Today, I've been recording an audiobook. I am excited that I have realized my life-long dream.
I will never forget at primary school I used to wait with breathless anticipation to take my turn reading out a paragraph of great works in front. At my secondary school, when students were encouraged to select and present a reading at "morning talk", I often added my name to the list.
This was all handy background for my career in broadcasting. But, much as I enjoy hosting shows and interviewing people, I often find myself missing the simple pleasures of reading out loud. I'd thought about putting myself forward as a narrator (朗读者) for audiobooks. But I'm not an actor. I can't do regional accents or play female voice. Non-fiction, then, seemed the obvious target, but I felt that such books were best read by their authors. If it were authors' own voice, their stories would touch me.
Recently, delivering my son's nightly bedtime story has reawakened my love for reading out loud—highlights so far have included Charlotte's Web. But I never thought I'd get the opportunity to do it professionally.
Then, last month, I was contacted by James Plunkett, author of End State, a forthcoming book about political ideas. He had no desire to read his book out loud, but as a fan of my program, he thought I might do a reasonable job.
So, I've spent this week in a studio, simply reading stuff out loud. And I'm LOVING IT!
Mind you, it's an entirely unexpected experience. It's disheartening when the recording needs to be stopped because I've just carelessly skipped over a 'the', or had to clear my throat, or catch my breath. I've also learned how many words I've been mispronouncing my entire life: behavioural is BE-HAYVE-YOU-RAL, not BE-HAYVE-EE-AH-RUL.
Though tackling this 339-page book doesn't turn out to be that easy, I've found the whole process awesome, and hope this becomes the first of many.
