My partner is not a "book nerd" like me. Near the end of last year I walked her into the local library and announced loudly: "And this is a library!" Several heads turned, librarian jaws dropped, a head poked out from the office... is this for real? Has this person seriously never visited a library before?
In our conversations, my partner expressed much enthusiasm towards books, especially as a part of her youth, but the case being that she wasn't one who read much, if at all. Eyesight problems also put much of an end to this. I was able to relate that I did a consistent amount of reading as a teenager but trailed off in my twenties when eyesight problems also gave me the run around. By the time I reached thirty years of age, I was down to one book a year (having averaged around thirty or so in my teens). Reading to my partner began more out of an interest in her hearing my poetry and then the two novels I have written: I am the Local Atheist and Auralye on a Harp. When we talked more about the books I loved and wanted to re-read (Dune), and the books I thought I might never get around to reading (1984), I suggested I read those to her as well. This was an idea she absolutely adored.
We begun with Animal Farm, of which I reviewed on my own. And then preceded onto three novels at once - Lolita, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, and The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars - taking breaks on each book as they tired us out until, often, we only had a two or three chapters left and plugged through to the end.
Reading out loud is a challenge. It demands the reader have a feel for certain traits that get vocalised, while also varying character voices. This does not mean that I suddenly have to put on a "female voice", it simple means a slightly higher tone mixed with a certain characteristic - so long as my partner remembers who that tone inflection belongs to in case the author has forgotten to tell the reader who the character is speaking, or as often happens, simply doesn't indicate through actions, or positioning within a scene. Often, in fact, I've had to look ahead to the "[character name] said" at the end of a sentence before reading the sentence, so issues like that tend to pop up in my reviews, because as both a reader and a listener, that interrupts the flow of dialogue.
The first book we finished together was The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars
Mostly we do this for fun, but also for both my partner and I to get an opportunity to have experienced many books we both may never have read.
