At the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival many of the featured authors read from their work. Some were obviously practiced performers. Others read engagingly with the occasional stumble over their words. Lloyd Jones said that he often read his drafts out loud as that was the ultimate test to see whether it flowed. It made me think about the pleasure of being read to and how as adults the closest we get to this is listening to a CD or podcast on our way to work.
Coincidentally author Neil Gaiman loves to read aloud and he posted this link to a New York Times editorial - Some Thoughts on the Lost Art of Reading Aloud. Verlyn Klinkenborg writes "To read with your lungs and diaphragm, with your tongue and lips, is very different than reading with your eyes alone. The words are not mere words. They are the breath and mind, perhaps even the soul, of the person who is reading. " This is a very romantic view of reading incorporating both the reader and the read-to.
In my experience reading aloud forces me to slow down and concentrate on the phrases. Sometimes I'll read out loud a particular paragraph or sentence just to see how it feels. Does anyone else do this and does it matter that there isn't anyone to hear me?
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