Sunday, February 20, 2011

On giving.

I have discovered the world of Livrivox, of free audio books, and somewhere deep inside I am overwhelmed.

I've been listening to samples. Chapter one of The Little Princess, of The Jungle Book, of Peter Pan, and so on. There are so many, and each time I click "play," I hear the voice of a stranger reading. The voice of a person just like me, who loves books, who loves to read, who values so much "the public domain" that he or she, for free, sat down and read a book into a computer, and donated it to the world with love and affection. I like to imagine them sitting in their living rooms or at their dining room tables, book lying open in front of them, and the world happening outside as they read aloud to anyone who might one day want to listen. I like to imagine that if we knew each other, we might be friends.

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