AI margin notesevery hard line explained
Most people never finish the great books, because the language gets in the way long before the story does. Read the original, or a simpler version in plain modern English, listen to it read aloud, and let Hermes explain the difficult lines in the margin. Hardcovers in stock, at your door in one to two days.
What Roman Reads Is
In stock. Delivered in 1–2 days.
R1our own audio modelTwo voices free with an account
R1 is our own audio model. It reads the audiobooks on this site, and any book you bring in yourself, in 340 voices across 63 languages. A whole chapter at a time, in one voice from the first page to the last. Two voices are free with an account. The rest come with the subscription, coming soon.
Hear a sample 5 of 340
Every reader reads the same passage, so you can compare them.
All 340 readersPlain narration, unhurried, the way a chapter opens.
On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge.Crime and Punishment, Constance Garnett, 1914
Dialogue, offhand and warm, one character talking across a room.
The loaf I'll fetch you this very minute, but wouldn't you rather have some cabbage soup instead of sausage? It's capital soup, yesterday's. I saved it for you yesterday, but you came in late. It's fine soup.Crime and Punishment, Constance Garnett, 1914
The same reader at full pitch, to hear what the voice does under strain.
'Ah!' she cried out in a frenzy, 'he has come back! The criminal! the monster! And where is the money? What's in your pocket, show me! Where are your clothes? Where is the money! Speak!'Crime and Punishment, Constance Garnett, 1914
R1
Twenty seconds of someone reading is enough. Yours, or an author's under licence. Both takes play here, the author's own first. You decide how close R1 got.
ضیا محی الدین
1931–2023
مجھ سے پہلی سی محبت مری محبوب نہ مانگ
میں نے سمجھا تھا کہ تو ہے تو درخشاں ہے حیات
mujh se pahlī sī mohabbat mirī mahbūb na māñg
Faiz Ahmed Faiz1911–1984
the opening lines of the poem, as he read them
Measured, not drawn: 96 bars a ring, one slice of the file each. inner is his recording, outer is R1.
جون ایلیا
1931–2002
ہم نے وفا کے نام پر کارِ وفا نہیں کیا
خود کو ہلاک کر لیا، خود کو فدا نہیں کیا
ham ne wafā ke nām par kār-e-wafā nahīñ kiyā
the opening couplet of a ghazal he recorded himself
Measured, not drawn: 96 bars a ring, one slice of the file each. inner is his recording, outer is R1.
Zia Mohyeddin
9 volumes · 7 writers
Our best sellers first: Russian novels, philosophy and modern classics. We hold every one as a hardcover, at your door in one to two days. Click a book to see its details.
Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment, 1866
Every one of them has a page: who they were, what happened to them, and every book they wrote. Read it in the original words or a simpler version, listen to it read aloud, and have it explained in the margin by Hermes, the built-in AI guide.
Choose a voice, press play, and pick up exactly where you left off. The text follows along, line by line, as it is read. Three samples are free to play today. The full library comes with the subscription, coming soon.
The app, coming soon
The Roman Reads app is coming to iOS and Android. Carry the whole library with you. Read or listen, in the original words or a simpler version, and ask Hermes, the built-in AI guide, about any line, chapter, or book.
