[COMPLETE][SOLO]Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf - kit

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

good for you...that is my main problem. I think my voice gets tired if I read for longer than 20 minuntes. I try to stay under 15 minutes per session, then I need a break.

I totally get that. It's good to know where one's limits are.

My husband and I have a long tradition of reading to each other - we traded off books in the Murderbot series, and right now we're working through the Southern Reach trilogy - and sometimes we wind up in an hours-long marathon because we just don't want to put the book down before The End!

But I can only do that when I'm 100% healthy - I once tried to record a project section while I was still getting over COVID and thought my throat had recovered sufficiently, and it turned out that NO IT HAD NOT. Ouch. (It's somewhere in The Jade Story Book but, thankfully, I don't recall which chapter.)

I have just a few notes for section 9:

- At 7:55, "and the undistinguished fecundity of the garden," I hear "and the indistinguished fecundity of the garden" (p. 231)
- At 39:30, "Here will I lie," you say "Here I will lie" (p. 248)

You'd mentioned earlier that you were open to pronunciation notes, so here's another case not related to word-perfectness where there's a pronunciation difference, but it's similar enough that you might decide to leave it as is: at 1:41, "damp is silent, imperceptible, ubiquitous," "ubiquitous" is typically pronounced "yubiquitous." (p. 227)

Yes! Thank you! That is exactly the sort of pronunciation feedback I need and don't get in my day-to-day (not least because I don't often find occasion to say "ubiquitous" or "amiable" in casual conversation) so how the heck else am I gonna know?

Anyways, Section 9 corrections are up and ready for spot PL:
https://librivox.org/uploads/kitty/orlando_09_woolf_128kb.mp3
1:03:36

[Scarbo]

Section 9 is PL OK!

For years I thought that "amiable" was pronounced "ammiable" because I only ever saw it and didn't hear it until I was probably in my 20s!

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

For years I thought that "amiable" was pronounced "ammiable" because I only ever saw it and didn't hear it until I was probably in my 20s!

Ha! I have a small list of words like that. Chaos ("cha-ows") and epitome ("ep-i-tome") come to mind.

Section 10 is up!
https://librivox.org/uploads/kitty/orlando_10_woolf_128kb.mp3
59:24

[Scarbo]

I'll need a little extra time for section 10, but I hope to have it PL'd tomorrow!

[Scarbo]

Here are my notes for section 10:

- At 12:54, "or croons rather, like a kettle on a hob," I hear "or croons rather, like a kettle on the hob" (p. 270)
- At 14:48, "Having asked then of man and of bird and the insects," I hear "Having asked then of men and of bird and the insects" (p. 271)
- At 26:15, "She followed him, wondering," I hear "She followed him, wandering" (p. 277)
- At 35:20, "she went straight to the nearest telegraph office and wired to him," you say "she went straight to the nearest telegraph office and wired it to him" (p. 282)
- At 45:05, "soilure of humanity or care for one's kind," I hear "soilure of humanity or care from one's kind" (p. 287)
- At 45:26, "for the consequence of not living with one's husband," I hear "for the consequences of not living with one's husband" (p. 288)
- At 47:29, "Portly and splendid there they sat," you say "Portly and splendid they sat there" (p. 289)
- At 48:50, "ordered footmen to bring the others," you say "ordering footmen to bring the others" (p. 290)
- At 53:25, "there struck up outside one of these frail, reedy, fluty, jerky, old-fashioned barrel-organs," I hear "there struck up outside one of those frail, reedy, fluty, jerky, old-fashioned barrel-organs" (p. 292)
- At 56:14, "saw blazing a fire in a field against the minarets near Constantinople," I hear "saw blazing in a fire in a field against the minarets near Constantinople" (p. 294)

I appreciated the line "(and as long as she thinks of a man, nobody objects to a woman thinking)."

My favorite example of a word that I read first and heard later is when I was little and reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and wondering what "mel-an-tcho-ly" meant. This was some years before Smashing Pumpkins' Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness came out and could have familiarized me with the standard pronunciation of that word!

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

Section 10 corrections are up!
https://librivox.org/uploads/kitty/orlando_10_woolf_128kb.mp3
59:29

As regards the PL note at 26:15, I'm afraid that's just the way I say "wondering". I rerecorded it, but I'm not sure I managed to make it sound any different from the first take. I'll give it another shot if you'd like me to, but I may need some vowel shaping guidance. (for me, wondering = "uh"/one, dun, lunge, while wandering = "ah"/wand, enTENDre, etc.)

Section 11 may be a little while coming. I wanted to do it tonight, but I also have a few more things to do before I leave town in the AM, so unless I find time and a good recording environment during my trip, it'll be coming no sooner than the 22nd. But then that will be THE LAST SECTION! We are SO CLOSE!

[Scarbo]

Section 10 is PL OK! "Wondering" is fine.

Safe travels!

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

My apologies for vanishing this week - I got back from my trip on the 22nd as expected, but I had an unwanted hitchhiker named COVID-19, so I've been recovering and isolating. As noted earlier, I'm wary of the temptation to record because "I seem recovered enough". So the final section may have to wait until next week.

(I know I'm nowhere near so late as to actually be worrying anyone, but I did say "after the 22nd" so I figured I should update that.)

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

Thank you for your patience - I am fully recovered, out of isolation, and have recorded THE LAST SECTION OF ORLANDO!

Section 11
https://librivox.org/uploads/kitty/orlando_11_woolf_128kb.mp3
1:02:06

It took me quite a few takes to get the ending right - I did not expect it to make me cry! It didn't when I read it to myself. Something about reading it aloud just adds to the cumulative impact of the words Woolf chose, and makes me appreciate the poetry of the ending all the more.

[Scarbo]

Phew, I'm glad to hear you're fully recovered! Covid can be a real pain even if it's not a severe case.

I have just a few notes for the last section:

- At 6:21, "she noticed sponges, bird-cages," I hear "she noted sponges, bird-cages" (p. 297)
- At 27:37, "But (here another self came in)," you say "But (and here another self came in)" (p. 311)
- At 30:12, "(She had here to slow down to pass through the crowd of market people," I hear "(She had here to slow down to pass through a crowd of market people" (p. 312)

And there's one place that might have just been an intentional correction of a possible typo; if so, please disregard this note! At 41:28, "But everywhere were little lavender bags to keep the moth out," I hear "But everywhere were little lavender bags to keep the moths out" (p. 318).

I can understand how the ending could have affected you that way! Reading a text out loud really can amplify its effect sometimes.

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

Corrections to Section 11 are up!
https://librivox.org/uploads/kitty/orlando_11_woolf_128kb.mp3
1:02:07

Includes the correction of "moth" for "moths" - that was definitely not on purpose!

[Scarbo]

Section 11 is PL OK!

(My apologies for putting the wrong page number for that first note. )

[Kitty]

excellent, congrats on another successful solo.

I'll start cataloguing then and will post the link once it's through.
Stay tuned

Sonia

[Kitty]

done, we can move to completed...

This project is now complete! All audio files can now be found on the catalog page for this project https://librivox.org/orlando-a-biography-version-2-by-virginia-woolf/

what's next ?

Sonia

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

Fantastic! Thank you both, this was such an enjoyable project to work on with you!

what's next ?

Good question! Maybe something else that came into PD this year that hasn't been picked up? I'll reach out when I've thought of something - y'all are definitely my dream team.