This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. You've probably never heard the name Robin Miles, but there's a good chance you've heard her, and maybe at some length.

Stop your nonsense, Wilbur,' said the oldest sheep.

"'If you have a new friend here, you are probably disturbing his rest.

And the quickest way to spoil a friendship is to wake somebody up in the morning before he's ready.

"'How can you be sure your friend is an early riser?

Robin Miles is an actor who's appeared in over 400 audiobooks, 400 in all sorts of genres,

from E.B. White's classic, Charlotte's Web, to Isabel Wilkerson's cast, which is a deep analysis of race in America.

Audio books are a booming segment of the publishing industry, and Miles has cultivated that

as a specialty. She describes herself as a vocal chameleon, skilled at imitating and playing

with accents for different characters, even inventing new accents.

Daniel Gross, who's an editor at The New Yorker, has been writing about Robin Miles,

and they've gotten pretty deep into the craft of reading a book out loud.

Robin records a lot of her books in her closet, and it's a little trapezoidal closet, which is smaller than like a shower stall.

Robin has impeccable posture.

She has a ballet instructor's posture.

And she has these sharp cheekbones.

And I remember that she took her shoes off before she walked into the studio. And even when I went

to a professional recording studio with her, she took off her rain boots and then she walked into the

studio. She always records barefoot. Teach me one of your warm-ups. I want to try it out. We're in front of a

microphone now, so.

Okay.

...