I'm alive! So, I've started my program again this semester, and so my readings are mostly about families, groups, and grief counseling. Very interesting, but not exactly blog-worthy. This summer, Jon and I worked our way through The Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind. However, we only made our way through 2 of the books BECAUSE- I read them aloud. Since I think y'all have both read these books, I'll save the synopsis, but I will say that, like most long fantasy novels I read, I did NOT like the main character. Seriously, why are the male leads in those books always so annoying? Also, the main female character is super super whiny. Now- here is what I learned about reading long books aloud.
1. I should never attempt to do voices while reading aloud. I'd read the descriptions, like raspy, and give it a try the first couple of times a character was introduced. Each time, Jon went, "Oh no. Stop. That's... no." However, he did take the responsibility of making sound effects....
2. Chapters are longer than you think. Seriously.
3. There are lot of parts of books that I usually skim. Jon insisted that we not skip whole sections(!) so every word was considered! And might I say- I really enjoyed it! A lot of times when I listen to books on tapes, I am amazed by the ways that authors manage to say things so perfectly. Even so, listening to entire paragraphs about how the trees look bores me. However, reading it aloud made all the difference. I wasn't bored because I was focusing on reading it and still amazed at the wordings. I highly recommend doing this.
4. I am horrible with names. Absolutely terrible. To make it worse, usually the main character was Richard, then it would switch to sections where Rachel was the main character. Then Rachel and Richard met. I went nuts. I was switching names all the time. I always knew who I was talking about, but it seemed like every page at least, Jon would stop me and ask, "Wait- who?" And I'd re-read it and laugh. It made for some very interesting scenarios.
SO- I highly recommend reading books aloud. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. It also provides a fun and relaxing way to end the day! And I recommend the first two books of the Sword of Truth novels! They are a fun read.
Who has two main characters with such similar names though? That would drive anyone crazy.
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There ya go! Bossy, bossy, bossy. Though I'm glad you reminded me. Storm and I just curled up in bed and I read to Chapter 26 in Dragonspell. He fell asleep. It was a lovely afternoon.
DeleteWelcome back Sav! It takes practice to do a good job reading books out loud. There are several that I would like to attempt someday but I'm waiting til I can do voices better. It's fun for everyone when you get good at it. I really liked Wizard's First Rule for personal reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the book, but I decided not to read the rest of the series because I have suspicions (that I do not want confirmed or denied!) about the nature of magic playing a larger and larger role in the rest of the series. That makes me grumpy so for me that universe will remain the one single book. I thought Kahlan was whiny at points as well but I did really like Richard. As I have told Christina numerous times, pretty much any Moody Blues song puts me in a Seeker state of mind. :) Nice choice! It would be cool to be Kahlan for Halloween someday too when my hair gets long enough. I always wanted to run around in a white dress making everyone do my bidding.
ReplyDeleteI thought Kahlan had the potential to be even cooler than she turned out to be- but she is SUPER awesome with her power. I will neither confirm nor deny where the books go, but Jon has told me that he doesn't like the later books nearly as much as the first two!
ReplyDeleteI agree, there is always the potential for more awesome. Jon clearly has excellent taste.
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