MetaChat - Good books to read aloud.

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26 April 2006

Good books to read aloud. Mrs.Tacos and I have developed a totally sappy habit of reading to each other in bed. Any suggestions for good material?→[More:]

Preferably something light. Our last one was a David Sedaris book that we'd both read before, and it was just fantastic.

post by: I Love Tacos at: 11:40 | 30 comments

P.G. Wodehouse! I read all the Mulliner stories out loud to my wife over a course of months and it was a lot of fun, especially doing voices for the really blithering characters.

Hmm. We should start doing that again actually.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 26 April | 11:41

My Secret Life.

posted by sarah connor 26 April | 11:43

Lewis Carroll.
The Hunting Of The Snark.
The Walrus And The Carpenter.

Short and more fun that should be legally allowed.

posted by Capn 26 April | 11:44

A.A. Milne.

posted by matildaben 26 April | 11:45

Short stories by Steven Millhauser. He sounds beautiful when read aloud.

posted by Prospero 26 April | 11:47

What a cool idea. I'm stealing it.

posted by iconomy 26 April | 11:50

*claps hands and bounds with glee*

Iconomy!! Iconomy!!!

posted by jrossi4r 26 April | 11:52

Oh, I love when my better half reads to me -- our first book was Richard Price's The Breaks. I hadn't read Price before, and I loved it. He's promised me more of Blood Brothers and Good Samaritan, too. (Of course, Price isn't exactly light, but excellent).

I recommend Robert Olen Butler's short story collection, Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. Beautifully written. The story "Fairy Tale" is my favorite.

posted by Pips 26 April | 12:07

No one has read to me since I was four, so I don't know :(

posted by cmonkey 26 April | 12:12

Second PG Wodehouse. We are stuck on Bertie and Jeeves and they really do make wonderful read-aloud books.

posted by gaspode 26 April | 12:13

Read aloud to each other is a fantastic thing to do. Seriously. If you have an SO and you don't already do this, consider starting!

posted by Miko 26 April | 12:15

Good light reads: Lucky Jim is great, and hilariously funny. Herman Wouk's Don't Stop the Carnival. Ian Frazier's short pieces, some of which are relentlessly bizarre. I liked "Dating Your Mom" and "Coyote vs. Acme" and "Lamentations of the Father".

posted by Miko 26 April | 12:18

My ex-husband and I used to do this. We actually had a game we played called "stoned reader" which, when we were stoned, we would grab a random book off the shelf and read it out loud to each other until our voices gave out. A couple who are dear friends of mine (the parents of my non-biological nieces and nephew) would read Tove Jansson's Moominvalley books out loud to each other, and they turned me on to the books, which led to my first tattoo (Little My on my left bicep). I've also read aloud to friends, but not very frequently. I've had a friend read Tim Cahill aloud to me during a car trip.

posted by matildaben 26 April | 12:27

Wow - I was talking to a couple who do this a few days ago.

They said that you need something where the plot keeps moving. Fantasy Novels are good; Dan Brown; Harry Potter. Try not to go with anything which jumps about too much chronologically and don't worry if you start off on something too low-brow.

posted by seanyboy 26 April | 12:28

Or, as with the Millhauser suggestion, read something that doesn't necessarily have much plot, but has very evocative and sensual language, that you would maybe miss out on if you didn't slow down and read it aloud.

posted by matildaben 26 April | 12:33

Dickens is good read aloud, and any of the stories from Meet Me in the Moon Room (they rock, and are all thought-provoking too, so you can discuss)

posted by amberglow 26 April | 12:56

anything episodic or that was once serialized, really.

posted by amberglow 26 April | 12:57

The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell.

It's long, but if the first book, Justine, grabs you, you will stay grabbed.

posted by danf 26 April | 13:13

Poetry, any kind. But preferably futurism or surrealism. I love to read poetry like that out loud, slowly, emphasizing each word. It's a nice game, for those long travels on the plane or the car. Each poem has its own "inner" rhythm, or the one you choose to give it.

posted by carmina 26 April | 13:28

Let's Make Tacos.

posted by Hellbient 26 April | 13:31

I once read Thurber's "The Catbird Seat" to someone over the phone.

I'm sitting here at work giggling out loud just remembering it.

posted by tangerine 26 April | 13:32

haaa, Let's Make Tacos ::falls out of chair laughing::

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 26 April | 13:48

I haven't tried it, but I wonder if Gaddis would be good read aloud? He's mostly dialogue. Carpenter's Gothic for choice.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 26 April | 13:51

I third Wodehouse! It's funny that one was brought up - I ended up readiong some of his stories to mrs chewy awhile back. :D

posted by chewatadistance 26 April | 14:00

H. Allen Smith - anything by H. Allen Smith

posted by warbaby 26 April | 14:14

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

posted by sciurus 26 April | 14:36

You specified light reading, so PinkStailessTail, ignore this comment.

My wife and I have enjoyed reading Kafka stories to each other on road trips.

posted by agropyron 26 April | 14:39

I'd suggest Finnegan's Wake. To be honest, I haven't ever tried reading that out loud to somebody. Let me know how it works for you.

If that falls flat, then Go, Dog, Go! is always a treat.

posted by Marxchivist 26 April | 23:00

I’ve read quite a bit to my wife. One author who I found surprisingly enjoyable to read aloud was Anne Rice: however dubious her literary merits, her books seem as though they were dictated rather than written (although I have no idea if that’s how she actually works), and this ‘spoken’ quality to the prose made it seem to me more of a pleasure to recite.

posted by misteraitch 27 April | 02:39

Ooo, the James Herriot books. Start with the first one. They're awfully funny and fun to read.

posted by tejolote 27 April | 15:47

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