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some things are _meant_ to be read aloud because they were written that way one way or another. For the majority of history, it was the norm, either in consumption, authorship, or both.

Poetry is meant to be spoken, with rare exception. Written records of oral-first material, from the hobbit to the epistles (it's in the name!) to the just so stories (also in the name!) are all meant to be read aloud.

Some works, nearly all of which are 20th c. or later, are meant to be read silently, and are actively hard to read out loud.



I read The Hobbit aloud to my wife at bedtimes about 2 years back. Challenging at first, but it got easier, and I think we both enjoyed it.


back to the origins!

I've done similar, and also with LoTR. It worked very well.


my wife and I sometimes do bedtime reading to each other where either she reads an english story, or I read one in her mother tongue: fun, social, and (often) even educational!

Lagniappe: https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1960/06/25


> For the majority of history, it was the norm, either in consumption, authorship, or both.

Come again?


It was normative for things to be either authored by dictation, received by listening, or both.


Could you provide an example of a work that is actively hard to read aloud?


Any technical paper written in the last century.

A surprising number of children's books -- either they're too simple, or too! over! punctuated?! or just carelessly written.

Poems whose shape is as important as their sound or sense -- like https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47244/buffalo-bill-s

things written without a care towards euphony. I think fantasy/scifi that clearly never intends anyone to attempt to _pronounce_ the names of characters or locations fall into this, but other things do too.


>epistles (it's in the name!)

Epistle means letter or written communication.


it does. They were public letters that would’ve been read aloud to a group.


Ah, OK.




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