An accidental swipe to the explore tab of Instagram and a half-interested tap on a small square featuring the cover of a book. Suddenly, I’m watching and listening to Cillian Murphy reciting a passage from Shy by Max Porter. I close my eyes and just enjoy the reading.
When was the last time that you read a story out loud to another adult? Have you ever done this, in fact? My sense is that most people find the idea peculiar, even if they wouldn’t find it unusual at all to attend a reading by a book author at their launch event.
There have been many times since, in much smaller ways, but the last time that I really remember reading out loud to adults was back in 2019. I was working at a startup that downed tools at 4pm on Fridays to hear talks from one another on any topic. My talk, I decided, was a short story I’d heard Daniel Radcliffe read on This American Life.
The short story was The Present, from a book of several short stories by Simon Rich. I won’t ruin the story in case you read or listen to it, suffice to say that I’d enjoyed the performance and felt compelled to recite it to my colleagues as they lounged on the bleachers, beer in hand.
I pulled up a stool, hit play on some background music (to really nail that This American life vibe), cleared my throat, and started reading. It felt nice, for some reason, to recreate the story-time of primary school in this Shoreditch office with a cohort of 30-somethings. Nice for me, at least; I hope nice for members of the audience too.
I almost can’t believe that it’s been so long, but then I’m struck by… being struck. Why wouldn’t it have been a long time? How often do most adults read to each other? Perhaps I, deep down, find it peculiar too? I’m writing this to state to myself, on the record, that I do not. I wish that I read to adults more often; I wish they read to me.
There’s something so wonderfully intimate about reading to someone. In the case of reading to peers, maybe that’s just because it’s so rare (for most folks). I’m separating this slightly from things like The Moth, where the scale or context turns it into entertainment. I’m thinking of a small group, probably people that you know.
I’m going to make it a strange mission over the coming holidays to read to another adult. It could be my wife, or my colleagues, or family over a thanksgiving lunch. Something short; something I think they’ll enjoy. The best stories are those that we share with others.