This is an interesting article in Neuroscience News: How Reading Aloud Can Be an Act of Seduction.
"Gurdon also suggests that reading aloud “has an amazing capacity to draw us closer to one another” both figuratively and literally. Where solitary reading drives us into ourselves – producing the cliched image of the couple reading their own books in bed before rolling over and turning out the light – reading aloud is a shared experience.
Reading aloud takes longer, but that is part of the point. Slow reading is sensuous reading. As opposed to the audiobooks now so firmly a part of the cultural landscape, for adults as well as children, reading aloud is responsive, intuitive and embodied."
We enjoy reading aloud to children, and I remember the disappointment when my children became early readers and I was no longer a necessary part of the reading experience.
The audible book is an interesting phenomenon, although it may not be the same "shared experience" of reading aloud. Many readers love listening to someone read to them. Although I don't listen to many books because I can read much faster, I like to occasionally sit and listen while I embroider or while doing mundane tasks that take little thought. Not the same as reading to a partner or listening to a partner read, but still the concept of being read to and a slower experience.
Before we had all of the technological means (radio, cinema, television, computers, cell phones) to keep us entertained or informed, reading aloud was a way of sharing stories and news, a kind of communal entertainment.
I think of Captain Kidd in News of the World traveling around Texas frontier towns and reading newspapers to eager audiences and of all the households in the nineteenth century where reading novels aloud provided enjoyment and diversion.
Reading aloud is a skill that few of us practice, at least for any length of time. We are used to speeding through the pages, but there is importance in slowing down. Reading aloud a short passage is very different from reading an entire book. You have to admire those narrators who read novel after novel for audible books.
What are your experiences with reading aloud?
It's funny you should mention this as I always read or listen to an audio book before bed. The other night my husband came to bed while I was reading and asked about the book I was reading on my Kindle. I told him the story line and he said, "would you mind reading to me?" I read several pages aloud before my throat was parched and said "enough for tonight." He obviously enjoyed the experience more than I did, so much so he asked again the following night LOL
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to read aloud for any length of time, but congratulations on getting your husband so involved he wanted more! I used to travel with my husband when we were young and read to him, but reading in a moving vehicle is no longer enjoyable for me. :) I'
DeleteI do listen to roughly one audiobook per month, but I find that for me to get the most of the experience it has to be something like a thriller or one of the less demanding crime novels. After a few minutes, my mind seems to drift and I have to back up to see what I've missed.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read aloud since my grandchildren learned the reading skill, but every so often I read a few pages of a book at low volume to myself because that seems to get me concentrating on the words again rather than the number of pages I'm turning. I'm not a very fast reader anyway, so the drop off in speed doesn't bother me all that much.
I miss reading to my kids and grandkids, that was always a fun experience. Reading aloud a beautiful passage (or a confusing one) is the extent of my reading aloud these days.
DeleteMy husband and I tried reading to each other awhile back, but the practice fell by the wayside. We do not read many books in common. My daughter and I read together frequently, taking turns reading aloud to each other. Often it is the only way I can get her to read. Fortunately, she seems to enjoy reading with me so it's not too much of a hardship for her. I like to read poetry out loud. I know that at work when there are too many distractions, I will sometimes start reading aloud to help focus my brain. It always makes my coworkers laugh when they catch me doing it. LOL
ReplyDeleteYour comment about reading aloud for understanding when there are distractions is true of many of us. I read poetry aloud, too. :)
DeleteWhen Ricky and I were first together, he read short stories by Damon Runyon aloud to me. I love Ricky's voice and he was reading those short stories at the time, so I would beg him to read them aloud to me. It doesn't sound romantic (subject matter) but it really was. I had almost forgotten it until I read this post.
ReplyDelete:) In spite of all the entertainment available to us, the sound of the voice of a loved one still matters. A form of sharing that isn't available when watching television or a film.
DeleteAs I don't have kids I haven't really read to children very often but I know my parents read to me and I'm sure that helped me become a reader. I never thought about this but I do know that I used to go to poetry readings a lot more and those were always so fun. I love that you are so focused on paying attention to the words because you won't be able to go back and re-read!
ReplyDeleteYes, reading to children is one of the best ways to interest them in reading on their own. :)
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