Poetry Readings Online

Anyone who's been to a reading know there's nothing quite like hearing a poem or a piece of prose read aloud--whether it's by the author herself or by another. I think it feeds into some sort of primitive child-pleasure: I myself remember being curled up on the sofa next to my sister while our mother read to us from an illustrated version of Heidi. (They were crude ink drawings, but I remember them in startling detail). But listening to a reading also evokes that old tribe-around-the-campire feeling.

At any rate, there's a great program at my alma mater, U Penn, devoted to uploading millions (yes: millions) of recordings of authors. From HD reading "Helen In Egypt" to Paul Auster reading from, and talking about, The Book Of Illusions, PennSound is worth a visit, or at least a click-through.