and the like), they split them into chapters, so one person doesn’t have to record the whole book, although some people do. You might want to check out the Readers Wanted sections in the forum for that. There’s one thread for books, another for short stories and poetry, and another for plays.
There’s also a thread for Book Suggestions, where people suggest future recording projects. Hopefully something there might give you some ideas.
I’m a little familiar with it. It seemed like a more rigid approach than I was looking for at the outset, but I’ve kept it in mind.
There are some beautiful passages in Beowulf. “Then, through the mist over the moorhills came Grendel walking, wearing God’s anger.”
Are Poe’s works public domain? If so, a reading of The Telltale Heart would be an interesting choice. I think your voice would lend itself well to the quiet horror of the story.