The oon-agin off-again search for books to read aloud bore some fruit yesterday. On a recent trip, I picked up a copy of True Grit (yes, that one). The beginning of the book is perfect for reading aloud. The movie, both versions, had good dialogue, and enough of it overlapped that it seemed to me likely that the source was the book and not screenwriting -- which reminds me I need to read one -- so the couple of dollars would likely get something worth reading. (The other book I picked up as awful, or the first few pages which was all that I read.) I started reading last night (goes with sports TV pretty well). After the first page, I decided that it would serve very nicely for reading aloud.
It is harder than it should be to get recommendations for books to read aloud. The last recommendation from King's English was a flop. Did not read well, and wasn't even all that as a book to read silently. I think it was called Lovers or some such. Went no further than 10 pages before I set it on the recycle shelf. But, can't all be on the same wavelength. I read Smart Swarm based on a very positive review -- it was dull and thin. Same review suggested Honeybee Democracy which I am finding much more interesting. Maybe it is just the better illustrations. Speaking of which, the illustration to the bird book over on the list are superb.
Some of the things that make a book good to read aloud -- Sentences that are readable aloud. Lots and lots of good books are pretty bad when read aloud, because the sentences are not structured for anyone to listen to them (rather than read them). Voices that come across without having to do voices, although nothing wrong with doing voices. Bearable chunks -- sections that read aloud in half and hour or 45 minutes. Gets too tiring after that. Should not take long to get through this book.
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