Reading Time

Rob the Llamabutcher's account of reading to his llama-ettes got me to thinking about the books I've read aloud to my sons (I still read short little picture stories to my 5-year old daughter).

I love reading to my kids, but some authors are almost impossible to read aloud. J.K. Rowling springs immediately to mind, as she runs on with florid and wordy sentences always ending with a clause beginning with an "ing" word, piling on the clauses one after another, stopping for nothing, droning on and on and on. (Her stories are fun and the boys and I like them, but she really needs an editor with a spine).

Throughout 2003, I read the complete Lord of the Rings out loud to my oldest son. Tolkien knew how to craft beautiful language that was both fun to read out loud and to hear myself reading. It gave me a whole new perspective on the power of his stories and his language.