I volunteered with Librivox to read aloud some of the public domain Project Gutenberg texts. I talked about doing this on my own last year, but except for some scattered short stories, never really followed through.
It’s a daunting task to read an entire book aloud, so sharing the work with a cohort of other reader is a much more pleasant experience…at least for the reader. Who knows what the other readers sound like. Some will be good, others not as good. I’m striving for ‘not the worst.’
Today I recorded the first three chapters of P. G. Wodehouse’s Psmith in the City, a 1910 account of two college boys who go to earn a living at a bank—their arch rival is the bank manager, Mr. Bickersdyke (what a mouthful, it took me a few takes to get it right).
One of the things that I think will be interesting about this project will be reading books I’d never thought to read before. I read some Wodehous, but not this one.
I don’t know when it will be put up on Librivox, or when the following chapters are scheduled to come out, but here it is for your enjoyment (in two different formats):
Psmith in the City, chapters 1-3 29’45” MP3 (27.2 MB)
Psmith in the City, chapters 1-3 29’45” OGG Vorbis (25.8 MB)
I just want to say that I listened to your reading of the first chapter of Psmith in the City and enjoyed it hugely. It is a book I read first in high school, as a way of avoiding studying for my exams, and I must confess to some trepidation as I approached a reading of the book, for I still had a clear voice in my head of what it should sound like. You didn’t sound like what I thought it would sound like, but your conviction carried the day, for me at least. This was my first contact with Librivox, a project that is so utterly delightful and right, a return to the days of the bedtime story, when you enjoyed not only the meanings, but also in the sound. Wodehouse is perfect in the way he creates a unique way the language sounds. Anyway, just want to express my appreciation.
Ian
