The voice in my head
Friday, February 16, 2007 at 09:23AM 
A very early memory of mine is my mother reading to me from The Arabian Nights. I can barely recall the stories, but I can still see the book – an thick ornate volume full of exotic pictures, deep oranges and wild patterns, kids on elephants, and sultans with big hats. Better though, I remember the sensation of being read to. I still love it, and I love to read aloud. In adulthood this love grew into a love for good radio and sometimes audiobooks, if they are well done.
I recently found a CD set of the Best American Stories of 2002, edited by Sue Miller. Richard Ford reads his story, "Puppy" on it. It is the first time I had heard Ford's voice, it seemed to match his writing, just a bit of twang, eloquent but never pretentious, stripped down even, like his writing. There is also a Michael Chabon story, "Along the Frontage Road", this one read by an actor. The thing is, that voice for me is now Chabon's, I guess until I actually hear Chabon read. This happened with a favorite audio collection I own, American Classics, stories by Updike, Carver and Cheever. I have listened to them repeatedly. I love hearing Updike read his classic, "A and P" - one of my favorite shorts of all time. There is an actor reading Carver's stories, but I can't remember his name. It doesn't matter, because for me it is Carver. The guy they got so matched Carver's tone of writing that I couldn't imagine it being anyone else.
I am thinking of audio stories this morning because I just finished listening to this month's issue of Bound Off. It is a monthly literary audio magazine of the highest quality. I am not just saying this because they have accepted a couple of my stories (but hey, that makes me like them even more). This month's podcast has a chilling story written by Vincent Louis Carrella, "The Killing of Clyde" - the language is gorgeous, a mix of southern gothic and Texas twang. Best of all, it is read by the author, who has a great voice.
Check it out. It's the first story in the podcast.
In the fiction section I have links to my Bound Off recordings. Listen to them, then you'll have my voice in your head – and I think that's a good thing. Though, to be honest, I look forward to having someone else read my fiction aloud, just to see what kind of cadence they bring to it.
Happy listening.
Reader Comments (2)
i'm enjoying your blog so much!
Ania, my Northern friend, so great to see you here. Thanks for the encouragement.